Dale Yu: Review of Cat Between Us

Posted on March 25, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Cat Between Us

  • Designer: Sky Huang
  • Publisher: the Op games
  • Players: 2-6
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 20-25 min
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3Hrv5eU
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

LURE AND NUZZLE! The Purr-fect Challenge Awaits!! The mischievous cat has vanished into the house, and it’s up to you to coax them out! But how will you do it? With an arsenal of irresistible toys of course! Dangle a fishing rod, roll a yarn ball, or tempt them with a running mouse. Will you be able  to lure the cat out of hiding and into your loving arms?

 

Do you understand what the cat wants? Try to get as close to the cat as possible without passing it by.  Lure the Cat, Outsmart Opponents – Use irresistible toys and clever tactics to coax the cat your way in this fun-filled card game of strategy and surprise!

 

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Dale Yu: Review of Arigato

Posted on March 24, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Arigato

  • Designer: Melodye Ladrat, Florian Sirieix
  • Publisher: Ludonaute
  • Players: 1-5
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 45 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

All the villages in the land are bustling with excitement as in just twelve days, it will be the Shogun’s birthday! Gather your best artisans, craft magnificent offerings, and deliver them on time to earn his favor. Arigatō is a strategic and competitive card game in which you play as the leader of your village and try to combine the best artisan cards to claim victory. 

 

 

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Alison Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2026 (Part 12)

Posted on March 23, 2026 by opgamers

 

 

New-to-me games played recently include …

COVENANT (2025): Rank 2072, Rating 7.8

Another bog box, big rules Euro. There are 12 actions to advance up tracks and engineer lots of chaining and bonus effects. Your actions are either dig (claim resources), buy buildings (for points), build buildings on the board (for points), clear enemies away from your buildings (for points). These are balanced so unless and until you specialise by buying action tiles, you’ll be doing each of them once each round. There are only 3 rounds. Uh huh. A key part of the game is triggering bonus effects that increase the action points of your 4 meeples which allows you to dig more, buy more, build more, kill more. I guess the replay is in finding that opportunity cost balance. It was fine to explore but I’ll confess I gradually cared less and less about hunting the best chains as the turns got longer.

 

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Dale Yu: Review of The Phantom of the Opera

Posted on March 22, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

The Phantom of the Opera

  • Designer: Geonil
  • Publisher: Korea Board Games
  • Players: 2
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 20 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

The Phantom of the Opera is a tense two-player trick-taking duel inspired by Gaston Leroux’s classic tale. One player is the Phantom, striving to compose a perfect musical score, while the other is Christine, trying to disrupt his melody and break free.

 

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Dale Yu: Preview of The Color Monster Travel Edition

Posted on March 21, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

The Color Monster Travel Edition

  • Designer: Anna Llenas, Josep M. Allue, Dani Gomez
  • Publisher: Devir
  • Players: 2-5
  • Age: 3+
  • Time: 20 minutes
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4aCIwEA
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Players in The Color Monster collaborate to help the Monster figure out his emotions. In turns, they roll the die that allows them to move the Monster around the board. When the Monster goes to a space with an emotion token, the player can pick it up and look for the right jar. The jars are all placed on shelves with their colors hidden. If the player chooses the jar which matches the color of the emotion, then they can place the emotion token into the jar. Otherwise, the jar goes back to the shelf as it was. In order to pick up an emotion token, players have to explain a memory or a situation in which they feel like the emotion they are picking up (Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Fear or Calm). The players can lose the game if the Monster gets too confused and they flip over too many mixed emotion jars, or win the game when the emotions are all placed in their correct jars.

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Dale Yu: Review of Fantastic Trails

Posted on March 20, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Fantastic Trails

  • Designer: Jordy Adan
  • Publisher: NSV
  • Players: 1-4
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 30 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Fantastic Trails challenges you to help ants through the forest by creating valuable trails that will cover lots of ground, ideally picking up honeydew along the way.

 

 

 

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