Dale Yu: Review of Traveluencer

Posted on October 9, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Traveluencer

  • Designer: Ryo Nakamura (中村 良), Zhonghao Yang, Kai Zu 
  • Publisher: Broadway Games
  • Players: 2-4
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 30 minutes
  • Amazon affiliate link: 
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

In Traveluencer, players must try to make their posts go viral and become the most popular travel influencers! Trending topics change daily – only by staying on top of the latest buzz can you succeed as a KOL(key opinion leader)! Traveluencer is a trick-taking game. Players play any number of cards in an attempt to win tricks and boost engagement. They must manage their resources carefully,or they risk losing followers due to inactivity.

 

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Dale Yu: Review of Lotus Card Shuffler V2

Posted on October 9, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Lotus Card Shuffler V2

Affiliate link: https://play-lotus.com/?ref=OpinionatedGamers 

Review device provided by publisher

 

If you’re familiar with our blog, you’ll know that we play A LOT of card games around here.  Further, we play plenty of games that have cards as a component.  Though none of us are able to do cool card tricks while shuffling cards, we’re all pretty adept at it.  That being said, the common shuffle techniques, especially the riffle shuffle and bridge, can take their toll on cards.

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Dale Yu: Pandasaurus with new versions of 2 card games: Bohnanza and 6 nimmt! Baron Oxx

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Dale Yu

Pandasaurus has been on a bit of a run this year reprinting classic games. Earlier this year, we reviewed Gulo Gulo and Hacienda.  Now, they have come out with two card games: Bohnanza and 6 nimmt! Baron Oxx.


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Dale Yu: Review of Plotters, Inc.

Posted on October 7, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Plotters, Inc.

  • Designer: Klaus Plaesch
  • Publisher: playte
  • Players: 4-6
  • Age: 14+
  • Time: 30 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher
  • Preorder link: preorder.playte.com

Plotters, Inc., first released as Mit List und Tücke (“With Cunning and Treachery”), is a trick-taking game with quite a few twists.  Everyone has a plan, but those plans often collide in a web of betrayal and schemes.  In this unique trick taking game, you never win a trick alone; the players with the best and worst cards always split it.

 

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Dale Yu: Review of Chambered Nautilus (Endangered Rescue #4)

Posted on October 7, 2026 by Dale Yu

Chambered Nautilus

 

 

 

As a science journalist hosting a symposium on the chambered nautilus, you’re counting on a renowned expert to close the show. When they mysteriously fail to appear, you must balance running the event with searching the aquarium. Can you find the missing expert and save the symposium before time runs out?

Endangered Rescue: Chambered Nautilus is an 18Escape adventure created in partnership with Science Friday to support Cephalopod Week. Every game purchased supports independent science journalism. Stay connected to the awe and joy of science all year with Science Friday’s flagship newsletter Week in Science.

Want to dive deeper? Learn more about Dr. Gregory Barord’s work to raise awareness about the nautilus, its precarious future, and the research needed to help protect the species at savethenautilus.com.

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Excursions – An Opinionated Preview

Posted on October 6, 2026 by Mark Jackson

Once upon a time, there was a tiny company located in a small town in Tennessee…and through hard work and careful planning and taking the time to get it right, they managed to produce a game that won multiple awards and spawned two very successful Kickstarter funding campaigns.

The company is Kinson Key Games in Athens, Tennessee – seriously, Athens is NOT a big town – and that game was and is Galactic Cruise. I wrote a very positive review of it as a solo game last fall.

The next game on the way from Kinson Key is Excursions – and that’s likely the reason you’re actually reading this game preview. Excursions is set in the Galactic Cruise thematic universe, but it is not an expansion to the original game. It’s probably more accurate to describe it as a close relative – both games share similar bloodlines, but they do some things very differently.

Vive la différence!

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