While we normally contribute more to full reviews, in the heady weeks just after SPIEL, everyone is playing as many games as possible – and frankly, spending more time playing games than writing!  Our writers have been contributing to a document where they give anonymous small reports on the new games that they’re playing.

These blurbs are meant to be anonymous; in part because given the rapid nature of these things, many of the games may have only been played once; and all comments below should be read with that important caveat.   Players will have changing reactions to games after multiple plays, and it certainly wouldn’t be fair to a game to write a review based on such small experience.

Of course, there is also benefit to see what some other gamers have thought about the games that they have already tried – and thus, we stick to this anonymous format of small first takes.  We will try to do another one in 2-3 weeks – and then there will likely be a final one after the major November conventions finish up (where many of our writers will be playing games!)

This year, we’ll try to organize the games in alphabetical order

3 Ring Circus – Interesting tableau-builder themed around travelling circuses.  It’s pretty engrossing, but it hurdles along at such a rapid pace that, in my games, it ended well before I was able to accomplish even a fraction of what I wanted to do.  This disappointed me a bit, but I also saw someone get a very high score, so most likely I just haven’t mastered the timing of the game.  Certainly worth checking out.

Archeologic – another deduction game by the guy that designed Turing Machine.  Also with another beautiful eye-catching gadget to give you the answers.  It’s a deduction game alright, but kinda soulless.  Like Turing Machine, the gadget isn’t enough to make up for the dull lack-of-fun experience.  I’d play it again, but I’d prob not request it multiplayer.  I have since played it solo, and it works well for me there.

Big Top – Suroborous was neat and the changes in Big Top are minimal and seem decent.

Big Top – This is a rethemed version of an earlier Japanese card game called Suroboruos, which is an innovative auction game.  Each auctioned card shows different numbered circles and if you bid the value in a circle on one of the cards you had won earlier (whether you win the auction with that bid or not), you get to place a marker on it.  When you cover all the circles on a card you purchased, you now own it.  Owned cards give you the VPs listed on them and some of them have cool abilities as well.

Cabanga (Amigo) – Amigo has a history of producing simple but clever card games; this is the latest such example, and so far seems to be a good one.  You want to play to make the range of numbers in the color you play to as small as possible, because if anyone has cards in between, they get to discard them – and you draw a penalty card for each card discarded.

Cabanga – after my one play I get the appeal but would just as soon play 6 Nimmt! or something else in that general space… but I would play again and maybe it will grab me eventually. I’d also like to see how it plays with fewer than six.

Carnival – get a hand of cards, play a card either in front of you or to the middle.  At end of game, if your sum of personal cards in a color is lower than the total in the middle, you score points for those cards, otherwise discard them.  A bit of mystery as you can get mask cards to hide your play; and there are also cards with negative values!  It worked just fine, and I’d play it again, but I wouldn’t request it.

Ceres – I’m not at all convinced it will stick in my collection, but I rather enjoyed my first play.  I am mildly concerned that launches might play too big a role in the game, but will see how this plays out with more trips to the table.

Challengers Beach Cup.  Still love this game, and this new version fires the old one.  Though I’ll keep both to be able to play a 16 team tournament.  The cards are a bit more interactive, and the Dog card in the starting deck now gives players a deck management action – so that everyone has something to do in the duel, regardless of how they draft.  The best part is – the new version comes with cards for the original to get that box up to the current rules as well.

Darwin’s Journey – This is a very involved worker placement game themed around Darwin’s voyage to the Galapagos Islands.  The actions you can take are associated with different combinations of colors and each of your workers has a seal of a different color.  In order to take an action, your worker needs to have those colors.  You can add new colors to your workers, so managing the growth of your workers is just as important as figuring out which actions to take.  There’s a lot going on and a lot to consider, and it’s all wonderfully laid out by that master game designer, Simone Luciani.  This is one of my favorite games of the year.

Disney Lorcana (Ravensburger) – while I was away, my second starter deck arrived, and now I have enough cards to at least give the game a real try.  Sure, I won’t have a very focused deck as I doubt I’ll have a high number of multiples of even commons; but I’ve finally acquired enough cards to play.  Not sure I’ll ever get the full experience as it looks like the monetary investment to get even enough sets of 4 non-common cards in two colors to make a deck is north of $100.  

Doggerland – surprisingly fun for a fairly normal Euro. Hunting and gathering is a logistical challenge and then you get to make handicrafts, paint paintings, etc. with the supplies you got from your outings.  Nice exploration that balances slight luck with a tile set that is balanced. The variable goals can give you some direction. Nothing to blow you away, but a fine challenge. Not a love it, but a like it more than I expected to.

Expeditions (Stonemaier) – a game of two parts, the first part is a fun exploration game with a fixed set of tiles. The second part is a classic efficiency Euro that feels similar to many others. I wish there were a way to capture the fun of the first part through the arc of the whole game. Would be happy to play again.

Faraway – I have only played it on Board Game Arena and will be getting a physical copy because we have played it more than five times and I still want to play more.

Faraway – man I love this one. Draft cards and play the left to right, but after 8 turns, the game ends and you score right to left.  So many interesting choices, and a lot of nail-biting as you have to hope to be in a position to draft the right cards at the end (assuming they are there).  All of this in a 15 min game.

Fibonachos (Geeks N’ Orcs) – a trick taking game where all numbers are legal – but numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are better; the high card in the suit led wins, unless two or more Fibonacci numbers are played, in which case the high Fibonacci card wins.  Nice game.

Five Peaks – I really wanted to love this, and in the end I liked it.  The start was SO slow though, and overall, our 3p game took over an hour which is longer than it wants to be.  The end was actually pretty interesting and I want to try it again.  One issue that came up for us was that there was nothing motivating a hiking card refresh, and if people didn’t want the cards on offer, it was stagnant. This slowed the game down a bit.  However, after playing once, I’d definitely place higher value on some cards that we didn’t buy for a LONG time

Five Towers (Deep Print) – OK, so my first game was honestly not great.  Everything worked, but nothing really captured my attention.  That being said, early on, it was ranked as high as #3 on the Fairplay list and fellow OG writer Simon W said he enjoyed it.  Thus, I’d like to read the rules in a better lit room and try it again to see if we missed something.

Freaky Frogs from Outaspace (2F) –It’s a great solo game that really makes you feel like you are playing pinball.  On my flight, I did confirm that it’s playable on a tray table.

Fruitoplay – simultaneous play trick-taking game, sort of, with a bit of Hols der Geier. Not really my thing.

FTW?! – A really elegant rolling trick card game from Friese that has considerably more depth than is initially apparent.  The rules are very simple and the key to the game is how you score, since it means that both high and low cards have value.  There’s also some nice timing issues you have to think about.  It plays really fast and packs quite a punch for a game of this length.

FTW?! – once you get the hang of it (which can take a while) it’s good.

FTW – Inexplicably the demo person for FTW didn‘t know how to teach the game properly and so I didn’t get a copy, even though it was supposed to be super simple.

Havalandi (Pegasus) – Knizia uses roll-n-move with a shared piece for players to mark territory in hopes of scoring one of two primary ways. It is as clean and simple a game as we’ve seen in a while from just about anyone. I suspect there is much more to it which gets revealed with further exploration. (cwm)

Havalandi – a B-level Knizia at best but a B-level Knizia is better than a lot of things out there. I have played twice and would happily play more, but I doubt I will buy it.

Havalandi – I enjoyed this quite a bit – a nice bit of randomness avoids having this game feel as dry as it might otherwise.

Holly Oak – A fairly stra3on’t have a card in the led suit, you can either sluff off a card or play a card in the next season of the year.  This immediately changes the active suit to that new suit.  You’re trying to win certain point cards in tricks, so the goal is to manipulate the active suits to allow you to do this well.  It plays very nicely and is thinky without being brain-burning.

How Dare You?! – Obscure trivia game where the answer is a number. You then go around the table a la Liars Dice. Raise or Call. Loser of the call takes the card and taking cards is bad, No thanks.

How Dare You  (Alion) – we played it at multiple restaurants and shop lines during the week.  It’s a trivia game with really well thought out questions; and you go around the table Liar’s Dice style, either increasing the current bid or challenging a bid you think is too high.

Imperial Miners – another game that gives you a lot of game in under 30 minutes.  You add a card each round to your mine and then run all the effects. It’s set in the world of imperial settlers but lucky for me that is the only place where they’re related. Super excited to play it again 

Infliltraitors – A good co-op deduction game. It’s sort of like The Crew without trick-taking. We really liked it, but I’d like to play the other co-op deduction games before declaring this one the king. I definitely Like It, maybe Love it.

Islet – A perfectly fine abstract, played at 2p.  Has all the usual foibles you’d expect from an abstract; here you will do better if you happen to draw tiles that benefit your strategy.  Was a mite bit long for what you got out of it, but I’m also not one for abstracts.

Jekyll and Hyde vs Scotland Yard – I rather liked this even though I am not a huge co-op fan. On the other hand we didn’t use hard and fast communication rules. (I would in future games.)

Jekyll and Hyde vs Scotland Yard – the followup to J+H, this time a cooperative 2p game.  We played through all the introductory chapters to learn the game; it works just fine.  I’d prefer games that allow more communication.  Frustratingly, you are allowed to communicate when you play a potion, but those rules are murky, and I feel like we extended the boundaries of what we were able to say.  I really hate unclear communication rules.  That said, would play again. With the right person.

Kiri-Ai – pulled this out because so many people were calling this their hit of the show.  I think they must have been drunk.  It’s fine. A read my mind 2p duel.  I’ve played twice. It has happened.  Maybe I just don’t like read-my-mind games?

Kutna Hora – Played 3 player game. Didn’t seem that “heavy” to me. The market aspect is interesting the way it changes, makes creating a good stream of income challenging. Definitely interested in another play.

Llamas and Alpacas – it works.  Draft cards, put them on a 3×3 grid. Score points for matching 1, 2 or 3 attributes on the cards.  Over in 15 minutes.  Unresolved possible typo in the rules – though not a big deal, we house ruled in favor of what seemed right based on the components

Moon River – Advanced Kingdominio – the puzzle-y nature of it is nice, but it has a tendency towards AP and some real swing-y moments near the end of the game if tiles with circles (giving out ranch hands) appear late. It’s playable with those caveats.

Moon River – Moon River uses the same drafting system as Kingdomino (and Minigolf Designer)… and the same placement system as Kingdomino – but you are drafting 1/2 tiles (that are puzzle cut) so you put two of them together to create your tile. Additionally, more ways to score and ranch hand counters that can bump up score or protect cattle or (in some cases) steal cattle from other folks.

Nanatoridori – This one surprised me. I loved Hachi Train, but this one fell flat for two very specific reasons that are totally fixable (retconable). It is a climbing/shedding game. In HT, when you play a stronger set, you much take the set you beat into your hand. In this one, you MAY. In this one, if you pass, in HT, if you draw a card, you must add it to your hand. In this one, if you pass, you draw a card and may keep or discard it. Super easy to just add those rules back into this one, as it is far easier to find than Hachi Train.

Oh, Hey, Crosswalk – A cute but forgettable abstract about two groups crossing a crosswalk where the goal is to get all five people across the street before your opponent. Ok and harmless.

Oh! Meow! Bow! – This is a retheming of Five Three Five.  It’s an interesting climbing card game where, uniquely, you can add cards to the high meld instead of just beating it.  It’s not the best climbing game I’ve played recently, but it was still fun and changed the way you have to think about these kinds of designs.

Otlo stones. I liked it as a solo puzzle game. It’s actually quite difficult, I’m getting stumped regularly on the middle difficulty level. Not sure if I’d ever want to play this multi-player again as it’s just a speed game then 

PASS – A game more like Tichu without partnerships than Scout, but with cards that have a base value and an ‘improved value’. The cool think is that low cards can be improved to high cards and high cards can be improved to low ones. That is important because you play a type, one of a kind, pair, etc. then you play a climbing game. When you cannot or choose not to play to the trick, you get a PASS token which can be used later. The token can do one of two things, flip a card to its improved side or let you play an identical set as the previous player. If you play a pair and someone play AA, you can play AA with a token and beat them. There are also 4 of a kind and 5 of a kind bombs.  So if you have 3 4s and a Queen, improve the Queen to a 4 and play a 4 bomb on the trick. It is definitely more about sets than runs, but runs are possible and Aces can be high or low. Need to play more, but love it for now.

Path of Civilization – Each player has a hand of 5 multi-effect technology cards; these come in different categories, and each has its own specialty.  Every turn, the players simultaneously assign two of their cards for their left-hand effect, two of the remaining ones for their right-hand effect, and then discard the last card.  Effects include improving your abilities and setting yourself up to buy leaders, wonders, and to add to your military.  Then, you purchase a new technology card to replace the one you discarded; with the proper preparation, you can buy higher level cards, which have more powerful effects.  The game plays very smoothly, because much of the action is simultaneous.  There’s a reasonable amount of indirect player interaction, but no direct attacks, as you’d expect from a Euro.  Thematically, this has a Civ feel, with appropriately named leaders and wonders, but it’s still fairly abstract, so base your expectations on that.

Planta Nubo – Played Planta Nubo today again , and will probably play tomorrow now that people understand it. The game was too slow for my taste (each turn can give you up to 6 actions and things happen…) – but I still love the puzzle and feel of it. Probably not too good with impatient people as turns take time; it’s also pretty MP solitaire but I don’t mind that. It remains to be seen if it is my game of the year – I feel like this year is very strong on the heavy games side!

Prey Another Day – Another read my mind game, which isn’t necessarily my thing, but the countdown aspect gives you a bit of room to strategize.  However… the graphic design is so jarring and appalling to me that I don’t think I’ll play it again; I’m a bit afraid that the Dayglo color is too much for me

Prey Another Day – If you like the Vizzini scene in Princess Bride, this game is for you. Everyone has a hand of cards 1-5 and secretly plays one. Then there is a Citadels-style countdown. Bear-Wolf-Lynx-Owl-Mouse. If one person played a Bear, they have to say the name of one of the other four animals. If anyone played one of those, that animal was eaten by the bear and is out of the round. If two people play bears, they both survive, but don’t get to eat (the name of the game is survival, not eating). OK, but some will love it.

Quicksand (Horrible) – A new real-time sandtimer game from Horrible Games; this one is pretty hard once you play the introductory levels.  You must move sand timers from one end of the track to the other; doing so by playing cards from your hand that match either the color or symbol of the space the timer is on.  Additionally, each time you move the timer, you flip it over.  If a timer runs out, it’s moved off the track and placed into purgatory; if such a timer runs out of sand again, you lose.

Redwood – I think this is a game people will either love or run away from. For me, I loved the theme of photography and the spatial puzzle / dexterity of choosing the movement and photo templates.  We played in the team format which added a bit of complexity and discussion as well.  It’s short, only 5 rounds, but a pretty immersive game.

Shiju Torite – An innovative trick-taker from Japan that really pushes the envelope, as you openly draft your hands.  In addition to the normal cards available, there are goal cards you can take, which you’ll score for if you meet their requirements.  Needless to say, the goals run the gamut from traditional to kooky.  With all the cards face up, including the goals, it doesn’t seem as if it should work (and, to be honest, it might be really fragile), but my game was very thinky and, despite my doubts, it was a design I couldn’t stop thinking about.  Could be great, could be broken, definitely worth checking out.

Sunrise Lane – a remake of Rondo which adds some interest with end-game scoring and detracts massively from usability by making the spaces tiny and similar in color. I won’t play it again.

Sunrise  Lane was really just like Ticket to Ride, except you draw every card randomly and hope your right-hand neighbor sets you up for a big score (and that you randomly drew the cards that you can use for that score). Fun plastic buildings but everything is too small and colors/symbols difficult to distinguish.

Tangram City (Korea Boardgames Co.) – a simple tile laying game with more to it than at first meets the eye.  At worst, I expect it to be good for a few pleasant plays. 

Tangram City – this is basically Patchwork Doodle or Second Chance as a board game with more interesting pieces. It’s decent.

The Same Game – Wolfgang Warsch – Party game in the vein of Wavelength with a fiddly reveal mechanism. Not for me.

TTR Legacy – 2 games in, and so far, it’s fun.  The designers (as usual) have done a great job in the pacing of surprises as well as the gradual buildup of rules.  It’s definitely not the same TTR that you’re used to, but the rule changes do not feel jarring nor are they tough to remember.  As with all Legacy games, I strongly encourage you to pull the rules out at the setup and conclusion of each game so that you don’t miss things you’re supposed to do!  (We were almost guilty of missing something, but remembered just in time)

Vale of Eternity (Mandoo) – a really neat drafting game with card powers to be triggered.  The game also uses a unique currency system where you’re only allowed 4 physical chits at any time.  It appears that this has already been picked up for US distribution, so if you missed it at Spiel, you’ll be able to get it soon back home

Vale of Eternity – the currency system really makes the game. Better than the majority of the similar draft-cards-with-powers games.

Voidfall – I’m 5 plays into Voidfall. 2 solo games, one 3p with the excellent tutorial scenario that teaches you the game in stages, and two full 4p games, one a non-agressive scenario, and one an aggressive one. The non-agrerssive scenarios feel very much like a pure euro-y civ game, and an excellent one at that. The determinative combat makes for interesting choices, rather than bad feels at bad dice rolls. The group is looking forward to a full co-op game. Note: I have the non-deluxe version, and I am super happy with it. Much smaller box, plastic where it makes sense, and not where it doesn’t, and all the beautiful art and gameplay. Yes, the iconography is similar to RftG, where once you are comfortable, it is very clear but there is a bit of a learning curve.  One thing this game has over other Mindclash games that have not quite made the cut for me, is clear goals. You create your own scoring conditions via Agenda cards, then you know what to go after. Perseverance, for example, was complicated, yes, but what doomed it for me was not having a clear way to actually do well and score points. 

Voidfall – The production of the game is top-notch and the gameplay is really interesting – but you have to climb “iconography mountain” to get there. Thankfully, a glossary of cards and effects is one of three rulebooks in the game. Combat is not random – which makes sense thematically but could lead to serious AP with the wrong players. Both my solo plays have been highly enjoyable – but I’m concerned that teaching this game is going to be a stretch. I will say a huge “thank you” to Mindclash Games for creating a Voidfall app that helps with scenarios and, more importantly, with calculating combat results.

Voidfall – Voidfall is a top 10 of all time for me. Sensational presentation and even better gameplay. Like most games with any iconography it takes time to recognition all, but I think Voidfall’s icons become intuitive after a short while. I recently played a game in about 4 hours including explanation to one experienced and one brand new player. I think once you guide a player it’s quirky picked up. But the range of options, icons and rulebooks look intimidating. They’re not too bad after your first game and I thought the rulebook was well

Voidfall –  Voidfall is the fourth Mindclash title I’ve played (fifth if you count the two Perseverance episodes separately) and I enjoy them all, but Voidfall is the best in terms of presenting a clear sense of what you want to do and what you can do, and the challenge being finding the best paths forward.

What the Rule?! – If you like Zendo/Eleusis, this deck is fantastic, as it offers new rule possibilities and complexities, but as usual, some of the easiest rules were tricky to get. The scoring was slightly wonky and we ended up dropping it, but the rules were cleaner than Zendo, in that you play a card or show your hand. If the card is correct, you may guess a rule, If you show your hand and it has no playable cards, you may guess the rule. Otherwise, the next player goes.

Z3bra – man. I had such high hopes for this, but man, this wasn’t for me.  More luck than skill. And way longer than it deserves.  It went 15 minutes, and really wants to be 5.  Or 2.  Or none.  Also, I’m all for the environment, but the new trend of stickering the boxes shut either leaves you with bright green stickers with jagged edges or a supremely sticky residue that attracts all sorts of dirt to the box.

Zing-a-Zam – a trick taking game where most of the cards are facing away from you, so many of your plays are random.  Most cards have a special ability that adds some unpredictability to the game, but to me, this just meant random play with random effect added on.   I’m sure families and kids will like it. I’m not either.

Zing-a-Zam – why play this when you could play Abraca… what?