Wow, look at me giving out multiple 8’s below like it’s Christmas already. I swear there’s no rating inflation just because I’m in a better place … and what better way to prove it than our first entrant.
THE DRAGON AND FLAGON (2016): Rank 3982, Rating 6.4
First, program your actions to get around the tavern-themed board simulating a bar fight. Second, get frustrated. You score VPs if you satisfy a condition but that condition is usually dependent on being next to or in line with an opponent. You try and guess where they’ll be in 2 or 3 turns time (ie through the programming) but it’s a crapshoot. What whacky fun. Turns are long while you think ahead (because you have a LOT of cards to program with) which makes this alleged pub brawl play so slowly it’s hard to think of a worse mis-match of mechanic to theme.
Rating: 4
FROMAGE (2024): Rank 6334, Rating 7.2
Each of the 4 boards has a different scoring conceit and a different set of resources to gather, and each round the boards rotate between the players. You need to quickly ascertain your strategy re which board(s) you wish to concentrate your scoring, and on which to gather resources, and this influences which meeples to use and how powerful each action will be (because actions can lock your meeples for up to 3 turns). You also want to work towards getting extra actions for use on your chosen boards. It’s all quite clever and I enjoyed exploring but we’ve never gone back either, probably because it’s quite a lengthy explanation re all the boards.
Rating: 7
MAGLEV METRO (2021): Rank 1311, Rating 7.2
If you take an Age of Steam type “build rail and deliver” concept and add an action menu with different coloured meeple requirements, it turns out you end up with a glorious concoction. Loads to plan for and think about while being under constant pressure to stay ahead and not be usurped on the board re the cubes you want. Along come the decisions re letting go the short term board wins to better enable your long term VP plan. And the jam-packed meatiness still finished in well under 2 hours. It’s my new preferred option in this genre.
Rating: 8
MARVEL UNITED (2020): Rank 298, Rating 7.6
A big-theme co-op where turns are quick – simply play a card from your unique hero deck. They only have 3 possible actions – move (around the 6 locations), smack a baddie, or help civilians escape, plus a super-power. The twist that makes the game is that you also use the card the previous player played, and your card is used by the following player, so it’s not just about getting the most out of your turn but also setting up the next player to max their turn knowing how their deck is biased (each hero is weighted towards different actions) and how the baddie’s upcoming turn might affect things. Whenever we’ve played we’ve tended to play a second time, and then a third time (this time, surely!) and we’ve found it interesting how strategies need to differ to cope with different baddies vs different hero decks. I’d probably enjoy it even more if I cared or knew much about the Marvel universe (I’m told the match to theme for the heroes and the baddies is surprisingly neat given how simple things are) but the mechanics were enough to keep me happy.
Rating: 8
MATCH ME (2022): Rank 5926, Rating 6.4
This is a nice 10 min co-op filler I picked up on a whim in Japan last year. Everyone receives a hand filled with colour cards, someone reads out a question from the deck (eg something used in sport) and comes up with an object (eg golf ball) that they hope everyone will play the same coloured card for (eg white). After 5 questions, reveal all the played cards for each question and you win if each question received the same colour set. The questions are ranked in difficulty and get quite challenging – we’ve got close but not actually won yet. There’s no real banter and it’s not going to set your world on fire, it’s just a quickish harmless pleasant filler that keeps coming out on occasion to smiles around the table.
Rating: 7
MOJO (2023): Rank 16965, Rating 5.7
It’s in that Llama mold, trying to shed your starting hand asap. Play again if you play the number on the discard pile, draw a card if you play higher, successfully shed if you play lower. You stop playing after you get down to 3 or fewer cards and they’re your score. Your best strategy is to draw a low hand and hope the player before you keeps playing cards with numbers you have. If you draw a bad hand there’s nothing you can do but suck up a high score and hope the game ends soon.
Rating: 5
NEOM (2018): Rank 1514, Rating 7.3
Think 7 Wonders but with tiles. 3 rounds, play out 7 tiles each round, passing them around. You’ll want to play resource tiles (starter, medium, advanced) which also earn VPs, and there’s a range of strategies to explore, often driven by your 3 starting super tiles – be it income producing tiles, build neighbourhoods of residential tiles, VP condition tiles, etc. Decisions are hard due to road linking requirements and the non-rotation rule – it can be more important to forego a tile you really want to ensure you don’t close down your tableau. The aspect that lowers it a notch for me are the three disaster tiles. The rules are already longer to teach than it takes to play and then you have to teach the effects of 3 separate disasters and how to cope with them – it’ll leave a nasty taste in the mouth otherwise. Still, once learnt, it’s very playable.
Rating: 7
SUPER MEGA LUCKY BOX (2021): Rank 1360, Rating 7.1 – Walker-Harding
Flip and write where you go thru a subset of the deck of cards once in each of the 4 rounds. Your only real decision is which bingo card bonuses to strive for when you complete rows and columns (you start with 3 cards and get another each round) – either those bonuses that help you fulfil more rows and columns (and help score points for completing cards) or those that focus more on moons (most moons gains points, least loses points). Other than that, it’s nice enough ticking off numbers in that bingo type way and it’s pleasant enough as a filler for large numbers of players, but nothing I need to seek out.
Rating: 6
Thoughts of other Opinionated Gamers:
Mark Jackson: I, on the other hand, find The Dragon & Flagon to be delightful WITH THE RIGHT GROUP OF PLAYERS. Granted, it’s not for everyone… but y’all are welcome to enjoy my extensive review from back in the day right here on the OG: https://opinionatedgamers.com/2016/10/24/the-dragon-flagon-game-review/
NEOM is another favorite – which really requires at least one play under your belt to get how the disasters and cornerstone tiles work. Once you’ve done that, it’s a very enjoyable city-building/drafting game.
Alan H: I really enjoy Maglev Metro and the expansions. I think the presentation is excellent and there’s a great balance of targets to achieve and player interaction. It’s a favourite with all my game groups.
Super Mega Lucky Box is an easy to pick up filler. It just fits that end of session slot when you’ve played a heavier game and want to give your brain a rest. But there’s enough in it to make you revisit it many times.
Matt C: When I have a few minutes (just a few) to kill just before dinner or some other thing I will often turn to my digital copy of Super Mega Lucky Box. It’s super short and not particularly brain draining. Previous choices might have been digital Small World but this is even faster and lighter. I typically like a bit more theme in my games, but this one really hits the sweet spot of super fast play while feeling like there’s still a little bit of strategy in there. I think the key decisions lie in which cards to keep and play on, and when to spend those bonus lightning number adjusters.
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Alison Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2024 (Part 6)
Wow, look at me giving out multiple 8’s below like it’s Christmas already. I swear there’s no rating inflation just because I’m in a better place … and what better way to prove it than our first entrant.
THE DRAGON AND FLAGON (2016): Rank 3982, Rating 6.4
First, program your actions to get around the tavern-themed board simulating a bar fight. Second, get frustrated. You score VPs if you satisfy a condition but that condition is usually dependent on being next to or in line with an opponent. You try and guess where they’ll be in 2 or 3 turns time (ie through the programming) but it’s a crapshoot. What whacky fun. Turns are long while you think ahead (because you have a LOT of cards to program with) which makes this alleged pub brawl play so slowly it’s hard to think of a worse mis-match of mechanic to theme.
Rating: 4
FROMAGE (2024): Rank 6334, Rating 7.2
Each of the 4 boards has a different scoring conceit and a different set of resources to gather, and each round the boards rotate between the players. You need to quickly ascertain your strategy re which board(s) you wish to concentrate your scoring, and on which to gather resources, and this influences which meeples to use and how powerful each action will be (because actions can lock your meeples for up to 3 turns). You also want to work towards getting extra actions for use on your chosen boards. It’s all quite clever and I enjoyed exploring but we’ve never gone back either, probably because it’s quite a lengthy explanation re all the boards.
Rating: 7
MAGLEV METRO (2021): Rank 1311, Rating 7.2
If you take an Age of Steam type “build rail and deliver” concept and add an action menu with different coloured meeple requirements, it turns out you end up with a glorious concoction. Loads to plan for and think about while being under constant pressure to stay ahead and not be usurped on the board re the cubes you want. Along come the decisions re letting go the short term board wins to better enable your long term VP plan. And the jam-packed meatiness still finished in well under 2 hours. It’s my new preferred option in this genre.
Rating: 8
MARVEL UNITED (2020): Rank 298, Rating 7.6
A big-theme co-op where turns are quick – simply play a card from your unique hero deck. They only have 3 possible actions – move (around the 6 locations), smack a baddie, or help civilians escape, plus a super-power. The twist that makes the game is that you also use the card the previous player played, and your card is used by the following player, so it’s not just about getting the most out of your turn but also setting up the next player to max their turn knowing how their deck is biased (each hero is weighted towards different actions) and how the baddie’s upcoming turn might affect things. Whenever we’ve played we’ve tended to play a second time, and then a third time (this time, surely!) and we’ve found it interesting how strategies need to differ to cope with different baddies vs different hero decks. I’d probably enjoy it even more if I cared or knew much about the Marvel universe (I’m told the match to theme for the heroes and the baddies is surprisingly neat given how simple things are) but the mechanics were enough to keep me happy.
Rating: 8
MATCH ME (2022): Rank 5926, Rating 6.4
This is a nice 10 min co-op filler I picked up on a whim in Japan last year. Everyone receives a hand filled with colour cards, someone reads out a question from the deck (eg something used in sport) and comes up with an object (eg golf ball) that they hope everyone will play the same coloured card for (eg white). After 5 questions, reveal all the played cards for each question and you win if each question received the same colour set. The questions are ranked in difficulty and get quite challenging – we’ve got close but not actually won yet. There’s no real banter and it’s not going to set your world on fire, it’s just a quickish harmless pleasant filler that keeps coming out on occasion to smiles around the table.
Rating: 7
MOJO (2023): Rank 16965, Rating 5.7
It’s in that Llama mold, trying to shed your starting hand asap. Play again if you play the number on the discard pile, draw a card if you play higher, successfully shed if you play lower. You stop playing after you get down to 3 or fewer cards and they’re your score. Your best strategy is to draw a low hand and hope the player before you keeps playing cards with numbers you have. If you draw a bad hand there’s nothing you can do but suck up a high score and hope the game ends soon.
Rating: 5
NEOM (2018): Rank 1514, Rating 7.3
Think 7 Wonders but with tiles. 3 rounds, play out 7 tiles each round, passing them around. You’ll want to play resource tiles (starter, medium, advanced) which also earn VPs, and there’s a range of strategies to explore, often driven by your 3 starting super tiles – be it income producing tiles, build neighbourhoods of residential tiles, VP condition tiles, etc. Decisions are hard due to road linking requirements and the non-rotation rule – it can be more important to forego a tile you really want to ensure you don’t close down your tableau. The aspect that lowers it a notch for me are the three disaster tiles. The rules are already longer to teach than it takes to play and then you have to teach the effects of 3 separate disasters and how to cope with them – it’ll leave a nasty taste in the mouth otherwise. Still, once learnt, it’s very playable.
Rating: 7
SUPER MEGA LUCKY BOX (2021): Rank 1360, Rating 7.1 – Walker-Harding
Flip and write where you go thru a subset of the deck of cards once in each of the 4 rounds. Your only real decision is which bingo card bonuses to strive for when you complete rows and columns (you start with 3 cards and get another each round) – either those bonuses that help you fulfil more rows and columns (and help score points for completing cards) or those that focus more on moons (most moons gains points, least loses points). Other than that, it’s nice enough ticking off numbers in that bingo type way and it’s pleasant enough as a filler for large numbers of players, but nothing I need to seek out.
Rating: 6
Thoughts of other Opinionated Gamers:
Mark Jackson: I, on the other hand, find The Dragon & Flagon to be delightful WITH THE RIGHT GROUP OF PLAYERS. Granted, it’s not for everyone… but y’all are welcome to enjoy my extensive review from back in the day right here on the OG: https://opinionatedgamers.com/2016/10/24/the-dragon-flagon-game-review/
NEOM is another favorite – which really requires at least one play under your belt to get how the disasters and cornerstone tiles work. Once you’ve done that, it’s a very enjoyable city-building/drafting game.
Alan H: I really enjoy Maglev Metro and the expansions. I think the presentation is excellent and there’s a great balance of targets to achieve and player interaction. It’s a favourite with all my game groups.
Super Mega Lucky Box is an easy to pick up filler. It just fits that end of session slot when you’ve played a heavier game and want to give your brain a rest. But there’s enough in it to make you revisit it many times.
Matt C: When I have a few minutes (just a few) to kill just before dinner or some other thing I will often turn to my digital copy of Super Mega Lucky Box. It’s super short and not particularly brain draining. Previous choices might have been digital Small World but this is even faster and lighter. I typically like a bit more theme in my games, but this one really hits the sweet spot of super fast play while feeling like there’s still a little bit of strategy in there. I think the key decisions lie in which cards to keep and play on, and when to spend those bonus lightning number adjusters.
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About Dale Yu
Dale Yu is the Editor of the Opinionated Gamers. He can occasionally be found working as a volunteer administrator for BoardGameGeek, and he previously wrote for BoardGame News.