I’ve recently had mixed feelings about being the gaming organiser/leader in my groups. The upside is that I ensure enjoyable gaming. The downside is that I started perceiving that friends might think it too directorial, which then got me a bit gender head-spinny. But then a girlfriend reminded me that social organisation is traditionally a female role. And I’ve been doing this forever. Oh. Of course.  Sometimes all it takes is a little re-framing with help from your friends to make everything feel right again.

Btw, Infiltraitors (below) was my 200th new game for the year. It’s been fun 😊

New-to-me games played recently include …

AZUL: QUEEN’S GARDEN (2021): Rank 671, Rating 7.4 – Kiesling

A likeable variant, where the tiles keep emerging in new groups after each take so there’s always a choice of whether to take from the updated selection or whether to build with what you’ve got and hold off until there’s better later. Tiles now feature both colour and symbol and, like Calico, you’re trying to build groups of colour and symbol with as much overlap as possible. To get a tile out, you must spend tiles in the same colour or symbol – the more points the tile is worth, the more you spend. This shapes your takes. Like Looot, I was continually planning my board out in my head, taking appropriate tiles, or developing a new layout if needed based on what was available. I enjoyed the puzzle, turns moved along in the steady Azul type of way, and it was an easy teach.

Rating: 7

CITIZENS OF THE SPARK (2025): Rank 4365, Rating 7.6

Make up a deck of 10 card sets, each card set having an effect that gets points, cards, affects other players etc. The more you have of a card, the more powerful it is. A turn is to take a set of 3 cards from the display, add them to your tableau, and then spend one of your cards to trigger an effect. Everyone else with the same card has the option to also trigger. It’s quick enough and fun enough, identifying the sets you want to specialise in, doing the best with what’s available to pick up (ie not what your RH neighbours are collecting). The replay comes by constructing the deck using diff combinations of card sets, ranging from low interaction (which we enjoyed) to high interaction (which we didn’t) so we’ll rate somewhere in the middle.

Rating: 7

DAITOSHI (2024): Rank 2263, Rating 7.5

Go round and round the action wheel doing the same 4 actions – make an action bigger for reward, improve an action for reward, buy VPs, and buy income improvements (in 2 different ways). As the actions get more powerful, your planning intensifies to maximise each action’s output. However each action also generates a pain tile, and a lot of the game is not just about ensuring you have enough resources to max the actions but planning how you’re going to clean up the pain tiles afterwards. It’s all very contained and self-referential – half the game is about improving action spaces, half about overcoming the downsides of taking actions. The puzzle engaged me once the actions got big enough to be interesting, but the lack of theme and the constant hassle of managing positive vs negative weighed on me by the end.

Rating: 6

INFILTRAITORS (2023): Rank 4388, Rating 7.2

Here’s a nice little deduction game that seemed to slip thru the cracks. I’ve only played the first two missions (presumably they get harder) but you have to work out what the cards in the middle are. You do that by claiming one and the others play cards from their hand against it – if it’s same colour, or a factor, or a multiple, it’s a match, otherwise it’s not. Playing the right cards to narrow down as many possibilities as possible as quickly as possible is crucial. The gameplay may probably prove too repetitive for extensive replay but I enjoyed it and would infiltrate again even if just to see how the missions mix things up.

Rating: 7

JUNK DRAWER (2023): Rank 4441, Rating 7.1

Flip a card showing a polyomino and everyone places a tile of the shape it shows on one of their 4 boards. Each board has a different scoring condition (specific squares covered or uncovered, etc) and in each round of 4 flips, you can only place on each board once, so the one you leave to last might not go well. Continue until someone can’t place. It’s got a My City bingo feel, checking out what tiles remain, planning for what could come up next. It only goes 10 minutes or so, scores are inevitably close, easy rules, replay comes with a range of scoring conditions that can mix and match, and it slides along effortlessly with some pleasure/groan along the way at the flips.

Rating: 7

SCAPE GOAT (2020): Rank 3471, Rating 6.9

There’s a clever mechanism that secretly tells each player who is the scapegoat, except the scapegoat player is told it’s another player. The non-scapegoats all have to get a card in the scapegoat’s colour in their hand to win (using swap, draw, look type actions) and declare correctly to win, but they have to do so carefully because if the scapegoat notices everyone collecting their colour and correctly calls that they are indeed the scapegoat, the scapegoat wins. It only takes 5-10 minutes and it’s cute enough to play again now you get it, but it’s the same simple process of watchfulness playing out each game which isn’t enough really for extended replay.

Rating: 6

THE TAVERNS OF TIEFENTHAL (2019): Rank 244, Rating 7.6

In many ways it’s just another Euro. 8 rounds. Reveal cards from your deck and hope to draw as many bonus cards (extra dice, wibblers, multipliers, income slots) as possible before all your income card slots fill up. Roll dice. Take 1 die (which will later be allocated to an action/card), pass the rest on a la Spectacular. Each round either shoot for money to buy upgrades or bonus cards, or for beer to buy income cards and VPs. Your choice is dependent on what cards you drew and what dice you get. I understand the ‘just another Euro sentiment’ but it’s done well, rules are easy, it’s pleasant to play, there’s little downtime, there are strategic choices to explore, the tactical decisions in each round are fun, and there’s a bunch of different modules to incorporate to invite replay.

Rating: 8

VAALBARA (2022): Rank 1607, Rating 7.2

It turns Raj into a more interesting game. Everyone has the same 1 to 12 deck and each round simul-reveals one card from their hand. Low to high takes preferred choice of this round’s landscape cards (which all have different scoring conditions), but also each played card has an effect which gives you more to think about when choosing what to play (should I save this effect for later?). It’s a light 10-minute game with some easy but nice thinky, dosed with a splash of luck on who takes what before you.

Rating: 7

Thoughts of other Opinionated Gamers:

Michael W:

– Taverns of Tiefenthal – Love it – This is a favorite of ours, and the various modules included with the “Open Doors” expansion help keep things fresh without adding too much complexity. It’s worth throwing all the modules into 1 game just to make a mess and see how it all still manages to work, but that’s now how we normally roll.

Mark Jackson:

I’ll echo Alison & Michael’s positive comments about Taverns… and put a vote in for the interesting modules included in the Open Door expansion.