New-to-me games played recently include …

13 LEAVES (2025): Rank 7205, Rating 6.7

Shedder where the set you play must be <= the lowest played set so far or >= the highest played set so far. The twist is that as each player passes they take a card from the played sets so far, improving their hand but also making it easier for the still-in players to continue playing if cards are taken from the lowest or highest sets. Which makes for random (but fun) go outs. What to play and when to pass doesn’t seem overly intuitive so I’d explore it more if it hit the table again.

Rating: 7

ALTAY: DAWN OF CIVILISATION (2024): Rank 4393, Rating 6.8

Think Dominion. 10 card deck, draw 5, use resources to buy cards from the pool of card sets to improve your deck in the manner you wish. There’s a board – you start in the corner and use attack cards to clear out adjacent territories and then use settlement cards to build settlements there. Eventually this leads to combat with other players. You can also claim techs and spend resources on them until they’re built. VPs from big cards, techs, territories, combats. The problem is the card set is fixed each game making for a static experience that is meant to be leavened by combat interaction. But I want more to explore in a game and combat doesn’t entertain me, so it’s not for me.

Rating: 6

BANG: THE DICE GAME (2013): Rank 852, Rating 6.9

Take a random secret identity game and make it extra random by making your actions dictated by the dice you’re left with after two re-rolls. Want to hit someone? Random. Want life back? Random. Who should you hit? Random. Until battle lines eventually become obvious and then … the result is random. I guess it does capture the essence of the shootout theme, and it is quick at least.

Rating: 5

THE GLORIOUS GUILDS OF BUTTONVILLE (2025): Rank 9821, Rating 7.1

Take X sets of cards, mash them into one big deck. On your turn, draw 2 cards from draft or deck. Aim to build a big set, play it out for VPs, repeat. Sounds simple but it’s painfully slow because all the sets have unique powers and everyone is forever reading all the powers to determine the best shenanigans to pull. After a series of slow and random turns, the deck runs out. Add up your points and hope the next game has a more interesting set of actions and moves faster.

Rating: 6

MATCHSTICK TYCOON (2025): Rank 15261, Rating 6.1

A shedder where the numbers are hexadecimal 0-F and, in the same vein as Twinkle Starship, are displayed in digital format and allow you to use matchsticks to modify numbers and make bigger sets. Each time you pass you get a matchstick which opens up more options and makes your hand more powerful. In the other twist if someone plays 5 of a kind, card order reverses (low becomes high or vice versa) so it’s no longer automatic to lead out low. The value of cards shifts depending on how easy they are to modify into other numbers in your hand. The game is interesting but necessarily slower than normal as there’s more weighing up of options, and there can be random ruination with an untimely order flip.

Rating: 6

ORBIT (2025): Rank 4042, Rating 7.5 – Knizia

There are 8 planets on various overlapping circular paths and you want to be the first to visit all of them. Turns are easy – play a card. Cards provide movement points which can be used before or after you move the planets (that the card shows) along to their next stops. Some turns you can move a planet advantageously and hop on. Most turns you can’t so the game encourages you to work out what the other players are doing next and screw them over. Oh what fun. One space away from the next planet you want to visit? Come your turn it’s out of reach. Oh what fun. Any game that promotes that kind of king-making spiteful in-your-face glee, that actively encourages players to break the social contract and spread hate, can go f*** itself.

Rating: 4

PILI PILI (2025): Rank 11056, Rating 6.6

Each hand has a different sized hand and a different rule. Bid how many tricks you’re going to win knowing that 30+ cards were not dealt out and wish yourself good luck. It’s a similar feel to low-middling hands of Oh Hell and that will tell you whether you’ll like it or not. Manage the luck as best you can and embrace the joyride of randomness.

Rating: 7

ROLL TO THE TOP (2018): Rank 3287, Rating 6.7 – Joustra / van Moorsel

There’s a pool of 5 dice – d4, d6, d8, d2 and a d20. What gets rolled varies throughout the game and you can use none, any or all dice (including adding them together) to write numbers into your pyramid. Each number must be >= than the two numbers it sits above. Start low, gradually build higher, first to fill their pyramid wins. Each turn is engaging in a monotonic processional way. You know what you want – do you pass if you don’t get what you want? It’s a race game. That’s the extent of the decision process.

Rating: 6

Thoughts of other Opinionated Gamers:

Alan H: while my experience of Orbit could have been similar to yours, I did feel that there was a high risk of the game descending in that direction. I suppose I should have said spiralling. However, the people that I played with played “nicely”, so this didn’t happen. To create more uncertainty about the end of the game, I suggested that one less planet or not needing to get back to base would make it more challenging to screw someone. Probably not going to affect your perspective I guess, Alison.