 February 2026 Games I played for the first time this month, from worst to best, along with my ratings and comments.  Linko – 5/10 Linko belongs in the same category as games like Cabanga. Both are lightweight card games that feel mechanically different than typical card games (they’re not climbing, trick-taking, etc.). And both are relatively well-regarded by serious gamers for reasons I can’t really get my head around. A game of Linko ends when a player has emptied their whole hand of cards. Each player then scores a point for each card on the table in front of them, subtracting a point for each card remaining in hand. Typically, this is going to result in the player who gets rid of all their cards also being the winner. You must play at least one card each turn, but can play as many as you like so long as they all match in value (e.g, they are all tens). But cards played in front of you are not safe; a player who goes after you can remove them from your scoring pile by playing the same quantity of cards but with a higher value. When this happens, the player who steals them can take them into hand or else give you the option to take them into hand, or discard them and draw an equal number from the deck. This system creates a peculiar play pattern, wherein plays that generate the most points (by having many cards) are also the toughest to counteract. So there may be some merit to playing single, generally useless, cards just to get them out of your hand since they are unlikely to be appealing theft targets. The biggest strike against the balance and tactics seems to be the existence of the thirteens, which are the highest value card, and thus can never be stolen. A player with a good amount of thirteens can steal anything but other thirteens and also use them singly to protect their entire scoring pile. Random distribution of such powerful and non-interactive cards is a problem. That said, it’s not that serious of a game. It’s over in 15 minutes or so and will likely generate some “wow!” moments as a player reveals they can steal an unexpectedly large quantity of cards. Strategies, such as they are, seem nebulous at best, limited to things like playing aggressively to empty your hand quickly or defensively, saving cards to counteract the plays of others. Having only played this once, I’m certainly not an authority on the balance of luck in the game, but at the very least I can say this is a game I just don’t get.  Galactic Cruise – 7/10 Galactic Cruise has garnered a good bit of attention since its release last year. It’s a heavy game, but has the kind of intuitive mechanics that still make it relatively painless to learn, like the best Lacerda games. Now this isn’t designed by Lacerda; it comes from a team of three first-time designers who also own the publishing company. There was a time when such efforts were either doomed to failure or, at best, produced sub-par products, but not that’s not really the case these days. This is a game with design and production quality that rivals anyone else out there. Thematically, you are running a company that offers spaceship tours. You’ll need to provide both appealing planetary destinations as well as engaging activities during the long journey if you want to maximize the enjoyment of your customers. There are choices to make about how many ships to build, how large to make them, how to source the fuel and oxygen and supplies you’ll need, how to attract customers, where to travel to, and in what order to prioritize each of those things. This is a worker placement game, though you generally don’t get locked out of spaces so much as have to pay a premium to use ones other people beat you to. Which of course requires even more subtle tactical adaptation to your overall strategy. Strategic options are wide open and players will almost instinctively prioritize different things. “I’m going to go for X this game” starts running through your head even before the rules explanation is done. This type of engagement with the mechanics is really important for a game of this weight to still remain as accessible as it does. And those plans can largely be carried out as randomness and player interactivity are both relatively low. If you like games where only you can thwart your own plans, Galactic Cruise could be a favorite. On the downside, there are a lot of rules to learn before your first play; if you don’t plan to play regularly, or at least soon after, this time investment may not be worth it. Downtime can also be high, leaving a decent portion of players to not recommend even trying this with the full complement of four. And the finale can be a bit clunky as well: in a noble effort allow completion of a partially finished ship or in-progress journey, the endgame trigger has players finish the current round, then reset all workers, then play another final round, then take an extra journey advancement, then complete another scoring phase this time with all the endgame bonuses added in. It’s easy to see why mid to heavy strategy gamers have taken to Galactic Cruise. It’s a really enjoyable experience from the clarity of the rulebook to the production of the player pieces. It offers a high degree of player control, but maintains a sense of fun as well. The price tag is high enough that it might be a try-before-you-buy situation, but there are no red flags here for someone who knows what they are getting into.  Endeavor: Deep Sea – 9/10 If it doesn’t seem like I played very many new games this month, that’s probably because I was too busy playing Endeavor: Deep Sea. This game came out last year to great acclaim (it currently sits in the BoardGameGeek.com Top 100 of all time), but I hadn’t tried it until this month. Obviously I shouldn’t have waited so long. The original Endeavor came out in 2009 followed by a sequel, Endeavor: Age of Sail in 2018. While this latest version is considered a reimplementation of its predecessors, most people don’t seem to see that many similarities. After all, progressing along different tracks to upgrade abilities and score points isn’t exactly a unique concept. So what set this one apart, both from its earlier implementations and the many other games with the same basic framework? Mostly I think it’s the thematic integration paired with an aesthetic of whimsical exploration. On your turn, you will place a disk onto one of your specialists so they can carry out an action for you. You start the game with only two specialists, so the first round is likely only going to see each player doing two things. You will get a new specialist each round, opening up your options. But there are immediate challenges. First of all, specialists need disks to activate and some actions consume disks, so you’ll want to upgrade your ability to produce more. And once placed, disks are locked on your specialist, preventing them from taking further actions, so you’ll want to upgrade your ability to remove disks. You’ll also want to upgrade the quality of your specialists, so that the new one you get each round is more powerful than your previous ones. But you’re going to have to make difficult decisions about how to prioritize those (and more) options. The game offers five possible actions. You can move your submarine, getting an arrival bonus of free stuff. You can scan the depths of the ocean for new tiles, getting a discovery bonus of free stuff. You can go diving to gain research points and extra actions. And then you can spend that research to engage in conservation efforts or journaling, both of which score you lots of points and upgrade your abilities. The endgame goals change based on the scenario you play, so these may get prioritized differently from game to game, but you’re likely to carry out all of them at least a few times each game. Scanning for new tiles with the sonar action is really what hooks most people in. Each one is different thematically, with all kinds of surprises lurking in the depths. But more than that, each one presents unique opportunities and often a quirky little rule that’s just for that tile. For your first few plays, these are delightful surprises. Then, as you play more times, you’ll undoubtedly develop favorites. Endeavor: Deep Sea is instantly captivating, but also rewards repeated plays. Not only do the scenarios provide setups and endgame goals to keep things fresh, but each scenario also allows multiple paths to victory. You can play competitively or cooperatively, with friends or solo, and with or without Blue Planet on TV in the background. You’ll have a great time no matter what.  A highly recommended game that I have most certainly played prior to this month, probably many times.  Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation – 9/10 One of the first games I ever purchased was Stratego. Even today, as mass market games go, you could do worse. There is something thrilling about baiting and bluffing your opponent and executing clever gambits. Unfortunately, Stratego takes a bit too long to play, with much of the time being spent resolving irrelevant battles between scads of very weak units that don’t have much bearing on the outcome. In 2002, one of the greatest designers of all time, Reiner Knizia, solved every single one of those issues while still maintaining all the fun parts. He also strongly integrated a theme from one of the greatest books of all time. I was immediately hooked, and the luster still hasn’t faded in the nearly 25 years since I first played it. In case you’re unfamiliar, Stratego is a two-player game in which each player’s pieces are secret from the other. When a piece moves into an opposing space, both are revealed and the higher-numbered piece defeats the lower one. Most importantly, your opponent has a flag you attempt to capture. Both hiding and protecting the flag amongst many other pieces are important considerations. The Confrontation instead gives each player asymmetric powers and goals. And when two pieces fight, instead of simply revealing and comparing numbers, the initial strengths are supplemented by an extra card from each player’s hand, adding an element of blind bidding. The Confrontation dispenses with the need to hide your important pieces amongst a bunch of irrelevant ones in several ways. First, it allows multiple pieces to share spaces, which means you can re-hide once discovered. Secondly, it reduces the piece count to just nine per side, giving each one a relevant and powerful ability. Every battle becomes significant, with tactical gambits occurring constantly. Yet this is all in service of broader goals: killing the ringbearer or getting him to Mt. Doom. This is a game with a gameplay arc that is both tactical and strategic but nevertheless can be played in about 20 minutes. Usually only abstract strategy games promise that kind of depth in such a short time, but they are also usually narratively uninteresting and inaccessible to new players. The Confrontation is neither. A new player who sits down at the chessboard across from a master is going to be disappointed by how quickly things go wrong. They’ll hemorrhage pieces and then likely ultimately miss how they even got checkmated. That’s not really how it feels to lose this game as an inexperienced player. It’s far more akin to sitting down to play Poker with a veteran and being amazed at how well they can read you. Are they peeking at your cards somehow? Nope, you’re just falling into obvious play patterns. Now you have an opportunity to really throw them for a loop next game! One final word: it’s not an easy task to create an asymmetric game that is nevertheless well-balanced. This game passes with flying colors. It requires a very different approach to the game, depending on which side you play, but both are thrilling, tense, and always make you feel like you have a chance to win right to the bitter end. This is a true masterpiece and one of the very best two-player games of all time. |
Recent Comments
Heartily agree with the recommendations of both Galactic Cruise & Endeavor Deep Sea. They were both on my “top ten new-to-me games” list of 2025.
Some excellent games in this round-up:
Linko (or Abluxxen, as we old farts insist on calling it) is really good and MUCH better (and more refined) than Cabanga. It’s easy to explain, but requires good judgment to play well. My last play of it was one of my most memorable, as it was my most enjoyable session at the Gathering 3 years ago, mostly because I couldn’t do *anything* right. When you’re having a great time despite doing terribly, that’s the sign of a good game.
Galactic Cruise is excellent and is probably best regarded heavy game of 2025. It runs a bit long, but I’ve still enjoyed my plays of it. There’s a lot to think about, but the actions are all intuitive and it plays fairly smoothly. I expect we’ll be playing it for years to come.
I love Endeavor: Deep Sea. For a meaty game, it’s very accessible and easy to teach. There’s tremendous variety and it’s just fun to play. But it’s also quite challenging and takes some experience and skill to play well. Just a great game and one I look forward to exploring even more.