Category Archives: Best Of

Potion Explosion is the Italian Game of the Year

Posted on October 4, 2016 by

On Sunday 17th September the jury of the Gioco dell’Anno (Game of the Year) chose Potions Explosions as game of the year 2016. The game was devised by Stefano Castelli, Andrea Crespi and Lorenzo Silva and published by Horrible Games. … Continue reading →

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Tricks and Trumps #3: Trick Taking Meets German Game Designers (1990-1995)

Posted on March 19, 2016 by

This is our third entry in an eleven-part series featuring trick taking games.  This entry will focus on trick taking games from the early 1990s to 1995.  During this era, German game designers started to put their own creative twists … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tricks and Trumps #2: Variations on the Classics (1966-1990)

Posted on March 16, 2016 by

Tricks and Trumps #2: Variations on the Classics This is our second entry in an eleven-part series featuring trick taking games.  This entry will focus on trick taking games from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s, which tended to closely … Continue reading →

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Tricks and Trumps #1: The Classic Trick-Takers Before 1965

Posted on March 14, 2016 by

This is the first entry in an eleven-part series featuring trick taking games.  We put more than 150 such games into a ratings spreadsheet, giving each Opinionated Gamer the chance to offer their rating.  We decided to write about any … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

2015 Year In Review

Posted on January 11, 2016 by

With 2015 now over, your intrepid Opinionated Gamers are taking a look back to answer the question on everyone’s mind about this time of year – what was the best game of 2015?  Of course, all being opinionated, we can’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of | 5 Comments

Goblin Magnifico: Wir Sind das Volk! won the award

Posted on May 9, 2015 by

After the recent birth of Gioco dell’Anno, Lucca Comics & Games award for the best gateway/family game that substituted Best of Show and the passing of Ludoteca Ideale, we miss a real award for gamers in Italy. We have one … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Convention Report | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Golden Geek Madness

Posted on March 3, 2015 by

BoardGameGeek announced the winners of the Golden Geek awards last week, including the Game of the Year – Splendor.  The Opinionated Gamers unsurprisingly have diverse opinions about Splendor.  But we thought, why stop there?  Let’s share our opinions about all … Continue reading →

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The Half Dozen (or is it more?) Decent Essen Games

Posted on December 25, 2014 by

Nearly twenty years ago now, Mike Siggins wrote in one of his excellent Essen wrap-ups in Sumo: “What is certain is that on the evidence of Essen, the German hobby is still a hundred times more active than our own, … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Essen 2014 | 10 Comments

Italian Games of the Year announced

Posted on October 8, 2014 by

And the winner is … Just a little break in the endless rush of Essen preview/review to announce the best Italian award … Two years ago Italian publishers and Lucca Comics & Games staff had a meeting concerning the evolution … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Site News | 2 Comments

Feld Madness

Posted on July 22, 2014 by

Stefan Feld can be a polarizing game designer.  Many love his games; many love to hate his games.  The Opinionated Gamers recently came together to rate all of Feld’s games that we had played over the years on our classic … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of | 13 Comments