Dale Yu: Review of EXIT: The Hunt Through Amsterdam (Spoiler Free)

Posted on October 14, 2024 by Dale Yu

EXIT: The Hunt THrough Amsterdam

  • Designers: Inka and Markus Brand
  • Publisher: Kosmos
  • Players: 1-4
  • Age: 12+
  • Time: 1-2 hours
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4gWdGrs

The EXIT series was one of the original puzzle-game franchises to hit the market when the escape room game craze took off a few years ago. To date, my family and I have been able to play all of the ones released here in the US, and this is a series that we continue to look forward to future installments. While there are many worthy competitors in the genre, the EXIT series is possibly the best known of the bunch – due in part to the initial set of games being awarded the 2017 Kennerspiel des Jahres award. Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: Review of Stalk Exchange

Posted on October 13, 2024 by Dale Yu

 Stalk Exchange

  • Designer: Christopher Chan
  • Publisher: The Op
  • Players: 2-5
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 45 minutes
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3XTm43m
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Enter a Growing Market!

Welcome to the Community Hedge Fund where players take on the roles of gardeners dedicated to growing flowers and profits. When the market crashes, the Gardener with the most valuable Stalk portfolio wins.

Garden shrewdly to grow your fortune.

  •         Plant The Seeds of Investment to Grow Your Portfolio
  •         Surround Flowers to Harvest Their Value
  •         Trade Your Stalks at The Exchange to keep up with Trends
  •         Collaborate With Your Opponents to grow shared investments or outmaneuver them and cause their favorite flowers to wither

  Continue reading →

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Heroscape – Wave 3: The Rising Tide Raises All Boats

Posted on October 12, 2024 by Mark Jackson

I’m not sure if the resurgence of Heroscape is due to new players or to those of us whose collections from the days of yore (OK – 2004-2010) cried out for more stuff, but there’s no question that Heroscape is back. (Honestly, it’s probably a combination of both – which is a good thing, right?!)

Yesterday afternoon, Renegade Game Studios with hosts Anais Morgan (Community Coordinator) and Lee Houff (producer for the Heroscape line) revealed details about the next wave of Heroscape releases – and this looks like the largest wave yet to hit the stores! (Well, eventually – this particular wave of goodies will arrive in two different drops in the spring of 2025.)

And if that isn’t enough Heroscape content for you, I’ll also be sharing some highlights from the Heroscape Game Designer Roundtable… which was a lot of fun for this long-time Heroscape player.

Continue reading →
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Dale Yu: Review of Duck & Cover [2024 Essen SPIEL]

Posted on October 12, 2024 by Dale Yu

Duck & Cover

  • Designer: Oussama Khelifati
  • Publisher: Captain Games
  • Players: 2-7
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 20 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Duck & Cover is a 20 minutes goofy game in which you’re trying to have the less water around your bathtub. You will either duck your ducks by moving them around your grid or cover your duck cards with other ducks. You have 3 rounds to get the lowest score and to not have water everywhere. Your ducks will love that for sure!

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Dale Yu: Review of The Lie [Essen SPIEL 2024]

Posted on October 11, 2024 by Dale Yu

The Lie

  • Designers: Eloi Pujadas, Eugeni Castaňo
  • Publisher: Devir
  • Players: 2-6
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 20 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

In The Lie, all the cards lie! The cards show numbers from 1 to 4, and they are in four different colors. However, when you turn each card over, you will find something has changed: either its color or number. You must be clever in choosing your combinations in order to play a higher number of the same color. Whoever is able to play all of their cards first wins the match, and whoever has the most points after a certain number of matches wins the game.

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Dale Yu: Review of Exit: The Game Advent Calendar – The Missing Hollywood Star

Posted on October 10, 2024 by Dale Yu

Exit: The Game Advent Calendar – The Missing Hollywood Star

Designers: Inka and Markus Brand

Publisher: Kosmos

Players: 1+

Time: 5-10 min/day x 24 days

Played with review copy provided by Thames and Kosmos

Amazon Affiliate link – https://amzn.to/3XNrSu4

Advent calendars are a well-entrenched tradition in Germany.  Each October when I head to Essen for SPIEL, the stores are already jammed packed with Advent calendars of all types.  The first printed Advent calendar originated in Germany in the early 20th century with Gerhard Lang. When Gerhard was a little boy his mother made him a calendar with 24 small candies attached to cardboard, one for each day before Christmas.  Lang grew up to operate the Reichhold & Lang printing company where he printed the first Advent cardboard calendar with 24 little pictures. A few years later, the company printed the first calendar with the little doors that everyone loves to open.  The first chocolate Advent calendar appeared in 1958, but it was in 1971 that Cadbury joined the race and launched its own version in the UK. Cadbury produced Advent calendars intermittently from 1972 to 1986, but it wasn’t until 1993 that they finally became a mainstay.

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