by: Valerie Matthews

I attended Origins for one day (Friday) and spent my day in the dealer hall.  I was able to try out (and play full games) of 8 different games:  Sea of Plunder, Miller Zoo, What the Cup!?, Keys to the Castle, boop., Echidna Shuffle, Block and Key, and Hands.  Read on if you are interested in my first impressions!

Sea of Plunder (2020)

Designer:  Rusty Lumpkin

Publisher:  Three Nail Games

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Reef Rescue

• Designer: Daryl Chow
• Publisher: Origami
• Players: 2-5
• Age: 7+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Played with copy provided by publisher

In Reef Rescue, “the seas are teeming with life of all shapes and colours. But how much do you know about the sea kingdoms that lie below us? What if one day, they need to be rescued from the insidious surface creatures who dump their garbage into their living space? In Reef Rescue, you take on the role of Ocean Rangers trying to rescue creatures, both big and small, from the sea. But beware, even you aren’t immune to the garbage patches that are destroying their marine habitat!”

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The voting for the 2022 Meeples Choice Awards has just been concluded and the winning games are Heat, Cat in the Box, and Challengers!.  But who determines which games are chosen each year?  It’s not some high-powered anonymous jury, but more than 50 gamers just like you, who have taken the time, many of them for over 20 years, to vote on their favorite games from the previous calendar year.  And, of course, they have good reasons for why they pick the games they do.

Jacob Lee is one of our long-time voters and is also one of the OG website’s most loyal and interactive readers.  He came up with an excellent suggestion:  why don’t we ask the voters for their reasons for their picks and publish them in an Opinionated Gamers article?  A bunch of the voters enthusiastically responded, so all I had to do was collect the responses and organize them.  Instant article!  As always, the voters’ reasons are interesting and well thought out.  I think they make a fascinating summary of the best games of last year and will be a fine starting point for anyone who, now or later, wants to know which 2022 games to check out or buy.  Most of the comments are positive ones, but there are a few negative critiques as well.  Here they are, in game alphabetical order, with each comment attributed to the voter who made it.  I hope you find this enjoyable.

Akropolis
A VERY fast playing tile laying game without all the fluff of the various (and somewhat over-complicated) animal and forest tile layers. – Simon Neal

The Meeples Choice Awards for the 2022 calendar year have been announced.  The voters three favorite games from last year are:

HEAT: PEDAL TO THE MEDAL
CAT IN THE BOX: DELUXE EDITION
CHALLENGERS!

In a closely fought vote, Carnegie and Tiletum were the closest competitors to the winning games.  Rounding out the top 10 were Return to Dark Tower, Revive, Akropolis, Planet Unknown, and Dice Realms.

Heat’s appearance at the top of the list is not a surprise, as it has been the most popular of the games that debuted at the last Essen fair and broke into the Geek 100 a month and a half ago.  Challengers! is one of the three nominees for the SdJ’s Kennerspiel award and is considered the odds-on favorite to win.  Cat in the Box was originally released in Japan back in 2020, but with only a tiny number of copies, it was impossible to find.  Gamers only really became aware of it following the release of the Deluxe Edition last year.

So congratulations to designers Asger Granerud, Daniel Pedersen, Muneyuki Yokouchi, Johannes Krenner, and Markus Slawitscheck.  It’s a group that hails from all over the world–Denmark, Japan, and Austria–showing once again how international the modern gaming scene has become.  Congrats as well to the winning publishers:  Days of Wonder, Bezier Games, and 1 More Time Games.

Walking in Burano Roll & Write

• Designer: Wei-Min Ling
• Publisher: EmperorS4
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 10+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Says the publisher: “The citizens of Burano, a picturesque island in Venice, are known for their creative flair in decorating their houses, making them a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike.  Players select dice of different colors to decorate the houses with plants, curtains, chimneys… and of course, the annoying cats. This version maintains the neat scoring from the original game and adds a unique gaming experience of roll and write.  Based on the different decorations on the houses, tourists and inhabitants evaluate the players with points. At the end of the game, the player with the most points wins.”

Walking in Burano is one of the many interesting small games from EmperorS4; and I was delighted to see that there is a new roll and write version of the game – though interestingly, it comes in nearly an identical sized box as the original!

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