Dale Yu: First Impressions of Movie Tricks

Movie Tricks

  • Designers: Vegard Eliassen Stillerud, Eilif Svensson, Ã…smund Svensson 
  • Publisher: Chilifox Games
  • Players: 2-5
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 20-30 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Movie Tricks is a unique trick-taking game:

  • Play cards to determine turn order.
  • In turn order, grab cards from the market.
  • All played cards form the market for the next round.

At the end of the game, score points in different categories, like Best Movie, CGI, Props, Roles, and Soundtrack. If you do not win, you may at least brag about the coolest title!

 

Continue reading

Posted in Essen 2025, First Impressions | 1 Comment

Dale Yu: Review of Yum Yum Trouble Gum

Yum Yum Trouble Gum

  • Designer: Axel Streubel
  • Publisher: Loosey Goosey
  • Players: 2-5
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 20+
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

The troublelicious heist game with just one loser!  YUM YUM Trouble Gum is a card shedding game. When it is your turn, you draw a new card and/or play a card that fits. As soon as everyone and everything is in place, a heist can go down. At that point, be sure to have the right cards left in your hand or, better yet, none at all. Either way, let someone else take the fall!

Continue reading

Posted in Essen 2025, Reviews | Leave a comment

Mark’s Bundle of 2025 Essen Game Thoughts

A collage of board games featuring colorful components and game boards. The images include various game layouts, dice, cards, and player pieces, showcasing distinct designs and mechanics.



Five days. Forty-six plays. Four prototypes plus thirty games that were new to me.

Unless otherwise noted, these are FIRST impressions… I only had the opportunity to play many of these games a single time with a physical copy.

If you’re interested in my Essen (well, post-Essen) impressions from 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022, you can find them at the following links. (I’m not sure why I didn’t do one of these in 2021.)

For those of you who haven’t read a lot of my reviews, they may give you a better insight into my board game tastes and what I’m likely to enjoy. (Which, of course, may or may not line up with your choices. Your mileage may vary.) I’m also linking to OG articles about the games when they are available.

Continue reading
Posted in Convention Report, Essen 2025, First Impressions | Tagged | 4 Comments

Dale Yu: Review of Toy Battle 

Toy Battle

  • Designers: Paolo Mori, Alessandro Zucchini 
  • Publisher: Repos
  • Players: 2
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 15 minutes
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/43EJ20K
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

On land, on sea, in clouds, and even in space, battles are breaking out between toys. Your troops need your tactical talent to lead them to victory. Your mission? Be the first to reach the enemy headquarters or control more territories than your opponent.

On your turn in Toy Battle, you either draw two toy troops or place a troop on the board and apply its effect. When you place a troop, you can place it on an empty base, a base that you control, a base that the enemy controls with a lower-valued troop than the one you’re placing, or the enemy’s headquarters; however, in all cases you must place on a location that has a continuous path to your own headquarters through bases that you occupy, that is, that have your troop on top. If you occupy bases that form a continuous path around a region, you claim the medals within this region. (You don’t lose these medals if the enemy later occupies one of these bases.)

The game ends as soon as you occupy your opponent’s headquarters or win the required number of medals based on the current game board. If a player cannot draw or place a troop, the game ends, and whoever has the most medals wins.

 

Continue reading

Posted in Essen 2025, Reviews | Leave a comment

Dale Yu: Review of  Light Speed Arena

Light Speed Arena

  • Designer: James Ernest, Tom Jolly, Leonardo Alese, Emanuele Santellani
  • Publisher: Pegasus Spiele
  • Players: 1-4
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 5-10 min
  • Amazon affiliate link: 
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

A real-time tabletop shooter in which you aim with your tiles and take a smartphone picture to let the app unfold the battle for you. As the roar of the crowd resonates, the arena is lit with the brilliant glow of sponsor ads: Pick your faction and step into battle. Tactically place and orient your spaceships to score the most points by taking down enemy vehicles, collecting mineral units from asteroids, and impressing the game sponsors.

This is a real-time, tile laying game. The game begins with two tiles in the center and starting the timer. Every round, each player places one spaceship anywhere on the battlefield while everybody else is doing the same! Aim at enemies and asteroids, while appealing to the sponsors and avoiding friendly fire. After 8 rounds, players stop and take a photo with the companion app. The companion app will play the battle for you and calculate the scores. Scores can also be calculated manually with the Downgrade Pack.

  Continue reading

Posted in Essen 2025, Reviews | 1 Comment

Dale Yu: Review of Ghostbumpers

Ghostbumpers

  • Designers: Inka Brand, Markus Brand 
  • Publisher: Deep Print Games
  • Players: 3-6
  • Age:8+
  • Time: 15-20 minutes
  • Amazon affiliate link: 
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

The monsters are terrorizing the fairground. You dive into a crazy bumper-car ride and try not to lose your nerve. Who will be the first to get scared?

In this trick-taking game, you don’t want to win too many tricks, because each trick carries the risk that your character gets scared. The braver you play, the more points you can earn.

Continue reading

Posted in Essen 2025, Reviews | Leave a comment