Dale Yu: Review of Lost Ruins of Arnak: Twisted Paths

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Dale Yu

Lost Ruins of Arnak: Twisted Paths

  • Designers: Elwen, Min 
  • Publisher: Czech Games Edition
  • Players: 1-4
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 30-120 minutes
  • Amazon affiliate link: 
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Twisted Paths is the final major addition to the world of Arnak. Its highlight is a new double-sided map, bigger than the one in the base game, that features two new research tracks, each with unique mechanisms and components.  It is intended for you to use this board in place of the usual main board.  If you have previous expansions and like to use the Leaders from them, you’ll be able to incorporate those into your games with the new maps.  It should be noted that the content in Lost Ruins of Arnak: Twisted Paths was previously included in the Adventure Chest, a limited-edition storage box.

On the map, you can choose to explore its daytime side and scale the white stone of the Owl Temple. It uses unique new temple tiles that, if combined together, can become extra idol slots, and a third research token, a lantern, that brings even stronger research rewards.  Players will also have the opportunity to discover single-use secret passages along the research track; leading to some interesting actions. Given the extra scoring opportunities, you may find that your scores are somewhat higher than usual with this side. 

You can also brave the night and journey through the dark caverns of the Spider Temple. This side uses a new resource, dark tablets, used to invoke mysterious altars and place artifacts directly onto the research track to be used when ascending the track. When you invoke an altar, you will place an artifact at that location – where it will remain for the rest of the game, able to be used by all players.

 But beware—using the dark tablets can give you strong rewards, but also cost you points should you become too ambitious!  The rules note that you should expect lower than normal scores when playing with this board.  Depending on how many dark tablets were used in the game, players will be assessed a penalty for each one they placed.  To balance it out somewhat, the player who played the most dark tablets at an altar will score the bonus listed above it.

In addition to the two new maps, the expansion also contains new guardians, sites, and assistants. It also brings some solo content—Rival tiles for the new maps, as well as Purple Rival tiles and Rival Objectives, two mini expansions we’ve previously released online as print-and-play.  

 

Thoughts from the Opinionated Gamers


Mark Jackson: As I sat down to write these ‘thoughts’, I realized that I’m having some trouble separating my experience with the Twisted Paths expansion from the fact I received it as part of my purchase of the Adventure Box (a complete storage/organization system for all the Lost Ruins of Arnak stuff). In fact, the larger map board in Twisted Paths works – in part – because of the better storage system. (I know we’re not reviewing the Adventure Box here, but I’m a big fan.)

A slight correction: not only can you play the new maps with the explorers from Expedition Leaders and Missing Expedition expansions – it’s how the maps were designed. (The rulebook warns that playing with the base game leaders will be “challenging”.)

The artwork for Lost Ruins of Arnak has always been stellar – but the two new maps are particularly beautiful. The increased size gives more opportunity for details that help bring the world of Arnak to life.

Both maps – Spider Temple and Owl Temple – are best for experienced players. They both add more complicated research tracks and other game elements that push the difficulty level up a notch. Both research tracks also incorporate the temple tile buying mechanic originally found on the new research tracks in the Expedition Leaders expansion.



The Spider Temple’s dark tablets can be used to activate altars and gain artifact powers but at the cost of endgame points. (Well, there is a mitigating factor – the player who used the most dark tablets at a particular altar gets a point bonus, though often not enough to cover the cost of messing around with the dark forces.)

The Owl Temple adds secret passages on the research track which are accessed by spending your magnifying glass marker and the research cost in order to obtain temple tiles. Once you’ve entered a secret passage, your lantern token (new to this map) starts at the bottom of the research track and triggers different effects as it moves up the track. Additionally, the Owl Temple features a different set of temple tiles which can be locked together to create an additional idol slot (like the ones on your player board). Finally, the second row of first level dig sites have two idols but cost two extra coins (in addition to the usual three compasses) to excavate.


The extra elements are clever and won’t be particularly difficult to teach experienced players – but I’d hesitate to drag a newbie onto one of these maps.

As a solo player, I’ll also note that each of the maps has a specific solo tile that is mixed to the action stack each round. That allows the solo AI to interact with the board elements particular to that map.

I haven’t had a chance to play with the Rival Objectives solo module yet – that’s next on my list. (As is another run at The Missing Expedition solo campaign.)

Ryan P: I also received the expansion as a part of backing the Adventure Box. The fact that so many have, says a lot about how Arnak has held up as a game. I have played both new maps, and they are now my #1 and #2 favorite temple tracks to play. I am partial to the Spider Temple, but only slightly. I would definitely recommend someone who is new to Arnak, start with the Expedition Leaders expansion. But once you add leaders, I see no reason to not add this extra content, as it’s all high quality variability additions. And if you haven’t played Arnak at all, what the heck are you waiting for?

Luke H: The two new maps are the most different from the rest, than any of the other maps so far. Which makes sense, as the longer a game has been out, the more of the “standard” tweaks have already been done. 

The Owl map takes an issue that can creep up in other, more basic maps (namely, it being a bit too easy to move up the research tracks all the way to the top) and turns it into a strength. By adding ways to exit and restart the track, players can decide how much they can possibly get out of that half of the board. Do I exit quickly, and get my lantern going? Or do I push my magnifying glass all the way up, and then exit and see how far I can get the lantern to go? What if somebody takes the exit I was planning on using? Tense and dicey. In addition, the ability to essentially buy more idol slots is super welcome. I tend to use my slots asap, so more is better, and more fun. 

The Spider map is wild. The fact that the artifacts that get slotted into the research track come from the offer, and will be different game to game is super interesting. The games feel very different if those artifacts’ effects lean toward one area of the game or another. In one game, several of the artifacts selected helped players climb the research track. By the end, all players had both markers at the top of the track or just short. Never seen that happen before. The penalty for the dark tablets seems interesting in concept, but so far, have been mostly a wash, as people all spent their tablets on the artifact effects. In my next game, I plan on trying to use them that way in a more judicious manner, to see if I can score some advantage in points in the aggregate. But, who am I kidding, seeing as how I spend my idol slots in the same manner, points be damned, I need those sweet resources. 

Last point: While the main features of the new maps are the research tracks, the slight tweaks to the other side of the board are welcome, as well. Whether it be the travel costs to the discovery spaces, or the tweaks to the camp sites, the changes break you out of the standard way of playing. All in all, an excellent package. 


Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

  • I love it! Mark Jackson, Ryan P, Luke H
  • I like it.
  • Neutral.
  • Not for me…

 

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Dale Yu: Review of  I’m Out

Posted on October 18, 2025 by Dale Yu

I’m Out

  • Designer: Masato Uesugi
  • Publisher: CMYK
  • Players: 3-6
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 15 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

I’m Out is about emptying your hand before anyone else.  Everyone plays cards into a central row that goes up in ascending order. Matching numbers stack.  You can only play cards to each end of the row, so either the lowest number or below on the left, or the highest number or higher on the right.  To make it trickier, you have to play at least as many cards as the stack at that end of the row.

 

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Dale Yu: Review of No Thanks (2025 version)

Posted on October 17, 2025 by Dale Yu

No Thanks

  • Designer: Thorsten Gimmler
  • Publisher: CMYK
  • Players: 3-7
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 20 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

No Thanks! is a card game designed to be as simple as it is engaging.

The rules are simple. Each turn, players have two options:

  • play one of their chips to avoid picking up the current face-up card
  • pick up the face-up card (along with any chips that have already been played on that card) and turn over the next card

However, the choices aren’t so easy as players compete to have the lowest score at the end of the game. The deck of cards is numbered from 3 to 35, with each card counting for a number of points equal to its face value. Runs of two or more cards only count as the lowest value in the run – but nine cards are removed from the deck before starting, so be careful looking for connectors. Each chip is worth -1 point, but they can be even more valuable by allowing you to avoid drawing that unwanted card.

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Josiah’s Monthly Board Game Round-Up – September 2025

Posted on October 16, 2025 by Josiah Fiscus
N/A

September 2025

Games I played for the first time this month, from worst to best, along with my ratings and comments.


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Five Crowns – 3/10

­Five Crowns was first released in 1996. Given that it’s been about three decades since then, I’m tempted to cut it some slack for not being up to par with current card games. But then I realized that 1996 is fourteen years after the release of Phase 10, a comparable yet superior game. So now I’m back to being confused about the popularity and ubiquity of this game I’d as yet managed to avoid.

What we have here is a very simple rummy game. You make sets and runs, each of which must have at least three cards. You do this with a simple “draw one, then discard one” turn structure, with the option to draw the top card of the discard pile being the only tactical choice you will make in the entire game. Naturally, the choice of where to draw your card from is almost always blindingly obvious.

The titular crowns are a reference to the fact that the game uses a five-suited deck in which the king is the high card (no aces or twos are present). Actually, it uses two copies of this same five-suited deck, shuffled together. Why does this matter? I have no idea. The suits are not used at all. I don’t want to gloss over this point because I feel it speaks to the amateurish nature of the design here. The thing that sets apart Five Crowns from being a game you could simply play with a standard deck of cards, the thing that is so distinctive they named the game after it, has no bearing on gameplay. A king of clubs is the same as a king of hearts which is the same as a king of stars and by the way, there are two of each anyway. I cannot begin to understand the thought process here, but I suspect it was basically non-existent.

In the first round of the game, the players are dealt three-card hands. And threes are wild. In the second round, the players are dealt four-card hands, and fours are wild. This pattern continues all the way up to the 13-card hand with kings being wild. Why does the game use jacks, queens, and kings instead of just 11s, 12s, and 13s? The charitable answer is for familiarity and tradition. But it does create needless confusion, especially for kids, given that the actual values are relevant. Cards that are stuck in your hand at the end of the round are points (which are bad), with J, Q, K being worth 11, 12, and 13 respectively. So why not just print the values on them?

In addition to these rotating wilds, there are also jokers which are always wild. The vast quantities of available wilds, alongside the ease of making runs and sets given the shortened ranks and expanded suits, means that rounds are often comically short. Even in the late game with larger hands, it’s a pretty mediocre round if it takes someone more than two turns to use all the cards in their hand. Also worth noting, your hand isn’t revealed to the other players until you can use all your cards. This means there is very little interactivity, even defensively. This absurd pacing along with rules that seem crafted to curtail player choice at every opportunity are more strikes against the design.

Five Crowns hews dangerously close to “would rather play nothing at all” for me. It’s better than getting poked in the eye, but about as thrilling as kicking a pebble down the road. A bland, pointless, time-waster with thoughtless, uncreative design choices that offers neither intellectual stimulation nor fun.

The lone caveat here is that Five Crowns may have some value as a children’s game. In the same way that kids might play a bit of Tic-Tac-Toe to solve the puzzle (i.e., how not to play badly), kids may initially find a novel puzzle in whether to use a particular card as part of a run or set, especially in the late game when the hands are larger. But these decisions are trivial for anyone who has ever played, well, just about any other card game at all.


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Merchants of Andromeda – 6/10­

Twenty-five years ago, Reiner Knizia graced us with yet another auction game to add to his stable of classics. That game was Merchants of Amsterdam. Its primary selling point was its Dutch Auction mechanic, whereby items up for bid start at a maximum price that decreases in real time until someone finally agrees to pay for them. The problem was that the items being bid on were, well, boring. Mostly they provided a means of controlling areas on a map of Amsterdam for bonus points. Merchants of Andromeda is a newly-released revamp that tries to fix the boring parts while keeping the good stuff. Changing the setting from colonial Amsterdam to sci-fi is honestly a good start.

Your turn begins by drawing three cards. Each card has two possible rewards, either a resource or an action. You get the action from one card, the resource from one card, and the the final card goes up for auction. The winner of the auction, which could be you, gets both the resource and the action from that card.

The original version used a clunky, spring-loaded countdown clock that was prone to breakage. This new version instead runs its auction with an app. Each player puts a finger on the screen, the countdown begins, and first to remove their finger pays the price on the screen. This has some obvious advantages to its predecessor, but we did have several occasions where the app seemed buggy, which definitely detracted from the experience. Regardless, this system is the beating heart of the game. While nearly identical to a simple blind bid, the tension and nervous laughter that occur as the clock ticks down are what really set this game apart. You’re not just guessing what your opponents will do, you’re guessing it in real-time.

I’m loath to consider player tendencies as an actual flaw in a design, but it is worth noting that it’s common for players to vastly overpay when using this system. Many others have noted that as a potential pitfall in the original game, and it is present here as well in my experience. A player or two who are regularly bidding the maximum possible (or simply too high), will create a path to victory for the other players in which they never try to win any auctions. It’s unfortunate to have a tension between the conceit of the game (win auctions) and correct play (never win an auction). The most positive spin I can put on this is that Merchants is an exercise in careful valuation and self-control, even in the face of time pressure and peer pressure.

So how about the changes to the rewards themselves? Instead of merely bidding for area control, there are several different “mini-games”. Some involve area control, yes, but others are about exploration, push-your-luck, or even memory. You’ll do set collection, track movement, and a few other things as well. This is a welcome change to the humdrum nature of the original, but it also adds a good bit of rules overhead to what is otherwise a pretty rules-light game. It also introduces an additional degree of randomness.

In the end, this game is really all about the auction. When it works, it’s a delightfully tense, and even funny, experience. And I’d certainly choose to play this version over Merchants of Amsterdam. But I’m not entirely convinced that the auction system wouldn’t just be more enjoyable if used in a completely different game altogether.­­


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Luthier – 7/10­

In 2023, a new designer, Dave Beck, came blazing into the scene with Distilled, a truly excellent game about the manufacture of hard liquor. Luthier is this year’s follow-up, a game about the manufacture of musical instruments at the height of the classical period. Luthier is a heavier-weight game, but it retains the same evocative theming and gorgeous production of its predecessor.

Unlike Distilled, Luthier is not a deck-building game (a strike against it, to those like me with highly discerning taste). Instead, it leans strongly into its worker-placement, with a few interesting twists. First, in turn order, players will place their workers one-at-at-time. And workers can be placed on spaces already occupied. When the time comes to resolve that space, the hidden strength number of each worker there determines who takes the action first.

Yes, this is one of those rare games where workers are all placed first, then all resolved. This isn’t unheard of (it goes back at least as far as The Pillars of the Earth). But, in this case, the order in which the workers resolve is not set. Instead, once all are placed, the players in turn order choose a space to activate, and each worker there will get to take an action in strength order. The sequencing here is very important. If a space that requires a resource payment gets activated before one that gives resources, players can find their plans catastrophically disrupted. But this is the risk you take. Can you place on a space with other workers? Sure. Should you? Well…

Mercifully, each player has a few private worker spaces which cannot be disrupted in this manner. One allows a market visit to get resources. The others allow spending those resources in the manufacture of instruments. You might have noticed that these actions are the primary goal of the game. But those other spaces, the shared ones… that’s where the big point bonuses and efficiency upgrades all happen. There’s no conceivable path to victory that ignores the shared spaces to play multiplayer solitaire. You’re just going to have to take some risks, read your opponents, and maybe even bluff a bit.

Luthier is well-worthy of the warm reception it has been given. If you like highly-interactive heavy euros with a touch of theme and don’t mind the 2+ hour time frame, this game is likely to be a favorite. For me, it is a bit longer, heavier, and nastier than I prefer. But the decisions are so fascinating that I can’t just write it off as not for me.


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Suna Valo – 8/10

­Upon learning the rules of Suna Valo, my initial impression was that it was odd that the player count is capped at two since in many ways, it feels just like lots of other engine-building action-drafting euros. Many such games work quite well with two players while also allowing for a larger player count. So why limit how often Suna Valo can get to the table? But after playing, it became more clear. Suna Valo is able to lean into certain design choices precisely because it doesn’t have to worry about things like excessive downtime or accidental kingmaking.

The most common way to spend your turn is buying a new card. This is what drives your resource-gathering engine. Each card will be one of six colors, and will be placed into its corresponding row when bought. Then, each card of your cards of that color generates resources, meaning you are incentivized to collect lots of the same color of card. However, there are also rewards for completing sets of each color, which complicates the calculus. Each color also tends to be focused on a particular resource type, and you are likely to need all the resources from time to time. On the other hand, you can always buy missing resources with money. Finally, there is the consideration about where to buy your card from. If you buy it from your opponent’s sale row, they will get a resource windfall. If you buy it from your own sale row, you will pay dearly in resources. If you buy it from the middle, your opponent will get first dibs on the newly revealed options. It’s a conundrum, in the best way.

When you’ve built up enough resources, you can generate some points by spending your turn making a delivery instead. This involves spending a combination of resources for a reward. These deliveries require a different resource combination for each player, and while the requirements are reasonably fair, this does mean it’s no simple race to gather the needed resources. In fact, both players can fulfill their own side, regardless of who completes it first. Still, it’s not easy to decide which order to prioritize, given what the reward is and how easily the required resources can be generated.

Obviously there are a lot of moving parts here. And each of them can be completely ignored or an integral part of your strategy from game to game. Whatever you focus on, there is likely a card or reward that will make it more efficient to do. There is plenty to explore and you’ll probably want to play it with the same opponent on a regular basis.

You won’t find fresh and innovative mechanics here. Instead, a bunch of well-worn ideas are re-combined into a tight, thinky package that really works. Likewise, if you’re here for the theme, you’ll need to look elsewhere. Yet Suna Valo acquits itself well as a true two-player euro that’s quite a bit heavier than its competitors.­­


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Magical Athlete – 8/10­

Magical Athlete is a remake of the classic racing game from 2003. The original was renowned for accessibility to new players (while its components looked ugly as sin), hilarious and emergent special power interactions (while often grinding the game to a halt to consult the FAQ), and genuine tactical interest (while nevertheless having a degree of imbalance that could be off-putting). If you’re a fan of the original, as I am, you’ll be happy to know that this edition retains all of the good parts of the original while also addressing all of its weaknesses.

The structure is dead simple. Each player gets a racer. On your turn, roll a die and move your racer that many spaces. First to the finish line wins. If that was all there was, there wouldn’t be a game at all. But the joy comes from the fact that each racer has its own powerful ability that allows it to break the rules in some way. Oftentimes, these abilities are optional, or contain some element of choice (e.g, which character should I warp to my space, do I risk a re-roll, etc.). This is especially true when playing with two or three players, because you’ll each have two racers per race. This means the sequencing of which racer to use first on a given turn is also often a big consideration.

That said, a lot of the choices you’ll make happen before the first race even begins. You’ll need a different racer for each of the four races and these are acquired by drafting. This is a standard “snake draft” with each player selecting two racers per draft, necessitating two drafting rounds. This is a slight change from the open-draft-with-bidding in the original version, but it works very well here. More accessible and also faster, so you can get to the good part (the race). The races increase in point value as the game goes on, so you’ll need to save your best racers for last, while also sometimes considering which racers your opponents are likely to choose and the interactions of your powers with theirs.

The final addition to this edition is a double-sided race track. One side is the original, a simple numbered path. But the reverse has a wacky board filled with exciting bonus points and bonus spaces along with groan-worthy penalty spaces and lose-a-turn potential. My initial impression was that this board would just create more randomness, but nothing could be further from the truth. For any racers with in-race decisions to make, the tactical considerations are quite amplified on this side of the board. I understand the recommendation to only use it for two of the four races, as it really has a different feel, but that variety is most welcome.

This new edition of Magical Athlete is the king of casual racing games. All the fun and hilarity of other crowd favorites like Hot Streak is present, but with an additional layer of tactics at a negligible cost in rules overhead. Play with six players for maximum wackiness, or pare down to just two or three for a surprisingly cerebral experience.­­­


N/A

A highly recommended game that I have most certainly played prior to this month, probably many times.



­Claustrophobia – 9/10­

Claustrophobia is a two-player tactical minis game with dice placement as the primary mechanic. It looks great on the table, has strong narrative, and yet includes an extremely balanced system of play suited to serious high-level tournaments if desired.

One side will take on the role of the “good” guys, a group of condemned prisoners led by a Warrior Priest, and will invade the cramped catacombs. The “bad” guys are troglodytes and a couple of nasty demons, who seek to defend their home from these invaders. The good guys are stronger but the bad guys are limitless.

This one is the best of the bunch if you love fast-playing 2-player tactical minis games. Now that’s a crowded field to be sure. But there are some unique aspects that make Claustrophobia well worth looking into.

First of all, the prepainted minis are an excellent touch and this combined with the quality of the other components really make this a beautiful experience right out of the box.

Secondly, the dice system is fantastic fun. It provides just enough randomness that you can’t get locked into an “I always do this” strategy, but yet provides you with myriad tactical options once the dice are rolled.

Thirdly, the asymmetric sides feel wonderfully different to play. In many ways, this game is like streamlined Space Hulk. It’s a really different experience to play as the good guys compared to playing as the bad guys.

I’d give this a very strong recommendation if any of the above is appealing to you. There is very little here not to like.­
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Ted C: Review of Tea Witches

Posted on October 15, 2025 by Dale Yu

Tea Witches

  • Review by: Ted Cheatham
  • Players: 2-4 players
  • Playing time: 30 minutes per player
  • Publisher: The OP Games
  • Designer: Manny Vega
  • Review copy provided

Set in the enchanting world of the Teaquinox Faire, Tea Witches invites players to become magical tea vendors competing for Loyal-Tea and loyal customers. Over four rounds—each representing a day at the Faire—players summon witches, serve tea, and deploy TeaPups to gather resources, fulfill orders, and upgrade their tea huts. The goal? To become the most prestigious tea witch in the land.

At its heart, this is a worker placement game to gather resources and fulfill contracts (tea orders). There are six colored covens (The major resources are money, three tea toppings (eye cube, sweet tooth, and boba bugs), and six varieties/colors of tea (suits). Green witches, for example, want green tea and some mix of tea toppings to meet their order and yellow witches want yellow tea and some mix of tea toppings, etc. Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: Review of Tanis

Posted on October 14, 2025 by Dale Yu

Tanis

  • Designer: Phil Walker-Harding 
  • Publisher: Eagle-Gryphon Games
  • Players: 2
  • Age: 14+
  • Time: 20-30 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

TANIS, named after the ancient city in Lower Egypt, is a unique tile-digging game for 2 players. The game begins with 40 beautiful wooden domino-sized tiles randomly placed in the custom-made box. These tiles represent pieces of scrolls that the players are trying to reassemble in this fast-playing competitive game. The players also have cards that provide special powers that may be used to enhance their actions. A single game takes under 20 minutes to complete.

 

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