Games That Deserve a Reprint: #10 to #6

This is the third installment in our series called Games That Deserve a Reprint.  This article walks through #10 to #6.  In short, this project aims to highlight 20 games that we think deserve a reprint.  To make the list, we had 17 Opinionated Gamers vote, with precisely 50 games receiving votes.  Our only criteria were that (1) the game had to be out of print for at least a couple of years, (2) the voter had to think that the game was good enough to be reprinted, and (3) preferably these games would be difficult to find on the secondary market, so that a reprint would be justified.  

The first article discussed the background behind the series and our methodology.  We have an additional article coming every day this week, plus a recap at the end with some interesting statistics and a “what we missed” discussion.

Without further ado, here are the games that we think deserve a reprint.  

Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Games That Deserve a Reprint: #15 to #11

This is the second installment in our series called Games That Deserve a Reprint.  This article walks through #15 to #11.  In short, this project aims to highlight 20 games that we think deserve a reprint.  To make the list, we had 17 Opinionated Gamers vote, with precisely 50 games receiving votes.  Our only criteria were that (1) the game had to be out of print for at least a couple of years, (2) the voter had to think that the game was good enough to be reprinted, and (3) preferably these games would be difficult to find on the secondary market, so that a reprint would be justified.   

The first article discussed the background behind the series and our methodology.  We have an additional article coming every day this week, plus a recap at the end with some interesting statistics and a “what we missed” discussion.

Without further ado, here are the games that we think deserve a reprint.  

Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Reviews | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Games That Deserve a Reprint: #20 to #16

Games go in and out of print.  In today’s marketplace, where thousands of titles are released each year, most releases get one printing, then they’re done.  Of course, many of us are also constantly clearing shelf space, so the secondary market tends to be robust, and even the one-and-done titles aren’t that hard to find.

There’s a maxim in the hobby that good games will always be reprinted.  That’s sometimes true: two of the games that had enough votes to make this list (Key Market and Dune) have had reprints announced in recent weeks.  But it isn’t always true: below are some real gems that remain scarce.

The reasons for the scarcity are numerous.  Many of the games below have a hard-to-get (or expensive) intellectual property license behind them.  Some have been embroiled in legal disputes. Others yet have enough of a following to drive up secondary market prices but probably not enough of a demand to justify a new printing.  

Whatever the reason, below are 20 games that we think deserve a reprint.  To make the list, we had 17 Opinionated Gamers vote, with precisely 50 games receiving votes.  Most of the people voting have played thousands and thousands of games, and as a group, we’ve written thousands of reviews over the past couple of decades (or longer in some cases).

Due to the length of the series, we decided to write about our findings in four articles, discussing the top twenty games.  This article will discuss #20 to #16. We have an additional article coming every day this week, plus a recap at the end with some interesting statistics and a “what we missed” discussion.

Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Chris’s Trip to the Gathering of Friends: Wrap-up

The 30th Gathering of Friends ended tonight, though I left yesterday to head back to Missouri.  I wanted to do one final post about the Gathering, a sort of conclusion, with thoughts on the coming year in gaming and my experience at the Gathering.

Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Gathering of Friends | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sunflower Valley (Game Review by Brandon Kempf)

  • Designers: Wouter van Strien
  • Artists: Alexander Shaldin & Weberson Santiago & YOU
  • Publisher: Hobby World, Ultra Pro, Playroom Entertainment
  • Players: 2-5
  • Time: 45-60 Minutes
  • Times Played: 3

“Chugga Chugga Choo Choo”

                                  -Brandon Kempf April 2019

We’ve all dreamed of a place nestled in the mountains, a valley filled with sunflowers, trains and sheep. A self sustaining valley where sometimes train tracks will just be laid leading to nowhere because we have enough resources to just do that sort of thing when we have nothing else to do, and are feeling a bit bored. Welcome to Sunflower Valley.

Sunflower Valley is a roll-and-write game for two to five players, yup, I’m reviewing another one, but rest assured, I believe this may the last roll-and-write review from me for awhile.

Continue reading
Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brandon Kempf: Three Games – Three Family Games

I have a lot of games. A lot of games that are on my shelves, or on my table being played, that I have told myself that I want to review at some point. For one reason or another, this doesn’t always happen. My goal here on The Opinionated Gamers is that I want to get about one review out per week, but I’d like to write about more games. So I’m taking a page out of Patrick Brennan’s playbook, and we’re going to start writing about games in threes, in snapshot form. This should be a good way for readers to get to know me and my gaming tastes a bit better, and also another way for me to talk about games that I maybe don’t really want to dedicate two thousand words to. Welcome to Three Games.

Continue reading
Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment