String Railway Collection

• Designer: Hisashi Hayashi
• Publisher: play for keeps
• Players: 2-5
• Age: 14+ 
• Time: 30-45 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: 
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Originally published in 2009 and designed by Hisashi Hayashi (Yokohama, Trains, Metro X), String Railway is a 20-minute, 2-5 player game in which players create their own map directly onto the table, complete with borders, mountains and rivers, then build atop it a network of railways, all made out of string.

Following in 2011, the sequel String Railway: Transport (now renamed String Railway: Cubed) combined the premise of String Railway with the weighty decision-making of games like Railways of the World, producing a mid-weight 45-minute game. In the game, players start with a map of stations already built and must balance the desire to upgrade their engines, and fulfill bespoke delivery contracts, with the need to quickly build a flexible train network that can transport goods to a range of destinations.

The String Railway Collection packs both of these standalone games into a single small-box package and features vibrant updated artwork, improved graphic design, and a refined ruleset.

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My Favourite Things

• Designer: Nilgiri
• Publisher: play for keeps
• Players: 3-6
• Age: 14+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

My Favourite Things, first released as 曖昧フェイバリットシングス (Eye My Favorite Things), is a trick-taking party game in which you don’t know the value of your cards, and instead, you get to know your fellow players.

In the game, you present your neighbors with a category and ask them to write their five favorite things (and one least favorite thing) in that category on their cards. You then use these cards to play a trick-taking game with all other players, with none of you knowing the true value of any card played until the end of each trick. Your neighbor’s preference rank is the card’s strength. Card 1 is highest and 0 is lowest, but if 1 and 0 appear in the same trick, 0 wins.

Because you are playing with someone else’s favorite things, each trick provokes unique insights into your fellow players and sparks interesting conversations. Does Paul like Power Rangers more than Anthony likes Banana Milkshake or Archie likes Italian Disco? These are the deductions and judgement calls you’ll need to make in My Favourite Things.

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Tantrix

• Designer: Mike McManaway 
• Publisher: Gigamic
• Players: 1-6
• Age: 6+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3EJU5fH
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

The hexagonal tantrix tiles each have three different colour lines that must be juxtaposed while respecting the connection of the colours between them. Tantrix: solo or multi-player solo puzzle, this is a puzzle with different levels of difficulty. In collective game: – everyone focuses on their own color and tries to achieve a continuous line longer than the others while countering the strategy of their opponents! – the goal? Be the first to successfully place all your tiles. Speed and observation are essential for this game mode ideal for playing with family and up to 6 players!

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Finca

• Designer: Ralf aur Linde and Wolfgang Sentker
• Publisher:  Pandasaurus
• Players: 2-5
• Age: 10+
• Time: 45 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4hMgV4E 
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Sprawling estates, or fincas, are ripe for the taking in each region of the beautiful island of Mallorca. You must compete with your fellow farmers and fishermen to claim these properties, so harvest as much food as you can, load up your donkey carts, and race your rivals to make deliveries to the island’s many communities, whose requests are constantly changing. Find out if you have what it takes to be Mallorca’s most successful farmer in Finca!

This new edition of Finca retains the clever resource collection and delivery gameplay that has made the game a modern classic, but adds brand-new art, streamlined rules, and the ability to play the game with 5 players. Includes 2 Advanced Play modes and a new 5-player mode!

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January & February are big “on the road” times for my job – which means less time for mid-week gaming with friends and family. On the other hand, it does mean I play a lot of solo games.

In the last month or so, I’ve written about two of those here on the OG: Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread and Ascending Empires: Zenith Edition. Today, I’m going to add four more to the mix.