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Many modern board games incorporate card-based mechanics to introduce variety, surprise players, or offer small bonuses that can impact gameplay. Often, these cards give the impression of receiving something extra—an unexpected perk or tactical edge that breaks from the standard flow of the game. In Galactic Cruise, players…
Continue readingMany tabletop games devolve into a race to get points before the game ends. SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is a unique game that, like many others, devolves into a point collection process with little or no theme left by the end of the game. I won’t be…
Continue readingI think I have an installable version of the 3D Lander game: https://www.rectorsquid.com/Lander/Lander.msi This is a Windows installer file that is digitally signed by me with my code signing certificate. If You encounter this Linage.msi file and installing it doesn’t show my name as the publisher, run away….
Continue readingLast night, I played Salton Sea for the second time. The first time was a year ago so the setup and review of the rules was lengthy. I was teaching an accomplished board game player so it only went badly for the first few rounds. Salton Sea is…
Continue readingI have a collection of about 150 board games. There are many themes, mechanisms, and point styles in these games. This post is about the style or method of tracking points in games. What are “points?” They are the measurement of success in a game. In the game…
Continue readingUndergrove is a modern board game by Elizabeth Hargrave and Mark Wootton. Elizabeth Hargrave also designed Wingspan, a wildly popular game, so I had high expectations for Undergrove. After a single play with everyone at the table playing it for the first time, I saw that it has…
Continue readingAfter playing the board game Arcs recently, I realized that no matter how well a game’s theme is developed, that theme can be weakened if the action selection mechanism feels unthematic. In board games, “action selection” refers to the process of choosing what to do on a turn….
Continue readingI was playing Evacuation a few days ago with three other people. One of those people had played the game with me one-on-one about six months ago. I skimmed the rule book and tried to explain just enough so we could start taking turns. I did that because…
Continue readingPax Pamir is a ruthless game. During yesterday’s game, my friend often commented on his bad situation and how losing his cards was terrible. I coached him to a win by reminding him of unfamiliar options. One such option was to switch loyalties to the same faction to…
Continue readingEvacuation is a board game where players evacuate a planet that its ever-increasing solar energy will burn up. The Evacuation will take four years, each year being a single round in the game. This game has some unique mechanisms I haven’t seen in other games. The rules in…
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