[caption id="attachment_310585" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Festival, the Box[/caption]

Festival is a game for 2-4 players where you’re placing firework tiles, each in one of four different colors on your player board, to have them match the patterns shown on objective scoring cards. Have the highest score at the end and you’re the winner!  Festival is a quick, colorful game, but is it worth playing? Read on to find out.

Lighting the Fuse

You’ll start by giving each player a player board in one of the game’s four colors. Each side represents a famous world city, so choose your favorite and place it in front of you.

[caption id="attachment_310581" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Yellow Australia side and Red Paris side[/caption]

Then take the 7-point scoring card for your color and choose one of the two patterns, one on each side, that you think you’ll be able to replicate most easily. Place it to the left of your board. 

[caption id="attachment_310582" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Blue (London) board, with the Blue 7 point card and two objective cards[/caption]

Each player then…

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Ticket to Ride: South Korea - K. David Ladage

One of the beautiful aspects of Ticket to Ride is the versatility of the core rules. Adding elements for new maps is a breeze! They have added tunnels and stations (Europe), stocks (Pennsylvania), passengers (Germany), a tech tree (United Kingdom), and exploitable resources (Heart of Africa). The game has been reimagined for smaller player counts and table footprint (New York, London, etc.), there is a print-and-play version that was created for the COVID crisis (Stay at Home), and they recently added a Legacy Campaign version to the series.. Every time they create a new map/expansion for the game, my friends and I are excited all over again to see what is coming next.

South Korea has a map where the track colors are grouped into districts. There is a district board where players are competing for up to ten points in each of the eight districts. In addition, you have three cards that allow you to add a one-time bonus of +1, +2, and +3 to an action: you can draw +1, +2, or +3 more cards (train cards or tickets) on your turn, you can gain +1, +2, or +3 more status in a district with your play, and…

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Isle of Cats Duel - K. David Ladage

There are games that do not really need a two-player adaptation because they play very well at that count. Then there are games that cannot be played at all with two players and, if a couple is going to enjoy the game, it needs one. Isle of Cats falls into the middle of this spectrum: it is a game that can be played at two players, but that player count will not deliver the best experience (to be honest, the base game plays at two players better in the Family mode than the Normal mode).

The Duel version of the game is excellent! It plays very well, offers some good decision space without being a heavy game. My wife and I were able to get into the play quickly, and everything we knew of the original aided in our introduction to this trimmed down version. We might find ourselves playing this more than the original, as good as that is.

If I have a complaint, it would be that the game plays in four rounds, but the mechanic to keep track of those four rounds does not use the ship token and movement as it is handled in the base game. The…

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Nonaga

You’ll start with 19 disks and arrange them as a hex. Then, you and your opponent will each place your three colored tokens on the corners of the hex so you’re each creating a triangle. On a turn, you’ll move one of your tokens as far along a straight line as possible, then take one of the disks on the edge of the hex and move it elsewhere along the edge so it’s touching at least two other disks.

You’re looking to create either a three-in-a-straight-row, three-in-an-angled-row, or a small triangular group of three. The first to do so wins the game.

The first game of Nonaga will be fairly short. Your second game (because you are going to want to play this again right away) will be a bit longer, as will each successive game. You’ll need to consider the ramifications of your moves, as well as how your opponent may respond. With a small board, looking ahead a move or two is easier to manage, making this a clever little game.

Ease of entry?:
★★★★★ - No sweat
Would I play it again?:
★★★★☆ - Would like to play it again

Look for a full review of Nonaga coming soon!

…

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The Dwarves: Big Box - Andy Matthews

Up until 2022, I’d never heard of The Dwarves, a hugely popular German five book fantasy series, which spawned a video game and a board game. And I certainly never expected to play it. But my game group wanted to inject some cooperative action into our game nights and The Dwarves was picked.

The goal of The Dwarves is to work your way through a scenario deck of cards, while protecting your lands from invading orcs, trolls, and elves. Players may also complete side quests which can provide valuable bonuses or cause trouble in Girdlegard (the dwarven homeland). At the beginning of every player’s turn the hero marker advances can trigger new enemies to emerge, cause drama in the dwarven high council, or cause negative effects to the side quest deck. In typical coop game fashion there are multiple ways to lose, but only one way to win.

My group had a good time playing The Dwarves, and even spent some time afterwards talking about different approaches we might take in our next play. While I don’t think The Dwarves is going to win any awards, it’s a solid game and one we’ll be playing again. 

Ease of entry?:
★★★☆☆ - There were…

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Flip 7 - Andy Matthews

I love it when a game "hides" the premise in plain sight, like Flip 7 from The Op. It's a lightweight (and I do mean light) press your luck game that has you flipping over cards from a shared deck and deciding "do I stay or do I go?". Number cards earn you points, action cards do special things, and if you ever "Flip 7" cards you earn a sweet 15 point bonus and end the round. But if you flip over a number card that you already have in front of you, then it's a bust for you.

You'll earn points based on the numbers on the cards; their values ranging from 0-15. With the exception of the 0, each card is worth its face value and there are that many cards in the deck: three 3 cards, ten 10 cards, etc. But there's also a handful of action cards which can be both angel and demon (depending on who's receiving them). The Second Chance card lets you skip a "bust", the "Freeze" card helps you stop a runaway leader, and the "Flip Three" card forces a player to flip over three cards even if they might bust!

I played with 3 players and it hummed along…

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Small World (Collector’s Edition) - K. David Ladage

I love Small World. It is a wonderful game that my friend, Steve, and I played a lot back when new stuff was coming out for it on a regular basis. Steve is the kind of a guy that would give serious consideration to buying the over-the-top, extremely over-engineered, exceedingly expensive, will-not-fit-into-any-game-shelf-you-are-going-to-find Collector’s Edition. And so he did. He bought this thing.

The issue with this is that every single element of this game is some 50% larger than it was in the original and made of either wood or plastic. The giant wooden box needs a sticker warning you that this is a two-man lift! Thus, despite having owned this edition since it first came out years and years ago, he has not had many opportunities to pull it out with someone who would appreciate this product. Well, I was there and he wanted to play Small World. So out it came. We played a two-player game–and despite the small player count, this behemoth still managed to fill his 4-by-8 game table. We still had to keep a few elements (like the race tokens) in their giant trays on chairs just off the playing surface. The game was fun! The game was epic! The…

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Now entering its 10th year, the International Analysis Paralysis Tournament continues to see contestants deep in contemplation over their next moves. This century we’re seeing the best of the best—the indecisivest of the indecisive—vie for the title of the Most Analytically Paralyzed Gamer. 

Dawd Ling, the much-hyped newcomer, impressed the judges early on with her mumbled ramblings regarding which color she would choose to play as. Word from the gaming floor suggested she was contemplating the various advantages/disadvantages of the shading differences between the dark yellow and the light orange pieces. Ling initially lost time by actually making a choice, only to regain her position on the clock by changing her mind (repeatedly) only seconds later. 

Over at a wargaming table, Slugbert McSnail sat, head tilted, cheek resting in his hand. He claimed to be calculating his attack and defense stats for each possible combination of chits, regardless as to their position on the board. 

Lolly Gagg, the most energetic of the contestants, sat at a table with an elaborately carved Chess set. Every few hours, she would move her fingers to another of his pieces on the board and look at her opponent for the slightest reaction. She would then loudly argue aloud with herself regarding the piece in question. Gagg was clearly playing the long game, having touched…

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You and your fellow rabbit friends have all left your warrens to find a new home across the water: a home where carrot gardens flourish and everyone can live together in peace and harmony.

Until it comes to the new carrot patches. Then, even though you’ll share your harvest with me, I’m still going to try to make it mine.

Be the rabbit clan with the most points at the end of the game and you’ll rule the warren.

[caption id="attachment_305357" align="aligncenter" width="841"] Rabbit Island: The Box[/caption]

Fiver’s Founder's Hill

Rabbit Island: Explore, Build, Conquer (known from here simply as Rabbit Island) starts off as a semi-cooperative game. After choosing a color and taking the matching rabbit token, disks, and 100 Carrot tokens, you’ll take turns placing two tiles—either Carrot Patches or various Garden options—onto the board, thus creating your new home. Tiles must flow from the starting Founder's Hill tile, then follow the double arrows on the edges of the tiles already placed. After placing your two tiles, you’ll move your rabbit token to one of those tiles.

If the tile is a Carrot Patch, you’ll claim 50 Carrots and an Action card. (More on this later.) If it’s a garden location, you can choose to pay…

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In Maps of Misterra, you’re playing as explorers, mapping out the island’s landscapes—landscapes that might change from turn to turn, say Mountains become Forests. That’s because there’s a difference between terrain types that are ‘confirmed’ and what your sponsor has said they want to see on your map. Score the most points at the end of the game and you’ll be the winner.

If that sounds a bit confusing, stay with me. The mists will part as we get the game to the table.

[caption id="attachment_305395" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Maps of Misterra: The Box[/caption]

Cartographers At the Ready

You’ll place the large central board in the middle of the table, then hand each player their own smaller version of the map. Depending on the player count, a number of Forests will be placed, full-color side up. (More on this soon.)

[caption id="attachment_305401" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] A 3 or 4 player game ready to be played.[/caption]

Each player will also get a Cartographer of their choice and three Claim tokens in their matching color.

At the top of the board, place the four stacks of terrain tiles full-color side down. Then shuffle the…

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[caption id="attachment_305366" align="aligncenter" width="764"] Umbrella: The Box[/caption]

Umbrella, by Flavien Dauphin and Benoit Turpin, published by Lumberjacks Studio and Pandasaurus Games, is a simple, elegant game that has recently earned a place on my abstract shelf. Let’s see if it lands on yours as well.

The concept is easy enough: you’re trying to rearrange your 4x4 field of colored umbrellas to match the patterns on one of your scoring tiles. Do so, and you’ll place one of the limited number of scoring tokens on your player board. When someone has claimed the last token, the game ends. Whoever has the most points wins.

Of course, the rules make doing so something of a challenge, so let me explain how to play Umbrella.

Falling On My Head Like a Memory

Each player has a board whose center, recessed area, is a 4x4 grid. You’ll place wooden discs with colored umbrellas on the matching, pre-printed spaces on your board. Above this area is a long open space where you’ll place one of the narrow scoring tiles. Players will also receive four square tiles with patterns on a 4x4 grid that matches your umbrella playing area. You’ll place these in two piles, one each on the two leftmost spaces, making sure the…

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[caption id="attachment_305381" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Mythalix: The Box[/caption]

Chaos, the primordial Greek God, has returned to destroy Olympus. However, just before the destruction occurs, a portal opens that allows the Gods to escape—a portal that transports them to a hostile new world, rich with power. By taming that power and collecting four of the planet’s essential Elements, one God can reign supreme!

At least, that’s the story the rule book provides to explain what’s going on in Mythalix. To learn more, let’s get this to the table, shall we?

Preparing the Altars

Give each player a random God card, along with the matching double-sided acrylic avatar, stand, and four clear acrylic hexes, known as Strongholds. Place the God token on one of the four Elemental Altars in the far corners of the board. Then take the matching elemental token for that Altar.

[caption id="attachment_305383" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] God Cards, each with their own standard special power (which isn't all that God-like) and an Ultra Power that…

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Planta Nubo - David McMillan

There were only a handful of titles from Essen last year that I was really excited about, and Planta Nubo was up there towards the top of the list. I mean, a co-design between Michael Keller and  Andreas “ode.” Odendahl (the co-designers of La Granja and El Burro) and the G.O.A.T. himself, Uwe Rosenberg (Agricola, Caverna, Bohnanza): what is there NOT to be excited about? Unfortunately, due to the logistics (and shipping!) involved, I wasn’t able to obtain a copy from Essen Spiel at the time. But, thanks to our friends at Devir Americas, I finally have a copy in hand and was able to play it for the first time recently.

Let me tell you, folks, it was worth the wait.

There’s a lot of things going on and, even after having read the rules and having watched several videos, my wife and I still found ourselves going back to the rule book during our first few turns to figure out the meanings of some of the iconography. By the third round, though, we had a good feel for the game and were able to progress more confidently to the finish line. We had a great deal of fun and I am excited…

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