board games – Page 6

Whatcha Playing, Geekly? August 2025

Published on August 6, 2025August 5, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. Since it’s Wednesday, we have another post from our Whatcha series. Today’s topic is games, both video games and board games. We’ll hear from Season and Skye soon, but I’ll kick things off this post with the games I’ve been playing over the past month.

Kyra’s Board Games

Bruno Cathala’s Kingdomino takes the simple mechanism of laying dominoes beside a starting castle (domino piece) and allows players to build their own scoring tableau. Each domino has two sides. Each side will belong to a terrain type, and players attempt to connect like terrain types, chaining as many crowns (which will be printed on some dominoes and determine how much each terrain scores) as they can to their largest collection of each terrain type. Kingdomino has restrictions on how far out from a player’s starting castle they can build, and this is where the game gets tricky.

I don’t know how many times I’ve ended up with dead corners (corners that I can’t legally add another domino), but it’s satisfying every time I can put down my full complement of dominoes. Kingdomino is a quick game. The 15-30 minutes printed on the box is accurate. I love Kingdomino’s selection system. Each player has two royal meeples. One will claim the current round’s domino, but the domino you select in the current round will affect when you can select a tile in the next round. Each tile’s backing has a number. Typically, the more valuable tiles have higher numbers, and if you pick a higher value tile, you’ll pick later in the following round. Brilliant!

While many board games grant an advantage to seasoned players, Uwe Rosenberg’s Spring Meadow almost requires players to have a similar experience. The person who taught me and a couple of other noobs how to play Spring Meadow skunked us. Spring Meadow has an intriguing mechanism of players choosing a polyomino from a communal display and then placing the polyomino on their player board filled with holes. You’re trying to fill each row or column (depending on your board’s orientation), scoring points for each filled row or column with some added bonus points.

There are tricks involved, a dash of luck, and not all of the polyominoes are created equal. But you won’t know the best plays during your first playthrough, and if you’re playing against a seasoned Spring Meadow player, they will easily beat you. Despite my utter failure of a first play, I enjoyed Spring Meadow. I’ve since rematched the person who taught me how to play, and I managed to eek out a victory during our third, two-player play. Spring Meadow is fantastic as a two-player game against players who know how best to place their polyominoes.

I’d include Lotus in the group of games where it’s best played when all players involved have similar experience. The same person who taught me Spring Meadow also taught me Lotus, and the result was similar. I have yet to replay them at Lotus, but I plan on it.

Players compete to complete flowers. Seriously, the image above is what most Lotus cards look like. Lotus is a stunning game. It’s quick to teach, but knowing when to add pedals or use an ability makes all the difference. Usually, new players will misuse their abilities, unlock the wrong ones first, or add too many pedals to make a flower easy to complete and leaving themselves open for another player to take advantage of an opening. Lotus is the definition of a game that’s easy to learn but difficult to master. It doesn’t have a lot of moving parts, but the parts that are there are chef’s kiss.

Kyra’s Video Games

I gave Bleach: Brave Souls a try this past month. Notice how I didn’t say I played Bleach: Brave Souls. Bleach: Brave Souls offers an autobattle function. I did more watching Bleach: Brave Souls play itself than playing the game. To be fair, Bleach: Brave Souls is a ten-year-old gacha game. During boss battles, players borrow the featured character from a random player (chosen from the tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of players). Typically, I’d borrow a character from a player who had maxed out their character five or six years ago. Most boss battles had a cutscene. I would skip the cutscene, and the borrowed character will have already beaten the boss. Did I really play Bleach: Brave Souls?

Bleach: Brave Souls was a nice trip down memory lane. I wish the game had tightened the story a little bit. Each scene from the manga received its own level, so there are hundreds, if not thousands, of story levels. I gave up on Bleach: Brave Souls after a few days, but I could see the game being fun years ago, when it first released. I like the chibi character designs.

Those are the game highlights for me this past month. Let’s see what Season and Skye have been playing.

Skye’s Board Games

The fabulous Kyra Kyle has done it again. While Dorf Romantik was not a game they created, they were the ones who introduced me to it. Props to them, because I thoroughly enjoyed it! Dorf Romantik takes concepts from games like Catan and Carcassonne, but manages to be a special kind of fun. With the help of your fellow players, y’all gotta build the best town you can. It’s Sim City without financial stress. What can I say?

The Night Cage is a game that’s right up my alley. As a big fan of cooperative games, horror, and eldritch themes, The Night Cage is perfect for a dark game night with your friends. In a Lovecraftian setting, you find yourselves in a place of eternal darkness. You’re trapped in the Night Cage, and you must escape. The corridors shift and change direction. You only have a candle, and monsters hunt you at every turn. Good luck.

Skye’s Video Games

Lately I’ve been into casual phone games. Tap Gallery is a simple game about tapping arrow blocks to reveal a hidden image underneath. That’s pretty much it. While not the most complex, what appeals to me about Tap Gallery is its premise. It’s satisfying to watch every block slowly disappear from the screen. Sometimes that’s all you need in a game, and Tap Gallery has me hooked.

Cryptogram, while still a casual phone game, requires its players to use their brains. As you can likely tell from the title, Cryptogram is all about decoding a hidden message by following the clues given to you. Cryptogram helps stretch your brain while not being too difficult. Many of Cryptogram’s hidden messages are famous quotes from historical figures. Wait, you can solve puzzles and learn history? Sign me up!

Season’s Video Games

I’m kicking things off with a classic platformer. Psychonauts was released back in 2005 and is one of the more unique platformers I’ve played. Each level takes place inside people’s minds, so the player learns about each character by playing through their level. The level itself represents the character’s cognition of the world, but there are collectibles called “memory vaults” within each level. These memory vaults allow the player to sneak a peek into each character’s past through pictorial storytelling.

Players also spend a fair amount of time roaming the campgrounds in the overworld. I spent several minutes chatting with my fellow campers, collecting arrowheads to upgrade my gear and scavenger hunt items. Most objects/creatures in Psychonauts allow players to interact with them in some form, so there’s never a shortage of things to discover. I used clairvoyance on everything. Everything.

Fallout 4 has been out for ten years, but this is my first time playing it. Dead serious. I’ve never been crazy about open-world RPGs. In the past, I’d try them for twenty minutes before wanting to play something else. I tried playing Fallout: New Vegas on Steam many years ago, and it crashed every few minutes. I got frustrated and gave up on it. That said, I’ve enjoyed Fallout 4 so far. I like to stop tracking quests periodically so I can explore the world. I’m a digital hoarder, so picking up everything and being over-encumbered is my way of life.

I have one question for you, Geekly Gang. Why do radscorpions burrow under toilets?

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. That’s all our writers have for what they’ve been playing this past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been playing, Geekly Gang. Thank you for reading, wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Tabletop Game Review: Cretaceous Rails

Published on July 28, 2025July 28, 2025 by Kyra2 Comments

Cretaceous Rails combines trains and dinosaurs in one board game. Holy Fish Heads! That may or may not be a direct quote from the Cretaceous Rails game designer. Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. I’m doing something a little different with today’s board game review. As you might be able to tell, I know Cretaceous Rails’ game designer, Ann Journey, and the publisher Spielcraft Games. I’ll attempt to stay unbiased, but I wanted to be upfront about that relationship. In Cretaceous Rails, people have learned that dinosaur parks built in the modern world are too deadly. Instead, they send people back in time to witness dinosaurs in their natural habitat. Players compete to create the best dino safari resort experience. We’ll get to the game, but first, let’s discuss some disclaimers.

The Fiddly Bits

Designer: Ann Journey
Publisher: Spielcraft Games
Date Released: 2025
Number of Players: 1-4
Age Range: 14 and up
Setup Time: 10-15 minutes
Play Time: 45-120 minutes (depending on the number of players)

Game Mechanisms

Modular Board
Network and Route Building
Pick-up and Deliver
Worker Placement

Game Setup

Cretaceous Rails’ rulebook has a streamlined setup section, so I’ll be using the rulebook as the basis for this section.

Action Tiles

* Shuffle all 16 action tiles and randomly place them face up in a 4×4 grid within reach of all players to create the action grid.

* Place the first player marker on the Draw Cards action tile with the first player marker icon (shaped like a raptor claw).

Resort Card Display

* Place the resort card display board within reach of all players.

* Shuffle all 84 resort cards and place them face down in the resort card deck space near the resort card display board.

* Deal eight cards from the deck face up onto the eight spaces of the resort card display board.

* Place the round tracker on the dinosaur footprint labeled “1.”

Player Setup

Each player chooses a company. The only difference among the companies is the starting dinosaur, the beginning point value of dinosaurs, and aesthetics. None of these differences significantly affect the gameplay, so pick the company that looks cool or begins the game with your favorite dinosaur.

Each company gets:
* 1 Player board (all other items must match your company’s color and design)
* 4 Executives
* 30 Rails
* 1 Train Engine Tile
* 8 Train Car Tiles

* Place your Train Engine in front of your player board. This begins your train, but doesn’t count as storage.

* Place 2 Train Car Tiles behind your Train Engine Tile to form your starting train.

* Draw 1 card at random from the resort card deck and add it to your hand.

* Place the remaining Train Car Tiles, 30 Rails, and 4 Executives off to one side within reach.

* Take the tourist, dinosaur, and jungle token indicated by the icons on your player board and place them on their respective icons on your player board.

* Place the remaining tourists in the tourist sack.

Map Setup

* Place the starting map tile for the appropriate player count in the center of the table within reach of all players.

* Place 1 randomly-selected jungle map tile per player beside the starting map tile to form the map.

* Place one jungle token on each hex marked with a jungle token icon.

* Place a matching dinosaur miniature on each hex marked with a dinosaur icon. Each tile has two of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, Titanosaurus, and Parasaurolophus.

* Randomly place 4 tourists from the Tourist Sack on each cabin hex and each player’s home hex.

Starting Positions

* Randomly select who goes first. Play will proceed clockwise from the first player.

* In reverse turn order, starting with the last player, select home hexes on the starting map tile.

* When you select a home hex, place two Rails on the starting map tile. Place the first Rail on the line pointing out of your chosen home hex, and the second Rail on the line going to the left or right in front of the first rail.

HINT: Choose your home hex based on the dinosaurs and volcanoes near it, the tourists on it, and your plans for building your rail network into the jungle.

Game Flow

Cretaceous Rails is played over four rounds. Each player receives four turns per round.

Each turn, players will place an Executive on a vacant action space between two action tiles. Players will take both actions adjacent to the Executive they just placed. You may choose the order in which to take your two actions each turn. You can also forgo one of your actions and unload your Train Cars onto your player board.

Outside of unloading your Train Cars, there are six actions depicted on the Action cards: Lay Rails, Draw Resort Cards, Build Resort Cards, Clear Jungle, Safari, and Capture Dinosaur.

Lay Rails allows players to place two Rails (train minis) on the map, extending their company’s rail network.

Draw Resort Cards lets players draw Resort cards from the Resort Card Display Board.

If you meet any number of Resort Card requirements and take the Build Resort Cards action, you may build any number of Resort Cards in your hand that you can legally place. The third (top) row can only hold as many Resort Cards as the number of Resort Cards in the second row. The second (middle) row can only have as many Resort Cards placed in it as the number of Resort Cards in the first (bottom) row. The bottom row has no restrictions. Go nuts! But most Resort Cards receive bigger boosts in higher rows.

The remaining three actions will add items to your Train Car Tiles that you will then have to unload in your player boards. These actions may cause you to replace one of your adjacent actions with empty Train Cars.

Clear Jungle has the player take a jungle token from any hex adjacent to their rail network. You must place the jungle token on one of your empty Train Cars. Jungle tokens aren’t refilled throughout the game. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. You cannot take the Clear Jungle action if you don’t have at least one empty Train Car.

The Safari action has a couple of steps. Take a tourist from any hex adjacent to your network and place it in one of your empty Train Cars. Again, if you don’t have at least one empty Train Car, you cannot take the Safari action. You may not take a tourist from another player’s home hex. When you take a tourist, add up the number of dinosaurs adjacent to your rail network of the color and type that corresponds to the tourist you picked. Only count dinosaurs in hexes with no jungle tokens (your tourists can’t see through dense jungle). Each volcano adjacent to your rail network counts as a dinosaur of that type. Move the rating marker on your player board for that dinosaur color/type up the rating track that number of spaces. This number determines the value of each dinosaur in your resort.

Capture Dinosaur allows players to take a dinosaur from any hex adjacent to their rail network with no jungle token and place it in one of their empty Train Cars. Again, you cannot take the Capture Dinosaur action if you don’t have at least one empty Train Car.

End of Round

A round ends after all players have taken four turns each.

At the end of each round, perform these steps, in this order (skip these steps in the final round):
* Each player performs the Unload Train Cars action.

* Each player takes back all four of their Executives.

* Discard all eight Resort Cards in the display.
* Refill the display with eight new Resort Cards from the deck.
* Pick up all of the Action Tiles, shuffle them, and randomly distribute them into a new action grid.
* The player who took the First Player Marker this round places it back on its draw cards Action Tile. That player will go first next round.

End of Game

Each player performs the Unload Train Cars action one final time. Then, each player tallies their score. There are two sources of victory points: Captured Dinosaurs and Resort Card Scoring Multipliers. Players can use the scoring guide and pad to keep track of each player’s victory points. Whoever has the most victory points at the end of the game wins.

Review

Cretaceous Rails has two standout elements: the Action Grid and Resort Cards. Ann Journey says that she got the idea of the Action Grid from another game, but I haven’t seen this version of worker placement. It’s quick. The Action Grid gets shuffled and reformed, resulting in varied gameplay from round to round. What may be a good tactic in an early round may not be that good of a tactic in later rounds. The actions themselves are balanced and provide a lot of strategic possibilities. I can lessen someone’s safari bonus by capturing dinosaurs. I can play keep away by taking resources from the main map, while reserving my home hex’s tourists. And all of these actions work well with the Resort Card system.

I love how Resort Cards are placed. The bottom rows needing to be larger than the ones above them makes thematic sense if one thinks of the player board as one’s resort, which it is. You can’t have a top-heavy structure. The Resort Cards themselves are multi-use, and that’s one of my favorite game mechanisms, and a trend I like continued in more board games. Each Resort Card has three rows. The top shows what the player needs to place on the Resort Card to construct it. Any Dinosaurs placed on Resort Cards are worth their full value, while Dinos left on Player Boards are worth half points, rounded down. This does enough to entice players to build Resort Cards, even if they don’t stand to gain as much from the Resort Card’s effect.

The Resort Card’s effect is indicated in the middle row of each card. Many of these effects have levels that are determined based on which row you build the card. This adds even more tactical choices to each game of Cretaceous Rails. I don’t know how many times I took a penalty (like lowering a dinosaur’s rating) because I needed the effect of a Resort Card. And each Resort Card has endgame scoring modifiers at the bottom. Again, I’ve spent plenty of Cretaceous Rails games building Resort Cards that I only wanted for the endgame scoring. Players only score the Resort Cards they managed to build. This is the magic of multi-use cards. Love, love, love.

My main critique of Cretaceous Rails is that the game can run a little long. While individual player turns don’t take long, analysis paralysis can be an issue. I tend to plan my turns in advance and then adapt if someone takes the set of actions I want, but other players don’t play that way, and certain players—you know the type—can take extremely long turns. Cretaceous Rails is one of those games (specifically at higher player counts) where the board state can change a lot before you receive another turn, and I have second-guessed my decision on several turns.

The Cretaceous Rails box lists the game’s runtime as 30 minutes per player. However, it’s more like 45 minutes at the lowest player count and 30 minutes for each additional player after the first. Upkeep between rounds can take a hot minute. Typically, I have one player handle one part of the setup (like shuffling Action Tiles and resetting the Action Grid), while another player handles another part of the in-between round setup (like wiping the Resort Card Board and setting up the new round’s Resort Card Board). While Cretaceous Rails doesn’t have a lot of setup between rounds, it does slow down gameplay.

Despite the occasional gameplay slowdown, Cretaceous Rails does a wonderful job combining trains and dinosaurs, and that’s what the game sets out to do. Trains and dinosaurs together at last! The Rails (train minis) play out like a fusion of Ticket to Ride and Catan. Experienced gamers will have an idea of how they work; players new to the board game hobby may struggle. I also like how the trains are two-fold. While the network plays like Ticket to Ride, the Train Car Tiles provide a tasty dollop of resource management. Since every player unloads their Cars at the end of each round (even the last one), you’ll want to time when you unload your Train Cars in the middle of each round. So, time is a hidden secondary resource one must manage. I love it.

One final note: Cretaceous Rails’ production value is phenomenal. That’s something you can expect from Spielcraft Games. I know. I have a relationship with Spielcraft Games’ owner, but it’s true. Alex Wolf puts in a lot of work to ensure his games look top-notch. Getting back to Cretaceous Rails, if you’ve ever wanted to play a combination of trains and dinosaurs, Cretaceous Rails is your game.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

Cretaceous Rails captures its theme of gamers running a dino safari resort experience. While the game mechanisms interestingly converge, the multi-use Resort Cards and the Action Grid stand out. Cretaceous Rails offers plenty of ways to win, but that can also cause analysis paralysis and may not be the best for gamers who are new to the board game hobby.

Geekly News: July 20, 2025, Upcoming DCU Projects

Published on July 20, 2025July 19, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News on Sunday. We’ll kick off this week’s news with upcoming DCU projects. Let us know if you want something similar for the MCU in the coming weeks.

DCU Upcoming Films and Series that have Release Windows

Giving a quick rundown of upcoming DCU films and series was prompted by watching Superman this past week. Check out Friday’s review of Superman. The DCU has over 25 planned projects. We’ll only cover the ones that have release windows (anything with at least a vague release month, quarter, or year). Let’s get started.

Peacemaker Season 2 (August 2025)

Peacemaker Season 2 is scheduled to return at the end of next month (August 2025), and this season should dovetail into the events of Superman. Frank Grillo (General Flag, who also makes an appearance in Superman) is set to return for Peacemaker Season 2. Oh. And of course, there was that cameo of Peacemaker on the news during Superman.

Krypto Shorts (End of 2025)

Krypto will make his return at the end of 2025 (either November or December 2025). The DCU can be tight-lipped about exact release dates, especially when the project is soon to be released. Peacemaker, which will air next month, doesn’t have a specific date (as of when I’m writing this post). Hopefully, these Krypto shorts will be released by the end of this year. Harley Quinn Season Five had a similar release schedule for 2024 and was then postponed until the following year.

Lanterns (Early 2026)

Green Lantern characters Hal Jordan and John Stewart will play a key role in the new DCU. Lanterns will be an Earth-based detective story, described as a “huge HBO-quality event” in the style of True Detective. This is music to my ears. I love this concept. Lanterns will have eight episodes with Chris Mundy serving as showrunner. Throw in some cameos of Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner (don’t lose the hair), and Lanterns sounds like a party. The series is expected to premiere in early 2026.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (June 26, 2026)

One of the few future DCU projects with an exact release date, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, is scheduled for a June 26, 2026 release. Milly Alcock made a cameo in Superman (2025), and her brief stint in the movie got me excited for this title. Alcock’s Supergirl will battle with PTSD (while Kal-El was a baby, she watched her family die on Krypton) and struggle with having no purpose in life (she was supposed to protect a now adult Superman). Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow will show Supergirl claw her way out from rock bottom, and I’m here for it. This is why Superman needs to be the clean-cut hero he is in the DCU (and in DC Comics). There are plenty of other characters, like Supergirl, who can fill in the morally gray spaces.

Clayface (September 11, 2026)

A Clayface movie? What? That was my reaction to the DCU announcing a body-horror style film based on the classic Batman villain. We know little about Clayface. The movie is set for a specific release date, September 11, 2026, and filming began earlier this summer. While I would’ve liked to have seen Clayface in a Batman movie, I’ll take Clayface getting a stand-alone film. I’d like to see the DCU explore other villains. Vandal Savage could be interesting.

The Batman – Part II (October 1, 2027)

How is it that we have more precise dates the farther out the schedule? The second installment of Matt Reeves’ The Batman series is set for October 1, 2027. Titled The Batman – Part II, the film will feature the return of Robert Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell reprising their roles as Batman, Commissioner Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, and The Penguin. Filming is set to begin in April 2026 at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, England.

Those are all the DCU projects we have tentative dates for, but here’s a list of other DCU projects that are in the works:

Waller (Spinoff series of Viola Davis as Amanda Waller; yes please)

The Brave and The Bold (New live-action series that will introduce the DCU’s Batman and the Bat Family; looks like the DCU isn’t shying away from Robin and the rest)

The Authority (A lesser-known group of anti-heroes brought over from Wildstorm Comics; could be R-rated)

Swamp Thing (Logan Director, James Mangold, revives this amazing supernatural character)

Booster Gold (Failed 25th Century football star, Mike Carter, goes back in time to become a superhero armed with knowledge of the future; a straight-up superhero comedy series–I love Booster Gold in the comics)

Paradise Lost (A Game Of Thrones-like series that will introduce Wonder Woman into the DCU–oh, yeah!)

Untitled Blue Beetle Animated Series (I always thought Blue Beetle would work better as an animated series; we’ll see)

Untitled Teen Titans Film (Ana Nogueira is writing the screenplay; I wish we had more information about this title, but I’m ready for the first Teen Titans film)

Untitled Bane and Deathstroke Film (Yes! Another movie based on DCU villains; this one’s a team-up)

Black-led Superman Film (Black Panther scribe Ta-Nehisi Coates and director J.J. Abrams are attached to this Elseworlds version of Superman; sounds promising)

Dynamic Duo (Mixed-animation style, like traditional and stop-motion animation, series that features Dick Grayson and Jason Todd as Robin–the art style interests me)

Starfire (Animated series that aims to explore Teen Titans Starfire’s origin)

My Adventures with Green Lantern (Animated series that features a teenaged Jessica Cruz when she becomes the newest Green Lantern)

DC Super Powers (Animated series set at the Alliance School for Heroes, where new students like Lightning, Flash, Plastic Man, Aquagirl, Green Lantern, and Terra train to become the next generation of crimefighters)

Returning Shows and a Movie Sequel

Harley Quinn Season 6 (Yay! We will cover this series’ season six whenever it releases; it looks as though Harley will be space-bound)

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 (We’ll have to catch up with this Adult Swim animated series; I’ve heard great things)

Creature Commandos Season 2 (This series came out of nowhere to become a hit last year; of course, it’s getting a second season)

Constantine Sequel (Keanu Reeves is set to return as John Constantine in this sequel to the 2005 film; better late than never)

Synchro Horizon: JRPG Roguelike Board Game Launches on KickStarter

I’m a sucker for JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Games), so Synchro Horizon is right up my alley. From what I’ve seen, players can customize characters to dive into dungeons. The dungeons and characters can change during each play of this cooperative game. If that’s true, Synchro Horizon may have copious amounts of replay value.

Even though Synchro Horizon marks New Game Entertainment’s first board game, the production value looks to be top-notch. Beyond the game’s variability and potential replay value, Synchro Horizon’s custom skills have me intrigued.

Each of the 50 potential character skills appears to have upgraded versions. The artwork claims to be 100% AI-free. I like that Synchro Horizon chose to pay human artists for their work, but it’s sad that the board game industry has made claims like this necessary. Synchro Horizon offers multiple pledge levels, ranging from $80 to close to $400. If you’re interested in customizing your group of heroes and swarming ever-changing dungeons, check out Synchro Horizon’s KickStarter page.

Emerald Echoes Lands on KickStarter

PostCurious offers the next evolution of puzzletales with Emerald Echoes. Written by Lauren Bello (The Morrison Game Factory, Threads of Fate), Emerald Echoes spans four captivating chapters. It can be played as a solo or cooperative adventure. Emerald Echoes serves as a standalone sequel to the award-winning puzzletale, The Emerald Flame.

Gamers play Emerald Echoes across four chapters, consisting of thirteen puzzle folders. Within each chapter envelope, you’ll find a collection of items, along with a series of puzzle folders, labeled in the order they should be solved. Each of the thirteen puzzle folders contains at least one written document to investigate–these documents will contain clues and can be used to piece together which items are needed to solve a puzzle.

Emerald Echoes gives me strong Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective vibes. Emerald Echoes can be played on its own or in conjunction with the original The Emerald Flame. If you haven’t played The Emerald Flame, don’t worry. Emerald Echoes’ KickStarter includes pledges that include The Emerald Flame. Check out Emerald Echoes on KickStarter.

Shadow Labyrinth Released This Week

A Pac-Man Metroidvania game wasn’t on my Bingo Card for this year. Shadow Labyrinth shatters the concept of Pac-Man. This side-scrolling 2d platformer looks amazing. Players take the role of “The Swordsman,” traversing through a large “maze,” and fighting against enemies and upgrading their abilities as they progress. Yep. Sounds like a Pac-Man Metroidvania game to me. I chuckled while watching the Shadow Labyrinth’s trailer. The Pac-Man theme was jarring beside a gritty post-apocalyptic world.

I don’t know what’s going on in the image above, but I want to experience it first-hand. Fortunately, Shadow Labyrinth is available for Windows, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. I will give credit to Nintendo for its free Switch 2 upgrade for Shadow Labyrinth. Several weeks ago, Geekly called out Nintendo for charging for a Switch 2 upgrade. We hope this is a sign for Nintendo allowing for free original Switch to Switch 2 upgrades in the future.

Donkey Kong Bananza Released

Donkey Kong Bananza marks the first new release in the DK Series since 2014’s Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Donkey Kong hasn’t had this long of a drought in its over four-decade history. Expectations are high for this title.

Donkey Kong Bananza uses terrain in interesting ways. Donkey Kong can smash certain terrain types, and if the material is sturdy enough, he can fling it at enemies and cause damage. Donkey Kong Bananza could be a game-changer for the DK Series. It’s available for the Nintendo Switch 2. I may have to add Donkey Kong Bananza to my must-buy Switch 2 games whenever I get around to purchasing the new system.

That’s all the Geek News we have for this week. This week’s post was a little longer than normal. We may do a round-up of future MCU projects after Fantastic Four: First Steps releases. Let us know if you’d be interested in that. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1995

Published on July 19, 2025July 19, 2025 by Kyra2 Comments

1995 saw plenty of strong board game releases. It’s a shame we must limit this list to a Top 5, but debate is the benefit of a Top 5 versus a Top 10. A Top 10 could include many games of note from a calendar year. And 1995 had plenty of those. We also limited ourselves to one—just one—collectible card game. CCGs were going strong in 1995, too. One of our just-missed-the-list games is Marvel Overpower. I always liked Overpower’s straightforward gameplay and scalability. Star Wars Customizable Card Game is another CCG that just missed our list. Like its counterpart, the Star Trek Customizable Card Game on our previous list, it continues to be played. I’ve always liked its Dark and Light side of the Force; Star Wars Customizable Card Game is one of the rare collectible card games with a two-sided aspect.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We’re back with another Top 5 Tabletop Games. We’ll talk about 1995’s board game list soon, but let’s recap the ground rules for which games make these lists before we start.

1: Cultural relevance plays as much of a factor as overall quality. A game might make a list that doesn’t hold up to others of its type, but you must admit the game is everywhere.

2: Only one game from a franchise makes the list. This will become more of an issue the closer we get to games with expansions.

3: Longevity plays a role, too. A game doesn’t have to fly off the shelves today, but it had to have some widespread appeal for a decent time.

**5: Legend of the Five Rings (1995)**

Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) collectible card game lasted for two decades, and even then, it was announced that the game would have a successor in Fantasy Flight Games’ Living Card Game line. So, in a sense, Legend of the Five Rings continues to this day. L5R shares similarities with Magic: The Gathering, but has game mechanisms with flavor and allows “passive” win conditions like the Enlightenment Victory. Games can be very long, with some matches lasting hours.

L5R features a storyline. New fiction pieces (short stories, novels, and comics) would advance the story of Rokugan (the fictional empire where Legend of the Five Rings takes place) every week. After Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) purchased the rights outright in 2000, they reintroduced an accompanying tabletop role-playing game of the same name. Frequently, AEG would adapt Rokugan’s timeline to reflect who won specific CCG tournaments. The Spider Clan would have its own Emperor take the throne after an L5R world champion won with a Spider Clan deck. This unique and living game element has yet to be duplicated in tabletop games, making Legend of the Five Rings a singular experience.

**4: Mystery of the Abbey (1995)**

Republished by Days of Wonder during their golden years almost a decade later, Mystery of the Abbey is a sign of what’s to come. Mystery of the Abbey is a clever update to the classic board game Cluedo (or Clue). Based on the novel The Name of the Rose, players assume the identity of a detective, trying to identify a murderer in a monastery by process of elimination, moving from room to room, and asking questions of other players to order them to reveal information that will disqualify potential suspects.

Unlike Cluedo, during their turn, a player can ask any question to any player provided the response wouldn’t include a suspect’s name. The person being asked the question may choose to answer or refuse by placing a finger to their lips (taking a vow of silence). This is so thematic and can be used strategically. All players will see the asked player’s refusal to answer. Why did they do that? If the player elects to answer the question, they then have the right to immediately ask a question of the active player. Mystery of the Abbey was one of the earliest publications for Days of Wonder, which started with interesting twists to classic games.

**3: Medici (1995)**

Dr. Reiner Knizia makes one of these lists again, and Knizia’s former employment as a quantitative analyst (one who manages and attempts to price risk for banks) comes in handy with Medici. Players take on the roles of the House of Medici, who were an Italian banking family and political dynasty. Medici is based on the pricing of risk. Each lot of commodities has an uncertain future based on how cards are drawn from the deck and what other players buy. To play Medici well, players must judge and price the risk attached to each lot of cards. Medici is a classic example of “buy low, sell high.”

I don’t play Medici particularly well, but I enjoy it every time I play. I downloaded it for my tablet and sneak in a few games against an AI opponent. The game takes place over three days (or rounds). Players draw random goods (units of different types and amounts) to make up lots, and then these lots are bid upon. The player who wins the bid then adds these goods to their ship. Each player’s ship can hold five goods. Once each ship has been filled, the round is over, and the ships score points in florins. The player with the most florins at the end of three days is the winner.

Medici is a simple auction game with a ton of open information. It’ll take a few playthroughs to figure out the true value of certain lots, but this clever design by Knizia is well worth the time.

**2: El Grande (1995)**

El Grande is Wolfang Kramer’s first entry on one of these lists. 1994’s 6 nimmit! is one of my favorite card games from this period and narrowly missed out on making our previous list, while Auf Achse won the Spiel des Jahres in 1987. It was only a matter of time before Kramer made one of these lists. El Grande combines several simple mechanisms. It’s the interlocking of these mechanisms and how they play off of each other that gives El Grande its depth.

Players begin the game with a hand of identical cards (numbered 1-13). Players bid for turn order using these cards. The person who played the highest card chooses their action card first, but each player may use each card only once during the game. Each turn, players take Caballeros and execute an action card, which includes two actions, a special action, and placing Caballeros. Scoring occurs in three of the nine rounds. Players must keep track of the many factors that determine the balance of power in the regions and the score track. If it wasn’t for another game on this list, El Grande would’ve been the runaway Spiel des Jahres winner this year.

**1: Catan (1995)**

Could it be any other game? Catan (originally Settlers of Catan) revitalized the board game industry. Catan shaped the modern board game. It opened doors and spawned numerous expansions and spin-offs. While many gamers have moved on from Catan, there are still plenty more who swear by Catan. The ideas this game presents are still used to this day.

The game board is composed of hexagonal tiles of different land types, which are laid out randomly at the start of each game. Players build settlements on a fictional island of Catan. They connect their settlements with roads placed on the edges of the hexes. Each hex has a number that needs to be rolled (on two standard six-sided dice) for the hex to generate resources. Any player with a settlement touching the hex gains the resource indicated. Players gain victory points as their settlements grow, and the first to reach a set number of victory points (usually 10) wins.

I’ve played countless games of Catan in the late 90s and early 2000s. While many of the mechanisms have been improved on in some way in newer games, I haven’t found a game that scratches the same itch of bartering. Some games get close, but nothing compares to Catan. It’s deserving of the 1995 Spiel des Jahres (German game of the year).

Did we get the list mostly correct? Let us know which games you’d add in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Geekly News, July 13 2025, Superman’s Opening Weekend

Published on July 13, 2025July 12, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News. Superman was released this week. As you’re reading this, we haven’t yet watched Superman, but we may be in the process of watching the film and will have a review by this Friday. We’ll kickoff this Geek News round-up with some preliminary Superman box office numbers.

Superman Expected to Exceed $120 Million Opening Weekend

Warner Bros. and DC Studios’ Superman soars with $56.5 million across Friday and preview screenings in 4,135 theaters. This is the second-biggest figure for the calendar year, just behind A Minecraft Movie ($57.11 million), which is another Warner Bros. film. Warner Bros. is on a hot streak this year.

Note: Superman earned additional revenue with early-access screenings on Tuesday (July 8, 2025) for Amazon Prime members.

Written and directed by the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy’s James Gunn, Superman had projections of $100 million for its debut, while optimistic outlets forecast upwards of $140 million. The truth may lie in the middle, with Superman earning closer to $120 million. This is a fantastic opening weekend for the film and DCU franchise. Superman also gets a boost from luxury ticket prices for IMAX and other premium large format auditoriums.

On a personal note, Superman (2025) is the first Superman movie we’ve been excited about since the Christopher Reeve era.

Even with a stellar opening weekend, Superman will need to maintain its momentum as other major film releases approach. Not only does Superman relaunch the Man of Steel, but it also relaunches DC Comics’ cinematic universe. If Superman does well, the DCU could have years of superhero movies in its future.

Midnight Sons Crossover Event “Damnation” in the Works?

Okay. The Blade MCU movie may not be cancelled. Yes. We may have jumped the gun on that news a few months ago. Marvel continues to build up toward a major Midnight Sons crossover event. We know for sure the MCU intends to release a Midnight Sons movie. Mahershala Ali is attached to play Blade in Midnight Sons, and Ali has stated that he’ll only do a Midnight Sons movie as Blade if the MCU releases a Blade film. So long as Mahershala Ali is attached to play Blade in Midnight Sons, a Blade movie isn’t yet canceled. Perhaps just postponed indefinitely.

Geekly also has an idea which story (from the comic books) the Midnight Sons crossover event will use: Damnation. In Damnation, Doctor Strange assembles a team (of Midnight Sons) to help him defeat Mephisto. The characters rumored to be involved in Midnight Sons include Werewolf by Night, Elsa Bloodstone, Moon Knight, Blade, and Ghost Rider. Yep! Ghost Rider may be headed to the MCU, joining Blade. And Blade could set up the events of Midnight Sons. Mephisto’s position in the underworld (hinted at in Ironheart) is threatened by other demons/devils. Lilith, who was believed to be Blade’s antagonist, may be one of the rival demons fighting Mephisto. We’ll have to see how this shakes out. The dark corner’s of the MCU has the most room for growth.

Dice Commandos Announced on GameFound

We’ve covered most of the games Solo Game of the Month has released on GameFound. The company offers great single-player board game options, and Dice Commandos appears to be no different. We know little about Dice Commandos, but what we do know about the game has us intrigued.

Dice Commandos is a tactical dice puzzle game where you control a team of elite operatives completing objectives through stealth, combat, and special abilities. Again, we know little about this game, but it looks as though the game has various difficulty settings for multiple missions. Each mission functions as a new tactical puzzle. Players can customize their squad (with each squad member having unique abilities). I love how Dice Commandos has stealth options in addition to combat. I will try to finish a mission with stealth. Tee hee!

We don’t know Dice Commandos’ price point yet, but Solo Game of the Month games seldom exceed $25. If you’re interested in this tactical dice puzzle game, check out Dice Commandos’ GameFound page.

Tabletop Inc. Launches on GameFound

Run a fledgling board game publishing company packed with quirky employees, fun prototypes, and ruthless competition in Tabletop Inc.. I have yet to play Tabletop Inc., but it looks outstanding. It pokes fun at the board game industry with goofy spoofs of classic modern board games like Wingspan and Cthulhu: Death May Die. Tabletop Inc. uses a fast-paced worker placement. My interest is piqued. Typically, worker placement tends to be slow. I’m all for a fast-paced worker placement game.

And look at those game pieces (pictured above). They look outstanding. I have yet to play Tabletop Inc., but it looks fun, engaging, and packed with interesting choices. Tabletop Inc. is a love letter to the board game community, and I’m all for it. Tabletop Inc. launches early next week; you can follow the project here. Pledge information has yet to be released, so we don’t have pricing for Tabletop Inc.. Even though this project will be for the Tabletop Inc. expansion, gamers will be able to purchase the base game.

Kittens in Space Blasts Off on KickStarter

Cute kittens and space? I’m in. Kittens in Space is a card-shedding game like Uno. Players battle each other to save the adorable kittens in their hand (and load them onto a spaceship) before their opponents.

The Kittens in Space project page does a great job of giving a quick overview of how the game is played. The investment for Kittens in Space is minimal at $14 (for the base-level pledge). If you’re interested in cute cats in space, check out Kittens in Space’s KickStarter page.

That’s all the Geek News we have for this week. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Geekly News: July 6, 2025, Far Far Out and Others Launch of Crowdfunding Sites

Published on July 6, 2025July 12, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another week of geek news. This week is a little quiet due to the United States Holiday, the Fourth of July, and the upcoming DCU and MCU movies: Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps, respectively. So, we don’t have any major news to report. Instead, let’s discuss some board game releases for the upcoming week.

Mafia Blitz Launches on KickStarter

Honestly, I’ve never cared for social deduction games, but fast-paced social deduction games that don’t include player elimination (like One Night: Ultimate Werewolf), I can get behind. That is the premise of Mafia Blitz. Mafia pioneered the social deduction game. Mafia Blitz, designed by frequent Meeple Mountain contributor Mark Iradian, aims to do the same for quick social deduction games. Each role has unique win conditions, with many roles having overlapping win conditions. There are even some roles that include end-game triggers.

I like Mafia Blitz’s approach of having one price point: $20. Too often, crowdfunding projects include multiple add-ons, which can lead to a different gaming experience from one copy of the same game to the next. Mafia Blitz doesn’t have that issue. If you’re interested in Mafia Blitz, check out their KickStarter page.

Paradise: A Wastepunk Boardgame Launches on GameFound

Paradise: A Wastepunk Boardgame is another board game type I don’t typically care for (a skirmisher combat game), but it’s another one that has me intrigued. Its setup reminds me of a Memoir ’44 that has character abilities. Coincidentally, Memoir ’44 is one of the few skirmisher games I enjoy.

Throw in some quick dice combat, what appears to be gear cards, and detailed terrain pieces, and Paradise: A Wastepunk Boardgame has my attention. I also love the colorful palette Mindwork Games uses. Paradise: A Wastepunk Boardgame is Italian board game design studio Mindwork Games’ first design. They give me strong early CMON vibes. Both companies began as purveyors of awesome miniatures. That fact should let you know the level of detail this game’s miniatures will have. I wonder what the quality difference is between the PVC and resin miniatures. The resin minis are more expensive, and resin minis tend to break more easily than PVC minis. It’s something to consider.

On a personal note, I’m considering backing Paradise: A Wastepunk Boardgame because of the character named Kyra Rhust. We’re both Kyra. And this Kyra looks like she may be a healing sniper like Ana from Overwatch (Ana was one of my mains–yay!). If you’re interested in Paradise: A Wastepunk Boardgame, give its GameFound page a look.

Far Far Out Lands on GameFound

Far Far Out looks fantastic. The Netherlands-based game design group Studio Inifinitus offers multiple ways to win in this Civilization-like board game. The system tiles look amazing. These system tiles interlock and contain planets.

Players then place planets on top of the system tiles. I’m unsure if the planets always spawn on specific systems or if it differs each game. My guess is that players can change up which systems a planet can be placed. Far Far Out is stunning.

The game lists three ways to win. Far Far Out’s inclusion of 64 battle dice–64!–suggests that one method for victory is military/combat, but Far Far Out insists these battle dice serve multiple purposes. Far Far Out features a lot of exploration. I like that in a game set in outer space. We don’t know too much about the game’s mechanisms, but they have us intrigued.

Far Far Out’s more expensive pledge (around $175) includes intricate miniatures, while its less expensive pledge (around $117) includes detailed standees. The only difference I’ve found between the two versions is the unpainted miniatures (pictured above), but Far Far Out leaves the description of its more expensive pledge as “all deluxe content.” The campaign could add more deluxe content, so keep an eye out. The price tag is a bit high because Far Far Out includes a lot of bits. This is a premium game with a premium price. If you’re interested in Far Far Out, zoom to its GameFound page.

Rest in Peace, Jim Shooter

Former Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief and comic book visionary Jim Shooter passed away on June 30, 2025. Shooter has a complicated comic book history. On one hand, he “rescued” the comic book industry. By the mid-1970s to early 1980s, comic books had gone stale. A 13-year-old Shooter would get his start with DC Comics and proceed to pull comic books out of its slump. During his time as Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief, Shooter orchestrated the massive crossover event, Secret Wars, which is the major event the MCU is currently building toward. But Shooter wasn’t without his share of controversy.

Shooter’s Marvel Comics was openly homophobic, refusing to feature queer stories. Writer/artist John Byrne was forced to conceal Northstar’s sexual orientation for years before the character became the first openly gay comic book character. Instead of letting Northstar out of the closet, Shooter penned the first comic book that featured a queer storyline: two gay men attempt to r*pe Bruce Banner and this caused Banner to transform into The Hulk. Shooter had a “Don’t Say Gay” Policy with Marvel Comics. This restriction prevented positive queer representation in Marvel Comics for over a decade.

Still, Jim Shooter (during his teen years) wrote the first race between Superman and The Flash. This race between titans has become a tradition for DC Comics, and he solidified much of the Legion of Super-Heroes lore during his early tenure. Shooter even created one of my favorite Superman villains, Parasite. And Shooter’s jump to Marvel Comics ended the revolving door of editors after Stan Lee had transitioned to Marvel Films. Shooter was the editor who oversaw the growth of Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s classic run of The Uncanny X-Men, which led to the team becoming a global phenomenon. The Uncanny X-Men also saw the inclusion of many BIPOC stories.

Shooter has an impressive comic book history and a checkered past with queer inclusion. His contributions to comic books, and especially Marvel Comics, will not be forgotten. As a member of the LGBT community, I wish Shooter had done more for LGBT inclusion in Marvel comics. Even so, my thoughts go out to Shooter’s family. Rest in Peace.

That’s all the geek news we have for this week. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Geekly News: June 29, 2025, Fantastic Four Final Trailer

Published on June 29, 2025June 27, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang. Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News. I wrote this post a day or two early because my birthday is this weekend. Yay! I’m leveling up another year. But before I eat my body weight in key lime pie and beef stroganoff, we have some Geek News to cover, starting with the final Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer. I know. I know. We’ve covered every Fantastic Four trailer. Somehow, I keep missing some of the Superman trailers. I’m equally excited for both films.

Marvel Releases Fantastic Four: First Steps Final Trailer

The MCU released the final trailer for Fantastic Four: First Steps. I appreciate that we didn’t get too many new spoilers with this trailer, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some peppered in. We may venture into spoiler territory.

The trailer begins with the Fantastic Four at the Ted Gilbert Show when an alarm on their watches sounds. The scenes before this moment give us the longest looks we’ve seen of Marvel’s first family using their powers: Mr. Fantastic stretching, Invisible Woman throwing up a force field and manipulating objects, The Human Torch flying past a Coppertone billboard of himself and setting it on fire, and a bystander wanting The Thing to say, It’s Clobbering Time.

I love the running gag of everyone trying to coax The Thing into saying, “It’s Clobbering Time.” This is a trope used in certain Fantastic Four comics, where The Thing may have said Clobbering Time once, or it was used for a television show (in First Steps, it’s a cartoon), and I can’t wait to see the payoff because, undoubtedly, he will say Clobbering Time, perhaps in the scene where Johnny carries The Thing (with a beard–look at his rock beard, that’s awesome).

A few more moments stick out. We get a better look at Shalla-Bal. I’ve talked about how I didn’t like the CGI for this Silver Surfer, and I’m glad to see an improvement with this trailer. We get an extended look at Galactus, but not a straight-on look at the titan. The Fantastic Four fly into a black hole, and it’s implied that Sue may be pregnant with Franklin at the time. Flying into a black hole while Sue is pregnant with Franklin could supercharge Franklin’s powers. Someone in the crowd by the Fantastic Four carries a sign that reads, Earth Believed In You, which implies that the Fantastic Four have already failed in some way.

And there are those three massive devices. One is by the Eiffel Tower. I’m unsure where the other two in the distance are from Paris. Could this be what Reed was working on with his massive blackboard? We’ll have to find out. I’ll paraphrase one of the top comments on this trailer. The marketing team is doing a great job by holding back three things: 1) Galactus’s face, 2) The Thing saying, “Clobbering Time,” and 3) Johnny saying, “Flame On.” I agree. It’s best to see and hear these things when Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25th.

Grail Games Launches The Pixel Series on KickStarter

Grail Games returns with a trio of retro-art board games. Even though Aliens Attack!, Ohio Bob, and Harvest Valley use the same 8-bit art style, they couldn’t be more different in gameplay. Aliens Attack! is a tower defense game, Ohio Bob offers a fun adventure, and Harvest Valley is a farming sim. All three games are smaller, easier to store and transportable.

The Pixel Series even features some board game designing giants like Bruno Faidutti and Hisashi Hayashi. You can back this project and receive individual games for $10 or the entire set for $26.You can even throw in a fourth game in the series, Level 10, which is a reprinting of Okey Dokey.

I like Level 10’s retheme of guiding Izzy through a video game level without the character perishing. If you’re interested in Grail Game’s Pixel Series, check out their KickStarter page.

Mesopotamia by Meeple Pug Launches on GameFound

Even though it isn’t the Mesopotamian Royal Game of Ur, the board game Mesopotamia does include knucklebone game pieces, which were game pieces in the classic board game. Meeple Pug’s Mesopotamia puts players in the role of civilization leaders in this stunning 4X game (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate). Mesopotamia foregoes a tech tree for research tiles that make each player’s civilization unique.

I love Mesopotamia’s customizable player boards. This gaming component could spark a series of games with a similar component. Mesopotamia’s gameplay encourages trading, exploration, and combat. Those knucklebone game pieces come in handy when attacking one of your opponents. Mesopotamia’s game pieces are top-notch. This is a gorgeous game, and that’s before considering the prelaunch Hanging Gardens Miniature.

That miniature looks amazing, and Mesopotamia has plenty of other detailed miniatures. I like the addition of note one, but three solo-player modes: exploration, siege, and castle defense. Mesopotamia offers a lot of gameplay options. It launches early next week, so we don’t yet know how much this campaign costs. If you’re interested in Mesopotamia, follow its GameFound page.

Modern Classic Board Game Colosseum Receives a Glow-Up on GameFound

Yes! If you’ve ever been interested in the Wolfgang Kramer and Markus Lubke design Colosseum, The Grand Spectacle may be the edition to add to your collection. Ian O’Toole is one of the best board game graphic designers/artists working today, and Colosseum: The Grand Spectacle is a feast for the eyes.

I’ve always liked Colosseum’s take on the roll/spin and move game mechanism, which is often maligned and hated in the board game community. Colosseum does it right; take some of the chance out of rolling dice. I also agree with the Dice Tower’s Tom Vasel. Colosseum works at 5-players, which is rare in a game of this type.

If you’ve ever wanted to run your own Colosseum, you should check out Fantasia Games’ reprint of this modern board game classic. Colosseum: The Grand Spectacle has a variety of pledges, ranging from $80-140.

Death Stranding 2’s Mysterious Update

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was released this past week and topped video game sales. In case you haven’t played the original, the first Death Stranding is on sale for most systems. Modern video games have updates during their first week, so Death Stranding 2 adding one a day after its release doesn’t raise any eyebrows. Oddly, we know nothing about this Death Stranding 2 update. The update offers no information about what it’s patching. The Death Stranding 2 team offers no clues. No one seems to know what this patch does. Hopefully, it fixes some of the game’s audio issues. Perhaps Hideo Kojima likes keeping this update a mystery.

Tamagotchi Plaza Releases on the Nintendo Switch 2

Tamagotchi Plaza, a shop simulator, was released for the original Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. It looks adorable. I have fond memories of Tamagotchi, and I’m happy if Tamagotchi Plaza popularizes the pet raising sim to a new generation of gamers. Tamagotchi Plaza looks interesting–I may check out this title at some point–but Tamagotchi Plaza continues a disturbing trend for Nintendo Switch 2. If you already own a game for the original Switch, you can play it on the Switch 2 for a small Switch 2 upgrade fee.

While the upgrade fee isn’t the same price as a full-fledged game, it comes off as a shameless cash grab. Why should I have to pay an additional $10 for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild when I already own the game? Yes. $10 isn’t that much, but if you convert each one of your original Switch titles to the Switch 2, that adds up quickly. And this practice will embolden other console producers to do the same. We already got a Horizon: Zero Dawn remaster for the PlayStation 5 when it was released on the previous console.

Tamagotchi Plaza is a new game, and players would have to buy the Switch 2 upgrade for a game they just bought if they were to pick up a Switch 2 later this year. Okay. I get it. You could play the original version of Tamagotchi Plaza, but the Switch 2 version adds new shop types. Why would you want to play the Switch version if you were to upgrade to a Switch 2 after it becomes available again? I’m concerned about this business model for the video game community. But, hey, many of us–myself included–have purchased Skyrim eleven times. How’s this any different?

That’s all we have for Geek News this week, Geekly Gang. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Geekly News: June 22, 2025

Published on June 22, 2025June 21, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News. We have a couple of MCU updates and new board games to talk about. This week had an extra topic or two than last week’s. Yay! Since the MCU news is juicier, we’ll begin with the latest from Avengers: Doomsday.

Wolverine Will Be in Avengers: Doomsday

A couple of reports/rumors about the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday surfaced this past week, suggesting that Wolverine will return in some capacity during the massive group film. Early this past week, veteran stunt double Daniel Stevens stated that he’s working on Avengers: Doomsday. Stevens is Hugh Jackman’s stunt double for his role as Wolverine. This admission doesn’t confirm Wolverine will be in Avengers: Doomsday because Stevens has worked as a stunt double for multiple characters during Avengers movies, but the second report may seal the deal.

YouTuber UnBox PHD specializes in drone footage of Hollywood films. They’re the ones who broke that Wolverine would don his blue and yellow suit in Deadpool and Wolverine months before the movie’s release. UnBox PHD took drone images of a classic Wolverine movie scene’s recreation. Marvel asked UnBox PHD to take down the images, and in return, they all but confirmed Wolverine will be in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. It’s yet to be seen in what capacity Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine will be involved. Fingers crossed for more updates.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Mephisto to Make Appearance in Ironheart

Sacha Baron Cohen as the MCU’s Mephisto, who is a Marvel variant of the Devil, was leaked several years prior. Cohen’s Mephisto had been rumored as far back as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He cropped up again in Agatha All Along. Just about any Marvel film or series that features a magical element has been rumored or teased Cohen’s Mephisto. Ironheart combines magic and technology. The show’s central theme will be magic versus tech; this conflict interested me in our MCU Preview earlier this year. During that same preview, I mentioned that The Hood would be Ironheart’s main antagonist. While I still believe The Hood will be Ironheart’s focal enemy, he’s a younger character, about the same age as Riri Williams, so it makes sense if someone bigger is pulling the strings.

Marvel leaked Ironheart’s schedule this past week. Next week, we’ll see the first three episodes, and the week after that, the second set of three Ironheart episodes will release. If Ironheart uses The Hood as a mid-boss, someone who’s working for a larger and bigger bad, narratively speaking, it makes sense for the bigger bad to show their face during the fifth and penultimate episode. The Hood may be failing to convert Riri to the dark side, so the one behind The Hood will need to get personal. Notice how the “M” in Karma is suspiciously highlighted in red. A red M for Mephisto? It could be. We won’t have to wait long to see if one of Marvel’s most dastardly enemies graces the screen. I love the Cohen casting of Mephisto.

If we do get Cohen’s Mephisto in Ironheart, I don’t think he’ll be in full makeup, or if he is, we’ll only catch a glimpse. This appearance will most likely introduce the character and sow the seeds for future MCU stories. Could Mephisto make an appearance in Doctor Strange 3 or Midnight Sons, or even VisionQuest? All of those projects make sense.

Paperback Adventures: Volume 2 Launches on GameFound

Paperback Adventures combines a roguelike deck-building game with a word game. Paperback Adventures (first volume) was a solo game only, but Volume 2 offers a 4-player simultaneous co-op game mode as well. The modular system allows for more variety with the more character boxes you have. Even though Geekly has yet to play this game, Paperback Adventures was a hit with several well-known board game reviewers, specifically Shut Up & Sit Down and The Dice Tower.

I like any modular game with a well-thought-out storage system, and Paperback Adventures: Volume 2 appears to have that in spades. The game’s Big Box, which may be an add-on (no word on the Paperback Adventures: Volume 2’s price point yet), has space for everything included in the game. Yes! I don’t know how many times I’ve had larger modular games with ridiculous storage.

Paperback Adventures: Volume 2 takes the original Paperback (which I have played on Steam, and it’s excellent) and adds a layer of adventure with small RPG elements to it. I never picked up a hard copy version of Paperback (and I missed the first wave of Paperback Adventures), but I may have to back Paperback Adventures: Volume 2 when it launches on GameFound next week.

Cozy Cat Cafe Launches on KickStarter

Run your own cat cafe. Arrange furniture. Recruit cats. Attract customers. Cozy Cat Cafe has coziness in its title. Player turns don’t appear to take long. You’ll have a handful of options, but Cozy Cat Cafe ups the ante if you’ve recruited the right cats. Certain cats can pull off special cat tricks (cards).

I don’t know what “Biscuit Boost” does, but I must play it at least once. Want to know more about Cozy Cat Cafe? Fortunately, Stami Games has a quick Instagram video, providing a quick overview. I like a couple of Cozy Cat Cafe’s game mechanisms. Players construct patterns to attract customers, but the customer cards can be altered on one’s turn if you think one of your opponents can attract a customer. Neat! The other game mechanism I like is the double-sided tiles. You can construct a basic piece of furniture, or you can upgrade it for a posh version. Me-ow!

Cozy Cat Cafe has adorable art that fits its theme. If you’re interested in Cozy Cat Cafe, the core box runs about $54 (plus shipping). The deluxe version is $81. There are several other options (some with signed copies of the game). Check out Cozy Cat Cafe on KickStarter.

That’s all the Geek News we have for you this week. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Marvel United Rise Of The Black Panther Review

Tabletop Game Review: Marvel United, Rise of the Black Panther

Published on June 21, 2025March 24, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Has it been long enough since we’ve covered a Marvel United expansion? It’s been one month? Eh, why not cover one of the final expansions from the original release, Rise of the Black Panther? Like I said in our last expansion review, Geekly won’t be covering every Marvel United expansion, but we will review the ones worth your time or the ones we believe people will most likely purchase. In short, you may want to consider these expansions.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. In Marvel United, take on the roles of iconic Marvel heroes who work together to stop the master plan of a powerful villain controlled by the game. Each villain has a unique master plan, cards that trigger various effects, and threats that make clearing locations difficult. Heroes clear missions, making the villain vulnerable, and finally take on the mastermind before they complete their evil plot. Can you save the world from impending doom? Let’s find out with Rise of the Black Panther.

Wait. Before we leap into the fray, we should look at Rise of the Black Panther’s fine print.

Marvel United Box Close Up Board Game Review

The Fiddly Bits

Designer: Andrea Chiarvesio and Eric M. Lang
Publisher: CMON Global Limited and Spin Master Ltd.
Date Released: 2021
Number of Players: 1-4
Age Range: 8 and up
Setup Time: 5-10 minutes
Play Time: 30-40 minutes

Game Mechanisms

Cooperative Play
Hand Management
Modular Board
Solo / Solitaire Game
Variable Player Powers

Game Setup

We already covered the Game Setup and Game Flow in our Marvel United review (here’s a link to that review), so we’ll go over the basics in the following two sections. Let’s cover an abbreviated review of the game setup and rules.

Marvel United’s setup can change depending on which Villain and Heroes you choose to play. Each game consists of six locations. Typically, core sets have eight locations. Since Rise of the Black Panther is an expansion, it only has six. You may choose your locations or shuffle them and choose six at random. Each Location card has spaces at the top for civilians and thugs and a rectangle with a block of text that will state “End of Turn” at the top of the box.

Place civilian/thug tokens on their matching spaces. Shuffle the Villain’s Threat deck and deal out each Threat face-up so that it covers the rectangle at the bottom of each location. You must clear this threat before gaining the “End of Turn” effect printed on a Location. Place health tokens where signified on threat cards and on the Villain dashboard. Place the three mission cards (Defeat Thugs, Rescue Civilians, and Clear Threats) face up under the villain dashboard where the text reads “Unlocked.”

Each player shuffles their hero decks and then draws three cards to form their hands. Shuffle the Villain’s Master Plan deck. Leave the Master Plan deck face down. This will be the villain’s draw pile.

Players place their miniatures on one of the six location cards, usually the centralmost location for each player (easy access). Then, they place the villain on the location card opposing the heroes.

Game Flow

The villain(s) play first. Draw the top card of their master plan deck. The villain moves the number of spaces indicated. Resolve any BAM! Effects and these effects will be printed on a space within the villain’s dashboard. Then, place the civilian/thug tokens (if any) indicated at the bottom of the card. After all these effects are resolved, the heroes get their turn.

Heroes pick who goes first, and hero turns will continue around the table clockwise. At the beginning of each game, Heroes will get three turns before the villain receives another turn. During their turn, heroes play one card from their hand.

Resolve actions and the symbols printed at the bottom of the hero’s card in any order. The symbols at the bottom of a hero’s card will be shared with the next player, but any printed action will not be shared. Heroes will use these actions to complete missions. The game begins with three missions in play: Defeat Thugs, Rescue Civilians, and Clear Threats. Each mission card will have spaces for the tokens they require to complete. As soon as these spaces are filled, the card is discarded, and the mission is considered complete. Mission cards can be completed in any order.

Marvel United Three Mission Cards Board Game Review

After the heroes complete the first mission, the villain panics and will act (play a card) every two hero cards instead of every three hero cards. After the heroes complete the second mission, the villain becomes vulnerable to damage. The heroes can complete the third mission, but it isn’t necessary. If the heroes do complete the third mission, each hero immediately draws 1 card, increasing each player’s hand size by one.

Play continues back and forth until either the villain wins (by completing their unique master plan or anyone, heroes or villains, runs out of cards) or the heroes win by dealing enough damage to the villain after the villain becomes vulnerable to damage.

Review

Rise of the Black Panther has some stellar heroes in its ranks. The Challenge Card uses some interesting game elements that I haven’t seen Marvel United use before or since. Killmonger can be a tricky villain and one of my favorites to defeat. It’s an accomplishment to defeat Killmonger. But Rise of the Black Panther’s Locations may be the biggest reason why Geekly’s covering this specific expansion. We’ll start with Locations.

Jabari Village and Warrior Falls have solid “End of Turn” abilities. One gives you a Wild token while the other allows you to deal one damage at that Location. Not bad. But it doesn’t hold a candle to the remaining four Locations. Golden City lets players move to any other Location at the end of their turn. This gives players extra movement. I love that. That gives me one less resource to manage and I can focus on Heroics and Attack. Royal Palace allows players to search their deck for a card and place that card at the top of their deck. Fantastic! This would be a strong ability in most card games with decks. But the Great Mound and Shuri’s Lab puts Rise of the Black Panther Locations over the top.

Great Mound is one of the only ways to manipulate Crisis Tokens in the original Marvel United release. Full stop. If you have a villain who has pesky Crisis Token abilities (one of those is Killmonger included in Rise of the Black Panther) and you only have the original Marvel United release, Great Mound is a must. Its “End of Turn” ability allows players to discard a card from their hand to the bottom of their deck to remove 1 Crisis Token anywhere. Shuri’s Lab creates a great tandem of Location abilities. Its “End of Turn” ability grants players the ability to draw up to their maximum hand size, negating any ill effects from the Great Mound and giving players a way to heal. I like Enter the Spider-Verse’s Locations a lot, but they pale in comparison to Rise of the Black Panther’s.

As mentioned in previous Marvel United reviews, Challenge cards provide optional rules to spice up the core gameplay. Rise of the Black Panther’s “Endangered Locations” is a simple and engaging rule twist. During Setup, Each Hero is linked to a different Location by using the included Endangered Location tokens. During play, each time Overflow is triggered in a Location, the Hero with its matching token takes 1 damage. This makes each Location mean something to certain players. This Challenge card could influence players to keep one Location clear of tokens over another Location. I love it because it raises the stakes and adds a dash of strategy and something else for players to navigate.

We’ll get to the heroes in a bit, but let’s talk about one of the MCU’s better villains, Killmonger. Killmonger also happens to be an intriguing villain in Marvel United. He wins when four or more Locations have 3 or more Crisis Tokens, and he adds Crisis Tokens in various ways. His Overflow and BAM! abilities replace Civilian/Thug Tokens with Crisis Tokens, which will make clearing missions (in order to make Killmonger vulnerable to damage) more difficult. The “Weapon Smuggling” Threat card has a similar action. And his Master Plan deck adds plenty of Civilian/Thug tokens, which can trigger Overflows, while his “Overthrow” ability can convert multiple Civilian tokens into Crisis Tokens. In short, Killmonger can turn the tide of battle in short order.

Furthermore, Killmonger has plenty of ways of dealing additional damage to Heroes, which can cause players to race toward Shuri’s Lab for some heals. Killmonger has one of the higher potential damage outputs of Marvel United’s original set. As I said prior, beating Killmonger is an accomplishment.

Rise of the Black Panther’s Heroes are darn good and should be up for the task of defeating Killmonger. Black Panther tends to focus on giving himself bonus actions, but his Movement is so good that he’s a good choice for teams choosing specialists (All Attack or All Heroics), and the other two Heroes in this expansion happen to be specialists. Winter Soldier is one of the better pure damage dealers from Marvel United’s original set. His deck tends to be the most self-centered of the Rise of the Black Panther heroes. He gives himself Attack tokens. This can also make Winter Soldier the easiest Hero to play. Of the Rise of the Black Panther heroes, Shuri is easily my favorite.

Shuri has a stunning five cards with Wild symbols on the bottom. This gives her and her teammates options whenever they take their turns. The remainder of her deck centers around Heroics. Winter Soldier is the fighter; Shuri is the helping hand. And Shuri’s one special effect “Young Genius” certainly lends a helping hand. She gives one Hero (she can target herself) a wild token and the player may draw cards until they have 3 cards. Not only does she hand out an extra wild token, but Shuri heals a Hero up to their full health. This is huge. I don’t know how many times Shuri’s ability saved my party’s bacon. She is Rise of the Black Panther’s standout Hero.

Too Long, Didn’t Read

Rise of the Black Panther has some of the original Marvel United set’s best Locations. Its Challenge card adds a simple but compelling wrinkle to gameplay. Killmonger is a worthy adversary. The Heroes provide variety, but Shuri can turn the tide of battle.

Tabletop Game Review: We’re Doomed!

Published on June 16, 2025March 16, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Earth is doomed. The leaders of the world’s most powerful nations have created a scenario where humans need to escape in a rocket ship before the planet implodes. You play the role of one of the world’s leaders. That’s the premise of today’s tabletop game review, We’re Doomed!.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Geekly hasn’t had a new board game review in quite some time. Today’s game is a silly party game with a quirky theme. Played in a real-time 15 minutes (the game includes a 15-minute hourglass), We’re Doomed! tasks players with generating enough resources to build a rocket ship big enough for all the players at the table or if you have the most influence and there’s only seating for one player, you become the only one to board the rocket ship. The choice is yours. Work together or backstab the other players.

Before we go any further, let’s prepare this rocket for takeoff and discuss We’re Doomed!’s details.

The Fiddly Bits

Designer: Mike Horton
Publisher: Breaking Games; Magellan
Date Released: 2019
Number of Players: 4-10
Age Range: 12 and up
Setup Time: Less than a minute
Play Time: 15 minutes (timed)

Game Mechanisms

Party Game
Card Game
Negotiation
Player Elimination
Variable Player Powers

Game Setup

We’re Doomed! has a minimal setup. Each player receives one Leader card that they display for others to see. Form piles of influence and resource tokens so every player can access them. The hourglass is set up so that all the sand is on the bottom (before it gets flipped), and the first player token rests on top of the hourglass.

Randomly select one player to go first, or someone could flip over the hourglass and claim the first-player token for themselves. You have 15 minutes before time runs out. Go!

Game Flow

We’re Doomed! is played in rounds until time runs out. Each round is split into two phases: Actions and Contribution. The action phase is played in turn order, starting with the first player. Unless the rules (which can evolve) say otherwise, each player has access to the same five actions: Produce, Indoctrinate, Propagandize, Invade, and Nuke. The first four actions revolve around gaining resources, which can be used to build seats on the rocket ship or gain influence, denoting who’s first to board the ship. The first two (Produce and Indoctrinate) allow players to take resources or influence from the supply. The second set of two (Propagandize and Invade) lets players steal those tokens from other players. The Nuke action allows players to spend resources to eliminate a player.

Each nation’s leader has a bonus for one of these five actions. For example, whenever the Democracy “Invades” they steal 2 Resources from another player for free instead of having to spend an influence token. The Theocracy gets a bonus Influence whenever they “Indoctrinate,” and the Technocracy gains an additional resource whenever they “Produce.”

After each player chooses one of the five actions, play moves to the Contribution Phase. In this phase, players simultaneously choose how many of their resources they donate to the Project, building a bigger rocket ship. The player who donates the most for the round gains the first player token (and will begin the Action phase next round), earns an influence token from the supply, and draws an event card.

There are two types of event cards: ones read aloud and ones read privately. Follow the rules on the card (reading aloud if you are told to read aloud) and after the event is resolved, the new round begins. Keep going until time runs out.

Review

If you’re anything like me, seeing the “player elimination” game mechanism waved a red flag, but remember, We’re Doomed! is a real-time game that lasts exactly 15 minutes. I don’t mind player elimination as a game mechanism if the game is short. And the idea that you can nuke another player is fun and thematic. We’re Doomed! is a fun and thematic game.

Given the proper gaming group, that’d be gamers who don’t mind backstabbing, negotiating, and loose alliances, We’re Doomed! can be a hit. Quick and tense turns are a feature. We didn’t mention this in the game flow, but there is an additional rule where players can claim another player is taking too long (or stalling). If this happens, everyone takes a vote, counting to three, and votes thumbs up or down to eliminate the player. This makes sense because time is of the essence in We’re Doomed. A similar voting system is used whenever there’s a tie during an event card.

Speaking of the event cards, they can swing the game wildly, making We’re Doomed! a fragile game. Fragile in the sense that the wrong combination of event cards can break the game in an unintended manner. During one playthrough, the first event negated influence. The player who became “The Executor” dictated the sequence of who boarded the rocket ship. Then, the very next event “Too Big To Fail” gave one player (I was voted to be that player) six resources at the beginning of the round if they had no resources. Since I was the Technocracy, that meant that I produced nine resources each round. I could’ve eliminated players (spend 8 resources) and nuke them all or donate all the resources, rescuing everyone. I chose to do the latter. Even though we played a five-player game, we had enough resources for ten.

Typically, I don’t care for games that can be this fragile, but We’re Doomed! isn’t meant to be taken seriously. It’s great for some dumb—and I mean dumb—fun. As I said before, with the proper gaming group, We’re Doomed! can be a hit. But with the wrong gaming group, it can be doomed to fail. We’re Doomed! isn’t a game for everyone. Heck. I must be in the right headspace for the game to land, but when it does land, it’s good for a laugh. One of my favorite chuckles came from someone drawing the “Trickle Down Economics” event card that reads, take six resources from The Project. You may choose to keep the resources or distribute them with any number of players. The person who drew the card asked, why wouldn’t I just pocket the resources? This card’s effect doesn’t seem right. Another player responded that’s why the card name is “Trickle Down Economics.” That sounds like Reagan. We’re Doomed!’s strength is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Verdict

While not for everyone, We’re Doomed! can be a bunch of fun with the right gaming group. The game takes no more than 15 minutes (timed with an hourglass). Your gaming group must like backstabbing, negotiating, and loose alliances…and like games that don’t take themselves too seriously.