Quirky Video Game Review: Papers, Please

Published on April 5, 2025June 10, 2026 by KyraLeave a comment

Papers, Please by indie game developer Lucas Pope has received widespread acclaim. Who knew that working as an immigration officer in a fictional Eastern Bloc country named Arstotzka would strike a chord with so many people? I’m not sure if any empathy game (a type of role-playing game that asks players to inhabit someone else’s emotional world) has ever received this much attention.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Today’s post returns to a much older review I did for a now-defunct website. Unlike most of the video games I cover on Geekly, Papers, Please is a paid game. You can get a good deal on the game through sites like Steam or GOG (Good Old Games). Usually, Papers, Please sells for around $10, even without a sale. I’m reuploading my almost six-year-old review of Papers, Please to Geekly with a few tweaks to tighten the review and match our criteria. Six years is a long time. Let’s see how well Papers, Please stands the test of time.

Mechanisms: 10/10

I have never seen a game as immersive and nerve-racking than Papers, Please. It wasn’t just Papers, Please’s ethical choices. There were plenty of those that made me nervous. The frenetic pace of checking people and their documentation as they crossed Arstotzka’s border took a lot out of a person.

If one divorces its setting (good luck with that), players gain an appreciation for the long lines one may encounter at an airport or the DMV. Papers, Please functions as an “empathy game,” or as Papers, Please’s designer Lucas Pope would say, an “other people simulator.” There aren’t too many games that ask players to inhabit another person’s life.

Papers, Please is one of those games. There’s a reason why Papers, Please is cited as a video game that suggests that the medium be treated as an art form.

(Note: Geekly posted a “3 Lists of 3” for Video Games as Art, check out that post with this link.)

Above Image from GameDesigning.Org

Gameplay Loop: 8/10

It doesn’t matter how well Papers, Please embodies government paperwork, it’s gameplay centers around government paperwork. “I wish someone would make DMV: The Video Game,” said no one ever. You know, I might just play DMV: The Video Game. Don’t @ me. The tedium of checking passports and other supporting documents is mind-numbing at times. Fortunately, there’s the threat of death and supporting one’s family to spice up the act of checking IDs.

The choices the player makes between each day are a large part (if not the largest part) of Papers, Please’s narrative, and by extension its gameplay. The inspector may be given choices like adopting his niece, but his family goes without food or heat for one day. Do you help EZIC and risk being found out by the government? Do you do what you’re told and uphold Arstotzkian law? Glory to Arstotzka! But these are overarching choices, Papers, Please also gives the player plenty of choices and moral dilemmas within their job and daily routine.

An immigrant could ask to be let into the country so they can reunite with their children, but any violation of protocol results in a citation. Too many citations and the player character could be charged fines and possibly thrown in jail—or even executed. The choice to grant leniency to someone could negatively impact the player or the player’s family and that creates plenty of tension with which choices the player makes.

Narrative: 8/10

Whew. There’s a lot going on with Papers, Please’s gameplay and I may have covered some narrative structure in the previous section because gameplay and narrative are so intrinsically linked in Papers, Please. But narrative is where this game shines like an eagle, or some other mixed, cliched metaphor.

Papers, Please paints its narrative in the game’s blank space. Sure, there’s the tedium of checking government documents (and much of the game is centered around that), but the story of the inspector and his family comes in between the inspector’s daily chores. Do you uncheck the expenses for “food” or “heat” to purchase something else, knowing that your family will suffer? Do you confiscate passports, accruing warnings, or even financial penalties, so that you can doctor those passports for your family and escape? Do you keep your head down out of fear of being caught? All of these are valid choices. All these choices, or illusion of choices, puts the player in the role of the inspector.

Much like the gameplay, I can’t tell where the “story” for Papers, Please ends and the storytelling begins. It’s difficult to separate the two and that’s a wonderful thing. So many games we cover on Geekly are easy enough to separately grade a game’s narrative and storytelling. I’m still going to try to separate the two.

Papers, Please has a compelling story because its premise is compelling. But the game’s storytelling is where it truly shines.

Storytelling: 10/10

I mentioned earlier about Papers, Please telling its story in the game’s blank space. I’ve never seen a video game do this is such dramatic fashion. Papers, Please doesn’t just go for large moments and big decisions. It sprinkles in some nice character moments like after the first time the inspector tranquilizes a terrorist and his son hands him a drawing with the text “Arstotzka’s Hero.” Papers, Please’s character building and story come out in ways that only a video game could tell a story or build characters and that’s why it’s received several awards.

I don’t want to get too far into Papers, Please’s storylines, wading deep in spoiler waters, I may have said too much already, but Papers, Please not only challenges preconceived notions of right and wrong and what someone may or may not do if put in an untenable situation, but it also challenges video games to branch out with new forms of storytelling.

Sure, there are some moments where characters feed the player exposition and some of the world-building comes from newspaper headlines or clippings, but they aren’t used in excess. Papers, Please does a good job of showing instead of telling. It does an even better job of immersing players in its world, so much so that an indie film based on the game exists.

It’s difficult to separate Papers, Please’s narrative form from how it builds its characters, world, and story, but that may be the point. It receives high storytelling marks if only with innovation.

User Interface: 5/10

While Papers, Please takes things slowly and raises the temperature of its difficulty a little over time, it doesn’t hand-feed players. The inspection booth can be difficult to navigate at times and chat rooms and question-and-answer sites are littered with places where gamers get stuck. Papers, Please could use more of a tutorial, especially in later rounds of the game. The rulebook does point out changes to the ruleset, but it’s too easy to mess up and restart over a day or two or thirty.

Graphics: 8/10

Papers, Please mirrors the era in which its narrative is set: the early 1980s. Its 8-bit sprites add to the overall vibe of the game, but the gameplay suffers at times as a result.

Pixelated portraits can make cross-referencing passport photos, and other supporting documents, to a person a chore. On the other hand, the graphics amplify the game’s difficulty and provide a double dose of meta-gaming. Government documents often get damaged and become illegible, even for people whose job it is to deal with them, so the graphics are in keeping with the era and the simulation it’s trying to achieve.

The cruder graphics also grant Papers, Please a touch of abstraction. Sometimes players must fill in the gaps when something awful befalls a would-be immigrant. Other times the player is spared a gruesome scene. Either way, the player is actively engaged in this world and anything one creates in their imagination is worse than what a visual medium can show. Horror films have known this for decades.

Still, I must dock Papers, Please a couple of points for its graphics. That’s her face? She looks nothing like that, and I just wasted a few seconds clicking buttons and waiting for results. There are limits to the copious number of times I erroneously scanned people’s faces.

Audio: 7/10

Papers, Please doesn’t use that much music, but the music it employs drives home the point that Arstotzka is an Eastern Bloc country. The main theme, which plays at the beginning of each day, feels like the protagonist inspector is high stepping his way to work each morning.

That’s fantastic. I can, and have, listened to that song on a loop. That’s not a good sign, but at least I didn’t dance the Mamushka, “the dance of brotherly love.” Mamushka!

While the rest of the music is mostly forgettable, character voices and other sound effects come from public sources—one could download midis or wave files from sites like Soundcloud and create one’s own government document thriller—but Papers, Please’s usage of these sound clips is well done. Garbled voices conjure the idea that what immigrants or superiors or peers say to the protagonist doesn’t matter like much adult dialogue in a Peanuts television special. Heck, even what the protagonist says doesn’t matter to him. He’s going through the motions.

The main theme elevates the rest of the soundtrack, but I’m counting off a few points here. Papers, Please’s soundtrack is largely functional.

Replay Factor: 8/10

This is a difficult category to grade. On one hand, Papers, Please has plenty of replay value and even demands players to repay it at least a handful of times. But once one achieves a dozen or so of Papers, Please’s twenty possible endings, I’m not sure if there’s a lot of replay value after doing so. Lucas Pope included an endless mode once a player finished the game at least once, but the game loses something with that game mode.

With twenty endings there’s still plenty of replay value. One can finish Papers, Please in under an hour. Heck, one could deliberately fail as an inspector and end the game in less than five minutes. I put in over 20 hours for this review and still found avenues I could navigate the story.

Aggregated Score: 8

Even after reexamining Papers, Please, I ended up with the same score of eight. I wasn’t anticipating that. I said that I tweaked the scoring criteria to match our modern reviews, but I revisited the game, trying to see if I spotted anything different. Our new scoring criteria could’ve changed Papers, Please overall score, but it didn’t. Papers, Please is the best game (to date) of the ones we’ve covered on JK Geekly. Even after a decade past its original release, Papers, Please is worth your time.

Daredevil: Born Again, “Art for Art’s Sake”

Published on April 2, 2025April 2, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Daredevil: Born Again’s episode this week, “Art for Art’s Sake” has me torn. The pace is simultaneously fast and slow. Quick spoiler: Muse perishes during the episode. While the man behind Muse makes physical appearances earlier in the show, Daredevil: Born Again could’ve done more to develop him further. In short, “Art for Art’s Sake” sends mixed signals.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Daredevil: Born Again’s weekly episode left me scratching my head. I don’t know what to make of its pacing. I expected the first season to end with Muse’s demise. Instead, they get right to eliminating the threat. I would’ve liked to have seen more of Muse before he left the show. While the show could travel interesting waters, Daredevil: Born Again raced to Muse’s end. I figured Heather Glenn’s strange patient was tied to Muse or was Muse. That ended up being true. He was conspicuously the next patient after Wilson Fisk and Vanessa. For what it matters, the idea of no one noticing Muse fits; I was more focused on the couple. But I wanted the show to explore Muse more.

I wouldn’t classify Muse as a villain of the week. He’s more than that. While I didn’t care for how fast Daredevil: Born Again gave him the boot, how Muse left was intense. Despite any reservations I may have, Daredevil taps the suspense vein. Is it too soon to make a blood reference? Muse met a fitting end; I hoped he would’ve stuck around longer.

So, if Muse isn’t this season’s main threat, what is? I have an idea of where Daredevil: Born Again intends to take the season finale (episode nine; thanks again for the clarification, MetalAusten of BlueSky), and if I’m right, it could be a doozy. At one point in the Daredevil comics, Kingpin reveals that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. Daredevil: Born Again looks to be building toward that end, but it’s taking its time. See what I mean by this episode’s pacing. It raced to the end of Muse while dragging its feet toward something bigger, like Daredevil’s identity getting blown.

Kingpin has been sitting on Murdock’s identity for years. He’s known Murdock and Daredevil were the same person since the original series. Why wait until now to unmask Daredevil? Sure. Kingpin did warn Murdock not to resume his “activities” as Daredevil or else there would be consequences. But two episodes remain until the break, when this bombshell (if it does happen) will occur. Does Daredevil: Born Again intend to mark time until then? Why not build the tension while Muse continues his reign of terror? The show may have missed a symbolic gesture of Kingpin holding Muse’s mask while unmasking Daredevil.

And again, I can hear a sceptic ask, but what about Heather Glenn? She’s been set up as an anti-vigilante, and Matt says her name after he rescues her. First, Glenn’s anti-vigilante stance happened in the last episode or two. We haven’t known she’s been anti-vigilante for long, and the show has had opportunities for this inclusion. Second, Daredevil: Born Again hasn’t sold me on their relationship. The only time their relationship gets brought up (since the one date right after Foggy’s death and a couple of sex scenes) is when Heather asks where Matt was overnight. This was before Matt resumed work as Daredevil. The series hasn’t shown me that they’re close.

A quick tangent. While watching Daredevil’s side of this story, I’m reminded of Jim Plath’s pet peeve: the reluctant superhero. He’d say that the reluctant superhero cliche was overplayed, and that was ten years ago. Until the last two episodes, Daredevil’s story is a reluctant superhero story.

The Vanessa and Wilson Fisk angle remains the most intriguing. Venessa all but sends a gangster to attempt Kingpin’s murder. Or did she? She could’ve warned Wilson of the threat, but something tells me Buck (Kingpin’s right-hand man) always stands in the shadows while Kingpin eats. In a previous week, I mentioned that I like Heather Glenn more as Fisk’s therapist. I can’t wait to see how she tackles the layers of this relationship. Daredevil: Born Again could build an interesting dynamic of Kingpin using Glenn to get to Murdock before he reveals Daredevil’s identity.

Daredevil: Born Again Wilson and Vanessa Fisk

As much as it may sound like it, I didn’t hate “Art for Art’s Sake.” Most of the show’s better moments happen on Kingpin’s side of the ledger. Venessa and Wilson Fisk’s relationship has me wanting more. Kingpin navigating his role as mayor has been a treat. I loved Daniel Blake’s heel-turn in this episode. In one scene, Blake went from a sniveling Mayor Fisk superfan to a cold-blooded manipulator that Kingpin can and should use in the future. And it felt organic. The gangland unrest, while understated, simmers in a tasty way. And I like the inclusion of Kingpin’s anti-vigilante task force. Like many other elements (in the show), its formation was rushed, but Officer Powell galvanizes the team.

Kingpin’s rise as mayor is Daredevil: Born Again’s bright spot. While I question some of the show’s decisions, it’s done enough to hold my interest, and I can’t wait for the finale. There’s a chance we have more than one surprise in the offing. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Whatcha Playing, Geekly: April 2025

Published on April 2, 2025May 30, 2026 by Kyra5 Comments

Today marks our first post for Geekly’s Whatcha Playing series. In this series, the Geekly Gang will share which games (board games and video games) they played over the last thirty or so days. We welcome you to join the Geekly Gang and share the games you played this past month.

Kyra’s Games

Before I get started, I’m not going to include any of my prototypes. Of course, I’ve played my prototypes plenty of times this past month, but I’ll include those games with our upcoming “Fifth Wednesday, Personal Updates” post. Until then, I’ll discuss the games I’ve played this past month that I didn’t design.

Video Games

I fell down The Survivalists rabbit hole. For a week last month, I spent almost every day trying to build each structure and cook every recipe. I’ve never played The Escapists. The Survivalists are set in the same world, and I don’t think I missed too much for not having played the game that inspired its world. This game plays like a low-pressure version of Ark: Survival Evolved. Obviously, I like this game. I played almost forty hours in just over a week. Yikes!

I’ve been keeping up with Wuthering Waves and Honkai: Star Rail. Geekly has a review on both of these gacha games. I haven’t played too many video games this past month besides these three games. I’ve mostly played board games.

Board Games

I played Dice Throne for the first time this past month. It’s a little too combat-heavy for me; I would’ve liked a few more things to do besides worrying about positioning, defense, and damage output, but what’s there is intriguing. I like how each character’s dice are unique, but they retain a six-sided die’s classic numbering. Players can trigger abilities by matching symbols or using numbers. This is a clever mechanism. It makes most die rolls useful, and I like purposing my dice each turn.

I also played We’re Doomed! for the first time, too. We’ll have a review on this one in the coming months. We’re Doomed! is a raucous party game with a real-time element. The world is doomed. You need to work together to build a large enough spaceship for everyone to leave the planet, or you could screw over the players. Players take on the roles of world leaders. Each player has the same five options for actions each round, but the role a player has gives them a bonus for one of those actions. The game’s event cards can disrupt the game flow to a point where the game breaks, but We’re Doomed! is dumb fun.

From one silly little game to another. Don’t L.L.A.M.A. Card Game is designed by board game legend Reiner Knizia. It reminds me a bit of Uno with a twist. You attempt to rid your hand of cards by matching the number on top of the discard or playing a card higher than the card showing. The cards are numbered 1-6. Llama cards count as 7s. Don’t L.L.A.M.A. Card Game is a quick, award-winning filler card game. I highly recommend it.

I could list more but I’ll let Season and Skye share their games. Thanks for reading.

Season’s Games

video games

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m a fan of RPG style farming sims (similar to the Harvest Moon franchise). I’ve lost count of how many I’ve played. I picked up Sun Haven during Steam’s spring sale. It’s got a much larger map than what I’m used to from an RPG farming sim and has options for mounts, pets, and accessories. I’m a sucker for all of these things.

One feature I appreciate about Sun Haven is the ability to choose your race, class, and free initial customization options. Your race and class give you bonuses in the game based on how you want to play. When I say, “free initial customization,” I mean you just design a character without picking a gender. You don’t even get the option to pick a gender, like most of these games require. All romance-able characters are available for the player to choose from and you can increase your bond with them based on picking dialogue options they like in addition to gifts.

I’ve also been playing Honkai Star Rail and Wuthering Waves regularly. They’re a staple of my video game diet, so I won’t go into detail. Good luck on all of your 50/50’s to those of you who play either/both of these games.

board games

Okay. I know this is a collectible card game (CCG). I recently played Magic: The Gathering with a friend and got hit with a wave of nostalgia when I got to play with my fifteen-year-old decks. I’ve only played commander a couple of times in the past, which is the standard way to play Magic: The Gathering now. You have a powerful creature (your commander) who starts the game off the field while the rest of your deck is ninety-nine cards, all of which must be unique (outside of basic land cards). It plays like a normal games of Magic: The Gathering, but you can summon your commander even if it dies, as long as you have the mana.

I’ve played a few prototypes last month, but haven’t played as many board games as I would have liked. I’ve been settling into a new position at my day job, so I haven’t had as much time/energy for board games. I’m hoping to play more this month.

Skye’s Games

Hello, Geekly Gang! Yes. I also enjoy games. So here are some that I’ve been playing lately.

Wuthering Waves and Honkai: Star Rail

Gacha friends, rejoice. I have returned to Wuthering Waves and Honkai: Star Rail. While I’ve always enjoyed these games, they can sometimes be difficult to keep up with. That’s why I took a break from gacha games. Now that I’m trying to loosen up, I thought it was a good time to revisit them. I’m so glad I did!

No gacha game is perfect, but the simple act of building your teams, finding secrets, and yes, owning as many characters as possible is enough to keep me hooked. Since I’ve circled back around to them, it’s been difficult for me to put them down. I’ll admit that grinding gets old. Please implement more multiplayer options. I’m desperate!

Pixel Art

Speaking of loosening up, Pixel Art is my go-to relaxation app. While not technically a game, coloring to your heart’s content is comforting. My favorite aspect of the app is the ability to create your own pixel art creations using images from your phone’s camera roll. Lately, Pixel Art has been my primary method of preserving my memories. Who needs photo albums when you have Pixel Art?

Final Fantasy

Ever since I was a kid, I always loved the Final Fantasy series (even if it was vicariously through watching my parents play it). Lately, I’ve started playing the original Final Fantasy. Since the first Final Fantasy game I played was VII, I’ve taken it upon myself to play each one that came before it. Thankfully, my sister has the Final Fantasy I-VI Pixel Remaster Collection for PlayStation4, so thank you for letting me borrow it. 😉

It’s surreal to see where this behemoth of a franchise started. The story doesn’t always make sense, but the gameplay is still fun. My favorite part is that even though (then) SquareSoft didn’t understand what it was at the time, the game is still clearly a Final Fantasy title. I can see why this is SquareEnix’s golden goose.

The Survivalists

Like other Geekly members, I’ve taken up this quaint yet satisfying game. Since I’ve been a long-time fan of survival sandbox games, it’s been fun seeing Team 17’s interpretation of one. Like most Gen Zers, my first survival sandbox game was Minecraft. It wasn’t hard for me to fall in love with The Survivalists.

Like most survival sandbox games, The Survivalists can become stale after a while. It can take an hour to get things done. If you’re a fan of the genre like me, you’re used to that. The Survivalists will soon join the roster of survival sandbox staples like Terraria, Don’t Starve, ARK: Survival Evolved, and Minecraft. Also, this one has monkeys. Monkey butlers. What more do you want?

Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

April 2025 Update

Published on April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Here is the second of our quarterly JK Geekly updates. I don’t know if we’ll continue doing these. Let me know if you like to see them coming. I figured this would be a good way to let folks know what we’re up to and what we have planned.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Geekly has been chugging along with our new editor Season and new writer Skye. We’re staying a good couple of months out with our schedule. By the time you’re reading this, we’re probably working on summer posts. Yay!

Our regularly scheduled content being set this far in advance affords us to review the occasional TV show or movie. We’ve increased our weekly content.

Quizzes

We’ve been releasing color palette quizzes for the past few months. We hope you’re enjoying them. Here’s a link to the ones we’ve already produced. A new color palette quiz has been released each Thursday. Which ones are your favorite? Which franchises would you like to see get a color palette quiz?

We also reintroduced older quizzes that Geekly used to make and began posting alternating quizzes (among multiple-choice, matching, and timeline quiz types) every Tuesday. Since we have plenty of color palette quizzes (to match the number of the other quizzes), we’ll begin cycling through all four quiz types (to include color palettes) every Tuesday and Thursday. We’ll continue with this schedule until at least the next update in July. Let us know which quiz type you like best.

TV Show and Movie Reviews

Geekly has been keeping up with the weekly release of Disney+ and Max shows centered around the Marvel and DC Universe. We plan on covering some more movies, specifically ones that will release this summer. We can’t wait for Fantastic Four and Superman. Summer 2025 movies are looking great.

Let us know if there are any shows or movies you’d like for us to cover that we aren’t already covering.

Geekly News

We’re still figuring out how we want to present Geekly News. Should we go with a big headline with smaller stories throughout the week or weeks? Or should we come out with focused news stories for individual topics? We could always do a weekly Geekly News with no headline, too. In short, Geekly News is a work-in-progress.

New Weekly Posts

The Geekly Gang is filling out the rest of its weekly schedule with two different types of posts. We’ll start with the Whatcha Wednesday posts. Each Wednesday, the Geekly Gang will share which games they’ve played, shows/movies they’ve watched, books they’ve read, and even which songs made the previous month’s soundtrack. Feel free to join in the fun, because you’re part of the Geekly Gang, too.

Our other weekly post is inspired by Harper Ross, one of JK Geekly’s commenters. These posts will be called Geekly Casting and will be released one Friday each month, starting with April 18, 2025. Skye’s our resident movie geek, so she’ll share her ideas on who should play certain roles. Season likes to conduct research, so she’ll unearth casting rumors. And my contributions may vary. We’ll see. Again, you’re more than welcome to share who you think should play which role, Geekly Gang.

But Geekly Casting will only post on one Friday of each month. The rest of the Fridays will have various posts. We’ll make it up as we go for Potpourri Friday.

Fantasy and Mythological Creatures

We’ve struggled to get the fantasy and mythological creatures series off the ground. We figured this might be the case. It’s difficult to coordinate with more people, but we will produce this series whenever we get the chance.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Geekly intends to release a series of game mechanism posts where we send game designers a questionnaire about specific game mechanisms. XD We do intend to do this and hopefully, the pitfalls we encountered with the fantasy and mythological creatures project will inform us on what to do with the board game mechanism series.

JK Geekly Discord Server

We started a JK Geekly Discord Server. We’ll try to be active on this server as much as possible. Discord could help with reaching out to potential content creators and you. We’re all part of the Geekly Gang. Let us know what kind of posts you’d like to see. We could even hang out on the server and play games. Who knows?

Closing Thoughts

That’s all we have for now. We’ll have another one of these posts ready for July. Until then, stay safe, thank you for reading, and wherever you are, we hope you’re having a great day.

Tabletop Game Review: On Tour

Published on March 31, 2025March 31, 2025 by Kyra1 Comment

On Tour puts you in a rock band. You’re living the dream. You must schedule the band’s stops over your 100-day tour, visiting as many states (or countries depending on the map you choose) as possible. Roll the dice and chart a course with the most concerts.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Today’s tabletop game review is the roll-and-write game by All Play (BoardGameTables.com at the time of its original print) On Tour. We’ll set off on our tour soon, but first, let’s handle some of On Tour’s behind-the-scenes details.

The Fiddly Bits

Designer: Chad DeShon
Publisher: BoardGameTables.com
Date Released: 2019
Number of Players: 1-8
Age Range: 8 and up
Setup Time: Less than a minute
Play Time: 20 minutes

Game Mechanisms

Bingo
Dice Rolling
Line Drawing
Network and Route Building
Push Your Luck
Simultaneous Action Selection
Solo/Solitaire Game

Game Setup

1) Give each player their own player board and a dry-erase marker.

2) Shuffle the cards and place them in the center of the table.

3) Roll the dice (2 large 10-sided dice). For setup only, re-roll doubles.

4) Combine the results to form two different 2-digit numbers (i.e. 1 & 4 combine to form 14 & 41).

5) One player draws a card. All players write the lower dice combination on that state.

6) Draw another card and all players write the higher dice combination on that state.

7) Each player circles both numbers.

8) Repeat steps 3-7.

9) Remove the four cards from the game.

Choose a player to begin the game by rolling the dice first.

Game Flow

With each turn, the rolling player draws 3 cards and reveals the cards for all players. If the deck ever empties, reshuffle the deck to form a new deck.

The rolling player rolls both dice. Combine the results to form two different 2-digit numbers (i.3. 5 & 6 combine to form 56 & 65). All players simultaneously write each of those numbers in two empty states (or countries) on their board.

When writing numbers, players choose two of the three cards. The numbers must be written in one of the regions on the displayed cards (like North and Central). If you write a number on the same state displayed on the card, circle it. When writing numbers, a different card must be used for each number.

If all three cards display the same region OR if doubles are rolled, each player draws one star in any one empty state on their board instead of writing numbers. The state must be in the same region as shown on the card. You may still circle the star if you use an exact state from a card.

When all players have written their two numbers, discard the revealed cards and pass the dice to the next person clockwise.

When only one or two empty states remain, do not flip cards, instead roll dice. Players may freely write numbers in any remaining states, following the usual rules.

When all states are filled, the game ends. Beginning in any state, draw a continuous route for your tour. The line must continue to any adjacent state with a number equal to or greater than the previous state you started in. Stars are wild and count as any number.

You can never return to a state that you have already visited. You can never go to a state with a lower number.

Score one point for each state you visit and an additional point for each circled star or number on your route. The highest score is the winner.

Review

First, I didn’t change much from the rulebook in the game setup and game flow sections. I always use a game’s rulebook as a point of reference when writing these sections. Typically, I need to reword or condense multiple passages in a board game’s rulebook to make it easier to read or to get the gist of how a game is played. On Tour’s rulebook, like many other All Play (formerly boardgametables.com) rulebooks, is easy to read. The company has a mission of making board games accessible to more people. Their well-written rulebooks go a long way toward that end.

I like On Tour’s twist on the roll-and-write or flip-and-write mechanism. Note: roll-and-writes have Yahtzee as a basis, where players roll dice and then fill in the results on their player boards, while flip-and-writes typically replace dice with cards. On Tour combines both mechanisms flawlessly and that leads to each game playing differently. I’ve played plenty of On Tour, mostly solo, and each game presents a different challenge. I may get the card I need, but not the right numbers or I may get the numbers I need, but not the right card. Some combination of this will happen in every game but each game feels fresh.

I enjoy On Tour’s solo mode, but the game plays better with multiple players. Like most roll-and-writes, players fill in their maps at the same time and this accommodates larger player counts. Playing with a full complement of eight players may only add ten or so gameplay minutes. Knowing the map helps make decisions easier. I don’t take long to fill in my map, but a new player would take a hot second to make their decision. But I wouldn’t say that knowing a map gives a player an unfair advantage. It’s an advantage but not a huge one. I’ve lost plenty of times to noobs. That may say more about my inability to play On Tour well.

The player boards are two-sided. One side depicts the United States, while the other is a map of Europe. New players should start with the United States. The regions are easier to spot (North, South, East, West, and Central). The straight boundaries of Colorado, Wyoming, and other mid-western and western states help.

I add a rules variant and allow players to chart their route as they fill in states (countries). You can always erase a route if you choose to go in a different direction. The end game (of figuring out which route you’ll take) can take almost as long as the game itself. Filling in a tentative route as you go shortens the time you need for final scoring. It also leads to table talk where someone undoubtedly says, “Well, I guess I’m cut off from Washington (or some other state).” Since you’re using a dry-erase marker, these tentative routes can be altered.

I often bring On Tour while on vacation. While On Tour is one of All Play’s standard box-size games, these boxes are still roughly 7 x 11 inches, making it easy to pack in a suitcase. And its price of $40 is nice. All Play games skew toward wider appeal (code for lighter games), but one can’t question the company’s quality of games and its commitment to cheaper price points.

Too Long, Didn’t Read

On Tour blends roll-and-write and flip-and-write mechanisms for a fresh take on both game mechanisms. While knowing one of the maps can help with making faster decisions, veteran players don’t gain too much of an advantage over newer players. The game plays well as a solo game but sings at large player counts. On Tour continues All Play games’ mission of making board games accessible to a wider audience.

Geekly News: March 30, 2025, Blade Movie Cancelled

Published on March 30, 2025March 29, 2025 by Kyra1 Comment

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We’ll go lighter on Geekly News for the next few weeks. Protospiel Kansas City is next weekend. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t miss a News post.

MCU Cancels Blade Movie

On one hand, the MCU cancelling Blade comes as a surprise. A trusted insider announced a day prior that Blade had a new director, but then another trusted insider, World of Reel, made the announcement that Blade was nixed. No one has questioned World of Reel’s claim…yet. Blade has had the worst luck in the past few years. Actors have committed and then de-committed. The same goes for directors. And the script has been chopped up and rewritten so many times that it looks like someone tried to reconstruct a ream of paper from the confetti dumped on Times Square during New Year’s. In short, the MCU’s Blade was cursed.

I’m glad Marvel ended the failing production. Blade should return. He’s a popular character, and I’d like to see the MCU’s take on Blade. Rumors persist that Blade will appear in a team-up movie like Avengers: Doomsday or Midnight Sons. But if Blade were to get his own vehicle, perhaps Marvel could give him a Special on Disney+. Marvel hasn’t released a Special on the streaming platform since 2022’s Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special. I didn’t care for the Christmas Special; it played like the Star Wars Christmas Special. Yuck! But Marvel’s previous special, October 2022’s Werewolf By Night, was among the best productions in the MCU’s Phase Four.

Werewolf By Night saw even more success after it became part of 2023’s Huluween. This proves that the format works and has legs. An annual (or a series of annual) Marvel After Dark Special(s) could also work to organize the MCU’s release schedule. Spectacles get movie releases. Street-level heroes receive a TV series. Horror/macabre characters feature in Marvel Specials. Blade would fit in with Werewolf By Night, Man-Thing, and Elsa Bloodstone. We’ll see many of these characters (including Blade) in Midnight Sons, but I’d like to see more of Marvel’s darkest corners. Even though Blade won’t get a solo movie, and that’s disappointing, it could lead to something special.

Black Panther 3 to be Released February 2028

Ryan Coogler, director of the first two Black Panther films, said in an interview (with Shannon Sharpe and Chad Ochocinco) that Black Panther 3 is closer than movie-goers think. The MCU plans to introduce Prince T’Challa, Chadwick Boseman’s character’s son, in the upcoming movies. Avengers: Doomsday is a little soon, but Prince T’Challa could make an appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars.

Two Marvel comic book crossover series have been named “Secret Wars,” one in 1984 and another in 2015. The Russo brothers have stated that they will pull from both comics. T’Challa plays a pivotal role in the second “Secret Wars,” so it would make sense if Prince T’Challa is in play for that movie or both films: Doomsday and Secret Wars.

In a previous Geekly News post, we shared that Denzel Washington will feature in Black Panther 3. We mentioned a few characters Washington could portray. Here’s a quick recap. Achebe is a brilliant and unhinged adversary from the Black Panther comics. The First Black Panther Bashenga could explore Wakanda’s lore. Or perhaps he could play the Shadow King, a powerful telepathic mutant villain.

But (in that same interview with Sharpe and Ochocinco) Coogler teased that Washington could portray a role that could shake the entire MCU. He dropped a few hints, and internet sleuths have deduced that Coogler could be alluding to Denzel Washington playing Magneto. This wouldn’t be the first time that Wakanda went head-to-head with a leader who only wants what’s best for their people and may take drastic measures to protect them. 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s Namor strikes a similar chord. Washington would be a great choice for Magneto. Regardless of Washington’s role, we can’t wait for Black Panther 3.

Six Sojourns: An Eight-Minute Empire Game

Red Raven Games revisits one of their earliest designs, Eight-Minute Empire. Six Sojourns builds on the short area control game. The original game’s title is a misnomer. It takes about forty minutes to play Six Sojourns, not eight minutes, but forty minutes is a short game for the game type. Six Sojourns features tough choices, allows for creative strategies and tactics, and promotes high player interaction.

Ryan Laukat serves as the illustrator and game designer of Six Sojourns. He’s had board game hits like Above and Below, Near and Far, Sleeping Gods, and Now or Never. Six Sojourns showcases Laukat’s unique artwork. My favorite feature from Six Sojourns is its three double-sided maps: Red Rock Islands, Volcano, and Northern Seas. Six Sojourns is available now on Gamefound.

G.I. Joe: Operation Cobra

OC Games launched G.I. Joe: Operation Cobra this past week. The game features cooperative tactical action and has plenty of miniatures. OC Games was founded last year, so G.I. Joe: Operation Cobra is one of their first releases. The company focuses on adapting intellectual properties from the 80s and 90s into board games. I can’t speak to the quality of their games yet, but they did capture the look of G.I. Joe from the 80s.

The character cards look like the cards one could cut out from the back of a G.I. Joe toy. OC Games has a knack for tapping into nostalgia. At one point, OC Games had posted G.I. Joe: Operation Cobra on Tabletop Simulator (TTS) so players could demo the game. OC Games’ website has loading issues, I’ll post their update on Gamefound for their Tabletop Simulator announcement. If you’d like to see the game’s pretty miniatures, check out the game’s page on Gamefound.

Funko Bitty Pop Arcade

Funko Pop expands its number of collectible series with Funko Bitty Pop Arcade. Classic cabinet arcade systems inspire these collectibles. The first series of Funko Bitty Pop Arcade will include Wreck-It Ralph, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tron, and Five Nights at Freddy’s. The Five Nights at Freddy’s collectible is the oddball of the bunch as it resembles a claw machine. At $8 apiece, Funko Bitty Pop Arcades are a frugal way to start a collection. These items will be released in early July 2025, and you can pre-order them from Amazon.

That’s all the geek news we have for this week. Hopefully, we’ll have a news post next week. Until next time, thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Top 5 Members of Marvel Comics’ Illuminati

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

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. The MCU introduced Marvel Comic’s Illuminati in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. I don’t know if the Illuminati will continue in the MCU, but they’ve done a lot of work behind the scenes during major Marvel Comics crossovers. The Illuminati’s first appearance (New Avengers #7, July 2005) features each member of the group protecting one of the Infinity Gems. The Illuminati also factor into 2015’s Secret Wars. So, there’s a chance we’ll see more of them on the big screen. Who are the best characters from this group of Marvel Comic’s most powerful beings working in secret, shaping the superhuman world and protecting Earth from catastrophe?

But first, an honorable mention or two. I like Tony Stark/Iron Man a lot as a character. He’s also done a lot with the Illuminati, but he’s not the first name I think of when discussing the Illuminati, even though he’s a founding member. You’ll find another major exclusion on this list: Doctor Strange. His story may have introduced the Illuminati to the MCU, but I think the Illuminati works best when it’s composed of people who represent different demographics, kind of like a Marvel Comics version of the United Nations. And most of the Illuminati’s members fit this bill.

Let’s see who made the list.

5: Black Bolt

The Inhumans occupy an important part of the Marvel Universe. They may have existed before humanity or at least they had a higher level of intelligence and awareness before humanity during Earth’s earliest history. This history also involved extraterrestrial and cosmic encounters. Enter Black Bolt. He’s the Inhumans’ current monarch and boasts incredible power. Black Bolt was born with a voice so strong that it can obliterate planets. Since this is the case, he seldom speaks, opting to have Medusa, another powerful Inhuman, speak on his behalf.

Fortunately, the Illuminati’s creator, Brian Michael Bendis, shared his reasoning for each of the original member’s inclusion. Here’s what Bendis has to say about Black Bolt (I’m paraphrasing to some extent):

“King of the Inhumans, who are an important part of Marvel history and play an important part in events that have not yet come to pass. He also represents a ruler/king archetype.”

The Inhumans television show didn’t fare well, but let’s hope the Inhumans will find new life in some other form. They’re too important to vanish from the MCU entirely.

4: Namor

Namor is yet another monarch. He rules the underwater nation of Atlantis and adds a different perspective for the Illuminati. The ocean claims more area than land on Earth, and Namor is its unquestioned ruler. He’s a member of another ancient civilization, one featured in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but missing from the Illuminati’s brief stint in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Like the Inhumans, I hope we get to see more of Namor in future MCU projects.

Let’s see why Bendis included Namor in the original Illuminati:

“Namor is the King of Atlantis and the Seven Oceans and represents the antihero mindset.”

He certainly does that. Namor is an ally to none. His only wish is to have his people’s voices heard. Namor served on Norman Osborn’s Cabal at the same time as his stint on the Illuminati. His role in the Illuminati mirrors his earlier team-up with the Invaders. The Invaders signaled Atlantis’s desire to be known to the outside world, the world of the land dwellers. The Invaders could be another group that could factor into the MCU’s future.

3: Black Panther

Black Panther is the only member of the Illuminati (on this list) who wasn’t in the original roster, but that wasn’t from lack of trying. Tony Stark recruited T’Challa to become an original member and the representative of Wakanda, but T’Challa turned Stark down. Black Panther would later join the Illuminati to face the Incursions.

Wakanda is one of the most prosperous nations on Earth and the main supplier of the world’s Vibranium. Black Panther is calm, fair, and reasonable while boasting no ego. In short, T’Challa differs from most members of the Illuminati. You can call Tony Stark, Mr. Fantastic, and Dr. Strange many things, but ego-less is not one of them.

T’Challa’s relationship with the others in the group can get strained because of the others’ lack of control. Black Panther isn’t easily manipulated. Again, Black Panther is another character I’d like to see more of in the MCU. If that includes a second incarnation of the Illuminati, so be it.

2: Professor X

Professor X needs no introduction. He’s the founder and leader of the X-Men and fights for equal rights for mutant-kind. Charles Xavier boasts a level of intellect and wisdom that’s rarely matched. His ability to read minds, while usually not used against members of the group, proves vital when obtaining intelligence. Because of his role as peacemaker and arbitrator, Professor X often takes a prominent leadership role in the Illuminati.

Eventually, future events in the comics prevent Xavier from participating in the Illuminati, which leads to the group’s gradual demise. Yeah. The comic book version of the Illuminati didn’t dissolve because an omega-powered mutant turned rogue and killed them all in a fit of rage. Spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Let’s have Bendis weigh in on why he included Professor X in the Illuminati:

“Leader of the X-Men, Charles Xavier is in the group on behalf of the mutant community.”

Fair enough. And with mutants playing a larger role in the MCU going forward, Professor X’s inclusion in a second Illuminati could prove fruitful.

1: Mister Fantastic

Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) is the one entry that doesn’t represent a group of people, a country, or both. Reed is only one of the smartest minds on the planet and the leader of the Fantastic Four. He has a long history in the Marvel Universe. Richards’s scientific capabilities are almost unmatched and his desire to see a better tomorrow makes him a prominent member within the Illuminati. He meshes well with Tony Stark, but the two can often butt heads because they can’t put aside their egos.

Reed even reasoned with Iron Man’s original proposition for the Illuminati as a “United Nations” of superheroes. Richards argued that the idea presented too many logistical and bureaucratic issues, but he also acknowledged the need for efficient information exchange between the world’s greatest minds. Mister Fantastic represents the scientific community of the Marvel Universe. He knows more about alternate realms and the cosmos than most, usually because he conducts reckless experiments and kicks a hornet’s nest or two. Annihilus wouldn’t know humans or Earth existed if Reed hadn’t bumbled into the Negative Zone. Thanks, Reed.

I can’t wait for the Fantastic Four to make their MCU debut. I wouldn’t mind more Mister Fantastic screen time. A second Illuminati could give us more FF goodness.

Which member of the Illuminati do you think should’ve made the list? Let us know in the comments. And wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Daredevil: Born Again, “Excessive Force” Review

Published on March 28, 2025March 27, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Daredevil: Born Again’s second episode this week, “Excessive Force,” ties several loose ends, and Daredevil makes his triumphant return in costume. Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. I apologize for the delay this week. Everything ran smoothly with the family issue on Wednesday, so we’re back with more Daredevil: Born Again.

This week’s tandem of episodes had a similar feel to Daredevil: Born Again’s debut. If Disney+ had only released “With Interest,” fans may have been miffed (the first episode didn’t go far with the main storyline), but the streaming service dropped two episodes this week with “Excessive Force,” and I can see fans happier with the second offering. I enjoyed “Excessive Force.” As I said in the intro, it ties up several loose ends. That’s always appreciated. Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock’s journey to find their true selves, their inner Kingpin and Daredevil, mirrors each other’s journey.

The inevitable fight sequence at the end has choreography that harkens to the original Daredevil Netflix series. Kingpin unleashes his baser instincts on Adam, the man with whom Fisk’s wife, Vanessa, cheated on him, while Daredevil rescues Angela Del Toro, Hector Ayala’s (White Tiger’s) niece, from Muse. Both scenes are earned. Earlier in “Excessive Force,” Vanessa and Wilson have an exchange that suggests Kingpin has Vanessa’s okay to revert to his mob boss ways, while Del Toro approached Murdock for help, letting him know where her uncle thinks a serial killer (Muse) is hiding, and Murdock has the idea to “f*** it” and rescue Del Toro himself as Daredevil. Since the police killed her uncle, Del Toro doesn’t trust the police.

I liked that Daredevil: Born Again brought back Angela Del Toro. In the comics, Del Toro dons her uncle’s White Tiger costume, and there’s a chance that Camila Rodriguez (who portrays Del Toro) could do the same. Del Toro does a good job of giving Murdock the kick he needs in the hindside. Running parallel to Del Toro’s mistrust of the police is that Fisk runs the police, and he’s formed a task force of dirty cops to find Muse. As I said, plenty of loose ends. Hamish Allan-Headley’s Officer Powell joins the newly formed task force. Powell has been one of the better side characters introduced in Daredevil: Born Again, but that’s because he’s had a handful of pivotal scenes. And that’s where Daredevil: Born Again has had issues.

Matt’s love interest (Heather Glenn) asks him if he knows any vigilantes he could introduce her to for a book she plans to write about vigilantes. While this could’ve worked, it came out of nowhere. We’ve met Heather Glenn more often than Officer Powell, and this is the first we’ve heard of this intention. Officer Powell’s motives are better developed. Angela Del Toro approaching Matt Murdock to help stop Muse makes sense (her character is well developed despite this episode being her second appearance), but Cherry (Matt’s ex-cop friend/employee) serves little more than a plot device when he warns Murdock against fighting Muse as Daredevil. We know next to nothing about Cherry. Even though he’s physically been in the series three times as much as Del Toro, I forgot he existed.

I mentioned the vlogger vignettes in a previous review. The shaky-cam on the street works better in a Spider-Man property. It’s out of place in Daredevil: Born Again, but further than that, it doesn’t do enough to show New York’s citizens. I don’t know if the audience should know who the vlogger is and follows them as another character (perhaps a friend of Murdock’s) or if the vlogger could attempt to interview Mayor Fisk, which could serve double-duty as a scene transition, or omit those scenes and show Murdock serve more citizens (than the one Fiddle Faddle thief) as a lawyer. Personally, I’d choose the latter. Showing Murdock trying to fix NYC’s issues as a lawyer, but needing to do more, would further the idea that the city needs Daredevil.

Those couple of sticky points aside, Daredevil: Born Again is a great Marvel show. “Excessive Force” saw the return of Tony Dalton’s Jack Duquesne/Swordsman. He’s an underused superhero (last seen in 2021’s Hawkeye as Kate Bishop’s wealthy stepfather), and I’m glad he gets another chance to shine. Thank you, MetalAusten (on BlueSky), for straightening out Geekly’s misunderstanding of Daredevil: Born Again’s schedule. The show WILL return next week, and we can’t wait. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Daredevil: Born Again, “With Interest” Review

Published on March 26, 2025March 26, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Brief schedule alert: Geekly will cover the first of the Daredevil: Born Again two-episode finale today and the second episode on Friday. Kyra, who covers Daredevil: Born Again, has a family issue on Wednesday morning and will need another day or two to cover the second episode. With that said, let’s discuss the first of Daredevil: Born Again’s finale, “With Interest.”

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Daredevil: Born Again nears the close of its first season break. I’m still unsure how the program plans to continue after this. The last I heard, Daredevil: Born Again will have another four or six episodes next year, hopefully near the beginning of next year. Will this be the second half of season one? Since there’s a year gap in release, wouldn’t that make those next four or six episodes season two? Anyway, “With Interest” serves as a divergence if you’re charitable. It’s a filler episode if you’re less charitable. I lean more towards the former, but I was left wanting. “With Interest” shows Matt Murdock continuing down the crime-fighter path, and weaves his story into the greater MCU, and it’s the weaving of Daredevil: Born Again into the greater MCU that chafes.

Yusuf Khan, Kamala Khan’s (Ms. Marvel’s) father, makes a guest appearance in “With Interest.” This episode’s story revolves around Khan and the bank where he works. Bank robbers begin a heist immediately after Khan denies Murdock a loan for Murdock & McDuffie (Matt’s new law firm). Convenient. Before then, Khan talks about his daughter Kamala, Jersey City, and Jersey City’s own superhero Ms. Marvel. He spills the tea about what Kamala is up to (visiting friends in California, which could be Kamala recruiting Kate Bishop in San Francisco), and I half-expected him to brag that his daughter and Ms. Marvel were one and the same when he dug out his Ms. Marvel Funko Pop.

Matt chuckles at Khan’s antics. He gives him an annoyed chuckle that mirrors my own. Don’t get me wrong. I like Mohan Japur’s portrayal of Yusuf. He does a good job of conveying a doting father. My issue is with Khan’s inclusion. It felt forced. While a solidly written, acted, and directed episode, “With Interest” isn’t needed. One could’ve omitted “With Interest,” and season one of Daredevil: Born Again would’ve remained the same. It felt like a bottle episode that didn’t need to happen. I felt the showrunner marking time for the final episode.

The only two things I can say that “With Interest” adds to this season’s story are that Murdock’s law firm matches his (eventual) crimefighting, and Daredevil: Born Again exists within the MCU. Thank you for making it abundantly clear that Daredevil: Born Again exists within the MCU. Other nods occurred earlier this season to suggest that, but perhaps some viewers in the back row needed to be force-fed that information. As Yusuf says in this episode, Murdock takes on a lot of cases that don’t make enough money to sustain his business. That reinforces the idea that Matt does things because they’re the right things to do, kind of like his crimefighting. From a storytelling standpoint, the latter has more merit.

But I could’ve seen this played out in a smaller or different scene. I know it sounds like I didn’t care for “With Interest.” The opposite is true. Taken by itself, “With Interest” is a fun romp. Matt Murdock thwarts a group of bank robbers and saves the hostages within the bank. There may be something I didn’t catch with the bank robbers themselves. The one who orchestrated the heist gets away. I hope she plays a bigger role later. My opinion of “With Interest” could change slightly if that’s the case. But until that happens, I’m viewing “With Interest” as a fun diversion before the main meal.

That main meal will have to wait. I won’t be reviewing the second episode of Daredevil: Born Again’s finale until Friday, March 28th. Until then, feed me some fake or real spoilers for the final episode. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Tabletop Game Review: Comic Hunters

Published on March 24, 2025April 22, 2025 by Kyra3 Comments

Comic Hunters casts players as comic book collectors trying to collect the most impressive comic book collection over a single weekend. Comic Hunters also marks the first of several games I picked up over Christmas. I’ve had enough time to play these games for a review so be on the lookout for more games I picked up over the holidays.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We’re taking a break from playing as superheroes to collecting the works in which they appear. Comic Hunters has an intriguing premise. It also features a heap of iconic Marvel comic book covers. I can’t want to get into the review, but before we get any further, let’s look at Comic Hunters’ fine print.

The Fiddly Bits

Designer: Robert Coelho
Publisher: Arcane Wonders and Spin Master Ltd.
Date Released: 2020
Number of Players: 1-4
Age Range: 10 and up
Setup Time: 5-10 minutes
Play Time: 45 minutes

Game Mechanisms

Auction: Turn Order Until Pass
Closed Drafting
Hand Management
Open Drafting
Set Collection

Game Setup

Comic Hunters has special setup rules for games with fewer than four players. It even has a solo game variant. These rules aren’t too difficult (mostly removing cards and other bits from play that relate to the removed cards). We won’t include those special rules here. We’ll continue the game setup section as if you’re playing with four players.

Comic Hunters has three card types that represent different comic book eras: level 1 (2000-present), level 2 (1980s and 1990s), and level 3 (1960s and 1970s). Each of these card types (with unique card backings) also represents locations: level 1 (comic book stores), level 2 (flea markets), and level 3 (auction websites). Shuffle each one of these three decks separately. Without looking at the cards, take ten cards from each of these decks to make a fourth deck. Shuffle this fourth deck. This will be the convention deck.

Place the checkmark token in the first Schedule box of the first round. You will play rounds according to the Schedule.

Assemble and organize the 8 Hero Tokens on the Hero Tracker Table. In a 4-player game, draw and place 1 Hero token for the first row, 3 Hero Tokens for the second row, and 4 Hero Tokens for the third row. The value of these heroes’ comic books will vary with the top row being the most valuable and the bottom the least valuable.

Each player takes their Player Token of their chosen color and places it on the “15” space of the Secret Stash track. This will be your money with which to buy lots during auctions. Any of your remaining stash becomes victory points at the end of the game.

Next, setup the Highlights section. Draw one of the Highlight Tokens and place it on the leftmost space of the top row. Do the same for the next two rows. Each of these Highlight Tokens denotes something special about a comic book. They can be a character’s first appearance, the first issue of a series, an epic battle, a new look (for a character), or a special edition. Players will score points depending on who has the most comic books that match the in-play highlights. Since there are five tokens and you’ll only play with three Highlight tokens, scoring changes from game to game.

Finally, hand one player the First-Player Token. The rules suggest that the player who’s last seen a Marvel Movie or read a Marvel Comic should go first, but you can choose the first player randomly.

Game Flow

Comic Hunters is divided into 3 rounds. Each round has 2 stages: Treasure Hunting and Assemble Your Collections. During the Treasure Hunting stage, players will visit 3 of the 4 possible locations to acquire comic book cards. All you must do is follow the rules of the location indicated by the schedule. Once the first location is played move the schedule to the next location. Each location plays differently from the next.

Treasure Hunting

Comic Book Store

The comic book store plays with classic closed drafting rules (like Sushi Go). Players get dealt four cards from the level 1 deck. They select one card and pass the cards they didn’t choose to the player to their left. This continues until there are no more cards left to pass.

Flea Market

In this location, players take turns, clockwise, starting with the player holding the “First-Player” token. To set up the Flea Market, make a column from the level 2 deck equal to the number of players. Reveal a card from the level 2 deck to place in the first position of each Row. When it’s your turn, you must perform one of two possible actions: reveal a card from the deck and place it to the right of the rightmost, available space in one of the rows, or pick up all the cards from one Row of your choice. Rows can have up to four cards.

Auction Website

To set up the auction website, lay out four rows of the level 3 cards. The first row must contain 5 cards. The last row must contain 3 cards. The middle two rows contain 4 cards. These rows are Lots up for auction. The player with the First Player Token selects which Lot to bid during the round. They open the bidding with at least 1 (of their secret stash). The auction website plays like a traditional “bid or pass auction.” On their turn, a player either bids higher than the current bid or passes (and they’re out for the rest of the auction). Highest bid wins. Whenever one lot remains, the player who hasn’t obtained a lot gains the last lot. They must spend three of their secret stash if they can.

Convention

To set up the Convention, take 24 cards from the top of the Convention deck and arrange them into a grid with 5 columns and 5 rows, leaving the center position empty. Starting with the first player and then going clockwise, each player will take turns doing the following in order: slide one card left, right, up, or down in the grid, moving it through the empty spaces to a new position, and then select all the cards in a column or row that contain the same hero you name. So, you could select all the Spider-Man comics in a row or all the Black Panther comics in a column and so forth. Each player will have two opportunities to perform this action. The catch is that the player who selects last will select twice in a row and the second selection will occur in reverse turn order.

Assemble Your Collections

In this selection, player put cards from their hands down on the table, starting comic book collections for a specific hero or adding comic book cards to existing collections. Player will pay the market value for each card (1 for level 1 cards, 2 for level 2 cards, etc.) with an equal number of cards of that same value. So, you could pay for 3 level 1 cards by discarding 1 level 3 cards. Any cards that you discard or choose not to buy will be added and then shuffled into the Convention deck. Cards in your hand do not carry over to the next round, only cards in collections remain.

Final Scoring

After the final “Assemble Your Collections” action on the schedule, players score their collections. There are several ways to score: collection size (and value of specific heroes), varied collections (collections of different heroes), highlights, and secret stash. I won’t go into detail for each of these here, but there are plenty of ways to score a bucket of points. The person with the most buckets of points wins.

Review

Comic Hunters uses a lot of ways to accrue cards and just as many ways to score those cards after you obtain them. For the most part, the various locations work well enough to simulate the experience of their locations. An auction mechanism is a no-brainer for an auction website. The flea market feels right. And comic book conventions can be the wild, wild west when it comes to what kind of comics are on offer. So, the random comic book cards found during the Convention phases track. I enjoy all of that, but it comes at a cost. The various ways of acquiring cards can get clunky.

I struggle to shift from one mode to the next. While I like the variety, I focused means of acquiring cards could’ve worked better. I would’ve gotten into a better flow state faster with Comic Hunters. These various means with which to obtain cards also made setup and explaining the rules more difficult. Each ruleset is easy enough to explain, but the best way I found for teaching the game was giving a quick rules explanation before each location like I’m the “about the game” page before a Mario Party minigame. And these disparate mechanisms made Comic Hunters feel like a collection of minigames instead of a cohesive experience.

You may have gathered by how I explained the rules above, but the comic book store and auction website locations are lackluster. I like them from the standpoint that I could point to other games that use those same mechanisms, but those mechanisms are old hat. The flea market and convention locations are a lot more interesting and fun. I would’ve loved to play those two locations multiple times (lowering the number of minigames from four to two). I also like the idea that you must spend card values to play cards into a collection. This was a clever touch and lowers the number of bits needed. Despite any of its shortcomings, I enjoyed Comic Hunters. When it tries new things, those new things are fun.

But I can’t move to the verdict without mentioning the quality, or lack of quality, of Comic Hunters’ components. I’ve seen board game manufacturers’ sample products, and most of these companies don’t offer punch board as thin as the tokens found in Comic Hunters. Furthermore, the cards are off-center so you can see the white space between cards, and they slant at odd angles. The card material feels cheap. I don’t usually care about component quality, I’ve played my fair share of prototypes with ripped pieces of paper as chits, but I was shocked by the shoddiness of Comic Hunters’ production value.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

Comic Hunters has a fun premise and contains some interesting game mechanisms. Unfortunately, the game also deploys some tired game mechanisms that feel clunky, and the production value leaves much to be desired. Still, its low price point ($20-$25) means that Comic Hunters packs a lot of game per penny.