new york slice

Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Today, our writers share what they’ve been playing over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been playing, too, because we’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll get things started with the games I’ve been playing over the past month.

Kyra’s Video Games

Highguard answers a couple of questions. What if Apex Legends was a base siege game? And what if Apex Legends had a fantasy theme with mounts? Many of the creatives behind Apex Legends made Highguard, so Highguard borrows more than a little bit from Apex Legends. If you know how the buttons work in Apex Legends, you’ll know how the combat works in Highguard. That’s a plus. There’s a lot more to unpack with Highguard. On one hand, I like the effort in creating a unique gaming experience. A base siege game is cool. On the other, Highguard has three game phases. That’s confusing.

Highguard’s first phase should sound familiar with a small twist. Kit up your character (weapons and armor) and fortify your base, on the off chance you’ll be the team tasked as the defenders. Second phase plays like capture the flag. Something called a Shieldbreaker spawns in the center of the game map. The two teams via for control of the Shieldbreaker, which is kind of a flag. The first team to bring the Shieldbreaker to their opponent’s base becomes the siege team. The other team is the defender. The third phase is a siege between the two teams. The offensive team wants to destroy the other’s base, while the defensive team wants to run out the clock.

And we got word yesterday that Highguard will shudder its doors the middle of this month. I played the a game little more. The graphics are okay but generic. That may have turned off gamers. Highguard also came out of nowhere (with graphics that clearly cost a pretty penny) which begged the question who financed this game? Turns it, it was Chinese mega publisher Tencent. Don’t know why Tencent refused to take credit for bankrolling Highguard before it released. Tencent is better known for mobile games. That may be why they stayed in the shadows.

I didn’t care for Highguard’s characters. They were more generic than the graphics. Highguard needed lore or a story to capture gamers’ hearts, and it didn’t have enough time to do that. The game functions as three separate games. They may have turned off gamers. I like the big swing, but a less complex game could’ve faired better.

I forgot to cover Drop Duchy. Oops! I’ve been playing Drop Duchy off and on ever since it first released on Steam a few months ago. I believe Drop Duchy is also available on mobile. And I highly recommend it. Drop Duchy gives the classic Tetris formula a much-needed twist. Players build their village–or duchy–by playing Tetris, matching terrain to buildings that can make use of the terrain. But beware, you’ll also place Tetris pieces for your opponent. Ultimately, you’re trying to build up your defenses, while keeping your opponent weak. Tetris is already a thinky puzzle. Drop Duchy cranks up the puzzle several notches. If you’re tired of classic Tetris, give Drop Duchy a try.

And my last entry for video games is a remaster of an old favorite: Plants Vs. Zombies Replanted. The gameplay still holds up. I can’t tell what Replanted adds to the most recent mobile version of the original Plants Vs. Zombies. The graphics might be slightly better than before, but then the ending (if you know, you know) gets screwy because we’re watching the end credits on an old screen with Crazy Dave sitting on the couch. Okay. That was a choice. Regardless, it was fun going down memory lane, and Plants Vs. Zombies Replanted gets more right than it gets wrong.

Kyra’s Board Games

I’ve played New York Slice far more often than I thought I would over the past month. I like the game a lot. But I also stink at New York Slice. New York Slice uses a game mechanism that I wish more board games used: I cut, You choose. Pizza slices can earn players points. Whoever has the most of a specific pizza type will score those points. Players gain slices by one player cutting the pizza into sections for all players. Then, starting with the player to the cutter’s left, players choose which slices of pizza they want.

New York Slice takes a simple concept and makes it sing. I also like the production value. The scorecard is a server’s check. Excellent! I just wish I were good at the game. LOL

I have a few other board games I played this past month, but I may save my discussion about them in a future Whatcha. Let’s see what Skye has been playing.

Skye’s Video Games

Since I’m still in the process of obtaining the platinum trophies for previous games on this list, I have few new games to discuss. Except for mobile games. Idle Human allows you to create your own human using trillions, quadrillions, and even quintillions of cells. And not just humans, but aliens, cyborgs, and yetis? Sure. Gamers accumulate cells and build a human. Hopefully, you’re not squeamish, because this game has surprisingly detailed depictions of internal organs.

I frequently get ads for “satisfying” puzzle games. One of those games was Pixel Flow. Pixel Flow is a simple game that requires you to destroy a colored pixel image by shooting colored pixels with a pig cannon of the same color. I promise it makes sense when you see it. Images can range from simple to incredibly complex, which makes levels easier or harder. At the end of the day, Pixel Flow is kinda dumb, but wait until you see that pig cannon. I rest my case.

I didn’t need another coloring app, but Happy Color is unique enough to justify having it on my phone. Happy Color is easily the most popular color-by-number app in the App Store, so it needs little introduction. I like Happy Color’s significantly larger number of coloring categories and unique styles. My special pixel coloring app, Pixel Art, allows me to upload my own custom images to color from my gallery, which is its primary use, but I still enjoy variety in my artwork. Unlike Pixel Art, Happy Color allows me to explore those different styles. And it’s okay to have two coloring apps on one’s phone.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. Those are all the board games and video games our writers played this previous month. Let us know what you’ve been playing. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Your uncle Geekly has talked about board game mechanisms in the past, so I figured it may be a good time to cover some tabletop games that tackle some great themes and intellectual properties. Let’s start with some board games that do a great job of putting their players in the middle of some other world.

Games that perfectly captured the intellectual property it used

Firefly: The Game

I resisted playing this game for several years because I heard it used the pickup and delivery mechanism, and it sounded boring flying around the ‘Verse picking up things and dropping them off at other planets. But that’s what Serenity’s crew does. Firefly: The Game excels at capturing the feel of the original TV show. Players fly around various ports, picking up passengers and crew and cargo and performing jobs, while avoiding Reavers and the Alliance.

Easter Eggs flood this game. Character abilities and motivations—yes, there’s enough character development and story for the characters to have motivations—make sense. I’ve played and replayed the scenarios more than I can remember. This is a must play for any Firefly fan.

Star Wars: Rebellion

I liked this game a ton when it first came out and stand by what I’ve said in the past that Star Wars: Rebellion is the original trilogy in a tabletop game. The only issue I had with it was its runtime. Firefly isn’t a short game either, but it’s quick compared to Star Wars: Rebellion. But like Firefly: The Game, Rebellion feels like the original trilogy.

The Empire tries to find the hidden Rebel base and crush it. The Rebels perform various tactics to undermine the Empire, so the planets overthrow their oppression. Rebellion is a great example of how to design an asymmetric game, but it also happens to cast the two gamers playing it in two very different positions that mirror—but doesn’t duplicate—the roles in the original movies.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past

This is another one I’ve talked about in the past, but Shadows of Time deserves another mention. It’s another game that features asymmetric sides that play like gamers would expect them to. One player takes on the role of Shedder and the rest of the Foot Clan, while the rest of the players join forces as the Turtles.

Each turtle’s power set matches their strength as ninjas and their personality. This is by far the quickest of the three games mentioned so far and that’s a huge plus for my family. I also like how adaptable Shadows of Time can be. Gamers may play a campaign (an extended story) or play individual scenarios. The dice sharing mechanism is great; it brings the combat to life.

Can you feel that? I think it’s called Turtle Power.

Games that don’t use an intellectual property, but they are heavily based on one

Dead of Winter

There are plenty of Walking Dead board games out there; most of them stink, so don’t waste your time with them. Dead of Winter doesn’t use the IP, but it does a great job of capturing what makes the series great: internal struggle.

Are there zombies present? Yes, but like the TV show, player alliances and motives factor as much as the walkers. Traitors and the threat of traitors will have gamers doubting if the others seated at the table are friend or foe.

Dead of Winter also has plenty of survival elements, where players must determine which needs are most pressing. It’s a tense game that captures what the essence of The Walking Dead.

Wasteland Express Delivery Service

As the name implies, this is another pickup and delivery game, but this time players traverse a dystopia like the one found in the Mad Max franchise.

I’m not going to lie, I like the idea of delivering packages while avoiding berserk motorbike gang members—from the safety of my gaming table of course. The game shows the underrepresented people of this world who just want to live a normal life apart from the freaks patrolling the roads. How does the other half live?

Wasteland Express Delivery Service does a great job of combining a dissimilar mechanic (pickup and delivery) and theme (Mad Max), but it’s using the Mad Max theme and designer Jon Gilmour doesn’t try to hide it. Wait. Gilmour’s a co-designer of Dead of Winter and Wasteland Express Delivery Service. I’m sensing a trend.

Dinosaur Island

Yep. There is a trend. Gilmour co-designed the hodgepodge of game mechanisms that is Dinosaur Island, and Dinosaur Island is Jurassic Park the board game. Like The Walking Dead, there are a lot of bad Jurassic Park board games out there and Dinosaur Island is a great one that doesn’t have the license.

Players build their own Jurassic Park and how awesome is that? Dinosaur Island also happens to be a great study in how to combine seemingly unlikely game mechanisms to form a cohesive whole. I’m a Gilmour fan if you can’t tell.

Games with interesting themes

Sagrada

Sagrada’s been a critical darling and that stems from the marriage of its theme and gameplay. Players compete to construct the stained-glass window masterpieces in the Sagrada Familia. The game uses dice drafting, and the dice it uses are color-coded to match the windows. It’s a simple, beautiful game that I highly recommend.

Great Western Trail

Have you ever wanted to relive City Slickers? Well, you can with Great Western Trail. Players move cattle from Texas to Kansas city, taking turns to add to your herd, construct buildings, and contracting cowboys, engineers, and craftsman.

I’m not a huge fan of point salad games (point salad games are those games where players cobble together enough points from various means to achieve victory), but Great Wester Trail is a great strategy game and the theme of cattle wrestling isn’t used enough in tabletop games. My only complaint is that they don’t go through Omaha.

New York Slice

Pizza. There aren’t enough games that use pizza as their theme. “I cut, you choose” game mechanism. There aren’t enough games that use the “I cut, you choose” game mechanism, and New York Slice’s gameplay is mostly that. The first player in the round splits up a pizza composed of 11 random slices (meat lovers, pepperoni, cheese, veggie, and more). The player to the first player’s left picks which slices they want and play continues in a clockwise fashion until the player who split the pizza gets the slices remaining.

New York Slice is lightning fast, and I can’t think of a better way of teasing dinner for your guests. Mwah-ha-ha!

Do you agree with my picks? Cool. If you don’t, you can take to the message boards and let me know about it comments.

Tag: new york slice

Whatcha Playing, Geekly? March 2026

Kyra’s Video Games

Kyra’s Board Games

Skye’s Video Games

3 Lists of 3 Tabletop Game Themes