Geekly News: February 9, 2025, Fantastic Four: First Steps Trailer

Published on February 9, 2025February 8, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

We didn’t release a news post last week. We’re still figuring out how we’re going to cover Geekly News. This week, we’ll try a headliner story with other stories. Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here, and we’re back with some Geekly News. Hopefully, I make some sense; I’ve been under the weather this past week.

Fantastic Four: First Steps Trailer Dropped

The official teaser trailer for Fantastic Four: First Steps was released on February 5th. The trailer left me equally excited and nervous about the upcoming film. The new movie appears to be the most faithful adaptation of Marvel’s first family. The Thing looks comic book accurate; I watched the trailer multiple times to hear the click of his lips and clack of his fingers. And H.E.R.B.I.E.’s inclusion made me smile. Sure, the special effects look on-point, especially when we get our first glimpse of Galactus, but the teaser’s best feature is how the Fantastic Four interacted. This team has been doing the superhero shtick for a while. They behave like a family and not just because Sue uses the word family. The scene between H.E.R.B.I.E. and The Thing shows us the team’s family dynamic.

Just in case you missed the Fantastic Four: First Steps teaser trailer, here’s the official teaser:

Let’s cover some details from the trailer.

Prior to the trailer’s release, if you happened to log into the live feed, you would’ve seen a countdown sponsored by the Future Foundation. In the comics, the Future Foundation was created by Reed to better serve humanity’s future, and the Fantastic Four’s space suits resemble their Future Foundation super suits. Most likely, the group works for the Future Foundation.

The movie is set in the 1960s and showcases a retro-futuristic look. The Fantastic Four are headquartered in the Baxter Building, just like in the comics. The Baxter Building may or may not replace Avengers/Stark Tower in this alternate reality. Director Matt Shakman manipulates the aspect ratio (when the scene shifts to our first view of the Baxter Building) much like he did in WandaVision.

While The Thing does cook in the comics every once and a while, it’s fun to see the connection between Ebon Moss-Bachrach and his role in The Bear.

If you pause the scene where Reed works on an equation, you may notice a bridge to observe parallel worlds. This could explain how the Fantastic Four cross over into MCU’s reality.

The rocket the Fantastic Four takes in the trailer is known as Marvel-1. The Fantastic Four are indeed Marvel’s First Family. The company wasn’t even known as Marvel until after the group took to the skies in the Marvel-1. Fantastic Four: First Steps recreates the look of the original rocket.

The Thing Halloween masks the three kids wear resemble a rare Thing face mask available in 1967.

The blue car that flies through the streets is most likely the Fantasticar. One can almost make out the name at the front of the car. The flying Fantasticar is the primary mode of transportation for the Fantastic Four.

John Malkovich’s character makes a brief appearance and while the movie hasn’t announced who he’s playing, he’s most likely portraying Ivan Kragoff/Red Ghost. I was relieved. I just finished the Fantastic Four Color Palette Quiz for July and debated if I should include Red Ghost. I thought, nah, no one will know who he is and there’s no way he’ll make an appearance in Fantastic Four: First Steps. Looks like I may have been wrong.

We have a Galactus sighting. Yay! He looks comic book accurate, unlike the cloud in Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Finally, we come to the stage the Fantastic Four stand on during what appears to be a television appearance. I say television appearance because the stage looks like the famous stage that The Beatles performed on during their first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.

Like I said, the trailer has me hyped and a little worried. Please. Let this movie be good. It must be good.

PlayStation Network Outage

This is a developing issue and the latest addition to this geekly news break. Sony confirmed a Playstation Network (PSN) outage started on Friday, February 7^th at 1900 EST. I’m writing this update on Saturday, February 8^th, and the network is still down. Even if the outage returns before this post goes live, PSN would be down for over 24 hours.

The PlayStation Network outage impacts game sales, subscription sign-ups, and microtransactions across the PlayStation Store. Players can’t play live service games. This doesn’t just affect Sony. All third-party partners can’t sell games or content or run their live service games until the PlayStation Network returns.

Sony gave a clipped and terse response on February 7^th at 2043 EST. “We are aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN.” The company didn’t give any updates or an estimate to when the servers will be restored. The company didn’t even announce that the outage was global. “Some users?” Try all users. If you’re still experiencing issues with PSN while reading this, be sure to check the PlayStation Network status page with this link.

This PSN outage of at least 24 hours marks the longest PSN outage since the infamous 2011 PlayStation Network outage. Back then, the PSN had been out for 24 consecutive days because the system got hacked. Hopefully, this outage doesn’t last as long as the 2011 outage or have as many repercussions.

Azur Promilia Misses Its Release Date

This news is a bit late, but Azur Promilia, one of my most anticipated video games of 2025 (and my most anticipated Gacha video game of 2025) missed its release date of January 25^th. You may be asking, “Azur Promilia. What’s that?” Let’s discuss what the game is and what this delay could mean.

What is Azur Promilia?

Azur Promilia is an upcoming Gacha game by Chinese publisher Manjuu. Players recruit characters and form teams like Genshin Impact, sprinkle in some light farm simulation like Harvest Moon, and each character receives boosts from pets you can raise like Pokémon. You can breed these creatures that help you in combat. We don’t know if these critters inherit stats from their parents. If that’s the case, it could reduce the amount of grinding needed in a Gacha. Fingers crossed.

What we do know is there will be mounts, even flying mounts, to traverse a vast open world. The translation (into multiple languages to include English) is complete. The game will have a simultaneous launch (every region will get the game on the same day). It uses a free-to-play Gacha model. And pre-registration is open. You can pre-register for Azur Promilia on the game’s home page. Follow this link.

What does Azur Promilia’s Missed Release Date Mean?

In short, we don’t know. Chinese video game companies apply for a release date a year in advance. Manjuu applied for Azur Promilia’s license on January 25^th, 2024, which means the company needed to release the game on or before January 25^th, 2025. The cost to apply for a video game release is hefty. There is a chance that Manjuu applied for an extension for their current license, or they may have to reapply. Either way, there has been little word from Manjuu since Azur Promilia missed its release date.

Here comes some speculation. You’ve been warned. Since Manjuu has gone radio silent and China is in the middle of a holiday season, Azur Promilia will be released in April 2025 at the earliest. There is a chance that the game could be released next month (March 2025), but Manjuu will need to ramp up its promotion for Azur Promilia in advance of the game’s release. I wouldn’t mind streaming the game if Manjuu would like to send Geekly a key. Just saying.

If we hear something from Manjuu about a new release date in the next week, great. There’s a chance for a March release. If we don’t, I’d expect an April 2025 release date or later. I’ve been waiting for Azur Promilia for months. It looks fantastic. I can’t wait to get lost in another stunning world. Plus, dragons. I want my dragon mount already.

Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual Releases

The 2024 version of Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual will be officially released on February 18^th, 2025, but many local gaming stores have had hard copies since February 5^th, 2025. I know that the previous sentence doesn’t make sense. The 2024 version of D&D’s Monster Manual releases in 2025. All I can do is shrug. Publisher Wizards of the Coast has an odd release schedule for the 2024, 50^th Anniversary Dungeon & Dragons core set.

The 50^th Anniversary Dungeons & Dragons edition makes some changes to D&D 5^th Edition. Think of it as 5.5 Edition. It caters to new players and streamlines certain aspects of 5^th Edition. If you pre-ordered the book, you can pick up your copy. If you didn’t pre-order your copy of the Monster Manual, most local gaming stores will have additional copies. And if you haven’t picked up the rest of the core set (Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide), you should be able to pick up the 50^th Anniversary Dungeons & Dragons core set in its entirety. Happy gaming!

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

Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1988-1989

Published on February 8, 2025March 23, 2025 by Kyra15 Comments

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Back with another Top 5 Tabletop Games. 1988 and 1989 may not have as many top-notch games as our previous list, but there are plenty of culturally relevant games from these two years. We’ll talk about board games soon, but first, if you’ve forgotten our criteria for the Top 5 Tabletop Games, let’s reiterate the ground rules 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: Merchant of Venus (1988)**

Merchant of Venus is a pun on the Shakespeare play Merchant of Venice. Despite the name, the planet Venus doesn’t appear in the game. Merchant of Venus is set in an unexplored part of the galaxy. Players take on the roles of galactic traders. They move around the board, buying and selling goods. The game begins with players discovering the identity of the cultures in fourteen solar systems available for trade. They often find valuable artifacts from an earlier period of civilization. Once the board has been revealed, the game focuses on moving goods from cultures that build to other races that demand goods.

Merchant of Venus’s turn from exploration to commerce can be a satisfying volta. It reminds me of other games like 2004’s Betrayal on House on the Hill and 2007’s Galaxy Trucker. Both games might also make their year’s respective lists. While it can run a little long (2 to 6 hours), Merchant of Venus can be a lot of fun.

**4: Taboo (1989)**

Taboo works a lot like a team-based version of the Ten Thousand Dollar Pyramid game show. It’s played by two even-numbered teams from four to ten. Players sit in alternating teams, forming a circle. One player takes the role of “giver,” who gives their teammates clue words. The “giver” attempts to get their teammates to guess the word printed on the card, but there are “taboo” words. These are words the “giver” can’t say.

While the “giver” can’t say those taboo words, their teammates can make as many guesses as they want with no penalties for wrong guesses. Once the team correctly guesses the word exactly as written on the card, the “giver” moves on to the next word. Teams try to get as many words on a card before time runs out. The playing team gets one point for each correct guess and loses a point each time the “giver” says a “taboo” word. I never liked the buzzer for Taboo. The other team hovers over the “giver” with the buzzer in hand and the obnoxious buzzer they wielded gives me nightmares. Nightmares!

**3: Mall Madness (1988)**

Mall Madness has a simple but fun concept: finish your shopping spree before anyone else. It doesn’t hurt that the game has a 3D board, and the original (back in 1988) had a computer that would dole out player movement and could even keep track of money. The 80s game even came with four different credit cards in addition to traditional paper money.

Players didn’t have to move by exact count to enter each shop, and once you bought something from a shop, you couldn’t reenter the same shop. Mark off the items on our list using plastic pegs in a punch board, and as soon as you’ve bought your six items, race to your parking space. I didn’t play too much of Mall Madness when it was first released. My parents didn’t care for the premise (they didn’t want us kids learning too soon about credit cards), but Mall Madness has left an indelible mark on the board game industry. It’s been in print steadily since its release and has had plenty of themed variants like Hannah Montana and Littlest Pet Shop.

**2: TriBond (1989)**

We have a second word game for this list, TriBond. But TriBond does something a little different. The game’s main feature is the TriBond “Threezer,” an invented word by the producer to describe the three-word clues players must analyze and determine what all three clues have in common. So, you may get a set of three clues like “Olive, Forest, and Kelly.” They’re all shades of green. Or you may get another set of clues like “Tootsie, Hook, and Rain Man.” All Dustin Hoffman movies.

TriBond adds a little bit of lateral thinking to the classic word game. While I think the word “Threezer” is a bit much, the concept is a great one. And I like the idea that a player can “challenge” another player ahead of them in one of the board’s three tracks. TriBond uses dice, one to determine how far you’ll move on one of three tracks and another to determine your questions category (Entertainment, Sports and Recreation, Academics, and Miscellaneous). The “challenge” allows players to take some of the random luck out of the classic rolls, spin, and move.

**1: HeroQuest (1989)**

I have so many fond memories of HeroQuest. HeroQuest plays like a stripped-down version of Dungeons & Dragons. One player assumes the role of the evil wizard Zargon/Morcar. They use the map taken from the game’s quest book to run the game. The remaining players select their character from the four available.

I was a tween when HeroQuest was first released, and since I read the rules, I ran the game as Zargon. That was my first taste of being a dungeon master and D&D. Even though I have great memories of HeroQuest, it is a game for newcomers. Its adventures are pre-programmed and lack the creative impulses of a D&D game, but HeroQuest has a massive toy factor and does an amazing job of distilling the essence of D&D into a digestible, approachable game for younger players. HeroQuest serves as a great gateway into tabletop role-playing games. Fortunately, it’s received a received a reprint.

Did we get the list right, for the most part? Let us know which games you’d add in the comments. And wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Check out the other lists in this series:
Top 5 Tabletop Games Prior to the 1930s
Top 5 Tabletop Games of the 1930s
Top 5 Tabletop Games of the 1940s-50s
Top 5 Tabletop Games from the Early 1960s
Top 5 Tabletop Games from the Late 1960s
Top 5 Tabletop Games from the Early 1970s
Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1980-1981
Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1982-1983
Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1984-1985
Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1986-1987
Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1990-1991

Tabletop Game Review: Don’t Mess with Cthulhu

Published on February 1, 2025April 22, 2025 by Kyra1 Comment

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. I didn’t realize that I hadn’t reviewed today’s game, so we’ll fix that. Today’s review is another party game: Don’t Mess with Cthulhu.

Don’t Mess with Cthulhu is a social deduction game with secret identities. Players assume the role of investigators or cultists. The investigators must uncover all the Elder Signs to win, while the Cultists win when Cthulhu is revealed or if the game ends before all the Elder Signs are discovered.

Before we venture further into madness, let’s discuss Don’t Mess with Cthulhu’s details.

The Fiddly Bits

Designer: Yusuke Sato
Publisher: Indie Boards & Cards
Date Released: 2014
Number of Players: 4-6
Age Range: 10 and up
Setup Time: Less than a minute
Play Time: 1-30 minutes

Game Mechanisms

Bluffing
Card Game
Deduction
Party Game
Negotiation

Game Setup

You’ll have a different number of investigators and cultists, and various numbers of futile investigation and Elder Sign cards based on the number of players. Consult the charts in the rulebook to determine how many of each needs to be in the game.

Shuffle the appropriate number of Character tokens, dealing one to each player face down. Each player secretly looks at the role assigned to them on the Character token. Place any unused tokens out of play without revealing them.

Then, shuffle the appropriate number of Investigation cards, dealing five to each player face down. Beginning with the starting player (who will have the starter player token, which is a flashlight), each player secretly looks at their Investigation cards and declares (truthfully or not) the number of Elder Sign and Cthulhu cards they were dealt. (Note: there’s only one Cthulhu card in the deck, but that doesn’t mean that more than one player can “claim” to have a Cthulhu card.)

Everyone shuffles their Investigation cards and places them in front of themselves, face down.

Game Flow

Each turn consists of the Active player selecting any Investigation card in front of any player other than themselves. They place the flashlight token on the card they wish to reveal. Other players should feed the player information, keeping in mind that players with the Investigator role want to find Elder Signs, while Cultists want to reveal Cthulhu.

The chosen card is revealed and placed in the center of the play area so everyone can see it. Check to see if the game ends (all the Elder Signs are revealed or if Cthulhu makes an appearance). Play continues with the player whose card was just revealed. They take their turn the same way and this continues until the round comes to an end.

The round ends after the number of actions taken in that round equals the number of players in the game. After the round ends, the remaining Investigation cards are shuffled together and dealt evenly between the players. Again, the players secretly look at their Investigation cards and place them in front of themselves face down.

The game ends immediately if the Cthulhu card is revealed or if all Elder Sign cards are revealed. If neither condition is met, the game ends after four rounds.

If all Elder Sign cards are revealed, the Investigators win. If Cthulhu is revealed or four rounds are played without all Elder Sign cards being revealed, the Cultists win.

Review

Like most party games, Don’t Mess with Cthulhu has a quick setup and playtime. I’ve played this game quite a bit over the years and found that you don’t always need to bluff when playing—but it helps. And it’s fun when more than one person claims that they have Cthulhu. I’ve played a round where three people at the table said they had Cthulhu and then the next round, everyone said they had Cthulhu. It’s a goofy game that doesn’t take long.

And the reason why I say that you don’t have to bluff if you don’t want to is that chance plays a huge role in Don’t Mess with Cthulhu. Even if everyone tells the truth, you still must select the right card, or the game ends and the game can end in the way you don’t want. My family struggles with bluffing in games. Don’t Mess with Cthulhu gives players an option to bluff or not bluff. This leads to some great metagaming. I’ve heard many players say, you never tend to bluff but you did this time and fooled everyone. I’ve also seen the opposite. Don’t Mess with Cthulhu may get better the more games you play with a group.

The stakes are low with Don’t Mess with Cthulhu. Most games last about fifteen minutes with some games going as short as less than one minute. I’ve seen plenty of games where the first or second card the active player chooses is the Cthulhu card. It doesn’t matter. Laugh it off, shuffle the cards, and play again.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

Don’t Mess with Cthulhu is a great change-of-pace game for most gaming groups. It won’t be a group’s main game, but I’ve seen many game nights where this game caps off the session. It’s endlessly replayable and has low stakes. Don’t Mess with Cthulhu’s goofy fun doesn’t force you to bluff—but bluffing doesn’t hurt.

Strange Board Games Round Six

Published on January 28, 2025March 10, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Geekly News: Finspan Board Game Geek Reviews

Published on January 12, 2025January 26, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Stonemaier Games announced a new spinoff game from their wildly popular board game series Wingspan. The series is headed to the depths of the ocean with Finspan. Like Wyrmspan before Finspan, Wingspan’s original designer, Elizabeth Hargrave, is involved. And a funny thing tends to happen with Board Game Geek (BGG) and its review system whenever a Wingspan spin-off gets announced. The game gets an equal number of people who review bomb the spin-off (giving the game a 1 out of 10) and people who give the game top marks.

I came late to the party before I took the above screen capture of Finspan’s rating distribution. The numbers were almost perfectly even between 1s and 10s yesterday. Finspan truthers have more than doubled since then. But Finspan hasn’t yet been released. The game is scheduled for a January 22nd release date. This begs the question, should you rate a game that hasn’t been released?

Quick note: Board game companies do give reviewers advanced copies of games, but these numbers pale in comparison to video games (whose companies give out keys for downloads) because postage is involved. There’s a zero percent chance that the above numbers come exclusively from board game reviewers with advanced copies of Finspan.

To answer that previous question, no. You don’t have enough knowledge to rate a game that hasn’t been released unless you are one of the few board game reviewers with an advanced copy. Board game enthusiasts have been arguing about Finspan‘s rating for the past few days. Some argue that it’s too high. Others that it’s too low. Most people suggest that the problem lies with Board Game Geek.

I don’t buy that. Board Game Geek allows board game companies to upload their upcoming games to the site. This allows companies to lock in a name for a board game, so we won’t get a competing Finspan from some other company. BGG also allows people to write reviews for upcoming games because these games are seen before launch. Undoubtedly, Stonemaier Games brought some version of Finspan to a convention or two, and people demoed it. Some of the above scores may be legitimate.

Then, there’s the question of when does a game officially release? Finspan’s release date of January 22nd is more concrete than many other board games because of a lack of crowdfunding. Does a game’s release date coincide with when the first Kickstarter backer receives their copy? Or is it when the game reaches retail? Maybe the game never reaches retail. Does that mean that it will forever be unreleased, even though thousands of people own a copy?

Blaming Board Game Geek for allowing upcoming games on their site isn’t the issue. The issue stems from people who will rate a game unseen.

How often does this happen? Often. Make no mistake. Wyrmspan received the exact same criticism and scores before its release, and it became one of the most highly rated games from last year (2024). So, why do Wingspan spin-offs get all this hate?

Few other game series get the same vitriol as a Wingspan spin-off. Numerous games have introduced “Duel” or “Duet” versions (2-player variants) of popular games: Splendor, 7 Wonders, King of Tokyo, and Cosmic Encounter. No one bats an eye. Many other games have spawned countless spin-offs: Catan, Ticket to Ride, and even Gloomhaven. Review bombs do occur with these titles but not in the sheer number of a Wingspan spin-off. Why is that?

Not going to lie. Finspan looks cool; I’ll have to try it at least once.

Quick note: I’m not one of the board game reviewers who received an advanced copy; most board game reviewers who do receive advanced copies produce video content (note to self: start a YouTube channel or TikTok account).

I used to think that Stonemaier Games got flak for producing spin-off games because they’re a smaller company. If Days of Wonder released spin-offs during their years of producing one game per year, I would get upset about a spin-off for one year. But Stonemaier has a full slate of board games planned (far more than one) for 2025 that don’t include Finspan. Finspan is extra content.

Furthermore, Gloomhaven has received multiple spin-off board games, and most people cheer for those upcoming games. Cephalofair Games is a much smaller company and produces far fewer games per year than Stonemaier Games. So, “small board game company” can’t be the main reason.

I like to think the reason is closer to people respecting Stonemaier Games and wanting the company to innovate with each one of their games. This is the kind reason why Wyrmspan and Finspan received blowback. I mentioned Days of Wonder’s stretch of “one game per year” for a reason. Days of Wonder was the preeminent board game company at that time. When you saw a Days of Wonder title (this would’ve been about the 2000s and into the early 2010s), you knew the game was high quality. I would’ve been a little upset if Days of Wonder only released a spin-off game at that time because I would’ve wanted a different game to play.

Spin-off board games work like movie sequels. They tend to print money. Wyrmspan sure did last year, and I expect Finspan to do the same. While I can see why some may be disappointed with a spin-off game, Stonemaier Games needs to stay afloat financially. Finspan may be a spin-off game, but it affords Stonemaier Games to take other risks with different titles.

Again, Stonemaier Games has a full slate of games for 2025 that don’t include Finspan. If the innovation reason is why someone rated Finspan low, wait for the game’s release. Wyrmspan tweaked Wingspan’s base gameplay. I expect Finspan to do the same.

There is a penultimate group of people who review a board game on BGG before the game’s release. These folks try to affect the scoring’s bell curve. Some folks refuse to give an unreleased game a perfect or high score, so they tank the score to even out the final rating. This mentality can work the other way, and I think it did with people rating Finspan a 10, even though they’ve never played the game. These are Stonemaier Games truthers who believe in the company. To be fair, Stonemaier Games has earned that trust.

This behavior is odd. BGG doesn’t include a game in its ultimate Geek List until many people review the game or have logged plays of it. There used to be–and sometimes there still is–a time component. A game cannot be listed on the final Geek List unless it’s been released for several months. This does compensate for this odd behavior. Regardless of how BGG’s Geek List works, these games typically get aggregated sufficiently in the end.

In short, I wouldn’t worry about a minority of gamers who would rate a game before the game’s release.

Note: There was one person who claimed, “I don’t like Stonemaier Games,” so there are gamers who don’t like Stonemaier, and that’s fair.

Let’s swim into deeper waters here. Some of you may need a trigger warning for the following darkness. Fair warning, I’m not suggesting that most people who rated Finspan a 1 on BGG belong to this camp. Unfortunately, the number isn’t zero.

Elizabeth Hargrave is a woman. She’s even an outspoken woman who designs board games, and she has a megahit with the Wingspan series. Some people are jealous. Others don’t want to give credit to a woman trying to break into a predominantly boys’ club. I hope the number of people who review bombed Finspan belongs to any of the previous camps, but I’m going to be real. Most likely, at least one person review bombed Finspan because it’s a spin-off game from an outspoken woman board game designer.

So, what are our takeaways? BGG isn’t to blame for review bombing or inflating. Listing a game is great for publicity. I guess even bad publicity is publicity. Whatever the reason someone may review bomb a popular board game series release, people need to chill. Stonemaier will produce multiple games not named Finspan this year. BGG scores will even out after Finspan’s release. There’s room for multiple people of all kinds at the gaming table. Diversity makes our hobby great.

And if you’re picking up a copy of Finspan this month, you’re in the greater Omaha area, and you don’t mind teaching me the rules, I wouldn’t mind trying out Finspan. If it’s anything like Wyrmspan, I’ll play it once and then buy it later. And wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Tabletop Game Review: Sushi Boat

Published on January 11, 2025March 23, 2025 by KyraLeave a comment

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. It might be a little early for another tabletop game review, but we’re catching up on some of the backlog. Today’s review is one with a high toy factor (a board game with plenty of toy-like features): Sushi Boat.

Sushi Boat leans into its theme; the board is a sushi conveyor belt. Each turn, players perform their choice of actions, including taking plates of sushi off the revolving belt on the board, paying staff tiles for special effects, or buying side dishes. As they eat, players stack plates in front of them. Players score points by eating off matching (color) plates and for eating a variety of sushi types (set collection). The Wasabi Challenge shakes things up by adding a memory component that can swing the victory.

Before we get any further, we’ll set the table and discuss Sushi Boat details.

The Fiddly Bits

Designer: Dario Massarenti, Francesco Testini
Publisher: Japanime Games
Date Released: 2023
Number of Players: 2-5
Age Range: 9 and up
Setup Time: 15-20 minutes
Play Time: 30-75 minutes

Game Mechanisms
Memory
Set Collection
Worker Placement

Game Setup

Place the wooden sushi boat board (with a built-in “conveyor belt”); this board is the central visual element and will draw a crowd when placed on the board.

Mix the Staff tiles and randomly place 1 on each Staff space (these are pictured in the rulebook). Place all of the Wasabi cubes in the Wasabi Bowl (Sushi Boat includes ceramic bowls; the production value is insane). Each player chooses a color and takes the matching pawn and player mat. Place all of the Yen in the change tray (again, a ceramic tray), this is the bank. Give each player 2 Yen; players place their Yen on their player mats.

Put all the colored Plates in the bag and mix them well, leaving the white plates to the side for now. Then, randomly draw Plates and add them to the conveyor belt area of the board one at a time until the board is full. Then, draw 3 more plates and add them to the Trash beside the board. After filling the game board, add the white Sushi Plates to the bag and mix them in.

Separate the 4 Wasabi cards from the Side Dish cards and set them aside for the moment. Shuffle the Side cards. Then, depending on the number of players in the game, you will discard cards at random from this deck. Then, set aside a number of Side Dish cards equal to the number of players. Add the Wasabi cards to the Side Dish cards and shuffle them well. Create a face-down draw deck near the game board, and finally, place the Side Dish cards you set aside (not the discarded ones) and add them to the top of the face-down draw deck.

Game Flow

Beginning with the starting player, you’ll take turns going to the left. On your turn, you do the following steps in order:

1) You must turn over the top card of the Side Dish deck and refill the Sushi Boat
2) You must move your pawn to an empty seat
3) You may perform one action (from a selection of 3)
4) You must eat sushi

Let’s talk about the different steps in detail.

1) “You must turn over the top card of the Side Dish deck and refill the Sushi Boat.”

We’ll set the Wasabi card aside for the time being; they’re their own beast. Every other Side Dish card will have a symbol in the top right-hand corner. This will tell you how many sushi plates you’ll need to add to the belt. At the bottom, you’ll find effect text; this will give you a special ability if you choose to purchase the card (in a later step) and then use the card.

Wasabi Challenge:
The game stops temporarily. Each player tries to guess the color of the 2 plates hidden in the tunnel at the back of the Sushi Boat. First, take all of the Plates in the Trash and return them to the bag, mixing them well.

Then, each player takes 2 Wasabi Cubes from the bowl and secretly places them on their player mat to mark the colors they think match the hidden Plates. You may place both Wasabi Cubes on the same color if you think both Plates are that color. Finally, add Plates to the board until the two hidden Plates are fully revealed (this will most likely push some Plates into the Trash).

Each player compares their guess to the 2 Plates that were revealed. For each color you guessed correctly, you keep that Wasabi Cube. Any Wasabi Cubes on incorrect guesses get returned to the Wasabi Bowl.

2) “You must move your pawn to an empty seat”

You must move your pawn every turn. You can move it to any seat on the board that isn’t already occupied. But you could pay another player 1 Yen to return their pawn to their player board, so you can claim their seat.

3) “You may perform one action” (from a selection of 3)

A) Visit the Staff: If you’re on a space with a staff member, you can pay 1 Yen to perform their special ability.
B) Buy the top Side Dish: Pay 1 Yen to buy the top card of the Side Dish deck; this will most likely be the card you revealed at the beginning of your turn. Note: Players cannot buy Wasabi Challenge cards.
C) Take 1 Yen from the bank.

4) “You must eat sushi”

Take the Plate from the conveyor belt space that is next to the seat your pawn is on. Typically, you will add these plates to the top of your stack of Sushi Plates. (Some Side Dish Cards allow you to break this rule.)

Play continues like this until the Side Dish Deck runs out. When this happens, the game ends. Players score points for the number of consecutive-colored plates in a row, minus 1. So, a stack of 4 red plates would be worth 3 points. You may have multiple stacks of colored plates. (White plates don’t count for or against a consecutive-colored plate stack.) Then, you add up the sets of sushi you claimed (the unique sushi dishes depicted on the plate; there are 7 sushi types). After that, players get bonuses for playing the most Side Dish cards and some Side Dish cards add a victory point. Finally, each Wasabi Cube is worth 1 point each.

Whoever has the most points wins.

Review

Sushi Boat is a great game with an immense toy factor. This game’s production value is over the top. It may even be too nice—if there is such a thing. Ceramic bowls? Are you kidding me? My oldest daughter just returned from Japan and had plenty of real Yen to replace the punchboard Yen included with the game. Even without that, Sushi Boat has fantastic components.

Sushi Boat balances its elements well. I didn’t think memory and worker placement would work, but it does. I’ve found that younger players (ahem, children, ahem) have an advantage during Wasabi Challenges. I tend to focus on the mechanical aspects of the game like special abilities (through the staff and Side Dish cards) and forget to keep track of which plates have slid under the tunnel. This is the one aspect I’ve found most children gravitating toward. This typically gives a child player an extra three or four points.

Speaking of the tunnel and the titular sushi boat, the sushi boat looks fantastic. Sliding Sushi Plates across the “conveyor belt” feels great. I’ve even visited a sushi boat restaurant since playing this game. They use colored plates to tally your bill. Ingenious. And that’s what Sushi Boat’s central board is, too. Ingenious.

The one negative I’ve found is the setup and rules explanation. I’m not lying when I cited the setup time in “Fiddly Bits” as “15-20 minutes.” That’s a little long for Sushi Boat’s weight and game length. I almost feel compelled to play more than one game at a time. The rules explanation for new players can also take a little extra time than what I’d like for a game of Sushi Boat’s length, too. But retaining the rules from one play to the next is easy. Barely an inconvenience. The actions that players perform in Sushi Boat are so thematic that it makes it easier to relearn the game, even if you haven’t played in months.

Verdict

Setup and initial rules explanation can be on the long side, but the effort is well worth it for a game this thematic. While an odd combination, the game’s mechanisms work well together and level the playing field for children. And the board. Look at the board!

Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1986-1987

Published on January 6, 2025March 23, 2025 by Kyra15 Comments

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Back with another Top 5 Tabletop Games. 1986 and 1987 have a lot more games for us to choose from. These two years may have too many games to talk about. Why couldn’t some of these games be released over the previous two years? Ugh! This is a good problem to have. I may have at least one honorable mention this year. Let’s talk board games.

But first, in case you’ve forgotten our criteria for the Top 5 Tabletop Games, let’s reiterate the ground rules again before we get started.

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: Outburst (1986)**

Outburst plays a bit like Family Feud. Two teams compete over multiple rounds to reach 60 points by guessing items listed on a Topic Card within a time limit. Outburst’s simple concept puts it firmly in the party game category, and games like this bring people into the hobby of tabletop games. And they can just be fun.

Outburst was featured in Games magazine’s Best Games of 1988. Scott Marley praised Outburst for its clever topics and team-based gameplay. Marley concluded that “Though Outburst is easy to learn, many topics are too hard—and occasionally too spicy—for children.” This may have prompted 1989’s Outburst Junior.

**4: Fireball Island (1986)**

I remember getting the original Fireball Island for Christmas in 1986. The box is ginormous. The plastic game board had undulating paths where the titular fireballs (marbles) would travel down and knock players down, causing the player to lose any items. The object of Fireball Island is to escape the island with the jewel, which players must steal from the top of the Vul-Kar’s mountain. Fireball Island only has one jewel, so once a player grabs it, they become the target of others. And boy, do they become a target.

Players are incentivized to knock the jewel out of the hands of the player who possesses it. The reimagining of Fireball Island by Restoration Games in 2018 doesn’t place as much emphasis on the jewel. Players can win by other means. Unsponsored quick plug: Restoration Games does great work. They’ve brought back many games on this list and even a couple of honorable mentions like Dark Tower (from the 1980-1981 list) and Thunder Road (which just missed this list).

**3: The Fury of Dracula (1987)**

I mentioned a few lists ago (1983-1984) that Scotland Yard inspired many asymmetric games with hidden movement; The Fury of Dracula is one of the most prominent. I like the theme, but the name “Fury” is a bit of a misnomer. Dracula travels on a hidden board while the hunters move across the game board openly and try to deduce where Dracula is, all the while collecting the means with which to slay Dracula (stakes, garlic, and holy water). The Fury of Dracula ends with an epic showdown.

The Fury of Dracula has been updated multiple times. The second edition changes a lot of the gameplay, while the third edition streamlines the rules to make it easier to play and get into. 2019’s Fourth Edition of The Fury of Dracula gave the game a facelift; it didn’t change much in the way of gameplay. I recommend either the third or fourth editions.

**2: Labyrinth (1986)**

Not to be confused with the 1946 marble game, Labyrinth, which was originally stylized as THE aMAZEing LABYRINTH, uses a 7×7 grid where tiles get placed on one end of a column or row and displaces the tile on the opposite side of the column or row, hence the German name for the game Das verrückte Labyrinth, which is a pun on the German words “ errücken” (displace) and “verrückt” (crazy).

Players move their pieces along the ever-shifting path. Many of the tiles will have treasures printed on them. These treasures will match the cards dealt to players at the beginning of the game. The first player to obtain all the treasures in their deck wins. Labyrinth looks simple at first, but it gets puzzlely real fast. It’s a great problem-solving game for children, but when played by adults, the game can become more strategic and cutthroat. Labyrinth’s shifting tiles is one of the most unique game mechanisms from this era.

Returning to the naming, I wonder if Labyrinth avoided calling itself that in 1986 to avoid a lawsuit or confusion with Jim Henson’s Labyrinth movie that was released the same year. I remember a Labyrinth marble game variant tying into the movie that year.

**1: Arkham Horror (1987)**

I didn’t realize how old Arkham Horror was until I started compiling this list. Designer Richard Launius originally submitted the concept as Call of Cthulhu: The Board Game. This won’t be the first time Launius will make a game based on H.P. Lovecraft. He made a faster-pace, dice version of Arkham Horror in Elder Sign. Launius may be the person most responsible for making H.P. Lovecraft so popular in tabletop gaming. Arkham Horror is an early, thematic cooperative board game. Before Arkham Horror, I don’t recall seeing too many popular cooperative board games.

Because of this, Arkham Horror introduced a lot of staple cooperative board game concepts. Not the least of which is a “Doom Track.” Players work against the clock before the Ancient One breaks through its plane and into Arkham. Come to think of it, a game clock—of one persuasion or another—exists in most cooperative board games. Launius reinvented Arkham Horror into a Living Card Game in 2005.

Did we get the list right, for the most part? I didn’t mention Blood Bowl (1987); I’ll mention it here as another honorable mention. Let us know which games you’d add in the comments. And wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Tabletop Game Review: SiXeS

Published on December 28, 2024March 23, 2025 by Kyra2 Comments

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We haven’t done too many tabletop game reviews over the past several years—before our Marvel United review last month (here’s the link for that review if you missed it). Today’s review is a much shorter game, but one that packs a punch: SiXeS.

Played over six rounds, SiXeS is a party game where players predict what their opponents will write that will match—or not match—depending on whether you’re in a “match” round or a “unique” round. The player with the most points after six rounds, wins.

Before we proceed, we’ll prep the party and discuss SiXeS’s details.

The Fiddly Bits

Designer: Steven Poelzing and Rick Soued
Publisher: Eagle-Gryphon Games and Hobby World
Date Released: 2016
Number of Players: 3-8
Age Range: 12 and up
Setup Time: Less than a minute
Play Time: 15-20 minutes

Game Mechanisms

Party Game
Card Game
Word Game

Game Setup

SiXeS consists of three decks of cards: “Match,” “Unique,” and “Lightning” decks and a scoring pad. Each player gets a sheet from the scoring pad and a writing utensil. Shuffle all three decks. Each card is double-sided with one side easier than the other. SiXeS’s rulebook shows which side to use for each round.

You’ll also need a means to keep time; you can use a minute-long sand timer (SiXeS doesn’t include one) or set your phone’s timer for a minute. Some of the rest of “Game Setup” can fall under “Game Flow,” so let’s continue with the next section.

Game Flow

On the scorecard, you’ll find rounds 1-6 marked. Each round has spaces for six answers. Play begins with a “Match” card. After the timer starts, players will think of things that fit the category’s criteria (this will be the word or words printed on the card). For instance, a category like “Sandwiches” can yield answers like “Peanut Butter and Jelly,” “Hero,” or even “Knuckle.” You’re going to have to match at least one other person’s answer at the table, so you may not want to get fancy with which words you use during a “Match” round.

Players find out if they matched anyone else at the table by sharing their answers. You receive a point for each answer that matches another player. If all six of your answers have at least one match, you receive a “Crooked Six.” That’s a seven. You get seven points if you match all six answers. I guess the designers wanted to maintain SiXeS’s theme by calling a seven a “Crooked Six.”

The objective changes with “Unique” rounds. “Unique” rounds play a lot like Scattergories, but you aren’t forced to begin each of your answers with the same letter. In “Unique” rounds, you receive points for each answer that matches no one at the table. You can also earn a “Crooked Six” if no one else puts down your valid answer.

The final card type, “Lightning” has six different categories. You will answer each category in the order in which they appear on the card, and players will try to match answers with at least one other player at the table.

The player with the most points at the end of six rounds wins.

Review

SiXeS resembles Scattegories but with a twist. I like how the rounds vary. As a result, I find it easier to continue playing multiple rounds of SiXeS over Scattegories.

I have yet to play a game of SiXeS that doesn’t include someone getting miffed that no one else chose their cromulent answer or at least one round ending with multiple people unable to fill in all six spots on their scorecard. SiXeS can be frustrating at times but also engages a group of gamers. It’s a great ice-breaker game. It fits into the party game category and a “getting-to-know-you” game. I can see companies using SiXeS as a morale-building tool.

SiXeS’s box says you can play 3-8 players. I wouldn’t recommend three players. Four and five players can be a lot of fun, but SiXeS’s works the best at higher player counts. There’s nothing preventing someone from playing SiXeS with more than eight players. No one’s stopping you from handing out extra scorecards and writing utensils.

That said, beyond the eight-player mark is where SiXeS either becomes super easy and super hard, depending on the round. Matching one out of ten or eleven players would be easy—too easy—but coming up with a unique answer among ten or eleven players can be nearly impossible. I’d stick to as close to eight players as I can. You could convince me into a nine or ten-player game of SiXeS, but the game begins to crumble under the weight of eleven or more players.

Verdict

Easy to learn and fast to play with great replayability, SiXeS gives Scattegories a much-needed twist. It’s also highly portable. I won’t mind taking SiXeS with me on future trips.

Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1984-1985

Published on December 16, 2024March 1, 2025 by Kyra15 Comments

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Back with another Top 5 Tabletop Games. 1984 and 1985 had even fewer games for this list than the 1982-1983 list. These two years saw a lot of games that got overlooked in previous years find an audience. Axis & Allies was one such game, but it was originally produced in 1981 and made that list. Even the Spiel des Jahres winners for 1984 and 1985 were games from prior years. That said, I still found a handful of games. Let’s talk games.

But first, in case you’ve forgotten our criteria for the Top 5 Tabletop Games, let’s reiterate the ground rules again before we get started.

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: SolarQuest (1985)**

SolarQuest is a fancy space-age version of Monopoly. Players purchase and develop planets, space stations, and moons set in our solar system. SolarQuest has found renewed interest because of eBay. So much so that it’s recently had a successful Kickstart campaign in 2016. SolarQuest makes a notable addition with fuel. Players must watch their ship’s fuel level because they automatically lose the game if they get stranded with no means to refuel.

Outside of fuel, most of SolarQuest is Monopoly set in space. It can be fun, especially when someone runs out of fuel.

**4: Mystery Mansion (1984)**

I still quote the mechanical voice of the 1990s version of Mystery Mansion. The original game uses a modular board, one of the first times that a major board game company (Milton Bradley) used a modular board. Mystery Mansion came with 24 cardboard tiles representing different rooms in the mansion: 8 First Floor rooms, 8 Second Floor rooms, and 8 rooms in the cellar.

Each room has different doors and objects that come into play during the game, and players must search the items in the room to find the treasure hidden within. The electronic voice version replaces the modular board (the cardboard tiles) for a fixed layout reminiscent of Cluedo (Clue for Americans). In this version, the electronic device will tell the players which items are in the room, so the setup to the house isn’t the same each time. Other than the board and the mechanical voice, everything else remains the same from the original Mystery Mansion.

Fun Factoid: During the 2015 music competition Iron Composer, where composers have five hours to write a piece of music, finalist Ryan Keebaugh used the mechanic voice from the 1990s Mystery Mansion as his “secret ingredient” for his piece.

**3: Balderdash (1984)**

Balderdash is a variant of a classic parlor game, Fictionary, but it counts as a 1984 release. Seriously, there weren’t that many major games that came out these two years. Anyway, Balderdash is a game of obscure words. Players must create definitions for words seldom used in the dictionary and gain points for guessing the correct definition or having other players select their invented definition.

Balderdash can be great fun but like Trivial Pursuit, if you play the game enough, you’ll learn many of the words and their definitions. Hey! That’s a fun way to increase your vocabulary.

**2: Abilene (1984)**

Abilene is set in the city of Abilene during 1870. This was the time and place for the main transshipment point for the herds of Texan cattle barons. Players assume the role of ranchers who, with the help of their cowboys, drives their herds to Abilene, trying to capture parts of their opponents’ herd along the way.

Abilene has a few twists on this concept. First, players can capture their opponents’ herds as mentioned, but second, your cattle can be diseased. Players have a certain number of diseased cattle in their herd and whenever a herd makes it to Abilene, one’s opponents guess how much of the herd is diseased. Abilene received consideration for the 1985 Spiel des Jahres. Not bad for a game set in Texas. (Note: games set in the United States at this time didn’t fare well in the Spiel des Jahres.)

**1: Tales of the Arabian Nights (1985)**

Tales of the Arabian Nights is getting its 40^th anniversary glow-up next year. You can sign up for the Gamefound project preview here (https://gamefound.com/en/projects/play-to-z/tales-of-arabian-nights-40th-anniversary-edition).

Tales of the Arabian Nights uses paragraphs to tell a story where each player travels through the Arabian desert and partakes in adventures from One Thousand and One Nights. Players gain and lose statuses from these adventures and collect Story and Destiny Points. Once you earn enough points to become sultan, you can return to Baghdad to win the game.

Many board game enthusiasts swear by this game as one of the best storytelling games. Every generation, we receive a new version of the game. I’m glad Play to Z has an upcoming new version.

Did we get the list right, for the most part? Let us know in the comments. And wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Check out the other lists in this series:
Top 5 Tabletop Games Prior to the 1930s
Top 5 Tabletop Games of the 1930s
Top 5 Tabletop Games of the 1940s-50s
Top 5 Tabletop Games from the Early 1960s
Top 5 Tabletop Games from the Late 1960s
Top 5 Tabletop Games from the Early 1970s
Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1980-1981
Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1982-1983
Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1986-1987
Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1988-1989
Top 5 Tabletop Games from 1990-1991

Top 5 Stocking Stuffer Board Game Companies

Published on December 14, 2024November 17, 2024 by Kyra2 Comments

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We’re in the middle of the Christmas season. There aren’t that many days until the holiday, so I decided to go with another purchasing guide: stocking stuffer board games. But I don’t want to just do individual games. No, no. Let’s discuss board game companies known for producing good games that can fit inside a stocking.

We’ll have to set some ground rules.

1) The packing must be small enough to fit in at least 50% of stockings.

2) The games must be good. While smaller packaging can lead to compromises, who wants to play a bad game?

3) Extra points for companies that produce various games. It’s easy to find a formula and produce multiple versions of the same game, but I’m handing out brownie points to any company capable of stretching their creative muscles.

With all that out of the way, let’s get to the games, or the board game companies.

5: The Game Crafter (Mint Tin Games)

On the Game Crafter, aspiring game designers can buy board game components for their prototypes. But it also functions as a store for indie board game designers to sell their games. The Game Crafter is a great place to support smaller game companies and indie board game designers directly. We’ll be covering their Mint Tin Games line. These games fit inside a mint tin. Perfect for a stocking.

Price: Varies between $20-$35. Board game designers set their own prices, so mint tin games vary wildly.

Quality: It’s a mixed bag. That’s why Mint Tin Games are fifth on this list. But there is a silver lining. The Game Crafter gives their stamp of approval to any game they view as worth your time.

Variety: Tons! Mint Tin Games are the Wild, Wild West of board games. Think of it as the board game equivalent of the indie video games on Steam. You’ll find games here that you can’t find anywhere else.

Size: 4-inch by 2 1/2-inch mint tins. You can fit these tins into any stocking. I’m surprised by the amount of games you can find that fit inside this packing.

Titles: Again, I’d look at anything that gets the Game Crafter seal, but here are some standouts. I’ve found a ton of excellent solo games. Doom Machine is fantastic. Mint Knight is a fan favorite and a sandbox RPG. What? Astro Asterid’s Quick Shuttle Repair is a fast-paced resource management game. And Deck 52: Space Wrecked is a fun dungeon crawl.

Store Link: (https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games?query=mint&hitsPerPage=18) The Game Crafter (Mint Tin Games).

4: Pack O Game

We had a game series in a mint tin. Pack O Game fits inside a box of chewing gum. How do make a game fit in that tight of a space?

Price: $7 each. By far the cheapest set of games on this list. You can’t beat $7 for a game.

You can also buy a bundle for $50, but that includes 8 games and a pod that can hold all the games from a set, and there are three sets. Even though the pod can hold all the games in a set, it’s still small enough to fit into any stocking.

Quality: Most of the games in this line are good. There can be some duds, but for $7, you can buy a few. And the stellar titles can be fantastic.

Variety: These games use cards shaped like sticks of chewing gum. Despite that, there are plenty of game mechanisms represented in this line.

Size: Don’t worry about it. These are tiny games. These game boxes measure around 5-inch by 1-inch. Crazy small!

Titles: I haven’t played much from the second and third sets, but I played plenty of the first one. Shh must be the best of the bunch; it’s a cooperative word game. Hue and Fly are also good, but I have a soft spot for TKO.

Store Link: Pack O Game by Perplext.

3: All Play Games (Small Box Line)

For the most part, All Play has two sizes of games. We’ll be discussing the smaller (square-shaped) games with this listing. But the larger boxed games are worth perusing as well.

Price: Under $20. Great value for the amount of game inside these small boxes. It’s also a great price for a stocking stuffer.

Quality: While not all the games of this line suit my tastes, the games in All Play’s small box line are baseline good. If something sounds interesting, it’s well worth the price tag.

Variety: All Play has some of the best gameplay variety on this list. You’ll find plenty of themes and gameplay mechanisms that are sure to meet your board game enthusiasts’ preferences.

Size: This is what makes All Play’s small box games third place. This line dominates all the other criteria, but size could be an issue. The small boxes measure 5-inch by 5-inch. That could fit in at least 50% of stockings. Maybe? If you have extra-large stockings, no problem. And who cares if the box protrudes from the stocking’s top?

Titles: I mentioned Chomp in our “Getting Starting with Tile-Laying Games” (you can check out that write-up here); Chomp is an excellent game. Sequoia is another great title. Ghosts of Christmas may be a good thematic game for the season. And I’ve heard great things about Mountain Goats.

Store Link: (https://www.allplay.com/board-games/) All Play Games. Look for the square-shaped game boxes.

2: Button Shy Games

Board game rockstar Elizabeth Hargrave (Wingspan) got her start with Button Shy Games’s Wallet Game line. To date, she has more than one game in the Wallet Game line. As the name suggests, these games fit inside a wallet, so they will definitely fit inside a stocking.

Price: $12 each. Another cheap option with some great games on offer.

Quality: Like All Play’s small box line, most games in Button Shy Games’s Wallet Game line are good. But there are some standouts.

Variety: Most, if not all, of the games in this line use 18-card decks. Each game does something different with its 18-cards but it can get repetitive if you pick up too many at once.

Size: The size of a slim wallet, roughly 5-inches by 3-inches. You won’t have an issue fitting any of these games into your stockings.

Titles: Hargrave’s first published game Tussie Mussie is not in stock before Christmas 2024, but you can pre-order the next printing set for an April 2025 release. But she does have another great game named Picky Pixie. Mysticana uses a nice twist on rock-paper-scissors, and it has plenty of expansion should you enjoy the core gameplay. Sprawlopolis is a great city-building game. It’s sold out, but its stand-alone sequel Agropolis is available.

Store Link: Button Shy Games Wallet Games line

1: Oink Games

Oink Games have a lot of quirky little games in their line. They have plenty of games that come from East Asia. More than a few of those will get a mention in the Titles section.

Price: Most are $23, but there are a few that can be a little higher or lower in price.

Quality: Another company that has baseline good games with some standouts.

Variety: Except for All Play’s small box line, Oink Games may have the most variety of any game company (or line) on this list.

Size: The boxes are about 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches. Bigger than most other lines on this list except All Play’s.

Titles: I covered Deep Sea Adventure some time ago with our “Getting Started with Pickup and Delivery Games” writeup (here’s a link); it’s a great title. Scout earned the 2022 Spiel Des Jahres; I may have to check out that one. A Fake Artist Goes to New York is a ton of fun; everyone draws a picture together, but one person (the fake artist) doesn’t know what the group is drawing.

Store Link: Oink Games

That concludes our list. There are a lot of games worth trying. There may even be some that I may have to purchase…as a gift. A gift that’s TOTALLY for someone else.

Did we get the list right? Let us know which companies you would add in the comments. And wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.