Micro Macro Crime City is a little different when it comes to calling it a ‘game’, is it really a game or is it more of an activity? Do I care? After playing it, not really. I hear ‘x is not a game, it’s an experience’ but isn’t that what this hobby is about?

Micro Macro Crime City drew me in because it is a cooperative game which doesn’t rely on skill or understanding of the rules to play, meaning that the whole family can get involved. In the base game there are 16 cases which you have to solve on a map. The map is a kitchen table sized wimmelbilder map ala Where’s Wally (Waldo in case of US) depicting a cutesy city where anthripomorphic animals go about their days….and CRIMES!

The really cool thing about the map is that the city depicts the past, present and future. You can track a criminal from where they committed a crime through to where they stashed the loot all in the one map.

Each case starts with a synopsis read by the ‘lead investigator’ which starts the detective work. Once the initial clue is found and confirmed on the back of the first card by coordinates, the lead then moves on to the next card and so forth until the case has been totally solved. Quick, fun play is the result with players (literally) climbing over one another to try to find the next clues.

We played 4 cases in a row and probably could have kept going on our first play. I haven’t played some of the later cases but they do very much increase in difficulty, with the first case taking ~10mins and the 4th taking around 20mins total. If you really wanted to, I can see that this would be a game that you could pull out several times over a gaming weekend and solve all the cases in that time.

Community Opinion

Micro Macro Crime City is currently ranked 205 of all games on BGG with a rating of 7.6.

Overall

I have really been loving this experience. In addition to the cases there is so much to see on the map and it is just such a great fun time with the family. The thing that sets it apart from other family games is that there are no advantages for age or experience and that anyone playing has just as much chance at finding clues as anyone else. If you are looking for a filler, a game to spend a rainy weekend on, or something to introduce new players to, I would highly recommend Micro Macro Crime City.

You can pick up Micro Macro at Amazon or your local boardgame shop – I picked mine up from Games Empire.

The post Micro Macro Crime City Review appeared first on Next Player.

Let’s start off here, there is never too much Azul and that is confirmed by this new release of the (few year old) classic. I was drawn to Azul: Queen’s Garden primarily because I loved the original Azul and hadn’t had a chance to play any of the other releases as yet. In addition, I was offered a review copy by VR Games Australia, so I jumped at the chance.

Azul: Queen’s Garden is described by the publisher as:

In Azul: Queen’s Garden, players are tasked with arranging a magnificent garden for the King’s lovely wife by arranging beautiful plants, trees, and ornamental features.

Using an innovative drafting mechanism, the signature of the Azul series, players must carefully select colorful tiles to decorate their garden. Only the most incredible garden designers will flourish and win the Queen’s blessing.

Looks

I absolutely loved the acrylic tiles of the original Azul and that is no different here, the art may not be as great (pictures rather than patterns) but the feel of them is brilliant, a little bit of heft and weight goes a long way when trying to impress me with game components.

In comparison to the original, the player boards aren’t thick, however this doesn’t really impact play at all. The one detraction was that the scoring board/track seems a little unnecessary and takes up valuable table space. This probably could have been included on the player boards, or on a smaller reference sheet, but not a massive issue.

Stumbling Blocks

I’ve heard a few reviews that have said that the rules are a bit confusing, or that scoring is strange, but I really didn’t see an issue with it. I think that one of the issues here might be that people are comparing this game to the original and not as a stand alone game. The community does get it wrong sometimes though with this being rate higher on difficulty than something like Arboretum which I found exponentially harder to teach. Are the rules in Azul: Queen’s Garden a little more complex, yes, but they are definitely not outside the scope of what you would expect in modern boardgames.

Who would enjoy it

I played this with my wife and two children (12, 9) and found that it was a great expereience. As with any more complex game, the kids might drift off a bit when others are making decisions but I have found scoring pretty tight on all of the games. I really find though (much like the original for me) that Queen’s Garden really shines at 2 players. There is enough of that mid level take-that action, along with being a relatively quick game that it could be played after dinner without too much brain drain.

Community Opinion

Azul: Queen’s Garden is currently ranked 1216 on Boardgamegeek for all games and 19 for Abstract games

Overall

Despite it’s increased difficulty over the original, I really enjoyed Queen’s Garden for the family and as a two player game. There is something about those tiles that will get me every time and the Azul games always seem pretty chilled out, not too much or too little interaction and not overly competitive. If you are looking for a game for two players or for family with older children (10+) then I would definitely recommend Azul: Queen’s Garden

The post How much Azul is too much? Azul: Queens Garden Review appeared first on Next Player.

So when Orchard by was originally suggested, I turned my nose up at it like any good mid to mid-heavy weight Euro player should. Pah! 9 cards, what am I to do with 9 cards! The other thing that I don’t really like are puzzles, just don’t get them. For instance, I love the theme of the Zelda games, but my ability to solve puzzles is almost nil, so these games end up a dreary misery for me. I play with a Rubix cube and somehow it ends up more jumbled than when I started (that’s if I don’t pull the stickers off to cheat)

So, I purchased a copy of Orchard, and it’s tiny, like small deck box tiny. Components are pretty standard, except for the dope plastic cards (They smell the same as Chip Theory Games, if that’s like, your thing).

I guess one of the arguments could be that with 9 cards there could be a high degree of ‘sameness’ between games – well have I got news for you! The game comes with 18 cards, 9 of which you will use in a single game. This means there are…(insert maths here)…tons.. of unique combinations of 9 cards from the 18 provided. So when it comes to replayability, this game is going to have tons (also, I don’t see people having the replayability conversation about games like Solitaire).

If I’m totally honest I started out in the hobby to make sure that I engaged with other people about a passion or hobby and to push myself a bit when it comes to social interaction. That didn’t happen so much in the end, with Covid getting in the way, but I did find a real love for solo gaming.

I can get a game of Orchard done in around 5 minutes (great for the stats geek!) and the second game is ready and waiting for you to go again. I love the fact that I can sit in front of the TV and experiment with placements and maximising points, while never actually taking the focus too much off either thing. When I asked for a game that I could play and just chill, I have to admit that I didn’t think that Orchard would hit the spot, but I sure was wrong.

The post Orchard – a lesson in humility appeared first on Next Player.

Zombie Kidz Evolution is the game that you want when you say “I want something that is fun, cool theme and that the kids will play”

Released by Scorpion Masque in 2018 and created by Annick Lobet, Zombie Kidz Evolution will have you fighting back hoards of zombies while you try to lock the school gates and keep from being overrun.

I have an issue with kids, sorry not with kids but with playing with kids. One of mine is a child, the other is a pre-teen so getting something that suits them both tends to be a bit of work. Five Tribes is booooring to one but something like Hive is a favourite of the younger one and a game that the older one will refuse. So what is something in the middle? Well, a game with the theme of Zombies taking over a school seems to be right up their alley.

The Game

On a board of just 9 spaces, your team will have to work out how to get rid of the zombies and then have two players arrive at the same entranceway to lock the gate. Easy, right?

Nope, not really at all. This game moves fast, with each player’s turn they will roll a die to determine where the next zombie will land on the colour coded map. Players can then move around the school, one space at a time. If there are 1-2 zombies in the room, you can send them back to the line and hope you can get it under control. If however there are 3 zombies in the room, you have just lost the ability to move into or through that room (Hot tip: Don’t let the centre room build too many of the zombies!).

The great thing about this game is that there is a legacy element which opens up new rules and other goodies as the game goes on. The (very small) changes really helps for the game to remain novel and fresh for the younger players and helps to shift around some difficulty as players get more experienced with the system.

Is it simple, sure. Will it provide strategic depth that you will describe as ‘crunchy’ and coin terms like ‘decision space’, eww no. But what it will provide is fun.

Zombie Kidz Evolution is by no means a deep or overly strategic game, but where it really shines is straddling that really fine line of making sure that the game is enjoyable for both kids and adults alike, but primarily as a family.

My Overall thoughts

If you have a passion for boardgames and a family that may be a little reluctant I would say that Zombie Kidz Evolution is a great starting point to introduce to the family. A short game time (20 mins maximum) and the ability to work together really sells this game and before you know it you can transition to other coop games like Gloomhaven (OK, maybe not..)

Scorpion Masque – if you are reading this my youngest has requested a Zombie Babiez game if at all possible.

The post Zombie Kidz Evolution review appeared first on Next Player.

Five Tribes, like the oasis in the desert, is one of those games that is gone as soon as you see it back in stock. It may be that the love that it has been given by bigger reviewers has boosted it’s sales, or that it is just a classic of all time.

Five Tribes was released in 2014 by Bruno Cathala through Days of Wonder and is one of those rare games that has continued it’s prominence since release. I am taking a look at the game and what it brings to the table.

Gameplay

Overall the gameplay is simple and can be taught in a few minutes. I really hate the term ‘minutes to learn, but years to master’ but it is true of this game. Players pick up all of the meeples from one tile and move them orthogonally, placing a single meeple in each tile that they pass. The last meeple must have a meeple of it’s matching colour in the tile that it is being placed. After this,take all the meeples of the last colour placed from the last tile and take the tile action as well as any action that the coloured meeples allow.

Positives

I really love Five Tribes and have found it so easy to set up and play. No convoluted decks to set up, randomly plonk down the tiles and meeples and you are 90% there.

I played a heap of this game over the Christmas holidays, both with new and experienced players and it is so easy to teach and even more so if players have played a few modern games already.

The game can turn on a dime. Think that you have great territory and going for the win? Wait until someone unleashes a Djinn and builds a points accumulator. The ability for the game to swing like this keeps everyone involved and engaged in the game, unlike a lot of other games that have issues with runaway leaders.

Criticism

I think I said it somewhere in my Hive Review, but I really dislike games that give a marked advantage to those who have played the game more. Chess is the best example of this, playing against someone above your skill level can be an infuriating process and it isn’t enjoyable for anyone. In saying this, there is a slight problem with the mancala type movement in Five Tribes and that players who have experience with this (or with the game) will have somewhat of an advantage in the game.

This isn’t an all encompassing issue, with turn order, random meeples and tile set up the degree of expertise in the game is somewhat mitigated. But I would recommend that if you are playing with new players that you identify the importance of turn order several times in the rules explanation.

The other factor is that I believe that this game really plays best with two players, even though it can go to four. The reason for this is that the time between moves starts to stretch out with additional players and there is very little you can do to strategise between turns as the board state will change significantly as players take their turns.

Overall

For some reason I seem to have avoided games like Five Tribes (others include Dominion, Istanbul, Tigris and Euphrates) in the belief that I thought that more recent games must have bettered them. But I’m not so sure of this, Five Tribes is a joy of strategic movement, take that and just all round fun. I really enjoy this one and with the easy set up it can be on and off the table within an hour. If you, like me, have avoided games due to their age then I would definitely recommend pushing back on this a little bit and checking out some games that aren’t the latest hotness.

The post Five Tribes review appeared first on Next Player.

Is Too Many Bones complicated? Is it worth the money to buy? Do I need to buy everything in order to properly experience the game?

As of writing, Too Many Bones currently sits at Number 55 in the rankings of board games on boardgamegeek.com. Being in the Top 100 is a pretty prestigious thing, but my feeling is that if a game gets a good ground swell of attention from reviewers at the right time it can make it into the Top 500 with relative ease and then behavioural economics takes over.

Huh? Behavioural Economics?

Behavioural economics is how we can apply psychological principles to the process of decision making, particuarly to the decision making around cost and purchases. Some of the principles that I refer to here are:

• Sunk Cost fallacy: we are more likely to commit to something due to it’s cost as we have already spent the money;
• Reviews = purchases: Research has shown that people are more likely to buy an item if it has a greater number of positive reviews (duh)
• Cost = Quality: Numerous studies have found that participants will more likely rate an item higher if it has a greater cost associated with it, following the rule of thumb that higher cost must mean higher quality.

Given that the BGG ratings are relatively secret (however a recent video goes into this a little more) it is often difficult to work out the rhyme or reasoning behind a games rating. My feeling is that if game has unique mechanisms, is able to be introduced to new players, has a unique theme and gets great or mixed good reviews has the ability to almost break this system.

A game can flood the system with positive reviews before they have even shipped due to reviewer and previewer opinion – look at the reviews for some of the big Kickstarters that have been completed, but not yet shipped, there are so many “I can’t wait for this game – 10 stars”. Both Frosthaven, the new Nemesis expansion and Etherfields are all approaching the 8 star rankings with almost a year until delivery.

So what does this all mean?

Let’s take Frosthaven, for example, which will make it on to the Top 100 list within it’s first 6 months of release:

• Gloomhaven already has the highest ranking at #1, therefore drawing users to it’s creator and to the sequel;
• BGG already has 164 ratings of 10 for the game (more than double the ratings of 1). This preloads the system, so once released if you are interested in a retail copy it will have a high rating when you look for it;
• The cost equals quality factors in, due to the fact that this is a game that will retail around the $200 mark;
• The sunk cost fallacy will also play into things here as well. If the game isn’t good people will feel the need to continue to play to try to recoup their ‘cost’ of purchasing and minimise buying regret. How many times have you heard “It really just takes a few (dozen) games to get going”;
• The sense of exclusivity will also drive the retail release, if people feel that it is hard to get, they will more than likely chase it at retail again building a user base that will vote on BGG.

I do not intend to take a shot at Frosthaven, I believe that Gloomhaven is a great game, but it also hit a lot of the above points which has rocketed it to the top. This is merely an example of how the ratings systems and behavioural economy work side by side. Obviously, ratings and reviews do have meaning but the ultimate test of game is how well it plays for you.

So, given all of this I was a bit hesitant about going in to buy Too Many Bones, a game that has high praise from those who have played it but also comes with a high price tag..But there were a few things that sold it for me and that actually went against the above points. So here I would like to talk a little more about those factors.

The Gearlocs take too long to learn/The Game is too Heavy/Is Too Many Bones complicated?

This is a really strange one to me. I have heard issues that the Gearlocs are hard to learn and that you are constantly reviewing the reference sheets, that the game is too heavy and finnicky. But let’s get this straight, when it comes to convoluted games I’m not the brightest tool in the drawer. I’ve tried to play GMT wargames and was the emotional equivalent of a deserter running away from the front lines (see here for my views on Labyrinth). So it was with some trepidation that I decided to go in and buy Undertow as my starting venture into the Too Many Bones world.

What was I getting myself into, was this another game that I would have to sell in order to switch over to become the most prominent HABA reviewer that this hobby has ever seen?

I cracked open the instruction book and found a book that was well designed and thought out, with examples of battle and how to play and activate dice. Iconography was clear and guided me throughout the book.

As for the referencing the Gearloc sheets, yes this happened often but I really feel that it didn’t happen more than many other games that I have played. After a few games I feel like I am starting to get the hang of characters and the only reason I am referencing character sheets is because that is part of the game, much like it would be in an RPG. In D&D you will need to check your spells or abilities in order to judge your ability to take on a task.

Checking your character is like checking your pocket your car keys, it is preparation not an indication that you have forgotten how to drive.

Are people judging the game on it’s literal mass? Because in this rather simple reviewers opinion, it most definitely isn’t a ‘heavy’ game.

Is it really all that replayable?

This one is an easy yes.

In the Undertow box you have 2 new characters who can be played together or solo against 5 new tyrants.

Quick maths suggest that is:

((2 x 1 solo characters) x (1 x 2 characters)) x 5 Tyrants = 20 unique ways of playing the base Undertow game which doesn’t include the randomisation of Baddies or Loot throughout each of those games.

If you add the 4 Gearlocs and 7 Tyrants of the base Too Many Bones then you are ending up with a massive amount of variance across the range. This also does not include additional Gearlocs that can be bought separately.

So, in summary if you are worried about whether you will be playing the same game over, then the answer is a hard no. Even if you decide to play the same Tyrant with the same characters you are still going to be encountering different Baddies and getting different Loot throughout.

Are those components really worth it?

It’s funny how things come full circle. I would have said no, that premium components aren’t worth it, but then Covid came. This time of isolation has really identified what I like about board games and besides the interaction and the game itself, it’s fiddling with little pieces of plastic and cardboard that I love.

Tabletopia, Tabletop Simulator and all of those other programs will let you experience a game and sometimes the interaction as well but they are no match for having the pieces in your hand. As a result, I have to say that the components in TMB are really worth the cost and given their quality I can see that Chip Theory Games are really putting their passion into this game and it isn’t just a cash cow for them.

There are plenty of components that you could add, Premium Health, Allies or other Gearlocs but really the amount you get in the base boxes is plenty and will keep you busy for a long time. I have even considered watching TV or doing other activities whilst rolling a chip in my hand like a James Bond villain (ugh, don’t get me started on James Bond).

The Ratings

So I said earlier that the ratings system could somewhat be manipulated, and given the above cost and worry about gameplay this was another factor in my reconsidering whether this game was for me..Do I trust the ratings? Especially given that I don’t know anyone who owns the game and in the Covid world I don’t have the ability to find a game group that plays it.

Too Many Bones currently has the second lowest amount of ratings in the Top 100, only after Vital Lacerda’s On Mars, and with Maracaibo and Paladins of the West Kingdom also being in the ball park (~5000 ratings). These titles, however, will continue to rise due to the amount of time that has passed since their release being relatively close (2019).

Too Many Bones, however, having the second least votes after 3 years of release shows that those people who are playing it are voting it very highly and overcoming the ‘buffer’ votes that are built into BGG.

This rather flimsy statistical analysis is yet another reason why I decided I needed the game.

After a while I decided yes, that this was a game that I could justify to buy to review and then sell it to someone else if I didn’t like it..But it never came to that did it…(now I’m currently considering Premium Health, another Gearloc or two…)

Overall

Before my Undertow experience I was following too many silly beliefs, that Too Many Bones was complicated, that is wasn’t ‘worth’ the price tag, that the reason that it was so popular was because of behavioural economics and people were justifying their bad financial decisions. Boy, was I wrong…

From the tactile element of the components to the gameplay, from the community to the product support, Chip Theory Games and Too Many Bones are absolutely knocking it out of the park. From the limited interaction I have had with the Carlsons, Josh, Shannon and others connected with the projects I have seen that this is a team that is in love with the products that they are making and it shines through in the gameplay and quality of this production.

Whether you are buying it, or borrowing it I would highly recommend Too Many Bones to anyone with an interest in board games and RPGS, it’s truly a don’t miss experience for me.

The post Why I didn’t buy Too Many Bones appeared first on Next Player.

The Problem with Kids

Gaming with kids can be difficult, for reference mine are 8 and 11. Even with just a few years of difference there is a massive difference in psychological development, attention span and personal preference. My youngest absolutely loves Rival Restaurants and Santorini, where my oldest would definitely prefer something that is more interactive and probably quicker so that she can get back to what she wants to be doing. 

So gaming as a family can be a little difficult at times and I often try to steadily balance between likes and dislikes which usually ends up games like Kingdomino, Codenames or King Of Tokyo. But by some absolute miracle, Isle of Cats has hit that perfect middle ground for us.

The Game

Disclaimer – Isle of Cats has a more in-depth and strategic mode, I am currently writing on the Family Rules. The copy of the The Isle of Cats is the reviewer’s own.

This is a tile laying game, and is pretty simple at it’s core. What I love is that there is a 2 page sheet in the box for the Family mode – no reading the full instructions and then determining what needs to be added or subtracted from the game. I can’t stress how good this is, especially when kids see a box they are interested in there is often a brief moment before their willingness to play slips away.

Play is simple and revolves around players taking turns to choose cats that they will rescue and place on their ships. There are some simple placement rules and several ‘rooms’ or sections to fill. Each player also receives 2 individual player goal cards, which they work towards throughout the game.

One of the things that seems to get to kids is when there is a runaway leader, or in Kingdomino when you take a tile that can’t be placed. Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case here with The Isle of Cats, there is enough space on the board for players to be able to place cats through most of the game. This was especially good for the younger one as she was able to focus on getting her same-coloured families together, or focussing on maximising her goal cards.

The Isle of Cats isn’t a simple game with no strategy, but with the Family rules it is a simple game. Simple in that the non-essential, extra or confusing rules are removed and play is therefore quick and fun, without the need for rules referencing.

There is one change that I made – the rule of non-completion of rooms taking 5 points off for each room. For the age that I am playing at, as well as for new players to tactile/visual problem solving it seemed a little too arbitrary. Each player was losing 20+ points each game and I figured if I want them to remain involved then I will go easy on them for the first few games.

Overall

Even without playing the full version yet, I can highly recommend The Isle of Cats for family play. It is one of those very rare games that are just as appealing to adults as it is to the kids. As mentioned above, it also fits such a great niche for family play and seems to make everyone happy. Be sure to pick this one up if your kids love to play and want to graduate from games like Kingdomino.

The post The Isle of Cats – Family review appeared first on Next Player.

I started off my boardgaming in Warhammer and Necromunda, so wargames. I loved these games for their strategy and miniatures. Unfortnately, time makes a fool of us all and I no longer have time for miniature painting anymore and figured that a more ‘wargame’ wargame might actually scratch that itch. 

I was wrong..

I deduced from my plays of Labyrinth that I am definitely not a wargamer, or at least not a Labyrinth wargamer. 

Why I didn’t like it

The big thing that I really didn’t gel with was the use of flowcharts, I just couldn’t get my head around the idea that when I make a move I then have to follow a flow based on what the political climate is, or what else is going on around the map in order to determine what happens next. 

I play other games that I consider to be ‘heavy’ like Great Western Trail or Pax Pamir 2nd Edition, but it was something about those flowcharts that really got me and threw me off the game altogether. I have, admittedly, only played Labyrinth solo however I can’t begin to imagine how long it would go on at the 2 player count. 

The fact that the rule book is also laid out like a regional mueseum’s founding document also takes away from the game. There are limited pictorial examples and the text all seems to run into one another. Rather than being an experiential task I felt that it was more a research tasks to complete the rules document. 

Final remarks

These are merely my thoughts about why I don’t get on with this game, you might be someone who really likes the experience of engaging with charts for your strategy games and that is totally OK. After this game and with noone in my groups that play GMT wargames, I think that I might give them a miss for a bit. This allows me to try them again maybe with a more experienced hand who is able to show me the ins and outs. In the meantime, I think that I am going to play some more Warfighter by DVG, a much more approachable game for me. 

The post Games I bounced off – Labyrinth War on Terror appeared first on Next Player.

Every so often a game comes up that, when described, I’m left with an ‘Oh OK’ kind of feeling. That is what I initially thought when I heard about The Mind, that it sounded too simple to be fun or enjoyable and that it would quickly lose it’s lustre. But boardgames always have a way of surprising me. The way that I have seen The Mind sell really makes me wonder why I couldn’t have that idea, but I have to say that this is one of those where the genius lay in it’s simplicity.

The Mind consists of 100 cards numbered 1 to, you guessed it, 100. There are a few Life cards in there and some Throwing Stars for good measure. And that’s it, the totality of the box contents, outside of a rule sheet.

The Mind consists of levels, depending on how many people are playing. Your goal is to play you cards in order of smallest to largest in a stack without any errors. But here is the interesting part – you are not allowed to communicate with other players at all.

I have been playing with the family over the past week and it has been a joy. Initially there was some frustration from the younger players but when we eventualy hit the groove The Mind seems to work really well. After a few rounds you will find that players can start to read the intentions of others and will then act accordingly. The people who are leaning forward most definitely will have a card soon, but the people sitting back and holding their cards close will probably need to go later…

The game isn’t one trick either, each round consists of adding cards to each players hand which equates to the current level. Level 1 everyone gets one card and so on, with the ability to earn back ‘lives’ that are lost during moves of the wrong numerical order. There is also the option of players agreeing to play a Ninja Star, which allows the whole team to throw away their lowest card, but be careful with this as you may need it later in the game. 

Up until the whole COVID issue I travelled quite a bit with family and one of the hard things to do is find games that are small enough and hit the right mental load to be playing while travelling. I have to say that The Mind isn’t too difficult to grasp and is easy enough to play at a table or hotel room to slow down for the day, it will definitely be coming with me when I travel next.

Overall, a great and simple game that brings that family together on a physical and psychological level. At the going rate of around $20, I would highly recommend to pick this one up if you haven’t already tried it out. 

The post The Mind review appeared first on Next Player.

Sometimes I find myself criticising a game like Eldritch Horror for being too in-depth, other times I just want to sit and play something super simple like Hive or Friday. But I find more and more that this is what I like about the hobby, that I can still engage with it whether I am spending 3 hours playing a Euro or 20 mins playing a quick card game.

Some of the most recent hits have been roll (or flip) and write games, games like Welcome To… and Ganz Schon Clever. The premise is that you roll some dice, or flip some cards and then put the results on a scoring chart where you are trying to maximise your points. While I have seen this to be criticised in the hobby as too simplistic, or relying on luck, I have actually really enjoyed this trend – don’t get me started on how many games of Yahtzee I can play in a row on a flight.

My experience

I don’t want to go into how to play the game too much, but I do want to talk about how I have experienced it. I know that my family loves to play Catan over the Christmas break, but there is a problem with this in that it tends to take a long time and it excludes a bunch of people – the younger who can’t play and the older who don’t have the patience. So I thought that I could offer a few more games that people would be able to play during this period. 

After vigourous research I came up with some options with Cartographers leading the charge, so I took the plunge and ordered it. Any criticisms of a game really go out the window when they get to the table and they can spark joyfulness in a range of people. Throughout my Christmas plays of Cartographers there were laughs about how someone couldn’t draw trees, there was the occasional person who (somehow) started their map upside down and there were teenagers admonished for eating in the non-eating games room due to them being too eager to start up a new game.

There were groans as people realised they had sat next to a competitive person who would draw monsters in the middle of a map and there were giggles as kids realised that grandpa had drawn a single tree instead of a block of four. 

Sometimes I think that we get too caught up in whether a game is perfectly balanced and whether it provides enough ‘decision space’ or ‘crunchiness’ and we forget that games, for millenia now, are a way for groups to bond and relax. This is what I got from Cartographers, a game with a simple ruleset, minimal setup and a great deal of interaction and map-peeking. The games that I played ranged from 3-8 players and had players in the ages from 6 to late-60s. It’s for this reason that games that are light or fillers will constantly form a mainstay of my gaming, because for me gaming is meant to be an inclusive hobby, not an exclusive one. 

Oh and for those of you who care for big words: Cartographers sits in the niche of flip-and-write, which allows both seasoned and new players to engage. There is a wide range of decision space in the game and the number and order of cards allows for a great deal of variability and replayability. The solo mode sees you playing against your own high score and plays within less than 30 mins. 

Have you played Cartographers or if not, what are the games that come out for you with a wider audience? 

The post Cartographers Review appeared first on Next Player.