Latest Posts
Letter Tycoon – Board Game Review
By this point, you probably know that I’m a fan of word games. From Hardback to Paperback to Paperback Adventures to Bananagrams and Illiterati, I enjoy word games quite a bit, and I enjoy discovering new ones. I know there are books and books of word games, and dozens of apps with daily word puzzles that I could be playing, but I’m always fascinated by how many different games there are to play using nothing more than letters and words. Half the fun for me is simply discovering another take on such a familiar idea.
Letter Tycoon has players making words with cards. Each player starts with seven letter cards in hand, and there are three common cards available in the middle of the table. On your turn, you can use as many of those common letters as you want to make a word. Depending on how long your word is, you’ll earn money which is points. The only thing you use your money for is to buy patents. Patents are really the heart of the game because some of them will give you persistent abilities for the rest of the game.
Hansa Teutonica
Hansa Teutonica has got to be one of the most uninviting board games around. Granted, it came out in 2009, but in a market where every game has bright, vibrant, beautiful artwork on full display, here's Mr. Beige Boy with his stupid little moustache staring morosely...
Gaia Project – Board Game Review
It can be difficult to review a game like Gaia Project. At this point, everyone who likes the game has already played it or already knows they like it. It feels like everyone who hasn't played it yet has a reason. Either it's too intimidating, or they bounced off the...
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Before I started this whole Final Fantasy endeavour, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was my most-played Final Fantasy game by a long shot. I played it on my platinum Game Boy Advance SP, and I played the daylights out of this game. It’s one of the first times I remember going onto good old GameFAQs to figure out which abilities I needed to unlock the various classes, which, on dial up internet was quite the chore. But I don’t want to launch straight into my nostalgia. Let’s talk about Final Fantasy Tactics Advance itself, what I love about it, and what changed during this most recent playthrough.
Pies – Board Game Review
I bought Pies for a lot of reasons. First, I like trick-taking games. Second, I’ve really been appreciating small-box games that I can bring to people’s houses or out on our adventures without having to haul a whole separate bag. Third, the designer, Matthias Kramer, is also the designer of one of my favorite games, Glen More II, so I was quite intrigued to see what he could do with a small-box card game.
Orleans The 2 Player Experience – Board Game Review
I’ve loved Orléans for a decade now. Twice it’s made it into the top 20 of my top 100 games of all time, which is not a small feat when you consider how many games on that list get shuffled around. Whenever I think about Orléans, it’s mostly fond memories. Those plays...
Bärenpark – Board Game Review
In Bärenpark, players are trying to build the best bear park. Every player starts with one 4×4 entrance tile and one of the green enclosure tiles, the size of which depends on your player order. These green enclosure tiles are small attractions, like a food stand or a porta-potty. They can be one, two, or three squares large and come either in a straight line or in a small L shape. On the central board in front of all players, there’s also a bunch of small bear enclosure tiles arranged in stacks. Each of these enclosures are 4 squares large and each of the 4 types are in the classic Tetris tetromino-style shapes, and the highest point value tile is on the top of each stack. Lastly, covering nearly half of the entire supply board are the coveted large enclosure tiles, which are five or six squares large and worth a healthy chunk of points.
Final Fantasy X-2
I initially didn’t plan on playing Final Fantasy X-2. But one of my friends decided to join me on my Final Fantasy X playthrough. And by join me, we played our games separately and texted each other our exciting and frustrating moments. When we both finished, I mentioned I was going to play Final Fantasy XII next. He suggested I wait a bit so he could have a bit of a JRPG detox, then he’d join me on that one as well. So with all the wonderfully deep and melancholic feelings in my heart from the end of Final Fantasy X, I decided to spin up Final Fantasy X-2. I wasn’t really ready to leave Spira, I really liked the world and the characters and the story. I was interested in what the first direct sequel in the Final Fantasy franchise would hold.
