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Read more about the article Finspan Review: A Lighter Wingspan?

Finspan Review: A Lighter Wingspan?

  • Post published:9 July 2025
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Finspan is the newest addition to the Wingspan line. With similar ideas to Wingspan, Finspan is focused on fish. Players play fish cards with various powers and activate them to…

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Read more about the article Galactic Cruise Board Game Review

Galactic Cruise Board Game Review

  • Post published:3 June 2025
  • Reading time:7 mins read

Galactic Cruise is a crunchy euro game for 1–4 players. It combines worker placement, resource management, and launching space cruises to compete for the most victory points. Gameplay The worker…

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Read more about the article SETI Board Game Review

SETI Board Game Review

  • Post published:24 May 2025
  • Reading time:6 mins read

SETI is a crunchy eurogame for one to four players. In this game, you’ll search for extraterrestrial life, uncover their traces, discover and interact with them to compete for victory…

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Read more about the article Laserox SETI Organizer Review

Laserox SETI Organizer Review

  • Post published:17 April 2025
  • Reading time:3 mins read

The number of popular big and complex board games has grown over the years. This usually means games come with many components, often stored in plastic baggies, making setup and…

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Read more about the article Underwater Cities and New Discoveries Expansion Review

Underwater Cities and New Discoveries Expansion Review

  • Post published:13 April 2025
  • Reading time:9 mins read

Underwater Cities is a worker placement and engine-building game for one to four players. In this game, you gradually build underwater domes and production buildings that generate resources, which can…

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Read more about the article Hoplomachus: Victorum and Pandora’s Ruin Expansion Review

Hoplomachus: Victorum and Pandora’s Ruin Expansion Review

  • Post published:26 March 2025
  • Reading time:16 mins read

Hoplomachus: Victorum is a solo campaign packed with epic, tactical combats, offering tons of variety and meaningful choices. In this game, you travel across a map, participate in events, and…

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Read more about the article Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan Review

Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan Review

  • Post published:8 March 2025
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan is a dice-placement game for 2–4 players where you traverse the map, build trading posts, increase your income, and fulfill contracts…

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Read more about the article Flower Fields Board Game Review

Flower Fields Board Game Review

  • Post published:20 February 2025
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Flower Fields is an abstract tile-placement game for 1 to 4 players. In this game, you take turns drafting tiles to place on your board and scoring points by earning…

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Do you have a favorite game with a gardening theme Do you have a favorite game with a gardening theme? Have you played Botanicus? In Botanicus, each player has a board that acts as their garden. You move your gardener around (by paying coins) and plant flowers. The flowers start as seeds in pots and grow as you water them. The twist is that each row of the garden has objectives, which determine the types and levels of flowers required in that row. So, you need to plan and match the objectives to score their points while also aiming for endgame scoring. Gaining seeds, planting them, watering the pots, and earning coins all happen through action selection on the main board. There are four possible actions available to players in each round, and they are taken one by one, so the options are always limited and making decisions is quick and easy. There are also three tracks that provide various benefits. You can move along these tracks using main actions on the board. Reaching the end of each track scores points, and then you go back to the start of that track. The game comes with both basic and advanced modes. In the basic mode, all player boards are the same, and the five critters in player colors only score points. In the advanced mode, player boards are asymmetric and the critters provide various benefits. This game is quick and fun. Even though it comes with two modes and the basic mode is good for teaching the game, the advanced mode is the only way to play. The boards provide variety, the critter powers add depth, and overall there are more decisions to make. The production quality is great with thick cardboard and included tuckboxes to organize everything in the box. The mechanics aren’t revolutionary, so if you don’t like the theme, there’s no reason to get this game. But if you like the theme or don’t mind it, there’s a good chance you’ll have a great time with it. It’s also available on BGA if you want to give it a try. What are your thoughts? Have you played this game? Please keep in mind that we received a review copy of this game from @asmodee_canada.
Finspan or Wingspan? Have you played the latest ad Finspan or Wingspan? Have you played the latest addition to the Wingspan lineup? Finspan shares a lot of DNA with Wingspan and feels familiar in many ways, but it also introduces new mechanics and changes things up. Overall, it’s more streamlined and straightforward than Wingspan. That said, it’s not quite simple enough to be the absolute entry point to the series. If someone can learn Finspan, they can learn Wingspan with just a bit more effort. We weren’t sure how much we’d enjoy a fish-themed game, but it turned out to be incredibly fun and plays quickly. If I had to pick only one, I’d still choose Wingspan, but Finspan is different enough to justify owning both, especially for lighter gaming sessions. The component quality is excellent, just like other games from Stonemaier Games. As for the art, the player boards are beautiful, but I’m not the biggest fan of the cards. They look a bit bland, though that’s understandable given they depict fish. The full review is now live on the website (link in bio). What are your thoughts? Have you played this one? [Please note that we received a review copy of this game @jameystegmaier]
Have you played Crafting the Cosmos? Crafting the Have you played Crafting the Cosmos? Crafting the Cosmos revolves around gathering different types of resources and using them to fill your board with nebulae and completing them to score the most points. You gather resources by moving your energy tokens or the neutral black ones around the console. You have up to three moves and then gain resources next to all tokens. That includes your own token, which gives you a bigger reward, and all other tokens, including your opponents'. The three movements are not always enough to get everything you want, depending on what your opponents do. So, you have to make tactical decisions every round. In the crafting phase of your turn, you place everything you've collected onto your board. The main goal is to surround nebula tokens with the required stars printed on them to score points. The way placements work and how you move stars around your board is fun and requires careful planning. The biggest downside of the game might be the downtime. Since there are shared objectives, ideally you want to wait for your opponent to fully finish their turn before you start yours. However, if someone is prone to analysis paralysis, you could be waiting a while. That’s why we ended up playing simultaneously as much as possible and ignored the competetion for the objectives. It's also a reason why we wouldn’t play it with more than two players. The best part of the game is its components and production quality. The resources are excellent, the dual-layer player boards are fantastic, and the insert is functional. Half of the insert goes on the table and is used in gameplay as the console, keeping the resources accessible in the middle of the table. That said, considering the size of the box, the insert could be improved to provide more space for the components. Fitting everything back in the box isn't exactly easy. Player aids could have also been a helpful addition. What are your thoughts? Have you played this game? Thank you to @officedoggames for sending us a review copy of this game.
Have you played Galactic Cruise? Do you like it? Have you played Galactic Cruise? Do you like it? This game is brilliant! I knew it would become one of my favorites as soon as I read the rules. It’s a heavy game with lots of interlocking mechanics, but the rules are easy to break down and teach action by action. Scheduling and launching cruises, along with what happens in space, are the only confusing parts at first, but those click after a couple of plays as well. The game offers tons of variety, a very satisfying sense of progression, incredibly fun gameplay, top-notch graphic design, and premium components and insert. It leaves little to be desired! The full review is now live on the website (link in bio). What are your thoughts? Have you tried this game yet? Thank you to @kinsonkeygames for sending us a review copy of the game.
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