We were looking forward to Frosthaven. Since the box arrived, we've been going through scenario by scenario almost every day and have already gone through 8 scenarios. In order to avoid spoilers, I will limit myself to the information that you will learn after opening the box and going through the introductory scenario. I played Dark Harbor, Jaws of the Lion, Forgotten Circles, and digital Gloom with a friend. Each controlled two characters. We play on a normal difficulty level and rarely lose scenarios. In my opinion, we are average players. STARTING CLASSES  I started playing Boneshaper and Deathwalker.  Boneshaper is tied to summoning skeletons, and in large quantities. Summoned creatures were difficult to play in Gloomy Harbor because their cards were removed from the game after use, they were uncontrollable, and they had very low HP/damage and didn't scale as they leveled up. Frosthaven fixed things up a bit: Summoned creatures now follow the host with no other purpose, and skeleton prize cards are not removed from play, so they can be used multiple times. As before, they do not increase when gaining new levels, so they are most effective at the early stage of the campaign. Boneshaper goes well with the Bannerspear character; lining up allies in a formation so that her attacks are stronger is not difficult at all. Also, she is perfectly combined with the character Deathwalker - both are able to generate darkness.  Deathwalker is tied to the use of shadows. The problem is that placing shadows on the field is not easy. But once they're placed, it's much easier, as you can generate new shadows when the enemy you're attacking dies. However, the first couple of turns of the battle you have little use for, unless you use cards that are removed from the game to get a couple of shadows. You can move shadows around the field, but by spending cards to do so, you don't move yourself. While you can attack from the shadows, it doesn't help in scenarios where you need to run away. Fortunately, I found an item (SPOILER) Magnetic Cape that allows you to teleport to an ally - it was very useful. Deathwalker looks great. When someone else plays her, your first thought is, "Wow, what a cool character." But if you try to play it personally, not much happens; you just wander around the field suffering from a lack of shadows. It looks best in scenarios where there are a bunch of low HP enemies - it makes it easy to generate lots of shadows. My friend played for Banner Spear and Drifter.  Banner Spear is a bit of a monster because she has low mobility. She has some cool formation attacks, but getting the characters right doesn't always work out, as sometimes enemies move or die before you can execute that formation.  Drifter is tied to long-term effects (persistent effects) and moving tokens back and forth. It doesn't sound like much, but in practice it can attack (and counterattack) often and very powerfully. Apparently, he has a lot of cards with long lasting effects; he would really need two or three, but most of the cards in his deck have those effects. This is probably the easiest class, and even very difficult by the standards of most players I know. In general, starting decks have few actions like "attack 3" or "move 4". All of their capabilities fit neatly into the style of play that this class is designed for. Yes, the Boneshaper can summon skeletons, move them and attack them, detonate them, heal them, poison enemies with them, and even roam, but on her own she has very little skill compared to the Dark Harbor characters. CHANGES IN THE RULES There are many small innovations in Frosthaven. In general, the gameplay remains the same, but some shortcomings have been fixed. In particular, I noticed the following: Enemies that have spawned and summoned leave behind loot. It's so much better than the original! More loot = everyone happy. Even now, there is a limit on the maximum amount that can be collected per scenario. A good limit to keep players from going crazy with greed. Summoned creatures follow the host in the absence of other targets. A trifle is nice. Personally, I'd like them to move towards the door if there's a door nearby. Usually my conscript sits in the back, so there is little point in moving creatures towards her. You can repel/attract enemies at a distance less than the maximum indicated on the map. My characters do not have such abilities, so I did not manage to test the innovation in practice, but it is nice that now you have more control over what is happening. Ranged attacks have been moved from the monster card to the monster's ability card. This is great. In Gloomhaven, a lot of monsters could hit every hex in the room with every attack, which is clearly overkill. Now even high level monsters don't always affect everyone. There are 3 combat targets to choose from at the start, which greatly reduces the risk of getting stuck with a difficult target. Hexes with tokens are considered empty, so enemies can summon creatures there. It looks logical and does not reduce the effectiveness of recruits when there are a lot of corpses around. Line of sight can be traced from any point on the hex. She is rarely of MG importance, and will now play an even smaller role; most hexes are visible to all other hexes in the room. Monsters will move through invisible characters. While we haven't gotten that ability yet, I'm glad that the tactic of blocking the passage with stealth and firing at melee monsters clustered on the other side no longer works. Advantage and difficulty have been fixed, so now drawing a card with an additional modifier when attacking with advantage is not a disadvantage. Interactions with other characters/creatures and terrain are more clearly spelled out. No more instant kill abilities. They were replaced by the status effect "death" (bane), which deals 10 damage, which will finish off most enemies, but not against high-level monsters.  It's also worth noting that Disarm, Stun, and Invisibility are now much less common, so you won't be able to disable entire rooms of enemies in a row with characters like Music Note, Mindthief, or Eclipse. NEW RULES Several new status effects have appeared: regeneration (Regenerate), fragility (Brittle), amulet (Ward) and weakening (Impair). Otherwise, there are practically no new mechanics. Loot is now more: not only coins, but also whole decks of useful herbs, materials and even random items. This maintains interest, increases variety and makes the option of going after the moon even more attractive. Admittedly, building a loot deck individually for each scenario is a bit tiresome. In addition, each individual resource must first be mixed into the deck, so you will have to do the following: Divide all loot cards into categories: coins, wood, metal, leather, herbs, random items. Shuffle the deck of coins (as well as metal, hides, and wood if you're playing with two or three). Draw as many loot cards as specified in the scenario and set aside unused cards. Shuffle all these cards into a loot deck. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but apart from that, you still need to do a bunch of other things in the layout process. COMPLEXITY OF SCENARIOS Many have complained that the scenarios in The Forgotten Circles are too difficult (I personally found two to be too difficult, the others seemed normal). And that there are too many "kill them all" scenarios in "Gloomy Harbor" (personally, that's fine with me). As far as we can tell so far, most of the scenarios in Frosthaven aren't too difficult and boil down to "kill them all". Some have a slightly different objective, say kill the boss or escape, but generally to kill the boss or escape you have to cut out all the living first. However, after the last played scenario, two more opened to us, which look more puzzling and difficult. So, I think, in general, there is a variety. I was surprised that the first few scenarios use mechanics from Forgotten Circles In my opinion, if "Forgotten Circles" seemed too much for you, you should not give up on Frosthaven, because it is less difficult. Although sometimes there will be scenarios that can freak you out and make you wonder, "How does this work?" EVENTS ON THE WAY The author promised to improve this mechanic, but the events are still random and unpredictable. I don't understand why the player is offered a choice at all; it would be better to limit yourself to a mini-story and a description of what happened to you. Events most often boil down to the following: You found a puppy by the side of the road. Option A is to pet him. Option B is to kill him. If you choose option A, the puppy will be demonic and everyone starts the game wounded. If you choose option B, you will get rid of the demon and get 5 experience. However, in the next drawn map, you may meet a real puppy, and if you choose option A, the puppy will lead you into the forest and a new scenario will open up for you, and if you choose option B, you will lose 3 morale. So it is absolutely useless to think about solutions. True, now the characters have features that affect the outcome of events, but this mechanic is very unintuitive. PLEDGE PHASE Now, after each scenario, you have a pledge phase. Winter has not yet arrived, so everything is quite quiet. It was cool to put stickers on buildings in the city, but in general, construction is still pretty boring. Let's see what happens when the city grows. Now you don't buy everything in the store: you have to craft items and brew potions. Cool mechanics, we like it. So far there has been one early attack on the city, but as a result, we have not only not lost any resources, but also gained a little extra. MONSTERS  Most of the monsters from Gloomhaven migrated to Frosthaven, almost unchanged. We met new monsters. For..

 Betrayal at House on the Hill is a semi-cooperative tile-based adventure horror game. The action takes place in a creepy estate full of ghosts and all kinds of horror clichés. In the first act of the game, 3-6 explorers discover new rooms, find items and experience spooky events. Then, at a certain unexpected moment, the main part of the game begins - Hunting. At the beginning of the Hunt, one of the explorers turns out to be a traitor, and the rest of the explorers (now heroes) must work together to defeat the traitor.  In the first stage of the game, you simply "build" a house by exploring room tiles. Each character has his own card with four parameters: speed, strength, intelligence and knowledge. The first two parameters are physical, and the last two are mental. Each character has a starting value of the parameter, as well as the maximum and minimum possible; they will rise and fall as the game progresses. Many rooms have icons that dictate drawing a card from the appropriate deck: events, items, or traits. The event cards have an artistic description and some effect - depending on the result of the dice roll, as a rule. Items are useful items or weapons; especially useful during hunting. Omens are items or companions that can also come in handy at some point, but they also play a more important role: every time you find an omen, you make a check to see if the Hunt has started. On 6 dice, you need to discard a value greater than the total number of trait cards already drawn from the deck. By the way, there are only numbers 0-2 on the faces of the dice, so after finding a few signs it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid the start of the Hunt. If this check fails, the script starts.  There are 2 books in the game: Secrets of Survival for Heroes and Traitor's Book for Traitor. There are 50 scenarios in these books. The choice of scenario depends on which trait card was drawn last and in which room it was found. Afterwards, the traitor goes to another room (literally leaves) to review his victory condition while the heroes read their script and discuss strategy. I will not be a spoiler; all I'll say is that you never know what you're going to run into. The scripts have almost all the classic horror stories plus a few completely original stories. The winner is the one who fulfills his winning condition. Betrayal at House on the Hill literally exudes an eerie atmosphere; It is only necessary to plunge into the plot. I may be biased, since Betrayal is where my fascination with advanced tabletops began ("so what, board games are a hobby?"), but many of my most enjoyable tabletop experiences have been with this game. There are crazy plots, some funny gameplay and a horror atmosphere. Sometimes the Hunt ends in general disappointment; the balance depends on the layout of the house tiles, cash items and the location of the explorers and the traitor. But when everything goes right, Betrayal leaves an unforgettable impression.  I won't lie, the game is far from perfect; For example, the wording of some scenarios raises questions, and sometimes you have to flexibly interpret the rules in certain situations, but usually the game remains a fan game. That's what Betrayal at House on the Hill is all about: pure fandom. Sometimes I'm not in the mood to play a serious thoughtful abstract, a casual card game, words, or heavy euro. Betrayal is an ideal choice in such situations when you want something simple, atmospheric and fun. I am very pleased with the variety of rooms and the different layout of the house from batch to batch. And if you add a bunch of scenarios (with the addition, their number reaches 100!), then the regrabability goes off the scale. As far as mechanics go, all the available actions are simple, and often you just walk around, read the cards and act according to the instructions on them. Betrayal's cooperativeness is a big plus for the game, because it makes it easy for beginners to learn how to play; everyone can discuss actions together and collaborate. In addition, the entire first act you are occupied only with building a house from tiles and exploring it. We even introduced a home rule that a traitor cannot become a person who sat down for the first time for the game. This eases the threshold of entry, as newcomers won't have to navigate the Traitor's Book on their own.  In 2016, the Widow's Walk app was released for the game. If you liked the base, I highly recommend it; there are tons of new scenarios, cards and rooms. Although there are many decks that leave a more stable and pleasant impression, the circumstances of my introduction to the game and the unpredictable fan that it delivers make it my most favorite pleasure...

QUARRIORS BOARD GAME REVIEW Developed by Mike Elliott and Eric Lang and published in the US by WizKids Games, Quarriors is an incredible dice rolling extravaganza. This 2011 Golden Geek nominee and 2013 Origins Award winner will make you wish you could travel back in time to experience this game for the first time all over again.  In Quarriors 2 – 4, players will arm themselves with powerful magical spells and summon legions of cube creatures to battle their opponents. Boldly cover yourself in Glory while protecting your creatures from your opponents, or choose wisely to summon increasingly powerful creatures to dominate your enemies. PREPARATION FOR THE GAME  Quarriors is a dice game based on the same engine as Dominion, released in 2008. The central tableau, consisting of 3 base cards, 7 creature cards, and 3 spell cards, is located in the center of the game area known as The Wilds. 7 creature cards and 3 spell cards are drawn (and replaced if necessary) at random until each stack is unique. Place the corresponding dice on each card within each player's reach.  Finally, all players are given 8 mana dice and 4 helper dice (low power creatures) and the game can begin. GAME PROCESS During his turn, the player takes a certain number of dice from his bag and throws them. The dice, which feature the mystical teardrop symbol for mana, can be used to energize existing creatures or to attract more powerful creatures and spells from the Wildlands.  The faces of the die that do not drop mana will usually be either creatures that can be summoned to battle or special abilities (spell dice). Players who choose to send their creatures into battle must have enough mana available to pay the creature level cost located in the upper left corner of the die. Most dice in the game will have at least one mana face and several other faces, all of which appear at the bottom of the power card for that die.  After the mana cost of any creatures is paid, the player will send their creatures into battle. The attacking player adds up the cost of all their attacking creatures (located in the upper right corner of each creature cube). Then, clockwise, each player offers a defender who may or may not beat the overall offense presented. If a creature is defeated (attacker or defender), it goes into that player's discard pile. In the example below, the bottom player (with an attack value of 4) attacks the top player.  Attacks continue until all of the attacking player's creatures are defeated or until any remaining creatures have gone around the entire table. These creatures will now act as that player's defenders while the other players change their actions. Any creatures still in front of the player at the start of the next turn will receive Glory points equal to the number shown in the upper right corner of that creature's power card.  After the attacks are completed, players can use any remaining dice to capture new creatures from the Wildlands. Players pay the mana cost in the upper left corner of the power card they wish to purchase. Players then place all dice rolled into the discard pile, along with any captured creatures, and the active status passes to the next player. The game will continue like this until one player reaches the glory goal according to the number of players. WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE GAME Of course, first of all, you should remember the cubes. They are great. Not full-size, but a little smaller. They come in all colors and styles. Some have solid colors, some have frosted crystal, some are sprinkled with glitter, they're just really cool. The design of the game is really nice, with only a small amount of animation to avoid being too serious. The gameplay is easy to explain and only takes a few minutes to play. WHAT I DON'T LIKE ABOUT THE GAME Although the dice are cool, the printing on some of the dice is blurry. This is a small problem, but it can make them difficult to read. The game is fun, but maybe doesn't lend itself to many, many replays (if that's what you're looking for). IMPRESSION At its core, Quarriors is a simple game; you roll dice, attack other players (if you want) and capture new creatures (if you want). The base game includes 130 dice and 53 creature and spell cards, giving Quarriors a lot of variety. Each set of dice is represented by several power cards, and each power card has different options. This means that from game to game, each set of dice can perform completely different actions depending on the preparation. Quarriors doesn't offer much strategy, but smart purchases early in the game can make a big difference late in the game...

REVIEW In the game, you are the citizens of Squalls End saving the Cat Islands and must save as many cats as possible before the evil Lord Vash arrives. Each cat comes in a unique shape and belongs to a family, you have to find a way to fit them all on your boat while keeping the families together. GAME PROCESS  Isle of Cats: Explore & Draw consists of 7 rounds where you try to save as many cats as possible, learn lessons and collect treasures. At the beginning of the game, a 3x4 grid is formed from cards from the cat deck and cards from the lesson deck according to a predetermined pattern. Once the grid is prepared, all players can make moves at the same time and must choose one of the four columns of cards. Players can reveal their chosen cards in any order. There are two different types of cards in the game: The openings on your boat are drawn as polymino shapes. Cats are always drawn in the specified color and you try to form large groups of cats (families) because they score a lot of points at the end of the game. Oshaks are wild cats and you can choose the color. Finally, there are treasures, they help you fill your boat. Rare treasures are also worth points at the end of the game. Discoveries are always drawn next to each other, and the first discovery you draw can be anywhere. Lesson cards show different scoring conditions. If you choose a lesson card, you can check that specific lesson on your lesson sheet to activate this scoring condition at the end of the game. Each player has a slightly different boat layout with treasure cards and rats. Treasure cards allow you to get treasures if they are covered by a cat of the correct color, and rats score negative points at the end of the game if they are still not covered. You can also activate special abilities as listed on the boat sheet, but only once per round and only 3 in the entire game. After round 7, you tally up your points and the player with the most points is declared the winner! IMPRESSION Originally released in 2019, Cat Island was a huge success on Kickstarter (8,168 backers contributed £467,847), while the new campaign also provided more expansions for fans. With everyone staying at home more the past few years, Frank West, the designer, decided that a remote edition of Isle of Cats would be a good way to let players enjoy Isle of Cats. Since players also really liked this Print-and-Play Flip-and-Write variant of Isle of Cats, City of Games decided to release it in 2022. So let me start by saying that I absolutely love Cat Island. I've played it quite a bit since its release, and I've introduced a lot of people to it because of its approachable theme and simplistic rules. I also love Roll-and-Write games, so I was eager to try this new option. Explore & Draw does a really good job of keeping the feel of the original. Filling a boat and taking classes is a satisfying combination of mechanics. Instead of drafting cards with opponents, it has an interesting card selection mechanism that offers players equally challenging decisions. It does all this in a much smaller package, and setup time is also greatly reduced. Since most of the placement rules are similar to its big brother, you can also start playing even faster if you are already familiar with them. The addition of special abilities (which have limited availability each round and game) adds another layer of decision-making to the game to make it a little more interesting. The graphics are mostly reused from the original game, and that's a good thing, as they look great and vibrant. The quality of the cards, erasable fields and included markers is also fantastic. Once again, City of Games has released a perfect game. The question is, do I need both games in my collection? Both will remain in my collection for now as they serve different purposes. Explore & Draw as an extra game or after a long day at work. While the Original Game is more of a Main Event game, it has a lot more to offer, especially if you add expansions. PROS OF THE GAME It conveys the feeling of the original game in a much smaller form There are many strategies to try The order in which the cards come out makes the game different every time you play Beautiful production with high quality components CONS OF THE GAME Still need some desk space (for card grid) No interaction with players ..

REVIEW Life in the forest is a lot of fun, at least while the sun is shining and the leaves are on the trees. However, these days do not last forever, and long before the weather begins to change, the wise animals begin to harvest for the long, cold winter. You will be spending many months huddled in your hole, and you want to make it as cozy as possible. A nice bowl of soup, a comfortable rocking chair, toys and games will help the dark winter days pass quickly. In Creature Comforts, you spend the spring, summer, and fall gathering various goods from the forest and spending them on items that will make your home more inviting while the world outside is covered in a layer of snow. Each round you send family members to different locations to get supplies. If they fall short of their goal, they will learn a lesson and be better prepared next time. The family that created the most comfortable den wins. GAME PROCESS A game of Creature Comforts lasts for 8 rounds (or months) and you go through 3 seasons: Spring, Summer and Fall. At the beginning of the round, a new Traveler opens. You can visit the Traveler by placing one of your workers there to perform a powerful action only available this round. After that, all players roll their dice from two families (of their player's color) and they can send their workers to different locations on the main board. When everyone has finished, the current starting player rolls a family die (4 white dice). Now the players take turns distributing all the dice (4 white dice + 2 family dice) to their workers. Some jobs require certain values or sequences to activate. If they have fully met the requirements for the cube, they can take a work action and return it to their personal tablet. Workers that cannot be activated give you a Lesson Learned token that can be used on your next turn to increase or decrease the value of the die. Worker actions include upgrading buildings, gathering/converting resources, visiting a traveler, and gaining new comfort cards. At the end of their turn, players can craft comfort goods from their comfort cards by paying the required resources. When all players have finished, the next round begins. If it was the last player of the fall month, go to the final score. IMPRESSION  Creature Comforts is one of those games that immediately catches your eye with its beautiful design. As soon as I saw it, I immediately wondered if the gameplay and mechanics were as interesting as the look of the game. Because of this, I ignored Creature Comforts for a while because I thought it lacked depth. After trying it out at a local meet my opinion changed, let me tell you why. The point of Creature Comforts is really quite simple. You place workers in different locations, collect resources and create comfort cards to earn points. However, what makes Create Comforts unique is how you activate these workers. You need to have the necessary dice to activate and this will push your luck a bit. Do you choose a place that gives more resources but with stricter requirements, or do you play it safe? Since you've only rolled your family dice (2 out of 6) when assigning workers, you'll never be 100% sure you'll be able to activate everything you want. Fortunately, if you fail to activate a worker, you are compensated in the form of a lesson learned token. Activating workers, changing the traveler each round (and triggering some special rules for that round), and changing worker locations in the forest and valley add a lot of weight to decision making. It gives the game more depth than I originally expected. Apart from the unique activation of the worker, there is not much innovation in the game. Actions can also feel pretty repetitive, as they usually involve one of three things: getting resources, converting resources, or getting cards. With two players, we sometimes had a hard time finding the right cards in the deck. Although there are duplicates in the deck, sometimes this allowed us to miss a better opportunity to get points. I also found the scoring mechanics on comfort maps to be pretty boring (matching cards or placing resources on them) and I think with a bit of effort it could have added more strategy to the game. There has already been a lot of discussion about the length of the Creature Comforts game. If playing with experienced gamers I don't think it's a problem, if you're playing with kids they might lose focus until it's their turn. While I'm probably not part of the primary target audience for Create Comforts, I still enjoyed my batches. I think the game will stay in my collection for quiet night play or use as a starter game to introduce new players of all backgrounds to the hobby. PROS OF THE GAME Looks great on the table The theme and design make it an accessible family game An interesting worker activation that adds a push your luck element It has more depth than you might think CONS OF THE GAME Actions may be repeated Cooldown cards could have more interesting scoring options In a two-player game, you sometimes don't get the right cards If you play with adults, the length of the game is normal, children may lose concentration due to the long playing time (there is a shorter version) ..

 The space business is finally booming. The stars contain countless different races, all of which have one thing in common: everyone needs something. And it doesn't matter if it's bananas, snow, a pile of slime or electronics. This is the time to buy a spaceship with a large enough cargo space and set off. And you can count on it - you will have your own ship, as well as the desire for profit. All this awaits us in the board game Merchant of Venus , created in 1988 by Richard Hamblen and full of stars and adventures. But in 2012, a completely new version was created, adapted for modern players by Robert A. Kouba. As if the contents of the box weren't enough, the publishing company Fantasy Flight Games decided to combine both games (old and new) into one box and let players choose which one to play! All this with illustrations by Henning Ludwigsen. On the cover of this large and heavy box, we see a strange alien entity simply selecting something from some cosmic catalog. We actually find ourselves a little bit in his skin (well, is it skin after all?) because once you open the box, there are too many different impressions. The main and most important is clearly the field. This time it is double-sided precisely so that you can play both the original and the new version. The map in any case shows us a part of the galaxy with various planetary systems. They are all connected in different ways by lines of space routes and have many symbols used to quantify space travel.  The game also includes a set of boxes for each player (made of hard paper). It has two indicators (laser and shields), as well as a place to lay out dice and various improvements. You'll probably be looking for miniature boats (and you'll find them with plastic stands) and then cards. They'll introduce us to the pilots as well as the actual races (first contact cards), but missions, encounters, and rewards are also part of this two-size pack. You should also not miss the flow of tokens, which are not only classic credits (currency), but also fame, passengers, spaceports, pirates or production (many of them related to racing). There is really a lot to look at and there is no point in listing. But it is clear that five dice are also part of it - four white speed dice and one purple effect. Each player can choose a ship. They get a board and matching colored tokens for missions and space bases. Each will also receive an initial destiny, a secret mission, and especially choose a pilot to control their ship through various systems. In each such unexplored planetary system, players randomly place one first encounter card, and all race tokens are placed along the left side of the game board in rows according to individual race numbers. All other cards and tokens create a reserve on the table and the game can begin. Each player's turn consists of up to four possible phases. First and foremost for every trader in the universe is movement. First, he must determine in which direction the ship will move in a vacuum, but without knowing in advance the speed of his ship. Only then can he roll three dice, and their sum determines the distance the player can travel in the current turn with his ship. The numbers in the cubes can also be used for navigation, which is similar to a crossroad on Earth. To make multiple moves, players need the corresponding value.  Whenever a ship arrives in a system's orbit, the player can research its race by revealing (if not already discovered) the first contact card. Based on this, it takes the appropriate tokens from the reserve and places them in this system. He can then do business with the locals based on the active market. Everything is determined by a tile that constantly switches in sequence and thus determines which goods are in excess and which are in short supply. At this point, the player can also purchase improvements that will allow him, for example, to speed up the movement of sectors (for this, colored icons on the routes are used), make his ship invisible or equip it with lasers. All this can be done only after landing. Well, only until someone builds a space station of their own color. Once docked there, players can trade in the same way, but the owner of the orbital city gets a certain percentage. Later in the game this is unavoidable as the station is positioned for docking maneuvers and is a good investment, so they will mushroom in space after a summer rain. The player must place the purchased goods in their cargo bay, which can also be expanded for a fee. Individual materials have different space requirements. It also allows players to pick up a hitchhiker as the hitchhiker will receive a generous reward at the end of their journey.  During their pilgrimages, space travelers may occasionally come across some sort of space gate or intersection mentioned, as well as hazards that force them to test their shields or pilot capabilities. There are even pirates who can rob it. For winning battles (a skill check with playing dice) comes an additional reward. When a player completes their task or builds a new spaceport, their turn ends and another space explorer can take up their task. This is a simplified perspective of everything that basically awaits players on the entire space map. After the end of the thirtieth round, the game ends. Players can now accumulate victory points for glory, which are awarded for upgrading ships, completing missions, as well as for combat and fast delivery of passengers. A small bonus even comes from cash balances. The winner is the one with the most points in their star journeys. And now it gets interesting. Merchants of Venus is a game that builds on the first experience very well. But you should not mind if you meet failure on your way. It is an integral part of this experience. As well as the fact that you can't really plan during your first turns because the races are hidden and can only be discovered by visiting this system.  But it is this feeling of new, unexplored worlds in each game that makes you want to enjoy this game again and again. And despite the fact that the game itself is quite long, the waits between moves are not the shortest either. The standard game is still easily playable for several hours (and we're not talking two), but it can occasionally be completed in two hours with fewer players. The original game (hereafter the classic game) is significantly simpler, although again it has some additional features (such as ship levels). The rules are understandably improved and slightly changed so as not to confuse modern players with the style of the 80s. But in general, the classic game is faster in all directions, which is a little surprising. But that might be because it lacks a lot of things that are new in the 2012 version (glory mission, drilling). This makes the standard game overloaded with a lot of small rules. Each version plays quite differently, and they both remain compelling in their own ways. The original is surprisingly less random (for example, instead of dice you pay credits for overcoming hazards) and therefore more tactical. But it lacks many interesting details that make the new version an epic experience. These new details also result in monitoring secondary rules and token processing. The ambivalence of the entire box is quite palpable, and each player may enjoy a different version of the game. You just need to find the right group that will be happy on the same side of the board with you.  Merchant of Venus offers several ways to earn victory points. You can do a bit of each or focus on a few options. In both cases, you have a full chance to grab the victory at the end. But in general, your success requires luck. Just one event where you're unprepared or poorly approached and all your efforts can be derailed. A big surprise for us was that even such a big game can be played with two players without any problems. Although you should anticipate that the plan is more empty, but the actual discovery and the free map is instead a reward for all those who like to explore. We really enjoyed the game even as it was, and the whole experience is even more dynamic when you don't have to wait for other opponents' turns. But more players, in turn, push life in the galaxy in a different direction and have their own charm. The gameplay is extraordinary. The game looks absolutely stunning and will probably impress most fans of the universe with the map itself. But even a bunch of alien cards (we remember you, Cosmic Encounter) makes for great things to look at, and it all looks really epic from start to finish, while still keeping the entire game functional.  Merchant of Venus is a game that is making a huge comeback. The best solution was to keep both versions while re-releasing the updated box. So, players can decide for themselves which version suits them better according to their rules and style - a well-thought-out one with a greater level of control or a more difficult one with a greater share of luck? Try it yourself and decide, because this space adventure - to become a Venus Merchant - is definitely worth it!..

 The roll-and-write genre has seen a real revival in recent years, though it has largely failed to capture my attention. Something about the bland rows of empty squares and the lack of setting, let alone an integrated theme, gives the genre more mystery than personality. When I first heard about an upcoming pinball game called Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade from designer Jeff Engelstein, I was convinced. How can pinball be transferred to pen and paper? I had no idea, but I knew I needed to find out.  WizKids kindly released a free to print and play game from Super-Skill just as the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, leading to my first foray into the wide world of pnp. I printed the Carniball field on my black and white printer, decorated it with colored pencils and took the dice. At the start of my first game, I was impressed with how the system managed to create a sense of fluidity and movement reminiscent of real pinball. I was curious to see what the rest of the game had to offer and was looking forward to the full release.  The basic system of Super-Skill is that players roll a pair of dice and move their pinball to new areas on the table depending on the outcome they choose. Each time the ball moves, new objectives and features become available as others close, providing an ever-changing landscape of micro-decisions. Not knowing what might happen next, there is a sense of excitement as the ball soars off the flipper and up through the spins. The game balances this uncertainty with enough control over the ball's path to keep your brain thinking tactically and strategically. Once the rules are mastered, the game even manages to capture a sense of reflexivity as players intuitively react to the frantic movements of the ball around the pin.  Rulesets for each of the four included tablets provide a unique and themed experience. Here's a quick overview of what each pin has to offer: 1. At the unusual Carniball table, players juggle between multiple multiball opportunities, trying to keep both balls in the air to double their points. It is as light and hearty as a lilac cake with a healthy icing sugar filling.  2. The Cyberhack Risk Field sees players as hackers trying to gain access to a corporation's data before being tracked. This is combined through the Push Your Luck mini-game on the back glass of the table, where Super-Skill provides the most adrenaline-charged moments.  3. Accurate Field Dragonslayer sees players as wizards trying to cast spells, level up, and take possession of a dragon's riches. The RPG elements are beautifully executed and give players more freedom and variety between games than any other table, making it one of my favorites.  4. Synchronized Dance Fever features a pinball mini-game, which essentially means two interconnected pinball games are playing at the same time. While I appreciate the themed way of requiring players to be in sync between two tables, I wasn't able to achieve my goal with this. I felt very little freedom playing this table, and scoring came in bits and pieces without the dramatic swings offered by the other three tables. Unfortunately, the only prescription for this fever is less disco.  Like its mechanical progenitors, the Super-Skill's kinetic energy is best experienced in short bursts. This leads to my main criticism of the game, namely its length. Average games lasted a little over an hour for me. While I don't claim to be a particularly fast gamer, some excitement turns to weariness as you approach the 60-minute mark, especially as you go past it. Toward the end of some games, I felt more relieved than disappointed when I realized the ball was going to be lost. Instead of running it backwards, I'm always happy to put the game together after each playthrough. While two-round pinball would be less themed, I think this would likely be my sweet spot in terms of game length.  Despite a few flaws, the overall package is a well-calibrated machine that I plan to continue feeding my precious quarters with, especially if more tables are introduced in the future. Just as Roger Sharpe proved to the New York City Council that pinball is a game of skill and not a slot machine, so Jeff Engelstein opened my eyes to the breadth and depth of this classic arcade game. From the subtleties of pushing the table to the sequence and timing of players hitting various objects, there is more to pinball than meets the eye. Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade is a neon glow on the dark city streets of the roll-and-write genre. It brings a thematic grounding rarely achieved in space, capturing many of the frustrations and delights that make pinball special. If you need to let off some steam, take a stroll down to the local arcade. Throw in a quarter and forget about the world for a while. After all, pinball is the only socially acceptable way to turn a table...

 In Ali Baba, you try to collect sets of treasures that give you points. There are 10 different types of treasures, 6 of each, and they stack up in a pyramid like mahjong tiles. Only those that are not covered by other tiles will be opened. The pyramid consists of only 54 tiles, 6 are returned (closed) back to the box. On your turn, you take a tile, use its special abilities, and unlock tiles as you unlock them.  If you have 1 ring at the end of the game, it will give you one point, but if you have 6, it will give you 21 points. There are 6 colors for each treasure, each color has a special ability. For example, if you take a pink tile, you get 5 points, take a green tile and get another adjacent tile on your turn, take a yellow tile and get a tile from your opponent, a white tile allows you to protect a certain object or color on the field until you again your turn, while blue tiles give you points for each tile you've opened by taking a tile, and brown tiles give you points for each type of treasure you already own. So when you take a brown lamp and now have 3 lamps, you get 6 points (that's 2 for each treasure of the type you own).  It's a family game and at first I thought it wouldn't interest me, I thought I was just lucky. And while it's of course also very important to take tiles of the right color at the right time, sometimes you have to take a tile that won't give you many points, but will make your opponent lose a lot. There are 2 options for advanced players that I haven't played yet, but I suggest playing one of them instead of the regular game. In a normal game, 6 tiles are returned to the box, so if you're unlucky, you're trying to complete a set, some of which have been returned to the box. To avoid this, you can completely remove 1 treasure type and everyone will know that the game will have 6 of each of the 9 treasures, making the game more tactical. Another option is to place the 6 tiles that will go into the box next to the pyramid, make sure there are no lamps there by sorting them first. Now every time you pick up a lamp, you can either use a color ability or use a lamps ability. The ability of the lamp allows you to take a tile from the 6 that were placed in a row at the beginning of the game. Both options add some welcome depth to the game, it's still an entry-level family game, but the luck is minimized, making it much more enjoyable for experienced gamers. Did the game work? If you ask Katrien's parents, that's for sure, they immediately asked for a replay. For me it's a game I can enjoy every now and then, it's more than you might think, our second game was already more brutal than the first and I can see it getting more tactical with each session...

 In Keep The Heroes Out, like many other co-op games, you have to put out the fires all over the field until they spread and your brave heroes come to an end. However, in this case, you are the arsonist (if you are playing a certain monster), and the heroes are your enemies who are trying to clear your treasury. Keep The Heroes Out is a deckbuilder in which you play mainly with a starting deck of 10 cards; adding more than 1-2 new cards to the deck is a rarity. And only representatives of the lower races need it; with real monsters (like a dragon) the deck works great from the start. GAME PROCESS Your monsters roam the dungeon, attack heroes, set traps, create items in certain rooms, and move those items to other rooms to exchange them for new cards and improve your deck.  After each turn of the monster clan (the faction controlled by the player), 2, 4 or 6 heroes are dropped into the dungeon rooms, depending on the difficulty level. They activate their abilities, move to rooms with chests and rummage through them. If the heroes surround your main treasury, then you lose. Basically, heroes are wandering snacks that you need to eat (eliminate) between rounds. If they are allowed to accumulate, the situation will get out of control. The more heroes, the more dangerous they are, as freshly fired heroes activate already exhausted (like) heroes, and a snowball occurs. Each room of the dungeon has a small treasure chest that the heroes can get lost in (unless you breathe fire on them) if there are enough of them. When they are dissected, negative events are activated, the effects of which vary from "it doesn't matter" to "if you don't have a dragon, you've lost." Players must optimally manage their actions. Which is better: move and attack the hero? Summon new monsters? Spend 4-5 action cards and add a new card to the deck, but lose the game (because you're not playing a dragon)? You will have to make difficult decisions (including when choosing monster clans). Each turn you can risk and take 3 additional cards into your hand (a standard hand consists of 5 cards). If you are lucky, there are no consequences. If you're unlucky, you'll either get hurt a little (if things go well) or lose the game (if things don't go well). PROS OF THE GAME — Every turn you have to solve a new puzzle, and it's great. You usually draw 8 cards per turn + some effects allow you to draw additional cards. The moves are interesting, there is room for combinations and the feeling that you are a cool death machine (if you play as a dragon).  - The components are great. Meeples are not at all inferior to miniatures with their overproduction, only they are made of wood. They are big, strong and terribly cute. I like to touch them and look at them. Simply luxurious quality. — There are 10 types (clans) of monsters in the game, each with its own style of play, which is significantly different. There is a great variety of strategies, and it is interesting to find synergies between clans. - The game has 20 scenarios (plus alternate game modes), each with its own unique puzzle. This provides a lot of variety despite the non-random layout. CONS OF THE GAME - The game has good monsters (dragon) and bad monsters (most other clans). Weak and strong monsters can be taken in different combinations, and basically all of them can be played in all scenarios, but there are monsters that are always good and monsters that are always weak. Dragon is always the strongest monster with no options. Witches and slugs are always good too. Other monsters require more thoughtful planning and the arrival of certain cards. However, since the game is cooperative, perhaps the imbalance will not seem such a terrible disadvantage to you. - He rages at random times. The effects of opening treasure chests range from "nothing happens" to "you lose due to a chain reaction". Also, when you put heroes in prison, the result varies from "you got rid of one hero and got cards, yay" to "you're probably going to lose now." — The snowball effect works both against you and for you. If you're successful, you can afford to spend actions on deck upgrades and trap spam. Traps eliminate newly arrived heroes and free up your actions to spend on improving your deck... and so on. If things are not going well, then the heroes accumulate, activate each other and loot chests. When you rush ahead, sometimes you don't even have anything to do - there are extra cards in your hand. - Moves are long. You have 5 cards, you almost always draw another 3. A total of 8 cards with 8 to 24 actions. For example, a dragon with a single potion will regularly draw 10+ cards, just like a monster queen. You will also spend a lot of time discussing plans. Downtime is great; This is the cost of moves with many combinations. Ambiguous — You will have to constantly count how many and which cards are left in the guild deck. The deck contains 4 cards for each of the hero classes—one room for each species—plus special cards unique to the scenario. At first there is complete randomness, but what follows is easier to guess what awaits you next. This information plays a key role; for example, "now you can safely throw heroes in prison, there are no mages left in the deck" or "these rooms no longer need to be defended: there are enough traps to kill the remaining heroes in the deck who sleep in these rooms." — The gameplay is somewhat monotonous. After a few rounds, you'll find yourself doing the same thing all the time, only slightly changing your strategy depending on the current scenario. Apparently, the potential of the game was not fully realized, but in general the gameplay is quite good. — The rules are not quite clearly laid out, which is clearly evident when you try to find an answer in the rule book, how to act in an ambiguous situation. Fortunately, the game is quite simple and such situations rarely arise. CONCLUSIONS  Keep The Heroes Out is a fan game, period. Is it worth trying it out? In my opinion, yes. After all, you will be able to play as a dragon and... why play as someone else but a dragon? The game is clearly not polished. Situations when you have nothing else to do and situations where you don't have enough actions to buy even one additional card are equally unpleasant. The only function of dungeon tiles is to generate you resources and exchange those resources for cards, which isn't very thematic. Some monster clans are very difficult to play effectively. In general, the game was a little underdeveloped, which is a pity; the result could be an even cooler cooperative. Either way, Keep The Heroes Out has enough content, combos, difficulty levels, etc. to make the game worth the money. She is a fan - and it is worth trying. I'll give her an 8.5/10...

TRAILS OF TUCANA BOARD GAME REVIEW  In Trails of Tucana, each player is given a map sheet that shows villages, landmarks, and different types of terrain. The goal is to connect as many villages and sights as possible. To begin, you take a cooking card. This map shows where the villages are located on the map. The first player draws a red letter in village 1 and then draws clockwise. So that each player has a different map configuration, each subsequent player draws the first letter one village further. Each turn you always take 2 cards from the pile. These cards show the types of terrain. Now all players can simultaneously draw a route from one type of terrain to another. Routes can be drawn anywhere and they do not have to be adjacent. If you associate a landmark with a village, you can circle it on the right side of the sheet. If you cross the 2nd landmark, you can immediately draw a route of your choice. The first round ends when only 1 card remains in the deck. At the end of each round, the landmark symbols are added up. You get points for the corresponding round. Thus, for each point of interest circled in 1 round, you get more points. At the end of the 2nd round, you add up again all points of landmarks and points of connected villages. If you are the first to connect two villages with the same letters, you will also receive bonus points. The one with the most points at the end wins! There are 2 options: Isla Petit and Isla Grande. The only difference is that Isla Grande is bigger and is played in 3 rounds. There are also 3 landmarks of each type instead of 2. Isla Grande takes a bit longer to play. IMPRESSION Trails of Tucana is a short but very interesting game. You can start playing very quickly because the rules are clear and simple. The theme is very fun and so is the feel of the game. If you like to build networks, this is definitely an interesting addition to the collection. Don't expect this to be a huge game with tons of options, but it's fun and compact to take on vacation. A perfect addition to your roll/flip&write collection that adds a bit more depth than the likes of Qwixx. We think it's a very fun and entertaining game, but you definitely shouldn't expect miracles. Trails of Tucana is a good game, but it won't blow your mind. Various maps and variants have been added to increase the replayability of the game, but it always remains the same in its fundamentals. You always connect 2 villages and sights. The game doesn't really offer any other strategies that you can follow. If you like variety in games, this might be disappointing. Trails of Tucana is partly based on luck. The cards you draw are random, but you can keep track of how many cards of a certain terrain type have been drawn. This allows you to tactically connect certain terrain and take into account what types of terrain are still ahead. We usually don't, as we often just play a simple game. But if you want to win, this is definitely the way to beat your opponent! There is a fine balance between luck and insight. You have to think carefully about where you place routes, but it's not a very competitive game, so it's fun for all types of parties. When we first played Trails of Tucana, we had to get used to the game. Having played it several times, we can say that we find it a very good roll&write. It's not our favorite game right away, but it still makes it to the table regularly. We personally contacted Ticket to Ride. Both games keep you busy with networks and routes. Farfetched of course, but who knows, you might enjoy Trails of Tucana if you're a big fan of Ticket to Ride! If you're looking for a simpler flip and draw feature and love to build networks, this game is definitely for you. GAME FOR TWO  Trails of Tucana, like many other roll&writes, is fun with 2 players. There is almost no interaction in this game, but because it is so simple, you can communicate with each other a lot. We haven't played it with multiple players yet, but you can imagine it's pretty fun too. In this respect, Trails of Tucana is a bit like Welcome To. Even if you play with more players, the game won't last long...