A Stunning Tile-Laying Adventure in the Pacific Northwest Cascadia is one of the most consistently recommended games on this site and for good reason. It is accessible, beautiful, well-produced, and produces genuinely interesting decisions across every player count. It won the Spiel des Jahres in 2022 and it earns that award every time it hits … Read more
The Brilliant Abstract Strategy Game You Need to Try Hive is one of those games that looks deceptively simple until someone pins your Queen Bee and you suddenly realise you have been outmanoeuvred for the past four turns. It is a two-player abstract strategy game with no board and no luck. Just you, your opponent, … Read more
A Tile-Laying Board Game for All Ages – The Perfect Gateway Game? Kingdomino is one of those games that earns its place on the shelf by doing one thing brilliantly: getting people playing within five minutes. It is fast, approachable, and more tactical than it first appears. Designed by Bruno Cathala and published by Blue … Read more
The tile-laying classic where the landscape is different every single game Carcassonne is a tile-laying game for 2 to 5 players in 35 to 45 minutes. Each turn you draw a tile and place it to extend the medieval landscape, then optionally place a meeple on a road, city, monastery, or farm to claim it. … Read more
The most strategic game in the Azul serie, and the one that needs the most explanation before you can enjoy it What Is Azul: Queen’s Garden? Azul: Queen’s Garden is the Azul series at its most complex. If the original Azul is a satisfying afternoon puzzle, Queen’s Garden is what happens when designer Michael Kiesling … Read more
Harmonies is a game I was introduced to at UK Games Expo last year and I have been a big fan ever since. It is the kind of game that looks like a gentle puzzle and turns out to have more interesting decisions than you expected. The kind of game you finish and immediately want … Read more
The dice-placement Euro that looks approachable and quietly becomes one of the most satisfying strategy games you own Castles of Burgundy is one of those games that has quietly earned its place in the top ten of most respected board game lists for over a decade. It does not shout. It does not have dramatic … Read more
Takenoko is the game I pull out when I want something with a strong table presence that I can explain in ten minutes. It is genuinely beautiful, the panda miniature makes everyone smile, and the bamboo stacking mechanic is one of those small physical pleasures that makes people want to play again just to do … Read more
Tsuro is one of those games you can explain in thirty seconds and play for years. On your turn, you place a tile, follow the path it creates, and try not to fall off the edge of the board. That is genuinely it. And yet, at a table of six, it produces some of the … Read more
A Fresh Take on a Modern Classic Azul: Summer Pavilion is the third standalone game in the Azul series, and the one I would call the most forgiving. That is not a criticism. Sometimes forgiving is exactly what you want. The original Azul can be ruthless. Take too many tiles you cannot place and the … Read more
