Lets Play Games

This has been one of those months where the games shelf has barely been touched. We’re mid house purchase, which means the spare room is full of boxes that aren’t games boxes, our evenings are eaten up by solicitor emails, and “shall we get a game out” has been replaced by “shall we just collapse … Read more

Cascadia. The game that teaches in five minutes and plays in 45 has beaten 200 games to be crowned the greatest board game in the world by community vote. Cascadia has won the World Cup of Board Games 2026. The tile-laying wildlife habitat game from 2021 that came in as seed 25, that nobody predicted … Read more

THE FINAL IS HERE! Cascadia vs Root. One game will be crowned the World Cup of Board Games 2026 champion. Voting is on the blog. When we started this tournament, Brass: Birmingham was the number one ranked game on BGG and the top seed. Ark Nova was number two. Terraforming Mars had been in the … Read more

Four games left. None of them are the ones most people would have predicted at the start of this tournament. Wingspan is out. Terraforming Mars is out. Root and Pandemic have played their quarter final and Root came through. What we are left with is 7 Wonders, Cascadia, Lords of Waterdeep, and Root. I would … Read more

This is the last quarter final and it might be the most interesting one to think about. Root beat Ark Nova 62-37 in the last round. That result told us something. Ark Nova is BGG number two. It is a better-designed game by most objective measures. Root won because it has personality, stories, and a … Read more

Of the four quarter finals, this is the one that feels most like a genuine 50-50 on paper. Forest Shuffle is a newer game with a strong recent following. Lords of Waterdeep has been one of the best gateway worker placement games for over a decade. Neither has the name recognition of Wingspan or Terraforming … Read more

This is the quarter final that looks straightforward on paper and probably isn’t. Terraforming Mars is the heavier, longer, more complex game. It has been on the BGG top ten for years and has a devoted following among people who like their games to take two hours and fill a table with cards. Cascadia is … Read more

Of all the quarter final matchups we could have ended up with, this is the one that makes the most sense and the least sense at the same time. Wingspan and 7 Wonders are both card-based games. Both play in under 90 minutes. Both are accessible enough to get onto the table with people who … Read more

Azul is out, beaten by 7 Wonders in the closest match of the round. Ark Nova is out, beaten by Root. Wingspan beat Fate of the Fellowship 88-13 and faces 7 Wonders in the quarter finals. The four quarter final matchups are: Wingspan vs 7 Wonders, Terraforming Mars vs Cascadia, Forest Shuffle vs Lords of … Read more

TL;DR Brass: Birmingham, the BGG number one ranked game, lost to The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship 89-11. Ark Nova is now the highest-ranked BGG game still in the tournament. Every game received at least some votes this round. Azul and 7 Wonders meet in the World Cup of Board Games 2026 … Read more

The Round of 64 is done. We have 32 survivors. War of the Ring is out, beaten by Jaipur. Sky Team lost 100-0. Heat: Pedal to the Metal was knocked out by 7 Wonders. Brass: Birmingham, Ark Nova, Terraforming Mars and Pangemia are all still in. The Round of 32 draw is at the bottom … Read more

The short version: The group stage is done. 64 games have qualified for the World Cup of Board Games Round of 64. They’ve been seeded 1 to 64 by BGG rank and drawn into a four-quarter knockout bracket. Brass: Birmingham is the top seed. Earth scraped through as the lowest-ranked qualifier at BGG #198. Final … Read more

TL;DR While the football World Cup kicks off in North America, we’re running our own tournament. The World Cup of Board Games include 200 of BGG’s top-ranked games have been drawn into 20 groups of 10. Pick up to 3 favourites from each group. The 3 highest vote-getters in each group go through to the … Read more

I picked up D.O.T at UK Games Expo bundled with Fetching Feathers. I will be honest: it was an afterthought. I preorderd Fetching feathers nad the bundle was an option. I knew nothing about it but Chris Priscott games are usually fab so i too a chance. I was there for the birds. D.O.T was … Read more

Where the Story Comes First The Short Version – Tl;Dr Betrayal at House on the Hill is one of the oldest games on most hobbyists’ shelves, first published in 2004, and it is still the one I reach for when I want a game night that feels like a horror film rather than a puzzle. … Read more

TL;DR — If someone you know is curious about board games, these are the seven I’d put in front of them first. Each one is easy to explain, hard to hate, and good enough that experienced gamers won’t be bored either. Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Azul, Just One, Sushi Go!, Pandemic, and Catan. Any of … Read more

Wine, Workers and the Good Life The Short Version Viticulture is a worker placement game about running a winery in Tuscany. You plant vines, harvest grapes, age wine, and fill orders, all while competing with up to five other players for the same spaces on the board. It is probably the friendliest worker placement game … Read more

I picked up Fetching Feathers at UK Games Expo, played it in the open gaming hall the same day, Several games later, here we are. The short version: In My opinion Fetching Feathers is the best thing Chris Priscott has designed. Given that I already love Zuuli and Molehill Meadows, that is saying something. What … Read more

UK Games Expo 2026 has been and gone, and I’m still processing it. Four days, more games than my shelf technically has room for, blisters, a Viking village, and one slightly emotional moment when I realised the accommodation was already booked for next year before we’d even left the NEC. Let’s do this properly. Thursday: … Read more

UK Games Expo is tomorrow. I’m writing this from Sheffield, bags almost packed, Car full of fuel, and a spreadsheet open with more stands on it than I could realistically visit in a week. This afternoon I’m heading down to Birmingham. Tomorrow morning, the NEC doors open. Lets Go!!!! This is the final part of … Read more

The Short Version – TL;DR Fate of the Fellowship is a cooperative game for one to five players where you’re guiding the Fellowship across Middle-earth, keeping Frodo safe from the Nazgul, pushing back Sauron’s shadow armies, and working towards destroying the One Ring. It’s built on the Pandemic System but feels considerably more complex and … Read more