Here is a game that does almost everything right. It has a gorgeous table presence with vibrant Japanese artwork. It has a deeply satisfying central mechanism that is unlike anything else in the hobby. It has tremendous replayability through a modular board. It is designed by one of Japan’s most talented designers. It sits at #156 on BGG, rated 7.79 by nearly 14,000 people, with a strategy game rank of #116. ...
Everyone knows the “dudes on a map” genre. You plonk miniatures on territories, build armies, and smash your neighbours until someone controls enough stuff to win. Blood Rage does it. Kemet does it. Risk has been doing it since your grandparents were young. Inis does something different. It puts warriors on a map, gives you every tool to fight - and then makes winning through combat almost impossible. This is the area control game that rewards the diplomat, the reader of the room, the player who knows when not to act. And it’s been quietly sitting at a 7.8 rating on BGG with 23,000 ratings while its louder cousins steal all the attention. ...
Last week, Lairs was sitting comfortably on the throne at #1. This week? It’s plummeted to #41. That’s not a fall from grace - that’s falling off a cliff, bouncing off several ledges, and landing in a ravine. In its place, Terraria: The Board Game has dug, fought, and crafted its way to the top of the Hotness - fuelled by a wave of fresh reviews including No Pun Included’s delightfully titled “We Could Not Finish Terraria: The Board Game.” ...
Wingspan did something extraordinary. It sold over a million copies, won the Kennerspiel des Jahres, and convinced people who’d never touched a hobby board game that spending 60 minutes collecting birds in a nature reserve was a perfectly reasonable Friday night. At a 2.48 weight on BGG with a 7.99 rating and sitting at rank #38, it hit the sweet spot between approachable and satisfying that few games manage. But you’ve played it fifty times. The European expansion is memorised. You’ve optimised the Oceania food chains. You need something new - something that gives you the same feeling of building a beautiful, humming engine without just being Wingspan with a different skin. ...
You’re holding five cards. You need one. But the person to your left - the one building military - also needs one of these cards. Do you take what you need, or burn what they want? That’s card drafting in a single moment. And it’s why, three decades after the mechanic entered the mainstream, designers keep coming back to it. Card drafting is simple enough to explain in ten seconds (“pick one, pass the rest”) but deep enough to sustain thousands of plays. ...
Some games age like fine wine. Others age like milk someone forgot in the back of the fridge. And then there’s El Grande - a game that somehow ages like stone. It was a monument when it arrived in 1995, and thirty years later, it’s still standing. Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich’s masterwork didn’t just win the Spiel des Jahres in 1996. It didn’t just sit in the BGG Top 10 for over a decade. In 2025, it was inducted into the BoardGameGeek Hall of Fame - a recognition that this isn’t just a good game, it’s a historically important one. ...
Two board games about making wine. Both worker placement. Both highly rated on BGG. Both have “vine” somewhere in their DNA. That’s where the similarities end. Viticulture Essential Edition is the gateway - a warm, welcoming Tuscan sunset that teaches you the rhythm of seasons while you plant vines, crush grapes, and fill wine orders. It’s Jamey Stegmaier at his most accessible, a game that makes you feel like a winemaker without ever making your head spin. ...
A giant alien mothership descends toward your city. Five columns of enemy fighters rain down between you and oblivion. Your only weapons? Five dice and whatever you can build in an underground bunker before the sky literally falls. Under Falling Skies is the rare solo-only game that feels like it was born this way rather than bolted on as an afterthought. Designed by Tomáš Uhlíř and published by Czech Games Edition in 2020, it evolved from a 9-card print-and-play contest winner into a full retail release packed with one of the most impressive campaign modes in solo gaming. And it does it all in a box that fits in your coat pocket. ...
There’s a particular kind of euro game that doesn’t want you to feel clever. It doesn’t hand you a satisfying engine that hums along, spitting out resources while you lean back and admire your tableau. Instead, it grabs you by the collar every single turn and says: “Choose. And know that whatever you pick, you’re giving something up.” Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road is that game. Designed by Fabio Lopiano and illustrated by the ever-brilliant Ian O’Toole, this 2020 release from Osprey Games has quietly become one of the most respected mid-weight euros among people who’ve actually played it - while remaining almost completely invisible to the broader hobby. ...
There’s something deeply ironic about Uwe Rosenberg’s career. He’s one of the most prolific and celebrated designers in the history of board gaming - with multiple titles in BGG’s top 100 and a catalogue spanning nearly 30 years - yet if you described his games to someone unfamiliar with the hobby, they’d think you were joking. “So you… plant beans? And argue about bean futures? And that’s fun?” Yes. Yes it is. And the fact that Rosenberg made it fun is precisely the point. ...
