Board Games

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. ...

The crowdfunding platforms haven’t been this busy in months. Between a massive franchise changing hands, a video game adaptation making waves, and a litRPG series smashing records on BackerKit, there’s a lot to unpack. Here’s what caught our eye this week. 🏴‍☠️ Zombicide: Dead Men Tales - The Pirate Zombicide We’ve Been Waiting For Platform: Gamefound | Launched: April 22 | Ends: ~May 12 | Pledge: $110+ (Davy Jones’ Plunder) ...

Ark Nova doesn’t need an introduction. It’s the #2 game on BoardGameGeek, sitting at an 8.54 rating with over 88,000 owners. If you’re reading a board game blog, you’ve either played it, want to play it, or are actively avoiding it because the word “zoo” appeared in the same sentence as “3.80 weight.” So when designer Mathias Wigge released Ark Nova: Marine Worlds in 2023, the question wasn’t will people buy it - it was should they? ...

You’ve terraformed Mars. Now what? Terraforming Mars earned its place in the 2026 BGG Hall of Fame for a reason. It sits at a 3.24/5 weight on BGG with a rating hovering around 8.4, and it’s held a top-five overall rank for years. It plays 1-5 in roughly 120 minutes, though two experienced players can push through faster and a full table of new players might be there all evening. The appeal is specific and hard to replicate. You start with almost nothing - a corporation, a handful of credits, and a barren planet. Over generations, you play cards that chain into other cards, building an economic engine that starts as a trickle and ends as a flood. The moment when your production income finally eclipses your spending is one of the best feelings in board gaming. And because the card pool is enormous (over 200 unique project cards in the base game), no two games feel the same. ...

They’re the two games most likely to convert someone from “I don’t play board games” to “I have a shelf problem.” Both dripping with natural beauty. Both engine builders at heart. Both sitting in BGG’s top 50 with enormous, passionate fanbases. Wingspan and Everdell are the gateway drugs of the modern board gaming renaissance - and they’re remarkably similar on paper. Nature themes. Tableau building. Card-driven engines. Gorgeous production. A welcoming complexity that says “you can do this” while hiding genuine strategic depth underneath. ...

There’s a moment in every engine building game where it clicks. Your turns stop being individual decisions and start becoming inevitable consequences of everything you’ve built. Cards chain into cards. Resources generate resources. What took three actions on turn two now happens for free on turn eight. That feeling - the hum of a machine you’ve constructed from nothing - is why engine building is one of the most satisfying mechanics in all of board gaming. But the genre spans an enormous range, from games you can teach in five minutes to beasts that need a full evening just for setup. ...

Last week, Dungeon Crawler Carl stormed the Hotness at #1 like a reality TV contestant kicking down a dungeon door. This week? Carl’s been shoved to #12 and the throne belongs to Lairs - the competitive dungeon-builder that’s been quietly climbing for two weeks and has finally claimed the crown. Meanwhile, Eternal Decks has made one of the most dramatic jumps we’ve tracked, rocketing from #14 to #2 in a single week. ...