Hidden Gem

There are cooperative games that give you a puzzle. Then there are cooperative games that make you feel like your tiny tribe is one bad decision away from chewing bark and burying Steve behind the cave. Paleo is firmly in the second camp, and that is exactly why it deserves more love. This article is about what Paleo actually does at the table, why its survival tension works so well, why it gets overlooked, and who it suits best. If your group likes co-ops with actual tension instead of polite optimisation, this one has teeth. ...

Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile Is Still One of the Boldest Games You Can Buy Some games are fun for a night. Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile is fun to remember. This is the rare design where the end of one session actually matters next time, not because you’re trapped in a legacy campaign, but because the world itself keeps the scars. The usurper who stole power. The weird card that warped the economy for three sessions. The moment your friend swore loyalty as a Citizen and then absolutely did not mean it. I love games that create table stories. Oath turns those stories into infrastructure. ...

The Pitch: Why Troyes Deserves Your Attention Look, if you’ve been diving into the shimmering waters of board gaming for some time now, you know how easy it is for gems to slip through the cracks. Troyes is one such overlooked masterpiece. This medieval-themed dice placement game is not just another Euro to put on the shelf next to your copy of Agricola. It’s an intricate dance of strategy, luck mitigation, and deep tactical decisions that rewards the brainiacs who dare to engage with it. It’s a hidden gem that’s remained under the radar, but I’m here to tell you why it deserves a spotlight. ...