A Racing Board Game

When it comes to board games, there’s always a few things that seem like they don’t translate well into such a media. One of those things is racing. I mean, how does a racing game even work in board game form? Well, it turns out, there is a way to make a racing board game. Today, I want to talk about the game Heat: Pedal to the Metal. Heat is a racing board game, where the first person to complete three laps wins the game. You can play with up to six players and there are four tracks to choose… [Continue Reading]

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The LOOP: a loopy board game through time

The LOOP is a board game released in 2020 and only recently bought to my boyfriend, as part of his board game collection. As neither of us had played the game before, we decided to give the game a try. The LOOP’s premise is simple. A meanie called Dr. Faux has made a time machine and is planning on using it to become the master of the universe, but in doing so, is somewhat destroying the universe in the process. Of course, we have to stop him and his army of clones, before space-time collapses on us. The game is… [Continue Reading]

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Enchanters – Overlords – An Enchanting Board Game

Today, I’d like to chat about a board game I recently played. Thanks to my current situation, I now have access to a wall of board games that I’ve never even heard of, let alone never played before. I’ve mentioned games in the last, and today’s game is no different. And it’s definitely fun. Enchanters – Overlords, is a game about making enchanted items in order to get as many points as possible. You buy cards to make an enchanted item then use that item to kill monsters. Dead monsters give you points, and you want those to win. Simple… [Continue Reading]

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Dice Throne

The other day, I played a board game called Dice Throne. The campaign was a simple one. Gather the dice shards from across the map, kill enemies and then kick the ass of a boss character. It’s a pretty fun game, but it is also pretty damn strange. The first thing that is strange is that there is no board. Instead, we have several scenarios, and we build a map using various cards of various difficulties. Each map has a portal card from which you start, various cards of locations with varying difficulties, and finally a boss tile where you… [Continue Reading]

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A Thunderbirds Board Game

When I was a rather small kid, one of the TV shows we used to watch was Thunderbirds. This show was made using various puppets, rather than being animated as a normal cartoon. The premise of Thunderbirds was quite simple. A family called the Tracies ran International Rescue, and would go on adventures. There were six Tracies, the dad and five sons, all of whom had some pretty fucking cool aircraft, as well as a satellite in space, ran by the eldest kid, John Tracy. Everything in this show was animated with puppets and physical models, which were all pretty… [Continue Reading]

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We’re Doomed – A Panic-Causing Board Game

As much as I love board games, they do tend to go on for a while. That’s not always a bad thing, but sometimes you want to play a nice, quick, short board game. Something that is fun but cleans up nicely when it’s done. To put it another way, the gang and I take forever to finish any board game. Thankfully, I bought my brother a gift for Christmas, and it’s just what we were looking for. We’re Doomed! We’re Doomed is a simple table top game that can support up to 10 players. As the name suggests, it’s… [Continue Reading]

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Team Fortress 2 Monopoly: Board Game Review

A non-gaming friend got me TF2 Monopoly for my birthday last year, and it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since. I’ve been meaning to review it for a while now, but my heart wasn’t really in it because I pretty much just expected a cash grab where they renamed the properties after maps and added some custom playing pieces. Plus I unfortunately don’t live in a situation where I can convince my friends to play board games with me unless I can lure them in with promises of getting to shoot or stab each other. However, I’m glad Retro… [Continue Reading]

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The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls – A Physical Game Based on a Video Game

My brother loves everything related to the Binding of Isaac, and it’s one of the games he’s proud to have nearly perfectly completed. So when he heard of a board game kickstarter, of course he had to go and spend €50 on the game, which arrived just before Christmas. And it’s alright. The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls is a board/card game where four people can play as one of the characters from the Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth, using various items from the Binding of Isaac series. Players take turns attacking monsters by rolling dice and buying and using various… [Continue Reading]

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General Strike: A Monopoly Full-Conversion Mod

The next generation of Game Development Master’s students have started their program (I graduated!) and one of their first assignments is to make a mod for a pre-existing board game. I didn’t get this assignment in my year, but I happened to have already made one back when I was in high school, and the professor asked that I upload it somewhere so he could use it an example. On that note, hi everybody from UCSC Games & Playable Media class of 2020! General Strike A Monopoly game for two to four players General Strike is a board game played on… [Continue Reading]

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My 7 Favorite Fairy Chess Pieces

Chess is an ancient and noble game, possibly the most played game in history that doesn’t have “Go” anywhere in its title. The pawn, knight, bishop, queen, king and castle-shaped thing are all immortal mainstays in popular culture, their names known worldwide. But of course they’re not the only pieces that ever graced the chessboard. Due to the endless adaptability of the game’s structure and medieval court theme, budding game designers have been eternally designing additional pieces and using them for custom game modes, chess puzzles, or just arguing with strangers on the internet about how viable they’d be. These… [Continue Reading]

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