In Carcassonne, the river act as a main structure for the board. It tells you where cities can develop and where roads has to bend. And at the end of the game, players tend to treat the river like it’s just decoration. That’s a mistake. The river makes you think strategicly way longer before you … Read more

In New York City, when someone puts their last taxi on a route, the game’s over for them. Maybe they spent two hours connecting dots across Brooklyn and Manhattan, using their precious hand of colored cards and wild taxis to build connections. Now it’s time for the after game debate: Who really won? And how … Read more

In the final few minutes of any game of Wingsspan, it’s time for point-counting. Your turn was your last. You’ve played your last card. And now comes the dreaded task of counting everything while everyone watches. In Wingspan, with its many various points types and all of that goodness in the Oceania expansion, it’s simple … Read more

Ticket to Ride London ends with the decisive turn: who will win and who lose? Once a player’s pile of plastic buses drops to two or fewer, it’s time for final round. Each player gets their final move and it’s time to tally points. As you look around at piles of color-coded trains and hidden … Read more

The game ends quietly when you tap a victory card that you earned several turns ago. Resource shortage isn’t usually much of a threat in Cities and Knights. It’s an arithmetic problem: how many points do I need to devote to my defense? How many does that cost me if I want to win? Because … Read more

Seafarers plays like Catan on water (until the second time you play it), and then you know that the ocean is nothing more than an area for your plans to meet their death at the hands of pirates. The base game is wood, brick, and point-counting. This expansion is all about taking chances as you … Read more

So what’s a player to do when they see an adversary has just taken a noble tile and sits two points away from victory in Splendor? Gems abound in your hand, plus you have running discount engines; still, it feels like navigating your way to fifteen prestige points is more like walking through a maze. … Read more