After a lengthy play on Weather Machine, you’re sitting down with a marker inches away from winning the game. Papers is all over the table. Tokens fill up board. Prototypes lie around everywhere. Somehow you know you have some points, just not where they are. The score calculator compiles those scattered points into a single … Read more

The final phase of Architects of the West Kingdom is when you find out if it is a great game or not. All this time you’ve been jockeying for position, moving workers around, trading with other player, and more. But then…you tally up the points. Suddenly everything make sense because it’s all numbers. And then … Read more

The surprise in Nucleum is that it all comes to an abrupt end, which will spook first-time players unless they get used to it. Yes, you lay down your tiles cautiously, but then somebody reaches a limit, or the market depletes its stock, and the game halts. No slow burn; there are points accumulating right … Read more

Praga Caput Regni is a resource-management, city-building game where a few bad numbers at game’s end can ruin everything. Hours of laying down tiles and optimizing resources to build medieval Prague are over. Time to add it all up, without any mathematical mistakes. Your total will tell you if all those clever engine-building moves scored … Read more

When the final card is flipped in a Red Cathedral game, the last few minutes can often feel like a fever dream. The market have been emptied. The last decorative arch has been placed. Your hand is exhausted from card shuffling. Banner placement need to be checked. Ornament counts needs to be tallied. Sections needs … Read more

Until the end of Viscounts of the West Kingdom, counting victory points are an exercise in faith. Workers is on the tiered castles, ribbons cover manuscript boards, and debt cards is piled up. These cards either reward or punish you based off which kingdom card flips over at the very last minute. It is beautiful … Read more

Paladins of the West Kingdom isn’t about adding up numbers; it’s like auditing a medieval estate. There are stacks of suspicious cards, outposts guarded by your garrisons, strength markers, and faith tracks. All of these vies for your attention at the same time. And when the game ends after only seven rounds, there’s not much … Read more