Tag: 10+

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Game Reviews

Aspens

A forest growing on the table, competition for territory, and a game designed for two players — these were the things that drew us to “Aspens”. Designed by Luke Roberts and Neil Edwards and published by Ludivore Games, it lets us guide the growth of aspens or pines. Using sun and wind, we add to our existing clusters of trees and claim new spaces. There needs to be room for two forests, though, and our opponent will gladly cut off our access to the most promising areas.

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Game Reviews

Minikin City

In “Minikin City”, we build small cities inhabited by Minikins, but simply adding more buildings is not enough to win. We also need to provide residents and balance the development of our city with competing for rewards. This card game by Simone Luciani and Matthieu Verdier, published in Polish by Portal Games as “Skrzatowice”, is designed for 2–5 players aged 10 and up, with a playing time of around 30 minutes.

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Game Reviews

Koi

An ornamental pond, water lilies and colourful carp gliding lazily beneath the surface: “Koi” invites us to slow down before we have even started playing. Designed by Rosaria Battiato, Massimo Borzì and Martino Chiacchiera, and published in Poland by Rebel, it lets us create a water garden of our own. Emiliano Castellano provides the painterly artwork. Beneath those beautiful illustrations lies a spatial puzzle in which we expand our pond and gradually increase the number of actions we can perform.

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Game Reviews

First Rat

The rats believe the Moon is made of cheese. Having found a comic about space travel in the junkyard, they now have both a destination and enough scientific evidence to start building a rocket. All that remains is to gather materials, stock up on supplies and prepare the crew. First Rat, published in Polish by Nasza Księgarnia as “Pierwszy szczur w kosmosie”, invites us to join this endeavour, although a shared dream soon turns into a contest over who has contributed the most to rat space exploration.

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Game Reviews

Witchdom

Witchdom is a family card game designed by Michal Peichl and published by Albi. We lead a witch clan, recruit promising apprentices, gather magical ingredients, and brew potions worth victory points. It all comes in an accessible package that is easy to explain while still offering several clever decisions.

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Game Reviews

Lone Wolves

Not every two-player game needs to be a sprawling strategy filled with dozens of components to deliver an intense, satisfying duel. Occasionally a deck of cards, a handful of tokens, and a well-designed decision system are enough. Lone Wolves by Wonderful World Board Games is a trick-taking game built around area control and special effects management. Players take on the roles of pack leaders fighting over five territories and the honor points that will determine who becomes the alpha of the land.

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Game Reviews

Altay: Dawn of Civilization

Altay: Dawn of Civilization is a board game combining deckbuilding with area control and direct conflict, designed by Ole Steiness and Paolo Mori. In Poland, the game was published by Galakta.

Players take on the roles of leaders of one of the four Elder Peoples, developing their civilizations in a secluded region of the world. The core of the experience lies in expanding your faction—building settlements, developing technologies and wonders, spreading across the map, and competing with rival factions. The game is aimed at players who enjoy when a card engine directly influences board presence and territorial control.

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Game Reviews

Dice Realms

There’s a good chance that Dominion from Rio Grande Games has caught your eye, or that you’ve even played it. It’s a classic example of a game built around the deck-building mechanic and is widely considered one of the genre’s flagship titles. The same publisher has another game in its portfolio that strongly resembles Dominion—at least in many aspects, it repeats the mechanics that made it such a great game. The key difference is that this time, instead of building a deck, we build dice that we roll every turn. That game is Dice Realms. It sounds great. Let’s see whether it actually delivers.

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Game Reviews

Panda Spin

Carl Chudyk is one of those designers whose name always promises something unusual. Panda Spin is no exception — it’s a trick-taking card game where the competition for each hand is combined with a clever card-flipping mechanic that boosts your cards’ power. Published by Muduko, the game takes us into the world of the Chinese zodiac, where a panda decides to join the other animals.

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Game Reviews

Donjon: Les Apprentis Gardiens

The action of the game, set in dungeons, gloomy castles, or other equally strange places, always attracts players’ attention—especially when there is a promise of an adventure. Usually, we take on the roles of brave heroes, overcoming traps and enemies with courage and wit. But what if we switched sides and played something more akin to the famous Hotel Transylvania?
The board game Donjon (Donżon), published by Czacha Games, might be the perfect choice for that. Why? Let’s dive into the review of this title by Joachim Thôme.

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