NEW GAME RATINGS

𝗥𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝘀 (2025) ✅

𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗽𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱 (2025) 🆗

NEW GAME RATINGS

𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝘆𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗻 (2018) 🆗

𝗦𝗼𝗱𝗮 𝗝𝗲𝗿𝗸 (2025) ❌

𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗻𝘀 (2024) ❌

NEW GAME REVIEW

𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗹 (2026) ✅
A co-operative game in which the players must cheat to beat the devil and his minions at poker by getting extra cards, swapping cards, and playing special powers. The longer you stay in the hand, the worse the penalty if you lose. Plan to KS it next week! 🃏🤑

NEW GAME REVIEW

𝗙𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗿𝘆 (2025) ❌
I only played this co-operative, dice-rolling dungeon crawler because I was helping out some content creators. I honestly hate this genre of game, and this particular one did absolutely nothing to budge that opinion.

NEW GAME RATING

𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 (2025) ✅

NEW GAME REVIEW

𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗻𝘀 (2025) ✅
A light, short deckbuilder with lots of randomness. I won my first game despite never scoring more than 14 until the final round. I ended with 29 while the person who had triggered the end had a terrible draw.

I found a linguistics textbook in a bookstore around 1997.

NEW BOARD GAME RATINGS

𝗔𝗻𝘁𝘀 (2025) ✅

𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘆 𝗞𝗶𝗱𝘀 (2025) 🆗

NEW BOARD GAME REVIEW

𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗽 𝟳 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 (2026) ❌
I enjoyed the original game, but this version just isn’t any fun. Any semblance of strategy in cashing out at the right time is completely gone and replaced by absolute randomness and take-that chaos.

NEW GAME REVIEW

𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 (2026) ✅
Our group finished the previous game before starting this one. I’ve only played the first few chapters, but I appreciate the new thematic mechanisms involving the tower cards, orc cards, and extra forest cards.

NEW GAME REVIEW

𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 (2025) 🆗
I really wanted to like this game, but there are so many interactions between the player powers the rulebook doesn’t address that a quick, light game becomes a drag trying to figure it out.

NEW-TO-ME GAME RATINGS

𝟳 𝗪𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝗰𝗲 (2025) ✅

𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗹 (2026) 🆗

NEW-TO-ME GAME REVIEW

𝗢𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 (2025) ❌
Tricktaker with wildly unbalanced asymmetric powers distributed mostly randomly. Felt like I had very little agency.

Today marks the 9th anniversary of first attending a board game meet-up and getting “in the hobby.” 🥳

NEW-TO-ME GAME RATINGS

𝗞𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗶𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗲 (2025) 🆗

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀 (2025) 🆗

NEW-TO-ME GAME RATINGS

𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 (2025) ✅

𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗺𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 (2025) ❌

𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗼 (2025) 🆗

𝗙𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱 (2025) 🆗

NEW-TO-ME GAME REVIEW

𝗨𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 (2016) ❌
The vested interest players have in the outcome of each match-up renders the debates totally ineffective at changing anyone’s vote and, more importantly, tiresome.

NEW-TO-ME GAME REVIEW

𝗦𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗸𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 (2013) 🚫
No rating. The expansion itself isn’t bad and offers an extra layer of strategy, but I’ve never enjoyed 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 because of design choices that make it too driven by luck and seating order for my tastes.

Zone and neither.

My “soft” is close to “waft”, but “soft” has the “caught” vowel and “waft” has the “cot” vowel.

I'm not going to post a list of my top 9 favorite games from 2025. I've played 35 such titles, but I didn't rank any of them above an 8/10, and I only purchased one.

I'm hoping I'll have played some better 2025 games by the end of 2026. There are a good number I haven't yet gotten a chance to try.

MY 9 FAVORITE GAMES OF 2024 (REVISITED)

1. The Gang
2. Bomb Busters*
3. Bid Coin*
4. Tea Garden*
5. Cascadero
6. Tower Up
7. Galileo Galilei*
8. Windmill Valley
9. Let’s Go! to Japan

An asterisk indicates that I first played the game in 2025.

NEW-TO-ME GAME RATINGS

𝗟𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 (2025) 🆗

𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 (2025) ✅

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 & 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 (2025) ✅

𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 (2021) 🆗

NEW-TO-ME GAME RATINGS

𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 (2025) ✅

𝗠𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸 (2020) ❌

𝗟𝗮 𝗣𝗮̂𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗰𝗼 (2026) 🆗

𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 (2023) ❌

NEW-TO-ME GAME RATINGS

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝗻 (2015) 🆗

𝗖𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗮𝗱 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝘂𝗱𝘄𝗶𝗴 (2014) 🆗

𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗴𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 (2007) 🆗

𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 (2025) 🆗

I’ll do alphabetical:

1960:The Making of the President
Ark Nova
Castles of Burgundy
Concordia
Forest Shuffle
El Grande
The Gang
Hansa Teutonica
Tea Garden
Tichu

The golden rule: do unto others as you’d have them do unto you, but if the rule on a card conflicts with this rule, follow the rules on the card

NEW-TO-ME GAME RATINGS

𝗠𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗻𝘆 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗵 (2025) ✅

𝗧𝗮𝗻𝘇 𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗵𝘀𝗲𝗻 (2004) 🆗

𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 (2024) 🆗

𝗗𝘂𝗰𝗸 & 𝗖𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 (2024) 🆗

NEW-TO-ME GAME RATINGS

𝗟𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗿 (2025) ✅

𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘅 (2024) ❌

𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗢𝘂𝘁 (2024) ❌

NEW-TO-ME GAME RATINGS

𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘅𝘆 (2025) ✅

𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘃 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼 (2021) 🆗

𝟭𝟰𝗲𝗿𝘀 (2026) 🆗

NEW-TO-ME GAME RATINGS

𝗧𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘅𝗶𝗮 (2025) 🆗

𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗴𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 (2017) ❌

𝗗𝗼𝗴𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 (2025) ❌