You play as entrepreneurs who have bought derelict space stations, and aim to turn them into the swankiest holiday resorts in the cosmos. This isn’t your Airbnb style holiday, think about it more like Space Vegas. (note to self – trademark ‘Space Vegas’, it sounds awesome)
“You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do you, punk?”. Why yes, yes I do Harry Callahan. It’s a good thing too, as push-your-luck is one of my favourite things in a game.
Holidays, as I understand it, are coming. As I write this, Christmas is barrelling down on us like a festive red-and-white juggernaut, and it’s the time of year when families reach for games. If your experience of games at gatherings can be summed-up with Charades and Pictionary, you might be pleased to know that there are loads more to choose from.
Roll-and-write games are bigger now than they’ve ever been. The runaway success of games like Railroad Ink and Ganz Schön Clever paved the way for more ambitious, complex games like Hadrian’s Wall. There are plenty of games out to the gap between those light and heavy titles, and Rolling Realms is one of the latest.
Tackling On Mars was a daunting prospect. Both in terms of reviewing it, and in just learning how to play it properly. Both have been extremely rewarding exercises though. On Mars is one of the best games I’ve ever played, it’s as simple as that.
Arkosa, the new title from Toon Hammer, plonks you on the titular planet of Arkosa, and makes you try to get back off of it. You see, there’s an opportunity to get off this desert world, but only the most prestigious of colonies gets the ticket.
As you might have guessed, Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is a game in the same family as the original board game, Terraforming Mars. This latest game gives itself the label of “The Terraforming Mars Card Game”, which is a bit of a misnomer if you ask me, because it’s no more of a card game than the original game was.
Did you wake up today, and suddenly have the urge to run a railway in the Philippines? No? What if I told you the railways are on Luzon, the largest and most-populous of the Philippine islands? Yeah, I knew it, I knew that’d swing it for you.
Tiny Towns is a damning indictment on urban sprawl, overcrowding, and an ever-expanding society’s need for quick, affordable housing! Actually, it’s not. It’s a really cute abstract puzzle about space optimisation, forward planning, and the most adorable little wooden buildings.
I recently reviewed Wingspan, a game about collecting birds and playing with tons of little plastic eggs. Its designer, Elizabeth Hargrave, was rocketed from “who’s that?” to a name that everyone in board games knows. So what’s for her follow-up to the birdy game? More birds? More delightful eggs? Nope. We’re still playing with animals that fly, but this time it’s butterflies.
