Punchboard

A review copy was kindly provided by Zatu Distribution. Thoughts & opinions are my own. A Carnivore Did It! is best described as a box full of logic problems. If you grew up with the Labyrinth movie with its ‘guards on the door’ puzzle, or more recently the video game Blue Price with its chest-opening puzzles, then you know what to expect. A process of elimination, done a...

Ringyo (Ringyō / 林業) is a game about forestry in Edo-period Japan. Well, kinda. It’s more accurate to say that it’s a game where you’re a Daimyo in Japan overseeing a province covered in trees and floodwaters. I can honestly say that I can’t point at another game and say “Ah, that’s just like Ringyo”, because there are a lot of things Ringyo does that feel fresh and different...

A review copy of Joraku Deluxe was kindly provided by Moaideas. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Joraku takes the threads of a traditional trick-taking system and combines them with area control and action selection to weave a tight, intricate fabric. Joraku didn’t make waves when it first arrived and was desperately difficult to get hold of. It’s well worth tracking down ...

Maybe you’re quite new to board and card games and have heard people talking about trick-taking games. Maybe you’ve been into the hobby for ages and don’t know anything about trick-taking, but you’re too scared to ask at this point. Either way, I’ve got you covered. In the context of card games, a trick is usually a round of play in a card game. Most commonly in trick-taking ...

I’m doing things differently here for this one. For years now, I’ve had a rule that I don’t write reviews or previews based on digital playthroughs on platforms like Tabletop Simulator (TTS). For me, the physical experience of the game, the legibility of cards and iconography over the top of a table, and other things simply cannot be replicated over a screen. However, my good...