The dark and creepy fishing game Deep Regrets is one of our favorite releases this year. But sometimes, you’re looking for a shorter fishing excursion. That’s were Shallow Regrets, a new wallet game from Button Shy Games, comes in handy. This eighteen card experience was created and illustrated by designer Judson Cowan and offers a bitesize experience of its more robust sibling, Deep Regrets.
Catch of the Day
Shallow Regrets plays two to three players and takes only fifteen minutes to play. In this fishing filler game, players can cast into six “shoals” in the center of the table. Each shoal is a pile of three cards that contain fair or foul creatures or objects from the ocean.
Cards have a coin value (victory points), catch difficulty, and unique ability that can be activated when you have the card in your possession. Some cards contain fish hooks on the left side below the coin value. These hook icons will give you the strength to catch larger creatures as you fish the briny deep.
Players are given information on the size of the fish based on the size of the shadow that’s shown when it’s on the top of the shoal. There’s also a hint at the bottom of the card back that gives you the range of strength you need to reel in that catch.
Throwing Back Your Catch
On your turn, draw two cards from the top of the shoal(s) in the center of the table. You can catch one of the two cards you picked up and must toss the other back. The rejected card is placed back on top of a shoal or in an open space if all the cards of a shoal have been fished. Players can strategically toss back a card to cover a card that another player was potentially planning to catch.
Shallow Regrets is all about gaining strength as you gradually work your way up to catching bigger and more valuable creatures. While the coin value is victory points, sometimes the special ability on the card can be extremely advantageous. You can use a cards special ability by exhausting it (turning it sideways) at the start of a turn. You’ll be able to look at more cards on your turn, swap a creature for another players, pass a card to your neighbor, or even flip over the top card of each shoal.
These abilities are really helpful in getting just the right cards in front of you. As a seasoned fisher, you want to dabble in catching foul fish, but you definitely don’t want all the foul fish! The foul fish in the game can give you the hooks you need to reel in a big catch. But, most of these come with negative coin values that will bring down your score.
Fair fish have some of the highest coin values but may not give you any hook icons to increase your strength. The game has a nice balance and forces players to keep a variety of fair and foul creatures. The game ends when all the cards have been taken from the shoals or when players don’t have enough strength to catch the cards that are left.
A Stench Most Foul
The player who reeled in the most foul fish will have two points deducted from their score at the end of the game. Players count the points on their cards, even their exhausted cards, to get a final score.
Shallow Regrets is a really enjoyable, ultra condensed fishing experience that we really enjoy. The player count is small, supporting only three players. This has been the game Erin and I choose to bring on date nights because it’s such a tight and casual experience. When players lean into using the card abilities, the game is a little mean and that’s a big part of why we like the Shallow Regrets so much.
Judson Cowen did an excellent job with illustrations. The creatures feel like a more cartoony version of their Deep Regrets counterparts. As many times as we’ve played Shallow Regrets, we still get excited when one of us finds and is able to reel in the five point Kraken card. This is an easy filler card game to suggest to anyone who has fifteen minutes and a couple friends to play with.
Shallow Regrets is on Kickstarter through May 17, 2025. Check out the campaign today!
A prototype of the game was provided for this coverage. Components and rules covered in this preview are not finalized. Read more about our preview policies at One Board Family.
There are two new space-themed games coming to Kickstarter from 25th Century Games. Star Gazers is a tile-laying game with art from Vincent Dutrait while Observatory is a roll and write that has players mapping out the night sky.
In this video preview, Phil and I talk about how each game plays and our thoughts after a couple of games. These are two very different space games that are worth checking out.
You can checkout the Kickstarter campaign for Star Gazers and Observatory today.
A prototype of the game was provided for this coverage. Components and rules covered in this preview are not finalized. Read more about our preview policies at One Board Family.
I’m a sucker for a good fishing themed board game. For some reason, fishing of the cardboard variety is far better than the real-life kind. Conservas is a solo bag building game from Scott Almes, a designer that I really enjoy. Even though I’m not a fan of solo gaming, Conservas has its hooks in me and keeps reeling me in.
The Daily Catch
In this game, you’ll run a fishing and canning operation off the coast of Spain. Each season starts with a single boat, some cash in hand, and a bag of tokens that is dictated for that season. Conservas takes you through 12 months of fishing using a spiral bound book. Each month will have a unique win condition, some have special rules, and two difficulty goals to reach.
In each round of the season, you’ll draw five tokens blindly from the bag for each boat you own and the Open Water card on the table. You’ll have to assign the five tokens before drawing five more, eventually filling each available card.
Each boat in the game has a catch requirement that has to be met. You can meet this requirement with fish tokens or the worthless water tokens that are clogging up the bag. All the other tokens are placed at the bottom of the card, showing that they are still in the “open water” and not on the boat.
To Can or Not to Can
As you pull the sea life on board, you have to make decisions on how to use these tokens. Each season has spots in the book that pay cash if you choose to can your fish. Money can be tight in this game and you’ll need cash to purchase new boats to expand your saltwater empire.
The canning requirements can sometimes be a single fish type, or multiples of a specific fish in order to get paid. In some seasons, you’ll earn more money as you can specific types of fish. In other seasons, you can saturate the market, earning less money if you keep canning the same type of catch.
Your fish tokens can also be spent on Upgrade cards which give your operation some nice perks. Conservas does a great job of giving players multiple avenues to solve the puzzle. Some Upgrade cards definitely feel more powerful than others. You’ll start to look for some of these after your first couple games.
Before the end of each round, you can purchase a new boat and wipe the Upgrade and Boat cards to get a fresh set of three on the table. During the night phase of the round, you’ll spend your cash to maintain your fleet of boats as you head into the next day. By the way, the punny boat names in the game are fantastic.
Conservation is Key
The fish you catch in Conservas is almost as important as the fish you leave in the sea. During the night phase of each round, any fish that were in the Open Water (this includes the fish under the boats that were not caught) will spawn new tokens. If you leave three mussels uncaught, you’ll spawn that number of mussels minus one. This is vital to making sure that you have fish in the bag as you move from round to round.
Conservas is all about making sure that you don’t overfish the sea and long term planning to meet the goals of that season. In my first two games, I bought a fleet of boats too early and sold every fish I could. I found myself grabbing water token after water token, unable to fulfill any orders and failing pretty quickly.
Since Conservas is a bag builder, a big part of the game is keeping a mental tally of what you believe is in the bag. Unless an Upgrade card gives you the chance, you cannot look into the bag to survey what’s available.
Trial and Error
While I love the artwork and I’m a fan of the designer, I was immediately repelled because it was a solo game. I’m an extravert that loves this hobby so much because of the social atmosphere that gaming brings. I gave Conservas a try and it’s been one of my favorite gaming experiences this year.
Each game of Conservas takes around twenty minutes and there are times when you know the mistakes you made in round four are going to sink your operation. The game plays quickly and I’ve gotten into the habit of playing back to back games because of it. Also, because I’m terrible at the game.
I only found success after five attempts at the first season of the game. Since then, I’ve crawled my way past three more seasons. The game is tough and sometimes I’m just barely clearing the standard difficulty. Each time I fail a season, I take a look at where I went wrong. Most of the time, it’s a mix of overfishing or not using the Upgrades that were available to me.
There’s an economy to Conservas that works really well. It’s a tight game that rarely leaves you confident that you’ll succeed until the last final round of a season. This is why coming back to the game and enjoying its twenty minute playtime is so enjoyable.
Final Thoughts
Conservas is a perfect storm of theme, art, and gameplay that has me excited every time I sit down with the game. I could never see myself playing solo games on a regular basis, but Conservas has shown me how enjoyable they can be. My time with A Gentle Rain, another amazing solo game, was all about relaxing and finding a moment of peace. Conservas is all about pressing my luck, practicing moderation, and finding a delicate balance to succeed.
If you had told me a couple months ago that a solo board game would be one of my biggest surprises of the year, I would have laughed in your face. But here I am. Sitting alone at my kitchen table, smelling like an old sea captain, playing a board game by myself, and loving every minute of it.
At the start of each year, we take a look at what games are coming in the next twelve months. Some of these will inevitably slip into the next year and we’re really basing this on the publishers timelines. So, here are twenty games that we’re excited about that are slated for release this year.
Galactic Cruise
Publisher:Kinson Key Games Designer: T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, Koltin Thompson Release Window: Q1 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Everyone
Galactic Cruise is a game that we’ve seen for almost 3 years as the team at Kinson Key Games has polished every part of this project. The final game will arrive to Kickstarter backers in Q1 and it’s pretty amazing. Players are building space cruises as they attract clients for out of this world travel.
The artwork and iconography from Ian O’Toole really makes this game shine. Galactic Cruise is a game that is on everyone’s radar for good reason. Thankfully, the wait is almost over and I get most of the year to play this gem.
Wine Cellar
Publisher:25th Century Games Designer: Andrew Stiles Release Window: Q2 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ric and Bob
As trick-taking games become more and more popular, it’s good to see those that add solid creative twists. I’m a fan of the auction sub-genre, where the trick results impact the acquisition of different assets. That’s what you’ve got with Wine Cellar, a game originally designed by Andrew Stiles for an 18-card design contest. In this game, you’ll all be working to create the best wine collection, and each bottle scores differently based on its “age”… that is, its location in your collection.
The little wine bottle cards aren’t everyone’s thing, but I love them. I like the look when they’re all lined up at the end of the game, ready for scoring. It also plays up to 8 people, and more people don’t necessarily stretch the game too long or too thin. With easy-to-learn rules and quick gameplay, I think this will end up as one of the more versatile titles in my collection.
Deep Regrets
Publisher:Tettix Games Designer: Judson Cowan Release Window: Q2 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan
This dark and unsettling fishing game really impressed us when we previewed it in 2024. The artwork for Deep Regrets pulls you in as you try and balance your mental state during your time at sea. Players have to find ways to mitigate regret cards while still finding wild creatures at sea.
This is Tettix Games second design and even at the prototype level, the game was really well made. Deep Regrets is a game that I understood better each time it hit the table and I’m itching for more. You can learn more in my preview from 2024.
Azul Duel
Publisher:Next Move Games Designer: Michael Kiesling Release Window: Q2 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan and Erin
Do we need another version of Azul? Possibly. Azul Duel is built for a 2-player focused experience and we’re hearing good things from people who have played it. Azul (and its board game siblings) are pretty solid at most player counts. I’m not 100% sure that this game is necessary but it could surprise me.
Azul is a game that has made its way into so many game shelves. If Next Move Games can shake up the formula enough to stand out, Azul Duel may be a great purchase for Erin and I. Our 2-player focused selection of games is growing and we’ll be watching for this release before summer.
Lairs
Publisher:Kids Table Board Gaming Designer: Christopher Westmaas Release Window: Q3 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan and Bob
Lairs is a unique take on dungeon crawling for 2-players. Each player builds out the dungeon that their opponent has to move through. Using traps and monsters, players are trying to keep the other player from easily grabbing the loot and finding the exit. Erin and I had a great time trying the game out at Origins last summer prior to the Kickstarter campaign launch.
What makes Lairs so cool is that after playing the game, you’ll start opening new content that makes dungeons more dangerous and introduces new features. This game builds on itself the more you play. Lairs is a fun time and the KTBG crew has a great game on their hands as we head into 2025.
Luthier
Publisher:Paverson Games Designer: Dave Beck, Abe Burson Release Window: Q2 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ric
I’m quite tired of fantasy, space and even nature-themed games. So it’s always nice to see a game asking me to do something I haven’t really done before. That’s what I’m seeing in Luthier. You’re a crafter of instruments, and you must manage your shop so that you build the strongest reputation.
I haven’t gotten to dive into the rules and gameplay as much as I would like. However, from what I’ve seen, it provides the opportunity for those chain reaction decisions I love so much, where a choice lets you do something, which leads to another thing, and so on.
The only thing holding me back from more excitement is the price. You’re getting a lot in the box, but $75 for retail is generally outside of my price range, no matter what I do. Here’s hoping I can find a good deal and/or unclaimed bag of cash in the near future…
Speakeasy
Publisher:Eagle-Gryphon Games Designer: Vital Lacerda Release Window: Q3/Q4 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan and Bob
One of my favorite gaming experiences of 2024 was playing Speakeasy with family and friends. This Vital Lacerda game quickly climbed my list of favorite games after just a single play. Players will align themselves with mobsters as they take over parts of Manhattan during the Prohibition Era.
Speakeasy has artwork from Ian O’Toole, incredible player boards, and a sprawling city to take over. The way Lacerda ties this game to the real world mobsters of the 1920’s brings so much depth to this game. Look for Speakeasy to hit a game table near you before the end of the year.
Camping Season
Publisher:SweaterBear Games Designer: Casey Mattes, Zoey Mattes Release Window: Q3/Q4 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan
I love the idea of managing a campground where people are going to adventure and make memories. Camping Season is a game that is supposed to simulate running the facilities where campers are choosing to vacation. I love the look of the game and just the idea of managing reservations and facilities sounds super fun to my messed up brain.
The couple behind SweaterBear Games seems to love the great outdoors and the Kickstarter did really well back in October. I’m hoping this game can be found at retail after they fulfill orders to backers later this year. This is a game that is definitely on my radar going into the fall.
Scoville 2nd Edition
Publisher:Trick or Treat Studios Designer: Ed Marriott Release Window: Q1 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan
This game made my 2024 most anticipated list but it looks like it will show up one more time before the game arrives. Scoville is a pepper farming game that I’ve always wanted to play but with it being out of print, I wasn’t willing to pay the inflated price.
Scoville is getting a brand new release from Trick or Treat Studios (Halloween, Blood Orders) and it has artwork from Vincent Dutrait. I’m so pumped to finally play this game and cannot wait for this new edition with its previously released expansion already in the box. Hopefully it will show up early in the year so that I get loads of time with the game in 2025.
House of Fado
Publisher:Eagle-Gryphon Games Designer: Vital Lacerda, João Quintela Martins Release Window: Q1 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ric
When we played Speakeasy with Ryan, I was definitely a fan. However, I know that I will rarely be able to get a game that complex and that lengthy onto the table with my friends and family. It’s just not in the cards for me these days. Or the dice. Or the meeples.
So that’s why I’m excited about the release of House of Fado from Eagle-Gryphon Games. Even before I knew it was a Lacerda co-design, I was drawn in by the artwork and concept, as was my wife (which is likely more important if I’m wanting the chance to play). There seem to be plenty of important choices to make as you control your restaurant, hoping to feature the best music to attract the most customers.
A small box with big decisions and cool artwork? These days, that’s my sweet spot.
Publisher: Restoration Games Designer: Lots of people Release Window: Q3 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan and Ric
You know that Unmatched has to show up on this list somewhere. Unmatched Adventures was a big hit for us in 2023 and when you throw the Ninja Turtles into the mix, oh snap! I’m excited to see how each of the turtles play against other Unmatched fighters. Restoration Games does such a great job of creating a co-op experience, and this time you’ll go toe-to-toe with Shredder and Krang.
TMNT is a license that so many people are excited for. It’s not often that an 80’s kid and their 19 year old kid are excited about the same game. Unmatched Adventures: TMNT should be arriving to Kickstarter backers at the tail-end of summer. Look for this to hit retail around fall of 2025.
ULTRAMASSIVE
Publisher:Studio Unknown Designer: Alex Greenberg & Jacob Phillips Release Window: Q3 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Phil
I had the pleasure of being introduced to ULTRAMASSIVE at One Board Day and am quite eager to get this on the table at home. This strategy game invites you to take the role of a fledgling black hole with one simple goal: get BIGGER! This is carried out by manipulating two tracks on your player board, adding matter or antimatter and delivering it to the center to fuel your growth.
Incorporating drafting, engine building and clever manipulation of player boards via wormholes and gravity, ULTRAMASSIVE presents itself as an excellent introduction to strategy gaming with enough complexity to keep veterans puzzling out new strategies. What I saw in my demo session seemed like a perfect match of theme to mechanics and I look forward to the final product.
Botswana
Publisher:25th Century Games Designer: Reiner Knizia Release Window: Q3 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan
About 6 years ago, Bob Crowell introduced me to Quandary, an out of print game by Milton Bradley from Reiner Knizia. My immediate reaction was “how come this is out of print?!”. Eagle-Gryphon Games brought back the game under the title Botswana, then Wildlife Safari. This summer, 25th Century Games is bringing Botswana back into print with completely new artwork from the phenomenal Weberson Santiago.
This is one of Reiner’s more simple designs with players placing an animal card and drafting one of the animal types from the center of the table. Once the cards of one animal type are all on the table, the game ends. Players get points based on the top card value for each animal type that they have. This is such a great filler game and with the new artwork, I cannot wait to introduce the family to Botswana.
Power Creep
Publisher:PNP Arcade Publishing Designer: Jason Greeno, Jason Tagmire Release Window: January 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ric
Print-and-play games are becoming the main thing I purchase on Kickstarter these days. They’re significantly cheaper, they take up way less room, and they often provide just as strong of a gameplay experience.
Dungeon Pages stood out back in 2023 with its unique approach and solid gameplay. A fun recreation of a classic dungeon crawler, you used dice to help you navigate around, defeat enemies, and collect items. The base game came out with a few maps and characters, which you could mix and match together to your liking. Dangerous Space used the same format with some extra bells and whistles. I’ve played through both, and while they kicked my butt several times, I kept coming back to the games, hoping a better approach or character choice would improve my chances.
Power Creep promises to take the best parts of both games and make an even better overall experience. Plus, the creators are continuing with their year-long support option in which they’ll release a new map every week of 2025, along with a new character every month. I’ve not tried this out with the other titles, so I’m excited to start playing once the content begins delivering in January.
Spooktacular
Publisher:Level 99 Games Designer: D. Brad Talton Jr. Release Window: Q2 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan
Last summer I got to play a digital version of Spooktacular with a member of the Level 99 team. This game puts players in the role of monsters that are haunting a movie theater in the 80’s. Each monster has unique abilities and powers that will help you terrorize the patrons of the theater.
Each monster has a movie poster tied to them and is a throwback to a movie monster from the past. I loved the flow of this game and was really impressed with the amount of player choices that come in the box. Level 99 Games has a hit on their hands and I’m ready to check out the final product when it becomes available later this year.
Popcorn
Publisher: iello Designer: Victor Saumont Release Window: Q2/Q3 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan
I love the theme of running a movie theater and trying to find the right movies to fit the audience. Popcorn is a bag building game where players will build their theater, then draw audience members from their bag to pair them with the right experience.
Over nine rounds, players are building and even stealing patrons from other players using advertising. If this game is as fun as it sounds, this might be a “must buy” for us this year. It sounds a little like the tableau building game Funfair which is another favorite of mine.
I sometimes get sucked into scrolling through Kickstarter for an hour or two, seeing if I can find something awesome I’ve never heard of. That’s what happened with Eternal Decks. I didn’t see or hear ANYTHING about this title, but I’m hopeful it catches some attention once it hits tables early next year.
What you’ve got is a cooperative card-playing game in which you’re all working together to complete different stages. Along the way, you’ll have the chance to unlock an Eternal, which will add more cards to a player’s deck.
I’m hopeful that the challenges will increase as you go from stage to stage, and that you’ll have to make important choices as to who gets what cards and when. I feel like there’s a lot of opportunity here for a special game built on an easy-to-learn rules set. We’ll get to find out early next year!
My kids and I spent so many hours playing Don’t Starve on Playstation over the years. I’m really intrigued with how this game will play out as a tabletop experience. They have a solid track record of bringing video game content to the board game space which is promising.
Don’t Starve: The Board Game should launch any time now on Kickstarter. I have some concern that we may not see this project on the table this calendar year. If you’re a fan of this digital game, chances are that you’ll be watching this project like we are.
RA and Write
Publisher:25th Century Games Designer: Reiner Knizia Release Window: Q2 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan and Erin
Last year, we were excited to see a flip and write game associated with the classic bidding game RA. This new game from Dr Knizia is such a streamlined experience that is still rooted in the original game. RA and Write was one of our favorite games we played in 2024 and we’re excited to have the fully published game this coming year.
While I’m (Ryan) a big fan of the original RA, Erin absolutely adores RA and Write. The bidding mechanic is removed and players are choosing their path from the cards that are rolled out each turn. Flipping out the third RA card will end the era, triggering scoring for that portion of the game. RA and Write should be here before the summer which means that this is probably the game you’ll see on our table all summer long.
The Dark Quarter
Publisher:Lucky Duck / Van Ryder Games Designer: Evan Derrick Release Window: Q1 2025 Excitement Level: Nominated by: Ryan
Way back in the year 2022, Lucky Duck and Van Ryder Games combined forces to create a game called The Dark Quarter. This narrative driven game brings players into the dark and seedy underbelly of New Orleans in the 1980’s. Raising over a million dollars through Kickstarter, this is a game that I’m excited to see finally arrive on the game table.
Backers of the game will be receiving the game at the start of the year, with the game hitting retail later in the year. Lucky Duck has a proven track record with creating immersive experiences using a digital companion (Chronicles of Crime, Destinies). We’ll definitely be sharing our experience once this game finally hits our hot little hands.
Odd creatures are lurking in the woods. Your job is to collect these creatures and out score your opponents in this cutthroat card game from Twisted Branch Games. Let’s get to know these odd little creatures that make up this game.
An Odd Collection
Players are creating a tableau of cards from the carious woodland creatures they find during the game. Each round of Oddities is marked by a Season card which dictates which creatures they can collect in that round. Simple oddities are common and are the most common card that you’ll come across. Rare oddities have unique magical abilities that will help strengthen your collection.
At the start of your turn, draw the top card off the deck, adding a new card to your hand. Then, play a single action on your turn. You can “search” by drawing another card, “strengthen” by playing a card into your collection, “sabotage” lets you play a misfit oddity into another players collection, or you can “strike” which lets you play a quirk card.
A players collection sits in front of them, scoring a single point for each oddity. Specific oddities give additional points and misfits will add a wrinkle to your collection. The sabotage action adds some “take that” to the game. Ultimately, players are racing to be the first one to have six points in their collection.
Watch Out for the Misfits
Oddities gameplay is a quick teach and easy to understand. Each card has an icon designation that makes it easy to recognize the card type. There are four different seasons in the game that get drawn at the start of the round. During the Winter season, only oddities with the Winter icon, or the “any season icon” can be played. Keeping a variety of oddities in your hand gives you the flexibility to play into your collection across the various rounds.
Misfit cards can be played in any season and will target another player at the table. These cards are mostly inconvenient but can be removed through various rare oddity abilities or quirk effects.
Quirk cards are effects that immediately take place when they are played. Some of these cards can be down right mean when they wreak havoc on your collection. Some quirk cards can also protect your collection from your opponents.
Oddities is a solid card game for families who are looking for a game that everyone can play. The cards are pretty straight-forward and the game supports up to eight players. Erin and I both enjoyed the game at two players, but noticed some balance issues. The team at Twisted Branch Games is addressing this by modifying the deck at that player count.
I really enjoy the whimsical look of the creatures in Oddities. The game is cute and even my daughters remarked on the art throughout the game. We had the most fun with Oddities at three to five players (we didn’t play at the highest count). Since misfit and quirk cards can target your opponents, it was nice having a couple options when choosing who to target.
If you’re looking for a fun easy to teach card game with charming artwork, Oddities is a game you should definitely check out.
Oddities is being funded through Kickstarter by Twisted Branch Games. Check out the campaign that launches on February 2, 2025.
A prototype of the game was provided for this coverage. Components and rules covered in this preview are not finalized. Read more about our preview policies at One Board Family.
Turbo Tina has invited your crew into the Carnival of Chaos! Players will smash, slam, and shoot their way to victory by collecting “scrap” that Turbo Tina awards each round. Carnival of Chaos is the fifth expansion for Thunder Road: Vendetta and can be played with the base game or the Maximum Chrome Edition.
Welcome to the Carnival
We’ve played a lot of Thunder Road: Vendetta in 2023 and 2024. This new expansion is essentially an arena battle that introduces new weapons and a reward system as you collect “scrap”. There are three roads that lead into the arena where the combat takes place. At the end of each round, a new Turbo Tina card is revealed.
This card will trigger Killer Pillars which will destroy any car that is parked on top of these tiles. It also adds a new immovable object that players have to avoid. Tina will award scrap to any vehicles that are on spotlight locations, and even give a new decree for the next round.
Just like in the base game, players will shoot and slam one another, with dice dictating the outcome of the combat. For players who already know Thunder Road: Vendetta, there’s not a ton of new concepts here. Movement in the arena spaces is slightly different and takes a minute to get used to. I’ve taught this game to multiple TRV veterans and the movement trips people up the first couple turns. Sprinkled around the board are Party Favor tiles and Super-Weapon tokens. These are going to give you the boost you need to win.
The selection of Super-Weapons are fantastic. These cards attach to the vehicle that picked it up, giving them a new way to eliminate their opponent. A player with a Super-Weapon attached is a force to be reckoned with. Players who can slam opponents into Killer Pillars and maneuver gracefully around the arena are going to have fun with this expansion.
Ready for Combat
Restoration Games carried through the dystopian, Mad Max feel of Thunder Road into every area of the game. The art style and board layout is excellent and even the packaging sticks with the grindhouse visuals of the base game. You can tell that this expansion is essentially Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome without the IP license.
Since players cannot leave the arena once they enter, the game keeps players in close quarters. It forces players to interact and unlike the base game, players cannot just try to outrun their opponents.
Slamming opponents at just the right time can launch an opponents vehicle out of the arena, into a Killer Pillar, or into position to get clobbered by the other players. While in the arena, rolling high numbers on the dice become less of a necessity. You’ll rely more on positioning and weapons each round.
Carnival of Chaos also adds a fifth player color to the mix. The new team comes with three purple cars, dice, chopper, and purple dashboards. This allows you to play with up to five players across all different game modes with a standard team of 3 vehicles.
The Queen of Chaos
Carnival of Chaos has a specific number of rounds. Each of the six Turbo Tina cards come out at the end of the round. The game ends when there are no more Turbo Tina cards to flip over in the deck OR when a single player has been eliminated from play. Having the Turbo Tina deck dictate the length of the game works really well. While six rounds is a great game length, it’s the start of the game that comes off a little dry.
In the first round of the game, players have to travel up the three roadways that lead into the arena. This is made up of the regular road pieces that come with the base game. In my head, I see these cars rumbling toward this arena, ready for combat. In reality, it might take you two full turns to get to the center. Bad die rolls could even put you in the role of “spectator” for a couple rounds.
It’s not uncommon for a player to have only two cars in the arena even into the start of the third round. That’s half-way through the game. In my first game, I felt like it had a pretty boring start. I felt validated when everyone else at the table mentioned it during clean up of the game.
For a game mode that is called Carnival of Chaos, this is a bit of a let down. Once players have there cars in the arena, the gameplay is smooth and fun. But it honestly doesn’t feel any crazier than the base game. I think being confined to the arena is really what sets this game apart from the base game.
While I rarely “house rule” games, we did make a slight change to the start of the game. When playing at the house, only start flipping Turbo Tina cards after at least two players have entered the arena. This is usually in the second round. This helps players to feel like they get a full six rounds of combat with their opponents.
We Don’t Need Another Hero
Carnival of Chaos adds a lot of cool items to one of my absolute favorite games. When it comes to reviewing expansions, the question I usually ask myself is “Does this make the original game better?”
This is a tough one, and it depends on what you’re looking for in the game. I honestly believe that everything that comes in the Maximum Chrome edition will keep me busy for years. Carnival of Chaos offers a slightly different play mode that is interesting, but not incredibly memorable. If you’ve played through all the content in the Maximum Chrome box (or the separate expansions), you may be looking for a new mode of play. Carnival of Chaos is probably what you’re looking for.
I love the system and world that Restoration Games has created with Thunder Road: Vendetta. At this point, this is easily one of my favorite games of all time. Carnival of Chaos is a nice addition to the game, but not a necessity in my opinion.
Clans of samurai cats are in a battle for dominance in this suitless trick-taking game from Shiny Pigeon Games. Be careful though, each season ends with a peace treaty, and showing too much force will bring disgrace to your clan. Let’s dig into this card game from designer Caner Cooperrider and see what sets it apart.
Managing Your Clan
Disgraced House feels familiar because it uses a standard trick-taking mechanic. What makes it unique is that there are no suits or trumps in the game and it’s solely based on numbers. Each envoy card, which makes up the majority of your hand, has two values on the card. The standard value is in black at the top of the card while the red value at the bottom of the card can be unlocked by using a fate token. With cards having two values, players have flexibility with each card as long as they have fate tokens that they can spend.
When a player leads, they can play a single card or pair with identical numbers. Followers have to play the same quantity of cards but there are rules on what numbers you can play. Followers have to play the same number or higher. If they cannot or choose not to beat the played cards, they have to play the lowest card(s) in their hand.
Playing a high card(s) means that followers are going to be forced to play their highest cards or flush away the low cards in their hand. The twist here is that players need low cards for the final trick of the round.
The Peace Treaty
The final trick of each round is a single card trick called the Peace Treaty. Players will play the final card left in their hand but there will only be one loser in this trick. The player who played the highest card has used too much force during the Peace Treaty and becomes the disgraced house. All other players score points based on half the value of the card they played during the Peace Treaty. The Disgraced House will miss out on this bonus but is given a +1/-1 modifier card that they can use in the next round of the game.
Players score a point for each trick they won during the round plus any bonus points they received during the Peace Treaty. This final trick of each round is really creative. Players who choose not to plan for the end of the round may miss out on a significant number of points.
You also don’t want to hang on to cards that that have too low of a value. By holding on to a 0 value card, you’re guaranteed not to be the disgraced house, but you also don’t score any bonus points during the end of the round.
Samurai Legends
Disgraced House has one more trick up its sleeve in the format of Ally and Advisor cards. At the start of each round, players get one of each. The Ally card will go into your hand and gives a unique ability you can play during the round. The Advisor gives you an additional ability or scoring opportunity and this card sits on the table in front of the player for everyone to see.
Either of these cards can be discarded before the round starts to take a fate token from the supply. These fate tokens allow you to flip your envoy card during the round to the red value at the bottom of the card. More fate tokens means more flexibility during the round. These tokens roll over to future rounds so saving up over a series of rounds isn’t a bad strategy.
Honor in Battle
Disgraced House has enough twists during a round to keep everyone engaged. Players are trying to be the first to earn thirteen points. There’s even a catch up mechanic that gives players a free fate token when they are more than three points behind the lead player.
I think the only thing that I’m lukewarm on is the cat theme of the game. The samurai cat artwork from Parker Simpson is gorgeous in every way. But, it’s not a theme that really drew me into the game. I’ve taught this game to dozens of people and the theme wasn’t a huge selling factor for them. Players really loved how rounds shifted as players utilize Ally and Advisor abilities and force cards from their opponents hands.
As each game advances, the hand sizes of the players decrease based on how close a player is to thirteen points. Rounds become faster with less cards in hand. Leading with a pair of cards will also limit the number of tricks that can be won which is another satisfying strategy.
My very first game was at just 2-players and my expectations were low. Trick-taking games at just two is usually a bust. Disgraced House played really well at 2-players and can be played with up to six.
At the five and six player counts, you play a variant of the game called “Crowded Court”. Players always receive six cards in the round and have a new option to “bow out” during the trick. The first player to do this can play any card(s) they want, intentionally losing the trick and playing their card(s) facedown, ignoring the high/low rules. Bowing out locks other players who play after you from doing this which can be really strategic. There’s even a team play variant in the game that we’ve not played yet, but I’m sure that we’ll dig into that one soon.
Final Thoughts
Disgraced House does just enough to set itself apart from other trick-taking games in our collection. With each card having two values, fate tokens are incredibly important if you want options in your card play. This makes for dynamic gameplay and fun surprises during the game. In a year that was filled with trick-taking games, this one has flown under the radar because of its small print run. Thankfully, Shiny Pigeon Games is bringing this game to a broader audience with a larger print run through Kickstarter.
I really enjoy Disgraced House and it’s a game that I love to teach. It hits the table more often because of how smooth it plays at just two players which has been a huge plus. Don’t miss out on this card game has it hits a broader audience in 2025!
I’m a big fan of spatial reasoning games. Over the years, games like Patchwork and Isle of Cats have always brought me joy. I don’t know if it’s something left over from all the Tetris I played as a child, but figuring out little puzzles to get everything to fit just right is just… fun!
So when I was first introduced to Tiny Towns, I was immediately intrigued. I loved the idea of having to put your resources on the board just right, but adding in different scoring elements? Oh yeah, this one’s gonna hit the spot…
We Built This… Town…
Each player is the mayor of their own… well, tiny town. There’s a back story about creatures and predators and all that, but it’s not really that important.
What is important is that the game tasks you with building structures in the 4×4 grid on your player board. This construction happens by placing resources in the patterns specified by the available buildings. A tavern, for instance, requires two bricks and a glass resource to be placed all in a single line, while the cloister requires four resources in a very particular L-shaped arrangement.
On a turn, one player is designated as the “master builder”. That player announces one resource type, and all players have to add a cube matching that resource to their player board. If anyone has resources in an arrangement that matches a building, they may remove the matching cubes from their player board and place a building token. The building has to be placed on a site where one of the resources was that built the structure.
Watch Where You’re Going
Placement is important for a few reasons. For some of the buildings, you get points based on location. The inn, for example, gets points if it’s not in a row or column with another inn. The bakery gets points if it’s next to buildings of a particular type. You’ll also have to be careful to keep your board open for future buildings. If you don’t leave enough room for the pattern needed for a particular building – well, tough. You won’t be able to create that building for the rest of the game.
If you ever reach a point where you can’t build anything else, then your game is done and your town is complete. You’ll wait for everyone to finish their building, then calculate your points. And, as per usual, the player with the most points at the end of the game wins!
Lookin’ Good
When Tiny Towns hits the table, its charm is immediately evident. The box art is great, and all of the little building meeples are great. The artwork on the different building cards is also wonderful, and it all comes together to create a really attractive look.
The game is also very creative in how it adds variety. Each building meeple is associated with four different building types, and you randomly choose which building for each type at the beginning of the game. It’s a small thing, but it allows for increased replayability without having to have a bunch of components that are only used for certain setups.
Monuments are another element of the game that add a little spice. Each player is dealt two Monument cards at the beginning of the game and select one to keep. These special buildings are unique to each player, and they can provide some major scoring opportunities if used correctly. This small wrinkle ensures that everyone will have their own strategies and approaches as they move through the game.
Like Coming Home
Tiny Towns is a game that strikes a perfect balance for me. It’s simple enough to teach in just a few minutes, but it’s complex enough that I have to weigh my options on each turn to decide what I should do. It’s not so complicated that I will sit for several minutes trying to decide what to do, but it also has enough going on that I feel that my choices are important.
People that don’t like spatial reasoning games are probably going to get a bit frustrated with this title. However, given that you’re not putting down polyominoes or anything like that, maybe it’s easier? I’m not sure.
What I do know is that Tiny Towns is a game that I really enjoy. It’s one that I could play with almost any group, and each time it’s going to be a solid experience. With the addition of a few expansions over the past few years, there’s a ton of variety that can keep people coming back for more. Tiny Towns is a game that I’d recommend for any hobby gamer to add to their collection. It’s certainly one that I’ll be keeping on my shelf for a very long time.
The original game of Scoville was published in 2014 by Tasty Minstrel Games (R.I.P.). This auction and set collecting game has been out of print for a while but is highly regarded by friends who have played it.
For years, I’ve wanted to add this game to our collection but wasn’t ready to spend the money for a used copy. Trick or Treat Games picked up the license and recently published Scoville Second Edition. Now that I’ve played this modern classic from Ed Marriott, does it live up to the hype that was in my head?
Mornings on the Farm
In Scoville, players are pepper farmers who are planting, harvesting, fulfilling pepper orders, and making chili. Each round starts with an auction where players will bid for their turn order in the round. The turn order allows players to choose a pepper card from the auction display, earning the pepper(s) on the card. Choosing your position matters because planting and order fulfillment takes place in turn order, but harvesting takes place in reverse turn order.
Each round follows this order:
Planting: In turn order, players will place a single pepper from their supply into the central board. Peppers will cross-breed with the peppers next to them. Each player has a player aid showing the color pepper that is created between two pepper colors.
Harvest: In reverse turn order, players will move their farmer up to three steps in the garden. The player will harvest a new pepper(s) from the supply based on the two peppers they are between on the board. For example, being between a blue pepper and a yellow pepper will produce a purple pepper.
Fulfillment: In turn order, players can turn in peppers to fulfill cards in the farmers market and/or fulfill a chili recipe card. This is how you earn more money and victory points. Players can also earn money by selling a single color of pepper, earning $1 for every two peppers of that color in the field.
Each game is broken into two halves, the morning and afternoon. Once players trigger the start of the afternoon phase, the auction block will gain better cards and the Farmers Market cards become tougher to fulfill but earn much better rewards.
Players also have three one time use actions that allow them to double-back with their movement, plant an additional pepper, and move an extra step. If you don’t use these special actions, they are worth four victory points each at the end of the game.
A Slow Burn
The gameplay is Scoville is a bit of a slow burn as you increase your pepper supply, gain new pepper colors, and move your way into the outer edges of the field. In your first couple turns, you’ll plant and harvest some of the same peppers. Players can choose to be selfish with their new cross breeds by planting a new pepper color out of reach of the other players.
Once players unlock the coal and white colored peppers, things really open up to fulfill high point chili recipes. Players are always looking to gain white and ghost peppers since they are present on the highest value cards in the game.
Scoville plays up to six players but I would rarely suggest playing with the max number of players. Often, players are referencing the cross-breed player aid and looking at what chili recipes they are close to fulfilling. This can make rounds drag out at the highest player count. If everyone knew how to play the game and had some experience with Scoville, I think playing with six players could be smooth. I would never play with new players at this player count.
When you get into the five and six player count, the pepper field begins to have hot spots where all the best peppers are located. We’ve seen two players break away from the center, dropping important pepper colors as far away as they can in order to limit access to other players. It’s important to watch what other players are doing during the planting phase and anticipate where the best peppers are being placed.
This second edition printing has a lot of upgrades that players should know about. The original printing came with wooden peppers, and colorblind players had big issues with the color choices. Trick or Treat Studios fixed this with new plastic peppers that have a very clear letter embossed on each pepper that helps players to know what color they have. I love the rounded, plastic peppers in the game and think it’s an absolute upgrade from the original wooden ones.
Vincent Dutrait also did a complete overhaul of the artwork which looks fantastic. His signature style is present on the board, cards, game box and even player screens. The board pieces together like a puzzle and is double-sided with the solo player experience on the back.
The game also comes with a brand-new solo experience for players to check out. At the time of this review, I’ve not played it yet, but I’ve been enjoying the game enough that I will absolutely check it out. Also in Scoville Second Edition is the Scoville Labs expansion that many struggled to find for the original game.
Players are given a lab board where they can plant additional peppers, immediately gaining the cross-bred peppers that are created based on adjacency. This expansion also adds a few new cards and will speed up the access to more rare peppers for individual players.
On top of all this, there are new fulfillment cards that haven’t been seen before. The number of chili recipe cards is impressive and no two games will have the same cards. This is nice for replayability.
Final Thoughts
Did Scoville live up to the hype that I had in my head? For the most part, yes.
Scoville has been a “grail game” for me for a long time. It connects with my love of spicy food, gardening, and includes some of my favorite mechanics. I’m a big fan of this game and I think the upgrades that were made in this second edition are fantastic.
I started to appreciate the slow burn of the game in those first few rounds after a couple games. Scoville is a game that is going to take every bit of 60 to 90 minutes but I really enjoy everything it does. Players are always working to fulfill orders, with their turn order in the round playing a very important part. The bidding and turn order felt less important at three players but is absolutely vital at four to six players.
If you missed out on owning the original printing of this game or just want the upgrade, Scoville Second Edition is a great addition to your game collection. This is one that I’m proud to finally have in our collection.
Scoville Second Edition is now available at your local game store, or on the Trick or Treat webstore.
This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.
Highs
Big fan of the updated visuals from Vincent Dutrait
New edition includes new solo experience and Labs expansion
Loads of chili recipes and Farmers Market orders
Bidding mechanic really shines at the higher player counts
Cleariosity is a new title that might tickle the fancy of gamers looking to add a small box word-based game to their collection. The game features dozens of small, square transparent cards that feature a few opaque letters, taking up spaces in a 3×3 grid. Each player is given a stack of these cards that they will all flip simultaneously to begin the game.
Three Letters at a Time
The goal here is to figure out a configuration of cards that can stack on top of each other and spell a three-letter word in one column, row, or diagonal. There are a few rules that apply:
vertical words must start at the top and end at the bottom
words cannot contain any letters that overlap letters from other cards
When a player finds a word, they shout it out and point out their word, then take the cards they used and add them to their scoring pile. Play continues until all combinations of words have been exhausted, at which points players count how many cards are in their scoring pile. Whoever has the most cards wins!
When we played this game, it brought up a lot of memories of the game SET, which I played a ton as a student and later on as a teacher. If you don’t know that one, it involves laying out cards, then trying to find three cards whose shapes meet patterns. While Cleariosity involves letters, you’re still having to use your brain in a similar way.
You have to keep certain things in mind about some cards while you look around at the others. You’re also trying to move quickly, hoping to shout out your word before any other players. It’s the kind of mental gymnastics that can get some players standing, jumping up and down, and shouting out words at the top of their lungs.
Final Thoughts
Cleariosity is quite simple, and it only takes a few minutes, so you can probably sneak it in between your “main” games. Word games don’t always hit with every audience, and there are some who will hate the real-time aspect of the game, so there may be some people who won’t really enjoy this title. For those looking for a new letter-based challenge, though, this could be a good portable game that is worth adding to your collection.
