This game was taught to me years ago, using a regular deck of cards.
Setup:
Play:
Roblox Project Egoist is the latest Blue Lock Rivals game on the block and it’s one of the best ones ever. It’s got amazing visuals, audio design, and best of all flashy styles. What better way to get info on everything than with the official Project Egoist Trello board and Discord server.
Here’s every link you need to get informed on all things Project Egoist:
Related: Project Egoist Styles Tier List
I would start with the Trello first because it’s essentially a Wiki on the game filled with useful content information. You can get a better idea of what styles you want to roll for or which cosmetics to get. The Trello has info on:
Overall, it’s you go-to source for everything in the game. Once you have a basic idea you can also dive into the Discord and its various chats. It’s the best place to ask more specific questions about the game like the best styles or best moves from each style and discuss the game.
It’s a prime-time place for advice and tips and tricks as well as tier lists. But that’s not all, it’s also important to stay tuned to the Announcements and Updates channels to see the latest content additions or buffs and nerfs to existing content. The devs keep an updated track of everything that’s going on.
Lastly, it’s where you can find the latest codes for the game and also participate in giveaways and sneak peeks. Free stuff is best stuff. That’s it for my Project Egoist Trello board and Discord server guide. Check out our Project Egoist codes for free goodies to get you started in style.
Ice Code Games, creator of Hard West 2 and last year’s Rogue Waters, has made a niche for itself in mashing up tactical combat design with supernaturally-infused historical settings. Hard West and its sequel take place in a 19th-century American West haunted by demonic creatures whereas Rogue Waters offers strategic pirate swashbuckling in monster-filled seas. Now, the studio is continuing in a similar vein with the announcement of its latest project, a blend of Hunt Showdown and XCOM 2 called Nightmare Frontier.
Nightmare Frontier looks, at first blush, like a spiritual successor to the Hard West games. It, too, is a kind of strategy game set in the American West, where players have to contend with bloodthirsty monsters. From this foundation on up, though, it takes a pretty different approach, adding a risk-reward focused style of design to Hard West’s formula.
In Nightmare Frontier, players control a group of desperate scavengers in a mission to find and collect loot in a town regularly attacked by creatures called Dreadweavers. As in extraction shooters like Hunt Showdown, the scavengers have to decide how long to fight off enemies, gathering increasing rewards as the danger grows, before it’s time to escape or risk losing what they’ve gained. When the player isn’t fighting, they’ll need to craft and upgrade their gear from the resources they’ve gathered and unlock new skills in preparation for their next round of combat.
Nightmare Frontier is set to launch in Early Access on Steam this summer. Wishlist it or find more information on its Steam page right here.
Otherwise, you can bide the time between now and Nightmare Frontier’s launch by taking a look at our picks for the best horror games and best action-adventure games already out on PC.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.
Hello, and welcome to The Treehouse’s new agony aunt column!
I’m Chella, whom you may have met if you’ve visited The Treehouse before. It’s possible I taught you a party game, let you know that we had some corner brownies available in the cake display rack, or served you a Birdhouse Tea.
Now you can get to know another side of me as the arbiter of both real and theoretical board game conundrums (including whether or not there exists a board game called Conundrum – there are two!) and you can send in questions from the comfort of your own home.
More on that later. For now, I will share with you my credentials… OK, I have no ‘official’ agony aunt credentials but I have worked at The Treehouse since our opening day, witnessed a lot of gaming and played plenty of board games myself (and with others!) and in that time I have helped solve many a game-related query.
Those questions were answered in person though, and the answers drifted into the board game aether. Now, in these uncertain days as we get back to board gaming in person, we felt it worthwhile to archive future answers in the annals of gaming history as a community resource, talking point, and a bit of fun. Lofty ambitions? Probably. Over-egging the importance of this column? Almost definitely!
But that’s sort of the theme of today’s column as I present to you our first question:
Dear Treehouse team,
Please help! I’ve started dating a perfectly decent guy. My family loves him, he is an upstanding citizen, and he is very cute. But, there is a problem. Whenever we play board games together, he has a habit of doing this thing where he goes into what I can only call “gamesplainer mode”. I am calling it this because it is quite different to the way a human person would naturally and casually explain the rules to a game.
Instead, his normally jocular and mild-mannered tone morphs into something between a gameshow host, home shopping channel salesperson, and gladiator. Suddenly, winning and losing becomes a life-and-death struggle but, crucially, not understanding the rules or making a mistake when it is my turn suddenly feels like a crime.
I love playing board games with him but I dread unboxing a new game or playing one he’s played before and I haven’t. He even does it at other people’s houses and I cringe inside when I see ‘the fear’ spreading to them. How can I tell him that he can just be himself while explaining again and we will still listen and learn the rules?
Yours sincerely,
Gamesplained in Greystones
Thank you for your excellent question.
Firstly, I very much appreciate how you have differentiated between “game explainers” and “gamesplainers”. I think we can agree (and not just because it’s my favourite part of the job) that game explainers provide a valuable service in helping people get started on a new game quickly. Some folks are delighted by a twenty-eight-page rulebook, but others will take one look at that alongside the pile of stuff that came out of the box and be grateful that someone is willing to act as their lifeline. So just to be clear, we love a game explainer.
But then there are the gamesplainers. Those who let the power of superior knowledge go to their heads. Those who enjoy explaining the game more than the players may ever enjoy eventually playing it, who dive in without checking whether people already know the rules, and may even carry on explaining what other players should do on their turns even once the game has begun, and, potentially, long after all of the guests have gone home.
It’s easy enough to dismiss this as bombast, pomposity, or desperation to remain the focal point of the game night even at the expense of irritating or belittling fellow players. If that is what’s going on though, maybe gaming together should not be in your future. And if that’s a game changer (sorry), maybe it’s the relationship that’s not right.
But if you simply find yourself rolling your eyes or sighing as your partner shifts gears into gamesplainer mode, I invite you to see this from another perspective…
From what I’ve witnessed, gamesplainers are most often simply game enthusiasts who allow their joy to spill over a little too freely (OK, sometimes freely enough to make me wish I were a gelatinous cube who could seep into the floor while hearing all about worker placement vs. tile placement, or fantasise about what I’d do if I really were Ursula or the Red Queen as an asymmetrical game is explained to me for the umpteenth time). But, for now, let’s assume your partner loves gaming so much that he nerds out, takes to an imagined game podium and gives the fantasy “Board Games Are Amazing And This One In Particular” lecture for the ages right there at the dining-room-table-turned-lecture-hall of his mind.
I want to know what is the maximum number of legal move choices from any board position, in the game of checkers, assuming official rules.
I’m creating a program that plays checkers, and for performance reasons, I need to know in advance the largest number of legal moves. I expect it to be quite low, like under 50, but just making a guess is not an option for me.
I searched for this, but couldn’t find an answer. Maybe I missed something.
Edit:
Thinking for a moment, I think (one of) the largest theoretical number(s) of legal moves might be where all 12 pieces are kings, like in the position W:WK5,K6,K7,K8,K13,K14,K15,K16,K21,K22,K23,K24:BK30, which has 42 legal moves. That position is not valid and is not possible to occur. I’m more interested though in the largest possible moves from a valid checkers position. An upper bound might be fine.
Screenshot by The Escapist
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Untitled Drill Game is a new tycoon/idle game where you drill for ore, sell that ore for profit, and then use that profit to drill for even more ore. Needless to say, there’s a lot to know about this game, and a good way to stay up to date is through the Untitled Drill Game Trello and Discord links.
The Untitled Drill Game is chock-full of content, and one great way to learn about it is to engage with its X Page, Discord, and official Trello board. Here are the links:
If you want to be the first to know what’s going on with Roblox Untitled Drill Game, then the Discord page is your best bet. The server currently has just under 20k members, and around 5k of them are active. Here you can chat with the community and the devs, learn about future updates, or just troll the general chat with your favorite gif (not recommended).
The official X page is also a good source of codes and special promotions. Most Roblox games don’t bother to make an X page, so it’s nice to see that the Untitled Drill Game is going the extra mile.
Last but not least, we have the official Trello page, which is definitely one of the better Roblox Trello boards we’ve seen in a while.
The Trello page contains information such as:
If you’re planning to play the Untitled Drill Game seriously, we definitely recommend you check out the Trello board, especially the Efficiency Spreadsheet.
That’s all there is to it. Have fun playing the Untitled Drill Game. If you haven’t already, check out our Untitled Drill Game codes (coming soon) for some free stuff in the game.
It’s summer! And it’s actually been warm! Ridiculously warm! And sunny! Ridiculously sunny! You may have decided to venture outdoors, or even outside of Sheffield for holiday-related fun times over the coming weeks. But if you, dear readers, are anything like us here at the Treehouse, you will be incorporating games into your travel plans.
Yes, I know this summer is different than most, and we can lament not being able to play Carcassonne in Carcassonne, play Santorini in Santorini, or the dream: play Jaipur in Jaipur while drinking a bottle of Thornbridge Jaipur IPA (this may just be my dream). But we are big fans of making our own fun, and so here is a roundup of games for holidays and it goes out to our tribe whom we know will play them rain or shine, Near and Far (available in our library). Read on for a round up of travel games for everyone.
We are an island nation, and although Sheffield may not have a coastline, we’re surrounded by water (sometimes more than we would like!). I am a beach girl and wild swimmer at heart, so this first group of games is for anyone who’ll be out on the water, or relaxing in the sand, games in tow. Some of these games fit into other categories below, but I wanted to give a special mention to games that are easy to clean and conveniently play well near sand, water and even ice lollies.
Blokus: This colourful abstract strategy game looks like a very cool analogue version of Tetris but the goal is to fill up the board, not empty it. It can be played by up to four players but works well as a two player game and even has a variation that allows for solitaire mode. Without any text it is easy for kids to pick up and for multilingual groups to play. It’s not necessarily travel sized in the traditional sense but the box is flat and very easy to slip into a suitcase or car boot. I should mention there are some small bits involved, but nothing that a picnic blanket couldn’t contain, and the plastic pieces and board are easy to clean.
Bananagrams: This Scrabble free-for-all only requires a flat surface to play and each player races to complete their own crossword-style grid in front of them using only the letters they’ve picked up. You can play it alone or up to a group of eight, but eight can get kind of frantic. It’s most enjoyable for two to five players in my experience. And it comes in a cute little fabric banana bag. The whole thing is sand-proof and washable.
Cobra Paw: Cobra Paw has a cardboard box, which will admittedly get a bit battered the further it strays from your admirably arranged board game shelf. You can accept this hazard, or store the components in a travel bag… or even do as some friends of mine have done and create a special travel box that helps you both store the pieces more compactly, and immediately see if one is missing so that you don’t leave the campsite without it. Cobra Paw is a very speedy matching game for two to six players requiring quick reflexes and good observational skills. It relies on rolling dice and matching symbols on domino shapes and has the extra competitive mechanic of stealing pieces from other players if they are not quick enough to defend them. It is suitable for both adults and kids to enjoy, as long as neither are tantrum-prone when they’re not winning!
Qwirkle: This one comes in a big-ish box, but don’t be discouraged. Inside the box is a bag of tiles and you can easily take it on holiday with you in the bag and leave the box on your aforementioned beautiful game shelf. You’ll need a large, stable playing surface because these tiles get layed out sort of like dominos and there is no limit to how far you can place them other than the table’s edge. This is a pattern- and colour-matching strategy game for two to four players and is also family friendly and requires no reading. It can be difficult to master for younger players but they may just enjoy making patterns with some of the shapes. You may need pen and paper or a phone to keep score as you and your opponents aim to use up all of the tiles by placing them in sets of matching or contrasting shapes and colours. The design is simple and bright and would suit an outdoor playing table.
GTA 6 has just gotten a second trailer. Yep, I repeat, trailer two is here, this is not a drill.
Of course, it does come after the game’s release was delayed last week. After all the speculation it might be pushed back and Rockstar sticking to that vague Fall release window for ages, GTA 6‘ll be dropping on May 26, 2026.
You can check out our latest look at it above.
“We are very sorry that this is later than you expected,” Rockstar wrote in its Newswire post announcing the delay last week, “The interest and excitement surrounding a new Grand Theft Auto has been truly humbling for our entire team. We want to thank you for your support and your patience as we work to finish the game.
“With every game we have released, the goal has always been to try and exceed your expectations, and Grand Theft Auto VI is no exception. We hope you understand that we need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve.
This is a breaking story, so we’ll add more deets soon.
If I have Laelia, the Blade Reforged with 12 +1/+1 counters on it, and a player gets it through Illicit Auction, does Laelia, the Blade Reforged keep its +1/+1 counters?
How does being an Oblivion Remastered vampire work? We get it, sometimes you need to add a little sparkle sparkle to your life in Cyrodiil. And what better way is there to do that than to inherit the skin (and powers) of a supernatural killer?
Whether you’re looking to become a vampire in Oblivion Remastered or need to cure vampirism before you have to cancel that sunny holiday to Hammerfell in the RPG, we’ve got everything you need to know about the affliction. To help you make that big decision, we’ve even broken down what makes becoming a vampire in Oblivion worth it, as well as the pesky drawbacks (silver) bolted on.
You become a Vampire in Oblivion through the Porphyric Hemophilia disease.
This is contracted by taking damage from an afflicted person or creature, such as vampires in dungeons like Memorial Cave southeast of the Imperial City, Crowhaven northwest of Anvil, or one of the many named forts you’ll find infested on your travels.
One easy location is in the Imperial City itself. Head down into the Imperial City sewers through the town’s many floor grates, follow the tunnels until you arrive under the arena’s Bloodworks, and you should find two vampires there.
You’re also given the open opportunity to become a vampire by Vicente Valtiera at the end of the Dark Brotherhood questline.
The effects only kick in once you rest in a bed 72 hours after the event. This makes dealing with it early much simpler than leaving the wound to fester.
To cure Vampirism in Oblivion Remastered, you have two options depending on the state of the disease. You can either consume an item with Cure Disease (or visit a shrine) within 72 hours of the bite or, if you’ve already succumbed to it, by speaking with Raminus Polus at the Arcane University in Skingard and completing the lengthy Vampire Cure questline.
The Cure Vampire questline is a long fetch quest involving five empty Grand Soul Gems, Bloodgrass, Garlic, Nightshade, the Blood of an Argonian, and the Ashes of Hindaril. Here’s how to get each item:
| Item | Location |
| Grand Soul Gems (x5) | Sometimes found in dungeon loot (when above level 11) or stolen from display cases. |
| Bloodgrass (x2) | Tall red grass is commonly stocked at Alchemy stores or found growing by Oblivion gates. |
| Garlic (x6) | A common sight in houses or sold at shops and inns |
| Nightshade (x5) | Found around the West Weald or bought at the Alchemy shop in the Imperial City. |
| Argonian Blood | Stab an Argonian with the Enchanted Dagger. |
| Ashes of Hindaril | Kill Hindaril in Redwater Slough. |
After turning in the ingredients to complete the quest, Melisande will provide you with the Cure for Vampirism potion. Use it from your Potions tab to be cured, becoming immune to Vampirism in the process.
While you can contract the Porphyric Hemophilia disease after being cured this way, it acts like a standard debilitating debuff and can be removed through normal means. Sleeping while afflicted won’t turn you back into a Vampire.
Becoming a Vampire in Oblivion has various benefits and drawbacks, like resistance to damage, bonuses to Strength, Willpower, Speed, Acrobatics, Athletics, Destruction, Hand to Hand, Illusion, Mysticism, Sneak, access to unique skills, and a chronic aversion to sunlight.
These pros and cons can fluctuate, with the benefits growing stronger the longer you go without feeding, though amplifying the cons of being a servant of the night as well. Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons:
| Time between feeding | Skills/Attributes | Normal weapon resistance | Ability | Ability effect |
| 1 day (25%) | +5 | 5% | Hunter’s Sight | Applies Night Eye (30 seconds) and Detect Life (100ft for 30 seconds) |
| 2 days (50%) | +10 | 10% | Vampire’s Seduction | Applies Charm for 50 points for 20 seconds once per day. |
| 3 days (75%) | +15 | 15% | Reign of Terror | Applies Silence for 60 seconds and Demoralize (on level <7 target) for 60 seconds once per day. |
| 4+ days (100%) | +20 | 20% | Embrace of Shadows | Night Eye for 90 seconds and Invisibility for 180 seconds. |
| Time between feeding | Fire weakness | Damage from the sun |
| 1 day (25%) | 20% | 0 HP per second |
| 2 days (50%) | 30% | 1 HP per second |
| 3 days (75%) | 40% | 4 HP per second |
| 4+ days (100%) | 50% | 8 HP per second |
Given you only take damage from the sun at Stage 2 of hunger, you can maintain some of the benefits of being a Vampire in Oblivion while maintaining the ability to sit in the sun by feeding every day.
Feeding once will return you to Stage 1 (25%) no matter which stage you’re currently on.
Becoming a vampire doesn’t unlock any unique quests outside of the one needed to cure you.
You won’t attract unwanted attention from anyone for being a vampire, but you will need to limit your exposure to the sun at higher levels. This can make exploring Cyrodiil (and taking on quests) uniquely difficult.
If you’re looking to avoid making a spectacle of your need to consume the blood of other humanoids, it’s best to target places where hosts frequently sleep.
Camps and inns make feeding easy for this reason. The unlucky victims are unlikely to notice, witnesses are scarce, and you won’t have to worry about the sunlight.
If you can’t handle the thought of completing a lengthy sidequest to right the wrong of becoming a vampire, take a break with the best RPGs on PC right now.
Published: May 6, 2025 10:39 am