برچسب: One

3-2-1 Countdown Review – One Board Family
We’ve learned over the years that a card game from Grandpa Beck’s Games is sure to be a good time around the table. 3-2-1 Countdown is a card shedding game released in early 2025 that we’re just now getting a chance to play. Will this retro rocket themed game be a crowd pleaser or will this be a failure to launch?

Countdown

3-2-1 Countdown is for two to eight players and is played over the course of 5 rounds. Each round, players are trying to shed the twelve cards from their hand or at least have the lowest valued hand when the round comes to an end. In higher player count games, you’ll only have ten cards in your hand, but the objective remains the same.

On your turn, you’ll simply discard a card or cards of all the same value to one discard pile, then draw the top card of the other discard pile. If you don’t like the card laying at the top, feel free to draw blind from the top of the deck in the center of the table. Having multiple copies of the same card is a great thing because it means that you can discard all of them at one time, inching your hand of cards closer to empty.

Drawing a new card after discarding can give you a chance of doubling or tripling another card value in your hand, making a future turn even more lucrative. Players are dropping cards and looking for chances to gain lower cards or cards that have synergy with the cards they have in their hand.

Ready to Blast Off

A round of 3-2-1 Countdown will end in one of two ways. If a player is able to discard a final card or cards on their turn, they say “Blast Off” and the round is over. For shedding all their cards, this player gets three points for emptying their hand. All other players share their numerical card totals as they share their hand of remaining cards. The player with the lowest card total gets two points and the next lowest gets one point.

A player can choose to end a round before someone has the opportunity to empty their hand. If a player has five or less points in their hand, they can place their cards face up in front of them, saying “Countdown”. This will end the round, but could be a risky move. If another player has a lower point total in their hand, they will grab the three victory points while the player who initiated this receives nothing. If the player who said “Countdown” did have the lowest total, they receive an additional bonus point, scoring four points. In either case, the next two players with the lowest point totals receive two and one point respectively.

The players that finish outside of the three lowest values don’t receive points, but there’s always next round. Most of our games, we play the full five rounds before totaling the players scores. In a game with six or seven players, we’ll sometimes play three or four rounds for a quicker game.

Mission Control

3-2-1 Countdown has great artwork from Apryl Stott that’s reminiscent of mid-1900’s science fiction. The rocket and color pallet of the game is excellent and works well as you race to shed your cards. I really enjoy the variety of rockets that appear on the eleven different cards in the game (zero to ten).

The card breakdown is weighted to the middle of the deck with the five cards showing up the most frequently. This is important to understand as you make decisions on whether or not to pick up specific numbers after discarding on your turn. Players often shoot immediately for low numbered cards in their first couple games. The problem is that the lower and higher cards in the deck are less plentiful, giving you less card matches in your hand.

While it seems counter intuitive, picking up that six or seven card makes a lot of sense. Chances are that you’ll have a couple of these cards in your hand already. Discarding a pile of cards feels so satisfying as you work to catch the other players off guard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTkIxcd-ujI

Space on our Game Shelf

This game definitely flew under our radar this year. I originally didn’t dig too deep into 3-2-1 Countdown because of the shear number of card games that have shown up in our house over the past year. We had a chance to check the game out at Origins Game Fair in June and we knew this would be a hit for our family and friends.

I’m a little sad that we waited six months to check out this great card shedding game. The game is quick to teach and moves really fast after you get through your first round. I like that players who don’t finish in the top three of the round are locked out of earning points. While scores are pretty low numerically, the games we’ve played have been tight and competitive.

I’m positive that this is one of my top three games that Grandpa Beck’s publishes. It’s going to be tough to take the place of the incredible trick-taking classic Skull King and the ultra mean Cover Your A$$ets. 3-2-1 Countdown is a game that can hit the table after dinner or at the beginning or end of any game night. This is an easy suggestion for anyone who’s looking to introduce a new card game that the whole family can jump into.

3-2-1 Countdown is available at your local game store, through the Grandpa Beck’s webstore or online through Amazon today.

This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.

Highs
- Quick gameplay with a great art style
- Tension near the end of the round is fantastic
- Player interaction in the form of picking up what others discarded
Lows
- Play at the highest player count can drag a little
Complexity

Time Commitment

Replayability
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05/07/2025
Is always simple to understand if an ability is an activated ability rather than a triggered one?

In the Fourth and Fifth edition printings of Verduran Enchantress, her triggered ability that allows her controller to draw a card after successfully casting an enchantment was written as an activated ability:

{0}: Draw a card when you successfully cast an enchantment. Use this effect only once for each enchantment cast.

While this is nearly identical in terms of game effect, the difference in something being an activated ability versus a triggered ability can matter for other cards like Strict Proctor.

Is there an easy way to tell just from this card that the updated Oracle text has turned this into a triggered ability? If not, how do I explain it to another player, especially a beginner, who has the outdated wording of this card?

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05/07/2025
Sony really won’t be putting new first party games on PlayStation Plus day one any time soon

Sony is sticking to its guns, and won’t be releasing its first party games day one on its PlayStation Plus subscription service.

Speaking with GameFile, vice president of global services at PlayStation Nick Maguire said the company was “not looking to put games in day and date” on PS Plus, and will instead stick with its current way of doing things.

This is, of course, very different from Xbox, which often puts big first party releases such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and many more on Game Pass from the get go.

FBC: Firebreak Preview – How Does It Play And Is It Good? Watch on YouTube

Sony, meanwhile, has added some third party games like the excellent Blue Prince and Stray to PS Plus on the same day as their initial launch. But the likes of God of War Ragnarök and Horizon Forbidden West – both from Sony’s first party studios – weren’t added to the service until around a year after their initial release.

“Our strategy of finding four or five independent day-and-date titles – and using that to complement our strategy of bringing games in when they’re 12, 18 months old or older – that balance for us is working really well across the platform,” Maguire continued, before adding:

“If there were six or seven great opportunities, then we would go for them as well.”

When asked if the company had considered the benefit of putting its own first party live-service titles on PS Plus, with Concord – the debut game from Sony’s FireWalk Studios, which was taken offline just two weeks after its PS5 and PC debut – being used as an example, Maguire declined to give a specific comment. The Sony exec did say, however, that PS Plus has “proven itself to be a great way to introduce new players to franchises” when they arrive on the service.

“There’s always going to be a moment for any game where there’s the right time for it to go into Plus, when it’s ready to reach a wider audience or… to find new fans or new parts of our platform that it hasn’t already reached,” Maguire said.

This month, Remedy’s multiplayer Control spin-off FBC: Firebreak was available to all those on PlayStation Plus’ Extra and Premium tiers day one. However, even when included on a subscription service, some live-service games still flop. Square Enix‘s Foamstars, for example, failed to set the world alight despite being part of the PS Plus catalogue.

Would Concord have faired better if it had released on PS Plus? | Image credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Today’s comments echo what the exec stated back in 2023, when Maguire said putting games on to Sony’s subscription service “a bit later in the life cycle” is working for the company. Therefore, this will “continue to be [its] strategy moving forward,” Maguire said at the time.

Earlier this month, meanwhile, Sony president Hideaki Nishino stated the company is open to adjusting the price of PlayStation Plus in the future, as it aims to “maximise profitability”.

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25/06/2025
INKtentions Preview – One Board Family
The octopus is probably one of the most sneaky, clever, and cunning creatures in the ocean. INKtentions is a card game for two to four players that requires players to outsmart their opponents to get the most food in the ocean. The game is designed by Matthew Kambic with artwork from Chris Adams, and is being published by MaKa Games. Let’s jump into the deep end and learn more about INKtentions.

Delicious Ocean Food

Each player has a stack of nine cards, all the same, with the players color represented on the back of their cards. Over the course of the round, players will add eight of these cards into the display in the center of the table. The goal is to snag some of the delicious sea life (food) found in the center of the table. Each food tile has a different scoring method and you don’t want to end the round hungry.

At the start of INKtentions, you’ll choose the food tiles that you’ll compete for in the center of the table. The game comes with nine different food tiles that all score differently. Based on the player count, you’ll select five, six, or seven of these tiles to put in the center of the table. Players will play their cards off of the edge of these tiles as they compete to eat these underwater morsels.

INKtentions plays over the course of three rounds as you accumulate tiles to get your final score. Let’s talk about what the cards do.

Eight Arms of Fun

Players take turns around the table playing cards onto any food tile they want. These cards are played facedown, adding to the growing tentacle until they reach the card limit (based on player count). At the end of the round, you’ll go tentacle by tentacle, turning over cards and resolving them one at a time. Here is what each card type does:
- Hunt cards (x3) allow you to take a food tile at the base of that tentacle as long as this card isn’t eaten.
- Shark cards (x1) will eat any Hunt cards to the left and right of this card.
- Eel cards (x1) will eat a single Hunt card to the left or right of this card, chosen by the player who played the Eel card.
- Ink cards (x1) will cause a Shark card that is adjacent to go away.
- Hide & Hunt cards (x1) are immune to Shark and Eel cards, allowing the player to nab a food tile at the base of that tentacle.
There are two additional cards in the players hand that get played directly in front of the player and not in the center of the table. The Punch card lets you move a card from one tentacle to another uncapped tentacle. Finally, the Octobility card will let the player pull a special ability tile that was set out at the start of the round.

Octobilities give players a unique ability that will be used immediately or when directed on the tile. These abilities allow you to play your ninth card, swap a card on the table with one from your hand, gain a point and peek at a card, cap a tentacle and more. With every player having the same card set, you’re looking to outwit your opponents each round.

Underwater Deduction

The heart of INKtentions is a programming game where players are trying to predict what their opponents are playing. The Hunt & Hide card is the only guarantee of earning a food tile. Playing your Shark and Eel card at just the right time will take out another players Hunt card. One of the most devious moves in the game is using a Punch card to move another players Shark card to cancel out their Hunt card.

Since everything is played facedown, you’re going purely off intuition and anticipating players strategies. I’m a fan of programming games like Colt Express, Mountains Out of Molehills, and How to Rob a Bank. Players are trying to bluff or misdirect the other players with their card play. INKtentions shines when players catch on to their opponents patterns and block them from getting the food that gives them victory points.

Final Thoughts

Scoring in INKtentions feels a lot like Sushi Go or Bugs on Rugs. The scoring variety across the different food tiles works really well. Players have to diversify which foods they go for since your opponents can easily block you when you focus on a single food source.

The way cards build the arms of the octopus from the center of the table makes for a great table presence. Players who enjoy deduction, programming, and hand management games will really enjoy INKtentions.

You can visit the Kickstarter campaign for INKtentions when it launches on June 10, 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.
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10/06/2025
Beach Day Preview – One Board Family

For many people, the beach is the epidemy of rest and relaxation. The sun, sand, and ocean waves can wash away the stress of our everyday life. I’m not in that group of people. Sand and myself are mortal enemies that have been in a battle since my teenage years. Thankfully, games like Beach Day from CakePie Games exist so I don’t have to actually be on a beach to enjoy this atmosphere.

Beach Day is a tile placement game for 1 to 5 players that’s illustrated by Ammon Anderson (Gnome Hollow) and designed by Brennan Smith and Josh Bowman. This small box game brings all the joy of the beach as you chase victory points and stay away from pesky sand.

Fun in the Sun

Each player is adding cards to their own beach tableau on their turn, chasing five global goals and their own unique goal. You’ll receive two crab cards at the start of the game, discarding one and keeping the other. This is a personal scoring goal that is unique to just you.

Everyone starts with a single tile 2×2 card that is marked with a sea turtle in one of the corners. This sea turtle is important and can never be covered by another card.

On your turn, you can take two cards from the top of the draw pile, placing one and discarding the other to one of the two discard piles. OR, you can take and place one of the top cards on either of the discard piles. In adding a new card to your beach, you can place it adjacent to another card or overlap another previously placed card. Overlapping is generous in this game since you can cover one or more of the four squares on a card. You can never place a card diagonally adjacent or tuck a card under another previously placed card.

Beach Activities

On the cards in Beach Day, you’ll find beachballs, sand castles, pools of water, shells, sand dollars, and even trash. Each item on the beach has a different method of scoring based on the goal cards that were chosen at the start of the game. Beachball halves need to be paired with another half in order to be scored. Sea shells score the most when grouped in contiguous paths.

Don’t forget about your crab card! That secret scoring criteria can be helpful in outscoring your opponent. Players will watch how each beach is being built at the table. In many of our games, the score has been tight and competitive which is exactly how we like our games.

Since the goal cards in the game are double-sided, players can pick their favorite scoring cards each and every game. Once you get a couple games under your belt, you’ll start to enjoy some goals more than others. The game gives you the agency to just pick your favorites and run with it.

After the draw pile is empty, players score based on the goal cards and crab card that each player has. The highest score wins.

Final Thoughts

Like a day at the beach, Beach Day is a relaxing and breezy time at the game table. The small box makes this a great game to throw into a bag or to play over a meal. It’s easy to understand how everything is scored and the placement rules are straight-forward.

Beach Day is a filler game that is going to check a lot of boxes for anyone looking for a quick game that you can take on the go. The gameplay and theme absolutely go hand-in-hand with this release.

Beach Day is being funded through Kickstarter starting in June from CakePie Games. 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.

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04/06/2025
Everdell Duo Review – One Board Family
Everdell has been a huge presence in the hobby since its release in 2018. With more than half a dozen expansions and multiple editions of the game, it’s tough to know where to jump into this award winning worker placement game. Thankfully, Everdell Duo is a less intimidating 2-player game that seems to be a prefect ramp into this universe.

Woodland Communities

Everdell Duo is a 2-player focused experience where players are building their forest focused communities over the series of four seasons. One player takes the role of the tortoise while the other player plays as the hare. In the competitive play mode, players work to build out their woodland village with structures and inhabitants. You’ll have three workers to place and a variety of resources that can be earned and spent.

Cards are available from a draw deck or from the central board. These cards each have a cost that has to be paid before they are added to your tableau. Cards offer end game scoring, new worker placement spots, resources, or coins (which are your victory points). Like it’s older board game sibling, Everdell Duo is an incredibly cute game. With artwork from Andrew Bosley and Enggar Adirasa, this game draws you into its nature themed world.

The Sun and the Moon

Each round of Everdell Duo is tracked using a sun and moon token that moves through the center of the board. When players place a worker, the moon token moves along the track. When a player plays a card, the sun token moves along the track. Picking up a card from the deck or meadow (board) allows the player to advance either token, their choice. These sun and moon tokens keep the game moving and have strategic value as you try to lock out your opponent from using their final worker.

There are standard worker placement spots on the board along with two river spaces that get swapped out each round. Players are primarily collecting resources from these spots. Berries, twigs, pebble, and resin resources are used throughout the game to pay for cards and add them to your tableau. I’m a big fan of how tactile these resources are.

Cards are either categorized as creature or construction. These cards offer new worker placement locations, production bonuses, additional resources, coins (victory points), and end gaming scoring. Finding synergies across these cards is a big part of the game.

Seasons Come and Go

Across the top of the meadow is a set of locations where players can claim events that are randomly chosen at the start of the game. Players can claim these events if they meet the requirements of the tile, resulting in additional victory points. Since these are first come, first serve, players want to commit to chasing specific tiles as they build out their tableau.

At the end of the fourth season, players count their victory points, coins, bonuses, awarded events, and any end game scoring from cards.

Everdell Duo is a really straight-forward 2-player experience with great components (for the most part). While I love the high quality resources in the game, it feels like the sun and moon tokens could have been a little better. These are just cardboard trackers and pale in comparison with the resource components.

The sun and moon tracker is being moved each and every turn and is an important part of the game. It’s also the item that is forgotten about the most often. I’ve played Everdell Duo against four different people and moving these trackers are forgotten about a few times each game. It’s an upkeep step that is often tough to remember.

Cooperative Gameplay

In the cooperative game mode, both players are working together to build a single city that is flourishing with life. Players work their way through a book that has over a dozen chapters which guide the players through a story. You’ll have goals to achieve, and the setup will be slightly different each time.

Players will deal with skunk tokens that block out different locations during the course of the game. The skunks get in your way and keep you from getting exactly what you need. You can choose to take on a single chapter or work through a campaign where you name your city and track your progress over time.

This co-op experience is a great option for players who are looking for a new way to play. It works really well and is perfect for players who don’t mind working together with another person. This is also a great option for anyone who wants to play the game with a younger gamer. Some chapters allow you to share resources or cards, while other chapters are more restrictive.

Final Thoughts

Everdell Duo has quickly become part of our weekend gaming rhythm. Erin and I really enjoy playing this game over breakfast during a chill weekend. The game has enough cards that it’s impossible to see all the cards during a single game. There is a lot of replayability because event cards and the river location tiles are randomized each game.

With two different ways to play, Everdell Duo is a great option for players looking to change things up after a couple of games. While jumping into Everdell feels a little intimidating, Everdell Duo is a fantastic way to experience this world as a newcomer.

If you already own Everdell (along with some of the expansions), I’m not entirely sure Everdell Duo is a must buy. This new game does a great job of removing some of the “fluff” of the original and streamlines the game in plenty of ways. The setup and speed of play is the biggest selling point when compared to the original. If these aspects are important to you, you should check out this release.

For gamers who play games at the 2-player count often, Everdell Duo is an excellent purchase. The setup is quick, the mechanics are clean, and the game is one that we’re going to enjoy for a long time.

Everdell Duo is now available at your local game store or through the Tabletop Tycoon webstore.

This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.

Highs
- Mostly great components and excellent art
- Variable events and river locations each game
- Speedy setup and smooth gameplay
Lows
- Moving the sun and moon tokens are often overlooked
- Wish the box had some level of organization
Complexity

Time Commitment

Replayability
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29/05/2025
If I double (takeout) after the opponents have bid two different suits, does the takeeout apply to "both" bids or only the most recent one?

My left hand opponent dealt and bid one diamond. Partner passed. My right hand opponent bid one spade. I wanted to double one diamond, but not one spade, with the following hand: ♠KQT5 ♡K92 ♢2 ♣ KT653.

So I passed. Left hand opponent rebid two diamonds. Partner and right hand opponent passed. Now I doubled, because the last opposing bid was diamonds.

Partner’s distribution was 4-3-4-2, with xxx in hearts and Qx in clubs. She passed because she had four cards each and her remaining seven honor points in suits bid by the opponents, and she thought she was "playing defense." She didn’t want to bid one of her short "round" suits (clubs or hearts)to take out my double.

I told her, "I had four spades to support a spade bid, and a only a singleton diamond opposite your four diamonds. We were not strong enough to defend, but we were strong enough to play two spades" (RHO opponent had five little ones for his bid).

Partner thought that my double showed shortness in both the opponents suits. I say that my bidding pattern showed shortness only in diamonds and suggested strength in spades. Are either of these interpretations more nearly correct than the other? Or do some world class partnerships use one, and some the other?

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25/05/2025
Parks Second Edition Review – One Board Family
Parks was a monumental hit for Keymaster Games when it was released in 2019. We backed the original printing while on Kickstarter and it quickly became a game night staple. Parks is still one of my wife’s favorite games of all time.

The second edition of Parks was released this Spring and this box contains more than a minor facelift for this modern classic. In this review, I’ll cover some of the changes to the game and hopefully help you decide if this new edition should hike its way into your collection.

A Hike in the Woods

Throughout a game of Parks, players are hiking trails, collecting tokens that can be turned in to experience National Parks that roll out during the game. There are gear cards that help you along the way. Players can take photos that are worth victory points at the end of the game. In the original game, you would hike the trail a total of four times, with each trail being slightly longer than the last.

In Parks Second Edition, you can tell that time and experience has led to a tighter and more refined game. First off, the rulebook has been tweaked, refined and structured in a way that is easy to digest. Instead of taking four hikes on trails that grow throughout the game, players now hike three times on a trail that has a set number of spaces. The overall playtime doesn’t seem to be impacted and we never felt like we were missing out on the fourth hike of the game.

The trail is now built into the central board and the perks at each trail site are tied to tokens that are distributed before each round. You still get the variability, it just happens differently. Players are still given two hikers to walk the trail, with the ability to extinguish their campfire if you want to share a space with another hiker. Landing on a trail site lets you take the action on the token and collect any weather tokens that are available from the trails setup at the start of the round.

As you reach the trail’s end, you’ll get to determine what final action your hiker takes and gain a bonus if you’re the first to take that action. Once there is only a single player left on the trail, they proceed to the trail’s end to take their final action(s).

New Additions

In the six years since Parks original release, we’ve seen two different expansions that add new mechanics and depth to the game. Inside this second edition is a good chunk of the content from those two expansion. Some of the cards from the Wildlife expansion is present in the game as well as the camping mechanic from the Nightfall expansion. Keymaster Games has also included a specialty die that was part of the Trails game published in 2021.

Not every element from these expansions came over and I think this is a good thing. It feels like the best parts from each of these properties made the final cut. The Camping Mode is something that you can add into your game or leave out entirely. Your choice.

When your hiker lands on a trail site with a tent token, you can take the normal resources on the site or utilize the tent to take the resources on any open Campsite. Adding in this bonus content and rebalancing the game feels really good.

Players will notice a new Passions card in this new edition of the game. This replaces the goal cards from the previous edition and is given to players at the start of the game. Completing a Passions card allows the player to earn a gear effect or earn an end game bonus.

The Upgrades

Let’s talk about some of the upgrades that Parks Second Edition brings. First off, I really love the player boards that come with this new edition. These boards show a backpack representing the number of tokens you can carry along with your canteen on the left side of the board. Visually, these are excellent and the canteen mechanic has been revamped.

When gaining a canteen, players now add a token from the central board onto their player board. When you add water to your canteen, you can trigger the tokens in that row, earning those bonuses. This gives players more control and agency as they plan for future rounds. Each canteen has three rows, allowing for three different combinations of tokens that can be paired up.

The camera from the original Parks has been replaced with the Shutterbug token. This token gives the player holding it the ability to take a second photo each time they are given this opportunity.

Probably the most divisive change in this new edition has to be the art and illustrations on each of the sixty-three parks cards. The original game was built off of the Fifty-Nine Parks series. This series of art prints brought together some incredible artists that has raised more than $225,000 for National Parks since 2016. This artwork is beautiful, inspiring, and at times, inconsistent.

This artwork was part of a licensing deal that made Parks stand out within our hobby. While I loved the original art direction, I think that the artwork from Josh Emrich and Lisk Feng is stunning. As a package, the artwork and design works together so well. Each National Park card feels unique but there is a cohesiveness that wasn’t their in the original game.

Art is so subjective and every person will have an opinion on which version they prefer. I personally feel that this game is more consistent throughout because of the focused work of the two illustrators who worked on Parks Second Edition.

Final Thoughts

As a fan of the original Parks, this is an easy game to suggest for nature loving board gamers. I think the changes inside this box make sense as Keymaster Games moves away from licensing agreements that could challenge future printings and expansions of the Parks game line.

Parks Second Edition is a streamlined, well built, and cohesive game that improves on the original. The MSRP of $50 to $59 for this new edition may feel like a lot for a person who owns the original. The first edition of Parks is not broken and is still a fantastic game. More than anything, this new edition feels like an upgrade that is preparing for more Parks content in the future. That’s something I’m excited about.

Parks Second Edition is available now at your local game store, on the Keymaster Games webstore, or at your local Barnes & Noble.

Highs
- Gameplay feels streamlined, refined, and cohesive
- Player boards and new canteen mechanics are excellent
- Minimal setup for the trail between rounds
- Entire package is top of the line and beautiful
Lows
- Art is subjective and some won’t like the change
Complexity

Time Commitment

Replayability
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22/05/2025
Does Wounded Waters Bleeding’s Serene Waters trigger multiple times in one power for Dahan movement?
I was playing Wounded Waters Bleeding for the first time yesterday, and noticed an odd wording discrepancy in the Serene Waters Healing Card (included below). I couldn’t find anything directly addressing it in the FAQ. If I push Dahan into multiple different lands with one Power (assuming they’re all my lands), do I get to downgrade multiple Invaders or just one? (The "one of your lands" phrasing in the Dahan pushing sentence that isn’t in the Invaders pushing sentence is tripping me up.)

Specific example: assume for this example all lands have at least one of my presence. With one Power (i.e. Swirl and Spill), I push 2 Dahan and 2 Towns from one of my lands, each into different lands. Do I get:
1. 4 downgrades (the 2 towns and 2 Invaders in the Dahans’ new lands) – pretty sure not this one
2. 3 downgrades (1 town and 2 Invaders in the Dahans’ new lands)
3. 2 downgrades (1 town and 1 Invader in one of the Dahans’ new lands)
Thoughts?

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14/05/2025
Shallow Regrets Preview – One Board Family

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.

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07/05/2025