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This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames. Game: Kapital! Designer: Michel Pincon & Monique Pincon-Charlot Year: 2019 Country: France Publisher: Vastapaino Kapital! is a French game about modern life in a capitalist society dominated by entrenched class interests. In terms of game design, it’s rudimentary, with a simple racing game structure Continue Reading

This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames. Game: Puerto Rico Designer: Andreas Seyfarth Year: 2002 Country: Germany Publisher: Lautapelit.fi In Finland, there’s a boardgame called Afrikan tähti (Eng. The Star of Africa) which has a special place in our national boardgame discourse. It’s one of those games everyone has played as Continue Reading

This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames. Game: Wingspan Designer: Elizabeth Hargrave Year: 2019 Country: U.S.A. Publisher: Stonemaier Games In the last five years or so, it has felt like everyone I know is playing Wingspan, so it was high time for me to play it as well. It’s a fairly Continue Reading

This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames. Game: Caverna – The Cave Farmers Designer: Uwe Rosenberg Year: 2013 Country: Germany Publisher: Lookout Games Caverna is a great example of how the theme affects the gameplay experience. It’s essentially a reimplementation of Agricola, to the degree that the rulebook tells you which Continue Reading

This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames. Game: Harmonies Designer: Johan Benvenuto Year: 2024 Country: France Publisher: Libellud Based on the title, I assumed Harmonies had something to do with music but in fact it’s a game about building different types of animals harmonious habitats. It’s a pretty abstract game, somewhat Continue Reading

This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames. Game: Splendor Designer: Marc André Year: 2014 Country: France Publisher: Lautapelit.fi For my money, the most difficult type of game to design must be streamlined, elegant games based on a single mechanism. Azul is a wonderful example of these, and Splendor is another. In Continue Reading

This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames. Game: Dominion Designer: Donald X. Vaccarino Year: 2008 Country: U.S.A. Publisher: Lautapelit.fi One of the goals of this study project is to play those games “everyone has played”. It’s easier to talk about boardgames and card games when you know all the references! Dominion Continue Reading

This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames. Game: Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game Designer: Brad Andres, Erik Dahlman, Nate French & Tyler Parrott Year: 2017 Country: U.S.A. Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games Fantasy Flight Games has published a series of “Living Card Games”, expandable card games where deckbuilding is Continue Reading

This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames. Game: Age of Innovation Designer: Helge Ostertag Year: 2023 Country: Germany Publisher: Capstone Games Age of Innovation is a reimplementation of the same basic design that’s already been published as Terra Mystica and Gaia Project. Once again, each player controls a people who want Continue Reading

This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames. Game: Fury of Dracula (3rd Edition) Designer: Frank Brooks, Stephen Hand & Kevin Wilson Year: 2015 Country: U.K. Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games Set eight years after the events of the novel Dracula, Fury of Dracula has the Un-Dead monster rise once again and stalk Continue Reading