Playing Card Information

Sail from Batam through Shallow Seas to Explore Fathoms on the Way to the Arctic

The game features more than 160 animals, and you want to build a viable ecosystem.In the end, the player with the highest biodiversity score wins.ARCTICA will be available for demo games at Gen Con 2025, so perhaps we'll know more about the game after that show.▪️ Heading to warmer waters, we come to Fathom, a 2-4 player game from Dan Helfer and Paper Fort Games that's due out in Q3 2025:Fathom is a tile-laying, pattern-building game of deep-sea exploration in which you take on the role of marin

Find More Combos in the Castle, Prepare for Splendid Kids, and Don't Disrupt the Dingo Disc

The game flows smoothly, and the real satisfaction comes from watching your village expand and come to life throughout the game.▪️ Another November 2025 release is Dingo Disc, with this Pierre Tessier design for 2-6 players having first appeared in 2013 from Éditions Capucine and returning to the market courtesy of Blackrock Games.Here's an overview:Dingo Disc is a game of skill, balance, strategy, and luck in which players must place all of their counters on a balanced disk without dropping the

Josiah’s Monthly Board Game Round-Up – June 2025

June 2025 Games I played for the first time this month, from worst to best, along with my ratings and comments. Quarto – 6/10 Quarto is a two-player abstract from the early 90’s. It boasts a playing time of … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/07/04/josiahs-monthly-board-game-round-up-june-2025/">Continue reading →</a>

Matt Cooper glugging wine and playing cards on air: who’d have thought?

For all his strengths as a current-affairs broadcaster, whooping it up isn’t a characteristic one normally associates with ...

Designer Diary: Sykes-Picot

by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1?bloggerid=19155" >Brooks Barber</a> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8856244"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/GMRfinywy_1XUph7itfiUQ__small/img/sgv8c2gy9icX9LzLcLP6YlryB8g=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8856244.png" border=0></a></div><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/445398/sykes-picot" >Sykes-Picot</a> is my first published game. It's not the first game I've designed, mind you — that one was and still is terrible — but it's the first one I've seen all the way through the process. It's also my first foray into historical game design. I had several ideas for historical subjects, and a friendly fellow designer recommended I work on the one I thought I could finish, so I did, and I did, and it's here now. Why historical design? I've studied history for twenty-five years, a portion of that time professionally, and I love the process of exploring new ways of looking at old events. I consider myself lucky to have found a community of people doing this within the context of my favorite hobby. The process of designing Sykes-Picot has also been a process of discovering how games can model history. History is not simply "what happened"; it is the process of analyzing the known record, the interpretation of facts within new contexts, and the advancing of arguments about the world, so I am quite pleased with the intersection games create between history and art, both of which allow us to approach old ideas with new eyes. I have been mildly obsessed with the Sykes-Picot Agreement since I first learned about it nearly twenty-five years ago, early in my studies of Middle East history and culture. The story, as it's usually told, sounds like an urban legend, something you'd see on the History Channel between shows about aliens building the pyramids. In the winter of 1915-16, the British entered into secret negotiations with the French about how to divvy up control of the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, despite the outcome of World War I being far from decided. (The British, for example, were not far from defeat at Gallipoli.) And, oh, did I mention that the British had already made other secret agreements with Russia, Italy, and the Sharif of Mecca? During these secret talks, Sykes and Picot literally colored in a map of the Middle East, at one point even drawing a straight line "from Aden to the second K in Kirkuk", to separate what would eventually become British-influenced Iraq and Jordan from French-influenced Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey. Italy and Russia were also granted territory on the edges of the map, and the "even then a quagmire" Palestine landed under international control, whatever that meant. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8952282"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/Wy2FKd6pRvXo_mNjgxkP7w__small/img/7-f8u2u2-QQ7cLQGQOZEhIWtYoI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8952282.jpg" border=0></a></div></center><center>The original Sykes-Picot map, showing the French territory (A) and the British territory (B)</center> This whole thing stayed under wraps until the post-revolution Bolsheviks started rooting through old Romanov papers and decided to announce the agreement to the world, kicking off a diplomatic nightmare for the British late in 1917. Their surreptitious double- and triple-dealing was in the spotlight, and they had to take responsibility, especially with the Arabs, who had played such an important role in disrupting the Ottoman war effort in the Middle East. When seen through the privilege of historical hindsight, the whole thing is scandalous and verges on the unbelievable. Why did they think they could get away with this nonsense? Given all of this rich historical nuance, Sykes-Picot could have been a very different game. It could have been highly immersive, rich with minute details involving backroom dealings and paper correspondence. It could have involved multiple players vying for the best deal in the ever-shifting landscape of World War I, all trying to eke out some small opportunity to claim contested bits of soon-to-be-former Ottoman land. But that is not the game I chose to make. To me, that game doesn't fully reflect the reality of the situation. Rather, that version of the game is how I believe the European powers wanted to portray themselves, and what they wanted others to believe about the whole affair. They positioned themselves as masters of global diplomacy, negotiating the fate of an entire region for the safety and security of the people living there — and in many ways, this narrative continues to be parroted today in think piece after think piece about how the Sykes-Picot Agreement shaped the Middle East's future. In truth, however, this event wasn't so grand as all that. <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8952291"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/u_qDSKj6X5gZ5GnRv7pp-w__small/img/u5U5MXWcMxpbIYxthA8U-aigKDA=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8952291.jpg" border=0></a></div><center>Francois Georges-Picot, the French diplomat</center>Instead what I chose to capture in this game is the capricious and absurd nature of the Sykes-Picot Agreement: lines haphazardly drawn and zones colored in without real thought given to the people underneath their strokes; arbitrary boundaries that would never be fully realized, yet still contributed to the cascading ethnic and religious violence throughout the next century; positions on the map that were considered primarily through the filter of imperial priorities; two men putting a stamp on a region, shaping its future in many ways, by ignoring its past. I knew early on that I wanted to emphasize this smaller space, what happened in that room, and my task became finding the right mechanisms to bring this forward. I was adamant that players should literally color in a map, just as Sykes and Picot had done. I wanted players to feel just a bit silly, passing pencils (or even crayons) back and forth to fulfill the requirements of their imperial claims. That idea carried all the way through from the first iteration to the final product, with the pencils replaced by dry erase markers. I had to make certain sacrifices for this to remain a two-player game. It's the Sykes-Picot Agreement, after all, and I wanted to keep players in the mindset of those two men. Russia and Italy, who were later brought into the agreement in order to secure their support, are not in the game at all. The official Sykes-Picot map doesn't reflect their allocations either; this was a natural consequence of maintaining a tight focus for the game. <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8952288"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/wrq3Dhk-R9WddOD-0c3voA__small/img/-VA8WhZvy7OMbHGBAysoBfJud74=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8952288.jpg" border=0></a></div><center>Mark Sykes, the British representative in this story</center>Another consideration is the concept of "international control". Given that Palestine was placed under international control as part of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, only later to be moved under British protection in 1920, I think the game does an acceptable job of modeling how "international control" was implemented. The concept is present in the game as a fifth suit, and both players may use it equally to defend their claims, pivot to new diplomatic agendas, or possibly (in the meanest circumstances) ruin their counterparts' plans. It functions as something that neither helps nor hinders your own goals but that can be employed to check an opponent's power when needed. Next was the map itself. The map isn't just the map here, however; it's the center of the game. The map, and what is emphasized on it, is inextricably caught up with the agenda cards, the area control (facilitated through trick-taking), and the endgame conditions. As I moved through playtesting, I realized that all of these elements had to feed into one another seamlessly for the game to work. At first, the map was clear and legible, emphasizing actual geographic locations for players to control or influence as part of their goals. The agendas encouraged zero-sum play, not negotiation. Players simply tried to maximize their own goals with little regard for their partner's and to little effect. The game broke quickly when players were at each other's throats immediately. In this model, the trick-taking was not serving its purpose as a tool for negotiation. In combination with agendas built around area majorities and a map with precious few strategic locations, the trick-taking was purely contentious. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8874014"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/52qTz7wqHUyectUyW8oeGg__small/img/qPPkvbMsAYHCkd56kqTVrWnTtaA=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8874014.png" border=0></a></div></center><center>An early version of the Sykes-Picot prototype board</center> I eventually decided to remove the names of any locations from the map, replacing them with symbols, which highlight their strategic importance to the players as imperial agents and obfuscate the lived experiences of the people in those places. This move served two needs: one mechanical and one narrative. It allowed me to sit in the mindset of alienation and what that means for players of this game, and it allowed me to open up the possibilities of how the game might be more than a zero-sum experience. By alienating players from the subject of their actions, I hope to reinforce the cavalier attitude inherent to empire in dealing with non-European people and places. By encouraging a more expansive endgame, I hope to push players toward reflection on their actions and their consequences. The difficult question for this design was always the how — through which mechanism could two players actually negotiate over the disputed map territories? It took a while to settle on something that worked. I was tempted early on to increase the game's scope, to add in multiple layers and players, and to create the in-depth and immersive experience I described above. Then I zoomed into the singular event — the actual meetings between Sykes and Picot — and I knew that's where I wanted this game to live. I thought about the setting in which this event occurred, a plush Edwardian-era parlor room, intimate due to the small nature of the engagement, the kind of place gentlemen might play cards. So I landed on trick-taking. To my surprise and delight, this worked immediately. Abstracted, a trick in Sykes-Picot is an offering and a response, a snippet of negotiation about what may or may not be claimed on the map. Winning means gaining control of the spaces to be claimed, whether for yourself or your opponent. Losing provides more choices: claiming the card left behind by the winner, changing the triumph suit to set yourself up for later, or converting some of your influence into control. The dynamics of control and tempo inherent to trick-taking lend themselves well to a game built around the dynamics of negotiation. The final piece to fall into place was the agenda cards. They have been part of the design from the beginning, and they have shaped the gameplay at every stage. Effectively, these agendas form the engine driving the game's incentive structure. Everything else amounts to the mechanisms players use to achieve their agendas. As I said earlier, the earliest agendas were zero-sum, which created a flat, linear experience ending in a gnarled mess of a game. Abstracting them into generic strategic objectives such as controlling ports or cultural centers helped significantly, but players still needed more space to operate. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8874034"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/Rg4P5RlFUOg6eTuKk6XcmA__small/img/8id8OBT3qOM_5mzkYmAL9Rn-owI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8874034.jpg" border=0></a></div></center><center>Sykes-Picot in action at SDHistCon 2024</center> The game didn't sing until I moved away from a zero-sum approach and structured the endgame conditions in such a way as to let players choose how they want to interact. In addition to reformulating the agendas to encourage a slightly less zero-sum mindset, I also opened up communication so that players may freely talk about (or lie about) their goals. To me, this is where the beauty of the game lies — it allows players to be as competitive or as co-operative as they wish. Both players can win by fulfilling the same number of agendas, one player can win by achieving more than their counterpart, or both players can lose by achieving none of what they set out to do. Players can arrive at the decision to succeed together, or they can try to manipulate their way into getting more than their counterpart. Given these options, the latter happens more often than you'd think. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/168577/brooks-barber" >Brooks Barber</a> <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8856243"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/U4g7oZuHnNS03rWQPDHaug__small/img/q81pNLl9cVDE5cJSHe7_FORqvvY=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8856243.jpg" border=0></a></div></center><center>Agenda cards from the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/33711/hollandspiele" >Hollandspiele</a> edition</center>

Dale Yu: Review of Purrfect Place

Purrfect Place Designer: River Kang Publisher: Korea Boardgames Players: 2-4 Age: 8+ Time: 20 minutes Played with review copy provided by publisher Swap, flip, and stack the cats! Move cat cards from the sofa to the shelf, or the shelf … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/07/03/dale-yu-review-of-purrfect-place/">Continue reading →</a>

Game Review: Wriggle Roulette, or Gettin' the Feels for Eels

In a neat twist from Diamant, in Wriggle Roulette a player who exits the round returns their eels to the bag, diluting the snake ratio and perhaps giving others an incentive to keep drawing.•••The Wriggle Roulette experience in two images from BGG.Spring 2025:•••The main difference between Diamant and Wriggle Roulette is that the danger of zeroing out a round comes from a deck of cards in the former and from player choices in the latter.In Diamant, the chance of the next card being a second thre

Dale Yu: Review of Time Trouble

Time Trouble Designers: Carlo A Rossi and Alessandro Zucchini Publisher: Hans im Gluck Players: 2-4 Age: 9+ Time: 25 minutes Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4kcbXjd Played with review copy provided by publisher In the co-operative family game Time Trouble, you navigate … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/07/02/dale-yu-review-of-time-trouble/">Continue reading →</a>

Rainbow: The perfect restaurant game?

Rainbow Designers: Mito Sazuki Artist: 別府さい (Sai Beppu) Publisher: allplay Players: 2-6 (2p variant in the rules) Age: 7+ Time: 10-20 minutes (3 min per player) Played with a copy I bought A restaurant game is a game you pull … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/07/01/rainbow-the-perfect-restaurant-game/">Continue reading →</a>

Dale Yu: Review of Rainbow

Rainbow Designer: Miko Sazuki Publisher: allplay Players: 2-6 Age: 8+ Time: 10-20 minutes Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3T0y53U Played with review copy provided by publisher Rainbow is a card game with some climbing characteristics where you strive to have the most … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/07/01/dale-yu-review-of-rainbow/">Continue reading →</a>

Brits face jail for carrying too many playing cards in this 1 popular country

Tourists face jail time for carrying more than 120 playing cards in Thailand. The Southeast Asian holiday hotspot introduced ...

UK tourists taking playing cards on holiday warned they could face 'prison time'

UK holidaymakers and tourists visiting the Far East and flying out of the European Union have been warned over the potential ...

Bomb Busters, Endeavor: Deep Sea, and SETI Win 2024 Meeples Choice Awards

The winners of the Meeples Choice Awards for the 2024 calendar year have been announced. The voters’ three favorite games from last year are: BOMB BUSTERSENDEAVOR: DEEP SEASETI The votes for all three of the games were clustered closely together. … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/06/30/bomb-busters-endeavor-deep-sea-and-seti-win-2024-meeples-choice-awards/">Continue reading →</a>

Alison Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2025 (Part 16)

Here are a few more things that struck me as I spent my last few days travelling to the Gathering of Friends: Roads in America are amazingly good. Back home every drive is a game of … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/06/30/alison-brennan-game-snapshots-2025-part-16/">Continue reading →</a>

Game Market 2025 Spring: Report from Table Games in the World

organized 着るボドゲ展 ("Wearable Board Game Exhibition"), selling T-shirts that could be played as games by attaching fabric pieces or writing on them at the booth of a mystery-solving game apparel brand TokiQilGamestore Banesto is quick to import and sell board games from overseas publishersSUUNY BIRD presold their edition of Seven Prophecies, a trick-taking game in which players predict their ranking in each trick from the open lead colors of all the tricksGP Games demoed the Japanese version of Th

Designer Diary: King and Peasant

by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1?bloggerid=16152" >Poon Jon</a> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8788049"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/diIARnwAXBJfUjDxa5kK2w__small/img/iJHo6JKJgGRrlY3JjDta3mw3hpA=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8788049.png" border=0></a></div><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/408019/king-and-peasant" >King and Peasant</a> is an 18-card game that I designed in 2023. It was supposed to hit the printers in 2024, but I decided to publish <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/419407/furmation-of-rome" >Furmation of Rome</a> first instead. Hi, everyone, I'm <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/158147/poon-jon" >Jon</a>, and I run an indie publishing company in Malaysia called <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/55504/npips-games" >nPips Games</a>. Welcome to my second designer diary. Grab a cup of coffee as I'm about to take you through the journey of this game from an idea to physical cards. Introduction to 18-Card Games I was introduced to <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/26991/button-shy" >Button Shy</a> in 2023 and was absolutely hooked on designing 18-card games. It was such a fun challenge that I ended up with three solid game ideas that made it to the prototype stage. First was King and Peasant, next "Cowboys and Zombies", and finally "Cop and Cartel". Each of these games had their mechanisms inspired by other games. King and Peasant drew inspiration from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172225/exploding-kittens" >Exploding Kittens</a>, with its "hide the bomb in the deck" mechanism. "Cowboys and Zombies" was inspired by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/24310/the-red-dragon-inn" >Red Dragon Inn</a>'s player elimination mechanism in which you have to make two tracks meet. "Cop and Cartel" was inspired by the classic card game <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6798/concentration" >Concentration</a>, a memory game with a splash of modern boardgame mechanisms. Only King and Peasant made the cut, so I will not further elaborate on the other two designs. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8941417"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/VC6Ef6I2YFDwlbNOAd9cpw__small/img/nxlVJfNdgSbiw5Ojq7cr708F7NA=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8941417.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> Medieval Theme I love the beige-colored, medieval-fantasy setting: peasant revolts, the overthrow of the crown, kings getting assassinated — these are classic tales from the medieval era that have been told time and time again. What better way to capture that chaos and tension than with the bomb mechanism from Exploding Kittens? From Idea to Cards The game had two factions — the King fighting to hold power, and the revolting peasants — so a two-player game was the perfect fit, with one player taking on the role of the King, and the other the collective peasants. I have been playing <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/463/magic-the-gathering" >Magic: The Gathering</a> for almost twenty years, and designing card effects is a part of game design that always gets me excited. Since King and Peasant is an 18-card game with the spirit of Exploding Kittens, it only made sense for players to share a deck. Due to the limitation of card count, I decided to split the cards in half: one side for the King, the other for the peasants. This doubles the amount of content, and it also gives both factions a distinct identity. This, however, significantly limits the amount of artwork and text I can place on each card. To give the peasants full control of the assassin card, they will start the game with it in their hand. If the assassin started in the deck, the game would be too random, taking away player agency. To prevent the peasant from always placing the assassin on top of the deck, the King starts the game with sentinel cards that allow the King to look at and rearrange the top three cards of the deck. Thematically, most people in a medieval kingdom were peasants. The King wouldn't know which of them were rebels trying to get him, while the King's guards were always stationed outside the castle walls, visible to everyone. To translate this into gameplay, the peasant plays their cards face down, while the King plays their cards face up. Diving further into the theme, to mirror the historical imbalance of the number of peasants and guards in a kingdom, the King is limited to three guards in play at any time, while the peasant can have any number of rebels on the table. To add tension, strategy, and tactical play, all cards except "instant cards" must first be played on the table before their effects can be used. This gives the opponent a chance to respond to your actions, at the cost of dragging the game a little. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8902987"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/6VoJ4rrB7h5O4mDdvHVnew__small/img/3tjYO0rFTCaOthf0yBPorP9KhiQ=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8902987.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> At this stage, the game as played looks like this: Set-up The peasant starts with two decoys and one assassin face down on the table, and the King starts with two sentinels and one spy face up. Shuffle the deck, then deal two cards to each player. Gameplay Decoys and the assassin are cards where you can use an action to slide them into the deck, and the King loses when he draws the assassin. Over on the King's side, sentinels allow you to look at the top three cards of the deck and rearrange them, while the spy allows you to reveal a face-down card on the board. Each player takes turns performing one action until a player loses. The King wins when the deck runs out of cards or if he is able to discard the assassin. The peasant wins when the King draws the assassin card. Iterate, Iterate, Iterate At this stage, the game felt quite repetitive, with multiple copies of the same cards that had underwhelming effects. Each game felt largely the same, with no tension at all. Starting with the same three cards on the board felt like a routine, with few meaningful decisions to be made. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8902989"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/jYLYi8IgllCy04Kru590Lw__small/img/9fcDRVJJahKuK8niSQcjq4tlnrE=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8902989.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> In the next iteration, I increased the number of unique cards from six to ten. Set-up was a little more dynamic as instead of starting with the same three cards on the board and drawing two cards from the deck, players started with five cards in their hand: three fixed and two from the deck. The first three turns usually consisted of players populating the board with the same guards and rebels that previously began in play, so now the game was not only repetitive, it was draggy and repetitive. In the final iteration, I made all cards unique, except for three copies of spy//thug. The set-up changed, with peasant starting with an assassin and decoy, and the King starting with a sentinel. Each player draws up to five cards, including the cards they started with, then each player chooses three guards/rebels to start the game with instead of starting with specific cards. Then the game proceeds with the peasant going first. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8941418"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/3T9iF5ZsCRZXfgpL-EF-Jg__small/img/s579D3D2hbPvXwHFJepkNVF0kjM=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8941418.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> This small change reduced the chance of players getting the same hand of cards every game, and it also skips the slow process of setting up your board, throwing you straight into action. Throughout the iteration process, the core gameplay stayed the same, with changes made only to the cards and set-up. Due to the limited number of cards, they became more powerful and flashy. Each action must feel impactful because the game can end quite abruptly. Card effects were designed to advance each faction's goals in unique ways. Some rebel card effects allow the peasant to draw, then place cards from their hand on top of the deck, or shuffle all rebels in town into the deck, thereby keeping the King on his toes at all times, unsure as to when the assassin has entered the deck. The King, on the other hand, gained tools to look into the deck, discard cards from the deck, and even discard cards from town. Because the King's guards are public knowledge, just having certain guards on the board can pose a threat. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8903000"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/T0t3ndYqx_arnUe-fXU9PA__small/img/DPBUN3jmA9Z6qfpDaknNfVWnWyY=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8903000.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> The game went through all sorts of playtests to get to this stage, from quick single-round demos with strangers to intensive two-hour sessions with the goal of breaking the game. From these playtests I have gathered that both factions have their own strengths, which might appear imbalanced during certain playthroughs. Some card combinations can be very powerful if executed in the right order. You might get an incredible starting hand, but the ability to execute that hand of cards flawlessly will be difficult, especially with the "one action per turn" rule. Of course some cards break that rule, and the most explosive combos usually involve them. After going through hundreds of rounds of this game, I have gained a new perspective. When playing with the same player repeatedly, King and Peasant stopped being just a tactical two-player game, evolving into a subtle mind game of bluffs and reads. Feedback — the Good and the Ugly One of the most consistent pieces of feedback I have received was "Why not make the cards opposite of each other?" I did experiment along these lines, but it didn't work out. Visually it felt right, and the symmetry looked clean, but because of that, it never felt wrong when players looked at their hand from the opponent's side of the card. I found it much easier to teach the game by telling players the King uses the top part of the card, while the peasant uses the bottom. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8903002"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/XZSXRULV_7SYXBN0gdM_7w__small/img/zVoLzFZzaAoAc319tIiFJMc3n9Q=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8903002.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> Next were the cries of imbalance. Some were convinced it was impossible for the peasant to win; others insisted I nerf the peasant because the King was helpless against the assassin. The feedback was quite divided, which to me was a good sign. It meant both sides had potential, with victory swinging heavily based on board state and the number of cards left in the deck. Every turn could be a turning point, which is exactly the kind of tension I wanted. Other common feedback included requests to increase the number of cards, to change the theme, and sometimes "That's it?" Through all this, I have developed a personal barometer to gauge whether someone was actually engaged in the game. If I didn't get a visible or audible reaction when I slipped the assassin into the deck, that was a clear sign they weren't feeling it. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8788112"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/bN69vMG-lflyommLo6-uGQ__small/img/gLES0KIInBc7pOvV9wke0Dfvobc=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8788112.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> On the brighter side, I have received a lot of flattering comments from when I sold beta copies of the game in an exhibition, feedback from the Cardboard Edison judges, feedback from blind playtests, etc. Those moments boosted my confidence in pushing forward with this game. That's a Wrap After many, many, many long conversations with friends and plenty of solo ruminations, King and Peasant felt like the right choice to be the next game I publish. It might not stand toe-to-toe with great two-player titles released in the recent years like <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/374595/kelp-shark-vs-octopus" >Kelp</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/407343/ironwood" >Ironwood</a>, and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/421006/the-lord-of-the-rings-duel-for-middle-earth" >The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth</a>, but I'm genuinely proud of the design. I'm sure there's room for an 18-card game that fits neatly on a coffee table and still delivers satisfying, tactical gameplay. I will be sending a few copies to the United States, and they are expected to arrive around August. You can get a copy through Geekmarket or catch me in events within SEA. PNP and TTS versions are available, too. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8921410"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/3gVmelp4avCCIb-PI1_Xow__small/img/rP5Hd5RNPp1qEjMUhlKjXHIOYuo=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8921410.jpg" border=0></a></div></center>

Avoid Being Caught in a Witch Hunt, and Ponder Why Two Students Broke Up

In games with an odd number of players, one player will be unallied.In the CMUP press release, McGill writes, "My aim in designing Witch Hunt 1649 was to make a fun, accessible game that could inspire serious reflection. Players grapple with challenges such as bad harvests, unruly livestock, disputes with neighbors, and outbreaks of the plague — all while rumors of witchcraft intensify. The game seeks to promote understanding of the witch-hunts and empathy for the victims, as well as showcasing

Join 3 Witches, Misbehave with Your Cards, and Encourage a Citizen Revolt

by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1?bloggerid=17" >W. Eric Martin</a> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8694781"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/lRNcxndptSAF_-_pULQl5w__small/img/6br3btDYug0h3q868AZVQp78xdc=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8694781.jpg" border=0></a></div>How many trick-taking games is enough? This year feels like it's going to test the appetite of TT fans — or perhaps inspire others to start counting cards and figuring out how to fit the word "slough" into as many sentences as possible. Here's a sampling of titles I haven't covered previously...and I'll warn you that one of these titles will be, gasp, a ladder-climbing game. Brace yourself... ▪️ In February 2025, I <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogpost/170715/duel-in-the-white-castle-set-sail-in-dangerous-wat" >wrote about</a> <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/134528/taylor-reiner" >Taylor Reiner</a>'s <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/438975/sail-legacy" >Sail Legacy</a>, but now publisher <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/53065/allplay" >Allplay</a> has revealed more details about this co-operative, two-player, legacy-based, trick-taking game on its <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boardgametables/sail-legacy?ref=bggforums" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">crowdfunding landing page</a>: a map book, 40+ boxes and envelopes, multiple ship tokens, and tentacles galore. ▪️ In addition to Sail Legacy, Allplay is crowdfunding <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/447703/sick-tricks" >Sick Tricks</a>, a new edition of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/76303/masato-uesugi" >Masato Uesugi</a>'s 2023 game <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/410100/extreme-tricks" >Extreme Tricks</a> from his <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/24907/i-was-game" >I Was Game</a> publishing circle. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8953780"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/qRZZbLzD86MpG8KhFGfxnQ__small/img/i9cHS_qAwOEowga2PBXBsWUrY2o=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8953780.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> Sick Tricks is a must-follow trick-taking game for 3-4 players with four suits (numbered 1-12), with one being the trump suit. Instead of bidding on how many tricks you'll win, you bid on how many different "tricks" you'll land, tricks with conditions like "Win with an even number", "Lose with an 8 or higher", or "Win 4 tricks in a row". When a round starts, players place cubes to predict the number of trick cards they think they'll complete. ▪️ That campaign is also crowdfunding <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/383791/savage-bowl" >Savage Bowl</a>, an English-language edition of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/133055/urio" >URiO</a>'s 2023 game Savage Bowl: Trick Taking Game from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/47614/burekekegemuzu-brekeke-games" >ぶれけけゲームズ</a> (Brekeke Games), which I originally <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogpost/146146/use-tricks-to-claim-gold-win-crowns-score-goals-di" >covered</a> in 2023. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8899397"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/2-yJqnnQhpaQMrK7EqeqQA__small/img/_FrYBjweEZMLRFXvadIOdZuoUk8=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8899397.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> Here's an overview of this 4-5 player game: <div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'>Your goal in Savage Bowl is to win an exact number of tricks (based on the player count). Play cleverly as the ref can penalize you for being too savage. In the first half of the game, they give yellow card penalties to the highest-value cards in each trick, then the second most valuable player wins the trick. The carded player also has to sit out the next round! In the second half, the ref's had enough and anything goes — no more yellows.</div></div> ▪️ On top of all that, in Q4 2025 Allplay will release <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/447707/3-witches" >3 Witches</a>, an updated version of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/68630/corey-young" >Corey Young</a>'s 2022 print-and-play game <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/357046/five-deadly-venoms" >Five Deadly Venoms</a>. Here's an overview of this three-player game: <div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'>3 Witches is a must-follow, trick-taking game with no trump suit. At the start of each round, players bid on how many tricks they can win (out of five). The highest bidder becomes the Lead Witch, and their opponents play together on a team as Lesser Witches. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8957578"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/kY4wrTwYv36zmUVmp2oYLg__small/img/URv8pRZ9TQ1yKKPj89PSIP1gOi4=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8957578.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> The Lead Witch plays two cards (one face down), while the two Lesser Witches combine one card each. Two ingredients of the same rank or suit get added together, leading to tricky situations! If the Lead Witch wins exactly the number of tricks that they bid, they receive two fate tokens at the end of the round; if not, each Lesser Witch receives one fate token. The first player to collect five fate tokens wins.</div></div> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8935138"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/Av96OEcEEol2A2KAGdUU6Q__small/img/WzcjNC2tKR4tGGLPY1RDbCXljag=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8935138.png" border=0></a></div>▪️ <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/46276/new-mill-industries" >New Mill Industries</a> has a quartet of titles going up for pre-order on July 1, 2025, with two of them being new editions of older games and two being new releases through the company's <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/55934/little-dog-games" >Little Dog Games</a> imprint: • <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/361483/worst-in-show" >Worst in Show</a> is a new edition of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/135783/mashikamaru-mashikamaru" >Mashikamaru</a>'s 2022 game いやどす (No Way) from their publishing circle <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/48456/mashikamaru-mashika" >ましかまる</a> (Mashika). Start a round in this must-follow game for 3-5 players by placing an obedience card in your unsorted hand so that 1-6 cards are to the right of it; you score for this bid if you take this many tricks (or ±1). During the round, if you can follow the lead, you can misbehave by playing from the right side of your hand; otherwise you must play from the left side. You lose points if you don't clear the right side before you clear the left. • <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/187607/tezuma-trick" >Tezuma Trick</a> is a new edition of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/75354/zhe-kou-ri-xiang-hinata-origuchi" >Hinata Origuchi</a>'s 2015 てづま師 (Tezuma Master) from their own publishing brand <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/27299/ying-you-an-ouyuuan" >桜遊庵</a> (Ouyuuan). In this must-follow game for 3-4 players, the round starts with players looking at their hands, then drafting a pain card (they lose points for cards in this suit), an ability card, and a bid card (showing how many points they'll score if they take the listed number of tricks). Each suit contains trump cards that win the trick if played off-suit, but are 0 otherwise. • <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/415108/crisps" >Crisps!</a> is a two-player, shedding and ladder-climbing game from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/148964/shreesh-bhat" >Shreesh Bhat</a>. Players play escalating card combinations of the same type or can jump to special combinations if the opponent plays a queen. If a round ends without a player going out, the winner chooses which of two cards to add to their hand, with the loser getting the other. <center><div style='display:inline;'><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8935144"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/RWnGHtGOEcB9gviVSbffGA__small/img/3L6ehNG6cC3gemahBDPVmigaAQo=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8935144.png" border=0></a></div><div style='display:inline;'><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8772907"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/3IPafVhwEPCV-xV0DL7tqQ__small/img/ac4d_JkWJTdFR4b1CFwNpyNmH14=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8772907.jpg" border=0></a></div><div style='display:inline;'><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8956869"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/yaCc1Tn2w5tZL-EiHwuu2Q__small/img/05khxBwPVHaPKyFypr8W0klHL5g=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8956869.png" border=0></a></div></center> • <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/438623/big-wave" >Big Wave</a> is a 3-4 player game from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/149048/daniel-kenel" >Daniel Kenel</a> in which you must not follow suit in a trick. Players score by winning a trick and by not following suit, with those players in neither category gaining a special ability such as exchanging cards or getting a +2 market for future use. <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8957163"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/HWuumb71qFu1NuM7r4hmfQ__small/img/W589DZkCIBsNont3WOnxWJJzkno=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8957163.png" border=0></a></div>▪️ <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/447428/revolte" >Révolte!</a> is the debut title from French publisher <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/59648/bravelion-games" >Bravelion Games</a>. This 3-5 player game from Team Kaedama — that is, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/9714/antoine-bauza" >Antoine Bauza</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/60151/corentin-lebrat" >Corentin Lebrat</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/4337/ludovic-maublanc" >Ludovic Maublanc</a>, and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/72628/theo-riviere" >Théo Rivière</a> — debuted on June 7, 2025 and plays as follows: <div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'>Inspired by the novel and role-playing game <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/rpgitem/175300/wastburg" >Wastburg</a>, Révolte! is a trick-taking game in which nobles get you points, rascals steal coins, blaggards can be corrupted to become trump, and citizens can revolt and cancel a trick. In more detail, the deck contains forty cards: ten unnumbered citizens and three families of cards (nobles, rascals, and blaggards) numbered 1-10. Each player starts with 1 coin and a hand of cards. The active player leads a card of their choice, then the next player can play a card of the same family, play a citizen (even if they could play a matching family), "cut" (ditto), or (if they can't follow) play off-family; to "cut", pay 1 coin, then play a blaggard as a trump. If a blaggard is played, the highest one wins, and if not, the highest card in the family led wins; additionally, the player of the highest noble receives 1 point, and the player of the lowest rascal receives 1 coin. However, if more citizens are played than the members of any one family, then the citizens revolt! No one wins the trick, and no points or coins are awarded. The lead player of that trick leads the next one. When all tricks have been played, score 1 point for each trick won. After three rounds, whoever has the most coins receives 2 points, then whoever has the most points wins.</div></div>

More of a Good Thing: The Expansions We Can’t Stop Playing

15 Opinionated Gamers enter, 1 expansion wins.  What is the best board game expansion ever?  It’s time to find out. Adam, Alison, Ben, Craig, Doug, Fraser, Joe, Jonathan, Larry, Mark, Matt, RJ, Ryan, Steph, and Talia voted on their favorite … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/06/27/more-of-a-good-thing-the-expansions-we-cant-stop-playing/">Continue reading →</a>

Developer Diary: No Loose Ends

It can be tough for a game like this to stand out in the current trick-taking market, but the magic of the game comes from its bidding system, which is one of the most satisfying iterations that I've ever seen.I was immediately smitten with Shut the Books because its core twist was simple and intuitive, but opened up many interesting decisions for players. I'd played other games in which you have to bid with cards from your hand, but Shut the Books did it in an elegant way with layers of conside