Playing Card Information
Control The Great Sea, and Defend the Towers of Sifnos with Garphill Games
Eric Martin ▪️ New Zealand publisher Garphill Games has already crowdfunded one 2026 release — Secret Societies, a S J Macdonald design in which 2-5 players view for control of territories on Earth — but that's only the start of its 2026 plans.In March/April 2026, Garphill will crowdfund MacDonald and Zach Smith's The Great Sea, a game for 2-4 players that is part of the publisher's "Ancient Anthology" series. Here's an overview:From their homeland in the Levant to the distant shores of Carthage
Dale Yu: Review of Pyradice
Pyradice Designer: Andre Silva Publisher: mebo Players: 2 Age: 8+ Time: 30 minutes Amazon affiliate link: Played with review copy provided by publisher (mebo) In Pyradice you are part of an ancient civilization whose main goal is to build pyramids. … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/12/10/dale-yu-review-of-pyradice/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
Vietnam — The Next Great Board Game Market
As new genres arrive and local creators experiment, those long-standing habits are beginning to shift, sometimes gradually, sometimes with resistance.This brings us to the cultural heartbeat of Vietnam's gaming story: how the country's play culture itself is evolving.The Slow Shifting Board Game CultureVietnam's board game story isn't just about new publishers or cafés; it's also about a community negotiating what kind of play it wants to build.For decades, traditional games like Cờ Cá Ngựa (hor
Talia Rosen: Thanksgiving Game Battle Royale
Six games enter. Only one game wins. I brought six games to Thanksgiving this year to play with my ten-year-old child, my partner, and my seventy-year-old parents. Over the course of a few days, they learned and played each game. … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/12/09/talia-rosen-thanksgiving-game-battle-royale/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
Asmodee's January 2026 Releases: Dune: War for Arrakis – Desert War, Dixit: Kids, Borealis, and More
Players have a hand of cards, and on most turns they'll play an animal card into one of three columns on the board — but to play an animal card, you must have the appropriately colored scientists in that column, then move each of them in the direction (left or right) indicated on the card.If the vehicle on the card is on the next exploration space in that column, you move the flag down to that space, and the farther you drop the flag, the more points you'll score at game's end.If you move a scie
Dale Yu: Review of Garden
Garden Designer: Andy Hopwood Publisher: Taiwan Boardgame Design Players: 2 Age: 8+ Time: 15 min Played with review copy provided by publisher Imagine noughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe) but with the need to think several moves ahead and with each piece … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/12/09/dale-yu-review-of-garden/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
Designer Diary: Wedding Seating Chart
I know it had rough corners since the development was rushed, so I decided to revisit the design in a community of more experienced players, focusing mostly on streamlining the experience, making the game language-independent, and improving the UI.In the meantime, I gave away a few copies of the game to Polish publishers at Planszówki w Spodku 2023, but while two publishers were initially interested, after a few months I had no concrete decisions from them.In 2024, I entered the game in a two-pl
Discover a Blue Moon in Discworld, and Join the Fourth Wing
Notes the publisher: "[T]he game has been carefully reskinned with Discworld theming and features brand-new added expansion content."A Discworld card game, Kill Sam Vimes, will be released in Q3 2026, with publisher promising that the design "drops your unlucky assassins into a contract to kill the titular character, as they try not to fall foul of deadly (and hilarious) traps and tricks imagined by the Duke of Ankh."In mid-2025, Modiphius crowdfunded Terry Pratchett's Discworld RPG: Adventures
Larry Levy – Review of Baseball Card GM
Designers: Matthew and Garrett Weaver Publisher: Weaver Media Group, LLC Players: 1-2 Age: 7+ Duration: 30-45 minutes Price: $35 Over the years, the Opinionated Gamers website has made enough of an impression on our hobby that quite a few publishers … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/12/08/larry-levy-review-of-baseball-card-gm/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
Unsolved playing cards: 5,000 decks aim to crack Palm Beach County's toughest mysteries
Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County, is set to roll out a unique deck of Unsolved Playing Cards aimed at generating new leads ...
“Dharmendra loved playing cards, but hardly ever won," reveals Aruna Irani
As India celebrates the 90th birth anniversary of Dharmendra, the Bollywood industry finds itself in a bittersweet moment.
Designer Diary: One-Hit Heroes
A bad dice roll, a bad decision, or a tough boss could make you lose before your first turn, so we re-framed the phrase "One-Hit Heroes": What if heroes started with 1 HP, but could heal or play armor cards for more health? We'd get the benefits of health pools and keep the title at the same time.Designing armor (and extra health) made the game seem fine enough to play, well enough to maybe ship, so we built the heroes, got art, finished Episodes 1 and 2, and began working on new content. Everyt
$10 playing cards VS $50 playing cards!
Who will win - the $10 or $50 cards? Get the Bicycle Black Tiger Revival edition here: ...
Become the Queen of Spies, Return to Sherwood Forest, and Talk Smack about Old Movies
Victory demands control.With faction-specific upgrades and dynamic tension from start to finish, HOOD: Troubles in Sherwood is a rich game of clever plays and brutal choices.The HOOD GF campaign features the usual range of goodies and add-ons, including four (yet to be fully revealed) expansions, with The Pirates Expansion including a fifth faction of...pirates.▪️ Another crowdfunding project from a Polish creative team is The Witcher: Legacy from Łukasz Woźniak, Go On Board, and CD Projekt RED.
PlayMode + Dune: Imperium – Uprising
No, gentle reader, “PlayMode” is not the phrase I mutter to myself when I’m getting ready to host a game night. Though the name does remind me of this classic bit from the underappreciated Disney film BOLT… PlayMode is a … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/12/05/playmode-dune-imperium-uprising/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
Flatout Lures Gamers with Honeypot, and Phil Walker-Harding Sells Wombat Poo
<p>by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1?bloggerid=17" >W. Eric Martin</a></p> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9225193"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/qII_JObHxyBh77FjVN-1vA__small/img/1dzsLYmtyb3_NuDghxHY43FEwt8=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9225193.png" border=0></a></div>▪️ While wrapping up <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flatoutgames/cascadia-alpine-lakes?ref=bggforums" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">a crowdfunding campaign</a> for <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/446815/cascadia-alpine-lakes" ><i>Cascadia: Alpine Lakes</i></a>, publisher <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/42733/flatout-games" >Flatout Games</a> has already announced its next two releases for 2026, with <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/458390/forage" ><b><i>Forage</i></b></a> feeling very on-brand thanks to company owners <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/116182/molly-johnson" >Molly Johnson</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/116181/robert-melvin" >Robert Melvin</a>, and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/116180/shawn-stankewich" >Shawn Stankewich</a> handling the design and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameartist/71164/beth-sobel" >Beth Sobel</a> providing the art. As for what's happening in this 1-6 player design:<br/><br/><font color=#2121A4><div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'><i><i>Forage</i> is a puzzly roll-and-write game in which you write on cards in an ever-changing tableau.<br/><br/>Each round, roll the forage dice and reveal a unique journey tile. Choose a combination of dice, then explore, store, or give gifts. As you carry out actions, you earn bonuses to power up future actions or make additional moves to complete goals. At turn's end, draw one of the three types of cards and add it to your tableau, giving you more ways to combo and complete goals.<br/><br/>Completing exploration cards involves traversing trails through the forest and collecting bonuses by surrounding them via a spatial puzzle that extends as you add cards to your tableau. Completing pantry cards involves storing goods in jars and unlocking bonuses as you complete rows and columns within your shelves. Completing gift-giving cards involves collecting specific ingredients in the exact quantities to produce gifts, providing you with immediate and endgame scoring bonuses!</i></div></div></font><br/><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9225195"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/1Kn9fhAWosnKaNGjwKgYGw__small/img/q8EqAp0qW3Y_QT-U5I1dw0MwTY0=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9225195.png" border=0></a></div>▪️ The other upcoming Flatout title is <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/458391/honeypot" ><b><i>Honeypot</i></b></a> from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216600/fantastic-factories" ><i>Fantastic Factories</i></a>' <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/97506/joseph-z-chen" >Joseph Z. Chen</a>, and this is also a 1-6 player design:<br/><br/><font color=#2121A4><div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'><i>Players take on the role of secret agent bears who are trying to gather the best intel and spy supplies without getting stung! You will arrange secret caches for your opponents and carefully sift through the secret caches passed to you...but how far should you dig for valuable intel and spy supplies? Have your opponents passed you the sweetest honey, or a swarm of bees?<br/><br/>This set-collection game features a massive deck of cards that will confront you with a new collection of items each round. How can you arrange these cards so that others are encouraged to take what will hurt them in the end? As the game progresses and your tableau of cards grows, you'll need to keep watchful to avoid being stung.</i></div></div></font><br/>If you step far back from this <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/28024/kwanchai-moriya" >Kwanchai Moriya</a> cover, you'll find this sloppy bear transformed into a nuclear-powered ursine that radiates strength from its chest. Well, that's what I saw anyway...<br/><br/><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9213923"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/xX76Scw43qKsCzMbnL0JCA__small/img/LIDgedG7cDcJruP0JmNut1vGgYQ=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9213923.jpg" border=0></a></div>▪️ Now let's jump to another game about mammals handling sticky substances: <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/458004/wombat-poo" ><b><i>Wombat Poo</i></b></a>, the next release by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/8347/phil-walker-harding" >Phil Walker-Harding</a> from his <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/51547/joey-games" >Joey Games</a> brand. Here's an overview of this 2-4 player game aimed at players aged six and up:<br/><br/><font color=#2121A4><div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'><i>Did you know wombat poo is shaped like cubes? It's true! In this game, you take turns stacking poo cubes of different sizes onto a teetering tower. Choose the right time to score one point per cube in the tower and exit the round because if you wait too long, the tower will fall over and you'll score nothing!</i></div></div></font><br/>If you have played 2015's <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/170300/wombat-rescue" ><i>Wombat Rescue</i></a>, then you will indeed grasp the knowledge of wombats' wonky digestive system, but whereas that game challenged you to use poop to navigate through a dangerous environment, <i>Wombat Poo</i> — which is due out in December 2025 in Australia and March 2026 in the U.S. — is more straightforwardly a game about stacking poop. Here's a teaser image from Walker-Harding:<br/><br/><center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9213919"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/Nu7WOOd75RT9svgMQXK0dQ__small/img/R0CJgYgq26i_ayBVArBghvTlFVY=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9213919.jpg" border=0></a></div></center>
Dale Yu: Review of SILOS
SILOS (Secret Interlopers From Outer Space) Designer: Reiner Knizia Publisher: Bitewing Games Players: 2-4 Age: 14+ Time: 45-60 minutes Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3IzHzl7 Played with review copy provided by publisher It is the year glork-too-vleep, or mid-20th century according to … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/12/05/dale-yu-review-of-silos/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
Designer Diary: Squirrel Away
On the other hand, each 2-gem card meant you were halfway to a complete set.The initial version of the game had no wild cards, but after that first successful test, I wanted to inject more big moments, so I added a few wild cards that would let you take two or three gems of whatever type you needed. They were powerful cards, but also, anyone could claim to have them. After that, any time someone said they were playing a wild card, it often led to those great moments of squinty-eyed skepticism th
Maine State Police distribute decks of playing cards featuring unsolved homicides to prisoners
Maine State Police are distributing decks of playing cards featuring unsolved homicides to nearly 1,000 residents in state ...
Dale Yu: Review of Fountains
Fountains Designer: Kedric Winks Publisher: the Op games Players: 1-5 Age: 10+ Time: 30-45 minutes Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/46iKWEO Played with review copy provided by publisher Welcome to the elegant city of Florimelle, where a grand beautification effort has begun. … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2025/12/04/dale-yu-review-of-fountains/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>