Playing Card Information

Race for the Galaxy: Xeno Counterstrike Designer Preview

Introduced in the Xeno Invasion expansion, the Xenos are a violent xenophobic alien race that cannot be negotiated with.Taking place after their invasion of galactic space, Xeno Counterstrike portrays the galactic empire's expansion through the frontier zone into Xeno space.Xeno Counterstrike features two play experiences: a frontier game, with powerful new worlds to explore and settle, and a bonus counterstrike game, which continues the invasion game from Xeno Invasion and takes the fight to th

On-The-Go with the New Releases from Hachette Boardgames USA

by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1?bloggerid=10014" >Steph Hodge</a> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/7268927"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/vz_DTOzh6LL1InIq3653rg__small/img/Q1z8kA8BBno3u9_x-4SqtVWntKM=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic7268927.png" border=0></a></div>▪️ <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/16092/hachette-boardgames-usa" >Hachette Boardgames USA</a> has been on it with announcing new games! Today, I will highlight some of the smaller games coming out in the next several months. [imageid=8969959 medium Rep]▪️ <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/404845/canal-houses" >Canal Houses</a> just released this April and should already be hitting the stores. From the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/155/gigamic" >Gigamic</a> catalog, Canal Houses is a 20-minute game where you build up the beautiful streets of Amsterdam. The colorful houses and charming artwork are used for scoring at the end of the game. From the newsletter: <div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'>Each round, players pick a card from their hand and build it simultaneously, then pass the remaining cards to the next player. Refresh your hand by drawing a new card type—base, floor, or roof, and keep crafting your architectural masterpiece. To complete a house, you’ll need to build from the ground up: start with a base, stack any number of floors, and top it off with a roof. Simple to learn and quick to play, Canal Houses is the perfect mix of strategy and charm.</div></div> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9341318"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/0eV7TJ4KaCaKyIidKk9c4w__small/img/nWr-NiOmpYV1zzI24YuIQWH13aE=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9341318.jpg" border=0></a></div>▪️ Another new release from Gigamic is <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/428776/pirate-king" >Pirate King!</a> this June! Pirate King is a push-your-luck card game for 2-5 players and will play in about 15 minutes. Pick your captain and build your deck, but don't be too greedy, or you just might bust out. <div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'>Every round, players will reveal cards simultaneously, one by one, from their own deck. Revealed swords lets players gain creatures with special powers. Revealing gold allows players to draft treasures into their decks. Be careful though, reveal 3 skulls and you bust! With its wacky effects, unpredictable treasures, and monsters to battle, Pirate King offers a dynamic experience blending tactics, luck, and dirty tricks. Ideal for groups looking for a fast-paced, fun, and slightly chaotic game.</div></div> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9519854"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/utXqwT6Wkn-WM64X2ZOM1g__small/img/6d25t6KAPXQXh2LfSuRs4F8q9ME=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9519854.png" border=0></a></div>▪️ <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/468567/leaf-it" >Leaf It!</a> is a new dexterity game from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/33419/edition-spielwiese" >Edition Spielwiese</a> releasing this June. Leaf It plays 2-4 players and takes about 10-20 minutes. There is a mix of memory and dexterity as you have to assemble the canopy and then dismantle it, collecting the most valuable animals as you do. From the newsletter: <div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'>Leaf It! requires a mix of steady hands, a good memory, and a little bit of luck. When it's your turn, you must place a card onto the growing canopy, making sure it doesn't collapse. The Rule: You must always cover the animal on the previous card. The Strategy: Try to remember exactly where you (and your opponents) placed the cards with the most valuable animals! After all cards have been placed it's time to Dismantle the Tree! Players take turns carefully drawing cards back out of the treetop. Grab the cards you remember having the most points. Be careful: the canopy is highly unstable. If you cause it to collapse, you will be penalized!</div></div> <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9553171"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/kC-dwLVBUN_bIUKNT9tojQ__small/img/DWx0S52MTxudEMGfXb3GFALN5mY=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9553171.png" border=0></a></div></center> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3646116"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/qhHd-RmJrun9TqHtqmQIlw__small/img/-p7ZBSugKK3afa7APXXHdky92Rk=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic3646116.jpg" border=0></a></div>▪️ <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/3490/huch" >HUCH!</a> is a new partner with Hachette, and they just announced 3 mini games releasing this May! All of the games support 2-5 players and can be played in about 15 minutes. <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8644688"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/SYq7spKLxPWeN9_M5ljcXA__small/img/5VRDmklJzl40juDFvMAvDilT1os=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8644688.jpg" border=0></a></div> <div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'>In <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/419328/blue-penguin" >Blue Penguin</a>, each player tries to attract the cutest penguins—the smaller they are, the cuter they are! The problem is that penguins always follow the bigger ones. On their turn, each player places a “penguin” card and draws a new one. The player who plays the card with the highest number collects all the cards played that round and becomes the first player for the next turn. The game ends once all cards have been played, and scores are calculated based on colors, not numbers.</div></div> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8644667"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/b2nauuu9tlGXXJAg205zfA__small/img/bR-0esf6LZuFmm6VRXjuxH14p2A=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8644667.jpg" border=0></a></div> <div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'>In <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/419327/meteo" >Meteo</a>, players try to pick the best weather conditions for a last-minute vacation. At the start of the game, six visible “weather” cards are randomly paired with hidden “sky” cards of different colors, and each player gets to secretly look at one. The “sky” cards are revealed one by one. At any moment, a player can interrupt the process by saying “I’m going!” to stop the reveals and claim the cards they think will earn them the most points.</div></div> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8723428"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/bdjHt6J_VgtR-Ma9C15BXA__small/img/OlCyK58Fti45EBq-Czj4tkAfxlg=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8723428.jpg" border=0></a></div> <div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'>In <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/437130/wool-street" >Wool Street,</a> players buy and sell cards representing woolen garments in six different types, hoping to collect those that score points while selling off those that bring penalties. On their turn, players draw a card and must place it on a pile of the same garment type (e.g., sweaters with sweaters). Then, they can choose to sell a garment card by placing it in the center of the table or buy one from the center. The first pile to reach 7 cards scores 2 points per card of that type for players who bought them; the second pile scores 1 point, but the fourth and fifth piles result in point losses!</div></div> If you are on the go or are looking for some quicker games for the collection, these seem like they would fit the bill.

Dale Yu: Review of DC Breakout Arkham Asylum

DC Breakout Arkham Asylum Designers: Brian, Sydney and Geoff Engelstein Publisher: Wizkids Players: 2-6 Age: 8+ Time: 30-45 minutes Amazon affiliate link: Played with review copy provided by publisher Make a mad dash out of Arkham Asylum – … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2026/04/29/dale-yu-review-of-dc-breakout-arkham-asylum/">Continue reading →</a>

Designer Diary: President

The issue was that every extra rule took energy away from the real experience: reading the table, making alliances, lying convincingly, spotting opportunities, and reacting quickly.That became my filter for every design decision: does this rule improve the social engine of the game, or does it merely make the system denser?If it only made the system denser, it had to go.Scaling to Ten PlayersFrom the beginning, I wanted a game that could work in big groups. Part of that came from watching large

Dale Yu: Review of Gretchen’s Garden

Gretchen’s Garden Designer: Jay Bendixen, Ryan Boucher Publisher: Lookout Games Players: 2-4 Age: 10+ Time: 45 minutes Amazon affiliate link: Played with review copy provided by publisher In Gretchen’s Garden, players compete in selecting the most precious succulents … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2026/04/28/dale-yu-review-of-gretchens-garden/">Continue reading →</a>

Matt Carlson: Review of 20 Strong – Tanglewoods

In 20 Strong Tanglewoods, one takes on the role of their favorite fairytale protagonist in this solo dice-rolling game of adventure. Gamers looking for a card-based, solo, lightweight dungeon crawling experience should check it out. 20 Strong is a series … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2026/04/27/matt-carlson-review-of-20-strong-tanglewoods/">Continue reading →</a>

Two-Handed, Intentionally

These days, half the games I review have a dedicated solo mode that simulates a two-player game, or—in what is becoming my growing preference—automas, geared by difficulty level, that can be added to multiplayer games to simulate a higher player count.And many of the board games I want to play have a dedicated app or an implementation on Board Game Arena or Yucata, so if I really want to play, say, Race for the Galaxy by myself, I don’t have to two-hand it…I can just pull out my iPad and play ag

Dale Yu: Review of Carcassone Big Box (aka Carcassone Big Box 7 on BGG)

Carcassone Big Box Designer: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede Publisher: Hans im Glueck, Z-Man Players: 2-6 Age: 10+ Time: 35 min + Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/41u2FXV Played with review copy provided by publisher THE ULTIMATE CARCASSONNE EXPERIENCE: The Carcassonne Big Box … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2026/04/27/dale-yu-review-of-carcassone-big-box-aka-carcassone-big-box-7-on-bgg/">Continue reading →</a>

Designer Diary: Inkwell

by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1?bloggerid=18982" >Jasper Beatrix</a> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8897534"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/lQKpaeFl3jgiFV3T-XEsiA__small/img/Jhffax6yS2-T9vy3US6J9Nb22wA=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8897534.png" border=0></a></div> Game design is a journey, and one without a clear path, nor a clear end. Everything you imagine at the beginning is full of passion and hope, but so much in flux. What you will make is an unknown distance in time and space from where you are now: in theme, in mechanics, in style. We sometimes feel that we have changed as much as the game. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/442307/inkwell" >Inkwell</a>, for example, goes back to a long car ride during the muted holiday season of 2020. Who were you back then? Who were we? And what was this game? <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9516201"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/HlznjBxGKMRgz3uMjtZJ6w__small/img/qonk_3hPphXuN0l0mkHCiMmCIbo=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9516201.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> 2020 Julia & I, having previously worked together on <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/296892/sacred-rites" >Sacred Rites</a>, had a chat during my long ride up from NYC to Syracuse, New York, primarily because I am terrible at long solo drives. The topic was, primarily, a game that was about turning pages. The brainstorm phase is like fishing about for infinite fish. Would it be a game with actual books? Folded boards? Large cards that flip off a deck? We discussed word puzzles, roll-and-writes, worker placement, token placement, dice management, hand management. But there was this focus on the verb of play that helped guide us: Turning the page. But that brought so many questions of its own. Does the page turn permanently? Can it turn back? Does a player know what is coming? Can they travel a book as they would a player board? Or is it a one-way trip? Do they choose future pages? Or choose to stick with what they have? But in the end we called our shots; after three hours I had reached my destination, and in the end, the game was not built from a hundred ideas. It was built from a few, whichever ones we felt like pursuing, even if it led to disaster. It isn’t the right phase to be right; it was the opportunity to be wrong. We were stumbling in the dark, and as usual, enjoying it. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9516208"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/gUn50mMiuTmEb83uE_Pm0A__small/img/3nG24dmWlxnPGC5vot7ouduyRWY=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9516208.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> 2021 After the holidays I looked back at our notes and prepared a first shot at what we called ‘CODICES’, which was about old books and rolling dice, and we liked the clever feeling of sneaking the word ‘dice’ into the title. The idea was straightforward, at least at the time: Two sets of dice would be rolled, with one representing the ink color, and the other a numerical value. Each player would be limited to playing their numerical value on a space of the chosen color or filling pre-designated color spaces. There were other mechanics around pleasing patrons with bonus scoring for certain numbers and collecting gold leaf to decorate the pages. And, at each player’s leisure, they could turn pages back and forth to score in different parts of their book. This left us in that most cursed of playtesting situations, once we got others to play: The game was interesting but not fun. This is a drag, to acknowledge that it felt fresh, and unfortunately, not special. We had a string of such designs around this time, grasping at creativity in the wake of so much going on in the world around us. We tried to iterate in large amounts in different directions. This meant trying a version where the board was only a grid and was filled in to build patterns from pattern cards, as if to form illustrations. We tried word puzzles and drawing games. We tried returning to numbers again and moving from collective dice use to dice gathering done privately by turn, with each player gathering dice and exchanging them as if to gather their supplies. We also messed with applying force on the players, either through the action of another player, or through some sort of counter that players could affect, like a flexible game timer. What was disheartening about this, as it often is, is that each attempt felt, somehow, worse. The passion was replaced by a grind of ideas and attempts. Band-aids on band-aids. Its journey almost ended. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9516249"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/W7sSdvxIhFMNfYnGZxkKQw__small/img/UMlFW-08_TCx4k3ZNekPXPQ2YIo=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9516249.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> 2022 The game languished here, and that is important to acknowledge. We felt like we were done making games, and there was this process of ‘putting it all away’ that was quite sad. Turning the page, as it were. We recycled a lot of boxes, papers, bits. More than we probably should have. Of this project, all that was left, perhaps accidentally, was the bag of ink dice, and a single printed page. Fossilized, like many projects end up. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9516242"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/XUFUFV7YpMAXYHS7TCP0SA__small/img/sgVFJJM_a2C4uS7w6FcjcQ_RSbI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9516242.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> 2023 The spark that helped us form DVC is for another time, but in that came two lovely things: Restrictions, and passion. We wanted to get back to making things. New designs abounded, but two old cartons of prototypes were dug up and rehomed. In all that was that little fossil, the dice and the page, and it was like a bolt of lightning. Who was that? The person that made this? And there was a surprise: Likely falling from another prototype, we also found a single real metal cube, a gold one, in the box with what was left of the game. Huh. It got repackaged and placed on a shelf. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9516254"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/vnxdJHR2mo9gjwAi5P0WbA__small/img/km7C6jV5R6nB44WC1zNkiM-i5KQ=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9516254.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> 2024 With a baby on the way, there was a sense of urgency for our little crew of friends and family. A whirlwind of work. Old designs found in that same process, repackaged the year before, were all the rage. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/428284/here-lies" >Here Lies</a>. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/432520/karnak" >Karnak</a>. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/286770/rosetta-the-lost-language" >Rosetta</a>. And a mess of others that have not surfaced quite yet. I began to make myself a little package of projects to work on later, as a promise. I dug up old files and put them in the cloud. It was about this time we also got a chance to play a prototype by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/167724/lewis-graye" >Lewis Graye</a>, who has used paint cubes to represent the gathering and mixing of colors. There was even a touch of the colors 'matching’ the paintings they were paid for, and the cubes were taken from available inkwells to use. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9516256"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/rl77w4dubWlz3Pi3erVNRA__small/img/MKRUfytYnjtIJydCkiglIoXMDro=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9516256.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> 2025 About two weeks after our little one was born, I was up all night keeping an eye on him and digging through those old files I had set aside, squinting at my phone. I hadn’t really designed anything in months, I was so nervous about being a parent. Game design felt so small, so unimportant. But, in that chair, something clicked. Or really, everything clicked. Lewis was onto something. Inkwell ultimately became a drafting game, but designing it was also a drafting game, as the process of making something is often a game itself. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9516259"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/pneQGBJtO41kdjh26jI__w__small/img/b0D41jZUzV449hNAXPEtyNUMhRk=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9516259.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> I got together with Lewis, as well as long-time collaborator <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/167723/joey-palluconi" >Joey Palluconi,</a> who had some thoughts about asymmetrical inkwells after discussing the old design. We began writing on cards, and quickly had arrays of cube spaces opposite pages of abilities. Then a central mat of abilities and cubes mixed together. Then a reset timer controlled by player choices. There was a debate of the abilities themselves, and the desire to let them combine and build engines pleased players more than punished. Joey, Lewis, and many of us had recently liked cozy games, ones that let us converse while we ‘did the fun thing’. That, maybe, was the drive in the end. Meditation, reward, beauty, straightforwardness. Younger me would have scoffed. But now, all of us in our struggles, me as a new parent? Inkwell playtests became a safe space of quiet, even as a designer. The three of us held clandestine little meetings at larger game nights, sheltering in the project as the world swirled around us. You see, I am used to some common questions about game design. Where do ideas come from? How long does it take? How do you know what works? <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9516264"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/lS9ob94EP2pXeeMmUToy6g__small/img/nDeG7xVLSJBLvcL5z9_596sAMWc=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9516264.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> Inkwell was built on work by quite a few people, but more specifically, it drafted many of its ideas from itself over the course of years. The segments of this diary in bold show where parts of the final design first surfaced, even if ignored. It took time to realize which fit where, what matched, what did well. Each iteration was like a turn of the page, where we would get a score and try again. This game, as a design, was a comfort to us after a long journey. We hope you can make some tea, play some lo-fi music, place cubes, and hopefully breathe with us and think of how incredible it is for anything to get to its destination: here and now. With love, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/120100/jono-naito" >Jono Naito-Tetro</a> DVC co-founder

Designer Diary: OUTFOX the FOX

If I could make a trivia party game that BOTH of us loved, I knew it could be a hit.Hold Your HorsesMy first prototype was horse-racing themed and featured top 10 lists, such as:• Countries with the largest populations• Movies with the highest ratings on IMDb• The most popular sports in the worldThe game provided three of the ten answers in random order and asked each player to come up with an answer and write it on a mini-whiteboard. Then players could place horse-racing style bets for which of

Dale Yu: Review of Expansions: Faraway: Under Starry Skies and Castle Combo: Out of the Oubliette!

Well, in recent years, the genre of the Tableau Builder has been one of more popular ones. Two big hits of the past few years Faraway (2023) and Castle Combo (2024) have each recently had an expansion. Each … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2026/04/24/dale-yu-review-of-expansions-faraway-under-starry-skies-and-castle-combo-out-of-the-oubliette/">Continue reading →</a>

Gathering of Friends 2026 report – What I played

So, each year (well, nearly each year) since 2000, I have been able to attend the Gathering of Friends – an invitational event which is unlike any other that I go to. The Friends all meet at a hotel, and … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2026/04/23/gathering-of-friends-2026-report-what-i-played/">Continue reading →</a>

Heavy is the Head that Wears the Crown

This sequel builds on that foundation with: ▪️ a deeper ideology system, with opposing principles that constantly pull the kingdom in different directions ▪️ memorable council members with their own backgrounds, public alignments, and secret agendas that shape debates and long-term goals ▪️ an expanded economy and territory management system, where regions can rise in influence or fall into unrest, directly impacting negotiations and map development ▪️ a refined Dilemma Card System that unlocks

Designer Diary: Threaded

The tapestry cards and commission cards themselves haven't changed since the first prototype. Tapestry and commission cards, in prototype and final form.Shops and DestinationsThe ordering of the shops (destinations for workers) shifted several times during development.In earlier versions, the Bargain Box appeared before the Thread Shop. The logic was transparent: everything left in the thread shop at the end of a round would be added to the cube tower, so players knew exactly what they'd be comp

Dale Yu: Review of Flip 7 with a Vengeance

Flip 7 with a Vengeance Designers: Eric Olsen and Alyssa Swatek Publisher: The Op Players: 3+ Age: 8+ Time: 20 minutes Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4vaZLFd Played with review copy provided by publisher Flip 7 is back – With … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2026/04/21/dale-yu-review-of-flip-7-with-a-vengeance/">Continue reading →</a>

Dale Yu: Review of Cucumber Catastrophe

Cucumber Catastrophe Designer: Michael Feldkoetter Publisher: dv Games Players: 3-6 Age: 8+ Time: 20 mins Played with review copy provided by publisher Players compete over four hands of ten rounds each. A round is a trick where all … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2026/04/20/dale-yu-review-of-cucumber-catastrophe/">Continue reading →</a>

Love is a Beatdown

He was interested for two main reasons: first, he wanted to play the base game with the Carnival of Chaos expansion, because he loves the arena-style nature of that expansion map.The second reason is why he really wanted to play: my boy was hoping to have another chance to beat down his dad.In our first play of Carnival of Chaos, he acquired a “Super-Weapon” called Li’l Sammy, then used said Super-Weapon to shoot down my chopper—normally, choppers are invulnerable—on his way to a dominant victor

Designer Diary: Diplomacy: The Golden Blade Card Game

by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1?bloggerid=19976" >Rosco Schock</a> <div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9149607"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/uu8Yu5BU2G1flD7W-0EKCg__small/img/iybQSBdVb1da3in3KzqRYBIe4P8=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9149607.jpg" border=0></a></div> The design that became <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/455903/diplomacy-the-golden-blade" >The Golden Blade</a> was the first game I ever designed, and the first iteration of it was way back in the autumn of 2017. I should also be clear that I didn’t set out to design a card game version of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/483/diplomacy" >Diplomacy</a>; that just kind of happened along the way. I hope you will enjoy this story of how we ended up there. Background It might be helpful to first explain the original Diplomacy. Diplomacy was first self-published in 1959 and is a war game that contains almost no random elements. Each player is a Great Power in Europe prior to World War I, with the ultimate goal of controlling a majority of territories known as “Supply Centers” to win. Players must first negotiate with each other during a turn before secretly writing the Orders for their units. All the negotiations between players are non-binding, and it has a reputation as a “friendship killer” when one player betrays another to win. It was frequently advertised as John F Kennedy’s and Henry Kissinger’s favorite game. Diplomacy was inducted into the BGG Hall of Fame in 2025. Origination At this point in time, I had never played (or heard of, to be honest) Diplomacy. Although I had been playing a lot of the BGG Top 100 games for a few years, I never tried to design one all by myself… except for that one time in 2013 that I made a set of cards for some vague concept to fix a game we were playing that had people building a city with power level cards of 1/2/3. Fast forward to 2017, when a friend invited me to a monthly board game play testing event. Luckily, I remembered that I had this set of cards at home in a box. The 1/2/3 cards I uncovered came in three different types of city aspects, and the idea was something along the lines of upgrading your 1s to 2s to 3s or maybe drawing them randomly, but the 3s were rare, and the 1s were common with the 2s in between. (Sadly, these city cards are lost to time, as is the game that they were meant to be a fix for.) First Version With the play testing event rapidly approaching, the pressure was on. I needed a game to test with friends before I embarrassed myself in public. I eventually settled on the concept that you built your power such that the first investment got you to power level 1, two more to get to power level 2, and three more to get to power level 3. This power grid concept in the game has never changed. The first person to reach power level 3 in any area is the winner. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9514890"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/zT04_lHZgLAX14oz7EZaog__small/img/5PI1KvjC-0DhSpawdz8hRMtvSiM=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9514890.jpg" border=0></a></div></center> As you can see in the image, I moved away from a city, and it became focused on being a country that was trying to win a military, political, or financial victory. Although I wasn’t cognizant of it at the time, looking back, I can see the shadow of influence in this game from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/68448/7-wonders" >7 Wonders</a>. The idea that your military power level only affected your left and right neighbors. The missing piece was how to affect your neighbors and how to build your power. I don’t remember specifically, but cards that affect your hand or let your draw cards seem obvious – as well as ones that let you build faster or attack your enemies. Below are the first set of action cards. Looking at the structure of these cards, I can clearly see the influence of decades spent playing <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/463/magic-the-gathering" >Magic: The Gathering</a>. Type-specific cards and type-specific counters feel very natural in this context. Each turn, players would secretly choose one of these actions to play against their left-hand neighbor and one to play against their right-hand neighbor. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9514891"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/WkTGT4hZybXMQqdeGYdlsg__small/img/OtTZ0hdm2aWRmXWL1X3jJJox64w=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9514891.png" border=0></a></div></center> One of the pieces of the design that I’m most proud of is the action validity system. I had a thought early on that you can’t bring a knife to a gun fight. So what if you always had access to all your actions, but you were limited by your power level and the power level of that neighbor? What this means in practice is that if you have a power level 1 military, you can’t play military (red actions above) actions against a neighbor with a level 2+ military. Equal is okay, but if they are higher, you lose access to those actions on this side this turn. Even more so, this is separately true for all three areas of influence. Maybe you can’t play military cards on your right, but could still play political or financial actions there, and maybe you can still play military actions on your left. Finally, I had a game to test. I was able to grab three friends for an impromptu test at my house, and the game played really well, especially given that this was the very first play test. Time to embarrass myself publicly! Into the Deep End The first public play test actually went well, and players seemed to enjoy it. My friend asked me if I had an Unpub (a play testing organization) slot for PAX Unplugged. I had no idea what any of this meant, but I was ready to dive in headfirst. I went home and bought a ticket to PAXU, which luckily is only an hour train ride from where I was living. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/66008/steven-cole" >Steven Cole</a> of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/25662/escape-velocity-games" >Escape Velocity Games</a> had posted on Twitter that he was taking pitches at PAXU, so I set up a meeting. Unpub was all booked up, but we met after hours, and I showed him my game with all the pride of my first child. Steven thought it had some potential but would need some changes to fit his product line. More importantly, he told me that he ran a monthly play testing group in Baltimore. I now had access to lots of play testing to improve my game, and when Unpub Prime was scheduled for March 2018, I signed up for several testing blocks. Play testing with the public is a lot different than play testing with other designers. Throughout the weekend, players kept commenting that the game was kind of like Diplomacy. Later, while I was waiting for testers and talking to my friend (the one who launched me down this rabbit hole), someone walked by and asked about my game. I explained how it worked, and his comment was, “Oh, so basically Diplomacy, the card game. I remember someone asking me to design a version of that.” After he walked away, my friend said “Do you know who that was?” I was oblivious. He was flabbergasted. “That was <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/34517/geoff-engelstein" >Geoff Engelstein</a>!” (designer of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/123096/space-cadets" >Space Cadets</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/302524/super-skill-pinball-4-cade" >Super-Skill Pinball</a> and many more) Later on that weekend, I went up to him to see if he could remember who had asked him to create that design. He eventually remembered that it was Zev Shlasinger (of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/538/z-man-games" >Z-Man</a> and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/221/wizkids-i" >WizKids</a> fame and currently running <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/55584/play-to-z" >Play to Z Games</a>). Long Slow Wait As I continued to test the game, I began to introduce it explicitly as Diplomacy: The Card Game. Most players saw a lot of the similarities, but one play testing friend from the Baltimore group named Jeff suggested that I was missing something. There wasn’t a way to betray other players. He had a point. I set off to design another set of three actions that required adjacent players to cooperate, or their action on that side did nothing. Besides the loss of the action you were banking on, there is also the opportunity to be attacked directly via your hand or your power levels.I also decided that these cards should be able to be played regardless of your power levels, since they require you to be vulnerable. Below is the first set of what later became the Promise cards: <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9514892"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/QTYFfTfd6PUZ6OyX7GNQKA__small/img/GEUR3pDX3_szxdQ4a1mEk7tLfxE=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9514892.png" border=0></a></div></center> Another card that changed during this time, as a version of Trade Pact moved out of financial and into the backstabbing set, was that I added a new card called Resupply to the financial set. Despite a card game already implying the importance of hand management, lots of players were being overzealous with University (Proliferation in the final version) and ending up card-locked. While Resupply only draws you one card, it also can never be blocked, so it can be a good choice if you think this opponent might try to play a blocking card this turn. It also lets you start rebuilding your hand. One thing that became clear while testing – This game plays like a combination of Rock, Paper Scissors and a bluffing game, but in three dimensions at the same time. What actions does this player have access to? Which one are they likely to choose? Which side are they likely to play it on? What if THEY know that YOU know that is what you should do for an optimal strategy? In my experience, players generally have this same epiphany about halfway through their first game, and it usually goes something like “Ahhh, I get it now. I’ve made so many poor decisions. There are so many things I will do differently next time!” This is one of my favorite things when demoing this game. I now had an improved and more Diplomacy-like game, and I was off to ProtoATL in 2019 (another Protospiel type testing event in Atlanta). One of the main reasons I wanted to attend was that Zev (with WizKids at the time) was also going to be in attendance. I met up with him and recounted my conversation with Geoff, and he remembered that it had been someone inside <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/13/wizards-of-the-coast" >Wizards of the Coast</a> (part of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/51/hasbro" >Hasbro</a>) who had reached out to him and asked him to source or create a card game version of Diplomacy. This was incredibly exciting because if Wizards were already looking for this game, that would be one less hurdle to getting it published. He asked me to write up a document describing what was the same (familiar onboarding) and what was different (unique selling points). I also realized while talking with him that if I was going to keep calling it Diplomacy: The Card Game, then I needed to make it look more and more like the original. Before I sent him my document, I moved to a military, political, and naval victory as the goal. Blue made more sense as the Navy so the colors got shuffled around, too. If you are not familiar with the original, you control Army units and Fleet units around Europe as you compete for the win. I felt that Votes still captured the political capital you use during your negotiations with other players as you jockey for power. <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9514893"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/XsUX2AtebZAM-4WTpssj3A__small/img/Fen-yIFW3IiL9EmzGmKYIzjJf04=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9514893.png" border=0></a></div></center> I had a design where the flavor more closely aligned with the original. I came up with a list of what I thought best positioned the game for success: This is what I sent to Zev: <div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'>How is it the same? Your action selection is still focused on negotiation, bribery, lying, bluffing, and backstabbing. When someone deceives you or reneges on a deal, it has unfortunate consequences. You develop your land and sea power with armies and fleets. You still have neighboring countries that you can attack directly. You do maintain the ability to negotiate and create alliances that let you attack those that are further away. To build and maintain your power, you must work together with your neighbors to set up conditions of treachery. You have the ability to play a more offensive, a more defensive, or a hybrid strategy. Your action selection still resembles: “I should do A, but they'll do B. Instead, I'll do C, but then they'll do D., but if they do D, I should do A.” How is it different? Plays a variable number of players from 3-7 with no substantial change to the 5-minute setup. It plays about 15 minutes per player, instead of seven hours. No one is eliminated; everyone plays the whole game; it is quite possible to go from last to first. All starting positions are the same -- no one starts with either an advantage or a disadvantage. You only have to plan two actions each turn; there is no overload trying to figure out which ten actions to take. The map and units have been abstracted and distilled into a player power board that exhibits your strength. It is currently designed as predominantly cards with a player power board, but could easily move to an all-card game. In addition to developing and breaking alliances with other players, you also develop your political power in the game element. Attack resolution is simple and straightforward -- there is no need for a game master or complicated initiative rules.</div></div> Zev sent the information along to his contact and we waited. Well, to be fair, it was probably just me. I’m sure he had far more important things on his mind than this. I would see Zev at conventions like Origins or PAXU and ask if he had heard anything, but he hadn’t. I do remain extremely grateful for the time and effort he spent on my behalf to get this game published. While my wait continued, the world stopped. Covid interrupted everything. A New Hope In 2023, it was announced that <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/28072/renegade-game-studios" >Renegade</a> was releasing a new edition of Diplomacy. I immediately emailed Dan Bojanowski at Renegade and asked if they might be interested in a card game version. I knew that they weren’t going to have a booth at Origins, but suggested meeting up to demo it to anyone in attendance. He got back to me the next day, and we set up a time for me to demo it to Andrew Lupp (VP of Sales) and Thomas Haver (former World Champion and all around Diplomacy advocate/judge/tournament runner). Incidentally, and unknown to me at the time, Thomas was already working as a designer and developer of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/430814/diplomacy-era-of-empire" >Diplomacy: Era of Empire</a>, which is a re-imaging of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/250/colonial-diplomacy" >Colonial Diplomacy</a>. We met at Origins and played a full three-player game. They both thought it had a lot of potential, and Thomas in particular wanted to play it with other Diplomacy players in his network. So I gave them my only copy and hoped for the best. This was a very exciting step forward in the process, and it was great to have an internal champion for the game in Thomas. He has always believed in this game from the beginning, and it would never have been made without his help. In the fall of 2023, Thomas asked for a digital version to help expand his ability to test with other players. I hopped onto Screentop.gg and created a 3-4 player room and a larger one that would accommodate up to 5-7. However, things stalled a little bit after this. I know Renegade was working on Era of Empire as well, and I’m sure there was some discussion around how much appetite the community might have for new Diplomacy titles. The original has remained a classic for over 60 years for a reason, and the last thing anyone wanted was for any of these new titles to feel like a cash grab. Dan reached back out in May 2024 and said they were internally discussing a Diplomacy card game again and wanted to run an online test. I did some cleanup of my digital Screentop implementations and was ready to go. In July 2024, we set up a play test with four people internal to Renegade. The playtests went great, and three days later, Dan informed me that they wanted to move forward. However, they first needed to get approval from Hasbro. The game was approved, and I couldn’t have been more excited! However, Hasbro had one request: The game needs to play 2-7 players because all the other Diplomacy titles have a two-player variant. Home Stretch Umm, how do you create a two-player game based on negotiation? The two-player variant for the original turns the game into a bidding game where players bid to create their initial positions on the map. One thing I decided from the start was that I wanted to find a way to make the two-player experience resemble the 3+ player experience as much as possible. Since negotiation was out, how do I create the same tension with only one neighbor? Additionally, I’d lost the ability to have players have different access to actions on the left versus the right since you have only one opponent. I decided that what if, instead of a single “conflict” being resolved on each side, players now had to fight two battles on each front? What action is on what side, and the order they resolve in, could create a space for a lot of mind games and second guessing. I had an initial version by December, but was still making tweaks. The big question was whether players were forced to commit each action to a single battle, or were they allowed to respond with either action in response or something else. I tried different versions of these, but they felt too complicated or too obvious. I finally settled on a system where each player had to commit to a vanguard action on their left, and they then “attack” either action their opponent had on this side. This added more bluffing and limited the complete control players had before. Below is the final version: <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9514894"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/TcniV6LBLqGxX08fDeuKaQ__small/img/alTu9FZqEpUlGnPtbbH--roSF8M=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9514894.png" border=0></a></div></center> I created a two-player Screentop room so others could start testing this variant, and then Thomas and I were able to play it again at GAMA 2025. He liked what it was doing and thought we could pull in the France vs Austria name for this variant, which is already the name of a two-player variant in the original Diplomacy. It was also around this time that I got introduced to Marcus Burchers, who runs internal play testing for Renegade. We started running play tests at all player counts using Screentop and collecting feedback. As we continued testing, one thing that became clear pretty quickly was that the two-player version needed some adjustments. Being only a few months old, it makes sense that it needed more development. While it should be clear that the Promise cards aren’t used with two players, I also chose to remove Invasion (later Stab) for a new card that blocked either type of action but came with a drawback. Part of this was so that there was a blocking card in all three areas, and I also wanted to see what cost players were willing to pay to block anything. As we started receiving feedback, one play tester had an interesting idea: what if Resupply drew cards equal to your power level for Fleets instead of just one? This was quite interesting, but I knew that would imbalance Resupply in the base game, so Convoy was born as the second action card that is swapped out for two-player games. Additionally, I had always thought that Espionage was slightly underpowered, and it dawned on me that this was the fix. It now lets you swap based on your Army power level, and it does that for all player counts. The two-player game was now feeling great. Next up was fixing the rulebook. Like most designers, writing rulebooks is not my idea of fun nor my greatest skill. However, we all know how a bad rulebook can ruin a good game, so we set out to make it as good as possible. Additionally, Thomas was key in moving the flavor of the game to be maximally aligned with the original. We wanted seasoned Diplomacy players to immediately grok things as much as possible. Actions became Orders. Resources became Units. Deploy became Build. Destroy became Disband. Order cards were renamed to capture flavor. Then we started through at least 12 iterations of full document edits on the rulebook. Most of the rules of the game are very straightforward, but there are a few that can cause a bit of confusion, so we refined them often to get to the most concise and clear verbiage we could. We also had to start making some component changes to keep the price point and box size that was needed. Initially, I used standard cards for the Units, but we had to move to half-size cards to lower costs and weight. Part of this is that to support a full seven player game, there needs to be quite a lot of the Unit cards so players don’t run out. If you look back to the original prototype, you’ll see that I used to have thin player boards to make the grid for each player's power grid. Those would be way too big to fit in any box. I worked back and forth with Dan a lot before we found the solution. Players now have six chipboard tokens that make the layout on the left and top to create the rows and columns of the power grid without explicitly having them designated. See below: <center><div style=''><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9514895"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/8dfRfhVgM8HdZXKYA4VLZg__small/img/oxdKeCWWsyXyzTuC2uvj3UNaH0w=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic9514895.png" border=0></a></div></center> Final Thoughts It has been a dream come true having this design get published, but it has been even more fulfilling watching people react to it in person. Thomas and I were at Battlefront: Dayton in the fall of 2025, and we ran the first-ever Diplomacy triathlon with The Golden Blade being the final game. I was running a pre-production copy, so no one in the group had ever played before. It was quite an exciting game. In the first two turns, players completely ganged up on the one very strong player and totally destroyed his hand and power grid. However, after that, they were all much more focused on their own plans. In the end, this player used Proliferate to claim a victory in the game on the last turn. That player ended up tied in the Diplomacy Triathlon event, which had to resort to a second tiebreakers to determine a champion. It was that close! Everyone involved had a great time. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/455903/diplomacy-the-golden-blade" >Diplomacy: The Golden Blade</a> even won the Ignis Award for best new game at the event! I’m looking forward to running demos and tournaments at major conventions this year. Come and join me and try this new addition to the storied Diplomacy franchise.

Dale Yu: Review of Frosted Blooms

Frosted Blooms Designer: Bruno Cathala, Ludovic Maublanc Publisher: Synapses Games Players: 1-4 Age: 8+ Time: 25-40 mins Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4rPnrfm Played with review copy provided by publisher Welcome to Frosted Blooms – In the soft dawn of … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2026/04/19/dale-yu-review-of-frosted-blooms/">Continue reading →</a>

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subscribe my YouTube channel A1 nature. 13 .4 .26 was the date. 5 .21 pm was the time. After Eid ul fiter my cousins and me were ...