The Game Shelf
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This is a blog by Amy & Fiona, a new couple to gaming who share their reviews on board game.
The Game Shelf
2y ago
Game:Macaron
Publisher: Sunrise Tornado Game Studio
Designer: Ta-Te Wu
Year: 2021
Sunrise Tornado Game Studio have a track record of crowd-funding very cute games. Up until now, our favourite has been Cat Rescue - a game of rescuing and re-homing cats from the streets, with lovely cat artwork, that has since been used in a number of their campaigns. The same designer and publisher combo also recently gained a wider audience with a reprint of Promenade released by Rio Grande Games.
Macaron continues with the cute themes - a small package that looks just like a luxury ..read more
The Game Shelf
2y ago
Game: Wok and Roll
Publisher: Origame
Designer: Daryl Chow
Year: 2020
Wok and Roll is a roll and write game from publisher Origame, from Singapore, publishing games by designer Daryl Chow. The roll and write craze, which seemed like it would be a flash in the pan, is still alive and kicking and Wok and Roll brings with it a delightful theme, that I've not yet seen in roll and writes. Each player is creating a menu for their own Asian restaurant, picking ingredients from the roll of the dice.
Amy has always been a source of groan-worthy puns, but the opportuni ..read more
The Game Shelf
2y ago
Game: Canopy
Publisher: Weird City Games
Designer: Tim Eisner
Year: 2021
Canopy is primarily a two-player game where playrs complete to grow a rainforest, filled with many tall trees, beautiful flowers and a veriety of exotic animals.
The game was funded on Kickstarter and what really stood out to me was the publishers focus on the environment. For each game sold, a tree is planted, and the game itself uses no plastic beyond the two seals that hold the lid on the box in place of shrink wrap. Cards are wrapped with little paper bands, and there are ..read more
The Game Shelf
2y ago
Game: Small Islands
Publisher: MushrooM Games & Lucky Duck Games
Designer: Alexis Allard
Year: 2018
The first impression of Small Islands is like a maritime Carcassonne - it has the familiar square tiles, with land and sea edges that must be matched as you build a central landscape together throughout the game. Like many gamers, Carcassonne was one of our first modern board games and it's one that has really stood the test of time, with a number of expansions having also been crammed into our base game box over the years.
Small Islands caught our ey ..read more
The Game Shelf
2y ago
Game: Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum
Publisher: Hot Banana Games
Designer: Pauline Kong, Haymen Lee, Marie Wong
Year: 2022
Theming in board games is really a distraction for me. I’ll play anything, no matter the theme, but food or cute animals are pretty universally appealing and I’m not immune. Steam Up, in particular, is built upon a brilliant theme, giving rise to a game that, frankly, looks delicious. The arrival of the prototype of Steam Up caused me to;
1. Invite over my friends for a weekend stay
2. Take said friends on a trip to the Chinese supermarket
3. B ..read more
The Game Shelf
2y ago
Game: Sierra West
Publisher: Board&Dice
Designer: Jonny Pac
Year: 2019
I remember getting a quick look at Sierra West at UK Games Expo two years ago. At the time, I feel like both the publisher, Board&Dice and the designer, Jonny Pac were both on the verge of becoming a big deal. Jonny Pac is a designer who mainly designs games with a Western theme, and Sierra West is no exception. You are playing as pioneers in the 1840s, who are travelling out West no a trusty wagon over the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The game is not hugely thematic in nature ..read more
The Game Shelf
2y ago
Game: Arkosa
Publisher: Toon Hammer
Designer: Anglea Dickens
Year: 2021
Arkosa is a 1-4 player colony survival game in which you play the part of a colony leader on an alien planet. Fortunately you too are an alien, as are all your buddies, less fortunately there has been a great disaster, you and your handful of buddies are all locked up in an underground bunker trying to survive. That's when you get a reply to your SoS signal. A passing spaceship is coming by, in just three cycles, but they only have enough room on their ship to take one bunker's worth of people. Can you bra ..read more
The Game Shelf
2y ago
Game: Subastral
Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
Designer: Ben Pinchback & Matt Riddle
Year: 2021
Subastral is a small-box card game for 2-5 players in which each player is collecting notes of the different biomes of plant Earth. You'll be treated to beautiful artwork from prolific board game artist, Beth Sobel decorating the cards for the eight different biome types, as well as the 6 central cloud cards which form a panorama.
Whilst Subastral has a serene and beautiful look to it and very simple card design, don't let its simple aesthetics fool you. W ..read more
The Game Shelf
2y ago
Game: Subastral
Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
Designer: Ben Pinchback & Matt Riddle
Year: 2021
Subastral is a 2-5 player card game in which you compete to explore the globe, discovering the many and varied biomes of Earth. There are eight biomes to explore and you'll be rewarded both for variety of biomes visited, and for having extensive notes on your two most visited biomes. At the start of the game you'll have three cards in hand numbered from 1-6. These cards relate to the six cloud locations in the centre of the table. On your turn you'll play one card from your hand ..read more
The Game Shelf
2y ago
Game: Verdant
Publisher: Flatout Games
Designer: Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, Aaron Mesburne, Kevin Russ, Shawn Stankewich
Year: 2022
Verdant is a puzzly spatial card game for 1 to 4 players, where each players lays cards to create their own home in the form a tableau of cards. You are however, all playing as houseplant enthusiasts, so at least 50% of your home is taken up by plants, which would all like to be situated in ideal light conditions around your home.
If you've enjoyed Calico, or you're anticipating the arrival of your copy of Cascadia in th ..read more