A village is being overpopulated by bunnies in Bunny Boom, a board game designed by Guillaume Boudreau (a.k.a. Guime) and published by Ruse Games. Featuring cozy artwork from Andrew Bosley (Everdell, Potions of Azerland), players will avoid rabbits around town and keep as many out of their homes as possible to win. Bunny Boom plays with 2 to 4 players in 15 to 45 minutes. With fewer players, less spaces will be available to play cards, as indicated on the start tile. The game plays over two phases. In the first phase, cards will be played to empty locations adjacent to the start tile or ot ..read more

District Noir is a two player only card game where rival crime bosses will battle for control of the city. Players will aim to collect supporter cards to gain majorities and complete sets to win the game with the most influence, or collect all three city cards to control the city outright. The challenge is all about when to play cards and when to take cards. 2 Players 15 Minutes (or less) Ages 10+ Designed by Nao Shimamura and Nobutake Dogen Art by Vincent Roché Published by Pandasaurus Games My Thoughts Fairly standard set collection game (get type majorities, get sets of each differen ..read more

River Wild is a solo puzzle card game from the co-designer of Sprawlopolis and Circle the Wagons. Direct the flow of the river to construct lands protecting the wildlife. Construct more lands and satisfy goals as best as possible to achieve a high score. River Wild comes in a small wallet, a specialty of Button Shy games. 1 Player 15 Minutes Ages 8+ Designed by Steven Aramini Art by Milan Zivkovic Published by Button Shy My Thoughts Enjoyable casual solitaire card game that can be played to relax and pass the time. Packaging is super portable, can leave in a desk at work or tuck it insi ..read more

Logic & Lore is a competitive logical deduction card game. Players race to be the first to order their stars from 1 to 9 to win the game. This is a simple concept, but it brings pure joy to play. Logic & Lore features the dragons and mice from Wicked & Wise, but is a completely different style of game with only thematic ties. 2 Players 30 Minutes (or less) Ages 8+ Designed by Jason Hager and Darren Reckner Art by Jason Hager Published by Weird Giraffe Games Kickstarter Campaign Page My Thoughts With cooperative logic games, one person takes the reins, and if it’s competitive ..read more

Maul Peak is an asymmetrical two player board game where one player controls a giant guardian creature and the other must defend Maul Peak with their clan of grizzly bears. Use order cards to maneuver your side into combat and defeat your enemy. A sequel to Skulk Hollow, Maul Peak is a standalone game, but heroes and guardians can be mixed between both games. 2 Players 40 Minutes Ages 12+ Designed by Keith Matejka and Eduardo Baraf Art by Dustin Foust Published by Pencil First Games My Thoughts Tons of game to explore with 4 guardians and 6 winter beasts to play as. Unique win condition ..read more

Trickdraw is a card game about magic cowboys and card flipping. Players play cards face up to gain special powers or face down for points, or to hide a powerful ability and spring it on their opponents later. Look for combos and flip down your opponent’s cards in a race for the most points. Points will win you the game, but all tied players lose, so be sure you can out-shoot your rivals. 2-5 Players 20-30 Minutes (more often 15 minutes) Ages 14+ Designed by House Fish Balloon and Morteza Rohaninejad Art by Licheng Mai Published by Good Games Publishing My Thoughts Quick game play and ve ..read more

Potions of Azerland is the first board game from designer Grayden Baker and Warped Reality Games. Players will collect resources and brew potions to fulfill visitors’ orders, hoping to become the next Potions Master. Its medium to light strategy and lovely illustrations from Andrew Bosley land Potions of Azerland solidly in the cozy board game genre. Discover more about the gameplay through the photos below. Keep in mind that these components are prototype and do not fully reflect the final product. As with many board games, the most points wins. Players will gain the bulk of their points du ..read more

Coast Guard ships explore the North Sea in the cooperative tile-placement board game, Beacon Patrol. Tiles are valued based on their depicted features (e.g. lighthouses or buoys) and will only score if surrounded by other tiles. Move your ship into position, place tiles, and work together to get the best score possible. 1-4 Players 30 Minutes Ages 8+ Designed by Torben Ratzlaff Art by Torben Ratzlaff Published by Pandasaurus Games My Thoughts Being light on rules and cooperative make this a very welcoming board game. Great option to close out a game night when you want to squeeze anothe ..read more

One of the hottest games at Gen Con wasn’t in the main exhibit hall. Wonderbow Games was demoing Kelp in the First Exposure Playtest Hall and both seats were taken immediately. If you weren’t the first playtesters of the day, you had to hunt them down around the convention center to get a demo. Everything shown in this preview are prototype components that may change during final production. Kelp is an asymmetric 2 player board game designed by Carl Robinson about a shark hunting down an octopus. The octopus is on a tile hiding in one of nine locations. Each location has a different value ..read more

While at Gen Con in Indianapolis, I met with Wise Wizard Games to take a look at their new release Robot Quest Arena. Robot Quest Arena is what I like to call “deck-building plus”, a deck-building game plus some other board game. In this case, that plus is a Battle Bots style combat game. If you’ve played games like Star Realms or Hero Realms, you’ll be familiar with the deck-building aspect of the game. All players start with the same cards and will develop different decks through purchasing cards from the market. Energy cards grant you purchasing power to buy cards or move your robot in ..read more