It's Game Night, having trouble deciding what games to play? BoardGameApocalypse would like to announce its new web app... So, your friends and family have all gathered up for a night of board gaming fun and a stack of board games sit on the table, the counter, the floor, the shelves…the broom closet, the refrigerator, the ceiling fans…there are just more games than you could possibly play in one night. How do you decide on what games to play? It’s time for a PairWise Party. Head on over to the PairWise Party page, then enter the names of the participants and game titles. Registered users ma ..read more

Welcome to the first Design Critique of the Apocalypse...The Lost Ruins of Arnak, published by Czech Games Edition, designed by Mín & Elwen. If you are new to Design Critiques check out the About page for more details. Thematic Ties and Immersion: Everyone who plays this game will be comparing all of its elements to every tomb raiding adventure movie or book they have ever seen or read. With that in mind, I step into this immersion... One of the first game elements that broke the immersion for me was the fear cards. Being a fan of Indiana Jones and knowing his fear of snakes, I can see wh ..read more

Someone recently asked me, do people even play Spades anymore? With the multitude of other options there is to entertain us, that would seem to be a legitimate question. There is a vast number of popular apps out there. A quick look at the Apple App Store’s top 200 games includes only three card games and they are all solitaire. Not only that, but we are currently in a board game golden age. Thousands of new card and board games are coming out every year. With all these new distractions what chance does an ageing classic card game have? Will Spades and other classic card games become relics o ..read more

How strategy guides have changed my perspective on delivering an adequate review. While I have been using the boardgamegeek.com (the largest site for board gaming) forums for some time now to voice my opinions or concerns, I’ve only recently started writing reviews. I posted a “design critique” (a critique of a game from a fellow designer) of Lost Ruins of Arnak. I figured after 10+ plays I was well versed enough to write my critique, but some of the comments I received accused me of not having played enough. I’ve heard a few opinions on how many games should be played before writing a review ..read more

What do we do when we want to know more about a board game? Why, we turn to the professionals, is what we do. Here is the list of initial board game persona featured in the Apocalypse. Let’s face it, there are hundreds of games coming out each month and we’ll never live long enough to play them all, so we need dedicated board game reviewers to help us make informative purchasing choices. One of my most helpful files is a spreadsheet where I keep track of the top-games-of-all-time published by multiple board game persona. I use this spreadsheet whenever I’m wanting to bring home a new game. I ..read more

"You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon? It’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs." Greetings, everyone, this is the first edition of the Apocalypse board game files review. What is a board game files review? The short, it’s a review focused on fan-made files and highlights points that board game designers should take note of. Visit the About page for more details. Today we are featuring Star Wars Outer Rim, published by Fantasy Flight, designed by Corey Konieczka and Tony Fanchi. I’ve played and enjoyed this game multiple times now. It has its issues, but if you ar ..read more