Twist Taking – trick-taking games with a twist (Topic Discussion)

I've written about my love of trick-taking games and the genre in general many times. Just check the archives... Now that my game group has also gotten into the genre, I've discovered more and more games that take this ancient card game mechanism to new heights. They apply new twists and add different mechanisms to create really exciting new titles. In this article, I want to share with you which ones I am particularly excited about.

For the Love of Old – classic games that stand the test of time (Topic Discussion)

I was pleased to see the re-released game Medici from 1995 become so popular in our household. It made me think why a game that's now nearly 30 years old was not only picked up by another publisher, but still has a lot of appeal such a long time later. So in this article, I want to look at classic games and see which ones have stood the test of time.

Abstract games

Chess, draughts, cribbage, bridge and many other traditional games are completely abstract in nature. Yes, sure, there is a theme in chess. There are two fighting armies facing each other in the battlefield, and it makes sense for the peasants, i.e. the pawns, forming the biggest part of the army and being the most dispensable - but it pretty tenuous when it comes to how these pieces move. Draughts, on the other hand, is a completely abstract game of course. Many traditional games have great depth and complexity, showing that there is no need for a theme in a good game. So let's explore this some more.

Out with the old?

There has been a boom in tabletop games recently. A huge number of games were published through Kickstarter campaigns on top of the slew of games that publishers released to the market. It has become a matter of "too many games, too little time" - or maybe even "too many games, too little money". New, hot games are all the talk and many games groups flit from game to game, hunting for the latest and greatest.