Tag: Themes

Knarr (Digital Eyes)

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Vikings were known for plundering, but what many people forget is that they also did a lot of trade. In fact, the Viking Era saw an increase in trade in the English Channel, the North Sea and the Baltic. There was one vessel that was specifically made for the exchange of large quantities of goods. It was a cargo ship with a shorter hull than the commonly known longships, which were mainly warships, and that had only a partial deck or sometimes none at all. It was specially adapted to the high seas to transport goods safely from shore to shore. To the Vikings, it was known as the Knarr by Thomas Dupont from Bombyx.

Flamme Rouge (Saturday Review)

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We had started in Florence when everyone was still fresh and raring to go. An endless sea of bicycles with teams sticking closely together had lined up at the starting line. The support teams had only done their last checks minutes before and everything was shiny and gleaming. Now, several thousand kilometres later, everyone started to show signs of slowing down. Yet, at the horizon a welcome sign became visible. We knew it wasn't going to be much further. There it was, the red flag, the Flamme Rouge by Asger Harding Granerud from Lautapelit.fi.

Shikoku 1889 (Saturday Review)

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The period of sakoku has only recently ended, and now with the Meiji Restoration in full swing, the country is investing heavily in new technologies. Locomotives have become the leading symbol of the nation's modernization. Across all four islands, new railway operations are created and entrepreneurs attempt to profit from the money being injected into the economy. Our small island is no different. It's the same here on Shikoku 1889 by Yasutaka Ikeda from Grand Trunk Games.

Mayan Curse (Saturday Review)

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We made it! We finally decoded a very important ancient Mayan manuscript and found the temple described in the old document deep in the jungles of El Salvador. As we were standing at the entrance, we saw in front of us a very long paved road, leading to a circular pyramid. Each paving slab had a different symbol on it and we knew from the manuscript that we had to align them to make our way safely across. As keen as we were to get to the end, we also knew we had to get back out alive. After all, the secret underground pathway we had discovered was protected by an ancient Mayan Curse by Sylvain Plante and Joe Slack from Crazy Like a Box.

Sea of Thieves: Voyage of Legends (Saturday Review)

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Build your reputation, they said. Complete voyages, defeat foes and gather treasures, they said. Visit the outpost to sell cargo and make repairs, they said. Having two sloops under my command was supposed to make this easy, but the truth was far from it. A pirate's life for me, my barnacle. It was a huge challenge from the start. It was almost impossible to safely navigate this Sea of Thieves: Voyage of Legends by Mat Hart, James M. Hewitt, Steve Margetson, Sherwin Matthews and Sophie Williams from Steamforged Games.

Paper App Dungeon (Saturday Review)

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Welcome, adventurer. You are about to embark on a very unique dungeon crawl. Sharpen your pencil and be brave. You are about to face an almost endless cave system stuffed to the brim with coins, treasure chests, spiders' webs, enemies and even the odd portal. So off you go, brave fellow, and descend the stairs into the amazing Paper App Dungeon by Tom Brinton from Lucky Duck Games.

Star Trek: Away Missions (Saturday Review)

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After the battle of Wolf 359, the team consisting of Commander Riker, Lieutenant Commanders Data and Shelby and Lieutenant Worf on board the U.S.S. Enterprise were doing all they could to protect the ship against the invading Borg, led by Locutus of Borg, formerly Captain Picard of the Federation. It was a strange situation. The alien drones seemed oblivious to the starship's crew as both sides went about completing their objectives and overall missions. Our training kicked in and it was as if we were on Star Trek: Away Missions by Andrew Haught, Mike Haught and Phil Yates from Gale Force Nine.

Exotic Games – cultural appropriation in board games (Topic Discussion)

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I grew up at a time when "cowboys and Indians" were a popular topic in literature. Westerns, spaghetti or otherwise, were on television pretty much all the time. Similarly, Kung Fu films were regularly shown on the small screen. The jungles of India also often featured heavily. Board games often followed the same trend and portrayed these seemingly exotic and alluring themes and settings that appealed to children of my age. Yet, much of what was created was clearly guilty of cultural appropriation. So in this article, I want to look at the trend in our hobby specifically.

I Found Bigfoot (Saturday Review)

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I had my camera ready. The tripod was weighed down to ensure I got a clear picture and the telescopic lens was attached to get me as close to the action as possible. It wasn't going to be easy because this creature was hard to find and very camera-shy. I was sure I was in the right spot though. There had been footprints in the ground, so there was no doubt. I stood to make good money from my photos. Then, almost out of nowhere, there it was. I almost couldn't believe it, but it was true - I Found Bigfoot by John David Wood from Thing 12 Games.