It is the golden age of American railways. Rail stocks are all the rage, with new companies flooding the stock market all the time. The stakes are high, but you want to have a slice of the pie. The returns look great and investors get a say on a company's track-laying. To make it big, you have to be clever and know the Trick of the Rails by Hisashi Hayashi from Grok Games with illustrations from Ann-Sophie De Steu and Diego Sá.
In a distant future, giant clay figures are pitted against each other in a race through a desolate terrain. They are controlled by racers who have secretly bet on a specific creature to cross the finish line first. However, all racers have control over all of the creatures and can change their bets during the race. The locals call this chaotic contest Golem Run by Tony Cotterill and Ren Multamäki from Dragon Dawn Productions.
Passions flamed and power waned. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. First Catherine of Aragon, who had the most time to establish loyal supporters and powerful allies, then Anne Boleyn, queen for less than a year. They were followed by Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Katherine Parr. These were The Six of VIII by Carol LaGrow from New Mill Industries.
Whether it is coins, keys, clover or rabbit feet, there are many items that, according to ancient superstitions, bring you luck and maybe even protect you from evil. You merely need to wear them around your neck or on a bracelet and their magic becomes active. Collectively, these items are known as Charms by Taiki Shinzawa from New Mill Industries.
As the first two sons of Adam and Eve, a lot of responsibility had been laid upon our shoulders. We were a farmer and a shepherd who had to offer our harvested grains and livestock to God. We were never sure if either of us was in His favour. So we carried on and made wilder and wilder boasts about our gifts to Our Lord until it was too much and one of us struck down the other. We were Like Cain and Abel by J.L. Reid from Bent Pin.
Oliver KinnePost read time 5 min readLeave a Comment on 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.
Oliver KinnePost read time 7 min readLeave a Comment on Top 5 Games of (and I reviewed in) 2023 (Saturday Review)Announcing the annual Top Table Award is always a pleasure and an honour at the same time. Choosing and deciding the order of the top 5 games I reviewed in 2023 is never easy. There usually isn't much between the games and they are all great for their own reasons. So, irrespective of which one won the coveted award, all of the games are worth a closer look. Here goes...
As you probably know by now, I absolutely love trick-taking games. I have long wanted to share this love with other people, but found it can be hard to teach trick-taking to people who have never come across it. Luckily, in recent months, I have found one or two games that are great for introducing people to trick-taking. They have allowed me to share my passion for this genre of card games. They are great stepping stones. I can start to draw on this giant collection of games that are often great for all the family and key to many of my social interactions as a teenager - but let me explain.
Off the coast of Queensland, Australia, in warm tropical waters, you can find the amazingly colourful Great Barrier Reef. It is home to over 40 different types of sea anemones, which are home to a lot of different kinds of sea life. Clownfish use sea anemones as shelter, taking advantage of their toxin-filled stingers as protection. Yet, while these two are friends, if you touch one as a human, the resulting painful stings can make them feel more like Enemy Anemone by Daniel Newman from New Mill Industries.
Oliver KinnePost read time 6 min readLeave a Comment on Trick Taking – a modern card mechanism (Topic Discussion)Most of the earliest card games were trick-taking games played in the 800s in China. These will have felt quite different to our modern eyes. They didn't have the concept of trump cards or trump suits. There was also no bidding. Trumps were added to European card games in the 1400s, followed by bidding in the 1600s. It took another 100-200 years for familiar trick-taking games like Whist and Skat to appear. A few hundred years after that, the mechanism has now found a new lease of life in modern hobby games.
