Opinionated Gamers

  • “Odin” Wins 2025 As d’Or Awards

    Last week, the jury of the Festival International des Jeux announced the winner of its As d’Or awards.  Games from last year are nominated in four separate categories and the overall winner is Odin, a climbing and shedding game designed by … Continue reading →

  • Dale Yu: Review of Fives

        Fives Designer: Taiki Shinzawa  Publisher: CMYK Players: 3-4 Age: 8+ Time: 30 minutes Amazon affiliate link: Played with review copy provided by publisher Fives is a smart and tense trick taking game from Taiki Shinzawa. Fives is … Continue reading →

  • Dale Yu: Review of Duos

    Duos Designer: Johannes Schimdauer-Koenig  Publisher: CMYK Players: 4 or 6 Age: 8+ Time: 30 minutes Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/43gI4bB  Played with review copy provided by publisher Duos is a cozy and collaborative team game from Johannes Schmidauer-König. Work together to … ...

  • The Ascending Empires Strikes Back: A Review of the New Zenith Edition

    Back in the summer of 2011 – which, for those of you who don’t like to do math, was nearly fourteen years ago – I reviewed Z-Man Games’ “weird & wonderful cross between a dexterity game like Carabande or Catacombs … Continue reading →

  • Dale Yu: Review of The Lie [Essen SPIEL 2024]

    The Lie Designers: Eloi Pujadas, Eugeni Castaňo Publisher: Devir Players: 2-6 Age: 8+ Time: 20 minutes Played with review copy provided by publisher In The Lie, all the cards lie! The cards show numbers from 1 to 4, and they … Continue reading →

  • Dale Yu: Review of Combo

    Combo Designer: Ikhwan Kwon Publisher: Happy Camper Players: 2-6 Age: 10+ Time: 20 minutes Amazon affiliate link: Played with copy provided by publisher The competition is ripe! Play apples, bananas, cherries, and more to make a shared fruit feast. … Continue reading →

  • Dale Yu: Review of Slide

    Slide Designer: Claude Clement Publisher:  Gigamic Players: 2-6 Age: 7+ Time: 15 minutes Amazon affiliate link:  (coming March 2025) Played with review copy provided by publisher The challenge of Slide is to rid yourself of cards to leave as few … Continue reading →

  • Dale Yu: Review of Tinco

    Tinco Designers: Gustavo Barreto, Alessandro de Oliveira Publisher: Devir Players: 3-6 Age: 10+ Time: 20 minutes Played with review copy provided by publisher Tinco is a less than Zen party game of frantic action and superior kung fu for 3 … Continue reading →

  • Pagan: Fate of Roanoke

      A lot of my gaming is done two-player these days; while we do have a monthly game group and attend several cons, day to day it is just the two of us. While many games include options for two … Continue reading →

  • Dale Yu: Review of Venturesome [Essen SPIEL 2024]

    Venturesome Designer: Michael Rieneck Publisher: Devir Players: 2-5 Age: 10+ Time: 30 minutes Played with review copy provided by publisher Recollect the images from your childhood. All the exciting books, graphic novels and movies full of tireless discoverers and travelers, … Continue ...