Alrightgames: 15 Days

The Matchbox Collection: 15 Days

2020 / Card game / 1-4 players

***

I was sceptical about the quality matching the quantity when bidding on this set of five purpose-built microgames for the usual price of one (plus "expansions," that I'll get to), but if some Italians could be bothered to design, produce and market these, the least I can do is play them.

This first outing is a pleasantly dull set collection card game (Spoiler: They're all card games). Its wooden animal totems and pastel nature clipart are a welcome break from my usual dark and exciting themes, though the bastard solo automaton keeps it from being too relaxing.

Alrightgames: Stew – Fungus Among Us

Stew: Fungus Among Us

2018 / Card game mini expansion / 2-4 players

**

I don't know whether this mini expansion really enhances the microgame or just makes it more annoying (especially when the card stocks from the same publisher don't even match), but introducing supernatural gnome and mutant entities makes it trippier. You might just be hallucinating in the mushroom fumes anyway.

Alrightgames: Stew

Stew

2018 / Deduction/bluffing card game / 2-4 players

****

The kind of weird game you only end up with when it's included in a cheap bundle with another one you actually wanted, I thought the quickfire deduction and bluffing would be too much of a step up from Love Letter for the six year old, but I asked if we could try it out once before I sold it on. Then she wanted to keep playing all night.

She might not have grasped every mathematical variable, but it's not like my efforts to track cards and probabilities fare much better. You just don't know what's in the pot, especially when a cheeky child sneaks in the man and other cards you're not supposed to. A surprise but welcome keeper, real stew was also more of a success than sushi.

Alrightgames: 7 Wonders Duel

7 Wonders Duel

2015 / Card drafting game / 2 players

*****

Too hard and serious looking to have caught my eye if it hadn't been going unusually cheap that day, I made a few abandoned forays into the rulebook before I finally got around to playing it and quickly realised it was the Advanced Splendor I'd been craving. Every time I play, I'm impressed by how good a game it is, with so many things to keep track of even before I get around to adding in the bundled expansions. The only downside is I might have ruined most other games for myself now.

Alrightgames: Monopoly Expansion – Buy Everything

Monopoly Expansion: Buy Everything

2025 / Board game expansion pack / 2-6 players

****

Releasing an expansion series for a 90-year-old board game is a funny idea in itself, and this one leaned into the silliness most, so seemed like it'd be a fun addition to her Sailor Moon set, but I didn't predict how much she'd be obsessed with it (for about a week, anyway). On the technical level, it creates more problems than it solves and essentially breaks the game. But when the game is Monopoly, you can't really complain, and it succeeds on the entertainment level. Especially when your promising overpowered card combo strategy gets you nothing but more worthless money, then your opponent picks up a card that lets her win by landing on Go.

Alrightgames: Carcassonne – Castles & Bridges

Carcassonne: Castles & Bridges

2025 / Tile placement board game expansion / 2-6 players

***

"Ultimately, it's mostly pointless. I don't need or particularly want it in the collection" - Me, 2025

Well... yeah, but that was about the older version that included the rubbish bazaars. And the weirdly brown bridges that they've finally made grey to match the roads, so are more appealing to use now, even if I still forget to. It's nice to have proper castles rather than flimsy print-outs too, even if there's a little clash of art styles.

That was all I needed from this batch, so I sold on the next-generation tiles and surplus barns to further discount an unboxed set I'd paid for using eBay profits from recreationally upselling other people's underpriced Carcassonne sets, so it's not like I spent any real money on this completely unnecessary indulgence.

Alrightgames: The Seafarers of Catan

The Seafarers of Catan

1997 / Strategy board game expansion / 3-4 players

****

Resold

Whether I've got too dependent on expansions in other games or this one was especially lacking in vanilla, this wet widescreen extension was looking to be a compulsory purchase if I planned to hold onto the game this time – but only when I saw a cheap listing and made a stingy offer to discount it further.

It's not the expanded size and little tweaks that make it, it's the book of scenarios guiding players through varied experiences and setting you up to create your own unlimited variations (within tile limits, anyway). Unfortunately, there's no one else around who's boring enough to play it, and three-handed solo trading is too tedious even for me, so I passed it on to make game funds and space.

Freeing components trapped since the 90s. Play your games!

Alrightgames: Keys to the Castle

Keys to the Castle

2017 / Board game / 2-4 players

*

Resold

I thought I was clever finding these eBay auctions where sellers over-optimistically offer free shipping for unpopular games that end up costing them more to send me. There've been some success stories, but most of the time, when they do actually get around to sending them, it's usually junk like this, which I enthusiastically present to the child as "this was just cheap and might be rubbish, but do you want to try it anyway?" before we play about half a game. We've got loads of good games now, mediocre ones serve no purpose and it's better to have the £2.

Alrightgames: Cleocatra

Cleocatra

2020 / Tile placement board game / 2-4 players

**

Resold

Another budget cat-based game for the Christmas bundle (though not involving poo this time), I could tell as soon as we started laying out triangles and placing people because there wasn't much else to do that it wasn't going to be a hoot. There's an advanced version that I could have tried out myself, but I wasn't bored enough. She agreed it could be resold for funds towards something else.

Alrightgames: 1 Survives

1 Survives

2020 / Card game / 2-4 players

****

This one-deck slasher movie was a bit of a dodgy purchase with a young child in the house, but there are places to hide it, and it was at an irresistible price – maybe some of the best value entertainment I've ever bought. Best played with the full cast of six, whether that's with friends or directing them all solo (don't get too attached). It's just a shame I couldn't play this with my Edinburgh ghost gang around 2008, it was made for them.