Alrightgames: Rebis

The Matchbox Collection: Rebis

2020 / Card game / 1-4 players

***

Sorting books isn't the most appealing theme, magical or not, and this is mainly a basic maths session, culminating with scoring and more tidying as you turn all the flipped cards back around ready for the next exciting round. It was a disappointment after the dramatic Eiyo, but it's been a grower. It's probably better as a two-player competition where you get to use all the cards and tokens than as a limited and repetitive solitaire activity, but I doubt anyone else will be boring enough to play it with me.

Alrightgames: Anthelion expansions

Anthelion expansions

Resold

Button Shy's 18-card wallet games can be masterclasses in streamlining highly efficient and replayable games. Other times, like this, they simply leave out all the other cards that you'd normally expect to give the game some variety and that would encourage you to play more than a couple of times. I wouldn't have bought the game without the bundled expansion packs, but they gave me reasons to play it for a while before passing it on.

Faction Packs ***

Five small card packs that expand the roster of characters and home worlds with themed attitudes and abilities to add modular variety one game at a time and encourage you to actually play the thing. It would have been more interesting if some of them had been designed to replace the primary factions rather than just the neutral rogue faction each time, but that wouldn't work without some editing. I could throw in everything to make a 10-planet Meganthelion, but I suspect it would be very dull.

Black Hole solo variant ***

This wasn't the most satisfying game to play against myself, but the creator brainstormed a few ideas for solo challenges and I kept being pulled back to this literally unwinnable scenario for its cold simplicity – trying to selectively save as many 'valuable' people as possible before they're swallowed up and sending less fortunate souls down its maw for bonuses.

Alrightgames: Anthelion – Conclave of Power

Anthelion: Conclave of Power

2019 / Tactical card game / 2 players

***

Resold

Elaborate space tug-of-war to pass a few minutes if you want something a bit more cerebral than Star Realms and you're too quirky for chess. Well, it's not that elaborate at just 18 cards, but the faction packs sort that out and are really necessary for making it feel like more than a demo.

Alrightgames: Dream On (DIY)

Dream On (DIY)

2017 / Storytelling/memory card game / 2-8 players

****

Another school break, another storytelling game that's easy and even preferable to mock up using superior Dixit cards rather than needlessly buying it. It's friendly and cooperative like Muse, but this time as a memory game. I'm not sure how long the egg timer's supposed to last, but we turn it over again to give us more time to forget the stupid names the other player came up with. I provided appropriate tokens, but it was immediately clear that scoring didn't matter.

Alrightgames: 7 Wonders Duel – Agora

7 Wonders Duel: Agora

2020 / Card drafting game expansion / 2 players

****

The more devious and grounded counterpart to the lofty Pantheon, I warmed to it quicker (the shiny cubes helped), though the new machinations are so dominant that there's a case for preferring vanilla. Like the other expansion, more to think about means there's more to worry about and be distracted by, and letting your guard down for a moment can mean a knife in your back. Or basic oversights like accidentally building 8 wonders.

Combining them all isn't too complicated once you're familiar with the rules, it's just extra hassle to set up.

Alrightgames: Monopoly Expansion – Go to Jail

Monopoly Expansion: Go to Jail

2025 / Board game expansion pack / 2-6 players

*

Do you like going to jail in Monopoly? Of course you do! Here's more of that!

This was the least appealing of the frivolous Monopoly expansion range, especially for playing with a child who I try not to be "mean" to even when we're playing fairly, and who I didn't really want seeing crime and corruption rewarded. This denial naturally made it the one she wanted the most. I let her trade in some unwanted stuff that was hogging shelf space, so her inevitable criminal career will be her own fault, don't blame me.

Unlike the other ludicrously lucrative expansions, this one didn't noticeably make the game faster as claimed, and no one even went to Super Jail where they stash the good cards. We quit when bedtime was approaching and boredom had long since set in.

It's more palatable when mixed in with the rest to play inadvisable Meganopoly, but it'd be better without.

Alrightgames: Carcassonne – Under the Big Top

Carcassonne: Under the Big Top

2017 / Tile placement board game expansion / 2-6 players

**

Resold

Never released in the old art style, this next-generation original wasn't on my radar at all until someone dumped their collection on eBay at prices too good to pass up for a big stack of tiles and wooden people with funny hats.

With more animal tokens and precariously balancing meeples, this is firmly in the category of completely unnecessary frills like all the later expansions, but this time the novelty wore off before the end and I got tired of seeing them come out. It was a memorable visit from the circus, but I don't need it to come again.

Alrightgames: Top Trumps Quiz – Safari Animals

Top Trumps Quiz: Safari Animals

2021 / Card game / 1+ players

**

I told her there were only going to be 30 questions with up to three multiple choices (two, as it turned out), which we'd quickly learn by trial and error like I did with that Amiga Trek Trivia Quiz. But she wanted to complete the set ("why is it Top Trumps?"), it's at least educational, and they're the cheapest games on eBay. Plus, she gets to feel good about beating my worldly knowledge most of the time.

Alrightgames: Atmosfear III – Anne de Chantraine, Witch

Atmosfear III: Anne de Chantraine, Witch

1992 / Video board game expansion / 3-6 players

**

Our next stop after the vampire was less impressive, and that bar was already quite low. Appointing selected players as her minions is a nice touch, but the multi-part spell cards and having to remember who's who (especially when you're two players doubling up in the first place) is all too distracting when you're already struggling to shift your pieces around the board before the next infernal interruption. I'm glad I tried it once though, and hope these characters don't show up in the six year old's nightmares.

Alrightgames: Fluxx

Fluxx

1997 (2008 version) / Card game / 2-4 players

***

I was introduced to this chaotic card game in a hostel on my first travel stop in 2010, while appropriately pissed, and found its unstable "rules" and lolR@Nd0mness hilarious in my debilitated state. It'll never be that enjoyable again, but it seemed like a good call for playing with a child who enjoys the similarly swinging futility of Monopoly's Buy Everything expansion when it was going cheap on eBay.

The Action cards are a bit wordy for a six year old who refuses adult assistance, but that doesn't stop her from generally winning after a few turns anyway by randomly matching the goal. It's not exactly the madcap party I remembered. Maybe we need to get pissed?