Alrightreads: Sunny Day, Sweeping the Bodies Away

R. L. Stine, Fear Street: The New Girl

1989 / Audiobook / 168 pages

***

Having a growing child is the perfect excuse to be theoretically testing out these juvenile junk treats on her behalf, but it's more about escaping back to the 20th century when all you had to worry about was homework and ghosts.

R. L. Stine, Fear Street: The Surprise Party

1989 / Ebook / 168 pages

***

A nicely convoluted High School Gothic detective story with shades of Twin Peaks and Dark Shadows before a Second Amendment finale. I could get into this series.

R. L. Stine, Fear Street: The Overnight

1989 / Audiobook / 160 pages

**

We take a premature break from Fear Street and its disproportionately murderous and paranormal residents for an overnight trip to... what's the name of the place we're sending the kids to? "Fear Island?" Sounds totally fine and non-foreboding.

R. L. Stine, Fear Street: Missing

1990 / Ebook / 168 pages

***

The occult rears its bejewelled monkey head, and it's pretty goofy. Referencing characters from other books in the background helps with the world-building, as long as he remembers which ones he's killed.

R. L. Stine, Fear Street: The Wrong Number

1990 / Audiobook / 165 pages

**

Like much shlock horror, this peaks at the cover, which tells you everything you need to know. The following 165 pages are superfluous, but at least we learn the mundane origin of the street's name.

Alrightgames: Takenoko – Chibis

Takenoko: Chibis

2015 / Board game expansion / 2-4 players

***

The irresistible family theme would have made this an essential add-on to the tug-of-bamboo if I hadn't adopted a pre-loved bundle in the first place. It's slightly disappointing that the baby pandas are only represented by dull tokens rather than more figurines, and that the mum doesn't do anything except pump out babies, but kicking bamboo production into overdrive almost makes up for it.

Per the expansion credo, this overcomplicates the game a bit more than necessary in some areas, especially for a young player, but we don't have to include everything.

Alrightgames: Some Call of Kilforth expansions

Some Call of Kilforth expansions

I could have bought more expansion packs designed for the game I actually have rather than the seafaring sequel I don't, but one option is expensive and elusive while the other was going cheap and was a tempting call to mock up a clunky semi-DIY lite version of Call of Kilforth much more affordably than buying the game itself. The theme is piracy, after all.

Deluxe Upgrades ***

These decadent sets would be an unjustifiable indulgence at full price and if I was just getting bigger or alternate versions of things I already have, but at a clearance price it was an affordable way to get the new location cards and figures for the sexy new characters and less sexy enemies (whose stats I've jotted down, along with the sagas, night cards and everything). It also handily includes all the extra dice and stands that should have been in the standard boxes in the first place. Any missing components I borrowed from other games.

Ventures ***

These extra cards work fine as the standard cards when their slim decks are padded out with some more generic Gloom. Dice-randomised locations and other minor tweaks make them compatible across games, though treating 'Ocean' and 'Badlands' as synonymous location types is a bit of a stretch. They're not that damp.

Alrightgames: Rebis expansions

The Matchbox Collection: Rebis expansions

Like nearly all of the mini expansions in the collection, these were designed strictly for the two-player mode, meaning that solo players have to leave them to rot in the matchbox alongside the useless red gem token. I wasn't having that and I use them anyway, even just as placeholders.

Elixir **

Tidies up the tokens in the two-player mode (tidying up is a preoccupation in this game) by giving them homes that later give someone a bonus. I use them as more attractive automa shelves, ignoring the icons.

Zero **

I hadn't realised the number 0 cards were officially a "mini expansion" when they came as part of the main deck. They don't work in the solo game. I use them for my starting shelf and when drawing an extra face down card to close a shelf, which extends the game slightly and presumably breaks the maths.

Rebis Solo: Ruby Variant (Fan Variant) ***

An unofficial variant that finds a use for the red gem in solo play and makes so much sense that I don't know why it wasn't there originally. Not that I actually manage to reach the gem in practice, but it's nice to see it, and it helps to track where I'm up to.

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.