Alrightgames: Sylvion – Below Ground

Sylvion: Below Ground

2015 / Solo card game mini expansion / 1-2 players

***

The box is pretty full with cards as it is, but including this with the other expansions in the base game would have really rounded out the package and made it competitive with Onirim. Fortunately for us latecomers who don't want to pay inflated prices for imported rarities, it's another stack of cards that doesn't have to be seamlessly mixed into the deck, so printed scans or doodles can give you the gist.

It's a fun bit of added jeopardy, and may become essential in time like the other expansion and game modes designed to address the problem of the game being mathematically solvable.

Alrightgames: Sylvion expansions

Sylvion expansions

2015 / Solo/cooperative card game expansions / 1-2 players

Only two real expansions felt unavoidably meagre after being spoiled by Onirim, but they're both substantial and creative, and make a nice final phase to the modular base game that I wouldn't want to play without now. You couldn't fit much more in the box anyway.

Extraordinary Feats and Betrayal ****

More charming critters to lend a hand or fixate your entire strategy around to change things up. The Betrayal cards are only slightly troublesome, so mixing this in makes the game notably easier.

The Elements ****

Like the best Onirim expansions, these random atmospheric and geological events overcomplicate things in a great way, sometimes even making baddie cards good, and elevate an already solid theme to the next level. Extending the game to 20 rounds is a bit intimidating, but you've got this.

The Ravage! **

An extra hard mode if you get tired of winning. Make sure to also increase your penalties and draw fewer support troops each round if you think you're hard. Otherwise, you can display the little figurine on the shelf with the others and let your kid play with them carefully.

Who Goes There?: Castellion >

Alrightgames: Sylvion

Sylvion

2015 / Solo/cooperative card game / 1-2 players

*****

Urbion was a bit of a letdown, but this greater deviation from the formula won me over more than expected with its immersive theme (you can feel the heat when the elementals blaze), eccentricity (what's a whale doing in a forest? lol) and recreational stress.

Most people compare its tower defence approach to something called Plants vs Zombies, but my reference point is more Final Fantasy VII's Fort Condor minigame, because I'm from the '90s. Its soundtrack is the Theme from Sylvion now.

Babyliography CCVII

Sophy Henn, The Music in Me

2022 / Library book / 32 pages

**

If you mean feelings, say feelings.

Linda Chapman and Biz Hull, My Secret Unicorn: The Magic Spell

2002 / Paperback / 128 pages

***

No pressure to get through the whole boxset of bigger-girl chapter books I bought just because it seemed good value, but still good to have in our stable of magical horse bedtime stories.

Rob Lloyd Jones and Alessandra Santelli, Usborne Forgotten Fairy Tales: The Nettle Princess

2020 / Library book / 48 pages

***

Nice to read a new fairy tale, and some rare nettle representation too.

Fiona Undrill, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Odd Fish!

2020 / School book / 16 pages

***

The most educational of these so far, she wasn't even scared of the goblin shark.

Ben Clanton, The Greatest in the World: A Tater Tales Book

2023 / Library book / 80 pages

***

It's unlikely she would have given this spuddy series a try if it wasn't recognisably by the same creator as Narwhal and Jelly (which only scraped in itself through unicorn references), but it was slightly better than you might expect a graphic novel about three potatoes to be. We made separate predictions for the end twist and we were both right.

Babyliography CCVI

Catherine Baker and Angeles Peinador, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Rock Pools

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

The non-fiction ones are best, even if they insist on weird abbreviations no one uses.

Marvin Berglas, 110 Amazing Magic Tricks with Everyday Objects

2002 / Ebook / 42 pages

***

The same ones that are spammed everywhere, padded out by some shockingly poor ones.

Richard and Lewis Edwards-Middleton and Andy Passchier, My Family and Other Families

2022 / Library book / 32 pages

**

A list of family dynamics with a loosely-draped story. She won't be the only reader disappointed to find that they didn't make the search for the lost ticket a solvable puzzle.

Various, Read with Oxford: Stage 2 – Phonics – Dick Whittington and Other Tales

2018 / Library book / 80 pages

**

Dick Whittington was new to her. She hadn't been missing out.

Laura Hambleton, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Pink Boat, Pink Car

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

She liked the girl one best, because she was a girl.

Babyliography CCV

Jeremy Whitley, Tony Fleecs and Brenda Hickey, My Little Pony: Adventures in Friendship, Volume 4

2014-15 (collected 2015) / Hardback / 76 pages

**

She obviously didn't get all the pop culture references in the Discord story, but I never knew what the likes of Animaniacs were referencing either.

Mark Bradley, Bumble and Snug and the Angry Pirates

2021 / Library book / 160 pages

**

Should have left Bumble to them, mate.

Susan Frame and Valeria Issa, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: I Look for Mark

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

Not the most drawn-out hide and seek ever.

Susanna Leonard Hill and Mike Wohnoutka, Can't Sleep Without Sheep

2010 / School book / 32 pages

**

We debated whether the girl was ironically already asleep or just imagining it, and I think she was right.

Dana Simpson, Camping with Unicorns: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure

2017 (collected 2020) / Paperback / 176 pages

***

Another summer comes and goes and more gags are outright repeated, but they're still her favourite bedtime stories.

Babyliography CCIV

Various, My Little Pony: Adventures in Friendship, Volume 3

2013-14 (collected 2015) / Hardback / 76 pages

***

Getting slightly obscure already by Volume 3, the pony princess balances out the rubbish dragon, and their unexpected team-up is a fun romp.

Sasha Morton, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Cubs

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

The bear cub eating the fish is the edgiest thing in this series so far.

Jessica Ellis and Parwinder Singh, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Finn Feels Better

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

Phase 3 appears indistinguishable from Phase 2 so far, but it makes her look good.

Unknown, Pokémon Early Reader: Legendary Ultra Beasts

2019 / Library book / 64 pages

**

I'm not sure why she insisted on this in the library, since she has no real interest in the show, but it was refreshing to have a good, old-fashioned boy story for a change. At least until we got to the end of what turned out to be an incomplete prelude episode. They also reuse the same screencap where it doesn't make sense, as if kids wouldn't notice.

Arina Tanemura, Disney Frozen II: The Manga

2021 / Library book / 160 pages

**

I refused to read her much of this pointless adaptation, which is hypocritical as someone who once owned the likes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze equivalent, because I just couldn't be bothered. It was at least amusing to see the verbatim script suddenly giving way to seeming translation paraphrasing when it hit the copyrighted song lyrics.

Alrightreads: Gamesmaster III

Various, My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – The Curious Case of The Malfunctioning P.R.A.N.C.E.R. and Other Tails

2021 / Ebook / 64 pages

***

Likely the last release from the charming junior RPG before the licence migrated overseas, the concept behind this suite of short, educational adventures is better in principle than execution, since about half of them look too boring to actually bother with. But the baking LARP is sure to be a hit and we can always use a sailing break.

  

Various, My Little Pony Roleplaying Game: Story of the Seasons

2024 / Ebook / 146 pages

***

As someone who barely grasps the simplified Tails of Equestria, the terminology of this more advanced pony RPG is baffling, but there are plenty of creative sparks and world-enriching details in this sourcebook that are ripe for harvesting, even if the themed adventures themselves aren't so appealing.

Various, My Little Pony Roleplaying Game: Knights of Canterlot

2024 / Ebook / 98 pages

**

What if your distinctive pony roleplaying experience was completely conventional? Turning My Little Pony into generic fantasy was a fun diversion that Tails of Equestria covered in a pamphlet, but a sourcebook dedicated to running Pony D&D campaigns feels like overkill. You can check out other franchises.

Stephen Chenault, The Mortality of Green

2000 / Ebook / 26 pages

***

I'm not likely to ever play traditionally violent D&D (depending on how the little one turns out), but the adventures are still a good read. I took the sentient tree boss for one of ours, almost unrecognisably watered down.

Michael Mearls, Aerial Adventure Guide, Volume Two: Sellaine, Jewel of the Clouds

2002 / Paperback / 32 pages

****

Our story setting already has a sky city, but the few supplementary pages on the wizard's wonky flying tower death trap were inspired and begging to be adapted.

Junior Gamesmaster: Tails of Equestria – Bubblegum Has a Choice (DIY)

My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – Bubblegum Has a Choice

DIY roleplaying game adventure

I don't normally document my five-year-old's improvised doll stories, but incorporate a few dice rolls and apparently they're validated as roleplaying modules? Looks like it!

After seeing her dad step up to GM his own short adventure, she felt like giving it a go, to take back some narrative power and have more say over her beloved character's fate. Coming prepared only with a story hook (the ponies turn into people!), substitute Barbie/LOL dolls, and on-the-fly prompts courtesy of Story Cubes and various figures grabbed from the box, she took us on an emotional journey that ended up in a different place than she may have anticipated, at least consciously, and smoothed the transition to the next generation. Like any good writer, she came up with the title after.

It was also interesting for me to experience being a player for once and having to relinquish my usual godlike powers. Temporarily.

Gamesmaster: Tails of Equestria – The Fountain of Youth (DIY)

My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – The Fountain of Youth

DIY roleplaying game adventure

Our* pony characters were approaching the double-figure level milestone of conventional retirement when we'd be too amazing for there to ever be any jeopardy in our adventures any more (although, with the ability to summon angels from the start and re-roll bad throws by recycling basically unlimited friendship tokens, it hasn't been an especially challenging journey), so I wrote a reflective and safe-action-packed story as a possible send-off.

Incorporating a totally original gimmick that hasn't been used in loads of things before, it let us put the junior standees and character sheets from the Starter Set to more use and gave the young player the explicit choice at the end of whether to start over with these same characters or return them to normal while we set off for adventure with brand new, hopefully less indestructible characters.

She chose a bit of both.

* I know I'm not supposed to have a character as GM, but it would feel lonely with just one. She has two herself! See those rules? You see 'em? [Karate chop!]

The Saga of Bubblegum & Angel Rose (& Firebrand, Who Joined After a While, But Never Did Get a Pony Sheet)

• Level 0: A Dragon's Bounty (we can probably retcon that it was them, since we unimaginatively used the stock character standees thereafter)
• Level 1: The Gift Horse (mini) / The Pet Predicament (first bit; didn't like it) / The Curse of the Statuettes (abridged; still figuring it out)
• Level 2: Sky Arrow's Big Flight (Bubblegum achieves a place at the prestigious Wonderbolt Academy; never bothers to show up)
• Level 3: The Cutie Mark Mystery
• Level 4: Judge Not By the Cover (introducing recurring frenemy Discord)
• Level 5: The Sister Springs (mini; Bubblegum achieves magic ice breath, completely forgotten after this escapade) / The Secret of Starfall
• Level 6: The Haunting of Equestria (Firebrand joins the gang; player count remains the same)
• Level 7: Dungeon of the Diabolical Draconequus (inconsequential because it wasn't real) / The Festival of Lights (first bit; seemed bored) / One Good Turn Deserves Another (mini) / Melody of the Waves (introducing Captain Rosella)
• Level 8: The Beasts of Black Skull Island (the gang strikes it rich!)
• Level 9: The Fountain of Youth (the seasoned adventurers decide to rest on their laurels)
• Level 10: Bubblegum Has a Choice (a junior Gamesmaster has other ideas...)

Alrightgames: Star Realms – Frontiers – Kickstarter Promo Pack

Star Realms: Frontiers – Kickstarter Promo Pack

2018 / Deckbuilding card game expansion pack / 2+ players

****

As a struggling parent and lifelong cheapskate, I've never been tempted by Kickstarter backing and its fair-weather promises of exclusive rewards, but it's nice when these eventually make their way down to eBay at bargain prices. At a whopping 41 cards – including ships with a brand new mechanic/gimmick and more Events – this pack is almost a full expansion range in itself, and was annoyingly too enticing to resell for guaranteed profit when it could pimp and expand my Frontiers deck more than 50% right from the start. Curse you, cool things.

Alrightgames: Star Realms – Frontiers

Star Realms: Frontiers

2018 / Deckbuilding card game / 1-4 players

*****

Ah, there it is – the poster child for games I'd like to have, but couldn't justify splashing £20 on at any point over the last few years (a second-edition Urbion might be in that chair now). Since it wasn't getting any cheaper, it had to get better, and when I saw it included in an underpriced eBay bundle with related rare and substantial promos, I decided it was unlikely to get better than this, so I spent slightly more on it. It seemed to make sense at the time.

These new-to-me ships and bases with their cool art and slight mathematical variations were as mildly exciting as anticipated, and I enjoyed getting to know them a bit before mixing them in with all the rest. The roster of new solo bosses was underwhelming and fiddly though, I prefer to stick with blasting the shit out of myself before bed.

Alrightgames: Cat Crimes

Cat Crimes

2018 / Logic puzzles / 1 player

***

Building her deduction skills in the realm of feline noir, I believe this is how Jonathan Creek got started. I got stumped by Beginner puzzle 5, so it may be a while before we're ready for the more brain-bending scenarios.

A cleverer dad than me worked out an algorithm to keep the game going beyond the limited cards, but my five-year-old prefers making up her own on the fly anyway. (Hint: It's always Mr. Mittens. She just doesn't like that guy).

Alrightgames: Ascension – Eternal

Ascension: Eternal

2020 / Deckbuilding card game / 1-2 players

****

A clearance discount and selling my old Apprentice Edition enabled me to upgrade my compact, vanilla Ascension option for free. Theming it around a '90s girl group was a weird choice, but it's got more of the good cards, less of the stock filler and its own little board, making it convenient for quick solo games. The similarly generic Alliances cards also mix in better here than in a more distinctive set and bring it up to the size of a basic four-player game (when adding spare starting decks and tokens) that ends at just the right point before managing four players yourself starts to get out of hand. If I end up craving the convolutions of my big set all the time, I can sell it on.

Alrightgames: Tails of Equestria – The Beasts of Black Skull Island

My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – The Beasts of Black Skull Island

2017 / Roleplaying game adventure / 2+ players

***

This short adventure still took us several sessions, due to attention spans, bedtimes, and extreme improvised digressions to integrate it with our ongoing saga (it worked particularly well after Melody of the Waves), to set us up for the brave new DIY future (we've got a car! If they're not a thing in My Little Pony, what's the Hasbro toy our standees are cramped into, huh?), and because making the characters excrete a variety of substances over the floor to the increasing exasperation of the Klugetown hotel owner makes her laugh and delays me having to write the next one.

We got around to the actual story eventually, which was okay, but it was disappointing that the accessory pack hardly included any figures for it.

Alrightgames: Tony Hawk's Skateboarding & Pro Skater 2 & Jet Set Radio

Tony Hawk's Skateboarding & Pro Skater 2 & Jet Set Radio

2000 / Sega Dreamcast emulator games / 1-2 players

***

These are technically different game series, but all things to put on when the five-year-old feels like a low-effort mess-around on wheels. Jet Set Radio adds the graffiti angle, but lacks the level variety and gravity-defying cheat modes, though Big Head Mode gave her uncanny valley terror.

Alrightgames: Skies of Arcadia

Skies of Arcadia

2000 / Sega Dreamcast emulator game / 1 player

****

A more appealing next Final Fantasy than Final Fantasy, she found the turn-of-the-century CGI anime inspiring, but the actual gameplay is a bit complex for players who are respectively too young and too old to fully grasp without the aid of YouTube walkthroughs or, I don't know, having to read instructions or something.

Alrightgames: Urbion expansions

Urbion expansions

2012 / Solo/cooperative card game expansions / 1-2 players

My old edition of the game only offers a couple of side dishes compared to the re-released Onirim's expansion banquet. Will they be enough to convert the OCD balancing act into a keeper? Maybe if I didn't have the seven other games in the series competing for my affection and shelf space.

Arch-Squares and Metas ***

Wild cities and wild dream cards. Gee, didn't see that coming. I like these in Onirim, but this isn't a game I enjoy extending so much, and the Metas aren't cool enough to compensate for the increased difficulty. I kept them mixed in, but never won with it.

The Books of Powers **

These pot-luck power-ups barely seem worth the cost.

Yonder: Sylvion >

Alrightgames: Urbion

Urbion

2012 / Solo/cooperative card game / 1-2 players

***

Resold

Onirim, but maths! This repetitive balancing act has some of the juvenile charm of its predecessor, but not the same immersion or replayability, while still being too similar in some ways to really stand apart. I'm glad I had the chance to try it out when it was bundled with more tempting Oniverse releases, but it's one I treated as a rental before resale. Only having the rough and limited first edition that doesn't match the rest of the stack made that decision easier than it'll be for any later entries that similarly fail to enchant me.

Babyliography CCIII

Raina Telgemeier, Smile

2010 / Library book / 224 pages

****

Having previously enjoyed a junior graphic novel about a roller-skating injury, I knew she'd find this unflinching braces drama similarly morbidly fascinating, though the bloody accident scene was a bit too intense for her.

Judith Heneghan, Mad About: Swimming

2016 / Library book / 32 pages

**

The title did suggest it was more for the hardcore hydrophile than someone looking forward to her first swimming lesson, but it detailed the basic moves that I tried to helpfully demonstrate on dry land.

Lucy Rowland and Tilia Rand-Bell, Unicorn Babies

2025 / Library book / 32 pages

**

It gets a point for flirting with frightening imagery, most unicorn picture books wouldnae be so bold.

Various, Read with Oxford: Stage 2 – Non-fiction – Make and Bake

2020 / Library book / 96 pages

****

Half-term home school in a book.

Nigel Kitching, Ferran Rodriguez and Richard Elson, Sonic the Hedgehog Spin Attack

1993 (collected 1994) / Paperback / 32 pages

***

I didn't know they'd actually released some Sonic the Comic collections in paperback back then. While it's very slim, and not the classic stories you'd really want, these are at least some formative Kitching-Elsons for curiosity and nostalgia on my part.

Babyliography CCII

Samantha Montgomerie and Dean Gray, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Dash to Dig

2020 / School book / 16 pages

**

The unspoken trezer map and advancing/sinking pirate ship were more complex and dramatic than these usually are, and went over her head.

Zanna Davidson and Barbara Bongini, Fairy Ponies: The Magic Necklace

2010 / Paperback / 96 pages

***

We approached this as a prequel series, so the deception of the black pony Shadow was even less surprising than it would be through questionable convention anyway. Goodies have pale coats, duh.

Unknown, Where's Hello Kitty?: Fun in the City

2014 / Library book / 32 pages

**

Where's Wally as a copy-paste spot the difference, because God forbid they draw the branding from an off-model angle. This tied in with our pretend trip to London, at least.

Ben Clanton, Happy Narwhalidays: A Narwhal and Jelly Book

2020 / Library book / 64 pages

***

Delayed festive special. She enjoyed the end reveal.

Tom Fletcher and Greg Abbott, There's a Dragon in Your Book

2018 / School book / 32 pages

**

She's had the inevitable unicorn one before, but has to make do with the less curated school pile.