2020 / Card game rules / 1-4 players
***
A well-devised and intuitive battle gauntlet in standard playing cards if you're away from your proper games and want to teach something different, but it's a bit boring and unnecessary when I have Eiyo at home.
2021 / Trick-taking card game / 2 players
***
This two-player duel wasn't on my radar until I saw it mentioned as a game that was fairly easy to mock up for free using standard playing cards, then it became irresistible (this is sure to be a new fixation). I really wanted to use Atmosfear cards for the juju, but those decks were all one number short, so I gave the unloved Dos some purpose, along with those versatile Pocket Mars cubes again.
The actual game is pretty interesting, with the Jekyll player seeking balance and Hyde pursuing landslide success or failure with equal relish. Although playing two-handed by myself was apropos for the schizophrenic theme, this meant that every round ended in a 100% tie, which means Jekyll will always win, and that just doesn't seem fair to the repressed maniac.
Forbidden Island: The Islands & Treasure Powers Expansion
The publisher preferred to release increasingly harder sequels to this game rather than milk it with unnecessary modular upgrades, but fortunately the fan community came to the rescue with printable overcomplications. Will any be keepers?
Island Variants ****
Some of these were included with some versions of the game anyway, and are patterns you could come up with yourself, so it barely counts. Most or all are guaranteed to make the game harder to borderline impossible.
Treasure Powers ***
Free, thematically-relevant power-ups that are handy and make use of spare cards, though actions are less likely to be going spare by the time you've earned them.
New Roles ***
These make interesting alternatives for solo challenges, though they look a bit complicated for the six year old, especially as the lack of matching coloured pawns means we'd forget who we were.
SOS Titanic
2013 / Card game / 1-5 players
****
As a solo player, I was intrigued, amused and sceptical about what seemed to amount to debatably disrespectful Titanic Patience, but I was ultimately swayed by the involvement of Bruno Cathala (responsible for way more of our favourite games than I realised) and a heavily discounted, slightly battered foreign edition, which spared me from struggling to mock this up using regular playing cards.
It is mainly Titanic Patience, but there are enough twists with special powers and frustrating rules to make it an addictive challenge and the theme carries it the rest of the way. Just one more try, I know I can save the children this time.
2011 / Tile placement board game mini expansion / 2-6 players
****
I'd been making do with disappointing and distinctly opaque DIY versions of these incorporeal assistants for years, but they eventually came among the bonus goodies in a Big Box I was planning to upsell anyway. They edge on being too game-breakingly good, but everyone gets one, or they can give inexperienced players a ghostly leg up.
***
Domino times tables isn't our favourite family game, but I can never resist an expansion for adding spice, and it was something to do over Easter break. I was a bit disappointed that the pre-owned set I bought off eBay was unknowingly missing many components, but the seller generously refunded it, those pieces could be substituted and printed without any trouble, and we now randomly have two complete sets of base tiles as a bonus, allowing us to make unwisely massive maps. The giants themselves being an unremarkable feature is less of an issue now.
Atmosfear
1991 / Video board game / 3-6 players
***
Thirty years after playing the refined omnibus edition, I crossed paths with the Gatekeeper again. He seemed meaner in this first outing as he terrorised and trash talked my child, but after scraping a win at 55 minutes, she wanted to play again. I advised against it for sanity.
The game is functionally terrible, some parts of the video will only work the first time (and YouTube veterans will see the jump scare coming anyway) and the box fits really awkwardly on the shelf. But doesn't it look great?
I have a surprisingly good time playing Zombie Fluxx, if it can really be described as playing when you're at the mercy of the draw and frequently have your choices reduced from limited to none. They've milked it with a bunch of promo cards over the years, some of which (Larry and the Zombie Boss) were incorporated into my version anyway, others of which can be tried out by substituting other cards from surplus Fluxx sets and pretending they've got those words and pictures on. If I wasn't such a cheapskate, I'd barely have any games.
I hesitated for a long time over paying £1 for a bit of card, but it's so deliciously overpowered that it seemed like a worthwhile investment to make the game a bit more entertaining and a little less annoying. I also liked the prospect of making other Fluxxes more amusing when immolating abstract concepts. Take that, War! It's a keeper. And also a Keeper.
Released to symbolise the countdown to the zombie edition, but it really seems like an impractical response to the criticism that Fluxx games can drag on. I don't need to try this out to realise how awkward and pathetic it is. When my daughter gets bored and wants to stop playing, she just says so, without needing official permission. We're not robots.
Both games have Brains in them, but this is specifically a zombie-themed addition to vanilla Fluxx released in misleading Zombie Fluxx packaging to promote the new game. You know, like promos are supposed to work. If this goal permutation didn't exist before, it seems pointless to add it in now. Where's the zombie?
An equivalent of the Radioactive Potato or the tribble thing from Star Fluxx for your zombie game, except now it's an occasionally useful keeper, so you can't kill it. I've been using the Brain from regular Fluxx to stand in, but it isn't doing much. Maybe use your brains to come up with an idea that's not just brains?
Designed for Mystery Fluxx, I think, but it's on theme and the new card type is welcome, adding similar tension to the Zombie Victory Ungoal but even usurping it to become the new scariest card in the game. This might have been worth £1 if I'd seen it, but a substituted Death card from plain Fluxx gives the message clear enough.
This was available when I bought the Flame-Thrower, but another random card draw effect wasn't interesting enough when there are already too many of those to keep track of by design.
Zombie Fluxx
2007 (2008 Zombie Boss Boxx version) / Card game / 2-4 players
***
Having already parted with the uninteresting Star Fluxx, I wasn't planning on adding more themed variations to the collection, but this vintage set looked like a distinct enough experience from the standard game to be fun and have character, while also coming in a nice wooden box, for some reason.
As hoped, the constant threat of the zombie horde and addition of the Ungoal game-over condition make it more of an actual game and the generic tropes keep it on the approachable level of a lighthearted zombie apocalypse simulation rather than an overly-referential parody for nerds. Throwing in the Flamethrower promo and soundtracking it with the Misfits bumps it up to ****.
2015 / Card game / 2-4 players
****
Its predecessor isn't the most impressive game I've played this year, but it keeps drawing me back with its simple mechanics and simpler art, so the inevitable sequel was an inevitable purchase. It makes the heroes harder and room effects fiddlier, but mainly, like any good sequel, it's more of the things you like. I was a bit disappointed that they leaned way more into direct references this time though ("LMFAO, that is from Pokémon, with which I am familiar!!!"), which makes it feel more like a basic parody than a real lost game, but those are watered down when you inevitably mix it all together.
Takenoko solo variants
I did buy it as a family game, honestly, but thanks to some variably official bastardisations, it doesn't have to sit on the shelf after the child's gone to bed (and all the rest of the time she isn't that interested in playing it).
A belated official variant that makes the cute family game friendlier, though working together on tasks is less fun than ganging up on Dad. It doubles up as a solo mode that's good for practice, but trying to beat your high score (78) isn't especially thrilling.
A cleverly-designed system of flowcharts that reasonably imitates a second player (though one who's obsessed with gutters), but is too much hassle to go through every game. Playing against myself still wins.
A few months ago, I reacted badly to inconsistent design choices on the spines of a children's book series. I now recognise that I overreacted and it wasn't such a big deal after all, so I would like to apologise for my outburst and unacceptable language.
Now it looks like this:
***
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.
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.
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.
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 **
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.
***
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.
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.
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.
Dream On (DIY)
****
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.
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.
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.
