Alrightgames: Jim Henson's Labyrinth – The Adventure Game

Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Adventure Game

2019 / Roleplaying game / 2-5 players

***

We like Labyrinth, but this heartfelt adaptation is more for the hardcore fans who'd shell out for its imitation prop packaging than families looking for a fun activity to stay in the world a little longer after the film's over, especially since playing the sequel to a different character's specific fantasy feels like a knock-off.

Too roleplay-dependent to be a straight puzzle adventure and possibly too simplified for RPG veterans, it's a niche curio all right. We played through a few rooms, but the prelapsarian player had more fun acting out the film with assorted toys.

Alrightgames: Catan – Race Against the Destroyer

Catan: Race Against the Destroyer

2009 / Board game variant rules / 1 player

**

This unofficial variant mashing up Catan and Forbidden Island looked like a more exciting alternative to playing regular Me1 vs Me2 vs Me3 Catan, but it ended up duller. Stuck in a whirlpool towards my settlers' inevitable demise, I eventually gave up to save about an hour of my actual life. I used this precious extra time as wisely as you would expect.

Alrightgames: Robot Turtles – Galapagos

Robot Turtles: Galapagos

2013 / Board game variant / 2-4 players

***

I forgot there were rules that make the educational programming activity into an actual game that encourages the junior programmers to be malicious hackers. With opportunities to spoil your opponent's carefully-planned movements by placing a block in their way or zapping them backwards (unless they cleverly preempt this by programming backwards movements anyway – only for you to refrain from zapping them, so they make themselves go backwards for no reason), it has the potential to be evil fun, but I went easy on her.

Alrightgames: One Page Adventures – Hills & Wizard's Tower

One Page Adventures: Hills & Wizard's Tower

2022 / Roleplaying game adventures / 2+ players

***

There was some suitably magical and fairy taleish inspiration (when omitting the violence) in these formerly unconnected spreads to beef up the journey and destination of a Tails of Equestria mini adventure. The random magical ice door dictated the next leg, which needed a more detailed source.

Alrightgames: Tails of Equestria – Practise Makes Perfect

My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – Practise Makes Perfect

2017 / Roleplaying game mini-adventure / 2+ players

**

Unlike the other mini adventures, which are self-contained encounters that can be slotted into any compatible setting without fuss, this one acts as the opening scenes to an unfinished story that demands you make up your own continuation. Or you could just leave the kid upset and his mentor's fate unknown, if you're playing this wrong.

Fortunately, a wizard's tower isn't a difficult springboard for coming up with your own scenarios or taking your pick from various generic modules across RPG history and ponying them up. I went hard with the latter.

Alrightgames: Sea Salt & Paper – Extra Salt

Sea Salt & Paper: Extra Salt

2023 / Card game expansion pack / 2-4 players

***

A measly but cheap expansion adding extra origami critters and options to round out what's already an unplayably complex family game at present, but I can enjoy disassociative solo playing until she's older. It's a shame the starfish are so rubbish though. The salt packet design was a fun gimmick for the few seconds it lasted.

Alrightgames: Sea Salt & Paper

Sea Salt & Paper

2022 / Card game / 2-4 players

****

Basing my budget card game selections on which brands AliExpress pirates are flogging for even cheaper has had mixed success (my daughter recently wanted to play 100 rounds of the princess game over a weekend and likes to impress nobles in Splendor, but the exploding fireworks game is "boring"), but this is my favourite so far – a relaxing cut-throat game on the high seas that's always over too quickly. The combination of collectable points and effects is a bit more convoluted than the princess game, but it might inspire some origami activities.

Alrightgames: Cyberion expansions

Cyberion expansions

2023 / Solo/cooperative card game expansions / 1-2 players

This dystopian Bertha reboot was the first game in the series for a long while where I was satisfied enough by the base game experience that I could have saved the extras until later, but they were so tempting sitting there that I only lasted a couple of days. Here's how they plug in and play.

The Babybots *****

The adorable Babybots (and the humour of shuffling their parents together in the deck to 'make' them) admittedly overshadows the functionality of this little expansion, but it's a nice extra challenge that overcompensates for your trouble, if anything. The greater challenge would be going back to playing without Babybots now.

The Gigantobots *****

I didn't expect the Babybots to be overshadowed so soon, but getting to pile related robots inside a giant robot to fight a smoke-spewing bad robot makes for the most dramatic Oniverse scenes since Nautilion, even if it's mainly a riff on Onirim's The Mirrors.

At this point, there's no doubt that Cyberion is my second favourite in the series (at least), and the first real challenger to Onirim with three expansions and the combined gigantogame still to go.

The Microbots **

A pesky challenge that cancels itself out with rewards is an Oniverse tradition, but the tokens are a bit too fiddly to bother with every time, and the nanobots are more creepy than cute. Is it wearing lipstick?

The Multibots ****

Hooray, the semi-wild robots are here! And they've brought even harder challenges, hooray! Randomising all the machine decks for variety is a nice touch that helps make this a keeper.

The Devious Cog ***

The gamers who hate Aerion for the luck factor will just love this one as robot powers fire off randomly and bugger up their plans. I wouldn't want the hassle every time, but it's bit of mischievous fun and a reminder not to take your cute dream robots game too seriously.

Next Stop: Urbion again >

Alrightgames: Cyberion

Cyberion

2023 / Solo/cooperative card game / 1-2 players

*****

After my disappointment with the samey Stellarion, the Oniverse is back on peak form in its pen-Ultimion new release. It's still partly the same old shit under the rusted industrial-fantastical coating, but there are so many moving parts and decisions to make every turn that I could tell it was a favourite even before getting around to the expansions, along with my favourite cast of minions since the thematically-opposite Sylvion.

The main downside is that the penfurcated baddie tokens need to be held together with an elastic band when joining the rest of the horde on the bookcase. And how some games are literally unplayable from the start and need to be reshuffled, which I hadn't noticed being a problem in others.

Alrightgames: Fighting Fantasy – Space Assassin

Andrew Chapman and Geoffrey Senior, Fighting Fantasy: Space Assassin

1985 / Adventure gamebook / 1 player

***

Resold

A more enjoyable take on a paperback sci-fi dungeoneering than the episodic Starship Traveller, the lack of rhyme, reason or direction to the encounters felt appropriately disorienting for the alien environment. It also means I have no clue how far I got before finally being disintegrated by a riddle, but since I'm still none the wiser about that space grid and tank table at the back of the book, probably less progress than I thought. The only reason I played this at all was that I found it in the library booksale for 25p, so I can't really complain.