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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 >
2012 / Solo/cooperative card game / 1-2 players
***
Resold (Replaced)
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.
