I’m going to split this into three parts: Best light game, best medium-weight game, and best complex game, as I don’t think it’s fair to compare apples to oranges. There’s something for everyone, and I want to give my opinion which is the best of each bunch. I’m not including games that I previewed that aren’t available yet, and there may be games which are from late 2023, but I’m not being too fussy about release dates. This is about the games that I’ve reviewed this year.

Note that although this list is in no way sponsored or influenced by anything other than my own opinions, my retail partner kienda.co.uk happens to sell most of these games. If you haven’t already ordered through Kienda (who are great, for what it’s worth) make sure to sign up at kienda.co.uk/punchboard to get 5% off your first order of £60 or more.

Without further ado…

Best Light Game 2024

Winner – Looot

Looot came out of nowhere for me and it was a real hit. The gameplay is really easy to explain and there’s so much emergent strategy once you get the hang of it. Just the right amount of player interaction on the main board with any real take-that, a clever puzzle on your own board to maximise scoring, and the challenge of trying to tie that all together to come up with a win.

French publishers are on fire at the moment, and Looot is just another example of that. Gigamic have a hit on their hands, and when you consider the fact you can pick this up for less than £20, it’s a genuine no-brainer to have in your collection as far as I’m concerned.

You can read my full review here – Looot Review – and pick up a copy from Kienda right here.

Honourable mentions

Faraway – It was a close-run thing for me as to whether Faraway or Looot won best light game, but I just prefer Looot, and strictly speaking Faraway came out in 2023. The unique mechanism of building your simple tableau backwards works brilliantly, and messes with your brain in a way that most light games have no right to. It’s clever, quick and fun. You can read my full review here, and pick up a copy from Kienda here.

Molehill Meadows – Designer Chris Priscott is in a real purple patch. Not content with getting Zuuli snapped-up by Oink Games to become Moving Wild, he also released my favourite new flip-and-write of the year. Molehill Meadows is charming, easy to explain, and has a lot of variety and ways to explore. If you like roll-and-writes as much as I do, you’ll really enjoy Molehill Meadows. Read my review here, and pick up a copy from Kienda here.

Best Medium-weight Game 2024

Winner – Cascadero

This was by far the hardest category for me to choose this year. There are so many great games around now that won’t melt your brain but give you plenty to think about, but in the end, Cascadero from Bitewing Games and the seemingly eternal Reiner Knizia won out.

Cascadero is very easy to explain, plays out in less than an hour, but delivers a plethora of choices to make with every plonking of a horse. There’s a perfect level of interaction, it gives me cube rail feels, and ultimately turns into some kind of race game by the end of it. It’s a gorgeous, wonderfully enjoyable game which I keep teaching to new people just to share the love.

You can read my full review here – Cascadero Review – and pick up a copy from Kienda right here.

Honourable mentions

River of Gold – Described by many, including me, as feeling ‘a bit like Lords of Waterdeep’, River of Gold is great. It’s a clever mix of roll-and-move (trust me, it works), tableau building, contract fulfilment, and shared building spaces. Another game that’s simple enough to introduce to relative newcomers to the hobby, but with enough depth to keep hardcore nerds enjoying themselves, and with a beautiful board with inlaid metallic gold. Read my review here and pick up a copy for yourself from Kienda here.

Ironwood – It’s on the heavier side of medium-weight, but very deserving of its spot here. Ironwood is a two-player asymmetric game mixing area control with multi-use cards, and it’s a lot of fun. Mindclash games have delivered a game which feels like you’re getting the deluxe edition when you buy the base game. Less than £50 and including fancy wooden and metal pieces with a custom insert is great value, but on top of that the game is excellent. Check out the full review here, and treat yourself to a copy from Kienda here.

Best Complex Game 2024

Winner – Shackleton Base

This was another category I agonised over. Heavy games are my favourites, and I was spoiled for choice, but in the end, Shackleton Base won. I love the competition over the shared building space on the main board, combined with competition for achievements in each of the corporations on offer with each play. The game is pretty easy to play once you get the hang of it, but there are so many options open to you. It’s not just a case of choosing what to do, but also when to do it.

The individual boxes for everything in the game seems like a pointless extravagance at first, but it genuinely helps with set-up and teardown. There’s huge scope for variety by combining the included corporations in different combinations, and I’ve just had a huge amount of fun with the game every time I’ve played it. Bravo Fabio Lopiano and Nestore Mangone, and it’s yet another French publisher on the list!

You can read my full review here – Shackleton Base Review – and buy a copy of the game from Kienda here.

Honourable mentions

Arcs – Sacrilege to some, I know, but Arcs just missed out. It’s had a Marmite reception with most people either loving or hating the game., and I fell firmly into the former category. Cole Wehrle has some incredible designs to his name, and this is yet another. This isn’t the grand strategy 4X game you’re looking for, but it is the chaotic, ever-changing, space opera in a couple of hours nonsense you never knew you needed. If you like Cole’s other games like Root or Pax Pamir, I think you’ll get a kick out of Arcs. Read my full review here, and grab your own copy from Kienda here.

Sankoré – What’s the matter? Did you forget Sankoré came out in 2024? I’ll seem like a Fabio Lopiano fanboy including two of his games in my top three for the year, but Sankoré deserves it. It’s a vast, table-hogging game of yet more Ian O’Toole muted colours, but it’s excellent. Combining each of the mini-games on the main board (which is what they feel like) to score well requires some clever planning and often a lot of pivoting, but the end result is a satisfying, well-made heavy Euro, which you ought to try if you haven’t yet. Read my full review here and pick up a copy from Kienda here.

Summary

I’m fortunate enough to have played a lot of great games this year. Some old, some new, and it’s nice to be able to highlight the newer ones that really left their mark on me. Let me be clear by saying that on another day, any of the games in each category could have won it, and there is a whole heap of fantastic games that I just didn’t have the space to include.

What do you think? Do you agree with my choices, or have some others you’d put in their place? Am I on the money or a lunatic who has no idea what he’s doing? Let me know in the comments, or head over to find me on the various social channels and let me know.

Thank you for reading Punchboard this year and over any previous years. This is a hobby for me, but one that I love, so I’m going to keep going. Here’s to a game-filled, happy, healthy 2025 for you and your loved ones.

Adam.

The post Game of the Year 2024 appeared first on Punchboard.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert. This guide is written based on my personal experiences and opinions. Your mileage may vary.

Table of Contents

• Background
• Decide what kind of content you want, and know why you want it
• How should you approach creators?
• Paid content
• Free content
  • Previews
  • Reviews
• How do you choose a content creator? What should you look for?
  • Numbers
  • Personality
  • Demographics
• Support from your peers
• Over to you

Background

I’ve been running Punchboard for four years now. It’s a hobby for me, something I do because I enjoy doing it in my spare time when I’m not working full-time or being the dad in my family. During that time I’ve seen plenty of controversies, and more keep happening. As recently as this week there’s been another example of a content creator being deeply unethical, to say the very least. I wish I could say it’s the first time, but it isn’t, and it won’t be the last time either.

As someone trying to put your game out there in the world you’d be forgiven for not knowing how to get your game seen, or who to trust when you decide how. This guide won’t be recommending or warning off anyone in particular. Instead, I want to give you some basic tools to help you make an informed decision, so that people can find your game, find out if it would be a fit for them, and avoid any pitfalls along the way. Other content creators might disagree with me, but this is my guide, so it’s tough.

Decide what kind of content you want, and know why you want it

I’m not a marketing guru. I write reviews and previews, and I do a little bit of social media posting. I’m not going to tell you what you should be targeting and when, but I can at least point you in the right direction.

Speak to people who do this professionally: consultants. There are some great crowdfunding and marketing consultants out there. Invest in this part and you can take the guesswork out of the realms of “what should I be doing?” and focus on the “who do I want to do this with me?”.

You’ll probably find that you end up looking at a mixture of media and formats based on the stage of your game’s lifecycle that you’re in at any given time. In the build-up you might try to get some interviews on podcasts, then get some short-form (Tiktok, Reels etc.) content to raise awareness before launching your campaign. Once it’s out there in the wild, you’ll probably want to get reviews published so that others can tell the world how awesome your game is.

At this stage, it’s definitely worth thinking about what platforms you want your game on, and why. Let’s take reviews for example, as that’s a part of the puzzle I feel confident in talking about. There are plenty of different ways to get a review out there, but each has its pros and cons. Let’s look at some quick examples.

Where do you want reviews posted?

Tricky, isn’t it? There’s no perfect all-in-one solution, so it’s common for people to use multiple platforms. And this is just for reviews. This is all on top of paid advertising considerations like Facebook ads, promotion on Google etc.

Once you choose the platforms you want to use, that’s where the most confusing part starts.

How should you approach creators?

You’ll notice I said approach instead of ‘choose’ because even if you want someone to cover your game, there’s no guarantee you’ll get them. There are a lot of reasons why, but I’ll come to those shortly. You’ve got two approaches for this – direct and prospective.

Direct involves just reaching out to people and getting in touch. Most of the ‘bigger’ outlets will have information available about how to contact them, what they expect, lead times, what they cover, and what they explicitly don’t cover. If you reach out to the really big channels, don’t take it personally if they tell you no, and don’t be surprised if their backlog is too big to work for you.

Prospective is where it gets interesting. It’s essentially an open call for people to contact you to see if you want them to cover your game. You could do this via your mailing list, Facebook groups, or posts on social media. If you choose to post on Facebook it is very important to get in touch with the group admins first to make sure they’re happy for you to post your advert. The same is true of any Discord servers, and other community hubs. People want you to contribute to a community, not just leech from it. The last thing you want to do is immediately get a bad name for yourself before you even start.

The most popular route that I know of (and am in no way endorsing) is the Facebook group Board Game Reviewers & Media. Again, check the rules before you post anything.

Once you get this far you get to one of the most contentious issues of them all. Paid-for vs Free content.

Paid content

Be super, super careful when it comes to paying for content. Let me get the most important part out of the way first. It is not normal to pay for reviews. It doesn’t matter who tells you it is, it isn’t. Morally, ethically, and even legally in many parts of the world, a paid-for review isn’t a real thing. If you want someone’s opinion, money cannot change hands. Some creators will tell you it’s okay, they’ll tell you they can remain unbiased, and they’ll tell you whatever it takes for money to leave your account and make it to theirs. Make no mistake – any reviewer worth their salt will stand firm on the principle that a paid review is nothing more than an advert, and should never be called a review. 99% of the reviewers I’ve met, engaged with, or read opinions from online are vehemently opposed to paid reviews and the people who make them.

That said, there is still plenty you can pay a content creator for and keep your morals intact. Playthroughs can be a really good investment, highlighting your game in great detail and showing how it works. You might pay for someone to do a thorough how-to-play video, supplementing the rulebook with something players can use as an alternate reference.

You can even pay for a crowdfunding preview, just be aware that as with reviews, paying for an opinion is a no-no. If you watch the vast majority of preview videos you’ll notice that they’re strictly informational when it comes to the game itself. “This thing looks cool”. “I really like worker-placement in games”. “Look at the great artwork on the board”. The list goes on, but none of it tells you if the person thought the game was good, or fun. There’s nothing wrong with that as such, it’s just something you might not expect or even be aware of. Free previews can get the praise and adoration you’re looking for, as well as gaining exposure for lesser-known creators.

Free content

Most of the creators you will interact with are not professional. I’m not professional. This isn’t my job. I’m not a trained, qualified journalist. We do these things because we have a love of a hobby and the people and things in it, and we want to spread that love. Keep this at the forefront of your thoughts when you deal with creators, and use it to temper your expectations.

When you aren’t paying for a service, generally speaking, you aren’t entering into a contract with someone. You might have a conversation where someone promises to make a video within two weeks of getting the game, but don’t bank on it, especially if it’s your first interaction with someone. There is zero level of expectation on the part of the person writing or recording something about your game. Promises, platitudes, kind words and anything else are great in theory, but it might not always work out.

Previews

If you’re sending out a precious prototype copy of your game, set out any expectations upfront. Explain how many creators need the copy forwarded around to, offer to pay for postage and packing to send it on, and keep in touch with the person so it doesn’t slip through the cracks.

Whether you choose to send the person a final copy of the game is up to you. Don’t let anyone pressure you into it, and don’t believe them if they say you must send them a copy. You might choose to offer one, and it is very common to do so, but there’s nothing written in stone. Especially if you’re doing a small print run and are relying on the income from selling all of the copies to pay the bills.

Reviews

If we’re talking about a review of a finished product instead of a preview copy, understand that if you send the person a free copy of the game, it is essentially a gift. Treat it as nothing more. Don’t get me wrong, most creators are good and will deliver the review they offer, but understanding that you might not get anything in return is just being realistic and will save you a whole lot of heartache.

“That’s not very professional”, you might think, which is where I urge you to read the first sentence of this section again.

How do you choose a content creator? What should you look for?

We’ve got this far. We know what kinds of content we want for the game, and we know whether we want to pay for it or not. If you put out a prospective call for creators you might have had a ton of applicants you’ve now got to filter through them and decide who you want to make something for you. The problem you might face, especially if you’re relatively new to tabletop games, is that you don’t know these people. You might not be familiar with them or their sites, channels, or podcasts. So how on Earth do you decide who you talk to?

It’s not easy, but there are things you can do to help.

Numbers

Ultimately, what you want is to sell your game to people. You want them to enjoy the thing you’ve created, and maybe you want to make some money at the same time. With this in mind, you want to understand how much reach your potential creators have, and ideally, what that reach entails. Let’s look at a few examples.

YouTube – YouTube is nice and easy for the most part. You can easily check how frequently someone is publishing videos, you can check how many subscribers they have, and you can see how many views their videos get. This alone isn’t enough. Subscribers can be bought, and people can knock out poor-quality videos 10 times a day to boast how many they’ve made, but it doesn’t mean anything if nobody is watching them. Tools like Social Blade are great here. You can look at a channel and look for red flags. If their subscribers graph suddenly has a near-vertical ramp in it, there’s a good chance they paid for subscribers. This isn’t what you want. You want real people who really watch their videos.

Instagram / Tiktok – The same is true of Instagram & Tiktok really. You can quickly see how many followers an account has, you can see how often they post, and more importantly, how much engagement their posts are getting. The algorithms in services like these are very clever at putting the right content in front of the right people when their engagement is good. Are they getting lots of comments and likes? Are people sharing their posts and videos? Do their posts make you take notice, and do you enjoy them? If you’re still unsure, ask them. It’s easy to get analytics on their part.

Written / Blogs – As a writer I can say that we’re often forgotten about when it comes to quantifying how well we do. Most people want to know how many subscriptions a person has, which is great if you’re on YouTube, but not so great if you’re posting written pieces to websites. All is not lost though! Anyone using a platform like WordPress can get really useful analytics and demonstrate how many views their work is getting. If they post their reviews on BGG’s forums you can see how many thumbs and comments they get. If you use Google Analytics and Google Search Console you can get even better information. You can find out how many visitors per day they get, and what their SEO (search engine optimisation) is like.

Podcasts – Podcasts can be really tricky. Podcasting platforms have their own analytics tools, so you can speak to the hosts and ask them about their numbers of subscribers and listens per episode, and you can see where they rank in various podcast service charts, but it’s tricky. The best thing to do is have an open and honest conversation and ask questions.

One of the easiest tests you can do is to head to your favourite search engine and search for ‘<name of game> review‘ and look through the first couple of pages, to see if the review of the game you know they’ve reviewed appears there. Choose a game in the same sort of genre as yours. You want to be findable, right? Visible? Do you want your game’s review to appear on page 20 of Google because the creator has terrible SEO and fills their pages with ads or spam in an attempt to make a few quid, or makes low-quality videos?

If you’re in any doubt, ask. Any respectable content creator will be up-front with the information.

Personality

Do a little digging when you think you might have found someone. At least do the bare minimum in terms of due diligence. Read their About pages, watch/read/listen to some of their content and see what you think of it. Someone might have all the warmth and charisma of a robot, but have a dry sense of humour which really resonates with you and your game’s theme. Someone else might wear their political stance front-and-centre and it might be that even if you have the same leanings, you don’t want your game associated with someone so outwardly political.

The best thing to do is exchange some words with someone. People are just people, after all. Strike up a conversation by email, or invite them to talk in a Zoom or Teams meeting if there’s money changing hands. You can very quickly get a feeling for someone, so trust your instincts.

As I was taught in my first (and only) retail job – People buy people first.

Demographics

This is where we start to look at some of the less obvious things. What kind of person does the creator you’re considering interact with the most? Someone might not have the same raw numbers as a bigger, more established outlet, but what if their engagement comes from communities you want to target? Let’s imagine you’ve made a game about being a musician. A creator who’s also a musician may not only have a better understanding of the subject of your game, but they might also engage with musicians in their day-to-day lives, busting open the dam of a new pool of potential players.

Is your game an adults-only party game full of double-entendres and outright naughtiness? That massive YouTube channel that covers family games might not be a good match for you. Maybe you’ve made a game and you’re proud of how eco-friendly and sustainable it is. Look for people who value and feature that aspect of its production. Your game about fluffy bunnies isn’t going to do well on a channel that covers hardcore wargames, and vice versa.

What about just choosing to support a channel that’s run by people from marginalised or under-represented groups? You might just open your game up to an unexpected audience. Be open to avenues you hadn’t considered when you started out.

Raw numbers are a good place to start, but only a part of the whole picture.

Support from your peers

It’s all well and good for me to preach to you like I know everything, but I don’t know it all, I don’t understand it all, and I’m not pretending I do. The stuff I’ve written above is all based on my own personal experience, and from watching from the wings as yet another scandal comes to the surface. But I have my own biases, as we all do. For instance, I want people to consider written content more than they might, because – shocker – I write reviews.

So talk to people in your position. Speak to other designers and publishers. It’s a reassuringly tight-knit group of people for the most part. Those of you based in the UK should check out the Board Game Designers UK Facebook group, and there’s a bigger, international group here at the Board Game Design Lab. Even without that though, reach out to other people. Ask questions, talk to them. People have been through the same things you have, faced the same questions, and made the same mistakes, and many are happy to share the benefit of their experience.

Head to conventions, even if your game is nowhere near being ready to show. Meet other designers and talk to them about their experiences. Find out what they have and haven’t tried, and what worked for them. The digital content landscape is constantly changing, so dedicate a little time to keeping up with what’s going on. As an example of what I mean, during the course of my writing the draft for this piece, X (Twitter) has been banned in Brazil. Not great news for the Portuguese language game you were hoping to promote on X.

Over to you

As I said at the outset, this whole article is written from my perspective from the other side of the looking glass. It’s a small lens to be looking at it through, I admit, and my knowledge of the likes of TikTok and Instagram is far behind those who actively use it, and do well from it.

That’s why I’d like to turn it over to you. Especially if you’re a publisher or designer who has recently been through this whole process, or interacts with it on a regular basis. I’d love to know about your top tips, potential pitfalls, and recommended communities. Please, reach out to me either in the comments here, my social channels (linked at the top and bottom of this page), or good old-fashioned email via adam at punchboard dot co dot uk.

If there’s enough feedback I’ll post another article written from the POV of the people actually in the trenches, dealing with it regularly. Thanks for reading.

The post How to find a content creator for your game appeared first on Punchboard.

If you want to read about my experiences, you can do that right here:

• 2021 UKGE convention report
• 2022 UKGE convention report
• 2023 UKGE convention report

Is it really busy?

The first thing you need to know about is the crowds. The UKGE is busy. Crazy busy. In 2022 there were approximately 23,000 people there for the three days. In 2023 that grew to 31,000. What does that look like in real life?

That photo was taken at lunchtime on Saturday last year and is a view down from the top of the stairs into one of the three halls that the convention occupies. While you can get outside whenever you want, or spend time in the quieter Hall 3 where the open gaming area is, if you want to get around and see the stalls, demo some games, and do some shopping, you’ll have to contend with a lot of people around you.

For some people that’s a deal-breaker, and I absolutely understand. There are times when I’m desperate for a bit of peace and quiet, and I love the hustle and bustle, so if it’s outside your comfort zone, it can definitely feel like too much.

If you’re apprehensive about the crowds but still want to experience it, my best advice is to turn up at least an hour after the doors open, so from 10am onwards. Before that there will be literally thousands of people queueing outside the main doors for each hall. It’s also quieter towards the end of the day, after 3pm.

What can I actually do there?

Buying games

UKGE is definitely tailored towards people who want to go and spend some money. There’s generally nothing there that you couldn’t buy online any other time, but there’s something special about doing it in person. Staring at the shelves of games, picking them up, looking for bargains or something a bit different.

Some people go with the bring-and-buy in mind, an area where you can check your used games in to sell them and to browse and buy the games that other people have brought to sell. You can get some real bargains in there, for sure, but I wouldn’t recommend going just for the bring-and-buy. There’s so much more to do.

Playing games

We go to the UKGE because we love playing games, so it makes sense that you can actually play games while you’re there. There’s a huge open gaming area which takes up most of Hall 3. It’s made up of rows upon rows of tables and chairs where you can just sit down and start playing something. Maybe a game you brought with, maybe something you’ve bought at the show, or maybe a game you borrowed from the well-stocked library that’s there.

For people like me who don’t get to go to too many conventions each year, it’s a great chance to catch up with old friends, many of whom I only know because I met them at previous conventions. Being able to sit down and play something together is great, and the seating and relative quiet of open gaming is a blessing at times.

There are also plenty of games being demonstrated on the show floor. At any given moment you shouldn’t have to walk more than 30ft to find someone wanting to show you their new game. I really encourage you to do it too, you’ll meet some wonderful people and discover games you otherwise never would.

Events

You can sign up for a ton of different events at the show. From tournaments for games like Lorcana and Catan, through to workshops on how to create and run an RPG. There are live podcast recordings, megagames, nerdy music performances, celebrities, and talks. You can sign up to take part in RPGs, paint a miniature and take it home with you, or even learn how to fight with a light saber. There is a plethora of different things to organise and have on your schedule before you even go. Take a look at the UKGE Events page and see if something grabs your fancy.

Things I wish I’d known before I went for the first time

Forewarned is forearemed, so here are my top tips for your first visit to UKGE.

• Take good shoes! If you aren’t in a wheelchair or small enough to be carried by someone else, you will spend a lot of time on your feet. The halls of the NEC are huge, as is the walk in from the car park. Most days I struggle to do the recommended 10,000 steps per day. My average steps on a day at the UKGE is +22,000. Make sure you have comfy, supportive footwear. Your feet will thank you.
• Food and drink. You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to finding something to eat and drink in the NEC, but it’s not cheap, and around mealtimes the stalls and shops can get very busy. My advice is to go armed with a decent size water bottle, which you can refill from the free water stations around the building. It’s a hot, busy, air-conditioned building, and it’s easy to get dehydrated if you’re too caught up in games. If you don’t want to spend a small fortune on lunch, take some sandwiches or a packed lunch.
• Shop and drop. My first stop every year when the show opens is the Shop and drop booth. For £3 you get a ticket and a cardboard box in the back of the booth. As you shop during the day, you can drop off any purchases in your allocated box, and take them whenever you want. They have to be collected before the end of the day, but as long as you remember that then there’s no reason for you to be lugging boxes around all day. Buy your games, drop them off at your box, and then go and get them at the end of the day.
• Be conscientious and kind. This is a huge one for me. There are a lot of people at the show, and in some areas things are really cramped. If you take a huge backpack and you’re wearing it, remember when you turn 90 degrees to look at a stall, you’re spinning a battering ram. I’ve seen kids and wheelchair users hit in the face by careless bags. Everyone is excited, everyone wants to see everything, just remember the other humans around you so that they can enjoy it too.

Over to you

Are you a frequent convention visitor? Do you go to UKGE. What are your top tips to make your visit a great one?

If you’ve got any questions at all, please drop a comment and I’ll answer.

The post So you’re going to the UK Games Expo and don’t know what to expect? appeared first on Punchboard.

I’m here to help you get started.

There are two main things to think about when you’re getting into board games: what will I play, and who will I play with?

You’re probably excited to find out about the games, so let’s start there.

The best board games for beginners in 2024

Board games have come a long way since the games that many of us grew up with. There’s so much more than Cluedo (Clue for my American readers) and Monopoly. That’s actually a part of the problem; there’s a dizzying amount of games out there, so how are you meant to know where to begin?

If you join in with board game groups on Facebook and Reddit or follow trends on Instagram or Twitter, you’ll quickly get overwhelmed with designers’ names and a lot of terminology. Don’t panic! Let’s cover the basics, give you some good ideas to get started, and you can worry about things like designers later.

Carcassonne (2-5 players)

Carcassonne has been around for over 20 years now, and there are two main reasons it’s endured. Firstly, it’s easy to learn, and secondly, it’s really good. It’s a game where you take turns to lay tiles to connect roads and cities, attempting to claim the best ones to score lots of points.

Don’t be tempted to shun Carcassonne because it’s not new or hyped. Most board game fans will have a copy of it years after they start in the hobby, and I don’t know of anyone who’d refuse to play. It’s a true classic. You’ll also know if you like tile-laying games, and it’s likely to be your first introduction to the little wooden folk we all know and love – meeples.

Buy Carcassonne now at kienda.co.uk.

Azul (2-4 players)

Azul is an abstract game. You and your friends claim matching groups of tiles from the middle of the table, aiming to complete rows of different lengths on your own board. It gets tactical pretty quickly, it’s very easy to learn, and it looks great.

Abstract games have a near-universal appeal, and the presentation in Azul elevates it over most other games of its type. The tiles are gorgeous and very tactile. It’s the sort of game you can teach to anybody, and they’ll usually have a great time.

There are several different versions of Azul now, but my advice is to stick with the original for now. The others are variations on a theme, but the original does it best.

Buy Azul now at kienda.co.uk.

Everdell (1-4 players)

Take a look at Everdell on a table and tell me you don’t just fall in love with it. This gorgeous game of woodland critters is a mixture of worker-placement and tableau-building, and it’s a very approachable introduction to both.

There’s no denying that despite its cutesy looks, Everdell ramps up the complexity compared to other games you might have played in the past. It’s got a nice, light set of rules though, and every time you play it will be a bit different to the last time, due to the sheer number of cards the game comes with.

It’s also the first game on this list which includes a solo mode. That’s right, you can play board games by yourself – who knew?! Everdell’s solo is quick and easy to run, and offers up a great way to play the game when you find yourself without other players. If you want to read more about Everdell, I wrote a full review a while back.

Buy Everdell now at kienda.co.uk.

The Crew (2-5 players)

I’ve shortened its name here, which is the overly long The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine. The Crew is a cooperative trick-taking card game where between you, you’ll try to complete missions where you all win or lose together.

Trick-taking games are great to get older generations of players to join in, because the idea of winning a trick isn’t something new. It’s the concept at the heart of traditional card games like Whist or Euchre, so there’s a decent chance your grandparents will understand the aim of the game. What makes The Crew so much fun is the concept of minimal communication. You’re in space, after all, so the only way to communicate which cards you have in hand is with the clever use of tokens.

I’ve never met anyone who didn’t enjoy the crew, and know a surprising number of people who have completed all 50 missions that come in the box.

Buy The Crew now at kienda.co.uk.

Klask (2 players)

Dexterity games tend to come in one of two flavours: balancing and action. Klask is an action game through and through. You hold strong magnets under the raised playing field which make the striker pieces on top of the board move around. Your goal – knock the ball into the other player’s hole.

If you’ve ever played Air Hockey then you’ll know what to expect. The ball goes pinging around off the edges while you try to avoid getting the little magnetic ‘biscuits’ stuck to your piece. It’s quick, easy, and best of all, cheap. It won’t cost you anything like as much as an air hockey table, it’s extremely portable, and it’s a great laugh. I reviewed Klask a while back, so if you want to know a bit more you should probably head over and read it now.

Wingspan (1-5 players)

Wingspan is a little like Everdell in as much as it’s one of the most complicated games on this list. There’s a chance you’ve already heard of it, after all, it even made it as far as appearing on Coronation Street. Another similarity it shares with Everdell is having a powerful, yet approachable table presence. The birdhouse dice tower is lovely, and you’ll need constant reminders that the little eggs are not chocolate mini eggs.

The game itself is a mixture of engine-building and action-selection. You try to collect the right kind of food to add bird cards to your board, then get them to lay eggs in order to carry out the actions they give you. The key is in collecting birds that all complement one another abilities. It’ll definitely take you a while to get the hang of if you’ve never played anything like it before, but there’s a really nice guided introduction game included in the box, to ease you into things.

Wingspan is another game I’ve reviewed here, so pop over now and find out what it’s all about.

Buy Wingspan now at kienda.co.uk.

Just One (3-7 players)

There are so many good party games out there now. Wavelength, So Clover, Codenames, Dixit, The Resistance to name but a few. I’ve gone with Just One here because it’s incredibly portable, scales to just about any number of players if you have enough things to write on, and it’s cooperative.

The game is as simple as trying to guess a clue word after every other player had an opportunity to write a one-word clue on their little easel. The catch? If anyone writes the same clue as someone else, their clues aren’t revealed to the guesser. Simple, cheap, and hysterical fun when someone tries to justify a really outlandish clue. You can’t go wrong with Just One.

Buy Just One now at kienda.co.uk.

Ticket to Ride (2-5 players)

It’s nearly 20 years since Ticket to Ride was released, and it’s still on my list. A true modern classic, Ticket to Ride is a network-building game which has stood the test of time and still deserves a place in this list.

Collect locomotive cards of different colours and trade them in to place your trains on the routes on the board, aiming to join two destinations. There’s a lot of competition for those routes though, so planning and second-guessing what the other players are up to is key. It’s really easy to learn, and there are a ton of versions out there. I’ve gone with the original here because it’s clean, uncomplicated, and a lot of fun.

Buy Ticket to Ride now at kienda.co.uk.

Railroad Ink (1-6 players)

I really want to include a roll-and-write game here, because it’s a sub-genre that’s booming in popularity. Strictly speaking a roll-and-write game will involve dice, but it’s a kind of catch-all term that incorporates a whole heap of verb-and-write games, such as flip-and-write.

Railroad Ink gives each player a grid of squares to draw on and a dry-wipe pen each. Someone rolls the dice, and you have to draw the various pieces of road and rail printed on the dice, on your grid. The aim is to link up as many road and rail links as you can, scoring bonuses for connecting to multiple connection points or going through the middle of the board. It’s quick, easy, and there are a load of different versions to try. Give it a go, it’s another one of those games with near-universal appeal.

Buy Railroad Ink now at kienda.co.uk.

Finding people to play games with

I get it. You’re fired up, you’ve found this wonderful, welcoming hobby, and you want to get stuck-in and play some of your new games. There’s just one hitch… who are you going to play them with?

If you’re lucky enough to have a group of friends who already play tabletop games, you’re lucky. If that’s the case, you probably don’t need this guide, either, as I’m sure you’ll have had plenty of recommendations. The truth, however, is that for a lot of people it’s hard to find people to play with regularly.

So let’s have a look at your options.

Family

If you live with family, you’ve got a captive audience just waiting to experience the delights of your new cardboard hobby. Despite having a captive audience, it’s still really important to get it right when you introduce your nearest and dearest to board games.

First of all, you need to consider your audience. There’s no point trying to get your seven-year-old child to engage in a heavy Euro game or railway share game. Pick your games accordingly. If you aren’t sure what to put on the table, ask someone. Ask any number of online groups, or even just comment here or join my Discord server, where the community will be only too happy to offer suggestions.

Secondly, and most importantly, don’t try to force it! I know, I know, you’re keen, but trust me. If you try to force your family to play and the game falls flat on its face, you’ll have a hard job ever convincing them to play something else again. Be patient, choose your games wisely, and know the game well. You want to be able to explain the game and answer any questions without saying “I don’t know. Let me check the rulebook and BGG forums”. Ten minutes later and your wife’s lost to her phone, Grandpa’s snoring, and your kid is kissing the dog.

Existing friends

If you’re lucky, you might already have a group of friends. You might think “Perfect! Ready-to-go board game players”. Sometimes that’ll work for you, but you need to set your expectations accordingly. I’ve had the same group of friends for over 30 years now, and for the most part, they really don’t like board games. I’ve tried over the years to introduce them to different types of game, but the reality is they’re just not the people I play games with.

If you’re looking to get your existing friends into some gaming with you, and if they don’t sound excited at the prospect of this cool new game you’ve got where you get to make cathedrals in 17th Century Hamburg (you should check out Hamburgum, it’s a great game), then aim your sights lower. Start with some quick games, card games, or fun dexterity games. Games reminiscent of the games they may have played when they were younger. Nostalgia’s a powerful drug.

My main advice when it comes to playing with your friends is to tread carefully. Approach it that way, share your enthusiasm, and know when to take a loss.

Board Game Groups

Now we’re talking. If you want to play games with people, what better place than with a group of people who get together for the sole reason of playing board games? There are board game groups all over the country and the reality is that there’s likely to be one near you. It’s usually just a case of finding them, and then finding one that’s a good fit for you.

What do I mean by that?

There’s a wide range of different types of board game clubs available. Some are long-established with loads of people playing in a hired venue every week. Some are irregular meetups of a group of four or five people at someone’s home or office. It may be that you feel anxious about turning up a big group full of people playing complex games, when all you want to do is rock up with your copy of Love Letter and chill with a cup of tea at the same time.

Take the time to look around at what’s available. If you can’t find anything, ask. For those of you in the UK I suggest joining the Board Game Trading & Chat UK group and asking in there. If you still aren’t having any luck then there’s always the option which I took myself – start your own group. It’s slow-going at first, but it’s definitely both possible and plausible. If you want any advice, drop me a message and I’ll be glad to help.

Play online

As much as we all might want to get our shiny new cardboard on the table with other people, sometimes it’s just not possible. We live in a digital age though, and there are plenty of options to play some of these games online.

Take a look at websites like boardgamearena.com, yucata.de, and boiteajeux.net. You’ll find hundreds of games available to play, often for free. One of the big advantages of websites like these is having two ways to play. You can play in realtime, there and then, with friends or strangers from all around the world. The best thing about using a service like BGA, however, is asynchronous play.

That means you can take your turn, close your browser or turn off your phone for the night, and take your turns the next time you log-on. It’s a great way to play a lot of different games at the same time, but do so at your own pace. It’s also a great way to make friends too.

Playing solo

If you’re new to games, this might seem like a bit of an eyebrow-raiser. Play a board game by yourself? How, or why, would you ever do that?

Solo board games are hugely popular, there are Facebook and Reddit groups dedicated to nothing more than playing games by yourself. The majority of big, new games tend to have a solo mode in them nowadays. Some task you with beating your own best score (Uwe Rosenberg’s games like Atiwa (review here) and Nusfjord (review here) do this), and some like Terraforming Mars set you specific challenges.

The most interesting of the bunch have AI opponents to play against, often referred to as Automa. They often use an extra deck of cards to determine what the bot does on its turns, often mimicing the behaviour of a real, live human being. Some games are built from the ground up to be enjoyed solo, such as Maquis (review here), Black Sonata (review here), and Nemo’s War (review here). I’ve written a lot of pieces here around solo gaming, so check them out.

Summary

Board gaming is still a niche hobby compared to many, but its popularity is growing rapidly. You’ve got a good idea now of how to start building your collection and who you might play your games with. Choosing a set of entry-level games is a difficult task, and no doubt if you ask someone else they might have some crossover with my list, but will probably hear other games mentioned too.

You’ll hear names like Patchwork, Barenpark, Catan, Lords of Waterdeep, Calico, Pandemic, Kingdomino, No Thanks, Skull and many others mentioned. All are great games, and all are great options to get started with. This list can only be so long before it gets overwhelming though, so I’ve tried to keep it to some of my own favourites.

Tabletop gaming is generally a warm, friendly, and welcoming hobby. There are conventions all over the world to go and meet with like-minded gamers, and I recommend going along to one if and when you have the chance. You’ll never feel so buzzed and happy to be a part of our wonderful pastime.

If you have any questions or comments, please just get in touch with me. You can use the contact form on this site, find me on Twitter, pop onto my friendly Discord server, or just drop me a line using adam at punchboard.co.uk. I’m always happy to talk about games, and I’m very keen to make newcomers feel as welcome as possible.

Disclaimer

Wherever possible I’ve linked to my own reviews. In order to be completely transparent with you I’ve also included links to my partner store Kienda.co.uk whenever possible. If you sign up for a new account here – kienda.co.uk/punchboard – you’ll get 5% off your first order of £60 or more, and I’ll get a whole £3 to spend on more games to review. Use the links, don’t use the links, I really don’t mind, they’re there for your convenience. If Kienda doesn’t have something you want, I highly recommend finding an FLGS (friendly local games store) to spend your money at. Jeff Bezos and Amazon don’t need your money.

Thanks for reading,

Adam.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more like this, consider supporting the site by joining my supporters’ membership at either Patreon or Ko-fi. It starts from £1 per month, offers member benefits, and lets me know you’re enjoying what I’m doing.

The post How to get into board games in 2024 appeared first on Punchboard.

Enjoy.

Jump to:

The Expo Review

My time at UKGE

UKGE: The Convention

I suspected this year would be a big one, and I was right. Unique attendees went up to 32K this year from 25K last year. That’s an insane number of people, all descending on three halls to buy, sell, talk about, and play games. If it sounds like that number of people would make things very busy, then you’re right. At times certain areas of the halls were absolutely rammed with people. I’m thinking of places like the main thoroughfare between halls one and two, just past the top of the stairs. A combination of a lot of people, retailers with a lot of browsers taking up aisle space, and people walking around with enormous board game backpacks didn’t help.

Seriously folks, If you’re wearing one of these, remember that when you turn side-on to traffic to dig through bargains, you turn into a heavy, swinging saloon door. For the second year in a row, I saw a kid obliterated by a bag. Not good times for them.

Other than those minor gripes, the rest of the show was pretty awesome. There was such a good buzz around the place all of the time, right from the time the doors opened at 9am on Friday. I visited my friend at the Ravensburger stand and asked about the big queue that had already formed, only to find out it was for Lorcana, the new Disney CCG. Mark my words, Lorcana is going to be HUGE. To put that statement into context, I understand that the queue was hours long at times, and this was a queue just to play the game. You couldn’t buy it, it hasn’t been released yet. Disney, in true Disney fashion, is going to make an absolute killing with Lorcana.

Welcoming

One of the things I love to see at board game conventions is how welcoming a hobby it is. UKGE, despite its size, still manages to keep that feeling alive. I saw people of all ages, genders, races, and abilities all over the halls the entire time, and all having a good time. People in wheelchairs were given space to move through the aisles, even when it was crowded.

My favourite moment from the weekend was on the first morning of the expo. I stayed near the airport, which is a short monorail ride away, followed by a walk over the concourse between the railway station and the NEC. For the whole of my journey, I was surrounded by people from all walks of life who were chatting and visibly excited. Seeing grown men dressed in all manner of geeky clothes as excited as kids on Christmas morning was a timely reminder of just how important events like these are. Opportunities to be this way dwindle as the years go by when we become responsible adults. Being able to relax, let down your receding hairline, and just be yourself is heaven-sent.

I was especially pleased to see this on the display boards on the walk over from the train station. It’s exactly the sort of message we should all support. Well done, NEC.

The expected…

All of the things the UKGE is known for were present. The Bring and Buy was huge again, and so were the queues, both to check games in and to get in and browse. I know some people go to conventions especially for the bring and buys, and that’s great, just make sure you take the time to see the rest of the show.

The open gaming area was kitted out in its usual yellow livery courtesy of Game Toppers play mats, and once again there was plenty of space to just sit and play games, whether that’s with old friends or new ones. I like the way the food trucks are in the corner of hall three, where open gaming is. It means you can grab a bite to eat and a drink while you take some respite from the craziness of the main show floor. One word of advice I’d give to everyone attending is to make sure you take a water bottle with you. It gets very hot in there, and the NEC has free refill stations. Just don’t be a dummy and leave your bottle – which you brought especially – in your car in the car park. I’d hate to be that person, right?

There was a huge range of vendors, from the wall-of-games retailers like Chaos Cards, Games Lore, Firestorm Cards, and others, right down to the one-man bands making jewellery and accessories. As tempting as it is to just blow all your money on the latest hotness, I urge you to walk around and look. Really look. Talk to the people behind their stands, because there’s some great stuff waiting to be discovered. I found a stand selling prints of gorgeous hand-drawn anime-inspired posters which made for a great gift for my son.

UKGE runs tons of events during the days and evenings, but I can’t really comment on them, as I don’t go to them. My time is divided between meetings with publishers, catching up with friends, and playing games. I only wish I had more of it.

…and the unexpected

I was caught by surprise by a few things this year. Firstly by Dungeons & Dragons, who I don’t even remember having a presence before. They had a huge area with really impressive displays and umpteen tables where people could have taster sessions in the RPG phenomenon. I didn’t play myself, but I spoke to others who did, and the feedback was really positive. Friendly, welcoming DMs who knew their audience and helped make RPGs more accessible for newcomers. Kudos, D&D.

Another thing that not only surprised me but also sent waves of nostalgia crashing over me, was Tomy’s stand. We had a Screwball Scramble game when I was a kid, and Tomy were running a Screwball Scramble championship over the weekend.

The biggest surprise of all was one particular serendipitous moment. I was meeting with Mighty Boards, talking about one of their games. The designer of that game just happened to be sitting next to us. While we were talking, somebody I work with – who had made the trip to Birmingham without me knowing – walked past and said hello. The designer of the game who had flown in from Malta, who was sitting next to us, just happened to be an old friend of my work colleague, and they used to work together!

It’s a small world indeed.

My UK Games Expo

It was another whirlwind for me. After picking-up Paul (Grogan, of Gaming Rules!) from his house on the way, I got to my hotel late in the afternoon, and barely had time for a quick freshen-up before I was out the door again. Thursday evenings at UKGE are when the Press get a preview show, when we can go in and talk to the various publishers and designers before the madness of the convention starts the following morning. It was great to catch up with people I hadn’t seen for a year, including Joe and Maddie from Cogito Ergo Meeple, whose Solar 175 I covered here some time back. The rest of the night involved a few overpriced beers and some games with my friends from the Gaming Rules! Slack server, also joined by Branislav and his friend, from the Nithrania Youtube channel.

Friday for me was a mixture of meetings and browsing. I met up with Pandasaurus who were back at the Expo after a long Hiatus, Mighty Boards, Dave from Paverson Games (I covered their game, Distilled, here), Wise Wizard Games, and finally I met with OIa again, from Board&Dice. I really enjoy these meetings. Sometimes it’s just good to put a name to a face, and other times you learn things about really exciting projects and games for the coming year or two. If you run a board game channel, podcast, or blog, I highly recommend making these meetings. It gives you some really valuable insight into the other side of the industry.

I was pretty restrained when it came to shopping this year. I’m lucky in that I got to take a few review copies of games home with me, but even so, I’d normally spend whatever money I take with me. This time though, I didn’t. I treated myself to a copy of Pax Pamir 2nd Edition (I was hoping to bump into Cole Wehrle, the designer, but missed him) and a copy of Next Station: London, but that’s it. I know – check me out. The very model of restraint.

Look mum, I’m famous

On a personal level, I’m very proud of the fact I had a pitch for an article in the expo’s programme accepted, and it was great to see it in print at the show. If you went, and if you have a copy of the programme, you can turn to pages 24 & 25 to read my piece about worker-placement in games.

I’m not a fan of people with egos, or show-offs, but in the same breath, I’m told that there’s nothing wrong in having pride in something you’ve made. Here’s the something I made.

Thank yous

Massive thanks to so many people who make the UKGE what it is. From all of the staff at the NEC, the organisers and volunteers of UKGE itself, through to the friendly staff at the hotel. This is especially true of the people who helped make memories with me. Paul for the company in the car on the way up and the game on Saturday evening. My new friends Branislav and Peter from Slovakia. J P, Becky and the rest of the crew from Who’s Turn Is It Anyway podcast (go listen to it, it’s good, I promise). A very special thanks to my extended Gaming Rules! Slack family – John, John, Mak, Peter, Clare, Ben, Jonny, Graham, Leanne, Mark, and the ever-shy-and-retiring Jill. If I missed you on the list, it’s nothing personal, I just have a memory like a sieve.

I’ll see you all next year, if not before at Gridcon in November.

The post UK Games Expo 2023 – Convention Report appeared first on Punchboard.

Heading to Harrogate in March should mean trees coming into leaf, with crocuses and daffodils adding colour like an embroidered carpet throughout the town. Not this year though. It was all white. There was snow – lots of snow. Still, the intrepid tabletop community weren’t about to let something as trivial as sub-zero temperatures, dangerous travelling conditions, or the risk of slipping over stop them. (For the record, I slipped and fell just once, which is a win in my books).

Harrogate Convention Centre was teeming with people, and despite the huge numbers of people, it didn’t feel crowded. That was thanks to the Airecon crew who rented much bigger areas of the centre to run the convention this year. Even then, it still felt pretty full on Saturday, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it grow again in 2024, if money and Mark’s (the founder of Airecon) stress levels allow.

Come and play

Airecon is a play-focused convention, which means it caters to the likes of you and me: people who want to meet up with like-minded people and play games. It’s in contrast to something like UK Games Expo (you can read my previous reports for UKGE here and here) or Essen Spiel, which have open gaming areas but are set up for vendors first and foremost. Last year’s Airecon (which I wrote about here) had a retail and publisher presence, but it was pretty small. This year the exhibition space was much bigger and felt more like one of the halls at UKGE. 

The purists among you might want to turn their nose up at the growth of places to spend your money, but I’m actually in favour of it, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the additional income from exhibitors means Airecon can afford to occupy as much of the building as it did, and allows it to cater to increased numbers of attendees. Secondly, and maybe most importantly from an attendee’s point of view, the exhibitors were in a completely separate hall from the rest of the convention. If you wanted to you could spend the whole weekend at Airecon and not step foot inside the exhibition hall once. If it continues to grow, I hope the convention keeps this feeling of separation, because it helps Airecon to feel like it has in the past. It’s that spirit and feeling of a gathering of people who just want to play games which makes Airecon what it is.

Airecon isn’t just about playing or buying games. They also run a ton of events. I didn’t attend many, but I did take part in the board game pub quiz again, which was great. Despite having had quite a few drinks between us, our team – Full Fact Hunts (sorry Mark!) – came 4th out of 30+ teams, which was great. Mark runs a great quiz, and we had an absolute hoot. I watched some of the giant Just One game which seemed to be getting a lot of laughs, not to mention the Jolly Boat show, the charity raffle, the Park Run, beer tasting, or the morning meetup for coffee and breakfast. It’s fair to say there’s plenty to be doing at any given moment.

Personal highlights

I had a great time at the convention. On Thursday evening after heading out for a beer and pizza with Iain from The Giant Brain, I nipped over to the hall to collect my pass, only to bump into a certain Mr Rodney Smith, who many of you may know as the face of Watch It Played on YouTube. I went back to the bar with him and Matthew Jude from the same channel (among other things), where we had a couple of beers, waxed lyrical about what makes a good wargame rulebook, and shared our mutual admiration of The Players Aid (go and check them out, Grant and Alexander are great).

It kept snowing overnight, which meant my genius idea backfired on me. I took a large, rolling suitcase with me to transport my games, thinking the rollers would help me. Clever, right? Not so. The snow was so deep that the rollers never touched the tarmac, and I used my case as a makeshift snowplough as I trudged through the streets, dragging it behind me.

You’re welcome, residents of Harrogate.

Once in the halls, I met up with my extended, adopted family of people from the Gaming Rules! Slack server, who I tend to spend time with at every convention. I pretty much just played games all day, which was amazing. I played (and won at!) The Great Wall, which was very good, Yokohama, Ominoes, No Thanks, Scout, Gorilla Marketing, and Can’t Stop.

Saturday was when I took some time out to go and speak to people in the exhibitors’ hall, which was really good. I met a load of new people, including, but not limited to – Andrew from Yay Games, Tristan from Hall or Nothing, Tim from Critical Kit Ltd, and Tony from Meeple Design. Along with them, I managed to bump into old friends too: Tom from Trolls & Rerolls, Laurie from SDR, Paul from Patriot Games, Flavien from Hachette Boardgames UK, and Nicky at Kosmos Games,  I could have spent much longer talking to more people in that hall, but that’s the sort of thing I prefer to do at UK Games Expo. Airecon is for playing games for me.

For the rest of that day I played a few games, including Atiwa, Cuba Libre, and frustratingly a game I can’t tell you much about! I booked in a few months ago for a demo of a new game by David Turczi (Tawantinsuyu) and Simone Luciani (Barrage). I’m not allowed to show you photos of it, I’m not allowed to tell you what it’s called – it’s all very hush-hush.  What I can tell you is that it feels like someone made a game using 60% Brass, 20% Barrage, and 20% Concordia. I can tell you it won’t get crowdfunded. I can tell you it’s coming from a big publisher. I can tell you you should be able to pick it up at Essen this year. I’m very excited to play it again, and I can believe it might already be my game of the year.

Thank yous & final thoughts

There are so many people I want to thank, I’m bound to miss some of them. With that in mind, THANK YOU to:

Mark, Ben, and everyone who set up and ran Airecon, from the organisers to the stewards and everyone in between. From the planning to the execution, without each and every one of you, we wouldn’t have the Airecon we all love.

Rodney, Matthew, and Paula from Watch it Played for taking the time out of their crazy schedules to share a drink and a laugh with me.

Dina from Dina Said So, who not only pushes new indie studios my way, but also brought me Moomin fudge from Finland. MOOMIN FUDGE!

Iain from The Giant Brain, who I’ve known for ages, but met for the first time. We had fun playing games and setting the world to rights over Norwegian breakfasts. Gavin and Sara-Jayne were very welcome additions to our games too, so thank you all.

Last, and in no possible way least, thank you to Mak, Jill, Mark, Bob, Neil, the other Bob, and everyone else from my Gaming Rules! Slack extended family. You guys make conventions for me, and there’s no other group I’d rather play games and drink beer with.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating – if you’re on the fence about going to a convention, or you’re nervous about going, Airecon is a fantastic place to start. There’s no denying that it is very busy, and from the outside, it can seem intimidating. However, in all my years of attending events in different places, for different hobbies, there is nothing that compares to the friendliness you’ll find at an event like Airecon. No matter which demographic you fall into, you’ll be made to feel welcome, and I’ll wager you a bratwurst from the food trucks that you leave with more friends than you arrived with. Even for someone like me who lives a long way away, the 16 hours on trains and 800 miles of travel to get there and back is more than worth it.

See you all next year.

The post Airecon 2023 Convention Report appeared first on Punchboard.

Here’s the big question:

With so many people competing for your hard-earned spare cash, why should you give me any money?

New year reflections

At the start of a new year, I like to make some plans for the coming 12 months, and to look back over the 12 that came before. I started my Ko-fi supporters membership in 2022, and it’s going well as far as I’m concerned. I have a few people regularly supporting me, and I really appreciate it. Partially because they’re giving me some money every month, but mostly because their memberships help me to see that maybe, just maybe, people like what I do. As someone who frequently suffers from impostor syndrome, that’s a huge plus.

The thing is, it should be a two-way street. A mutually beneficial symbiosis, where both I and my supporters get something out of the arrangement. So I started thinking. Other than me giving you a fancy colour in the Punchboard Discord server (which you should join by the way, it’s full of lovely people), what do you actually get from showing support and throwing a few quid my way? The result of my thinking is this, which you might call…

My manifesto

I created Punchboard because I like writing, board games, and telling people about board games.

My reviews will usually be in the 1000-1500 word range. The average reading speed of an adult is approximately 240 words per minute¹, which means if you fall into the category of ‘average adult’ it’ll only take you between four and six minutes to read my reviews.

My reviews reflect my own way of talking. That is to say, I’ll use plain English the vast majority of the time, and I’ll try to make sure my own personality and sense of humour come across. I might make up my own words once in a while, but on the whole, I try to keep things easy to read. I test my writing with tools to make sure that on scales like the Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease scale, I stay well above a score of 60, which means people from the age of 12 upwards will have no trouble reading it.

My reviews will always be honest. I have never, and will never, take payment or any kind of compensation for a favourable review. The same goes for crowdfunding previews. Many of the ‘big names’ create paid previews for games, but paid previews cannot provide opinions. They might show you the pieces of the game, and tell you something looks cool, but you still don’t know the answer to the main question – Is the game good or not? My previews will always give my full opinion. Any time the game has been provided to me for free, I will still give my honest opinion, and declare how I got it. I make all partners aware of this before agreeing to work with them.

I’m not doing this to make money. I created Punchboard because I have a passion, and that hasn’t changed. I ran the site at my own expense long before the Ko-fi membership existed, and I’ll continue to, even if I have no members. I only have two tiers of membership, at £1 and £3. Compare that to other creators. At the time of writing, I have eight paid members who give me a gross amount of £22 per month. Paypal takes their fees for processing those payments, which means I see around £17.50 of that. My hosting costs for December were £9.18 for my Google Workspace, and £13.62 for Google Cloud Compute. Even with my current members’ help, which is hugely appreciated, I still make a loss every month, let alone paying for the domain, and other bits and pieces.

I want more people to enjoy this wonderful hobby. The reason I want people to read my reviews isn’t to inflate my ego. I want to communicate my enthusiasm for tabletop games of all kinds. I like to look at the tangential aspects of the hobby too; things like mental health, community, and inclusion. While I admit that I do get a kick out of seeing lots of visitors to this site and getting positive feedback from readers, the reason I promote my work on the various social channels and tag everyone involved, is to spread the word.

TL;DR – why do I deserve your money?

Punchboard is and will remain, an independent source and archive of reviews, previews, and editorial pieces about board games. Entertaining reviews you can easily digest in five minutes, wherever you are, on whatever device you prefer. Reviews tagged with custom meta-data which you can use to search for new games with my game finder.

If that sounds like the sort of thing that you’d find useful, then consider clicking the button below, and signing up. Your financial support will certainly help chip away at the hosting bills, but more importantly, I’ll know that you value what I do here.

If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please just drop me a line, or head on over to Discord and drop me a message.

Thanks for reading,

Adam.

The post Why should you give me any money? appeared first on Punchboard.

Thou shalt release a top ten games of the year, every year, lest you be fed to the Ancient One, Kuh’Nhizhya

Pretty serious stuff, right? So, to make sure I’m not fed to he-of-the-infinite-bow-ties, here are my top games of 2022, in no particular order. I know they’re numbered, but don’t pay too much attention to that. It’s also worth noting that these games weren’t necessarily released in 2022, they’re just the ones I enjoyed most last year.

1. Atiwa (Lookout Games, 2022)

Coming straight out of the blocks with a new one. I’m not one to buy into hype and The Hotness, but when I played Atiwa at GridCon (convention report here), I instantly fell in love with it. I love Uwe Rosenberg’s games, and this is no exception. It’s a game about the bats, trees and families in the Atiwa region of Ghana, and it’s just gorgeous.

The gameplay loop is fast and easy, and as with so many of Uwe’s games, there are a lot of different ways to build your score. What sets this one apart from a lot of his games is the lack of cards. The only cards in the game are the big square ones which you draft to grow your community in your tableau. It’s extremely fast to setup and play. and the solo mode is great. I’ll have a full review soon, but for now it’s enough to say I’ve played it three times in the last two days.

2. 44 BCE (Gray Forrest Games, 2022)

If you haven’t heard of 44 BCE before, don’t worry, you aren’t alone. It’s a game I previewed earlier in 2022, which turned out to be my most unexpected hit of the year. It’s a game set during the Roman Empire which sees each player trying to become head honcho – or Imperium Maius as they’re better known – and to stay there.

It’s a fantastic mix of Euro game engine-building, secret auctions, and massive player interactions. The theme is woven into every strand of the game, and I love it. It has this fantastic mechanism where players must work together to ensure the current leader doesn’t end the round as the leader, but at the same time need to be self-serving. It leads to loads of temporary partnerships with all the breaking strain of a wet noodle, and it’s fabulous.

3. Gorilla Marketing (Roxley Games, 2020)

I have more opportunities to play party games than any others for most of the year, so I make sure I keep plenty of good ones on my shelves. Gorilla Marketing is just such a game. The premise is simple. As an advertising agency made up of primates, you need to come up with some catchy titles and slogans. Between you, you come up with these ideas, choose the ones you like the best, and laugh. Laugh a lot.

There are loads of categories of things to come up with ideas for, from movies to bands, and loads of sub-categories to award your votes for. In a game I played with my local group at our Christmas meet-up, one player had to award a tagline for a religious movie, in the category of ‘most extravagant use of explosions’, or something similar. Whenever I play this, and whoever is in the game, it always results in a good time and a lot of laughs. Highly recommended.

4. By Stealth and Sea (DVG, 2020)

Over the last year I found myself taking a much greater interest in wargames. Combined with my lifelong interest in submarines (yes, really), when I had the chance to review By Stealth and Sea, I jumped at it. It’s a solo game which puts you in the role of Italian submariners in WWII. These guys weren’t your standard submariners, however. Instead of being stuck inside a metal tube underwater, they rode torpedoes into Allied harbours, manually attached the warheads to ships, and tried to make it to shore in the hope of being picked up.

And you thought your job was bad.

If you want to know the full low-down, check out the review I wrote last year. It’s an incredible game, and it’s also highly emotive, and tells stories. Every member of your crew was a real person, with their photograph included on the cards. The missions you take part in really happened. Things break down all of the time, and it results in a game of trying to make the most of a bad hand. Awesome stuff.

5. IKI (Sorry We Are French, 2015/2022)

IKI is a reprint and overhaul of the original game from 2015. I never played that original, and instead took on the newer version. IKI is a game set in feudal Japan, in which you’re trying to fill shop space with your craftsmen, make plenty of money, and hope your business doesn’t burn down when the fires hit!

If you know me, you know I love a rondel, and IKI’s board is just a great big, delicious rondel. Combine that with me being a self-confessed Nihonophile, and I was always going to be keen on this. Fortunately, the game is fantastic, as I point out in my review. The artwork is bright and colourful, the gameplay is tense and tactical, and it’s just a very nice package.

I took my copy to the 2022 UK Games Expo and introduced some friends to it, who loved it. In fact, my favourite anecdote of the whole show came from that evening. One girl who had been demonstrating the game all day on the Hachette Boardgames UK stand (the folks who sent me the game to review) saw us playing, and enjoyed the game so much that she sat down with us to help setup and do a teach! Another great game, with an expansion on the way I believe. Watch this space…

6. Greedy Kingdoms (AEG, 2018)

Everybody likes to have a shock entry on these lists, and here’s mine. Hands up if you’ve heard of Greedy Kingdoms? Keep your hands up if you’ve actually played it. Not too many hands, I’m willing to bet. I picked this up on a whim from my FLGS, when I was out for the day with my son. I saw Bruno Faidutti’s name on the box, and that was enough for me.

Greedy Kingdoms is a two-player card duel which plays out really quickly. you try to build a tableau of cards which generates the resources you need to out-do your opponent, aiming to be the first to afford two royal palaces. The fun comes from the fact that you both have the same cards in your decks, and each round sees you select a card in secret, hoping that during the reveal you manage to read the other player’s mind to prevent them doing what it was they tried to. Or maybe you’re all talk and no trousers – there’s plenty of room for bluffing too.

It’s a gem of a game, so if you’re after something a little different for your two-player collection, check it out.

7. All Bridges Burning (GMT Games, 2020)

2022 was my real year of COIN game awakening. I added another three to my shelves, and I still adore them. All Bridges Burning, a game set in the Finnish Civil War has an unusual twist on the standard COIN formula, taking the player count down to three. The Reds and Whites posture and fight, while the blue Moderate faction try to use influence to keep things on an even keel.

If you like the COIN series, you’re going to enjoy All Bridges Burning. For the most part it is just more of the same, but the small tweaks really keep the game feeling fresh. Other than the change three players, it also splits the game into two distinct halves. The first is each side posturing for position, the second sees plans unfurl, come what may. I really like that the eligibility track works differently too. It’s a really neat package, of a well-refined system, in a period of history I had no idea about. Excellent stuff.

8. Scout (Oink Games, 2019)

Yeah, it’s Scout. So many people have raved about it this year, and with good reason. The recent Oink version is actually a redesign and reprint of an older game, and I think I prefer this modern version. As with all Oink games, this comes in one of those teeny, colourful boxes, which means you can (and should) take it everywhere with you.

Scout is built on such a simple idea. Play a better set than the one on the table. It can be a run of consecutive numbers, or a set of the same number. You just have to play a more powerful set than the one that’s there. If you can’t, you take a card from the set, awarding that player a point, and grow your hand. The kicker which makes Scout absolutely sing is the rule which says you cannot re-order your hand. if you’ve got five of a kind, with an odd card in the middle, tough! Find a way to take cards and play that odd one, leaving you to play your beast of a set.

Cheap, simple genius. Buy Scout. Go on, off you toddle.

Summary

There you have it then. My top eight games from 2022. Yes, I know you’re meant to do a top ten, but who cares? It took me a long time to whittle this list down, and I know I’ll look at it tomorrow and change something. There are SO MANY amazing games out there, just waiting to be played. I hope this list gave you some food for thought, and helps you realise that you can just ignore the Instagram hype and Facebook group hotness. Try something different, you might just surprise yourself and find the next sleeper hit.

Some of the games above are available from my partner retail store, Kienda. Head on over with my link – kienda.co.uk/punchboard – and you’ll save 5% off your first order of £60 or more.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more like this, consider supporting the site by joining my monthly membership at Kofi. It starts from £1 per month, offers member benefits, and lets me know you’re enjoying what I’m doing.

The post My top games of 2022 appeared first on Punchboard.

GridCon is an annual board game convention held in the South-West of the UK. It just so happens that I a) live a couple of hours down the road from it, and b) am a Patreon supporter of the organiser, Paul Grogan, so there was no way I wasn’t going back this year.

When it comes to conventions there are two main types. Some of them have a very heavy commercial presence. There are sponsors wherever you look, and halls of vendors, designers, and publishers showing and selling their wares. Think of events like UK Games Expo (my report of this year’s is here), Essen Spiel, GenCon, PAXU.

On the flip side, you have the ‘play’ style conventions. These conventions are all about playing the games you already own. Most have a much higher proportion of open gaming spaces – tables where you can just rock-up with your games, and play to your heart’s content. These are usually smaller events, such as BayCon, KCon, and AireCon (here’s another write-up of this year’s event).

GridCon sits firmly in the latter. There’s only one retailer in attendance (Games Lore), and even then they only had one table in the corner of one of the rooms. If you want to spend money, your best bet is the bring-and-buy.

My time at GridCon 3

Thursday

I had been eagerly looking forward to GridCon all year. Paul runs Gaming Rules!, a YouTube channel which specialises in how-to-play tutorial videos for board games. As a Patreon supporter of his, I have access to the supporters’ Slack server, where I chat daily, and where I’ve made quite a few good friends. GridCon is a chance for lots of us to get together in person, so the excitement has been building there for months now.

After a detour on the way up to help Paul and Vicky (Paul’s partner) cart some boxes over to the venue, and after checking into my Airbnb home for the weekend, I headed to the hotel hosting the convention and caught up with old friends, including Mark and Andrew who’d travelled all the way over from Malta just for the event. It’s worth mentioning early, and I’ll almost certainly repeat myself, but the most pleasure I get from a convention is the time spent with good people. It’s incredibly good for my mental health, and I’m sure it does the same for others.

We shared a few beers, hugs and laughs, then settled in for a multiple-hour game of Food Chain Magnate. It was my first time playing one of Splotter’s games in person, but it certainly won’t be my last. What I remember of it was very good: cutthroat, tactical, and a surprisingly light ruleset for what is a heavy game. Tiredness (and maybe beer and cider) got the better of me, and I headed back to my room, ready for the start of GridCon proper.

Friday

On Friday morning I treated myself to that most extravagant of breakfasts – a Subway from the petrol station – and arrived to see a packed hotel bar, full of eager and excited board game fans. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first convention, or your fiftieth, the feeling of anticipation combined with excitement doesn’t fade. It’s a special feeling.

After the doors opened at 9am, the rest of the day was a bit of a blur. I got in a game of Scout before a scheduled teach + play of Unconscious Mind, which was excellent. Keep an eye out for that one, which is on Kickstarter at the time of writing. From there, straight over to a game of Pingyao: First Chinese Banks which I organised. By that point, it was late in the afternoon, and what I should have done is take a break for some food and rest. Instead, I agreed to a four-player game of Beyond The Sun, which was great.

Now, while it’s not exactly a hardship to be away from home, playing games for a few days, by the time the sun goes down, you can feel pretty spent. Your brain gets frazzled, and you’ll probably want to stretch your legs and move around. I just wanted something to eat, a cold beer, and an hour not thinking – which is exactly got. The food at the Holiday Inn which hosted the con was tasty and hot, even if it did take a long time to order sometimes.

From there I just milled around with friends, chatted, caught-up with people, and then had a game of Hadrian’s Wall (review here, the best flip-and-write game available). There’s a lovely feeling towards the end of the night at a convention like this, where the buzz of the day quietens and those with the stamina to keep going, retire to the bar and restaurant area to play quietly under lamps. It’s times like this where the sense of belonging really hits hard.

Saturday

First thing on Saturday morning, I’d booked out one of the ‘Hot games’ on offer, fresh from Essen. As soon as I saw Uwe Rosenberg had a new game out, I knew I had to try it, and Atiwa did not disappoint. I won’t go into too much detail, because I fully expect to be reviewing it before took long. Let’s just say that even after a single play, I think it might be my game of the year.

Thanks to a 6:30 am start to the day (I watched the England women’s Rugby Union team take on New Zealand in the world cup final – so close, girls!) I was already fading, so I headed off to the restaurant to grab some food and a coffee, and to watch the huge game of Dark Ages going on in there. They’d commandeered three or four tables to set it all up – a truly epic undertaking.

After that came the game I was looking forward to most all weekend, a four-player game of Cuba Libre. I’ve reviewed other COIN games here before (Gandhi and All Bridges Burning), and Cuba Libre is another example of how good they can be. Part of my excitement was for the game, the other part because I knew I was going to play with friends from Slack, including Peter, and George, who flew in from Greece for the weekend!

Sadly, my GridCon came to an end after four hours of trying to control Cuba. It was time for me to say my goodbyes, get in my car, and drive home. I get so exhausted at these gatherings that I need a full day to recharge before going back to work, and I had to work on Monday. I can get a bit emotional when good things end and I have to say goodbye to friends, not knowing the next time I’ll see them, so apologies to anyone I missed, or if I seemed like I was rushing off.

In review

I sit here writing this on Sunday, the day after my GridCon came to an end. There’s a really funny feeling that lingers for a day or two after a good convention – and this was a great convention. Your brain feels fuzzy, your heart feels full, and it’s an all-around life-affirming thing. A good convention is incredibly good for your mental health, as long as you can mitigate any triggers for you before going. If you suffer from social anxiety for example, then it’s handy to get there ahead of time and watch the place slowly fill up around you, instead of opening the door and walking in on a couple of hundred attendees.

I had a truly wonderful time. Not because of the games I played, the place I played in, or even the people there. It sounds trite, but it truly is an example of something being greater than the sum of its parts. I mean, I’ve not even touched on things like the ridiculous pile of games donated to the charity raffle, which itself raised thousands of pounds. Nor did I talk about world-famous designer Vital Lacerda coming along to teach his new game to a select group of people, and he was only one of many designers in attendance. I didn’t mention the well-stocked games library, all available to play for free, or the chances to play huge new games, months before others will get a chance to.

Even without including all of that, it was still an outstanding time. It was (for me) three days of good people having good times. If you have never been to a games convention before, and you’re on the fence about it, please go, and go to one like GridCon. Go to something local, focused on the games. Every single person was made to feel as welcome as if they were family, regardless of their skin colour, age, ability, nationality, beliefs, gender or orientation. It’s a big, incredibly diverse group of people, stepping outside of the demands of real life for a few days, for a break they all deserve.

Long may it continue.

Special thanks

I just want to name-check some people who helped make it as special as it was for me. First and foremost I want to thank Paul & Vicky, who organised and ran the event. There’s a crazy amount of time and energy that goes into it, and it really showed. Without them, there’d be no GridCon to go to. The staff at the Holiday Inn were amazing too, very patient, friendly, and accommodating. They still managed a smile even when there was a big queue at the bar, and when they ran out of glasses and drinks! What can I say – we know how to have a good time.

I want to thank my friends, new and old, who spent some time with me. These include, but are not limited to: Andrew and Mark, who made the trip from Malta, along with George who flew in from Greece, and had to miss a game to work from his hotel room. Mark P, Jill, Peter, John(s), Mark L, Lee, Alex, Natalie, Leanne, Ian, Emma, Scott, Paul R, Paul M, JP, Ian, Monique, Tom, Matt, Márton, Jonathan, Tim, Luke, Rick, Bob, Becky, Vic, Carl, Joe, Maddie, and anyone else whose name I’ve forgotten. Also to Lyndsey and Piran the Beagle, my hosts for my stay.

It was nourishment for the heart, mind, and soul. For now, I feel sated, but already I can’t wait to see my chosen extended family again.

The post GridCon 3 (2022) Convention Report appeared first on Punchboard.

Format Games might not be a name you’re familiar with, especially if your usual board game cup of tea is the sort of game I often review here. It’s a game design studio headed up by two people: Laurence Emmett and Matt Edmondson. If you’re from the UK and recognise the latter of the two names, you might be wondering “Is that the same Matt Edmondson from BBC Radio 1?”. The answer is yes, it’s the same Matt Edmondson. One and the same.

Format Games specialise in small, lightweight party-style games. I met Laurence at this year’s UK Games Expo, at one of Asmodee’s areas. They’d recently signed a distribution deal with Asmodee, and were keen to get their games seen and played. After sitting down to chat with him about their games and how they came into being, I managed to grab an interview with the boys.

Interview

Adam: Before we get going, can you tell us who you are, and what brought you into the hobby of tabletop games?

We’re Matt and Laurence, owners of Format Games. Matt does all the inventing and games designing and Laurence runs the business day to day.

Matt: I have always loved playing games, and have to think up lots of them for my ‘day job’ of being a BBC Radio 1 DJ. A few years back I invented a game that found great success with Big Potato called Obama Llama, and it was a fantastic gateway to the industry. Since then I’ve invented quite a few games, and during the lockdown of 2020 set up Format Games with Laurence. I have regular games nights with my friends, and I genuinely love discovering new things to play.

Laurence: Luck and chance for me. I had a few small businesses in the service sector and was keen to move into online retail. During a chance discussion, Matt suggested we make a game that he’d been sitting on for a while called Ansagrams. We had absolutely no idea how to get this game to market, but we knew that between us, we had the skills to make it happen.

For each of you, which are your favourite games?

Matt: Where to start?! I love really simple, snack-able games with simple rules that are fast to learn and have really compelling gameplay. I love games like Gobbit, Dobble, and our own game Noggin which is the game I play the most regularly. I also love The Chameleon. Sometimes I’ll delve into more complex stuff- my favourite ‘big game’ is Colt Express. Every part of it is genius.

Laurence: A childhood favourite was Monopoly, I guess it spoke to my entrepreneurial spirit, and In my early 20’s I was quite a keen poker player. More recently Cross Clues is a fantastic game and I’d highly recommend it. Of our catalogue, I absolutely love Wheels Vs Doors (I’m a bit of a stat-nerd) and it combines poker-style gameplay with amazing stats – it’s perfect for me.

As I understand it, at least one of your games was created during the Covid lockdown. Were you toying around with game designs before the pandemic, or was Covid the catalyst?

Matt: I already had several games out in the market that I’d licensed to other manufacturers, but when lockdown hit a few of my television projects got delayed, so I found myself with some time. I had a raft of unfinished but fully-formed game ideas, so I suggested to Laurence that if he could help me with the ’serious bits’ of running a business, I could try and get some of them designed. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I love learning and I have quite a high tolerance for being bad at something before I get good at it, so I learned Illustrator via Youtube and just sort of figured it out. I think had the pandemic not occurred, I would have been unlikely to have been able to accelerate my skillset to the point where we’ve been able to output eight games titles within the first 18 months of the business. 

Laurence: Without doubt being stuck inside with nothing to do pushed us to produce Ansagrams. For me, one of my companies (a domestic cleaning franchise) was closed and I was genuinely concerned for its future, so I saw this as a way of diversifying. Even though we had zero experience of designing a game, I trusted Matt 100% and knew he would create something brilliant.

You self-published your first game, and sold it on Amazon I believe. It’s quite an investment to get started that way. Did you have a belief at that point that this could be a real success for you?

Matt: We had absolutely no idea what to expect. We both went into this treating it as an experiment. In terms of actual cash investment, it was surprisingly low, so the stakes weren’t high and we felt like we had nothing to really lose and everything to gain. Crucially we knew the game, Ansagrams, was really good. We’d played it loads with friends and family, and we ordered about 3000 copies of it. I assumed it’d take us over a year to sell them all, but they sold out within two weeks, which was amazing and also a little frustrating as we could definitely have sold more! Once we saw how well that game had done, it was easier to conceive of this as being a serious business that had a future beyond that first game.

Laurence: Yes we dipped our toe in initially. We had other sources of income, which was vital, as we waited over 18 months to actually pay ourselves for our work. We were very lucky to be in a situation together that allowed us to invest our time, and a little bit of money, without taking on substantial risk. I absolutely did think we could make it a success. We both have a pretty good track record at what we do, and we both felt confident that we had every chance of succeeding, but honestly, we had no idea it would get so far so soon.

Can you talk us through how the deal with Asmodee happened? It sounds like it was a whirlwind.

Laurence: Again it was luck and chance. Following on from Ansagrams lightning sell-out over Christmas 2020, Matt and I approached John Lewis and they agreed to stock our game for 2021. At the same time, I was tendering for manufacture and called Asmodee’s UK office.

They politely informed me that they did not manufacture other companies’ games, but once I explained our situation, they made an offer to distribute Ansagrams for us, to John Lewis and other retailers across the UK. That was January 2021, and by April 2021, Matt magically invented three more games (Noggin, Egg Slam and So Wrong It’s Right) and suddenly we were a thriving games studio. By the time we demonstrated at Toy Fair 2022, our catalogue had grown to 8 games and the amazing reaction from retailers encouraged Asmodee to offer us a 3 years distribution deal, which for us was a total game changer.

Matt: It feels like we’ve been really fortunate to have met the right people at the right time. The games are seriously great, and the thing I want above all else is for people to play and enjoy them, so having a distributor with such a great track record and amazing reach is really important. With games like Noggin, in particular, they’ll live or die on great demonstrations – I truly believe if you play Noggin once, you’ll be playing it for the rest of your life, so we love what Asmodee has done with Dobble on the demonstration front and want to forge a similar relationship.

The deal with Asmodee is a huge thing. Has it changed any future plans for either of you, now that your games are being sold and distributed around the world?

Laurence: It’s turned my world upside down. After Toy Fair in January I made the decision to sell my cleaning company and take a back seat on the other businesses I am involved in. I’m now full-time Format Games, and I absolutely love it!

Matt: The entire thing has been a bit of an unexpected whirlwind. A lot of my life is embarking on fun creative projects and then seeing what sticks, but the pace of expansion with this one has been really astonishing. I’m going to keep coming up with games (in fact, I’m typing this up whilst on a flight back from some games meetings in NYC and I had an idea for a game about 15 mins after take off which is BRILLIANT, so I’ve started working on it straight away!) and Laurence’s role will be to help us grow the business both in the UK and internationally.

My readers know me as someone who loves more complex games, as well as family and party games. Does either of you have any plans or ideas for something heavier, a big box strategy game, or something similar?

Matt: I am in awe of the big strategy games, and when I play the really complex ones I often think ‘how did anyone come up with this?’. I’m not sure my mind is wired for creating that type of game (although never say never) and my mission in almost everything I do is to keep it as simple as I can. I want all of our games to be really accessible for both seasoned gamers and people who only play one game a year at Christmas. We’re going for mass market but with a playful and personality-driven tone. 

If there are any budding game designers out there, what advice would you give them to get started?

Matt: I think the first thing to do is to make a prototype of your game and then just play it with your friends loads. From that, you’ll work out which bits work and which levers to turn up or down to make the game more fun. I’d then also decide a route to market. For the first few years of my career, I was incredibly content licensing my games to other companies, and they always did an amazing job with them. I wouldn’t be able to run Format Games on my own, so if it wasn’t for Laurence my inventions would have ended up with other games studios or sat on my shelf gathering dust. It’s been a lot of work getting these different products out into the world in the quality we expect, and so I think if I was still a solo games designer I’d be pitching my game ideas to companies whose games I already love.

What’s next for Format Games? Do you have anything new on the way you’d like to share with us?

Matt: We’ve had fairly rapid growth and now have a slate of eight games (in just over a year!) so our plan is to focus on two of our big releases this year, a game called Karen – all about ridiculous one-star reviews found online, and Wheels VS Doors – a hilarious debating game with a brilliant betting mechanic and the most mind-blowing stats you’ve ever heard. I’ve got three or four other games I’m currently working on, but we’re trying to pace ourselves. I frustratingly have more ideas than we could ever hope to make, so it’ll be a case of seeing what’s working from our existing range and then trying to compliment it with new stuff.

Laurence: We are such a new business, you could arguably classify all of our games as new. This will be the first Christmas season that our games will be available in most retail outlets, and it’s our first proper launch from a pr/marketing perspective. In 2021 we had such limited stock available we had to launch in, and stay in, first gear, this year we can hammer the throttle a little more and we’re hoping that momentum will continue into 2023. We plan to release 2 games next year, Matt has so many ideas it will be a case of working out which 2 we run with and launching them at Toy Fair in Jan 23. Exciting times!

Finally, and maybe most importantly, which is the best biscuit?

Matt: This is a controversial answer, but I’ve just discovered I’m dairy intolerant (noooooooooo!) so I’m backing the Bourbon. It’s ‘accidentally vegan’ which means it doesn’t have any milk in it and is therefore a staple of my life now!

Laurence: Two compete for top spot. A dark chocolate digestive, and a chocolate hob-nob. Mainly for their superior dunking properties. But you have to time it right. There is nothing worse than losing half a hob-nob in your mug of tea.

And finally

If you’d like to know more about Format Games and their range of titles, head over to their site now.

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