Opinions Archive

The Pokémon Trading Card Game app is the perfect way to start playing

Take a Chansey.
Adventures in the Forgotten Realms’ best gameplay mechanic isn’t new to Magic: The Gathering

Treasure decks are stronger than ever.
Monopoly Deal is the only Monopoly worth playing, because it understands why the board game sucks

Being bad feels pretty good.
Critical Role’s Campaign 2 finale shows just how far the hit Dungeons & Dragons series has come

Forever throwing fluffernutters.

1
GMs shouldn’t always break the rules in tabletop RPGs

Tend the rules.

6
Magic: The Gathering is more ban-happy than ever, and it’s holding MTG Arena back

Getting the banned back together.

1
From Kingdom Death to Mörk Borg, modern tabletop gaming owes a huge debt to Kentaro Miura and Berserk

Blood and Guts.

On Kickstarter
The greatest board game stories are told around the tabletop, not on it

Playing with your tale.

1
Unmatched is the Avengers Assemble of board games - it successfully unites a team of unlikely heroes

Kneel before this excellent tabletop series.

1
“To an outsider we were success incarnate, but inside we were hollow”: How my dream job at a board game startup became a nightmare

What appeared to be a Kickstarter darling and fast-growing company was a carefully projected illusion.

6
As thrilling as it is simple, Pack Wars is one of Magic: The Gathering’s best overlooked formats

Here’s how - and why - to play.
Lines and veils, and other RPG safety tools, open up tabletop roleplaying for everyone

Ensuring comfortable, collaborative creativity around the table.

2
MTG Arena on mobile is great, but it highlights one of the game’s worst accessibility issues

Word (size) up.

2
Call of Cthulhu’s epic Masks of Nyarlathotep shows the perfect way to run a RPG campaign over years

Into the Months of Madness.

1
Is Strixhaven a good entry point for the Magic: The Gathering newcomers? Well, it’s complicated.

For the cardboard curious.
Disability representation in tabletop gaming matters - here are the games doing it right

Recent years have seen stories and characters that avoid ableist tropes, though there’s still work to be done.

1
Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace is a disappointing video game debut for the series

Clueless.
Dead of Winter bridges the intimidating gap between casual and complex board games

Gravely underappreciated.
Magic: The Gathering’s pop-culture crossovers are full of potential, but must learn from the mistakes of The Walking Dead

The multiverse is the perfect home for The Lord of the Rings, Warhammer and more - if handled correctly.
Magic: The Gathering is at its best with more people - here’s why

All hands on decks.
How Dungeons & Dragons helped me discover my gender identity

I was playing a man in real life - why not a woman in my escapist hobbies?

4
6 things the new Dungeons & Dragons movie needs to do to become a critical hit

Not including a cameo from Jeremy Irons.

3
Tabletop roleplaying taught me that failure is okay - and often more interesting

1 to watch.

3
Public libraries are using D&D to forge friendships and build community

No Knowledge (Arcana) check required.

2
Root’s show-don’t-tell storytelling makes its world feel alive

Eyrie-lly want to go back there.

2
How logging your board game plays can curate your collection - and save you money

Stats the way I like it.

2
Vampire: The Masquerade shows the right way to confront an RPG's problematic past

Listen up, D&D.

11
The Chess Effect: How The Queen’s Gambit turned me into a chess obsessive

What a feeling, when we’re castling on the ceiling.
Warhammer looks expensive, but the truth is more complicated

Model behaviour.

7
Could playing Terraforming Mars help us settle the Red Planet for real? We asked a space expert

Dice on Mars?

1
Games of the Year 2020: Matt on Pandemic Legacy: Season 0

A fond farewell.

1
Games of the Year 2020: Johnny on The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine

More like cloud nine.

1
Games of the Year 2020: Meehan on deckbuilding delight Fort

The kids are alright.

1
Games of the Year 2020: Lolies on the planet-gobbling astro-amphibians of Cosmic Frog

Star 'spawn.
Games of the Year 2020: Wheels on Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective - Baker Street Irregulars

An elementary choice.

1
Games of the Year 2020: Junk Art co-designer Sen-Foong Lim

Making maps, committing crimes and finding friends.
Games of the Year 2020: Alice is Missing and Icarus creator Spenser Starke

Dark labyrinths, train travel and shelf stacking.

1
Games of the Year 2020: Delve creator Anna Blackwell on the solo roleplaying of Thousand Year Old Vampire and Ironsworn

Plus why you should play The Wretched and The Artefact.
Games of the Year 2020: Hellboy and Devil May Cry: The Bloody Palace designers Sophie Williams and James M. Hewitt

The co-founders of design studio Needy Cat Games run through their top two-player picks.
Games of the Year 2020: Cyberpunk Red co-designer Cody Pondsmith on Ice Age RPG Würm

Cool story.
Games of the Year 2020: Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall co-creator Banana Chan

From games about a magician's dog to RPGS about eroticism, here are Banana Chan's favourite Games of this year.
Magic: The Gathering in 2020: Strong sets struggle to steer the card game away from a worrying direction

Community’s resilience during lockdown undermined by divisive design and controversial business decisions.

1
So many games, so little time: How FOMO and the cult of the new changed board games

Play it again, Sam?

1
X-Wing’s thrilling space combat is the perfect tabletop answer to Star Wars: Squadrons

I’m not such a bad pilot myself.
Eldritch Horror makes you care about its characters because you’re just as doomed as they are

Carefully Lovecrafted.

2
‘Broken’ board games are better than boring ones

For balance.

3
Like chess? Here's why you’ll love its Japanese cousin, shogi

Generals interest.

2
The Pokémon Trading Card Game is a perfect evolution of the video games

It’s super effective.

1
Digital board games don’t match the physical experience - and that can be a good thing

Some tabletop games aren’t the same when you can’t touch their bits and pieces... or are they?
Black board games are key to the future of tabletop

New voices and perspectives at the table benefit everyone.

2

On Kickstarter
Oath could finally deliver on the exciting lost potential of legacy board games

All of the memories with none of the sacrifice.

3

On Kickstarter
Playing Scythe online has given my life stability in a time of great uncertainty

Steel yourselves.

11
Railroading doesn’t have to be a dirty word in tabletop RPGs

Giving players just enough guidance can enhance, rather than diminish, their role in a story and world.

5
Playing Diplomacy online transformed the infamously brutal board game from unbearable to brilliant

Another backstab at it.

2
One of the best board games about war illustrates its futility

What is it good for? Money!

2
Saving Throw: How Dungeons & Dragons helped me combat my social anxiety

Helping handbook.

3
Cards Against Humanity is a terrible party game because it laughs at the expense of others

Party pooper.

19
The Resistance: Avalon, a party game about lying, is the perfect icebreaker

Arthur truth.

1
If you want to get into trading card games, Keyforge is the best place to start

Fanning the æmbers.

2
Why tabletop roleplaying is best when it’s all in your mind

Mind yourself.
Struggling to learn Magic: The Gathering? Try playing aggressively

What is aggro, and why does it suit new players who like to go on the offensive?
How deckbuilding in Dominion helped me find real-life happiness

You play the cards you’re dealt.
Playing Dungeons & Dragons to win is the most boring way to play

Or; why D&D is like chocolate biscuits and pasta sauce.

28
Board games form human connections in a world that increasingly seeks to sever them

Check mates.
Why Legend of the Five Rings should be the next fantasy RPG to become a TV show after The Witcher

Toss a koku.
Magic: The Gathering's Theros: Beyond Death is a perfect tribute to Greek mythology

Homer run.

1
Game of the Year 2019 guest list: Imperial Settlers designer Ignacy Trzewiczek

The designer of Robinson Crusoe, Detective and more picks his favourite board games of the year.
Game of the Year 2019: Matt Jarvis' Top 5

Ahead of the Pax.

6
Game of the Year 2019 guest list: Call of Cthulhu creative director Mike Mason

Creative director for Lovecraftian RPG Call of Cthulhu selects his tabletop games of the year.
Game of the Year 2019 guest list: Sushi Go! designer Phil Walker-Harding

The mind behind Bärenpark, Imhotep and the delicious card game series picks his top five games of 2019.

2
Game of the Year 2019: Sara Elsam's Top 5

Crime, cannibals and cursed potions.

8
Game of the Year 2019: Alex Meehan’s Top 5

A detective skulks into a bar on a quest to forge a key and eat a salad.

4
Game of the Year 2019 guest list: Root and Pax Pamir 2E designers Cole and Drew Wehrle

Wehrlegig Games on the appeal of tabletop experiences with an ‘uncompromising vision’.

On Kickstarter
In being both profound and playable, Pax Pamir 2E became one of the most important board games of 2019

Gaming the Great Game.

2

On Kickstarter
Why Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is the best tabletop RPG you aren't playing

A roleplaying game to lose your head over.

6
Going Solo: How playing tabletop games alone went from sad to rad

Party for one.

16
I was a bisexual teen bloodsucker: how Vampire: The Masquerade saved me from early-2000s homophobia

A monstrous supernatural hunter gave me the space and security to, in some weird way, be myself.
Dungeons & Dragons' best worst spell: Cooking up chaos and comedy with Conjure Food and Water

'45 pounds of bland but nourishing food'

3