Mixology is a card game for 2-5 players where you gain points by mixing different drinks. Over several rounds, players use secret action selection to collect different liquor and mixers until someone emerges victorious, having created the best (or most) cocktails.

How to Play

Setting up a game of Mixology is simple. A common marketplace is set up in the middle of the table where 5 cocktail cards and a number of mixer and liquor cards equal to the player count plus 1 are placed face up. Each player then takes their set of player cards into their hand and places a liquor and mixer card in front of them, making their ingredient shelf. The start player is randomly assigned and then various tokens and resources are handed out: the start player gets the start player token, the last player gets the extra action token, and any player in between receives an additional random liquor card.

[caption id="attachment_231798" align="alignnone" width="1024"] In this picture, the market is set up for 4 players.[/caption]

Each round players secretly select 3 cards from their hand and place them face-down in front of them in the order that they will be played. The player with the extra action token…

The post Mixology Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Honey Buzz is a worker and tile placement game where 2-4 players face-off to have the most prosperous hive.

How to Play

Each player begins the game with at least one worker-beeple. On a player’s turn, they have the option of deploying a beeline (a group of one or more worker-beeples) to the Hive Board or recalling their bees. When a beeline is deployed, the player takes a tile and places it in their playing area. If the tile placement creates a “cell”, then the player gets to perform the action for each adjacent icon to the cell, in any order they like.

[caption id="attachment_219647" align="alignnone" width="1024"] When the player places the Accounting token they will form a cell and perform an Accounting, Decree, and New Bee action in any order of their choice.[/caption]

When deploying their bees, players have 6 tile-types to choose, which will allow them to do different actions when creating a cell. These actions are:

1. Forage: move your foraging bee up to one space to collect nectar or pollen. If you want to move farther you must pay a coin for each additional space. To collect nectar, you must have the correct completed cell for that type of nectar. Depending on how you…

The post Honey Buzz Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Illusion is a card game for 2-5 players that tests your spatial reasoning. It is designed by Wolfgang Warsch who is known for such hits as The Mind, Ganz Schön Clever, and The Quacks of Quedlinburg.

How to Play

To set up the game, the deck of 92 Color Cards is placed face-up on the table, one of the 12 Arrow Cards is flipped up, and the top Color Card  from the deck is placed next to the Arrow Card on the table. Gameplay is very simple, you’re attempting to correctly place new Color Cards based on how much of the Arrow Card’s color it has. On your turn, you either take the top card from the Color Card pile and place where you think it belongs in the row of cards, or you challenge the validity of the entire row. It’s important to note that the top Color Card is already visible, so you know before you make your choice whether or not it’s going to be an easy card to place.

[caption id="attachment_216917" align="alignnone" width="1024"] In this example, the player has decided the card has more green than the first, but less than the second.[/caption]

When a player…

The post Illusion Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

To enter, email your receipt of a donation to Feeding America, Food Banks Canada, or The Trussell Trust - Stop UK Hunger of at least $10 USD.

Every $10 you donate gives you another chance to win!

Donations Made

[mks_progressbar name="" level="$2000" value="80" height="20" color="#81d742" style="squared"]

The Fine Print

This raffle is open to anyone residing in the continental US, Canada, or the UK. Each participant will be given a number of entries equal to the value of the donation they made (1 entry for $10, 10 entries for $100, etc.). Note if you are participating from Canada or the UK: 10 USD…

The post Board Game Raffle for Food Security appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Join Kathleen and Kurt as they play through a full game of Honey Buzz, a new game from Paul Salomon and Elf Creek Games.

COVID-19 Note: Kurt and Kathleen are married and live together, which is why there are no masks used in this video.

Read Kathleen's review of Honey Buzz.

Buy Honey Buzz at Elf Creek Games' website:
https://elf-creek-games.myshopify.com/collections/honey-buzz

The post Honey Buzz Full Playthrough appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Harry Potter: House Cup Competition is a light strategy worker placement game for 2-4 players. In this game players each select a house and send their Students (read: workers) to attend classes and complete lessons in order to upgrade their skills.

How it Works

The game is played over 7 rounds (because it's Harry Potter themed, so of course it is). Each round has 2 phases: Classes and Challenges. In the first phase, Classes, players take turns placing 1 of their 3 Students on the board and optionally completing a Lesson (either before or after placement). Lessons are cards that will require some level of skill in one of the three subjects (Potions, Charms, and Defence Against the Dark Arts) and will give the active player a reward when they are complete.

[caption id="attachment_79494" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Here's what the board looks like when set up.[/caption]

During the first phase of a round, there are 4 areas of the board where Students can be placed: the Library, Professor’s Office, Classrooms, or any face-up Location. Each area will have multiple spots for workers, some with costs and some that are free. I’ll quickly go over what can be gained from each area of the board.

• Library: Here Students can collect Knowledge,…

The post Harry Potter: House Cup Competition Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

In Fort, everyone competes to build the best fort and get the most points. You start the game with a deck of 10 cards, each showing a kid with their own powers. Most of the kids do stuff that helps you build your fort: grabbing resources, recruiting more kids to join your crew, and using those resources to upgrade your fort. You can also earn points during the game through card actions and at the end through your own unique scoring condition.

How to Play

Fort is a deck-building game: you start with a small deck that you’ll add new cards to over the course of the game, but unlike most deck-building games, there is no cost for new cards. Every…

The post Fort Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Now, I’m no expert, but I love Terra Mystica and tend to do pretty well. Over the years there are a few things that I’ve picked up and that’s what I’m going to share with you today. This isn’t a guide to playing any specific faction because there are plenty of helpful, faction-specific guides online already.

Now, in case you’ve decided to read a Terra Mystica strategy guide without having ever played the game, let me tell you a tiny bit about it. In Terra Mystica 2-5 players take the roles of different coloured Factions with their own unique powers. Over 6 rounds players will terraform land, build and upgrade buildings, and worship at the different Cult Tracks. Each round will have a specific scoring goal and players can also gain points in game by building Towns or through faction-specific powers. At the end of the game players will gain points based on the largest set of connected buildings (sprawl) and the highest placement on each of the 4 Cult Tracks. The player with the most points wins ... Which brings us to our guide on how to get points!

Play…

The post General Strategies for Terra Mystica appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

The world of Harry Potter has always meant a lot to me. I grew up reading the books, anxiously awaiting the next one and guessing what might happen. And while the story is over, I’m always happy to revisit it. This is why I was so excited when I learned about Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle. Through deck building, this game lets you play out years 1 through 7 as your favourite main character, working to defeat the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who.

Before we get too far into this review, I’d like to make a quick statement. While I love the world of Harry Potter deeply, I do not condone or agree with the hateful messages Rowling is perpetuating. I struggled personally with whether or not reviewing a game based on a world created by Rowling was okay. Honestly, I’m still not sure of the answer, but reading trans activist and actor Nicole Maines explanation of why she is still a "Harry Potter" fan despite Rowling's transphobic comments helped me come to terms with my own feelings on the subject.

Overview

In Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, 2-4 players take on the roles of Harry, Ron, Hermione and poor, sweet Neville Longbottom. This cooperative deck builder…

The post Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

I generally avoid IP-based games because I’m worried that it will either not do the IP justice (if it's something I really care about) or fall flat when it comes to gameplay. However, every so often there’s a game that I’m intrigued enough to play — Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle by Beach-A-Palooza’s co-designer Andrew Wolf was one that won me over. When I heard about Steven Universe: Beach-A-Palooza Card Battling Game, my interest was piqued. I’m a pretty big Steven Universe fan (I may have walked down the aisle to this beautiful cover), so I was interested in seeing what a Steven Universe game “for Steven Universe fans by Steven Universe fans” had to offer.

You Are The Crystal Gems (Gameplay)

In the Steven Universe: Beach-A-Palooza Card Battling Game players are competing to be the best band performing at the festival. During the game, 2-6 players will draft cards to form their band, as well as their audience.

The game is played over three Acts, each composed of three rounds. Players start an Act with nine cards and each round everyone simultaneously drafts and plays three cards. One of these cards is placed into the Common Area and the other two will either go on your stage or in your audience…

The post Steven Universe: Beach-A-Palooza Card Battling Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Bruxelles 1897 is the card adaptation of Bruxelles 1893. The game centers around a card tableau known as the Art Nouveau Area. This area allows players to create and sell art, gather construction materials, build houses, hire Nobles, or hold an exhibition. Players compete over four rounds to score majority based points.

Taking a Turn

On a player’s turn they can play one of the double-sided cards from their hand, known as Architects, to perform an action on the Art Nouveau Area (ANA) or the Brussels Area (BA). We’ll cover the ANA first.

The Art Nouveau Area

On a player’s turn they can replace one of the cards in the ANA with one of their Architects. To do so…

The post Bruxelles 1897 Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

To amplify and support the important work of organizations committed to eliminating anti-Black racism and police brutality, Meeple Mountain is holding a board game raffle. One winner from the continental USA, Canada or the UK will receive a bundle of games created by Black designers (Blood Rage, Letter GO!, and The Game of 49). To enter, email your receipt of a donation to Campaign Zero, Black Lives Matter, or Black Legal Action Centre for at least $10.

Every $10 you donate gives you another chance to win!

The Fine Print

This raffle is open to anyone residing in the continental US, Canada, or the UK. Each participant will be given a number of entries equal to the value of the donation they made (1 entry for $10, 10 entries for $100, etc.). We will be collecting entries until Tuesday June 30th. The winner will be announced in the following days through our social media platforms and contacted directly to obtain shipping details.

To submit an entry, send an email to info+blm-raffle@meeplemountain.com that includes a screenshot of your donation to one of the following three organizations:

• Campaign Zero
• Black Lives Matter 
• Black Legal Action Centre

You may choose to blur out any personal information on the receipt, so long…

The post Black Lives Matter: A Board Game Raffle for Social Justice appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Before we get into that, I’d like to acknowledge my many privileges: I am a white, upper middle class, heterosexual, cisgender, educated, Canadian. That’s a lot of privilege and something I’m thankful for. And even with all of this privilege, I’m still not on equal footing.

I’m a woman who works in STEM and obtained a bachelor's degree in engineering. I’m used to not being represented in my area of expertise. What I didn’t expect was for this to be an issue in my hobby. I love board games. I love them a lot. The types of games I especially seem to love are the ones that have old white men on the cover.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “it’s not that big of a deal”, you’re both right and wrong. Yes, it’s not overt sexism, but it reinforces an implicit bias that negatively impacts women. There are so many “little things”, also known as microaggressions, that women have to just accept on a daily basis, so I don’t…

The post Representation in Board Games Matters appeared first on Meeple Mountain.