RUN! is an experiment in co-operative/competitive simplicity that fizzles out. To be clear; this game can be fun BUT the instructions are so unclear that RUN! became less and less fun the deeper we got into it. There are a lot of things that need to be addressed with this game because, like all creations people put their soul into, RUN! deserves respect for creating a very cool looking game and running a successful Kickstarter campaign. The Happy Narwhal Co. ran a successful Kickstarter in 2020 and were able to produce a game that looks like a minimalist good time. However, as a board gamer that tries to find ‘gateway’ games for their family to play together, RUN! misses the mark. Why? Well, it may be the Kickstarter problem of trying to do too many things at once. Individually the pieces are great on paper, but the execution was not up to par for myself or my partner. Unfortunately, I did not get to experience this game as it was probably intended. I desperately wanted to play with the family this was intended for; but the pandemic in Canada means I’ve been unable to see anyone outside of my household and work the entire time I have had this game for review.

So, in the future, I would like to…

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Ahh, Paris. Synonymous with ideas of romance, luxury, and sophistication, Paris and the fabulousness of France can be found in Paris by Wolfgang Kramer & Michael Kiesling  and Rococo. So, what does Paris: La Cite de la Lumiere do differently? It provides a much more intimate version of Paris, one that comes from backpacking, from being on the streets. This two-player tile placement game was released in 2019 from Devir publishing and has earned a permanent place in my collection. 

The goal of Paris: La Cité de la Lumière is to acquire the most points by illuminating the buildings you own while making sure your opponents cannot do the same. This is a game of rather intense strategy for such a beautiful and small package.

[caption id="attachment_218880" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The set up of Paris: La Cité de la Lumière. The streets are bare, each player has a stack of chimneys, their eight tiles and four counters to use. Surrounding the game board are the activation postcards used in phase 2 and the raised buildings players will pick from.[/caption]

A Dance in Two Parts

Phase 1 – Painting the Streets

The gameplay of Lumière is divided into two…

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Introducing the Band

My Singing Monsters is the debut board game from Big Blue Bubble, a Canadian gaming company. The namesake of this game, My Singing Monsters, is their hugely successful mobile game in which players collect and breed cute and cool monsters across various islands and create sweet music with them. To aid in the expansion of the My Singing Monsters world Big Blue Bubble approached designers Jay Cormier and Sen-Foong Lim to take on the task of making a game that would work with their audience. Jay and Sen have worked on many other board games together including Mind MGMT, Junk Art, Rock Paper Wizard, and Akrotiri (just to name a few). You can also read the accompanying interview I did with Jay and Sen.

[caption id="attachment_219564" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The My Singing Monsters finished product. The miniatures of the monsters will only be available in the deluxe edition. Image provided by Big Blue Bubble.[/caption]

Scoring Your Musical Score

Players start the game with a musical score sheet. There are blanks on these sheets in black and grey. Players must fill the black spaces on their sheet to score points; however, if…

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I had a good time talking to the designers of the My Singing Monsters game Jay Cormier and Sen-Foong Lim. Our interview was quite a long one, but I hope that prospective buyers of the My Singing Monsters game and anyone interested in game development will learn everything they need to know from this!

To start off, could you introduce yourselves and Big Blue Bubble to the Meeple Mountain audience?

Jay: I’m Jay Cormier, a game designer and also a publisher… Sen and I have designed a bunch of games together, on our own and with other people. Together we designed a game called Mind MGMT, which I became a publisher for and it is hitting backers within the next month or two.

Sen: And I am Sen-Foong Lim. I’m a freelance boardgame designer and developer and an RPG author and I’m a Professor at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario Canada.

How long have you been designing games?

Sen: My oldest child’s age minus two years, so it’s 15 years we’ve been designing games seriously and probably 5 years before that is…

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I have provided a small list of key terms that are commonly used in wargames. If you're just getting into wargaming, make sure to check our out board gamer's guide to wargaming, and tips for the wargame newbie.

Hex – the simple hexagon, the shape used by wargamers to simulate the ability for units to move in any direction

Chit – a cardboard token which is usually representative of a combat unit. Chits have a symbol which represents the unit and usually some combination of a movement value, a morale value, a ranged attack value, and melee value.

Fog of War – simulates the uncertainty of engaging in combat with the enemy. Players do not know what the…

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Exploding Kittens

Exploding Kittens is the original Kickstarter miracle worker from back in 2015, and ranked at #5 on Meeple Mountain’s 100 Most Important Board Games of the 2020s. This card game is revved up Russian-roulette as players try to avoid picking up an exploding kitten card, which well, explodes and removes the player from the game. There are action cards that can be used to target other players and avoid certain kitty death. If you want to play with more people there is a version which can accommodate up to 10 players, a NSFW version if you want to see some dark kitties and the new Barking Kittens expansion with new cards and a crazy cat hat. Overall, the game is much more fun at higher player levels and, while the art is fun, the player elimination mechanic hurts gameplay. It is not nearly as fun to watch others play and wait for the round to end so you can get back in the…

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Finding games that are fun and balanced at two players can be a challenge. Many board games offer two player variants to their rules, so that no matter the circumstance, the game will be played. However, these two player variants often cannot provide the same fun feeling at smaller sizes. The Fox in the Forest Duet from Foxtrot games and Renegade publishing is a perfect small package built for two players. This game provides quick and fun experiences that players will want to return to and the use of the trick-taking card mechanic provides the game with a level of tension that may be unexpected from such a small box.

[caption id="attachment_217267" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The art in The Fox in the Forest Duet is simple and stunning, but the adorable foxes should not lead you to believe this game will be as easy as a walk in the forest.[/caption]

Working Together from Home

The Fox in the Forest Duet released in 2020, just before the pandemic went into full swing here in Canada. Throughout the last year and a bit this game has been a great way for my husband and I to…

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The Fox in the Forest is close to the perfect card game, it contains all the elements 'a keeper' game should have; easy set up, easy to teach, gorgeous art and surprising tension that makes groups feel like they could go for one more game.  The theme of this game is what drew me to it many years ago, and the forest theme is extremely popular now (something something urbanization and isolation makes Jack a dull boy). Games like Photosynthesis,  Arboretum and, this year’s Diamond Climber winner for best light game Village Green all use nature to draw their players in. The Fox in the Forest is no exception, using adorable forest animals in a fantasy setting to make a surprisingly tight and competitive game that’s pleasing to the eye.

[caption id="attachment_217274" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Bask in the warm autumnal glory of The Fox in the Forest’s box art and some of the beautiful renditions of forest animals present in the game.[/caption]

Originally published in 2017 by Renegade Games, The Fox in the Forest is a competitive trick-taking game. The object of the game is to accumulate 21 points by playing cards to win tricks over multiple rounds.…

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Sushi-Go Party is a pick and pass card drafting game by Phil Walker-Harding and Gamewright publishing. The goal of the game is to acquire the most points through card combinations over three rounds. The board displays all of the food (card types) available in the game and how many points each are worth. Every game has the same set up with: three appetizers, two specials, one roll, the ever present nigiri, and one dessert. Players begin the game with a hand of cards. During a round, players pass the hands of cards around the table, and after everyone has picked one card their selection is revealed and placed in front of them. Players pass the rest of their hand, hoping to meet the requirements necessary to get points, until everyone has played their final card. 

[caption id="attachment_213113" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] This is a 4 player set up using the "my first meal" card selection. The board has slots where menu items are placed for easy set up. Each of the items describes how many points they are worth at the end of the round. If there are specific scoring rules those are also outlined below so players can…

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Stuffed Fables is a two to four player co-operative story book adventure game from Z-MAN Games. The narrative focuses on the trials and tribulations of one little girl and the stuffed animals who quest at night to protect her. Evil monsters have started coming out from under the bed to complicate the life of the little girl, and Thea, her teddy bear. Throughout the story players will take on the role of Thea and her fellow stuffies using their unique abilities to battle monsters and solve mysteries across “The Fall'' (a magical realm under the bed) in order to keep their little girl happy.

[caption id="attachment_201095" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] A set up for a two-player scenario of Stuffed Fables. The monster track is above the story book, to the left is the player map and the right is the narrative. Below the character sheets.[/caption]

Stuffed Fables’ unique format as a story book game lends itself well to this narrative. A story book game is a board game where most of what a player needs lives within a central book. One page contains the map where players will have combat and encounter various NPCs, while the other page…

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