*JULY 2024 RATING UPDATE* : Since making this video, I have _increased_ my rating to a 9/10 due to some very successful sessions teaching this to non-gamers. I have been shocked at how much new players have enjoyed this; everyone instantly wants to play again. So I love a good gateway game that gamers can also enjoy. Plus it's a cool entry into the cube rails genre. Combine that with the fact it plays up to 6 players, this game has so much staying power in my collection. I still _hate_ how fiddly the setup is and how fiddly the pieces/screens are, grrr! :)
i bought a copy of quandary per your recommendation, now here i am wanting to buy paris connection 🔥🔥 looks like this one is much easier to find. i love these kinda games, can't believe this has been around for over 10 years! thanks for highlighting these!
That's awesome! If you like Quandary, I can almost guarantee you'll like Paris Connection. It feels similar, yes, but it's definitely different enough to have both. It is worth noting that Paris Connection is only for 3-6 players. I think I forgot to mention that in the video, but that is something to consider before buying. Let me know how you like it if you end up getting it!
OMG I'm so glad I found your channel! The hubby and I sat down and watched your videos for almost 2 hours straight. Every video is right on par with our gaming style. I'll get my hubby to subscribe too! We are looking forward to discovering more great games from your channel🤩🤩🤩
How have I never heard of this? I have played quite a few train games over the years but never this one. The simple design looks amazing. I see what you mean about the trains being fiddly. I think I would just use cubes. Thanks for showing me this game. Can't wait to get a copy of it. I think it will be a hit with my group!
It might be my favorite train game honestly. The simplicity is brilliant. Every time I show this game to people it’s a huge hit and we end up playing like 3 times in a row. Plus I love that it plays up to 6. Let me know how you like it!
No problem, thanks for the comment! I love this game. I forgot to mention it is designed for 3-6 players. I do enjoy it at all player counts. But the fact it does not accommodate 2p might prevent some people from buying it. 🤷🏻♂️ Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
I did see your video on Quandary. Probably would go for that one if it were more available....I really don't want Botswana. Paris Connection looks really good too, and I can see the similarities. I do like the simplicity with Quandary, though. Currently, my favorite train game is First Class, although Ticket to Ride is my only point of comparison so far!😄 Really loving these videos.... I'd love to see your collection, any chance of making a " Here's my entire collection " video?
I've considered making a video showcasing my collection, which changes quite often, but I do try to sneak in some shots of my main shelf in the background of my videos as a sneak peak of what videos are in the future ;) I actually have never played First Class but I've heard good things. Just by looking at it, I can already tell it's better than Ticket to Ride LOL. Thanks for the continued comments, and I'm glad you're enjoying the channel! It's still a work in progress... I'm trying to post more regularly, but it's very time consuming to make these videos haha.
Thanks a lot! It's one of my fav cube rails (minus the cubes haha). p.s. I just subbed to your channel. Looking forward to checking out some of your vids!
Great vid, def interested in this game now! It’s reminding me of Imperial Steam only sounds like much more streamlined. I didn’t move on Imperial Steam bc it looks like a beast to set up and play, even though reviews are overwhelmingly positive and I’m attracted to the idea. This may be more my speed while scratching that Imperial Steam itch. 🚂
Thanks for the comment! I have Imperial Steam, but I have not yet tried it for similar reasons. I really have to be in the right mood to learn another heavy game, especially when I have so many great heavy games that I already know how to play. Paris Connection is such a fun game, and it's still pretty easy to find at a good price. Yes, it is very light, but it's never boring whatsoever!
One more thing I forgot to mention: Paris Connection is designed for 3-6 players only. So if you happen to play most of your games with 2p, that's something to consider before buying. I would still recommend having a copy, though. It was a huge hit at our family gathering last weekend. We played like 5 times in a row.
Yeah, I assumed that given the economic aspect it was going to need at least 3 to play. I believe Imperial Steam (tho I realize v diff in size/length/complexity) can play 2, but I’ve heard you really need 3 for it to feel right. I think they don’t seem like a one or the other kind of game, but given the ease of play, Paris Connection seems like a no-brainer bc you don’t have to have a complex rules teach under your belt for those few times you get to bring in a 3rd+ player!
(That said, I’m probably gonna end up getting Imperial Steam eventually bc I keep watching videos about it, hoping I can get a chance to experience it!)
@@MeeplesandBaneenees agreed, I also want to experience Imperial Steam soon. It’s been sitting on my shelf for too long! There’s definitely room for both of these in a game collection. You really can’t go wrong with Paris Connection. We played with some new gamers last weekend and it was a huge hit. We played like 4 games in a row. They kept wanting to try it again. It’s definitely addicting!
Unpopular video idea: how about a list of X amount of games for which your review is 3 (or 4) out of 10 or less. As a boardgame enthusiast and an amateur developer myself, i'd really appreciate seeing what you dont like/enjoy in a game as much as what you do like/enjoy. Im not sure why you would have such games in your collection but hey, maybe you do or did in the past haha. Great vid btw!
Thanks for the idea! Forgive my _very_ long reply here, but this is something I do want to elaborate on in detail. I definitely understand why a video like that would have value, and I have considered the idea many times. But I am still mulling it over in my head how I would approach it. I have thought about doing a list of games that _should_ be hidden gems but aren't. Or games that I _wanted_ to love but didn't. Here are the reasons I have avoided making such a video so far: 1) Inconvenience: As you said, I don't keep games I don't like, so by the time I would get around to making a video on them, I would have to find a bunch of images online because I wouldn't have a physical copy of the game to use for the video. I always prefer to use my own photos & videos. 2) I like to stay positive: I know it takes a lot of work to design, develop, and produce games, and I hate to tear down other people's hard work. I am just a generally positive person, so when I find something I don't like, I typically just move on. 3) Honestly, I don't want to upset people: I could probably provide negative reviews for over half of the BGG top 100. But I just don't think that would be productive. There are so many ratings on those games, and there are so many people who love those games that my opinion would be a mere whisper in a stadium full of screaming fans. It would attract too much negative energy, which I'm not trying to do. 4) Probably my biggest reason: My time is sooooo limited. I do this channel in my free time, and it's already exhausting to get a video made every 2 weeks or so. I have literally hundreds of games I want to feature still, games I'm passionate about sharing with the world because I believe they need to be discovered. So honestly it sounds like torture to spend hours recording & editing content about a bunch of games I hate haha. I could certainly do a video ranting about how I find Terra Mystica to be boring, anticlimactic, highly overrated, and unbalanced (you should play Clans of Caledonia instead, or even better, Hansa Teutonica because there are no asymmetrical powers). I also hate how Terra Mystica takes up 2 spaces of the BGG top 100 with its other version Gaia Project. I also hate how Great Western Trail takes up 2 spaces of the BGG top 100 with both editions, while Tigris & Euphrates got bumped out of the top 100. It's a travesty haha!! Or I could make a video about how I can't take reviewers seriously who have Wingspan in their top ten. Or how Scythe is an overproduced overrated table hog (& shelf hog) & how it's way too fiddly & lacks cohesion as a design (sorry if you like any of these games LOL). Or how 99% of games released after 2020 are lifeless, soulless, stale, and copies of ideas that have already been done better in the past. Or how modern reprints usually suck the life out of the originals & make unnecessary changes. I frankly just don't have the time or energy or motivation to put such videos together. But maybe one day when I run out of awesome games to feature?? Since you asked about what I _don't_ like in board games, here is a brief summary: - Too many rules, or games that are overly complex for the sake of being complex. I don't want to play a game and wonder if we played correctly. I don't want to have to keep consulting a 30-page rulebook every time we play. Games don't need a bunch of rules to be good. It's why Knizia is one of my favorite designers. - Oversaturated artwork & bad color choices, especially on the gameboard. Beige boards are my favorite because they are easy on the eyes. I typically don't like plastic pieces; wooden bits are much more classic. Along these lines, too much symbology or bad symbology can ruin a game for me too. It must be intuitive. - Modern, sci-fi, or space themes. To me, these themes clash with the activity of board gaming itself. Board games seem like they belong to a simpler, more primitive time, like the medieval or renaissance eras. To me, sci-fi and space themes belong more in video games because the activity itself feels more futuristic (if that makes sense). - Overhyped games and overproduced kickstarter games. They almost always let me down, they are way too expensive, and the boxes are always way too big to store. I don't need all that extra expansion content. Along those lines, I don't like Big Box releases anymore, either. I like the standard game box sizes, and even though I own a few of the Big Boxes, I regret buying them (see: Alhambra, Merlin, Carcassonne). I wish I would've just gotten the base games and then added the expansions later. - Games that spoonfeed you a strategy or direction. I don't mind if a game guides you a little, but typically I don't like secret scoring objectives like in Ticket to Ride. I also don't like asymmetrical starting abilities like in Terra Mystica or Marco Polo. I always question if those are balanced or not. I prefer games where everyone starts on the same playing field. - Games that dragggggg. A slow pace can really ruin a game for me. I like when a game is snappy, elegant, clean, and smooth... not bogged down with a bunch of board maintenance & fiddly rules to enforce. I hate clunky and fiddly games that take 10 minutes for it to be my turn again haha. To conclude my _way too lengthy_ reply here, I do have some negative reviews over on my Instagram page if you're interested in reading my thoughts there. I play a lot of games that don't make it to my TH-cam channel, and it's mainly because I don't have the time to make videos for every game. I really have to narrow down the games I feature here because of my lack of free time. The closest thing to a negative review on my TH-cam channel so far is my video on Florenza. If you want to hear some things I didn't like about that game, check out that episode. Also, Merchants of the Middle Ages is a really unique game that I enjoy, but my video discusses several things I didn't like about it. Hope that helps shed some light on why my videos are mostly positive :) I will certainly consider making a video like you suggested. I do believe it would be valuable content. Again, thanks so much for watching & commenting!
@@undiscovered_games oh, wow. What a precious reply with lots of things to think about. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a reply. Let's see. I completely understand all the things you mentioned 1 through 4 about why that idea would not be such a great one. I also think it would be best (for us viewers too!) to see those wonderful undiscovered gems with such limited time you have, instead of some games you don't like haha. Until those gems run out, of course! And no, I don't like any of those games either haha (except for Scythe, I enjoyed that one for some time until it became a strategy memorization fest and got super boring super fast. Because you either play super optimally or you don't play super optimally on purpose. Neither one is really fun to me). I really enjoyed reading through the things you don't like in board games. I would actually say that we have very similar tastes! Even the thoughts on sci-fi theme! I will def check out your instagram page as well. Why I haven't done that so far was because I don't really use instagram in my daily life haha. And yes, I watched those episodes before and quite enjoyed them. There is only 1 or 2 videos left that I haven't watched & liked yet LOL. Again, thanks for the lengthy reply, was a pleasure to read and have a wonderful day!
@@ravenrenalius7684 Happy to share that with you, and I'm glad you took the time to read it! I tend to ramble when I type (and also in my videos). You'd be surprised how much I delete/edit from my videos before I publish them on TH-cam haha. It's one of the main reasons I don't do live streams. Again, I really appreciate all the likes and comments. More videos to come! P.S. I laughed when you wrote "until the gems run out" because I always say something similar to my wife. I am always pitching ideas to my wife for videos, and after lots of discussion, we always end up saying, "we'll make that video one day... after we cover all the gems, of course." :) One day, once I cover the vast majority of my collection, I will probably pivot to other video topics. But so far, I've only scratched the surface haha. I have a few hundred undiscovered games I want to cover on this channel, and I'm only on episode 46 LOL. Slow and steady.... :)
A discovery on a par with your earlier Quandary gem - this is def one to dig into. I see BGGeek has an abstract version you can print out if you can’t get hold of the original. It’s a shame you can’t just have a bag for each train colour to ease the board setup, cos first of all players have to lucky dip for their starting colours. Oh well…
Thanks for the comment! This game never gets old! It’s in the same category as Quandary; if you like that, you’ll definitely like this. One difference is this requires 3-6 players, so that’s something to consider. And yeah, that train supply being limited and secret makes setup a bit tricky. I’ve enjoyed this game for years even with that long setup, so it’s not TOO bad (the more players who help, the faster it goes). We played with 6p last weekend and it was a huge hit with everyone.
Absolutely, I will almost always try a Queen game if it's pre-2017-ish ?? Their older titles are almost always winners for me. I typically love their component quality too. I think Merlin is the most recent Queen Game in my collection (2017), and that's in my top ten!
*JULY 2024 RATING UPDATE* : Since making this video, I have _increased_ my rating to a 9/10 due to some very successful sessions teaching this to non-gamers. I have been shocked at how much new players have enjoyed this; everyone instantly wants to play again. So I love a good gateway game that gamers can also enjoy. Plus it's a cool entry into the cube rails genre. Combine that with the fact it plays up to 6 players, this game has so much staying power in my collection. I still _hate_ how fiddly the setup is and how fiddly the pieces/screens are, grrr! :)
i bought a copy of quandary per your recommendation, now here i am wanting to buy paris connection 🔥🔥 looks like this one is much easier to find. i love these kinda games, can't believe this has been around for over 10 years! thanks for highlighting these!
That's awesome! If you like Quandary, I can almost guarantee you'll like Paris Connection. It feels similar, yes, but it's definitely different enough to have both. It is worth noting that Paris Connection is only for 3-6 players. I think I forgot to mention that in the video, but that is something to consider before buying. Let me know how you like it if you end up getting it!
OMG I'm so glad I found your channel! The hubby and I sat down and watched your videos for almost 2 hours straight. Every video is right on par with our gaming style. I'll get my hubby to subscribe too! We are looking forward to discovering more great games from your channel🤩🤩🤩
That’s awesome!! I’m glad you guys found the channel, too!! Welcome 🤗 I hope I can show you some hidden gems!
How have I never heard of this? I have played quite a few train games over the years but never this one. The simple design looks amazing. I see what you mean about the trains being fiddly. I think I would just use cubes. Thanks for showing me this game. Can't wait to get a copy of it. I think it will be a hit with my group!
It might be my favorite train game honestly. The simplicity is brilliant. Every time I show this game to people it’s a huge hit and we end up playing like 3 times in a row. Plus I love that it plays up to 6. Let me know how you like it!
Interesting. Thank you for showing us this game. I'll put it on my want to buy list.
No problem, thanks for the comment! I love this game. I forgot to mention it is designed for 3-6 players. I do enjoy it at all player counts. But the fact it does not accommodate 2p might prevent some people from buying it. 🤷🏻♂️ Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
@@undiscovered_games I made an order for an unused copy today.
I did see your video on Quandary. Probably would go for that one if it were more available....I really don't want Botswana. Paris Connection looks really good too, and I can see the similarities. I do like the simplicity with Quandary, though.
Currently, my favorite train game is First Class, although Ticket to Ride is my only point of comparison so far!😄
Really loving these videos.... I'd love to see your collection, any chance of making a " Here's my entire collection " video?
I've considered making a video showcasing my collection, which changes quite often, but I do try to sneak in some shots of my main shelf in the background of my videos as a sneak peak of what videos are in the future ;) I actually have never played First Class but I've heard good things. Just by looking at it, I can already tell it's better than Ticket to Ride LOL. Thanks for the continued comments, and I'm glad you're enjoying the channel! It's still a work in progress... I'm trying to post more regularly, but it's very time consuming to make these videos haha.
Great video!
Thanks a lot! It's one of my fav cube rails (minus the cubes haha). p.s. I just subbed to your channel. Looking forward to checking out some of your vids!
Great vid, def interested in this game now! It’s reminding me of Imperial Steam only sounds like much more streamlined. I didn’t move on Imperial Steam bc it looks like a beast to set up and play, even though reviews are overwhelmingly positive and I’m attracted to the idea. This may be more my speed while scratching that Imperial Steam itch. 🚂
Thanks for the comment! I have Imperial Steam, but I have not yet tried it for similar reasons. I really have to be in the right mood to learn another heavy game, especially when I have so many great heavy games that I already know how to play. Paris Connection is such a fun game, and it's still pretty easy to find at a good price. Yes, it is very light, but it's never boring whatsoever!
One more thing I forgot to mention: Paris Connection is designed for 3-6 players only. So if you happen to play most of your games with 2p, that's something to consider before buying. I would still recommend having a copy, though. It was a huge hit at our family gathering last weekend. We played like 5 times in a row.
Yeah, I assumed that given the economic aspect it was going to need at least 3 to play. I believe Imperial Steam (tho I realize v diff in size/length/complexity) can play 2, but I’ve heard you really need 3 for it to feel right. I think they don’t seem like a one or the other kind of game, but given the ease of play, Paris Connection seems like a no-brainer bc you don’t have to have a complex rules teach under your belt for those few times you get to bring in a 3rd+ player!
(That said, I’m probably gonna end up getting Imperial Steam eventually bc I keep watching videos about it, hoping I can get a chance to experience it!)
@@MeeplesandBaneenees agreed, I also want to experience Imperial Steam soon. It’s been sitting on my shelf for too long! There’s definitely room for both of these in a game collection. You really can’t go wrong with Paris Connection. We played with some new gamers last weekend and it was a huge hit. We played like 4 games in a row. They kept wanting to try it again. It’s definitely addicting!
Unpopular video idea: how about a list of X amount of games for which your review is 3 (or 4) out of 10 or less. As a boardgame enthusiast and an amateur developer myself, i'd really appreciate seeing what you dont like/enjoy in a game as much as what you do like/enjoy. Im not sure why you would have such games in your collection but hey, maybe you do or did in the past haha. Great vid btw!
Thanks for the idea! Forgive my _very_ long reply here, but this is something I do want to elaborate on in detail. I definitely understand why a video like that would have value, and I have considered the idea many times. But I am still mulling it over in my head how I would approach it. I have thought about doing a list of games that _should_ be hidden gems but aren't. Or games that I _wanted_ to love but didn't. Here are the reasons I have avoided making such a video so far:
1) Inconvenience: As you said, I don't keep games I don't like, so by the time I would get around to making a video on them, I would have to find a bunch of images online because I wouldn't have a physical copy of the game to use for the video. I always prefer to use my own photos & videos.
2) I like to stay positive: I know it takes a lot of work to design, develop, and produce games, and I hate to tear down other people's hard work. I am just a generally positive person, so when I find something I don't like, I typically just move on.
3) Honestly, I don't want to upset people: I could probably provide negative reviews for over half of the BGG top 100. But I just don't think that would be productive. There are so many ratings on those games, and there are so many people who love those games that my opinion would be a mere whisper in a stadium full of screaming fans. It would attract too much negative energy, which I'm not trying to do.
4) Probably my biggest reason: My time is sooooo limited. I do this channel in my free time, and it's already exhausting to get a video made every 2 weeks or so. I have literally hundreds of games I want to feature still, games I'm passionate about sharing with the world because I believe they need to be discovered. So honestly it sounds like torture to spend hours recording & editing content about a bunch of games I hate haha. I could certainly do a video ranting about how I find Terra Mystica to be boring, anticlimactic, highly overrated, and unbalanced (you should play Clans of Caledonia instead, or even better, Hansa Teutonica because there are no asymmetrical powers). I also hate how Terra Mystica takes up 2 spaces of the BGG top 100 with its other version Gaia Project. I also hate how Great Western Trail takes up 2 spaces of the BGG top 100 with both editions, while Tigris & Euphrates got bumped out of the top 100. It's a travesty haha!! Or I could make a video about how I can't take reviewers seriously who have Wingspan in their top ten. Or how Scythe is an overproduced overrated table hog (& shelf hog) & how it's way too fiddly & lacks cohesion as a design (sorry if you like any of these games LOL). Or how 99% of games released after 2020 are lifeless, soulless, stale, and copies of ideas that have already been done better in the past. Or how modern reprints usually suck the life out of the originals & make unnecessary changes. I frankly just don't have the time or energy or motivation to put such videos together. But maybe one day when I run out of awesome games to feature??
Since you asked about what I _don't_ like in board games, here is a brief summary:
- Too many rules, or games that are overly complex for the sake of being complex. I don't want to play a game and wonder if we played correctly. I don't want to have to keep consulting a 30-page rulebook every time we play. Games don't need a bunch of rules to be good. It's why Knizia is one of my favorite designers.
- Oversaturated artwork & bad color choices, especially on the gameboard. Beige boards are my favorite because they are easy on the eyes. I typically don't like plastic pieces; wooden bits are much more classic. Along these lines, too much symbology or bad symbology can ruin a game for me too. It must be intuitive.
- Modern, sci-fi, or space themes. To me, these themes clash with the activity of board gaming itself. Board games seem like they belong to a simpler, more primitive time, like the medieval or renaissance eras. To me, sci-fi and space themes belong more in video games because the activity itself feels more futuristic (if that makes sense).
- Overhyped games and overproduced kickstarter games. They almost always let me down, they are way too expensive, and the boxes are always way too big to store. I don't need all that extra expansion content. Along those lines, I don't like Big Box releases anymore, either. I like the standard game box sizes, and even though I own a few of the Big Boxes, I regret buying them (see: Alhambra, Merlin, Carcassonne). I wish I would've just gotten the base games and then added the expansions later.
- Games that spoonfeed you a strategy or direction. I don't mind if a game guides you a little, but typically I don't like secret scoring objectives like in Ticket to Ride. I also don't like asymmetrical starting abilities like in Terra Mystica or Marco Polo. I always question if those are balanced or not. I prefer games where everyone starts on the same playing field.
- Games that dragggggg. A slow pace can really ruin a game for me. I like when a game is snappy, elegant, clean, and smooth... not bogged down with a bunch of board maintenance & fiddly rules to enforce. I hate clunky and fiddly games that take 10 minutes for it to be my turn again haha.
To conclude my _way too lengthy_ reply here, I do have some negative reviews over on my Instagram page if you're interested in reading my thoughts there. I play a lot of games that don't make it to my TH-cam channel, and it's mainly because I don't have the time to make videos for every game. I really have to narrow down the games I feature here because of my lack of free time.
The closest thing to a negative review on my TH-cam channel so far is my video on Florenza. If you want to hear some things I didn't like about that game, check out that episode. Also, Merchants of the Middle Ages is a really unique game that I enjoy, but my video discusses several things I didn't like about it.
Hope that helps shed some light on why my videos are mostly positive :) I will certainly consider making a video like you suggested. I do believe it would be valuable content. Again, thanks so much for watching & commenting!
@@undiscovered_games oh, wow. What a precious reply with lots of things to think about. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a reply. Let's see.
I completely understand all the things you mentioned 1 through 4 about why that idea would not be such a great one. I also think it would be best (for us viewers too!) to see those wonderful undiscovered gems with such limited time you have, instead of some games you don't like haha. Until those gems run out, of course!
And no, I don't like any of those games either haha (except for Scythe, I enjoyed that one for some time until it became a strategy memorization fest and got super boring super fast. Because you either play super optimally or you don't play super optimally on purpose. Neither one is really fun to me).
I really enjoyed reading through the things you don't like in board games. I would actually say that we have very similar tastes! Even the thoughts on sci-fi theme!
I will def check out your instagram page as well. Why I haven't done that so far was because I don't really use instagram in my daily life haha.
And yes, I watched those episodes before and quite enjoyed them. There is only 1 or 2 videos left that I haven't watched & liked yet LOL. Again, thanks for the lengthy reply, was a pleasure to read and have a wonderful day!
@@ravenrenalius7684 Happy to share that with you, and I'm glad you took the time to read it! I tend to ramble when I type (and also in my videos). You'd be surprised how much I delete/edit from my videos before I publish them on TH-cam haha. It's one of the main reasons I don't do live streams. Again, I really appreciate all the likes and comments. More videos to come! P.S. I laughed when you wrote "until the gems run out" because I always say something similar to my wife. I am always pitching ideas to my wife for videos, and after lots of discussion, we always end up saying, "we'll make that video one day... after we cover all the gems, of course." :) One day, once I cover the vast majority of my collection, I will probably pivot to other video topics. But so far, I've only scratched the surface haha. I have a few hundred undiscovered games I want to cover on this channel, and I'm only on episode 46 LOL. Slow and steady.... :)
A discovery on a par with your earlier Quandary gem - this is def one to dig into. I see BGGeek has an abstract version you can print out if you can’t get hold of the original.
It’s a shame you can’t just have a bag for each train colour to ease the board setup, cos first of all players have to lucky dip for their starting colours. Oh well…
Thanks for the comment! This game never gets old! It’s in the same category as Quandary; if you like that, you’ll definitely like this. One difference is this requires 3-6 players, so that’s something to consider. And yeah, that train supply being limited and secret makes setup a bit tricky. I’ve enjoyed this game for years even with that long setup, so it’s not TOO bad (the more players who help, the faster it goes). We played with 6p last weekend and it was a huge hit with everyone.
Queen gets a lot of garbage these days, but they sure have put out a ton of interesting games over the years!
Absolutely, I will almost always try a Queen game if it's pre-2017-ish ?? Their older titles are almost always winners for me. I typically love their component quality too. I think Merlin is the most recent Queen Game in my collection (2017), and that's in my top ten!