G’day! Maggie here 👋To help clarify my scoring as I know it can be puzzling in contrast to the comments I make on a game: 5 or below scores: There’s a big screening process before a game hits our table, which means we’ve already got an idea that the game may be for us. This is why it’s rare for anything to sneak in that would score 5 or lower. 6 scores: If a game is scored in the 6’s then it’s something I’ll play, but won’t necessarily be looking forward to playing. 7 scores: If in the 7s, I’ll happily play it but I won’t usually suggest it. 8 scores: if in the 8s, I’ll very gladly play it any time and will often suggest it. If 9+ I’ll be actively lobbying for people to play the game with me any chance I get. The gradients within the numbers eg 7.5 vs 7.6 simply point to which game I’d rather play above the other within that category. When I say I don’t connect with a game but still give it a 7+ it’s usually because my hope was that it would be a 9+ when acquiring it, but the result was a solid game that’s just not for me. But I fully appreciate the work in it and would play it… but with a 7ish level enjoyment 😅 And with a game in high 6s when I say it’s not gonna be me playing it, I more mean because there’s so many other games in our collection I’d rather play. I still would play this game, just not be loving my time with it. So there is somewhat of a method to this, but of course it’s also very subjective and could change over time. Hopefully that didn’t make it even more confusing 😂 Thank you for the questions and happy gaming!
Just wanted to say thank you for doing this series. I am relatively new to board gaming and this series has been such a help to find games to look into. Most content I come across is about brand new games, so this has been a real treat for me. I’m sure it is quite a bit of work to create, but I really appreciate this series!
I looove Ginkgopolis, the way all the mechanisms and the decision points intertwine is fascinating, and it also plays in less than an hour! Great design
There is an optional "circular" layout for the forest in Morels that reduces the amount of card shifting on every turn. We use layout the forest with two cards on each side of a square, put the sticks and pans in the middle of the square, and use one stick to demark the head of the trail vs. the end. When you take a card, just push the stick forward and refill the card behind it.
Ginkgopolis has huge last round moves that swing the score quite a bit. I love all of it except that last player determining whose block to break up/potential kingmaking. I understand your love for it as the stack or spread choice is wonderful.
Gingkopolis is in my Top 10 now for years. Just absolute perfection. The first game is a 60-80 min question mark. Game two the fun begins and around game four or five the mind games begin. 9.5/10. Only losing 0.5 point because I‘m not a fan of the art/theme
This actually made me really want to try out The Glade! I love the game SET, and this seems like it could be a slower, cuter game to scratch a similar itch. Love this series and can empathize with the broken foot blues -- glad you're finding ways to stay occupied :-)
Don't know if you've had a chance to try it since posting this, but: if you still think you'll like The Glade after Amy and Maggie's description, you probably will! My partner and I have played it 17 times since it arrived in November, and we just love it. There's a bit of a learning curve in getting to know the different symbols, and I totally respect anyone who doesn't find that curve enjoyable, but at this point we can usually identify what's missing from each set in about 2 seconds.
@kevinalexander4946 thanks for the nudge! I haven't played it yet. It had fallen off my radar, so I'm grateful for the reminder! Definitely still seems like my kinda game :)
Thanks for the video! Sorry to hear about your foot. I wish for you to heal soon Amy! I absolutely love those shirts of yours! They are so beautiful and cool looking. I would love to get each one for myself to proudly parade them all over. And maybe one as a gift to some of my family members.
First of all, I hope your foot recovers quickly 🙏🏻 Ptolemy was an Alexandrian astronomer, astrologer, mathematician... lived in the 2nd century CE. Pronunciation in English is without P, " 'taləmi ". Morels is a nice game. I have the German copy with the title Fungi, same rules but design is different... 😊
Always happy to see another installment of this series. I find the differences of opinions on the games hilarious at times. I hope the foot recovers quickly, Amy!
And for Morels, I think it may be worth (at least Amy's) wiles to get the Foray expansion, because those cards add a lot of interesting juice and make the game a little more modular. ALSO: in the updated edition they included a fan-made Circular way of drafting the cards which definitely is less annoying than the linear conveyor belt. Yet another game we got very early on and I have many fond memories of
Orion duel is right on my alley! I just can't find to purchase... Love these videos, but it is so hard to find out about so many games that you cannot find to purchase..
Oh dear poor Amy, best wishes and get well soon! I love Forever Home, it ´s a beautiful, light little tile placing game - and I love the theme, I love the artwork🎉
I'm sorry about your foot. Ouch. I'm putting Morels on my wishlist, thanks! I'm always looking for lighter weight games to play with my family and this sounds like sometimes they will like.
I haven't played 7th Citadel, but I did play 7th Continent. My friend and I weren't too big on the resetting part of 7th Continent, either, especially when you've played 10 sessions and gone a long way through, and then you die. So, we literally just skipped the reset, and kept playing with our own "fail forward" of "oh, we died again, but we'll just keep going." I think we technically lost the same game about 12 times before finishing the story.
Broken foot? That’s so lame… ah, I know, a bad dad joke. 😂 I hope it heals soon, Amy. Thank you both for another great video. I always enjoy your insight and have made some buying decisions based on your videos. I tend to be a Thinker like Amy. See you next time.
Great video, I've got 7th Citadel on the shelf waiting for me to finish 7th Cont - it seems very punishing solo. Squadro looks great, Quorridor is my favourite from their line of abstracts, though Quarto is also up there.
"i gave it 7.2, really like this game" "i gave it 6.7, so it's not gonna be me who plays with you" whats up with your scale? 6.7 seems to be 1 out of 10 and 7.2 is already a 9?
Numerical scales always seem to degenerate for different reasons. It makes sense that if you play a lot of different games and get sent reveiw copies then games have to be well above average for you to replay then after you have reviewed them. So you might say that you'd never replay a game that you scored below a 7. Then, I think there is a tendency to think mostly in terms of this cut-off of with replaying vs not worth replaying and the rest of the scale , particularly the lower end loses meaning. Also out of politeness/convention I think people don't like scoring anything, below, like 6 or 6.5 unless they are comfortable saying that it's bad. I do agree that having some clarification of what the points on the scale mean could help both the reviewer and the watcher. For example: 0 - nobody should ever play this or it has actively made my life worse 1 - I would never play the again 2 - Would play it with friends if they insisted but wouldn't enjoy it 3 - Ok with playing it 4 - Would enjoy playing, but wouldn't pick it out to play 5 - Would choose this occasionally 6 - would often pick this to play 7 - I get significantly excited to play this 8 - I get excited about this and the impact of this game has reached into other parts of my life 9 - this might be the best game that I have ever played 10 - this certainly is the best game of all time Note that the mid-point is a game that you would choose to play. This seems more useful than having most of the scale representing games you wouldn't bother playing.
Another great video! I am thinking all that walking at DTW in the boot didn't help you Amy! :) I love Ginkgolopis! It is actually the only game I have played on this list! Although I do own the KS version of Morels with the sticks and pans. I just haven't played it....Keep on playing them games and taking care of that foot!
Sympathy for the broken foot. I arrived at DTW with what I thought was minor elbow pain. Turns out to be ligament damage (tennis elbow) and it’s still not healed so no swimming or bike riding for 2 months and counting. 😫
I would be interested to hear your opinion of Spirit Island (with at least one expansion to "complete it"). It is a deeply thinky, heavily themed game. It's very inexpensive to try on various devices or Steam to see if it works for you.
It’s funny that 7th citadel got as good of a score when the comments are “I didn’t really like the art, I didn’t really like the story, and the mechanics got repetitive.” Like, I totally get why… you’re recognizing it’s a good game, just doesn’t fit your preferences, but the score and the comments are kind of ironic, haha
had a broken toenail on my last day in Japan (well at least it didn’t ruin my trip 😅) limped my way to the airport 😢Get well soon / as soon as you finish all the games? 🤣 🤗 take care
Odin's Ravens was one of the first 2 player games I got early on and we still love to pull it out when we want a fast & breezy race game we can knock out in under 30 min. Suuuuuuch beautiful art... I should note, the 1st edition has more chonky mechanics (with Odin's runes and such) that add to the weight of the game considerably. Also: the "p" in Ptolomey is silent, like Pterodactyl.
G’day! Maggie here 👋To help clarify my scoring as I know it can be puzzling in contrast to the comments I make on a game:
5 or below scores: There’s a big screening process before a game hits our table, which means we’ve already got an idea that the game may be for us.
This is why it’s rare for anything to sneak in that would score 5 or lower.
6 scores: If a game is scored in the 6’s then it’s something I’ll play, but won’t necessarily be looking forward to playing.
7 scores: If in the 7s, I’ll happily play it but I won’t usually suggest it.
8 scores: if in the 8s, I’ll very gladly play it any time and will often suggest it.
If 9+ I’ll be actively lobbying for people to play the game with me any chance I get.
The gradients within the numbers eg 7.5 vs 7.6 simply point to which game I’d rather play above the other within that category.
When I say I don’t connect with a game but still give it a 7+ it’s usually because my hope was that it would be a 9+ when acquiring it, but the result was a solid game that’s just not for me. But I fully appreciate the work in it and would play it… but with a 7ish level enjoyment 😅
And with a game in high 6s when I say it’s not gonna be me playing it, I more mean because there’s so many other games in our collection I’d rather play.
I still would play this game, just not be loving my time with it.
So there is somewhat of a method to this, but of course it’s also very subjective and could change over time.
Hopefully that didn’t make it even more confusing 😂
Thank you for the questions and happy gaming!
Just wanted to say thank you for doing this series. I am relatively new to board gaming and this series has been such a help to find games to look into. Most content I come across is about brand new games, so this has been a real treat for me. I’m sure it is quite a bit of work to create, but I really appreciate this series!
Thanks for taking the time to comment Erica!! We hope we can feature some more older titles soon. Welcome to the hobby!! 😁🧡
I am loving your 10, out of 10 series. I recently found your TH-cam after board game sanctuary mentioned you and have been loving it!
I looove Ginkgopolis, the way all the mechanisms and the decision points intertwine is fascinating, and it also plays in less than an hour! Great design
There is an optional "circular" layout for the forest in Morels that reduces the amount of card shifting on every turn. We use layout the forest with two cards on each side of a square, put the sticks and pans in the middle of the square, and use one stick to demark the head of the trail vs. the end. When you take a card, just push the stick forward and refill the card behind it.
i wanted to say the same thing, you have to try it Amy and Maggie, it's so much better this way!
Ginkgopolis has huge last round moves that swing the score quite a bit. I love all of it except that last player determining whose block to break up/potential kingmaking. I understand your love for it as the stack or spread choice is wonderful.
I want Thinker's (Amy) shirt! I like them both, but the raccoon is just so me.
Gingkopolis is in my Top 10 now for years. Just absolute perfection. The first game is a 60-80 min question mark. Game two the fun begins and around game four or five the mind games begin. 9.5/10. Only losing 0.5 point because I‘m not a fan of the art/theme
Glad to see Ginkgopolis get some love. Great game
This actually made me really want to try out The Glade! I love the game SET, and this seems like it could be a slower, cuter game to scratch a similar itch. Love this series and can empathize with the broken foot blues -- glad you're finding ways to stay occupied :-)
Don't know if you've had a chance to try it since posting this, but: if you still think you'll like The Glade after Amy and Maggie's description, you probably will! My partner and I have played it 17 times since it arrived in November, and we just love it. There's a bit of a learning curve in getting to know the different symbols, and I totally respect anyone who doesn't find that curve enjoyable, but at this point we can usually identify what's missing from each set in about 2 seconds.
@kevinalexander4946 thanks for the nudge! I haven't played it yet. It had fallen off my radar, so I'm grateful for the reminder! Definitely still seems like my kinda game :)
Ginkgopolis and Squadro are so good, love them to bits!
Thanks for the video!
Sorry to hear about your foot. I wish for you to heal soon Amy!
I absolutely love those shirts of yours! They are so beautiful and cool looking. I would love to get each one for myself to proudly parade them all over. And maybe one as a gift to some of my family members.
First of all, I hope your foot recovers quickly 🙏🏻
Ptolemy was an Alexandrian astronomer, astrologer, mathematician... lived in the 2nd century CE. Pronunciation in English is without P, " 'taləmi ".
Morels is a nice game. I have the German copy with the title Fungi, same rules but design is different... 😊
Always happy to see another installment of this series. I find the differences of opinions on the games hilarious at times.
I hope the foot recovers quickly, Amy!
And for Morels, I think it may be worth (at least Amy's) wiles to get the Foray expansion, because those cards add a lot of interesting juice and make the game a little more modular. ALSO: in the updated edition they included a fan-made Circular way of drafting the cards which definitely is less annoying than the linear conveyor belt. Yet another game we got very early on and I have many fond memories of
Orion duel is right on my alley! I just can't find to purchase... Love these videos, but it is so hard to find out about so many games that you cannot find to purchase..
Oh dear poor Amy, best wishes and get well soon! I love Forever Home, it ´s a beautiful, light little tile placing game - and I love the theme, I love the artwork🎉
Kinghill is such a underrated game. Anyone who loves 2 player PvP style games like 7 Wonder Duel, will love this.
Oh no....broken foot, I had a broken foot and it was terrible. If I ever see a walking boot again its too soon. Get well!!
I'm sorry about your foot. Ouch.
I'm putting Morels on my wishlist, thanks! I'm always looking for lighter weight games to play with my family and this sounds like sometimes they will like.
I haven't played 7th Citadel, but I did play 7th Continent. My friend and I weren't too big on the resetting part of 7th Continent, either, especially when you've played 10 sessions and gone a long way through, and then you die. So, we literally just skipped the reset, and kept playing with our own "fail forward" of "oh, we died again, but we'll just keep going." I think we technically lost the same game about 12 times before finishing the story.
So I should I come down to Australia to KingHill with Amy and visit my friends in Berowra Heights. Another great video ladies thank you. 😊
there's a morels layout option that is circular and makes the market MUCH simpler to manage
Oh Amy! Sorry to hear about your broken foot, hope you get well soon and enjoy more games in the meantime 😅
Sorry to hear about your foot, Amy! :( That sucks. Some rather interesting games in this selection though, for sure :)
Broken foot? That’s so lame… ah, I know, a bad dad joke. 😂 I hope it heals soon, Amy. Thank you both for another great video. I always enjoy your insight and have made some buying decisions based on your videos. I tend to be a Thinker like Amy. See you next time.
Hi, thanks for this great video! Ptolemy does not pronounce the P. He was an astronomer...rather than an astrologist!
That version of Orion duel is the deluxe version the regular one come with a smaller box and a normal board not neoprene.
Great video, I've got 7th Citadel on the shelf waiting for me to finish 7th Cont - it seems very punishing solo. Squadro looks great, Quorridor is my favourite from their line of abstracts, though Quarto is also up there.
The shirts are AMAZING
Hope the foot heals soon! I’ve only played Ginkgopolis (on BGA) from this list
"i gave it 7.2, really like this game"
"i gave it 6.7, so it's not gonna be me who plays with you"
whats up with your scale?
6.7 seems to be 1 out of 10 and 7.2 is already a 9?
Yeah; the scale could use some clarification.
Numerical scales always seem to degenerate for different reasons. It makes sense that if you play a lot of different games and get sent reveiw copies then games have to be well above average for you to replay then after you have reviewed them. So you might say that you'd never replay a game that you scored below a 7.
Then, I think there is a tendency to think mostly in terms of this cut-off of with replaying vs not worth replaying and the rest of the scale , particularly the lower end loses meaning.
Also out of politeness/convention I think people don't like scoring anything, below, like 6 or 6.5 unless they are comfortable saying that it's bad.
I do agree that having some clarification of what the points on the scale mean could help both the reviewer and the watcher.
For example:
0 - nobody should ever play this or it has actively made my life worse
1 - I would never play the again
2 - Would play it with friends if they insisted but wouldn't enjoy it
3 - Ok with playing it
4 - Would enjoy playing, but wouldn't pick it out to play
5 - Would choose this occasionally
6 - would often pick this to play
7 - I get significantly excited to play this
8 - I get excited about this and the impact of this game has reached into other parts of my life
9 - this might be the best game that I have ever played
10 - this certainly is the best game of all time
Note that the mid-point is a game that you would choose to play. This seems more useful than having most of the scale representing games you wouldn't bother playing.
Another great video! I am thinking all that walking at DTW in the boot didn't help you Amy! :) I love Ginkgolopis! It is actually the only game I have played on this list! Although I do own the KS version of Morels with the sticks and pans. I just haven't played it....Keep on playing them games and taking care of that foot!
"I kept finding that I was stuck."
"That's because I was trying to make you stuck."
"... That's true."
Sympathy for the broken foot. I arrived at DTW with what I thought was minor elbow pain. Turns out to be ligament damage (tennis elbow) and it’s still not healed so no swimming or bike riding for 2 months and counting. 😫
The irony of the glut of modern nature games that will not go on to be played through the ages is not lost one me.
I would be interested to hear your opinion of Spirit Island (with at least one expansion to "complete it"). It is a deeply thinky, heavily themed game.
It's very inexpensive to try on various devices or Steam to see if it works for you.
Great video as alwaysssssssss!!
It’s funny that 7th citadel got as good of a score when the comments are “I didn’t really like the art, I didn’t really like the story, and the mechanics got repetitive.” Like, I totally get why… you’re recognizing it’s a good game, just doesn’t fit your preferences, but the score and the comments are kind of ironic, haha
had a broken toenail on my last day in Japan (well at least it didn’t ruin my trip 😅) limped my way to the airport 😢Get well soon / as soon as you finish all the games? 🤣 🤗 take care
Odin's Ravens was one of the first 2 player games I got early on and we still love to pull it out when we want a fast & breezy race game we can knock out in under 30 min. Suuuuuuch beautiful art... I should note, the 1st edition has more chonky mechanics (with Odin's runes and such) that add to the weight of the game considerably.
Also: the "p" in Ptolomey is silent, like Pterodactyl.