#WhatDidYouPlayMondays Feed The Kraken

@boardgames @geekygoodies #boardgames

Pretty solid German social deduction game. It gives up on minimalism to achieve
great replayability and balanced games. The mechanics are reminiscent of big US
classics like The Resistance and Secret Hitler.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/271601/feed-the-kraken

Photo from the publisher's website.

Im familiar enough with board games to know that I’m asking a lot here. My goal is to have a game that I can carry around with me, walk up to people I meet in public, and ask them to play.

The most obvious path here I thought of would be some type of game played with a standard deck of cards. While I’m not opposed to this, I fear the randomness that comes with that might not be what I’m looking for. I want the game to be strategic with minimal luck but simple enough that a first time player could reasonably win against someone experienced.

Something like Hive comes to mind, as it has the pocket variation and seems like it could be easy enough to teach, but I have yet to play it so I fear it might be daunting to newcomers in ways similar to chess.

Thank you in advance for any and all answers, and if you would like further clarification I’d be happy to elaborate!

#WhatDidYouPlayMondays Prey Another Day

@boardgames @geekygoodies #boardgames
Simplest bluffing game I know. If you hunt using animals from the top of the
food chain, you have greater survival chances, but don't get the highest score.
The strategic-depth-to-rule-complexity ratio is not low at all, and even
tiebreakers give everybody a shot at winning, so you are never really out of the
game.

A quicker Skull done right. Also, I love the artworks.

PH: @BG_Geek on BGG

Kinderspiel des Jahres (Children's Game of the Year)

Topp die Torte

Nominees:

• Cascadia Junior
• Le Clan des Souris/Die Mäusebande

Kennerspiel des Jahres (Connoisseur-gamer Game of the Year)

Endeavor: Deep Sea

Nominees:

• Faraway
• Looot

Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year 😉)

Bomb Busters

Nominees:

• Flip 7
• Krakel Orakel

I'm the sort of weirdo that sees a movie-length game review and am desperate now to find other weirdos who got just as excited about it to play Blighted Reach.

Innovation on BGG.

And I totally agree with his opening remarks about the early phase of Civilization being the best part!

So excited to play it

updated 2025-06-27 at 10:03 clarified some of the rules.

updated 2025-06-27 at 13:07 added examples of plays, see comments.

updated 2025-06-27 at 18:20 new images for the instructions because i realize i fucked them up. also put the rules up on wordpress: - will probably use that as reference for updates https://playcrowns.wordpress.com/ !

updated 2025-06-27 at 19:07 - made a BGG page! https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/448970/crowns

update 2025-06-29 at 08:20 - i uploaded a playthrough video on the website for those who prefer to learn the rules that way

I designed an easy-to-learn but tactically deep card game and have been testing it several times with my traditional cards and MTG-player friends who love it, now I'm looking for outside feedback!

The game is super light and easy to learn, less than 400 words on the rules. Despite that, it has great depth, making it feel more like a modern battle card game like MTG rather than a traditional card game like Palace - so if you like MTG or similar games, you'll probably love this one!

Here are the rules and details:

Introduction

Crowns is an area control card game for two, where sharp positioning and smart plays decide the match.

The objective of the game is to win by controlling the majority of squares on the board.

Preparation

The game requires only a standard deck of 52 cards and enough table space to place said cards in an 5x5 row.

Split the deck up by color. Each player then take their respective color, shuffle it, and place it on the table. Both players then draw 5 cards from their draw pile and keeps their cards hidden from their opponent.

Rules

Red player starts the game.

The game is played in rounds where each player places a card from their hand onto the board. On the very first round, each player must place a card in any empty square of choice in their home row - which is the row nearest them, then draw a new card finishing their round. A player must always have no less than 5 cards in hand unless the draw pile is empty. The players then take turn placing cards orthogonally adjecent to their current placed card connected to the home row, filling out the unclaimed squares across the board or placing more cards in their home row. An unconnected card may always be played in the home row to fortify their connections later.

Upon reaching the opponents claims, the opponents square can be stolen by placing a higher value card on top.

Cards need to connect back to the first row in order to advance outside the home row. If the connection is broken by the opponent, no new squares can be claimed from the broken off position.

In situations where a player cannot claim an empty square or steal an opponents square, they must place a lower card on top of one of their existing non-connected cards anywhere on the board to draw a new card. Players are always allowed to place higher cards on their existing connected cards to fortify them or to draw a new card in a situation where that may be a better play.

Once there are no more cards to play, the player with the most claimed squares on the board wins. If a player is unable to place any cards despite still having cards in their hand, they must fold.

Special Cards Mechanics

Kings Are permanent cards that can never be claimed by the opponent. A Queen can however strategically move a Kings position on the board.

Queens When being placed in connection to one of your cards, must swap position with any orthogonally adjecent square of choice, claimed and unclaimed.

Jacks Must leap over one claimed or unclaimed square from the position of one of your claimed and connected squares. Cannot be placed on top of Kings or Queens.

Aces Must be placed diagonally adjacent to one of your claimed and connected squares. Can be played on any non-face card. Aces function as a blank card, allowing any other card to be placed on top.

Board Example

Hello everyone!

I made an app that allows you to create custom trackers (you can change the values of everything and even if they add, subtract, multiply or divide) the idea was to make it versatile (though it has a very ugly UI).

There's also the option to make notes for every tracker and the last thing I added was the ability to save! So you can even use it to save your games for playing later on.

In the beginning I just wanted to make a simple tracker without thinking too much for others to use but then I kept adding ideas and now hopefully is useful to someone else too.

If you have any feedback let me know and I'll see what I can do. I've made some apps but I'm not an expert!

#WhatDidYouPlayMondays John Company

@boardgames @geekygoodies #boardgames
All other semi-cooperative #boardgames I know focus on a clearcut distinction between (semi-)good players and traitors, given by secret personal role/objective card(s). This game is innovative in that *everybody* is driven by personal gain, and the only reason players don't screw each other over all the time is that people still need the company to stay afloat.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/332686/john-company-second-edition
Photo by @bladerunner007 on BGG.

I know, there are fancy editions with Swarovski, golden pawns, inlaid wooden boards etc. But what are the most expensive base editions?

Some games are complicated - they have really complex rules. Examples of this are games where you have to track many different types of tokens, with different rules for each.

Other games have really simple rules, but still manage to produce extreme complexity in they way they are played.

Go is the perfect example of this. It literally has 2-3 rules, but because you can play anywhere, the complexity it can produce is wide and deep, to the point that tomes have been written on how to play it.

What other boardgames exist that have very simple rules, but produce complex and interesting game play?

Panda has expanded its production operation outside of China for the first time by launching a joint venture in Brazil, as unpredictability over US tariffs continues to weigh on the tabletop industry.

Panda has manufactured more than 70 million board games from China since it was launched in 2007, for companies ranging from Asmodee, Stonemaier and Leder Games to first-time creators launching their projects on Kickstarter or Gamefound.

We'll start off with Catan at 4 and hopefully hit Terra Mystica by 8 🙏

Obviously! From the makers of Strategy

I learned about postmark games a couple years ago, found the print and play format quite interesting and wanted to try something. But it looks like all their games are competitive, which I often don't enjoy.

Mostly I really like talking about the game while playing, so I wouldn't mind a game that's mostly luck-based or where there's little player interaction.

Please recommend me some print-and-play games if possible! I'd love to know if any other publishers do this too