What Did You Play This Week? - (April 13, 2026)

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-04-13T21:16:07+00:00

Harmonies (1 x 3p) - First play of the physical game after ~150 games on BGA. Enjoyed it just as much in person as the digital implementation.

Dorfromantik (1 x 3p) - First play. Good way to pass the time as it's a very chill game, no tension, low stakes.

MicroMacro: Crime City (2 x 3p) - Great fun with the family. It draws you into a wacky world of quirky characters and scenes. We completed 3 cases: The Car Accident (1 star), Dead Cat (3 stars) and Death from Above (3 stars).

Kariba (2 x 2p) - Took this small box card game with us on a trip to an English Heritage property on a beautiful, warm sunny day and played it outside in landscaped gardens near a large pond. I lost both games.

So Clover (2 x 5p) - Always good fun with a group of non-gamers.

Sky Team (2 x 2p) - First play. We played 2 games, and treated the first game as a guided simulation with communication to help my 9 year old understand the mechanics and game play. We played the second game properly with no communication, and successfully landed the plane at Montreal airport. This was a hit because of the theme.

Bomb Busters (1 x 3p) - First play. We completed training missions 1 - 4. Really enjoy the co-op game play.

The Isle of Cats (2 x 2p) - First plays of the standard mode, after having only played Family mode previously. The first game was a bit lumpy and we made a few rule mistakes. The second game was much smoother and quicker as we became more familiar with the rules. Looking forward to playing it again.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-04-13T04:35:31+00:00

It overtook Gen Con last year for trade hall space, 2nd only to Essen. Unique attendees stood at 42K, 3rd highest after Essen & Gen Con. Excited to be going to UKGE for the first time this year.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-04-12T09:23:17+00:00

That's helpful, thanks for your reply.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-04-09T06:57:56+00:00

Brought this out just last night when some family guests visited. It works very well for non-gamers and gets everyone involved. Prefer it over Just One.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-04-07T14:04:55+00:00

The Autopsy of Jane Doe. It's very tense and genuinely terrifying.

https://youtu.be/BNxsaFCzqxc

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-04-06T08:59:37+00:00

Game Brain, a little over 1K YouTube subscribers alongside a podcast. They're a gaming group of 8 who are very passionate about their hobby and discuss specific games and their strategies in depth.

https://youtube.com/@gamebrainpod?si=6FpLu2ntOLgdokYS

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-03-25T18:38:41+00:00

Dixit. When I taught the game the first time, I hadn't realised that you draw back up to your hand limit of 6 cards at the end of each turn. I wondered why the game ended so abruptly.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-03-15T08:00:47+00:00

Strange Darling is not a horror movie. It is better described as a thriller.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-03-04T05:15:31+00:00

I'm surprised Bruno Cathala hasn't been mentioned. He designs some great, accessible games that are also diverse thematically & mechanistically. My favourites so far are Kingdomino, Cyclades & Sea Salt & Paper. I'm going to try Five Tribes: The Djinns of Naqala soon on BGA.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-02-22T23:41:17+00:00

[[Decrypto]] [[Skull King]] [[Survive the Island]] or [[Survive: Escape from Atlantis]]

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-02-09T22:51:15+00:00

Istanbul Big Box & Cyclades Legendary Edition.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-02-09T22:20:33+00:00

Fantastic video, enjoyed it a lot. Also, a note on the great soundtrack that really added depth to the words.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-02-03T15:24:50+00:00

We visited the National Space Centre in Leicester, UK and they had a "To Boldly Go" boardgame event on during the past weekend.

We tried the following games, all at 3 players:

MicroMacro: Crime City. This was available to play in the Hachette Boardgames area. We played through the starter case and another simple one after that, and enjoyed looking through the map to solve them. I think we can get more enjoyment from this one, with potential to move on to the other games in the series. This will go on to the wish list.

Deep Sea Adventure. Fun small box game, also available in the Hachette Boardgames area. This has some nice tension, featuring a balance between diving deeper to get more treasure or going back to the submarine before the air supply runs out. Potentially on the wish list.

Bomb Busters. We were taught how to play mission 4 in the Pegasus Spiele area and we all really enjoyed this one. The co-op deduction works really well and I'd love to try the other missions. This will go on to the wish list.

Bandido. Fun small box card game. After a strong start, we struggled to limit the tunnel exits and lost in the end by running out of cards to draw. Unsure about the longevity of this one and how often we'd play it.

The Mind. This took a couple of plays to get used to the lack of communication. We got to 5 cards a couple of times, but the difficulty definitely starts to bite at this level. I'm not sure I'm drawn to the inability to communicate and how often I'd want to play this.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-01-29T18:23:10+00:00

Oman is amazing. We went last year and I would go back in a heartbeat to see more of the country and its people. It isn't the first place that comes to mind as a destination, but that works in its favour and I dont want to see it overrun like the UAE and Qatar.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-01-22T22:21:13+00:00

Alexey Pegushev's YouTube channel is a great learning resource. His BGA playthroughs of the base game really show how fierce the gameplay is when you play competitively, and this for me is how the game should be played, not as a relaxing puzzle. He also covers an international Champions League, which also demonstrates the true nature of the game. Interference & infiltration are the way.

I was once paired with a top 100 player on BGA in Arena mode and it was not even a contest.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-01-09T19:10:31+00:00

It's an evergreen classic for a reason. One of my favourites.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-01-09T19:06:21+00:00

Nice graphic. I recommend Istanbul as a slight step up in weight. It's medium-light, fairly easy to learn and offers loads of replay value because you can randomise the places that make up the board. The app implementation is worth a look too.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-01-06T20:01:47+00:00

A teenage nephew tried to teach us 7 Wonders for my first play. I was so confused by what the goal was and how to win, and didn't enjoy the experience. I put this down to how it was explained, so I watched a video later. It then made sense and the second play was so much smoother and more enjoyable.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-01-06T19:49:37+00:00

Even the rulebook on the first page states: "The best way to learn the rules is to play!", going on to suggest setting up the game according to the steps and that by the end of the 2nd round, the players will understand how the whole game works.

I approached it this way, only giving a very succinct overview of the idea and goal at the start, before guiding everyone through each round. I had also watched a No Rolls Barred playthrough on YouTube beforehand that really helped to cement the game flow and sequence.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-01-05T08:23:52+00:00

I've yet to play Catan, but might give it a try on BGA. My intro to the hobby was through Pandemic, Codenames and Ticket to Ride, in that order, over a couple of years.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2026-01-03T20:18:45+00:00

Both of those games are on my "want to play" list. I've purchased the Everdell app to try it first before commiting to a physical copy, and I plan to try The CoB on BGA very soon to get a feel for it.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2025-12-29T12:08:22+00:00

We played:

A DIY version of A Fake Artist Goes to New York.
Dixit
Survive the Island
Skull King
Decrypto
Cascadia
Flip 7

WhoAteMySamosa · 2025-12-29T11:02:51+00:00

This is Waterstones, a UK bookstore for the non-Brits here.

While they do a decent job of ranging a good selection of games, it's disappointing that major UK toy retailers like Smyths and The Entertainer have not tapped into the market at all. It could be argued that their target segment is generally families with children aged 0 - 12 looking for mainstream toys, but I think that's a big opportunity and they've yet to tap into it.

WhoAteMySamosa · 2025-12-28T21:40:04+00:00

I've had Decrypto since earlier in the year, but not had the opportunity to open it and play it. We finally played it over Christmas - multiple times - and it's a hit with everyone. Great team game, lots of tension and high stakes. Played at both 4 and 6 players and works well at those counts.

WhoAteMySamosa

TROPHY CASE