Posts By Adam Roffel

There are not a ton of Nintendo Switch titles that everyone in my family loves to play together, but Mario Party has always been the franchise that does. With so many great and fun games to play, an evening of Mario Party is a ,pretty big deal in the Roffel household. It’s a call for pizza and snacks, drinks, and more! While I still give the torch to the Nintendo 64, the Nintendo Switch is almost as good as it…

We talked at lengths in the past about Four Gardens having a gimmick that we were not sure was going to work. You can read all about those thoughts in our components overview and impressions . But after putting a dozen or so games behind us, not only does it work, but it’s rather brilliant as well. Four Gardens might not win any awards for its collect-and-deliver gameplay, but the spinning pagoda definitely sets it apart from the competition, even…

Devir is quickly becoming one of my favorite publishers, and for good reasons. No, they haven’t figured out how to fix their box problems – I’ve ranted about this before, just read any of our component reviews of their products – but what they have done is release hit after hit into the marketplace, working with some amazing people in the industry as they go. Devir might be near the top of board game publishers in my opinion, and as…

As we begin the Fall season, it is inevitable that Christmas products would also be hitting shelves, and that is the case with The LEGO Group’s newest set of Advent calendars. My wife and I have loved gifting our kids Advent calendars ever since they were born, but recently we have been investing in the LEGO advent calendar to help populate our growing LEGO winter village we build each year. Any discussion about this year’s advent calendar will be ...

Ever wanted to build your ski resort? I’m pretty sure that once upon a time there was a simulation / tycoon game on PC that allowed you to do this, but I don’t remember if it was any good. How well would a board game fair? Alpenglow is a game with lots going on, from tile laying and card playing, to engine building. While each turn flows pretty well, there are lots of decisions along the way that will keep…

NHL 25 has arrived, and hockey fans around the world can enjoy important, albeit minor improvements to the franchise.

In a year, or rather more accurately, in a half decade where it seems 1-in-3 board games that have been released have had a nature theme, it’s pretty hard to stand out. As I glance at the shelves behind me as I write, I would argue a good 30-40 percent of my collection of games could be classified as nature themed. From games about animals, to games that have animal pieces, to games about trees, leaves, mushrooms, and more. So…

There are some themes that are becoming a bit oversaturated in the board game space. Nature, for example, is starting to become one that I gloss over a bit when I see new titles full of animal or plant cards. Building civilizations has become something I’m a bit less interested in as well. Building ski slopes and running a company? That’s something I can get behind. Let’s take a look at everything that comes in Alpenglow! Alpenglow is all about…

I’m not sure what it is with board game publishers and comically large boxes, but Survive the Island might have the biggest box when compared to the games included components, although I think I know the reason for that. That said, the production quality here is phenomenal, and for under $40 CAD, it’s an incredible value from a production standpoint! Ok let’s get the comically large box out of the way first. It’s massive, with deep spaces to hold the…

Tree Society has a theme I’m pretty excited about and while I expected the box to be a lot larger when it arrived in the mail for review from Asmodee, after getting it open I understood why. I think some of the component choices here are cost cutting measures to keep the game accessible, and ultimately nothing is sub-par. Let’s dive in to see what I love about this game and what I wish was changed! I’m not going to…

The LEGO Group is back into the board game space, and they have partnered with Asmodee to start releasing board games back into retail stores. The first of this planned partnership is Monkey Palace, a game about building steps for a monkey to climb. Before we get into our full review of the game, let’s take a look at the game’s components! There isn’t a lot to say about this game. The game itself comes with a ton of LEGO…

A brand new set of Disney Lorcana decks have arrived with the Shimmering Skies expansion. Are these worth playing?

7 Wonders and 7 Wonders Duel are two games that I have many fond memories of playing. Not only are they great games, but they are easy to teach as well, so they make great experiences to share with other people. When I first saw Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth at Asmodee’s Canada Plays event this past year, I couldn’t wait to have the final copy in my hands. That day has arrived! Almost everything about the…

We recently just finished up a review cycle for the game Root, and we were thrilled to see there was an RPG world based on the game!

The Halloween season is upon us, and that means an uptick in Halloween themed board games for our gaming group to enjoy. We generally are playing games for 4 to 5 players, but recently a little 2-Player (and three player if you so choose) game has been hitting the table a lot. Yes, part of that is because we need to review it, but it’s getting back to the table again and again because it’s really fun! Two player board…