Perch Board Game Review
In 2025 and 2026, I’ve been trying to play games that perhaps I wouldn’t normally play. That means I’ve done a bunch of hidden role / movement games, and area control games. For the most part, I’ve surprised myself by enjoying so many of these experiences, and I hoped that Perch, a fairly aggressive area control game, would also be a hit.
Check out our components overview and impressions!
In Perch, players are placing birds into locations attempting to score the most points. The trick here is that you aren’t necessarily just placing your own birds, you are placing birds of other players’ colours as well. That’s what makes Perch a much more aggressive area control game then others because you have VERY direct influence on what happens to other players.
See, there are a bunch of locations on the table where birds can be sent, but how each scores is different. Sometimes having the least birds gets you the most points, so you’ll stack a lot of other players’ birds there to make sure they get less points. Forcing players into ties is another way to ruin point accumulation, so anytime you can make that happen you probably want to.
Things are constantly moving, so just because you are in a bad position on one round doesn’t mean you will be when the game ends. But you will be forced into a very strategic balancing act of figuring out where your best options are for points and what your opponents might do. Perch is super aggressive; passive players need not apply. My wife, for example, absolutely hates “mean” games so I wouldn’t even suggest she play this one; it won’t be for her.
That does mean that your experience with Perch is going to be heavily dependent on the people you play with. Even one pouty person at the table is going to drag this experience down, and ruin it for everyone. You CANNOT be the kind of person who gets vindictive or bothered by hostile player actions: this game is full of hostile movements, and to take it personally will be a guaranteed way to ruin the experience, not only for you, but for others too.
I feel like I’ve spent more time than is good talking about the hostility of this game, but it’s such a key part that it cannot be overlooked. There is so much more here though – you’ll have end game scoring objectives to complete to earn points, which also allows you to work towards things as you play. There are also animals that have special powers in some locations that you can use to manipulate the game further. There are a lot of moving parts here, but they come together so well in my opinion.
Having the special powers at your disposal is incredibly powerful, so players will be vying for them. Some allow you to shift birds around the play area, send them to the fountain, or swap with the fountain. All these moving parts are well throughout and enjoyable, and I’ve never not had fun playing this game over the past few weeks. You have to be in the right mindset to make a game of Perch make sense for your game group, but when this game hits, it hits soooo good! It’s a simplistic experience that packs a lot of punch, making it an ideal game for me to play with my gaming group!
Article By Adam
