This was my first 18xx game and I enjoyed it. Three of us played for 3.5 hours and probably had another hour left. From my perspective as an Age of Steam lover, the track-laying felt much more interesting and I did not miss the debt spiral. It plays well solitaire. The rules are not great for a newbie - playing with an experienced player helped. Many complain that the random share draw could leave someone without a company to run, but the mulligan rule and playing with fewer people should reduce this. Mike Hutton's fix should work for 4 players - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/116589v.

Ludicrously long. Enjoyably random and chaotic. Wonderful thematic feel. If only it were shorter.
Update - I downgraded this rating after I played History of the World, which does it better.

Makes my head feel like it has had a severe workout. My only reservations are that losers are left out of the action, rather like Age of Steam, and the 80’s Avalon Hill version is very ugly, while the new, handsome Avalon Hill sets are far too large.
I have read a lot of argument about which is best out of Acquire and Shark. For me it is definitely Acquire. Shark is too random and light, which means it lacks tension.

According to my distant memory, a pale shadow of an RPG.

Nice components. A children's game. Very little strategy, but not terrible.

I do not like this game's gaudy presentation or large box. The gameplay itself is intriguing. Looking forward to a repeat.

Heavy and vicious. Very much a gamers game, but one of the best.

England map is a good starter map for large groups. Ireland is excellent with three.

The ferry action is poorly explained in the rules. Just think of it as a free jump along a coast during a goods move.

France works well with three.

The Pennsylvania map plays very nicely with six.

Chile: Very long country, so long map. 6 player game became two sub-games with little interaction.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2008/02/agricola/

Fun light game. Great for kids. Bad for serious adults.

Very accessible, but bland. It's got all the virtues and vices of the typical german game.
I have too many games in this category, so I will not buy it.
I suspect I will prefer Palazzo.

I respect what it is trying to do, but it is way too slow. A computer would do a much better job.

Fascinating model of prehistory, but I'm not convinced it works as a game. My rating is for the richness of the theme and cleverness of its implementation, but I can't recommend it unless you are interested in the theme.

Intellectual game, with many factors to consider. A little too abstract and dry. The ancient Egypt theme is now almost as overused as High Fantasy.

I totally agree with Rick Heli's review:
http://spotlightongames.com/military/mnights/a.html#antike.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2004/12/antiquity-coloretto-memoir44/

Fun party game. Great at Christmas and at the back end of a dinner party.

Awesome experience, but unnecessarily complex and far too long.
http://cheyne.net/blog/2006/02/ardennes-44/

Too unintuitive for what it is.

Great theme, but might be too long for what it is.

Works well, but too bland for me.

Rating will probably improve with more plays. Would be better with English language components. I found the counters a little hard to read. Maybe icons that are more striking would have been better than the pretty, little pictures. It reminds me a more political Durche Die Wuste, as it is quite abstract and uses connection. I prefer Durche Die Wuste as it is more elegant.

This reminded me of Princes of Florence in terms of the theme, auctions, game pace and structure. If you like PoF, you should enjoy this, but I am not a big fan.

Simple, fast and interesting. It reminds me of a lighter Hare and Tortoise with more scope for attacking your opponents. Probably not worth its high price on eBay.

Used to enjoy this very much, but have burnt out on it.

Have only played this once and it locked up because we didn't use the additional rule - not a good sign. Otherwise it seems fun, in a similar way to Lost Cities, and the artwork is gorgeous.

Challenging. Enjoyable for adults as well as older kids.

Interesting. Avoid if you struggle with arithmetic. The main calculation is basically twice the lower number minus the higher number. The rules are badly translated, but the reference cards explain it well enough. The luck of the initial draw can give a big advantage. Banning the use of scoring cards on the first turn could soften this.

We found it a little confusing at first, as the card emblems can be unclear (you must play with an FAQ), but it's easy fun that works well with many players.

Box is too big. To save space, just carry the cards and use coins instead of the pawns.

Fun theme and easy to play, but Car Wars is superior.

Fun, but didn't survive too many replays. Has probably aged badly. Car Wars was better.

I'm ashamed to say that I was never able to work out how to calculate line of site between flying soldiers. This would probably make a great PBEM game, if you could work out how to do all the calculations automatically.

Confrontational version of Lord of the Rings is quite a good description. Unusual, innovative game. Plays smoothly. OK with two, but the more the merrier. The optional treasure rules added almost no complexity or play time.

Feels rather old-fashioned. Too long. Enjoyable, if you are feeling undemanding.

Like most deduction games, can fall apart if anyone makes a mistake. Plays very well over play-by-web.

Rules are full of abiguity.

I enjoyed it at first and the art is spectacular, but the gameplay is quite pedestrian and there aer way too many rules ambiguities. Play the AI program to see if it grabs you.

A respectable welterweight. You have to give some respect to a game that says 60 minutes on the box and comfortably finishes in that time on the first play.

As a kid I hated word games. I might be persuaded to try it again.

Unique and with lots of player interaction, but it's too basic and takes too long. I don't feel like I'm using my brain at all. How can the box say it is for ages 12+?

Occupation and crowding game. Play it at Super Duper Game.

Might not have the replayability of Age of Steam - but what does? Plays well with three. Excellent historical feel. Awful rules - would be higher otherwise.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2008/03/breaking-away/

I have only played the basic game once. The bidding and scoring are very interesting and the colons add a lot of strategy.

Very competitive multiplayer wargame that keeps a firm grasp on historical narrative. If playing green, submit the Welsh to the Romans ASAP. Far too long - our first game took 5h 15m.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2006/04/britannia/

I have Tomy's Ali Baba version. My 2.5 year old daughter enjoys it.

I have only played this by web, so take this with a pinch of salt. Theme was barely linked to the mechanics, which were very confusing. Might be better stripped down and released as an abstract.

Palmyra: unusual, interesting, subtle game, but lacks excitement.

Good fun, particularly when drink is involved. I was hoping for something _slightly_ more sophisticated, but I'm just a games snob.

Perfect for 7-10 year olds. It's fun to throw dice, the components are colourful and it teaches you about probability. For those who already understand the probability bell-curve, it's less exciting.

Interesting and thoughtful. Cards are ugly. A little ponderous. Too many special cards.

A cross between Ticket to Ride and Age of Steam, without the death spiral and auctions.
As an Age of Steam lover, it pushes too many of the same buttons for me to bother buying it

Astract and elegant, but the rules are too unclear for such a simple game. It's a solid, although slightly unexciting, game and will definitely become more enjoyable with more playing.

Sounds like fun until you play it. Too much luck and not enough control; too slow and clunky; too complex for what it is. Americans like it because of the supposedly humorous Olde English comments on the cards, but they were written by Americans so are crap. It is cheap, but there are much better free games.

This was great in its time, but the movement system was terrible. The modern remake sounds good, if it has fixed that. I preferred making the cars to playing the game.

I only played this with three players and it didn't work too well. Definitely best with the maximum possible.

I never understood the hype about this one. It's just pipe laying, with an ambiguous end game. We always play the variants on Bruno Faidutti's website.

Turns a very average game into a long, very average game. Reducing the number of tiles to shorten the game works well.

My favourite Carcassonne so far. I want to try the City now.

More elegant than regular basic Carcassonne, but my impression is that it may be too forgiving. I will have to try it some more.

Light, family-level, double-guessing fun.

I am not keen on the look-ahead part of this game, mostly as I am no good at it. Short and sweet.

It is too long, but there is plenty to think about.
Always use the official rule amendment - the robber stays in the desert until the barbarians attack for the first time.

Elegant progression from basic Settlers.

An easy, quick area majority game with a fantasy theme. I prefer Dungeon Twister, but it is still pretty good.

Growing on me. Plays better with fewer people. The BSW version is excellent.

I prefer this to the board game. Plays really well with two.

Did not survive many replays.

Fun, chaotic card game. Haven't played it for years, but it has probably aged well.

Car War's movement system ported to the piecepack. It's too slow for what it is.

I have never played International Checkers, with a 10x10 board and long-jumping kings, but it looks much better than the 8x8 version I learnt as a boy.

Streamlined, fast train game. All the other players preferred Steel Driver. Want to explore it more.

Too clunky, random and silly for my taste

Light and fun, but can drag with too many players. My wife's favourite.

Worth getting, so long as it is cheap.

Better than expected. Easy to learn, interactive, quite fast. I'm not sure how much replay value it has.

Like a pompous elder brother of Wolfgang Kramer's Expedition.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2006/01/clippers-san-juan/

Basically the card-collecting phase of Ticket to Ride stripped down to the essentials, without tickets or track-laying. I would not normally enjoy a game as simple as this, but I played it with my totally non-gamer Mum and she enjoyed it, so it gets a lot of points for that.

Interesting and with plenty of backstabbing and excitment, but the extra rules are a little too fiddly for quite an abstract base system. I have not played Grand National Derby, but I suspect it will be better.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2008/02/combat-commander-europe/

I definitely prefer this to Memoir or Battle Cry. The mechanics fit the period really nicely. Memoir never *felt* right but this does.
Plays beautifully at http://wargameroom.com

Similar to Ivanhoe, but inferior because of lack of variety, plus it is easy to run away with a win. Best played when all players are of same standard.

Interesting exploration/conquest game. If your exploration tile draws are bad, you are finished.

Fantastic components, but the rules are far too vague. The game itself is good, but I am not sure if it is too slow. Three players feels very intense. I would like to try it with four or six. I have put together an FAQ. http://cheyne.net/blog/conquest-of-the-empire-ii-faq/

Too complex. You will need a reference card to play, but has lots of variety.

More of a take-that experience than I expected. My group were a bit off-put by that. I want to try it again, but I might struggle to get the guys interested.

Far too simplistic for modern educated gamers.

Crusader Rex uses the same system as Hammer of the Scots, but is more refined and feels more historic.

A nice balance between playing selfishly and cooperatively, but it's just a take-that game.

It works well with five or six players, but it is confusing for non-experienced card players. Rules say to play as many hands as there are players, which is too many. Time limit the game or agree to play to only three or four hands.

Less about simulation and more about the game. The rules are terribly written, but if someone else teaches it to you, it is a decent game.

Good fun. The components and dice used for combat are superb.The box size and game length are not. It's a pity magic is just another type of ranged weapon and that characters can die mulitple times. It's a fun weekend game, but not practical for our regular games nights.

Quirky and complicated compared to the underlying the depth of play.

Super light. It is very overproduced. I prefer Ra/Razzia/Simpson's Slam Dunk for this sort of thing, although at least Diamant is short and gentle.

Well written, cheap book, but with the exception of Perudo/Liar's Dice, I find dice games boring.

Easy to learn, elegant and vicious. What more do you want?

Constant shuffling and dealing was fiddly. For St Petersburg and other "efficiency game" lovers only. Will not have durable appeal.

Sniff is the only game worth playing.

Abstract and quick, but clever. Stick to 4 players - see Bruno Faidutti's review.

Solid fast fun.

Fun negotiation game. I am told it is similar to Kohle, Kies and Knete. Great theme bring back memories of D&D. One magic item allows you to cheat legally.

Not much skill and lacks tension. Use the clarified translation.

Still holds up as a decent game, after 18 years. Has the quality that you expect of an SdJ winner.

Classic Knizia. Would make a solid pub game. Too simple for me really but good with the right person.

Complex and subtle strategy, but the engine was simpler than expected. 6 players. 4 (incl. me) shared victory. Ended turn 3.

If it were not for the swivelling floors, this would be a vanilla arena-brawling game, but having to think ahead to see how a shifted floor could make or break your game is fascinating.

Unique. It plays like an abstract, but the theme fits the mechanics perfectly. The rewritten rules make a huge difference to learning this odd, but rewarding game. It's so cheap, that it's definitely worth picking up.

The paste-ups are well worth the effort. Get full page Avery labels, print them and stick them to the event cards.

Poor translation makes this much harder to learn than it should be.
Even if it was translated well, I am not convinced it would be good. I found it very unintuitive. The tiles are also pretty ugly. Loses a point because the box is so much bigger than needed.
I am not a fan of Carcassonne but it is far better than this.

Deep, heavy area majority control game. I prefer Wallenstein, but El Grande is still very good.

Felt a little bland to me. I will have to try again. For now, I prefer Domaine.

Superb game for young kids. My 4 year old loves it.

Colourful and vindictive. Deserved the 1998 German Game of the Year Award.

Beautifully balanced and slick gameplay, but it does not solve the "petty diplomacy" problem - the scourge of three-player wargames.

http://www.playagaingames.com/games/game_tester_observations

Great memories from childhood, but would probably be awful if I played it now. Lots of rules ambiguities.

This is not as successful a conversion as San Juan, because it is no simpler or shorter - 90% of the effort for 60% of the fun.
The only real problem with the original boardgame is that it is unintuitive. This is worse in the card game. Explaining this to people who had not played the boardgame was not trivial.

I have played the piecepack version. It is unlike most two-player abstracts I have played, because it has luck and bluffing. It is my wife's favourite piecepack game. It is very similar to Alex Randolph’s later game, Ghosts.

Lighthearted and quick, but requires plenty of thought and player interaction.

Dry, but subtle and skilful. Perfect model of supply and demand.

Simple but fascinating family game. Pity this is not available in English. I found the loops rule ambiguous in the German translation. The National Geographic version might be OK.

Beautifully illustrated, but suffers from usability problems. The iconography takes some time to get used to. Once you understood their flow, they were comprehensible, but it took some time. Basically, it is a card passing game, but jazzed up with plenty of special cards and themed sets to accumulate. It is a decent simple game, but the weird iconography and price do not balance out the good-looking cards.

Plays well with seven, but really needs a timer with so many people.

Richest party game I know.

Nice balance of theme and mechanics.

A nice medium weight romp. It's a fine balance of keeping an eye on the resource graph and the other players, while plotting your movements around the board. The components are very nice quality and look great.

Left me cold. The theming was a distraction. Far too dry. Would have been better as a purely abstract game, but it still would be very ordinary.

My three and a half year old enjoys it. Sound effects are mandatory.

Tough abstract game. Imagine draughts (checkers) in 3D. Described in detail in the book "A Gamut of Games".

Very nice light filler. I made my own DIY set when it was out of print. New edition's box is far too large. The components would fit perfectly into the Geschenkt box, which is a quarter of the size.

Simple, enjoyable luckfest. We played with four and it would probably be better with more. Took 1h 45m for two laps. After one lap I knew I was out of it, so it was definitely too long. Ave Caesar is shorter and sweeter.

Good, simple, original climbing card game ( http://www.pagat.com/climbing/), similar to the Great Dalmuti or President. Nice artwork. Partnerships. Two linked heirarchies of cards.

The latest rules from Plenary Games website are best. Nice and short. Good for three players. Mind-bending. Unique.

Almost a superb game, but can take up to four and a half hours with the standard rules. Funkenschlag gets a rating of eight if the time reducing tips mentioned on the Tao of Gaming website are used - especially removing the the lowest powerplant in each second phase.

Plays very nicely with three. Not challenging, but some nice deduction. A good way to spend a relaxed evening.

Light and accessible. More scenarios and maps included would have improved this a lot.

Over-complex for such an abstract basic system. Plenty of backstabing, tension and theme.

OK for kids.

Much better than the books.

Bargain. Many classic games in a small package. Good for trips away from home.

Simpler and superior to Tichu

This reminded me of an easier, shallower, faster Tigris and Euphrates, without the viciousness, monuments or clever scoring. I liked it, but the others thought it was mediocre. The core mechanism is very clever, and typical Knizia. All players lay brown, blue, green and white tiles, trying to get their own tiles into _herds_, while blocking other players herd formations. The board has obstacles to make it easier to block other players.If it was cheaper and if the components were better looking, I would definitely get it and rate it higher.

Long, dry and bitchy. I like negotiation games, but this one seems to involve a long stream of low-grade nastiness.

Lovely components but still quite abstract. It is quite intricate and could do with some player references, or at least more text on the cards, so we made several mistakes. I want to play again with proper rules and a better rules explanation before I make final judgement.

I enjoyed this a lot, but then I played Race for the Galaxy. Race is simpler, shorter and less luck-dependant.I also kept running in into a problem in two player games, where I could not win, but my inexperienced partner did not realise how to finish the game quickly.

I much prefer this to Chess. It's a less violent game, maybe that's why losing is not so humiliating?

Pushes almost the same buttons as Caylus, but is much shorter.
Plays excellently with two people.

In the same bracket as Royal Turf, another Knizia game about horse racing. I much prefer this to Colossal Arena - it is simpler and faster while capturing the core fun.

No skill.

Felt like a cross between Battle Line and Ivanhoe. You compete over segments of the wall, by laying cards against the other players, which invariably ends in a blood feud

The egg basket is cool, but the game itself is unimpressive.

Contrived and unintuitive. Cute pieces, but ugly board.

Plays well, but it is too abstract for me. Crusader Rex uses the same system, but is more refined and feels more historic.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2007/12/hannibal/

This has deserved to stay in print for 30 years. The designer's website is well worth a visit, particularly the card games section: www.davidparlett.co.uk. His "History of Board Games" book is superb.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2005/04/back/

Nicely paced and some clever mechanics, but let down badly by vague rules.

Game system felt too simple and clunky after one play.

Not too light, not too heavy, fast moving and vicious.

Short, sharp perfection.

Stripped down auction game that still managers to feel like a proper auction.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2005/05/himalaya-plunder-oltremare/

Much shorter than 7 Ages.
Much shorter and more forgiving than Britannia.

All about groupthink. Showing its age.

I fount it intuitive to estimate auction values. A nice change from the swingier, more cut-throat auction games out there.

Excellent introductory game.
I especially like how the game's duration, complexity and balance can be fine-tuned for the situation.
We play the 1861 scenario according to the WBC rules.
Make sure your map does not have errors.

Unremarkable race game.

Complicated and feel like a pure victory point race.

Best large-scale trading game I have played. The map is not as bad as advertised.

Intense. More of a psychological experiment than a game. A nice one to play occasionally, only if in the right spirit.

Adult Snap. Suprisingly fun and skilful.

Light, fun, chaotic. Bruno Faidutti sums it up: "A Knizia game that feels like a Faidutti game". It exemplifies the best characteristics of both designers. Similar to and better than Condottiere.

Solid family game. I prefer it to Pirate's Cove as it's faster.

As I remember, the system didn't work too well.

Basically multiplayer Snap, but everyone has separate piles of cards and you grab a stick, instead of slapping cards. Matching cards is difficult as the shapes on the cards are deceptively similar and there are some special cards that add some variety into the mix. Raucous fun.

My boy loves it.

Good theme. Nice bits for when it was made. Always ends with two huge armies battling it out.

Rather dry and abstract, but plenty of player interaction and skilful play - without total analysis paralysis.

Played with a friend's six year old son. He really enjoyed it.

Only dice game worth playing.

Vicious backstabbing game. Best with 5 or 6. Make sure you play this with the right people.

I own a Gamut of Games, and this was the first game I tried. It's amazing this has not taken off more. It's at *least* as good as Draughts/Checkers.

I have Thor, but I slightly prefer the simplicity of this version.

Good fun, but the coins do not roll down the ramps properly in my copy, which ruins it slightly.

Interesting. Loved by people who hate over-competitiveness.

Knizia improves Stratego. Beautiful components.

Good: Short, simple, easy-going, good-looking and very well themed.
Bad: Encourages parasitical behaviour.
Will have to play again.

Loved this as a teenager. Would not be so good now.

Dry and abstract, but exquisitely fine-tuned area control game. Simpler to play than to explain. Requires at least a couple of games to get the most out of it, but I am not interested enough to play it again.

Not quite as good as I expected. Would be better shorter.

Strangely different. Like a beefy hybrid between Web of Power and Puerto Rico. A little abstract and slow. Kingmaker problems.

I loved this in my teens. It would not be so good now. There were ways you could break the system (e.g. karate experts wearing gauntlets).

The theme is a little shakey at times (how can developing Pro-Sports make you better at capturing cities?). It is also long, 4.5 hours, and a badly worded card, the Internet card – funnily enough, wrecked my game. Otherwise, this was very enjoyable. It is not particularly dense, after a while it felt quite freewheeling.

Beautiful components. Interesting gameplay, but can stagnate and take far too long.

Big improvement on the base game. The 13th trade good stops the game locking up.

Thoughtful and skilful. Fun, but lacks drama. Tightly designed.
Components are good - except for the workmen with iron tools, which the Mayas never had.

Better than Modern Art. Elegant and accessible. Plays very well with six.

Lots to compute.
Too many rules ambiguities for such a simple game.

I have only played this by web at Ludagora. The gameplay rewards the last person to do something, almost as if a timer was running out, which does not appeal to me much. Also the theme does not match the game.

Very original mechanics, but it is difficult to see how to play well.

Simple, dynamic and fun. Luck required.

A fun, uninspiring, well-balanced game. It's let down by very bland components.

Contrary to some reports, theming is excellent (I have a degree in Archaeology, specialising in Mesoamerica). Not as fast moving as some have indicated. Probably best for 3.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2009/08/mhing/

Very skillful, but not much fun.

My little boy turned three, so I got him this, purely because it was designed by Reiner Knizia. He really enjoyed it and was laughing his head off when I lost by a mile. It is simplicity itself. You have coloured boards with several slots for your monkeys. You have a bag full of little coloured plastic monkeys. You reach into the bag, like in a lucky dip, and pull out monkeys. The monkey goes to whoever owns that colour of board. It's perfectly pitched for this age group.

OK when played with the proper rules, but could be so much better.

I have played this once solitaire.
It is a fascinating situation and the game works well.
I suspect it's less good for two players as the Germans have so much less to do.

The artwork is love it or hate it - I hate it.
Mü: Complex trick taking game. I think it's similar to Japanese Napoleon: www.pagat.com/picture/napoleon.html.
The Last Panther: Nice little Hearts variant that works well with three.
Wimmuln: Like Oh Hell, but better, because it's less predictable and trick values count more.
Rummü: Rummy variant played with the Mü deck. We liked it, although the rules translation is a bit unclear and has a typo in the scores section. I'll never play Canasta again.

Dry as a bone.

I have only played this once and did not fully grasp it, but it struck me as having too much chrome.
I also dislike the horrific theme. I don't think people stop and consider how evil this guy was. Would we play a game about the Yorkshire Ripper or Fred West?

I read the rules beforehand, but I was totally overwhelmed on my first play. Very difficult to grasp good tactics. I suspect this is too serious for me, but I want to try it again, as I'm probably wrong.

Best three player wargame I have played. Also plays fine with two. The "Reminders, Clarifications, and Tournament Rules" page is a must-read.

Better than MTG, if you like the theme. Do not bother playing without the official FAQ, as the rules are very badly written.

My favourite book about games. Better than A Gamut of Games.

Tries to occupy the same space as Coloretto, but does not have enough of the same tough decisions. You might as well just play Omnibus Hearts.

Worth trying, but will not keep you entertained for long.

Best three player traditional card game I have found.

Simple and blindingly fast, but quite tough.

Very dry, but at least it is intuitive and compact.

Very quick and simple area influence game.

The decisions are too simple and there is too much luck. The Games Journal review sums up the strategy.

Ogre was tense, until we discovered the "fuzzy-wuzzy fallacy", basically that a defence force soley of GEVS could overwhelm the Ogre every time.

Would have been much better with totally new maps for GEV, rather than repeats of the old ones.

Simple, tight little game. It's a climbing card game, similar to Frank's Zoo. Says it supports eight, but does not work with that number. Six is a sensible maximum.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2005/05/himalaya-plunder-oltremare/

Decent, interesting party game, but not my cup of tea.

Dumbed-down trick taking game. Only the first five tricks are played of the hand.

Civilisation-type game with everything stripped out bar the trading. A bit too long. Beautiful components.

Although at first it looks like a complicated game, it flowed together quite smoothly and there is plenty of tension over the influence cube placements and the very confrontational combats. It is one of the most original games I have played recently.

Superb game for very young kids. My boy had no trouble with it and was absorbed throughout. The components are exquisite, with perfect little washing baskets and washing line pegs.

Portable, flexible and free. When I travel, I take it with some printed rulesets in my backpack. The Mesomorph set is well made and good-looking. The rulesets are of variable quality, so read them carefully before playing.

Light and fun. There is some skill, but it comes from playing the games a few times, rather than deep thought. Great components.

I was disappointed with how little thinking was involved. Beforehand I had assumed that you have to trade specific commodities with other players, but in fact, you only call out how many cards you have in your hand and swap blind. It is nothing more than organising your hand and exchanging your cards as quickly as possible. Still, the bell was very popular and I will keep it aside for rowdy and/or young gamers.

http://cheyne.net/blog/2005/05/himalaya-plunder-oltremare/

I don't gamble.

Better than Funkenschlag, not least because it's shorter.

(25/01/2008) I dropped this two points, because the more I play it, the more I think the strategy is shallow.

Has grown on me with further playings. Once it starts to flow naturally, its depth comes out.
Despite what people may tell you jesters are not the "one true path" to victory.

Intricate classic.

Nice ideas, but not essential.

Short and sweet abstract.

The game itself is clever, but we found it a little dry. There is a lot of game packed into half an hour. Boring theme and ugly presentation. Rette Sich Wer Kann offers a more fun theme, even if the mechanics are maybe not quite as clever as Quo Vadis. I think it will improve with more playings, although I can't see it becoming a favourite.

Feels like an advanced version of Medici. Supports fewer players and may be a little less elegant, but it might be deeper.

Not keen on the goal tiles.

Too abstract and fiddly. Dice felt like a gimmick.

Similar level to Ticket to Ride: Marklin. Fun, but would have preferred the sting of classic Age of Steam.

Decent party game. Predecessor of Cluzzle. Eventually all our dough went rock hard.

I prefer this to Ra, because it's cheaper, faster and the components are more portable.

Elegant, simple. Good for a relaxed evening with casual gamers.

Bad memories, but I played it recently and it was better with the shortened victory conditions.

Would be fun if it took half the time.

Rick Heli gets it right. http://is.gd/aYkw

Easy to assemble and light on ink.
Interesting situation. Worth a few plays.

Plays quickly. Very unforgiving. Some unintuitive rules but plays smoothly.

My three year old enjoys this a lot.

Quite clever and good fun with 7 people, but I wouldn't play it with fewer than 6.

Lots to think about, but it is still easy to learn. Ugly artwork.

Had a good PBW game recently. I should give this a go face-to-face.

Fast, interactive, skilful, innovative.

I used to think it was better with three, but now I think it's great for both three and four. Very political.

Different, clever and difficult to play, while remaining simple. There is lots of interaction and there is just enough theme to make the game mechanics easy to understand. It is as tough as Don, while having about the same weight as Web of Power.