Giant wooden bananas!

When you see a hand holding one of the bananas, you might think the size is exaggerated, but you’d be wrong. The bananas in Tasso Banana really are that big. Open up the box and you’re immediately struck by the size.

[caption id="attachment_309041" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The Tasso Banana box has a clever origami influence. It folds in on itself and is held closed by magnets![/caption]

These, my friends, are game pieces of substance.

In Tasso Banana your goal is to be the first to get rid of all your bananas by placing them out on the game board. Bananas on the same level can’t touch each other, the table, or one of the included banana leaves, or go outside the boundaries of the playing field (as defined by the game board). A stacked banana can only be stacked on two other bananas, and a banana which already has another banana on top of it can’t support any other bananas. With these rules you’ll wind up with a crazed jumble of gently curving fruit, some stacked on their sides, some arch side up, as if poured out of the…

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The Dwarves: Big Box - Andy Matthews

Up until 2022, I’d never heard of The Dwarves, a hugely popular German five book fantasy series, which spawned a video game and a board game. And I certainly never expected to play it. But my game group wanted to inject some cooperative action into our game nights and The Dwarves was picked.

The goal of The Dwarves is to work your way through a scenario deck of cards, while protecting your lands from invading orcs, trolls, and elves. Players may also complete side quests which can provide valuable bonuses or cause trouble in Girdlegard (the dwarven homeland). At the beginning of every player’s turn the hero marker advances can trigger new enemies to emerge, cause drama in the dwarven high council, or cause negative effects to the side quest deck. In typical coop game fashion there are multiple ways to lose, but only one way to win.

My group had a good time playing The Dwarves, and even spent some time afterwards talking about different approaches we might take in our next play. While I don’t think The Dwarves is going to win any awards, it’s a solid game and one we’ll be playing again. 

Ease of entry?:
★★★☆☆ - There were…

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The last few years have seen a resurgence in the popularity of board games. Tens of millions of people all over the world are spending time playing board games with their friends, families, and even perfect strangers; all for the love of the game. And now you’re here, looking for gifts for friends, family, coworkers, and perhaps even random strangers. But never fear, our 2024 Holiday Board Game Gift Guide is up to the challenge.

Gifts for Board Gamers

Our 2024 Holiday Board Game Gift Guide features a wide range of categories, from wallet-sized and wallet-friendly games, games for the first timer and games for friends who have been playing for years. From lightweight stocking stuffer games you can play in minutes to multi-hour epics your gamer will love. Or maybe you’re the board game geek and you’re on the prowl for something new and interesting! But no matter what you’re looking for, or who it’s for, the…

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Flip 7 - Andy Matthews

I love it when a game "hides" the premise in plain sight, like Flip 7 from The Op. It's a lightweight (and I do mean light) press your luck game that has you flipping over cards from a shared deck and deciding "do I stay or do I go?". Number cards earn you points, action cards do special things, and if you ever "Flip 7" cards you earn a sweet 15 point bonus and end the round. But if you flip over a number card that you already have in front of you, then it's a bust for you.

You'll earn points based on the numbers on the cards; their values ranging from 0-15. With the exception of the 0, each card is worth its face value and there are that many cards in the deck: three 3 cards, ten 10 cards, etc. But there's also a handful of action cards which can be both angel and demon (depending on who's receiving them). The Second Chance card lets you skip a "bust", the "Freeze" card helps you stop a runaway leader, and the "Flip Three" card forces a player to flip over three cards even if they might bust!

I played with 3 players and it hummed along…

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At the GAMA Expo in 2024, publishers from all over the country showcased their upcoming releases. One night, in a relatively small room, I had the opportunity to look over close to 150 games from large and small publishers alike. After making a circuit of the room to see what looked interesting, the Stalk Exchange (stylized as $talk Exchange) table from The Op was the first one I came back to, and the only one in which I sat down to play an entire game. I was impressed with the artwork, the simple gameplay, and the play time—around 30 minutes or so. So when The Op offered to send a copy for review, I jumped at the chance. And everyone who’s played it so far has raved about it, some going so far as to say, “This is what a market manipulation game should look like.”

So let me share the love for Stalk Exchange.

“Flowers don’t tell, they show.” — Stephanie Skeem

In Stalk Exchange, 2-5 players compete to build the best floral portfolio, a wealth of dahlias, daffodils, globemasters, snowdrops, and tulips. You do this by planting flowers from “the exchange” into the shared garden, and by trading flowers between the exchange and your hidden portfolio.…

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Civolution - Justin Bell

I love coming back from SPIEL each year because many of my local Chicago friends bring home a ton of the hot new treasures they bought in Germany. At a recent gaming event, I plopped myself at the table where Stefan Feld’s new release Civolution was about to be taught because I was excited to give this one a spin. Then the teach started…and SIXTY-FIVE MINUTES later, we jumped into our play.

That teach was comically massive because Feld’s newest game is easily his heaviest, in terms of strategic decision making. I’m ready to say that “heavy” is not Feld’s lane. A civ-adjacent design, with tableau building technology cards, tracks, public goals, private goals, action selection, and map exploration, leads to a game with an unheard-of 32 different actions spread across each player’s personal board. Civolution is a dice game, meaning that this strategy game is really a dice-driven action selection design, which will rub many readers (and at least one of our writers!) the wrong way.

To Civolution’s credit, our playtime was just over two hours despite the hour-long teach, so at least the game didn’t take forever…but it never featured the kinds of interesting decisions I was hoping for. The best way I can…

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Small World (Collector’s Edition) - K. David Ladage

I love Small World. It is a wonderful game that my friend, Steve, and I played a lot back when new stuff was coming out for it on a regular basis. Steve is the kind of a guy that would give serious consideration to buying the over-the-top, extremely over-engineered, exceedingly expensive, will-not-fit-into-any-game-shelf-you-are-going-to-find Collector’s Edition. And so he did. He bought this thing.

The issue with this is that every single element of this game is some 50% larger than it was in the original and made of either wood or plastic. The giant wooden box needs a sticker warning you that this is a two-man lift! Thus, despite having owned this edition since it first came out years and years ago, he has not had many opportunities to pull it out with someone who would appreciate this product. Well, I was there and he wanted to play Small World. So out it came. We played a two-player game–and despite the small player count, this behemoth still managed to fill his 4-by-8 game table. We still had to keep a few elements (like the race tokens) in their giant trays on chairs just off the playing surface. The game was fun! The game was epic! The…

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Late this summer, the team here at Meeple Mountain began discussing plans to cover SPIEL 2024 in Essen, Germany. After covering the show for the last three years, contributors Justin Bell and Andrew Lynch booked travel accommodations and began working with publishers to schedule meetings and set up our schedule at the show.

Then, a twist arrived in the 11th hour—what if founding team members Andy Matthews and Jesse Fletcher could join the event too? And for the first time, no less? A few phone calls and a bunch of goodwill at home later, Andy and Jesse signed on for the event and began working out plans to arrive in Essen for the show.

The event was a success for a number of reasons, chief amongst them being the first-ever four-day badge sellout at a SPIEL event. Yes, more than 200,000 people attended the show, and it was such a treat to see happy gamers from across the globe taking part in the event. It didn’t hurt that many vendors reported record sales at their booth, with more than 1,200 new games on display from over 920 exhibitors and vendors.

SPIEL, which takes place at the Messe Essen event center and spans nearly six football fields of action, was a blast. In no particular order, here…

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I’m always on the hunt for interesting board game related products to cover for the site. So when I stumbled upon the Raven YATA bag via a marketing email from the designer, I was intrigued. What caught my eye was the sleek design of the bag—more high end suitcase than some knockoff cajon carrying case. But once I received the shipment containing the bag I was simply blown away by the quality, craftsmanship, and attention to detail. Check it out!

For Tyler's video review of the Raven YATA bag, jump to the bottom.

Raven YATA Board Game Bag

At Meeple Mountain we grade all board game bags using the same 4 sets of criteria: Straps, Functionality & Durability, Capacity and Portability, Price & Availability. How did the Raven YATA Board Game Bag do against our metrics? Let’s find out…

Straps

The first thing you’ll notice when looking at the Raven YATA are the multiple straps, buckles, and various ways to expand, collapse, and secure the bag. The dimensions of the bag are 16” tall, 13” wide, and between 7” - 10” deep (depending on your needs). Carrying options include a shoulder strap, backpack straps, and a carrying handle. All the straps are a smooth, shiny (almost polished) type of nylon that is soft to the touch, while the pouches…

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It shouldn’t be any surprise that when a new Flatout Games title is announced, my heart skips a beat…two beats if animals are involved. So imagine my delight when I heard about Knitting Circle, a successor to 2020’s Calico, a wonderfully cozy game about cats and quilts. There aren’t any quilts in this game, but you will find hats, scarves, mittens, socks, sweaters, and long johns (flap not included). And more importantly, you’ll find cats, vivid colors, and that clever, puzzly-spatial gameplay that Flatout Games excels at.

So let me introduce you to Knitting Circle.

Knitting Circle Overview

In Knitting Circle, your goal is to earn the most points by creating completed clothing: combining garment cards, yarn tiles, and scoring buttons into a finished product. But it’s not as easy as it might sound. Make sure your garment meets one of the approved patterns or else you’ll earn the dreaded “ugly sweater” pin and lose points at the end of the game. Mix in the Advanced Request cards and your eyes will be seeing rainbows for hours after you finish each game.

Let’s briefly touch on setup, and then jump straight to the gameplay. Just be aware that each…

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Heaven & Ale - Andy Matthews

Have you ever played one of those “highly recommended” games that are beloved by other people, only to have it fall flat for you? That was my experience with Heaven & Ale, the 2017 release from eggertspiele. There's lots to like about this game: moving up on tracks, managing money, comboing, and that central rondel. But the combination of all of it just left me feeling frustrated and underwhelmed.

I went into the game knowing that money was tight. You start with $25 and the only way to earn money is to “harvest”, and the only way to harvest is to land your player pawn on one of the purple scoring spots (of which there are 6). But first you have to buy tiles that allow you to harvest, and place them on your board (light or dark side?), and arrange them into a configuration that will allow you to build a shed, or by color, or by value… Are you seeing where I'm going with this? And I haven't even gotten to the math-heavy end game scoring.

I'm not questioning whether people like this game, as I mentioned there's lots to sink your teeth into. It just seems that I enjoy softer foods. :D The…

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In just under two weeks, Spiel 2024 kicks off. The largest board game convention in the world, Spiel (sometimes just called Essen, or Essen Spiel) is the mecca for board gamers of all stripes. Over 1,100 new games will debut in the European market at the event, many of which will make their way to the United States next year. The Meeple Mountain crew will be there in force, so let’s see what we recommend as we comb through the new releases and help you find the diamonds in the rough.

Tom Franklin

MATRX GIPF

I love all the GIPF Project games. They embody my two essentials for a great abstract strategy game: simple rules, complex strategy. While revisiting GIPF to write my review for Meeple Mountain, I was taken by how difficult this simple game is. You can win by capturing all your opponent’s pieces; you’ll lose if you run out of pieces. Brilliant. When designer Kris Burm announced a new game that features movement options from the other games in the GIPF Project, I was stunned. Burm is a genius at abstract design and…

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Knitting Circle - Andy Matthews

I kicked off my recent River Valley Glassworks review with the word “cozy”, which is used to describe a “softer sort of book: fantasies, mysteries, etc. where the stakes are relatively low, and readers are given plenty of reasons to fall in love with the characters”. It just so happens that Knitting Circle, the upcoming release from Flatout Games falls deep into “cozy” territory. I mean…you’re knitting for goodness’ sake.

Knitting Circle is “a Calico game”, which means that it’s a sequel, but by a different designer. In this game players are collecting yarn in turn order from a central display, storing it on their player board, then simultaneously using that yarn to craft garments (hats, sweaters, mittens, socks, etc.) of varying lengths. Along with end game scoring on each garment, players can apply different patterns (symmetrical, color block, striped, etc) and color, and use cute little “grabby cat paw” tokens to help themselves out. And in true hipster fashion there’s even a nod to “ugly sweaters”-garments which don’t match a pattern…although this one costs you 3 points at the end of the game.

This new game fits solidly into the roster of titles from Flatout Games alongside Verdant, Calico, Cascadia, and others. It’s…

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