=> BoardGameGeek
=> Online Rulebook
Review and game play:
Spirit Island (2017) (Coop & Solo)
Many articles and reviews have been mentioning Spirit Island as a great game, including these from Polygon: 5 Best Coop Games and 5 Best Solo Games
=> BoardGameGeek (8.4 rating – but also a quite hard rating (over 4.0) for difficulty)
IMPORTANT searchable FAQ system => Home Page => Commonly Misplayed Rules
Tips from Kim Tolson:
Just take your time and play with the basic spirits (easy ones) and you’ll be able to handle the game just fine! Then you can move on to playing with those more complex, challenging spirits:)
I think it’s easier with two players. Louis agrees. There’s a lot of coordination needed and when you have just two people, it’s easier to plan and communicate.
Many of my favorite reviewers have videos on Spirit Island including Kim Tolson, Rahdo, Meeple University, Jon Gets Games, Gaming Rules (Paul Grogan), Before You Play (Monique & Naveen) and One Stop Co-op Shop. So you can pick which of their video’s you’d like to watch!
Actually … Monique says it is her favorite Coop Game! Here is the video for that (queued up to the right spot):
Forbidden Sky
You actually are building physical circuits and there is real electricity in the game!
This War of Mine
This War of Mine is Excellent (see the exciting overview just under the list of links and the calmly passionate look at the game below that). But it is more than just a game. Actually, it is more an EXPERIENCE than a game… kind of a hybrid. It is designed to help you (the player) feel, experience and understand what it might be like to be living (trying to stay alive) in a city that has been devastated by a war. Shops are closed (if the building is even left standing). There are looters. There are homeless. There are hobos. There are snipers! Just trying to find water to drink can be a harrowing experience. The game is hard. Really hard. Online comments have asked how to make it easier. The answer is, please don’t… it is MEANT to be hard, just like life is for those living in the situations in the game (as in real life).
Designing and developing the game was a task of love. They did not sit in a conference room trying to make up things that might happen. They poured over real life diaries, documents, journals, books, photos, videos from people who actually were living in the situation depicted by this game. And that realism shows. The game comes with a logbook with nearly 2,000 log entries that you read throughout the game… and NOT in any specific order! Which log entry you read next is determined by your choices of what you want to do, as well as a roll of the dice and drawing of a card.
Here are some links, followed by an interesting overview of the game. After that is the calmly passionate look at the game and then some tips followed by a complete playthrough of the game if you want to see how it works (and is put together… including how to set up the game)
=> My Website / This War of Ours
=> Board Game Geek
=> Kickstarter (2016)
=> Official Site: Core Game
=> Official Site – expansion: Tales from the Ruined City
=> Official Site – expansion: Days of the Siege
=> This War of Mine Journal
=> Pseudo Rulebook (FAQ’s etc)
Review:
Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra
This is the sequel to the original, and by most accounts a much better game!
=> Board Game Geek
=> Azul Stained Glass Sintra Rules
=> Azul – Stained Glass of Sintra Summary Sheet
Here is Kim Tolson (she has great game summaries) comparing the first three Azul games (I queued it up to where she talks about Stained Glass of Sintra (which was her #1 Azul game) you can go back to watch from the beginning if you want):
Paperback Adventures (game)
An interesting word play game combined with an adventure game
=> BoardGameGeek
=> Kickstarter
=> Rulebook (final)
Example with Tutorial:
Tsuro (very fast easy to learn game)
This is a game that you can setup and play in ten minutes or less. And have lots of fun the whole time. Short but sweet. A casual glance at the game makes it look like everything is just random and you just see who is lucky. However, that is not the case. Yes, you can play it fast and more or less randomly … yet you also can spend just an extra 20 seconds and see some strategies to which tile you place and how you place it! There are definitely many strategies involved with Tsuro! Many!
=> BoardGameGeek
=> Tsuro 1pg Rules
=> Phase by Phase Cards (important – I use them all the time) v4
Note: See the end of this article for notes about how to use the Dragon Tile.
How To Play in 1 Minute (Rules Girl):
Castle Panic
=> BoardGameGeek
=> Original Rules / 2nd Edition Rules
=> Castle Panic Made Easy v1-3 (Len’s 2page Rule Summary with options for younger players)
=> Official FAQ
You can add more types of monsters yourself (on your printer)=> Set 1 / Set 2 / Set 3
This is a quick cooperative game where all players try to hold off the attacking orcs :) The game play is interesting. The game was so popular that they now make a DELUXE fancy version of the game (with miniatures).
Watch Will Wheaton (yes, he was Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation) explain it and play it with three guests (a comedian, an actress and a voice actor) … here is the condensed version (you can watch their FULL game video at the bottom of this page):
Forbidden Island (cooperative game)
2-4 players all on the same team try to find the four treasures and escape from the island before it is completely flooded (or someone drowns:) It is easy to learn and takes only about 30 minutes to play.
=> BoardGameGeek
=> Official Rules
Here are a couple videos about the game:
20 Express (aka Streams)
=> BoardGameGeek
=> Rules (4 page PDF)
=> Player Boards (full page jpg)
Here is an overview of the game:
Play Heavenly Games 
