Meeple Mountain

Meeple Mountain – Board Game Reviews, Videos, Humor, and more Board Game Reviews, Videos, Humor, and more

Fliptoons Game Review
by Kevin Brantley on July 11, 2026
Silver Age Cartoons I’m a sucker for an old-timey aesthetic, especially when it comes to cartoons. Growing up, my father showed me some of his favorites, like Popeye the Sailor Man and Woody Woodpecker. I think there’s still a real appetite for the animation style of yesteryear, especially in the modern age, as evidenced by the massive video game success of Cuphead and Mouse: P.I. for Hire. The board game world is no stranger to this style either, with titles like Vagrantsong, Townsfolk Tussle, Vegetable Stock, Magical Athlete, and even the video game spinoff Cuphead: Fast Rolling Dice Game. Fliptoons from Thunderworks Games fits nicely into that ever-growing family, and I’ll always be drawn to every title in it. Flip-Flip-Flipadelphia Fliptoons is a fast-paced card-drafting game where the player who generates the most fame points after a final flip becomes the top toon. Players start with identical decks of basic toons that are played one by one, creating a 3x2 grid of cards. Cards have various effects depending on their position, adjacency, game state, or other conditions in the grid, including other players’ grids. Some of these effects increase value, flip cards to void a previously played card, dismiss other cards, and so much more. The post Fliptoons Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
Dr. Finn’s Book of Solo Strategy and Word Games Game Review
by Justin Bell on July 10, 2026
Thanks to my side gig writing a weekly column for BoardGameGeek, I recently got a note from Steve Finn, the designer of Biblios as well as the co-designer of Cities and Cities USA. Steve saw that I do a ton of business travel, so he was kind enough to send a review copy of his recent release Dr. Finn’s Book of Solo Strategy and Word Games. The book really is a book—it’s basically a workbook that includes eight titles, each of which features a short rules write-up along with worksheets to play each game eight times. In that way, this book has 64 total plays available, and for this review, I tried four of the games twice each. The setup is very simple: you have to be able to read basic English, possess a pen or a pencil, and have access to as many as four normal six-sided dice. If you don’t like to read, Steve’s got you covered—each game’s rules include a QR code that links to a teach video for each of the eight games. And if you don’t have dice, Steve STILL has you covered, with an online dice simulator that takes care of the die rolls for you. Some thoughts on those individual games are below, as well as a few closing… The post Dr. Finn’s Book of Solo Strategy and Word Games Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
Plutocracy Game Review
by Thomas Wells on July 9, 2026
My friend Joe and I share an interest in logistics games that feature planetary rotation. I’m not sure exactly why he’s into it, but I like it for the interesting questions that emerge from having to plot movement in two dimensions: distance and time. Plutocracy got me excited because it puts landing on moving planets front and center. Unfortunately, while many of the mechanisms within the game are clever, the process of playing the game is frustratingly obvious. It puts you in the unenviable position of both having to do a significant amount of analysis and then discover that the analysis you did wasn’t really worth it. As the world(s) turn The object of Plutocracy is to turn money into majority points. You fly your ship around a truncated map of the solar system (sans Mercury, Venus, and if you’re not a hater, Pluto) buying and selling various goods. Each planet buys one type of good and sells one type of good. When you buy, supply price goes up 1, when you sell, demand price goes down 1. The objective is to buy low and sell high, and also land on planets where you can turn money into planetary council seats, which gain you points in the “Plutocratic Council” when scoring happens 3 times during the game. The post Plutocracy Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
Flip Pick Towers Game Review
by Bob Pazehoski, Jr. on July 8, 2026
We are a ______-and-write family. We have burned through pads and purchased refills for Welcome To… and Three Sisters, and I believe we’ll get there with Joan of Arc, French Quarter, and Rajas of the Ganges: the Dice Charmers, among others. My gaming lifestyle is such that I am more likely to take up the abbreviated roll-and-write of a tabletop classic than I am the original, just for the sake of time. If not for my reliance on bifocals, I would probably enjoy the genre even more. I’ve learned that reviews for games like Flip Pick Towers come with an asterisk because they reside on the shifting sands and rampant inconsistencies of player engagement. You’ve got to find the right group looking for the right experience. Win, lose, or… Players sit with their gridded drawing pads, staring down three possibilities during each simultaneous turn. They select their main object from a card that also provides resources to record and, eventually, tactfully harvest. Occasional, opportunistic cards interrupt the normal flow to tempt players into a somewhat different but strategically interesting decision based on randomly assigned game-specific scoring conditions. Players score their efforts at the end of the first round, again after the second round, and then someone wins. Flip Pick Towers is a perfectly normal… The post Flip Pick Towers Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze Game Review
by Andrew Holmes on July 7, 2026
Unmatched is a modern classic. Unmatched, you might say, in the genre of miniature combat games. Accessible rules, punchy fights, card art that turns heads. It’s fun, especially for those of us who don’t generally enjoy player-versus-player miniature fighting games. And then there’s Unmatched Adventures, a cooperative take on the system. The best of both worlds: all the fun of combat but working together to defeat a common enemy. A lazy design studio might simply have created automated opponents and left it at that. Restoration Games is not a lazy design studio. Yes, the bulk of the game is indeed an automated boss and its minions fighting the players until one side is defeated. But the team pushed beyond that basic experience, adding little pressure points that influence how you approach defeating the big baddie. A downside is that each villain is restricted to its own scenario, tied to a specific board and rules additions. You can’t mix-and-match villains in the same way as you can with the heroes. Mothman always tries to destroy the bridges of Point Pleasant, presumably to cause transportation chaos and highlight America’s overreliance on the automobile. Meanwhile, the Martian Invader is exclusively focussed on dropping aliens into the cornfields of McMinnville… The post Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
Thunder Road: Ignition Game Review
by Justin Bell on July 6, 2026
Thunder Road: Ignition is Restoration Games’ attempt to streamline the production, ruleset, and gameplay of Thunder Road: Vendetta, itself an update of the 1980s Milton Bradley game Thunder Road, designed by Jim Keifer. I’m on record here at Meeple Mountain as saying that Thunder Road: Vendetta is perfect in every single way save for one: the game runs about 30 minutes too long, and it does that pretty consistently regardless of player count. It’s gorgeous, it’s hilarious, it is a great design, and it has almost unlimited amounts of content in its deluxe Maximum Chrome version. Between that version, and the expansion Carnival of Chaos, there might not be a better “beer and pretzels” laugher in my collection. When Thunder Road: Ignition arrived, I immediately set it up and waited for my nine-year-old to come home. He’s loved Thunder Road: Vendetta for a couple years now, and I was sure he would want to play Thunder Road: Ignition. He saw the cover artwork (once again brought to you by Marie Bergeron) and smiled that big smile. He was home. Then he asked a simple question, which I think defines the break point of where we landed on Thunder Road: Ignition. “Where are the choppers?” Son, There… The post Thunder Road: Ignition Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
Castle Combo: Out of the Oubliette! Game Review
by Bob Pazehoski, Jr. on July 5, 2026
I sit down to write this review with two questions on my mind: first, are twelve cards worth a full review? And second, with a game as near-perfect as Castle Combo, are twelve extra cards worth the risk? I’m going to assume the first one is a yes. As for the second, maybe. By the way, if you don’t know Castle Combo, check out our review before moving on. Where’s the bubble gum in this thing? This pack of a dozen cards adds six cards each to the Village and the Castle. Along with new characters to make you smile, these cards introduce mechanical twists and a few delayed effects. The delay is marked by a (free!) key that is either turned in to unlock the ability or retained for endgame scoring. Whether the cards are resetting the market (with perks) or raining blessings on the current tableau, they are in high demand as soon as they appear. As far as I can see, this will be the big knock on Oubliette, an extension of one of the few legitimate gripes with Castle Combo: when player experience depends on managing cards as they are randomly revealed, some will cry foul if their opponent is fed consistent opportunities with some of these doozies. As for the new mechanical twists,… The post Castle Combo: Out of the Oubliette! Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
Focused on Feld: Notre Dame Game Review
by David McMillan on July 4, 2026
Hello and welcome to ‘Focused on Feld’. In this series of reviews, I am working my way through Stefan Feld’s entire catalogue. Over the years, I have hunted down and collected every title he has ever put out. Needless to say, I’m a fan of his work. I’m such a fan, in fact, that when I noticed there were no active Stefan Feld fan groups on Facebook, I created one of my own. Today we’re going to talk about 2007’s Notre Dame, his third game. Following the release of Rum & Pirates the year before, this was Stefan Feld’s second game to appear in Alea’s big box series. Even though the game was released in the same year as In the Year of the Dragon, I’m calling this his third game because, numerically, Notre Dame comes before In the Year of the Dragon in the series (numbers 11 and 12, respectively). In Notre Dame, players take on the roles of noble families in the city of Paris at the end of the 14th century as they vie to become the most prestigious family in the city. Each player begins the game with their own borough, a board which is divided into seven different sectors, and is connected to a central tile which represents the Notre Dame… The post Focused on Feld: Notre Dame Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
Berlin 1960 Game Review
by Justin Bell on July 3, 2026
It was easily the most shocking designer news I heard at last year’s SPIEL Essen event. The designers of Devir’s new hidden role game, Berlin 1960—complete with cover art that made it look like a movie thriller combined with a wargame—were Flaminia Brasini & Virginio Gigli, co-designers of modern classics such as Coimbra and Lorenzo il Magnifico, some of the best medium-weight Euros of the last 20 years. “The Lorenzo folks did a hidden role game?” I thought when I heard the overview. “This might be the biggest surprise of 2026!” Berlin 1960 arrived at my house a few weeks ago, and I waited patiently for a game night when I had enough players to get a play rolling. That is a key component of this review…because the more players you can find, the better your experience will be. I’d frame it this way: Berlin 1960 is an eight-player game with variants that accommodate 4-7 players. You should play this game at its maximum player count of eight…and, you should not play it with many less. Gunshot Wound Berlin 1960 is a hidden role game for 4-8 players. Players are individually assigned a role as a spymaster for either the KGB or the CIA, so… The post Berlin 1960 Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
Unmatched: The Witcher – Realms Fall and Steel & Silver Game Review
by Andrew Holmes on July 2, 2026
Here at Meeple Mountain there’s a spectrum of opinion on the merits of Restoration Games’ Unmatched. I lean towards the positive. Partly because of the system’s easy rules, snappy fights and gorgeous production. It’s a hard game to hate. But I’m also the ideal audience for Unmatched. I don’t play player-versus-player fighting games, as a rule. It’s the head-to-head combative nature of them; it’s just not my jam. Sure, I’ll happily block your perambulation in Tokaido, cut you off in Through the Desert and strand as many of your meeple as possible in Carcassonne. I can be ruthless as I claw towards victory, but that victory isn’t dependent on you being eliminated, just inconvenienced. Perhaps it’s less honourable than looking you square in the eyes as I punch you in the face, but a game where the entire point is to whittle you down to zero health does not my boat float. Unmatched is the exception. With its sleek rules and sharp turns, I don’t have to invest much energy into engaging with a genre that doesn’t thrill me. The stakes are lower, which conversely means I’m more invested in enjoying the experience itself. And there’s a lot to enjoy. Unmatched: The Witcher – Realms Fall and Steel & Silver Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
The Rise and Rise of Cozy Board Games: Why We’re Trading Conflict for Comfort
by Steve Conoboy on July 1, 2026
Over time, trends will shift in our glorious hobby. Take 2016 and the types of games hitting the table as an example. Arkham Horror was into its stride, a tense world of monsters and madness that only those who play vinyl backwards would feel cozy in. Terraforming Mars rocketed up the charts (sorry), but proved to be a challenging learn/teach, and not exactly an accessible entry to the hobby. Scythe, arguably the least conflict-heavy of these, presented a relatively grim 1920’s Europe of mechs and worker placement that was unlikely to feature in your dream holiday destinations. Excellent games? Yes. Worlds you’d want to live in? Maybe not. Now, what are we playing today? Thick, tactile cardboard hexagons displaying sweeping rivers and lush forests cover the table. Someone pulls a screen-printed wooden token of a red panda out of a velvet bag. Instead of grim orcs or space marines, whimsical witches fly across the board on brooms as they make deliveries, or cozy pirates host high teas with fine silverware. Across from you, a player sighs with satisfaction as they tuck a beautifully illustrated card of a Cedar Waxwing underneath their player board. There is competition, sure - someone took the bear token you wanted three turns ago - but nobody is angry. We are chill. … The post The Rise and Rise of Cozy Board Games: Why We’re Trading Conflict for Comfort appeared first on Meeple Mountain.
Wingspan: Americas Expansion Game Review
by David McMillan on June 30, 2026
Here at Meeple Mountain, we’ve written a lot about Wingspan. Since its inception in 2019, Elizabeth Hargrave’s Spiel des Jahres winning masterpiece has inspired and captured the hearts of gamers worldwide. I’m not going to go into detail about how to play the game here. If you’re unfamiliar with Wingspan, then I suggest you familiarize yourself with the base game before reading any further. It’s been four years since the Wingspan: Asia expansion (2022) was released. Unlike that expansion, the subject of this review, Wingspan: Americas is not a standalone expansion. To play Wingspan: Americas, you must have the base game or the Wingspan: Asia expansion in order to do so. Something Old Americas introduces a whole host of new birds, each featuring new and interesting abilities. A couple of standouts for me are the White-Throated Magpie-Jay which lets you tuck cards behind its neighbours, replacing the tucked cards with newly drawn ones, or the Firewood-Gatherer which steals eggs from other birds in your tableau and dispenses eggs of its own to other birds in your tableau. A user on BoardGameGeek has compiled a list of all the new birds and their abilities that you can go check out if you’re interested. Many of these… The post Wingspan: Americas Expansion Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.