Blog

Apples to Apples clones are everywhere, it's true. It's no secret that many serious gamers have grown tired of these types of games, but is there room for them among casual gamers? Depending on the game, I think so. Today we are looking at If I Only Had..., a party game for 4 to 12 players in which players are presented with dire situations and must choose between various items that would help them out the most.

The Spring 2014 issue of Casual Game Insider is now in stock and available for sale! Print and digital versions are available.

No, it's not Tetris, but it's remarkably similar. FITS (Fill-In-The-Spaces) is a board game by Ravensburger that brings the challenge of tile-fitting games like Tetris to the table top. It introduces some competitive play and certainly challenges spacial reasoning. But is it fun?

Gamewright Games has several new games available for pre-order, this Saturday is International Tabletop Day, and Z-Man Games announces Helios.

You've almost certainly played Chess — but have you played it using cards? Probably not. King's Ransom, by General Nonsense Games, will feel quite familiar to anyone who has played Chess. The cards contain various Chess pieces which offer similar movement abilities, yet the game introduces some luck and different types of strategy. But is there enough new gameplay here to keep the attention of a casual gamer?

Hasbro is allowing fans to vote on best Monopoly House Rules for a new edition, 64 Oz Games is running a Kickstarter to make board games accessible for the visually impaired, and Z-Man Games is set to release My First Carcassonne.

A game that uses only magnets? Absolutely! AttrAction is a super-fun dexterity game where players flick, slide, or toss powerful magnets on the table to create clusters. It's simple, it's fun, and it's perfect for informal fun at a party or family gathering.

Fireside Games announce Munchkin Panic, Hasbro is open for word nominations for an official Scrabble dictionary update, and Z-Man Games announces a new expansion to Carcassonne.

In the tabletop gaming world, traditional standards classify the hierarchy of gamers loosely into "non-gamers," kids/family gamers, and hardcore/hobby gamers. But in reality, there is no such thing as a "non-gamer."

Bazaar is a reprint by Gryphon Games that is, at its core, all about currency exchange. Fortunately for those of us who choose not to engage in public displays of arithmetic, there are no numbers involved — just colors.