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Jay

@scouting_for_games

2.9K

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Father of 3 boys
Reviewing member of #ukbgreviewcircle
Scout Leader and keen board game enthusiast!

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At #ukge2026 I had the pleasure of doing a demo of an upcoming game set in perhaps THE most iconic Dungeons and Dragons setting, Barovia and the terrible Castle Ravenloft.

The newest Horrified game from @ravensburgerglobal
is set in this exact place and sees adventurers battling monsters (and even Count Von Zarovich himself) in a cooperative setting.

Having never played a Horrified game before I wasn't sure what to expect, or what is different from 'normal' Horrified, but it was good. So so good.

Turns were quick, the gameplay was atmospheric and thematic and we scraped through by the skin of our teeth by remembering to use the special powers of the characters.

One thing that I believe is new in this version is the introduction of dark characters. In game events force you to flip your character card over for a more powerful character that has a flaw, which really leans into the role-playing roots of the source material.

As a first impression of Horrified it was fantastic and absolutely one I need to play again!

#ukgamesexpo2026
#ukgamesexpo2026cc
#ukgamesexpo taken in Barovia, Ravenloft by @scouting_for_games

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4 months ago

#firstimpressionsfriday🎲 for me is the wonderful card game Can’t Go by the equally wonderful @trywingames

In Can’t Go players are trying to complete (and claim) the most valuable poo by playing cards to it.

There are a whole host of pandemonium cards with varying degrees of meanness to help you get there, plus some toilet paper cards that allow you to steal the giant log someone has just laid.
We’ve had so real laughs with this one and will hopefully be getting it to the table (or the porcelain) again this weekend!
We’ve played it 3 and 4 player and it was great fun. I’m not sure how it would work at 2 but am keen to give it a try to see. Sadly no solo mode at the moment, @trywingames must consider pooping a group task 😅

#firstimpressionsfriday🎲 was started by @kay_plays_games and is currently hosted by @nerdygirlgaming
This copy was loaned to me by the designer for review through @ukbg_review_circle taken in Derbyshire Dales by @scouting_for_games

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10 days ago

A bit of a different post today as it’s a catch up with what the Scouts have been up to and is sort of board game adjacent!

On Friday I’d set the scouts a number of challenges as Rollercoaster engineers tasked with building a track using Gravitrax to fulfil the objectives.
We were kindly donated a starter set and expansion set by @ravensburgerglobal so split those (plus some from our own collection) into identical components to give to each patrol. They then had 15 minutes to build a track for each challenge in turn with some golden rules to comply with.

The challenges were: Longest duration, Furthest distance and most exciting and there were some great approaches to how these were tackled.

A massive thank you to @ravensburgerglobal for this as the scouts really enjoyed themselves and it was great seeing how they attempted the challenges taken in Derbyshire Dales by @scouting_for_games

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13 days ago

#sundaymorningsolo for me was the wonderful polynomio flip and write, Molehill Meadows by @unfringedthings

Molehill Meadows sees you trying to build a path for Mika the mole around the map, hitting objectives and picking up treasure to score points.

This is a nice chill solo but there’s still a really tricky puzzle in there. Perfect for a Sunday morning.

#sundaymorningsolo was revived by @soloboardsandbooks taken in Derbyshire Dales by @scouting_for_games

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15 days ago

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17 days ago

AD/Gifted

The Curse an AR Jigsaw by @puzzletubes

The Curse is a 1000 piece jigsaw. But it’s a jigsaw with a hidden talent (or 3!).
Once the puzzle is complete, a QR code can be scanned with a smartphone camera to unlock an AR overlay on the jigsaw which makes it come alive. This was a nice touch, although nothing unexpected occurred.
The second thing is a hidden object puzzle to complete once you have the full picture. This again was a nice little aside and gives some longevity to the act of putting the puzzle together, there’s a purpose to it all.
The third thing is a full blown cypher that you need information from the jigsaw to solve. This was a lot of fun and unlocked a special treat!

The puzzle itself was very fun to complete. The picture was engaging with lots of detail and humour in there. The quality of the jigsaw itself was great, with the fit of the pieces being perfect so it was obvious if something wasn’t in the right place.

If I had to pick one negative, it would be the size of the box. The full pieces only just fit into the box without overflowing, making it impossible to use the box as a sorting tray. This is minor and easily gotten around but it was a little frustrating until I’d got through a few hundred pieces.

All in all this was a high quality, engaging and fun jigsaw and I’d happily do more from this range.

This copy was sent to me for review through @ukbg_review_circle but all opinions are my own, unbiased ones taken in Derbyshire Dales by @scouting_for_games

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21 days ago

Last One Laughing is a party game from @ravensburgerglobal based on the hit Amazon Prime TV show of the same name.

We are big fans of the show in our house, so when an opportunity came up to review a copy of this I knew I had to have a go.

First off, its worth saying that this game is for ages 14+. There isn't really much in the content that is inappropriate but some of the challenges might not be understood by younger ones. Mine did love the jokes though (even though I struggles to tell any without laughing myself)

The game is pretty open structure, with the aim to make the others laugh without laughing yourself (something I am rubbish at). If you laugh, you get a yellow card and two yellows is a red which eliminates you from being able to win. Eliminated players are able still able to participate in group challenges to try and make others laugh, so being knocked out early on isn't as much of a problem as it could be.

There are inspiration cards and 3 different joker types (solo, duo and group) which cover a wide range of topics. But the game encourages you to come up with your own to try and make people laugh with.

As with all party games, the group you play with will have a massive impact on how much you take from this game. With my family, we had some fun and laughs but there's a degrees of pre-planning and homework required to get the most out of this game, and that was a bit of a problem for us.
A party game for the family should be a pick up and play game that gives laughs and maybe tears.
To get the most from this we felt that it would need to be a pre-organised event, with people coming with rehearsed material (much like the TV show).
If you were organising a games night for a group of friends (maybe with some refreshments) then I could see this being perfect.
For a family party game this was a miss for us unfortunately, despite the designer pedigree.

This copy was sent to us for review by the publisher via @comerounduk but all opinions are our own, unbiased ones.

#lastonelaughinggame @ravensburgerglobal @smythstoys @comerounduk taken in Derbyshire Dales by @scouting_for_games

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22 days ago

AD/gifted

My #sundaymorningsolo is a bit different today, it was a chill few hours at this wonderful immersive jigsaw from @puzzletubes

I was kindly sent this for review by the publisher and the trick is that once the puzzle is complete, the fun only starts as there’s a hole AR puzzle to complete as well using a smartphone to scan a QR code and overlaying an immersive experience.

The puzzle itself is tricky (lots of similar colours and repeated details) but I’m getting there!

#sundaymorningsolo was revived by the wonderful @soloboardsandbooks please go follow her if you aren’t already! taken in Derbyshire Dales by @scouting_for_games

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22 days ago

Once upon a time I was asked if I liked cricket. The obvious reply to that is; I don’t like cricket, I love it.
But do I love a game that attempts to capture the essence of cricket, but make it more accessible?

First off, It's Not Cricket by @itsnotgames is immaculately finished. The only piece of plastic in the box is the spinned for the umpire’s decision. Everything else is wood or really tactile runner-foam. The aesthetics work really well and the attention to detail shines through, the rule book even looks like a little umpire’s notepad or scorer’s sheet.

The game itself is simpler than the amount of components would lead you to believe. You choose a game mode, decide who’s batting (Willows team) and bowling (Rowlers team) first and then start chucking dice.
It's not just a simplistic dice chucker, there’s quite a bit of tactics on which Willow and Rowler are chosen and when, but you are just rolling dice.

On to the choices. The Rowler team has a choice of 2 or 3 characters to bowl with (depending on game mode and the Willow), each of which has their own, different probability weighted, dice.

The choices for the Willows are a bit less obvious other than the aesthetics, but some Willows can’t face a certain Rowler and (depending on the game mode) can only face a certain number of balls.
However, each character also has a weighting multiplier that is applied to the run score at the end of the innings, so careful selection and/or good luck can lead to massive scores.

Add into this dice for edging the ball, running between the wickets (a push your luck mini game), fielders, mistakes and wicket keepers and there's a lot going on. But once you get the hang of it, it all makes sense and is quite enjoyable.

The game is marketed as being for 3-13 players. We actually played as a 2, 3 and 4. With the 2 and 3 player games being a bit more engaging. I honestly can’t imagine trying to play with 13 players and keeping track of who’s go it is as I can imagine attention would wander a bit! But at 2 and 3 players turns were quick and snappy and it felt interesting and engaging.

To answer my question, I liked it but didn't love it. But it was fun, and accessible taken in Derbyshire Dales by @scouting_for_games

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24 days ago

Often, life means that I don't have time to set-up a big game to play with my family.

Fast Friends by @gameofkittens is therefore a perfect alternative as a quick, fun, engaging game to play.

As a rule, I don't like real time games and I can take or leave party games. But somehow, Fast Friends transcends this by being really fun to play. Like, seriously fun. With lots of giggles.

The game is simple, the game works by you drawing a card from the box which has a word with a blank next to it. You and your partner need to fill in the blank with the same word at the same time to pass the play around the table.
This sounds easy, but it is anything but! The whole thing is governed by a randomised secret electronic timer so you have the added pressure of trying to match whilst a timer is ticking away.
If you have the box when the timer goes off, each of you lose a life. If everyone else loses their lives, you win!

There are also plenty of cards in the box, in 4 different colours (the cards are double sided and can be rotated), with the idea that you play one colour at a time. I don't see a reason why you couldn't just randomise them all as the prompts seem relatively consistent between the colours from what I've seen but perhaps there's a reason why.

Interestingly, the game also has a 2 player mode. This uses the same timer but instead of being randomised is a set time and you have to try and score as many cards as possible within that time to beat your own score. This also worked really well but we got nowhere close to some of the score thresholds. Perhaps we are just rubbish at it, but some seem impossible!

For 3-8 players, you are supposed to play the competitive version. However, we found that playing the 2 player rules at 3 player was a bit more engaging and gave some better dynamics.

This game has really surprised us and has been a great addition to family game night!

This copy was sent to me for review by the publisher, but all opinions are my own unbiased ones.

I suppose this also counts as #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 started by @kay_plays_games and currently hosted by @nerdygirlgaming taken in Derbyshire Dales by @scouting_for_games

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a month ago

AD/Gifted

Straight off, it is worth saying that the fantasy book series that Fourth Wing is based on has bypassed me. But, when an opportunity to try the game presented itself, I was intrigued. Who doesn’t like a fantasy romance genre with intrigue and dragons!

Fourth Wing Rise of the Wingleader by @goliath_games_uk is a hand management game for 1-5 players (although see later for my thoughts on player counts) which sees players competing for glory during their time at Dragon School.

The game is relatively straightforward, each turn has a different colour icon associated with a particular reward and you take it in turns playing cards from your hand to try and claim the rewards by having the most of those icons.

There’s a BIT more to it than that. Failing to gain majority on an icon forces you to pass, which may incur a penalty depending on the event card that’s out. So knowing when to play, when to claim and when to hold back is a big part of the game.

Unfortunately, the passing aspect of the game is pretty much lost at low player counts. There are 4 different colour types to try and go for, so the chances are that you will always be able to get at least one of them which eliminates the peril from the “Dangerous” events, particularly at 2 player.

At the full player count, someone is going to be missing out each round so the threat actually means something but there is still quite an element of luck to it all.

The solo mode addressed this a bit better, and made the push and pull a bit meatier. So perhaps including the automa in a 2 player game would be an option.

However, it’s important to remember who this game is for. That, to me, is first and foremost fans of the books. Is it the most complex and well designed game in the world? No. Does it have a nice aesthetic, some lovely components (for the most part, I’m not a fan of the plastic dragon pieces) and a theme that will likely appeal to a lot of people? Yes.
The bigger question is, did I enjoy it? The answer to that is also, yes - but i wouldn’t play it at 2 players again.

This copy was provided to me for review by @wire_pr on behalf of the publisher but all opinions are my own, unbiased ones. taken in Derbyshire Dales by @scouting_for_games

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a month ago

#firstimpressionsfriday🎲 was started by @kay_plays_games and is currently hosted by @nerdygirlgaming

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Manchester and attending a games day put on by @hachetteboardgamesuk

One of the stand out games from that day was Greylune, which has just been released.

Greylune is a worker placement and retrieval game set around a fantasy medieval theme and has some absolutely gorgeous components.

The game itself is split into years and seasons with different actions being available in each season and a limited amount of workers available to you each year to do those actions with.
The core of the game is putting out workers into the village between two cards, with the aim of retrieving that worker in a future season to activate one of those two cards (if they are still there!). The trick being that the more workers that are round a card, the more expensive it is to do the action. So there’s a balance between a really tight economy and timing doing the action before someone else takes the card.
There’s also an element of engine building as you can recruit people and buy items that boost your actions in various ways.
Plus there’s a whole adventure aspect where you send a knight out on quests around the region, which you can then go and brag about in the local taverns for even more points.

It’s safe to say I really enjoyed this one and can’t wait to play it again! Even if @nerdygirlgaming did beat me 😝 taken in Manchester, United Kingdom by @scouting_for_games

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a month ago