Make a mad dash out of Arkham Asylum – again! You’ve broken out before, though, so to make things more interesting, you’ve challenged your fellow rogues of Gotham City to a race to freedom. Can you make your daring getaway before your opponents?
In DC Breakout: Arkham Asylum, each player gets five villains from Batman’s history, then chooses two teams of two villains, with each team competing in one of two races. Hundreds of possible duos exist, with each villain having a unique power that can be supplemented with gadgets to gain the upper hand over your rivals. Whoever wins the second race wins the entire game.
In Gretchen’s Garden, players compete in selecting the most precious succulents available for their very own collection! You don’t even need a green thumb to win this easy to grasp tableau builder. Over the course of 12 rounds, players try their very best to optimize their collection by adding extraordinary pots and rare specimens. This might request snatching the odd leave from your opponent’s plant. The player with the trendiest collection (and most points) wins!
In 20 Strong Tanglewoods, one takes on the role of their favorite fairytale protagonist in this solo dice-rolling game of adventure. Gamers looking for a card-based, solo, lightweight dungeon crawling experience should check it out. 20 Strong is a series of games from Chip Theory that use the same set of twenty dice of several different colors. These dice are then used to play any number of different games, which are purchased as additional decks of cards. Thus one only has to purchase a new deck to have a new game to play. At present, every game in the 20 Strong line revolves around rolling dice to damage and defeat a deck filled with antagonist cards. Only some of the rolled dice are recovered to be used again so a primary focus in the game is managing one’s dice use. After wading through various minions, defeat the final boss to win the game. The recent Tanglewoods series (red, white, gold, rose – I leave the reader to figure out which fairy tale is which) all tend to involve a strong movement component, whereby the player moves from location to location, triggering an event (battling something or recovering) on their way to the final showdown location. While there are many similarities between versions, a player that enjoys one deck of cards may appreciate the variety offered by another. On the flip side, all the games use a similar dice mechanic. If that is not your cup of tea, changing decks is unlikely to change your mind. Of note, there is a special Tanglewoods deck that combines three of the other Tanglewoods decks to make a linked campaign (even with a “secret boss reveal” if you don’t research reviews too closely.) If the 20 Strong line of games sounds interesting, there is a soon-ending crowdfunding campaign going on for three new decks based on the popular boardgames: Tainted Grail, Nemesis, and Etherfields. Going on limited information, they sound like they will lead the 20 Strong series another step or two in a new direction of gameplay.
20 Strong – Tanglewoods Designer: Josh J. Carlson (also Logan Giannini & Ryan Howard) Publisher: Chip Theory Games Players: 1 (solo only) Ages: 14+ Time: 30-40 min (review copy provided by publisher)
THE ULTIMATE CARCASSONNE EXPERIENCE: The Carcassonne Big Box (2025 Edition) includes the world-renowned base game plus 11 expansions for endless replayability and strategic depth. It features the 2001 Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) winning base game and 11 popular expansions—everything you need to start or expand your Carcassonne collection.
There have been plenty of other Big Boxes of Carcassonne, and this is the most recent one – originally released in 2021 and then again in 2025; and it is the 2025 version that we are reviewing here. Note that this version is in no way a comprehensive Big Box, there are still plenty of other expansions and promotional tiles which are not included here – so if you’re looking for a full omnibus edition, this isn’t that.
Well, in recent years, the genre of the Tableau Builder has been one of more popular ones. Two big hits of the past few years Faraway (2023) and Castle Combo (2024) have each recently had an expansion. Each comes in a little sachet that feels like an old-school pack of baseball cards.
If you’re unfamiliar with the base games – let me direct you to our reviews of those first:
So, each year (well, nearly each year) since 2000, I have been able to attend the Gathering of Friends – an invitational event which is unlike any other that I go to. The Friends all meet at a hotel, and pretty much spend ten days playing games, eating food, possibly drinking drinks – having a good time without much agenda. Sure, there are some business meetings and prototype pitches that happen – but for me, it’s just games. Wake up, drink coffee, play games, go to dinner, play games, go to bed. Repeat. I only get five days right now due to some IRL responsibilities – but here’s what I played…
(I used to try to do this real-time, but as I age, my ability to write late at night has waned. By the time I’m done gaming now, I’m pretty much straight to bed)
