So there used to be a post on BGG where we would have discussion about what was played with kind of 3 sections: what you enjoyed what you didn’t and a final section about what I was looking forward to in the next month. That thread is now dead so instead lets move it over to a blog no one reads. Results are generated using http://www.robandkriskris.com/gcl/ and BGStats app
All the things I played in July 2025:
Honestly this is the reason that I wanted to actually do this post. It is a bit of bragging. There are literally more than 25 individual games played. Something that as far as I can tell from my stats hasn’t happened….well ever. Most of this is due to the fact that I did get to go to a 3 day gaming convention and play a lot of things. So without further ado lets get talking about the standout games.
The Good
Oh there was a lot of good this month. Like I said the convention means that I managed to hit up a lot of new and exciting games and some games I have been wanting to play for a long time.
- Dogs of War: Very excited to finally get to play this. So I have heard a lot of great things about this game over the years and it is heavily out of print and getting a reprint later this year so I was excited to see what all the fuss is about. What I don’t think was ever properly communicated to me is that the game is ultimately a worker placement game with your workers representing what team what you are on for a specific battle. Overall the game is a pretty good light/medium worker placement and I enjoyed it a lot (even though I got stomped)
- EGO: So I didn’t actually play my copy, even though my copy was several meters away from me while I was playing. The re-implementation of an older Knizia game the game is just a series of auctions and trades as you attempt to get yourself the best position. I played the basic version (as this was everyone’s first game) and I think the game benefits VERY strongly from the additional modules that expand the number of auctions and make you shed more cards. In our game everyone played it safe and that ended up giving the advantage to whoever got “luckiest” which just happened to be me. I plan to introduce some people to this in August so hopefully more details coming later
- Hot Streak: Hot Streak is the first game I can honestly say is for everybody. Its for my kids, its for my friends, its for some hardcore gamers, its for my grandparents, I struggle to think who this game isn’t for. It’s so short, silly and great. I have a hard time figuring out who this isn’t for and the presentation takes the game up several notches. The game is fun, it aint serious and I basically ran out to get myself a copy of this after playing it. It is most likely the best filler I will have for a long time.
- Phantom Division: I got to play a production test copy at the con taught by someone who knows the rules. I am more excited to have backed this now that I have tried it and it really does seem like an expansion and improvement of the seal team flicks system. The noise system and guard movements make sense and while I am sure that set up is no joke we seemed to handle it OK. Maybe I need to get seal team flicks in preparation of this (though the new game is not coming for at least a year).
- Fast Sloths: This one was one I decided to join randomly remembering that I heard some decent things about this game. The game is a pretty fun puzzle where you are trying to get across the board to several different areas using other animals to help move your sloths (as they can’t move themselves…too lazy…). The nature of the shared animals that everyone has to use to move plus the added wrinkle that makes it harder to move efficiently the closer you are to winning was really interesting and I managed to eek out a win from some careful planning, though I did not think I was winning for a good chunk of the game.
- Glory to Rome: Not new to me, in fact we played my very old IV edition (in a newly 3d printed black box…for the jokes). The game was a teaching game as I tried to stress to people that everything is broken and its really the first person to find a broken combo. Which in this game seemed to be myself. Specifically in completing a building that let me use the powers of my unfinished marble buildings. So I had access to several really powerful building abilities allowing me to rush the end game, though some players got real close to a forum win.
- Spooky Stairs: This one is weird. It is such a simple game, it has quite a few “faux pas” of gaming but it understands them so well and turn them into a great game. The game seems to make 100% sense for the first half and then goes off the rails as everyone is switching pawns around as well as switching their own player tokens. The reveal by the end is quite entertaining as people really do lose track of the whole story. And all of this in about 15-20 minutes. It’s no hot streak but this game is quite fun (though can be made less fun if people have perfect memory or with some very bad dice rolls).
- The other good stuff thats not quite new: Scout, Spirit Island, Cthulhu: DMD, Cosmic Frog and Wabash Cannonball, Ra, Paku Paku, Through the Desert are all still great and loved.
The Questionable
I hesitate to call these games bad, because I don’t think any of these games are bad I just don’t know if I want them in my collection or enjoy playing them….
- The Estates: First time playing this since selling off this game and while I enjoyed my play I am think I was quite justified in getting rid of this. While I enjoy it as an auction game, I think its a little too pure and too mean. It suffers from one player making mistakes throwing the whole balance of the game out and sometimes you can lose or win because someone made a mistake and fed you money, or fed someone else money, or misplaced a roof or one of the otpions. Overall I think the game went well but I don’t see a reason to pay the exorbitant second hand prices for it (Especially when you can 3d print a nice new copy)
- For Science!: It hurts me to put this here, because this is the first time I played this game with people outside my group. With my group of friends or people who I play with the teaching of this game follows a “predictable” cadence. The first game is played at level 0 and involves us losing just barely as people understand why everything is important (i.e designing your own board for microscopes that are useful, how to set up a medium difficulty disease and what is easier to build and what is outright impossible, and lastly how to build the main puzzle to get your icons and win). The second game at level 0 is usually much better with people specializing and changing roles as needed and winning pretty easily. I did not see this in this game. I taught it to several people over 3 games they got hung up on the same difficulties and we couldn’t even get close to winning a single time. But maybe its me being a bad teacher. With my core group this is still a winner!
- Scape Goat: On one hand I really like this game of reverse deduction. Everyone knows that the person everyone is trying to pin it on is one of two people, either whoever their card shows is the scape goat or themselves. In reality that first target is the biggest hint the scape goat has to figure out if they are who everyone is trying to pin it on. The game is really a race to get the right card into everyones hands before you accidentally throw out too many of a single player card and tip them off that they are not the target (since you don’t know who the target of the scapegoat is) and end the game. I like it but I don’t know how to get this into the rotation more. Maybe I need to find social deduction players who enjoy this…..
Kids Corner
I play a lot of games with my kids so what has been a hit lately. As noted above both Spooky Stairs and Hot Streak were greatly enjoyed. Here to slay continues to be a hit forever and ever. The newer game that continues to be great is That’s Not a Hat the memory game for people who are bad at memory games. Not too much pain from these games and it is enjoyed by all.
Hopes for Next Month
Looking to get Ego again to the table and I have a few weeks at the cottage where I am hoping to maybe get some games out as well….but we’ll see how that goes. Otherwise as always my gaming slows down in September-December just because of how busy those months get so lets hope we can still make it work and this isn’t the last hurrah for the year.