Ah the joy of a truly intriguing game coming in a small package.

Welcome to 3D Pawn by designer George Smith.

This is a devilishly simple idea, at least in concept.

The 'board' is a cube with a three-by-three grid on each side.

A two-player game, each combatant starts with nine pieces on opposite of the cube. They are held in place by surprisingly strong magnets which allows the pieces to move around the cube and stay in place.

The pawns move one forward or sideways but not backwards. If a pawn is on its starting side, it can move two squares in the same direction. So they have the general feel of a chess pawn.

A pawn can take a piece diagonally in front of it, moving into its place.

The goal of the game is equally simple, although not so easily achieved. To win: get your piece onto your opponent's side without being instantly taken.

The key to the basic game is the experience of having to comprehend the game in three dimensions. There are only a few board games, Axiom coming to mind, which have game play in three dimensions, and that makes 3D Pawn refreshingly different without overly complex rules to grasp.

Adding to this game in terms of being worth seeking out is the checkmate expansion.

"Instead of nine pawns, each player starts with eight pawns and a king in the middle," details the rules.

"Pawns move like in the basic version. When a pawn gets to the opposite side, it becomes a queen and the game continues.

"A queen moves any number of vacant squares in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction. She takes pieces in the same way. A queen can move across but not "along" edges. The queen in the diagram can't move to the opposite side and has no legal move.

"The king can move to any square around him. He takes in the same way. A king is in check when it is under attack of an enemy piece. A player may not make a move which places or leaves their king in check."

As in chess "to win, you must checkmate your opponent. This occurs when their king is in check and there is no legal way to remove it from attack. Alternatively, your opponent can resign, which is a common way to end the game."

Made of wood, except for the magnet nodules, this game will look great on a desk, or book shelf, set on a small stand, where it can start a conversation and lead to a quick game, or two, and that is a nice plus.

The game is so compact, aesthetically pleasing, easily learned, yet mind-bending, that it really deserves the highest recommendation.

You have to appreciate a board game that comes in a small box with rules so simple they are printed on the inside of the box top.

That is one of the reasons to like Partido by designer Nick Ryan.

Partido is a tile laying game with a simple objective. "Match as many shapes as you can to score points. The first player to 21 points wins."

The games can be learned in about three-minutes.

"Stack and place all tiles face down in reach of other players, or leave them in the box. Draw a tile and place it face up to start. Decide which player goes first, turns rotate clockwise.

"The first player draws one face down tile and tries to match one or more of the shapes on their tile with any existing tiles on the playing area.

"If two or more shapes are matched, one point is awarded for every completed shape (two, three or four). Never one," details the simple rules.

And that my friend's is the extent of Partido.

If it was a longer game in a facet it would edge toward more effort than the game warrants, but as it is, it's great.

Think of this one as a filler game, or conversational one for a small group, it plays two to five, which will remind a bit of Quartex in its play, a tile-laying game I also highly recommended some time ago.

Check it out at www. idyllwildgames.com

Thanks to fellow gamers Jeff Chasse, Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

Aesthetics are a huge part of what makes an abstract strategy game stand out for me.

There is no better way to start in terms of great aesthetics than to make the game of wood.

Call me old school but wooden games simply look better to me.

That was the first thing I noted with Bridget, the chunky wooden pieces which are a huge plus.

The game comes in a cloth bag, which is neat as it harkens back to an earlier era when everything was not in a cardboard box and shrink wrapped in plastic.

However, while it provides a nice older feel, I have to concede nice cardboard boxes do store more easily on a board game shelf.

So what is Bridget all about?

Well the game has its origins in other games.

"Bridget is our version of the Swiss game 'Caminos' designed by Stefan Kögl. The original has won 'Best Family Game' at the Swiss toy awards. This game is too good to be monopolised by a nation of yodellers, so we've brought it home.
With the help of our partner Asha Handicrafts, Bridget games are hand made by fairly paid artisans in India. Asha's profits are reinvested to provide the workers and their families with medical care, education and help with sanitation. To find out more about our supply chain please go to our website," explains the rule sheet.

The actual game remains straightforward.

"Imagine a mountain goat taking a leisurely stroll across the board. The goat can leap up and down steps as big as you like. Your task is to build a bridge for the goat to cross. Both the horizontal and vertical faces of the bridge must be in your colour, so as to form a continuous line. Your bridge must be visible; it cannot be buried under your opponent's pieces. Players can attempt to bridge from any side. New routes can be started at any time or multiple routes attempted at the same time. Bridge lines do not have to be straight," explains the simple rule sheet.

The goal of the game sounds simple enough, but there is a nice challenge to it.

"Your bridge must connect two opposite sides of the board. If you're playing on the octagon, then you can connect to the opposite side or a side next to the opposite side. The end pieces of your bridge do not need to be at the ground level," details the rulebook.

"The bridge must run from one side to the other including vertical and horizontal faces."

The rules do offer some help for players starting out.

"The best way to block is often "up stream" of where the threat appears to be, Look further up the line of attack and see if you can block your opponent where their line starts instead of where it is about to finish. Be sparing in the use of "L" shaped pieces, these enable you to bridge over two stories, thus claiming the high ground."

As players gain experience the rules suggest "the real skill of the game is working yourself into a position where your opponent can't stop a win, as opposed to not noticing the line you have been developing. Try playing a game with infinite 'time machines' where you can always replay your last go. In this scenario you can only win by mastering the board completely; giving yourself multiple routes to winning and leaving your opponent unable to block them all at once."

Bridget is one of those really nice looking games that travels well, is simple to learn and generally quick to play. That makes it ideal for a trip to the coffee shop, or the summer cabin, where the replay ability of the game will make it a popular one for many.

Check it out at www.etgames.co.uk

Thanks to fellow gamer Adam Daniels for his help in running through this game for review.

There is something to be said for savvy marketing, and in the world of board games great box top graphics go a long way toward attracting a player's attention.

That is the first thing you notice with In the Name of Odin. The box art is rather stunning, and thankfully once you are lured by the art you find a very solid game inside the box.

In the Name of Odin is from designer Krzysztof Zięba and NSKN Games, who has combined to put together a very aesthetically pleasing game, where production has actually gone beyond what someone might expect. A case in point are the little plastic Norsemen. They could just as easily have been little wooden cubes, in some respects cubes might actually be more convenient, but the little 'toy soldier-like' Vikings do up the look of the game.

The game play here isn't anything startlingly new, but the overall game experience is still about average, aided by the fact you are playing Vikings, which is always a cool thing to do.

Players have a hand of action cards which on their turn they use to construct new buildings in their village, gather companions (those little Viking sculpts), recruit famous Vikings and build longships that will carry them to fame and glory.

The hand of cards will never be large enough to do everything you might desire to do on a turn, but such is the reality of resource management games in general. The good news with Odin is that almost every card can be used to some advantage every turn. It might not be the most desired option, but it will help build toward some in-game goal over the longer term. You are rarely stuck with dead and useless cards clogging your hand.

So as the game's webpage, (www.nskn.net), denotes; "you are all brave warriors, shrewd traders and bold explorers, but only one of you will become the new Jarl to rule in the name of Odin."

While there are other things you must do to prepare in game, ultimately you want to send out your longships filled with your Viking hordes to raid bringing back 'victory points' in the process.

"In essence, In the Name of Odin is an optimization race. As ambitious Northmen you are trying to prove yourself as cunning leaders and bold raiders to gain the most Fame before the game's inevitable end. To do that you will go on raids.

"Each Raid is a card that (depending on its position on the board) requires a longship of certain range to reach, a combination of three types of Vikings under your banner, and a famous persona to lead the expedition. It means you will have to gather or build all these elements and turn them in to claim the Raid card and score its Fame value."

The resources to make the raids possible come via the action cards.

"Each turn you will perform actions by expending action cards from your hand. Each of those cards carries two symbols: one with a Viking group (warrior, trader or sailor), and one with an action type. At the end of each round you will draw cards to refill your hand, so that you're able to think of your next moves while other players act," explains the website.

"Expending an action card means discarding it and choosing a Viking or action symbol. Viking symbols allow you to recruit shield-brothers – and the more of a single type you expend, the more Vikings will join you. The action icons allow you to build new structures or ships and to make a powerful ally – a Viking hero who will join you on a raid, or lend their special ability during time spend on land."

While this game is generally a tight one; the rules work, the cards are useful, the choices each turn varied, there is one rule that annoyed me a lot.

After a raid, players have the option to play cards to try to impact the fame a player gains. He can opt to play a card and the raider has to match the symbol. If players chose not to play a card three random ones are used. Since cards are limited, the raider is hard pressed to respond, especially to all three, so generally the raid fame is always reduced.

The players who do play a card do so with impunity, since they draw a new card immediately.

It's all a drawn out process that seems to have only one good reason to exist, a way for players to gamble in tossing a card they don't want to draw what they hope is better, but since all cards can almost always be used that is a thin reason for a rather clunky, uninteresting, and most certainly not needed, game mechanic.

"Each building you put in your village unlocks its unique ability and grants you an action symbol you can use once during your turn. Each ship allows you to reach certain raids and offers you its own special ability. Through a combination of cards in your hand, and a growing tableau of abilities and icons you will be able to resolve your actions more effectively – or with more of an impact on the game.

Also, anything you build during the game will score you fame – and although Raids are the key to victory, you'll also be able to build much of your final score and what you've achieved as a leader and a shipwright. And as combinations of different abilities are limitless, you will play a different game every time you sit down to In the Name of Odin."

There are a number of Viking-themed games in our collection, and while Odin might not be the best of those, it is a game still to be highly recommended as being one with lots of choices, and general above average game play.

Thanks to fellow gamers Jeff Chasse, Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

Among recently reviewed games none have been a more enjoyable experience than New York 1901.

While there have been games which I would rate more highly, on relaxing fun, this one is certainly high on the list.
"Shape the historic skyline of New York City in this skyscraper building game. You will take on the role of land developers competing for glory and prestige in the city's financial district as you acquire new land, demolish old buildings, and build up skyscrapers to staggering new heights," details www.blueorangegames.com the game's publisher.

So where to start with this gem?

I could start with the great illustrations from Vincent Dutrait. The back of the game board would look pretty outstanding hanging on the wall of a game's room. It is that cool.

So when this game is on the table it looks awesome.

The game, designed by Chénier La Salle plays two-to-four, although this is one where the more the merrier holds true. The more competition to control areas on the map of New York allowing players to 'build' skyscrapers, the better.

That is the goal here, to build bigger and higher skyscrapers on some of Lower Manhattan's most iconic streets.

The game has something of a Tetris-feel, in the sense players have to fit building pieces of various shapes into the grid. They gain control of the grid by choosing cards and sending out workers to claim locales on which they can build in the future.

So there is also just a taste of a worker placement mechanic, which works super smoothly here.

Overall, New York 1901, is most reminiscent of Ticket to Ride. If you are a fan of the classic train game are going to feel New York familiar and the game easy to understand, and fun to play.

There are, however, some added choices with the skyscraper builder. You are not left with handfuls of useless cards in pursuit of specific train lines. New York keeps you better engaged.

The one small flaw is that the game provides each player with a visually attractive card for a specific builder, but they grant no special in-game bonuses, which was just a little disappointing.

New York 1901 also has some accolades which suggest how good it is. The awards and honours include;
•   2016 Mensa Select Winner
•   2015 Vuoden Peli Strategy Game of the Year Winner
•   2015 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee

For great family fun New York 1901 is a winner on my table too.

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

Tile laying games are by their nature generally easy for players to get into, and are engaging because players stay focused on the best placement of the tile.

So anytime a new tile laying game comes out, it's worth a close look by most gamers.

Which brings us to Okanagan:Valley of the Lakes released last year by publisher Matagot.

"The Okanagan Valley, with its huge lakes and fertile meadows awaits anyone willing to exploit it! Shape the land and expand your wealth in this tile gathering and territory building game. The players arrange tiles to design the landscape along with its natural resources. You'll place in turns one of the three available buildings to obtain and secure these resources and complete your secret goals," details the company website www.matagot.com.

The thing that I like is that the game is based in Canada. While little in terms of game play, or aesthetics, would suggest the famed Okanagan area of British Columbia, the background at least suggests game designer Emanuele Ornella had the region in mind, which as a Canadian is pretty cool.

But a pasted on theme, interesting, or not, does not a game make.

There is a solid tile laying game here, one with some interesting feature that offer interesting play which at times exceeds the tile laying classic Carcassonne, a game that sits solidly in my top-25 games of all-time.
Still there are things I like better with Okanagan.

To start with players initially are dealt seven cards, each with goals to achieve through the game which will score points. Generally they focus on collecting certain things; furs, fish, ore etc. You select three and discard the others.
Since goals change game-to-game there is a freshness to each outing.

Of course you can get stuck with cards that do not match how the game plays out. Fear not at the halfway point there is a mechanic to toss some cards in favour of new ones.

Next comes tile selection. Three tiles are shown face-up, so players can select the most advantageous one. It is a better option than the blind pull of a single tile from a bag.

The downside here is that piece placement, they are nice wooden ones, is a bit confusing especially as you are learning the game. With three different types of pieces, each with a different point value, determining majority in a controlled area of the board takes some calculating.

What a player earns with area majority, and what is left for the players with influence but not majority to collect will necessitate referring back to the rulebook quite a lot.

The game also has a quicker end mechanic. Players have a set numbers of wooden pieces and once those are played, a piece is placed each turn, the game ends. That is a nice aspect of Okanagan.

Whether Okanagan gets to the table often enough to just know the rules automatically will depend on how individuals like this one. For our group we saw some elements we liked a lot, as mentioned above, but in the end this one came out average. It would never be a game to pass on playing, but not likely to be a first pick either.

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

There are always those days we want to game, but can't find a bud to join us, the day-off when you find yourself bored, the evening your cribbage playing wife is watching a movie you really don't want to see, so why not try a solo game.

Unbroken, is a solo game for players 13-plus, expected to take less than  half an hour from Canadian game designer Artem Safarov, currently blowing the doors off the goals it had set for funding at kickstarter.com

Certainly the fluff on the Kickstarter page is interesting; "Test your survival skills in the dark fantasy world of Unbroken. You are the only one left alive after your group was ambushed by monsters - now you must avenge your friends and reclaim your freedom. Quick to learn, easy to set up and playable in a brief 20-30 minutes, the game will challenge you to make the right decisions or fall victim to the many dangers of the monster-infested caverns.

"Plan wisely and take calculated risks - you do not have much and must use every resource at your disposal to prevail. Each journey in the dark is unique as you play as one of four different characters and face a variety of monsters and encounters. Your character gets better with experience and so will you - Unbroken is a game that encourages and rewards repeated plays to refine your strategies."

Being a Canadian designer was involved I became doubly interested, and quickly fired off an email to Safarov who was good enough to consent to a cyber interview.

The first question of course was why do a solo game?

"One man's niche is another man's specialization," offered Safarov. "I think the board game market right now is so saturated for choice that gamers have the luxury of being very specific with which games they pick to play. You don't have to settle for a medium-long resource management die game with Norse mythology if what you really wanted was a longer risk-management game with dice in Norse mythology.

"In fact, I think games that tend towards universality - your '2-4 player strategy game playable in an hour with a unique twist on deckbuilding/ bidding / die management / worker placement,' would be hard pressed to get noticed because of the amount of competition it would face in the same category.

"So I went niche specifically for a reason. I wanted a fantasy game that was meant to play solo where my decisions, not dice determine the outcomes and that plays very quickly, but still immerses me in the story. Lord of the Rings LCG, One Deck Dungeon, Friday and Space Hulk: Death Angel all tick some of these boxes but not all together. That presented itself as an opportunity and judging by the success of the campaign - I was not alone looking for a game like that."

So going off the well-beaten path was a conscious choice to offer something unique, but you still need the idea around which a game is created.

"I'm big on each game being built on an idea," said Safarov. "For Unbroken that idea is perseverance in the face of adversity. Standing up after you fall, making the best of a bad situation, lemonade when life gives you lemons - you get the idea.

"I built the entirety of the game on this feeling of struggle and survival in the face of overwhelming odds. I found it to be inspiring to design around a vision rather than mechanism and think the game turned out better because of it.

"Unbroken has been in private development for about a year, then public playtesting and refinement for another year. I took my time with not rushing through these steps to make sure I was happy with the results and balance before moving on to the next step."

Being a solo experience Safarov said he was aware through the design process he had to keep that single-player experience at the forefront of any game mechanic, or concept.

"Understanding whether the players enjoy the kinds of decisions that you think they will enjoy; it's hard work to peel away people's emotions and general excitement about playing a game and looking directly into whether the choices they make are impacting the game in the way you want and are not obvious to the players," he related. "I think Unbroken is a game full of hard, non-obvious choices and this uncertainty brings great tension and replay ability to this little tale of survival."

But Safarov said he thinks having the creation process so focused on solo play ultimately helped.

"It was a lot easier. As a small indie designer it's tough for me to find game groups to playtest with," he noted.

"Finding playtesters for a solo game is a breeze, especially if you provide a Print 'n Play. I almost felt like I discovered a cheat code in the development system - that's how amazing developing a solo game is!|

Still there were challenges.

"The hardest thing to do was to introduce variability that doesn't feel random or unfair," said Safarov. "(To) Create a bunch of scenarios that the player would need to be prepared for that are distinct enough to be interesting but are not so unpredictable that the player feels no control.

"I achieved this with a variety of game effects that regulate effectiveness of different strategies (an example) different weapons will perform better or worse against foes who have armor or those who just have a ton of hit points). I think this gives the game a feeling of something that you can learn and explore but something that you always feel a bit leery about as you'll never be prepared for all eventualities."

So what is the best element of the game that will make Unbroken a memorable game for players?

"The payoff for the time invested, hands down," said Safarov. "Unbroken has given me memorable experiences time and time again - ones where I was excited, when I felt great about my cunning plans, ones where I cursed my bad decisions.

"And, it does so reliably in under 20-minutes, which I really appreciate as a parent of two young boys with a full time job. I think many folks who wish they could play more games will really enjoy just how easy Unbroken is to get to the table and how rewarding it is once you do."

If you are a fan of role playing games you will likely recognize one of the barriers, especially as you mature, is the ability to keep an adventuring party active, and at the gaming table regularly.

The answer might well be to check out Journey To The Overland: A Solo Tabletop Roleplaying Game created by Deano C. Ware.

Journey To The Overland is a game where players take on the role of characters traveling throughout the Overland in order to obtain one of the Five Weapons of Power.

"The King is Old and news is spreading that the evil Wizard Morcai is amassing an army atop Fire Mountain to march on King's Castle and take control of the Overland," states the game's Kickstarter page, providing some interesting background to the game's world.

"From every town in the Overland the calls out for a hero capable of Obtaining One of the Five Weapons of Power able to stop the Wizard Morcai. Bloodblade the ancient sword of blood forged by the ancient wizards of Overland to guard against the advent of tyrants and mad kings The Emerald Cross a holy relic, bundled together from splinters from the Cross of Christ, capable of protecting its wearer from even the most powerful spells and magic's. The Bow of Light, an elven missile weapon so deadly and so accurate those who wield it are considered 'a weapon of war' capable of taking on massed troops. The Resurrection Ring, rumored to have been worn by Lazarus when he was raised from the dead, that is able to bring those that were once dead to life again and the Peaceful Palms the remnants of an ancient tree said to have been planted in the garden of Eden for the healing of nations with properties that are said to be able to pacify any enemy and cause any foe to beat his swords into plowshares. 
"Yet obtaining these Five Weapons of Power is not the only objective in Journey To The Overland. You can seek to overthrow King Overlord and rule and govern Overland yourself; or become great and powerful and form your own kingdom; or raise an army and recruit allies to Wage war on your enemies; or simply explore and seek adventure throughout the Overland. Because Journey To The Overland is an 'open ended' solo tabletop roleplaying game that allows players to explore and interact with the game world in almost any manner that they could in a traditional roleplaying game; except Journey To The Overland lets you do it all alone."

The epic opportunities intrigue me as an RPG'er, but it also left me curious about why and how Ware went about the game's creation.

"Actually I created the game back in the 1980's when I was about 16 years old," he said is answering some questions sent his way via email. "I was a young kid in the inner city of Detroit and not only were there no 'roleplaying' games being sold in my neighborhood, there was certainly no one playing them. 

"My first exposure to roleplaying came through a game called Barbarian Prince by Arnold Hendrick and Dwarfstar games. Believe it or not this was sold in a SEARS store in Highland Park, Michigan. To this day I think the manager was a gamer. The game was only about $14.00 and included a tiny metal miniature which really attracted me to it as I was already getting into playing with model soldiers. Well Barbarian Prince was a 'solo' game and after I finished it I missed it so much that I decided to start creating my own version. 

"That grew and grew into what eventually became Journey To The Overland."

Ware said while the 'germ' of the idea for his game was Barbarian Prince that soon grew to encompass more.
 
"Soon after Barbarian Prince I started to find more roleplaying type games," he said. "Oddly enough my interest in roleplaying coincided with getting my first job so all of a sudden I actually had money to seek out these products and buy them. So the Lone Wolf and Magnamund game books soon followed, which were also solo and eventually the RPG game Dragonquest which had the image of a huge barbarian on the cover holding a cut off Dragon's head. In some way all of this, as well as the Conan comics I was reading at the time made it into the game."

The game still took years to grow from idea to reality.

"The development evolved from the age of 16 to about the age of 18 when I entered the military and was sent overseas to Germany," said Ware. "While in the military I copyrighted the game and all the pages I had put together which at the time was about 500 typed pages. Basically it sat like that for the next 25 years or so. In fact, I lost all my original manuscripts but luckily I had sent a copy to the US Library of Congress with my copyright and was able to order a photocopy of all the pages which costs me about $700."

Interestingly, being a solo adventure getting feedback proved a challenge in terms of the game's development.
"The most difficult at the time and still today is simply playtesting," said Ware. "When I first designed the game I didn't know about playtesting I just played it and changed things to suit my taste.  As I got older and really considered publishing it I knew it would help if I could get it playtested. 

"Unfortunately, most people then (and even now with over 200 Backers) are not willing to play the game through and give me feedback. I have sent copies of the games out and never heard back from those it was sent to. 
"Today I still mostly playtest it myself, which fortunately being a solo game makes it possible.

That left the question whether Ware had ever thought of changing the game to be a more traditional group RPG?
"No, I never considered doing it as anything other than a solo game," he said. "In fact, if anything I have a very difficult time creating games now that are not solo. I have a man-to-man medieval miniature game called 'A Fatal Blow' which is not solo but was very much designed with facilitating solo play in mind.

But Ware admits solo RPGs are still not widely appreciated.

"Despite what you hear there is still a significant stigma with solo games," he said. "Now that is not to say people do not want solo variants or solo modules, but when you say it's a solo game the first thing they ask is if there is a way you play with someone else? 

"I am working on a two-player variant for the game at the moment but honestly it is going to more of a 'two-player module' than a two-player version of the game; sort of a reversal of the normal board games way of dealing with solo play."

So, as a designer what is the best element of the game in Ware's mind?

"For me the best element by far is the game cards in general and the encounter cards specifically," he said. "Each card is a mini-scenario in itself! 

"And with over 108 encounter cards that is basically 108 scenarios in the game."

That said, Ware has had some issues raised regarding the cards.

"Players often complain that the text is too small on the encounter cards or there is too much text," he said, "to which I explain that if I remove text from the cards or replace text with symbols the game would lose its originality and become another 'blotter' of symbols and tokens in a card deck with the only difference being the 'picture' on the card.  I just cannot see ever letting the game become that. 

"In Journey To The Overland when you encounter bandits it is totally different than encountering thieves and not just because the bandits are a '6' and an 'orange' and the thieves are a '5' and a 'blue'."

But there are changes as designer Ware would make.

"At this point if I could change anything I would like to make the map bigger," he said. "Originally the map was going to be three-feet by three-feet and the concept was to allow you to play with 25 or 28mm figures right on the game map. I actually have a 3' x 3' map that is splendid but to produce that would have cost $50 each per game so I had to bring the size down to more traditional poster sizes. 

"But I have still entertained offering a deluxe map in 3' x 3' feet for those intrepid souls like myself who want to explore the Overland in all its 28mm splendor."

The game is at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/overlandgames/journey-to-the-overland-redux?ref=2dup4o

When a game arrives in a cloth sack, and you open it to find a stack of cardboard discs with art that seems right out of Arabian Nights, you have to be intrigued.

Which is the case with 40 Thieves from Canadian publisher JackBro Playful Creation.

Now admittedly my copy is a preview one, the game is currently on Kickstarter, but appears likely to succeed as they are near 50 per cent of their goal and the campaign will run until Apr. 26, but I'd guess my copy is close to what the finished product will be.

So what is 40 Thieves about?

"In a medina on the borders of the kingdom, thrives a dishonest merchant with excessive wealth," details the company website at www.jackbro.com (a site that is in French but thanks to the Internet a passable translation is a keystroke away. "Gold coins, fabrics and carpets pile up in its hidden and well-guarded landmark. In the middle of his treasure, nine bluish sapphires of great purity. Nine precious stones that make you dream. In the city, looters, thieves and other knaves are challenging themselves: whoever steals the most of these stones by night will be crowned king of thieves.

"Will you answer the call? Will you brave the forty thieves who keep the loot?"

The game comes to us from designers Jean-Thomas Rioux and Étienne Rioux.

The game, which accommodates two to four players, is made of 40 thieves cards and 20 special cards. Each card has a colour and a symbol on the back, but only one is true. Players have to use deduction, memory and push their luck to arrange suits of symbols or colours to steal a sapphire.

The game starts with the placement of 16 cards into a 4 x 4 grid face down.

Through four phases players work to collect sapphire gems. When the last gem is taken, the game ends.
Jean-Thomas Rioux  was good enough to answer a few questions regarding 40 Thieves via email, starting with the initial idea.

"Everything can get you to your creation ideas," he said.

Rioux explained his brother is an illustrator, so a few times they start the creation process with drawings he did. 
"Other times we just do brainstorming," said Rioux.  "There are no rules in game development.  Ideas come from every aspect in your life; funny news, events, movies or from my three little kids."

Rioux said games also take on a life of their own in terms of how they come together.

Vikingar, a previous game from the design team, took a couple of years to come together, said Rioux.

"But for 40 Thieves the situation was different," he said. "The first version was really near of the final product. We had a lot of very good feedback on our first play test session. The game was already balanced."

The biggest part of the process is being able to give up on some game ideas you initially thought to be brilliant, offered Rioux.

"The most difficult aspect is that you have to manage your emotions and be able to destroy your own ideas," he said. "You need to be able to challenge yourself at all times. 

"Another difficult aspect is not to go too fast in visuals and prototypes of qualities. These details are very expensive and often limit us in our modification. 

"It is often easy to turn round corners and not to take enough time to experience a game mechanics, or the fluidity of the game.

"It is also difficult to design a game and to predict developments to limit certain costs of production."

Rioux said they also wanted to create something as unique as possible.

"We always try at Jackbro to make games that are different and not really comparable in the market," he said. "We also try to make strong visuals.

"We always try to make sure that our mechanics come to amplify the theme of the game."

The game of 40 Thieves is the first game in a 1001 Knights series that Rioux said they are working on.

This is a deduction and luck game that has a fairly unique look which should appeal to people who like the process of in game discovery by having a good memory and some good old intuition.

London, 1937 — Intelligence has discovered that Top-Secret documents are missing. So, too, is MI6 Agent Adler. The only clue is an intercepted message: "Trafalgar at seven." MI5 Agent Gold, Inspector Sharpe of Scotland Yard, and Constable Townsend have been thrown this task: "Find and eliminate Adler." They've got seven hours.

So starts the introduction to Get Adler from designer Randy Thompson and the Canadian publisher Caper Games.

Originally released in 2016, the game is getting a new edition and is on Kickstarter until April 11, but I'm sure the new edition will be available for a while as it has already reached its funding goal.

The company website (www.capergames.ca) describes the game as "a multi-player card game in which secret characters investigate each other to unmask Adler. Once the traitor is revealed, the game transforms into an action-packed race against time to eliminate Adler and to recover top-secret documents."

So up front, you have to be a certain type of gamer for Get Adler. There are certain people who are not into the mental exercise of deduction style games, and they are not necessarily a good fit for every gaming group.

But, a good thing about Get Adler is its versatility, playing from four-to-eight players. That makes the game quite adaptable for a gaming group. Those who like deduction games can play Get Adler, the couple that don't can opt to play cribbage, (never a bad alternate choice in my world).

So what is a key element in Get Adler?

For the answer I turned to designer Thompson for the answer figuring he knows the game better than a humble reviewer like myself.

"We always seem to get at least one new innovative twist into our games," he said via email. "With Get Adler! the interesting thing is that there are two distinct parts that work very well together. The first few rounds are all about trying to deduce who Adler is.

"But the last few rounds (after he is found out!) it's all about trying to catch him. If you try to arrest him, he will most likely play an escape card: a motor-car, or jump on the bus, or take a bike, or take the tube or take a boat along the Thames. The good guys can match the escape card! Adler can then play another one, and then another hero can match it. "There is also a shootout and Adler can throw a bomb. So the escape and chase is the best element."

Just as background Thomson grew up in beautiful Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. "Looking back on my childhood, I can remember inventing games," he states in his online bio.

"At around 9 and 10 years of age, I used to sit down outside and show hockey cards to my beloved dog Spotty. I also made mini baseball games in the dirt with sticks and small pebbles. And best of all, I used to cut out those same hockey cards and play hockey at the kitchen table, with a silver ball for the puck: the foil from my mother's cigarette package."

As of 2017, he has designed seven games and authored two books.

But back to Get Adler; I am always fascinated with how a game comes to exist in the first place.

"My girlfriend and I were watching a few episodes of Sherlock Holmes from Britain, starring Jeremy Brett (Granada TV)," explained Thomson. "At some point around this time the idea popped into my head. I always thank God for any new idea I get. I still remember drawing out the first four characters on cut out bristle-board: Inspector Sharpe, MI5 agent Gold, Constable Townsend and double-agent Adler. Gold was also inspired by Laura Holt from Remington Steele."

But a few rough notes is a long way from a published game.

"We worked on Get Adler! for two years," said Thompson. "I drew out the first characters in early 2014. I really wanted a female character in the story line, and created Sarah Gold from MI5.

"We Kickstarted the first edition of Get Adler! in January 2016. In early 2017, we Kickstarted the Premium Edition and currently we are on Kickstarter with our Signed Edition (just raising extra funds for shipping and customs)."

There were of course a few bumps on the design road.

"Originally the game was designed for four players, but a distributor in Britain asked us if it would be possible to expand the game to six players," said Thompson. "So I had to come up with two additional characters. Although characters five and six were easier for me than (eventually), characters seven and eight. Character five became Kate Collins, an accomplice for Adler. She is now essential to the game. I am so glad I was challenged to come up with more characters. Russian good-guy agent Tarasov became character six. I love them all."
And there was of course the hurdle of money.

"As a small Indie publisher the biggest hurdle was raising money to manufacture," said Thompson. "I had never done a Kickstarter before, so that was very interesting. And thankfully we funded.

"What I learned, though, is that shipping and customs can add lots of extra costs, and you have to be ready for that. You are manufacturing and shipping not only for your backers, but for the rest of the games you will need to sell that year. I'm very thankful for Kickstarter."

My first impression of the game was two-fold.

The cards look great, with a sort of 'vintage British' feel to them, which works perfectly.

But I have to say with Adler in the name I would have loved this to be a full blown Holmesian game. I recognize such rights might have been nearly impossible to acquire but it would have added an extra layer of interest for me.

The greatest strength though goes back to the four-to-eight player option. Not many games easily accommodate such a range.

As designer Thompson remains happy with his creation now that it has been out in the hands of the gaming public.

"Love it," he said. "We always listen to feedback and then try to improve the rules with any new edition. We did that with the Premium Edition, so I think that overall the rules and gameplay are excellent. It is our best game to this point."

And just as a hint for what might come next.

"We are just finishing up our playtesting for Vertium - a strategic game of space colonization," said Thomson. "We have a teacher in the USA who is playtesting it at the moment. We have tested it and developed it a lot. There are two phases in this game also. The first part is all about competing with other factions as you try to colonize the planets of Coper in Quadrant 1 of the Milky Way. The second phase is all about battling for those planets. We have an excellent new mechanic that has to do with moons, but you will have to wait till the Kickstarter to see that."