Tokyo Tsukiji Market Review | Pocket Series Part Three

Tokyo Tsukiji Market is the only board game in the world based on German 90s techno sensastion Scooter’s hit single - How Much is the Fish. In TTM you will fish fish, sell fish, buy fish, and most importantly - fish. Get ready to rub yourself with money, because we all know that in physics fish = $.

Tokyo Tsukiji Market is an economic simulator that is squeezed into the tiniest box imaginable for it’s component count. Get ready for tiny bits, smart minimalist presentation and clever plays.

The Shut Up & Sit Down Nonsene Box Review | Pocket Board Games Series - Part Two

No Pun Included talks a lot of nonsense but this time it’s for a reason. Today we’re reviewing the Shut Up and Sit Down Nonsense Box and it’s sequel, the Serious Nonsense box, which both are standalone expansions to the party game Monikers, which is a variant to a parlour game commonly called The Celebrity Game.

That’s a lot of words to say this is a party game where you draw cards with silly words and then charade them. Is that it? Sort of. But sometimes there’s brilliance in simplicity and this game has a lot of the former and the latter.

Sprawlopolis Review | Pocket Series Part One

Announcement! For the next six weeks we’ll be celebrating the best that small board games have to offer. Tune in for this first episode where we feature Sprawlopolis - one of the best city building games out there fitting into a demure 18 cards, a rulebook and a wallet to fit it all in. What could be more pocket than that? Answers on a pocket postcard.

Project: Elite Review

Let’s face it, we’re not the target audience for this game. NPI has always been a staunch resistor of “Big Kickstarter,” and upon initial glance, this is one of the genre’s naffer offerings. Generic theme? Check. Generic minis? Check check check check check. But any ol’ cardboard doesn’t just get featured in an NPI review so maybe there’s something hiding behind the plastic.

Project: Elite is a real time dice chucking madness simulator where every second you feel like you’re on fire - and trust me, you won’t have time to check whether that fire’s coming from an alien’s mouth or your own gun accidentally pointed at you. Appropriately, Project: Elite isn’t a game of high stakes action - it’s a game of foibles and a comedy of errors.

So let your guard down for a moment and let this plastic wash over you as we tell you why exactly is it that maybe, against all odds, this game won over our hearts.

Forgotten Waters Review

You might have never heard about them, but let me tell you, pirates are cool! Well, not real pirates. Real pirates are… boy this suddenly turned. Fantasy magical pirates are cool. You know, the ones more about adventure and ridiculous consequences? Sign me up for some of those non-real life magical pirates, PLEASE. And do it quickly because this intro has gone really awkward.

Forgotten Waters is by far not the first pirate game to hit the… waters but so very rarely do they float. Which is why I’m incredibly delighted to tell you that in a rare occasion, this one doesn’t just float - it paddles! Watch our review for more.

This video was sponsored by Skillshare.

Why We Like Combos (and Other Deck-Building Stories)

Combos are empowering. We get to engage in creation whilst we play, even though that creation might have been an illusion carefully crafted by the designer. And we’ve all felt the desire to share our combo stories, but it’s never a story that lands well. Here’s why.

The Wonderful and Brutal World of 18xx Games

This might be the longest video we ever made and it might be about a series of some of the most complicated games in the world, but don’t let that scare you. In fact, I hope you take this video as an opportunity to disocver something that you’ve heard spoken about in card board shadows but never dared tip your toes. So dip your toes, my friend. Dip your toes.

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion - A Love Letter

Gloomhaven is our favourite game. And Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is perhaps even better. Big words, huh? In this video Efka walks you through not just what Gloomhaven is but also why this new standalone expansion is the best version of this game so far.

Barrage Review

Barrage is one of last year’s euro-game darlings offering a compeling puzzle of water manipulation and, in a roundabout way, route building. In it, you’ll take on the role of countries in an alternate universe 1920s setting arming themselves for a hydrological race.

There’s a lot that’s compelling about Barrage. And it really shows that one of the co-designers is an actual hydrologist. But does it stand up to NPI scrutiny? Take a seat, pour yourself a cold glass of… water, and enjoy our review.

Cloudspire Review - 50% Genius, 70% Disaster

Oh no, there he goes again bashing another big Kickstarter board game, you might say. And you know what, you would be right. Cloudspire is so big and so indestructible (no, really) that it can take a big swing. But here’s the trick, frequently if you give large containers filled with various bits a good bashing - things will fall out. And sometimes those things might be amazing. So let’s see if this Kickstartosorous will leave a nugget of gold after you sift through it.

We Review (nearly) Everything Arkham Horror: The Card Game - Part 1

What makes Arkham Horror the Card Game so captivating? Perhaps it really is that good. Perhaps, like The King in Yellow, once you’ve experienced it you’ll just never be able to get away from it. Either way, we want to help you decide which parts are worth the entry cost. So we’ve sat through it. All of it. And here it is, act one of our Mega Review of Arkham Horror: The Card Game.

Become a Patron!

The Crew Review

What a fantastic game! Accessible quick and riveting. The Crew is a small package card game that packs fun tighter than Jupiter’s density. Better yet, The Crew is a trick taking game - a genre of card games that is notoriously hard to explain but copious amounts of delight - and we’re happy to say that if you’ve never played a trick taking game before - this is the one to start with. We’ll let the video do the rest of the talking.

On Mars Review

Is there life on Mars? Yes, there is. It’s you! And your life on mars is about to get more complicated than David Bowie’s catalogue.

On Mars is the latest board game installment from board game jugernaut duo Vital Lacerda and artist Ian O’Toole who are famed for making big boxes with big stress and chunky game. Is On Mars good enough to dig through all that snarl? Let’s find out.

Food Chain Magnate

This is just one of those videos that shouldn’t have a preface or an introduction. All you need to know is that Food Chain Magnate is beloved and Monopoly is beloathed. Go! Watch!

KeyForge Review

From the moment I opened my first pack I knew I would like KeyForge, the algorthimically procedurally generated collectible card game, but I never thought I’d love it. And look at us now!

If you’re wondering why NPI has never reviewed collectible card games (aside from the co-operative Arkham Horror) then here’s your answer: it’s complicated. The “I used to play a lot of Magic and sometimes competitively and then I quit” kind of complicated. I was so spent that I didn’t think there would ever be anything in collectible card games for me anymore.

I was wrong. So very wrong.

Tainted Grail Review

After 7th Continent we did not think we’d be intrigued in seeing another ‘continent composed of cards on your table’ open world board game but here we are. Better sharpen your scythes as you take on the role of hapless villagers trying to unravel a world-ending mystery so “dark” it’ll give Vantablack a run for it’s money.

Tainted Grail is everything “Kickstarter board games” but hyperbolized. The scope? If you want to finish this beast and have time to play some other board games in your life - better take all your annual leave at once. The bling? Let’s not mince words because Awaken Realms does not mince plastic - it’s all truly gorgeous. The cost? Actually, forget other board games - if you bought this - you can no longer afford them. Whether you should buy it is another matter altogether.

Weird Games I Found at Essen Spiel

Hello, this is me, Elaine. And this year at Essen Spiel I’ve spent my board game budget on games that no one has heard of. Forget about your Barrages and Maracaibos - this is the final board game frontier. So saddle your nearest ship and come with me on this journey together as we wade through cardboard to find the one true undiscovered gem.

Maracaibo Review

Buckle up, I’m about to utter some forbidden words. Rondel. Multi-purpose cards. Tableau building. Wait, don’t ring the police just yet because believe it or not that kind of Eurogame talk is not only legal, but very much abundant in Maracaibo.

In this spiritual sequel to the world’s most famous game about… cows, you’ll become a trader with a ship instead and spin around the Carribean like a mad beyblade, collecting resources and, in a shocking twist - building people out of cards? I can see you’ve already got a headache so let me soothe it with some video review balm.

Irish Gauge Review

An Irish Gouge, much like Bradd Pitt’s character in the movie Snatch, doesn’t sound like something very nice or Irish. Thankfully today we are not reviewing Irish Gouge, but Irish Gauge, a delightfully devious and quick train game with drumroll stocks!

That’s right, much like it’s dreaded bulky cousin - the 18xx genre - Irish Gauge combines the joy of stocks and auctions with laying track onto hexagons. But unlike it’s cousin, it manages to remain light and fluffy - like a coal powered meringue. Is it worth your time?

Sabotage Review

Today we have the pleasure and delight of shining a light on Sabotage, a strange strange design from board game extraordinaire Tim Fowers. Thematically, you’re either spies or supervillains fighting in a head to head game of cat and mouse. Mechanically… you’ve got a team asymmetrical hidden movement dice placement programming game which is something I had to learn to say out lout with confidence for this review. Does it all hold together or fall apart at the seams? Only one way to find out.