Dicing with depth...

Players:  2-4 Ages:  10+ Time to play:  90 minutes It is my great pleasure to review the amazing Super Meeple version of Tikal, a game that was released 20 years ago, but is still as fun as ever, and can easily hold its own against more modern games in this genre. Tikal was released way back in 1999 by Ravensburger games.  It was designed by Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, and in that year it won the coveted Spiel des Jahres .  It's actually part of a trilogy of games from Kiesling and Kramer known as the Mask Trilogy , because the original artwork on each of the boxes had a different style mask depicted on it. And although the gameplay has certainly has stood the test of time, the same might not be said for the original components.  Functional as they are, coloured dowels and cardboard squares don't quite stack up against the plethora of components available nowadays.  Thankfully, in this new edition, the artwork and components have b...

Players:  2-6 Ages:  8+ Time to play:  60-180 minutes So we’ve all heard of it and most of us have played it, it’s the classic board game and family argument starter, monopoly.  And although most of us know it’s old, it’s still surprising, to me at least, exactly how old.  The original game on which monopoly is based (called the landlords game) was designed by Elizabeth Magie and patented in 1904 which makes the game well over 110 years old and counting, but of course the version that we are all familiar with began its life in the mid 1930’s. Over the years, it’s safe to say monopoly has had more costume changes than Mr Benn. Usually to capitalise on a movie franchise or TV show, which is understandable. But from time to time some questionable versions hit the shelves like “Coca Cola Monopoly”, “Horse Lovers Monopoly” and “Star wars the phantom menace monopoly” (for the criminally insane). With such an esteemed pedigree, it’s sad to think that Mon...