Emily Parker

I have taught Teotihuacan: City of Gods to more than 30 people over the past few years, and I want to share what actually works when your group has never touched a heavy euro before. Some of those teaches went smoothly. Others were disasters where players stared at the board for 20 minutes before resigning … Read more

Teotihuacan: City of Gods is one of those board games that rewards you with a beautiful table presence and then punishes you when it is time to pack up. Add the Shadow of Xitle and Late Preclassic Period expansions and you have a serious Teotihuacan storage organization challenge on your hands. Tiny technology tiles, pyramid … Read more

Snowdonia is one of those games that looks gentle on the surface. You are building a railway up a mountain in Wales, moving little trains along a track, and placing workers on action spaces. Then the weather changes, your excavation rate collapses, and the game chews you up. I have played Snowdonia dozens of times … Read more

Snowdonia is one of those rare worker placement games that punishes you for ignoring half its systems. You can lay track and clear rubble all day, but without contracts, you will watch your opponents lap you on the score track. Our team has logged dozens of plays across the base game, the Deluxe Master Set, … Read more

If you’ve just unboxed the Snowdonia Deluxe Master Set, you might feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content staring back at you. This guide walks you through how to set up and play the Snowdonia Deluxe Master Set scenarios, from your first base game to the most complex scenario variations. By the end, you’ll … Read more

Dice Settlers is a civilization-themed dice bag-building game designed by David Turczi and Mihai Olaru, published by NSKN Games. You draw dice from a personal bag, roll them, and spend the symbols to explore hex tiles, settle territories, harvest resources, and research technologies. The game blends the tactile fun of rolling dice with the strategic … Read more

You planned the perfect turn. The action spot you needed was wide open two players ago. Now it’s blocked, your plan is dead, and you’re staring at the board wondering whether you should have gone first. That frustration is the heart of worker placement, and it is also the entry point to thinking about turn … Read more

If you have ever been mid-game and watched three guests wander into the kitchen “just for a snack,” only to never come back, you know the feeling. I have hosted about 40 game nights over the last three years, and the ones where everyone stayed engaged until midnight always had one thing in common: a … Read more

Choosing the right game for game night starts with three honest questions: How many people are actually at the table right now? How much time do we really have? And what is the energy in the room tonight? Match those three answers to a game that fits, and you have already beaten 90% of the … Read more

I’ve hosted enough game nights to know the exact moment a long game kills the mood. It usually hits around the 90-minute mark, when someone’s phone comes out, or two players start discussing dinner plans, or someone quietly asks “are we almost done?” That moment is pacing failure, and it’s almost always preventable. In this … Read more