Everything including the kitchen sink... but with special attention paid to board games, Jesus Christ, my family, being a "professional" (and I use that word loosely) Christian, and the random firing of the 10% of the synapses I'm currently using.
designers: T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, & Koltin Thompson
Print Status
in print
Why It's On The List
Galactic Cruise isn’t a huge step forward in gaming innovation – it’s a worker placement game with a variety of ways to score in-game and end game points. But the design accomplishes that with such style and thematic integration that I was instantly won over.
Tips & Tricks:
The game has what I lovingly call “the Tom Lehmann curve”. Those of you who’ve played some of Tom’s designs (particularly Res Arcana or New Frontiers) have experienced it – where the pace of the game accelerates dramatically as we approach the end of the game. I’m not complaining – I actually like this arc in games instead of the tendency of some Euros to get slower and slower as the number of decisions required make each turn longer & longer. (I still have PTSD from my last game of Tikal where I spent the final 30 minutes watching other players attempt to min-max their action points for the final turn.)
The biggest "blocking point" in the game is the competition for customers - it's the most limited resource.
Speaking of customers, you can use assign customers to flights that you have not scheduled in order to grab the bonuses... sometimes, that's easier than other ways to get cash plus it ties up customers that other players want to use.
Don't get fixated on a single strategy - a lot depends on what is available and what openings other players are leaving for you.
Extras
I told my adult sons (whom I have brainwashed into being rabid board gamers) that Kinson Key reminded me of Paverson Games – small companies with new designers who knocked it out of the park with their first big game. (Paverson is the company behind Distilled, my favorite “new to me” game of 2024.) Both games sport excellent rulebooks, splendid quality production, smart use of GameTrayz storage to make the game easier to set up & tear down, and really enjoyable game systems. Both used Kickstarter wisely to fund their big games – and, honestly, these kinds of games from small companies is a best use case scenario for crowdfunding.
The solo system works really well - and it's a pleasure to play.
I wrote a review of the game & solo system for the Opinionated Gamers site.
Note: I received a discounted review copy (yes, that means I paid for shipping and some part of the cost of the game).
A slightly more gamer-y 7 Wonders-ish card drafting game of civilization building... but that description sounds like damning with faint praise. The major difference is that you’re drafting a set of cards that you then use as resources (discarding them) or construction (building them) - the interplay can be fascinating and fast-moving... with the right players.
Tips &Tricks:
Creating production is key to winning... but you can make a huge production engine that doesn't generate a lot of points if you're not careful.
Learn when to give up on a card - preferably before you've invested too much in it.
Easy to forget rule: when you discard a card in your construction area, the resource pictured on the card goes to your civilization card - it's not used on another card in the construction area.
The main expansion offers some really interesting cards to mess with producing and scoring... and does so without doing any damage to the base game system.
Warning: a single AP player can slow this game to a crawl.
I also reviewed the newest game in the Wonderful universe, a 1-2 player stand-alone named It's A Wonderful Kingdom. (Second warning: this review contains a lot of Princess Bride references.)
The solo mode is very good - especially when you use the scenarios.
My younger son is a savant at this game... the student has become the teacher.
Take the part I like best about Kingdomino (the drafting system), use it to drive a tile placement game with thematic scoring (like Carcassonne but without the arguments about which set of farm rules we’ll be using), and provided the proper components (big cloth bag, easy to read tiles, clever use of cards to add variety) to make a really enjoyable game experience.
Tips & Tricks:
The scoring has a number of elements... however, they all make sense AND the scoring track includes a reminder of all the rules in play.
Start with the Family game... the Advanced Game has some risk/reward elements that won't be clear until you've got a couple of games under your belt.
Extras
The first expansion (Putt of No Return) does some helpful things: it adds interesting new course tiles and investors, it provides two-layer par boards (a welcome addition), and it fixes my main complaint about the original game with new and better art for all the cards.
The second expansion (Minigolf Empire) adds a bunch of new land cards as well as a campaign game version. I'm glad I own it but don't consider it essential.
Card drafting meets civilization building... and it's playable with 3-7 players in a pretty consistent 45 minutes. No "wonder" it got all those awards...
Tips & Tricks:
You don't have to jump on the science train to score big points - but you do need to burn up science cards for cash or wonder building to prevent others from doing it.
Military still doesn't make sense to me - the worst point loss you can take is -6... and it can be less than that if you can talk your neighbor(s) into a truce.
The new edition is nice - the symbols are easier to teach/use. (They are based on the system used for 7 Wonders: Duel - another game I highly recommend.)
Extras
I'm a big enough fan to picked up all of the available first edition expansions - including the oddball stuff like the Wonder Pack, the Anniversary Leader & Cities cards, and the Catan wonder. And with experienced players, I like playing with all of them, though it is a bit overwhelming.
Cities is the easiest expansion to add to the game - and it contains the rules for team play, which is actually pretty cool. (Note: team play will allow you to play with 8 players.)
Armada is quite enjoyable - and adds some nice twists to the game that require players to pay attention to more than just their immediate neighbors.
The laws portion of Babel and the Leaders expansion are the two most difficult expansions to add to the game - they have lots of new symbols that can confuse players.
Here's my first look at the Cities expansion after I played the prototype.
I wrote a preview of the Babel expansion back in 2014 as well.
The 7 Wonders Dice game is pleasant but not particularly compelling... but 7 Wonders: Architects is actually a lot of fun and very easy for non-gamers to learn. (I think the Medals expansion is worth adding to the game so you can play with up to 9 players and have more interesting scoring opportunities.)
I've now played all of the new edition expansions except Armada - and they are all improved with better iconography, better player aids, and clearer rulesets. Edifices strips out the not-completely-functional "law" module of the original Babel expansion and focuses on the Great Works module - an excellent choice.
Games like Endeavor: Deep Sea are the poster children for designers taking a second (or third!) pass at their designs... and a stunning argument for the power of excellent graphic design (both art & iconography).
Tips & Tricks:
You cannot ignore the track that lets you recover action discs from your crew members... getting hamstrung on actions because your people are "tired" is a quick way to lose.
Each scenario has different scoring bonuses - pay attention to those choices as the first/second place positions will often be the difference between winning and losing.
Extras
My copy of the deluxe edition FINALLY arrived just before Thanksgiving. (Braeden & I had played it at Gulf Games last summer and I promptly came home and ordered a copy from Game Steward. BTW, a unsolicited plug for Game Steward’s customer service – they dealt with my questions and concerns quickly and kindly as the waiting dragged on.)
The real measure of how much I like Endeavor – it took me eight games to finally beat an opponent (yes, the solo system or a real live human). And I still enjoyed each and every game… so much so that it was #3 on my Best New (to me!) Games of 2025 list.
Gorgeous production coupled with easy gameplay... a classic theme (trains!) coupled with a classic Rummy set-collection mechanic... just as playable with 2 as it is with 5.
Tips & Tricks:
Playing with 3 or 5 players is MUCH more cutthroat than playing with 2 or 4, due to how crowded the board can become.
Figuring out the "choke points" on any map is an important step in choosing tickets both at the beginning of the game and as you take ticket turns later.
We have a house rule that players can keep taking turns while someone decides on tickets as long as their action is to draw cards or take tickets. If a player is going to play to the board, they must wait until the ticket-taker has made their decision.
Most importantly, this is an excellent "gateway" game for non-gamers.
Extras
There are a number of expansions & stand-alone versions of the game. I'm partial to the 1910 card expansion - as well as...
My sons & I played Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks last year... it was a wonderful experience and well worth our time.
Here's what I wrote about Ticket to Ride for The One Hundred... and for my personal top 100 in 2005.
A think-y, puzzle-y dungeon crawl that's dripping with theme and story. The designer (Andrew Parks) mixes deck-building with tactical movement on the board to create a rich world for competitive, cooperative, and solo play.
Tips & Tricks:
Dungeon Alliance is not for the faint of heart - there's a lot going on here - but it's incredibly involving. In complexity, it is in the same range as the Mage Knight Board Game.
Speaking of Mage Knight (which I used to own)... I think they're both brilliantly designed games, but Mage Knight didn't hit the table after I got Dungeon Alliance.
While the game works with up to 4 players, there is a substantial increase in playing time with that many players. We have liked it better with 2 - smaller dungeon, less down time.
The newest expansion (Paragons) is actually in the pipeline after a LONG wait.
If you'd like to see more about the intricate stories behind the game, there are two webcomics that keep growing from the Quixotic Games team - I'm just going to link to the very interesting design diary about the comics on BGG.
follower of Jesus, husband, father, "pastor", boardgamer, writer, Legomaniac, Disneyphile, voted most likely to have the same Christmas wish list at age 58 as he did at age 8
.jpeg)
