Ever since I first saw it played on Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop YouTube series, I was hooked. I bought my own copy a year later, and for over a decade, it has been in regular rotation on board game nights. I’ve included it in every Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide since I started the blog.
Tsuro is a beautiful, simple game that only takes about twenty minutes to play. You can play with as few as two players or as many as eight. It can be the centerpiece of a game night or the perfect palate cleanser after a more stressful round of another game.
In Tsuro, each player adopts the role of a flying dragon soaring through the sky. Players choose from the tiles in their hands in order to build paths on the board, representing their paths through the sky.
Naturally, these paths will eventually intersect, and you need to be careful to avoid colliding with another dragon or following a path right off the edge of the board. (Both of those scenarios cause you to lose.)
And despite the potential for competitive gameplay, I’ve found most Tsuro games to be peaceful affairs, each player watching their dragon token loop and swirl across various intersecting paths, hoping to be the last one standing on the board.
Calliope Games, the publishers of Tsuro, are celebrating 20 years of dragon-soaring gameplay this year. And not only are they releasing a special 20th anniversary edition of the game, but they’re hosting a celebration at this year’s Gen Con: the First Annual Tsuro National Championship!
On Saturday August 1st, players will convene in Hall D at 6 PM, competing in two preliminary rounds before those with the highest scores advance to the finals.
The winner will receive this gorgeous Limited Edition version of the game (valued at $350, the Luxury edition!), and every participant will receive a copy of the new 20th anniversary edition (pictured above, which also looks beautiful).
You can click here to reserve your seat and compete! I’m bummed I won’t be able to attend, but I’ll probably be picking up a copy of that 20th anniversary edition for my shelf (to sit alongside the other four editions of the game I have).
And yes, they ALL get played.
Good luck to everyone competing! And here’s to many more years of Tsuro and the spirit of gameplay it represents.
So, to mark this lovely anniversary, I’ve got a little puzzly challenge for you.
How many words (five to seven letters long) can you make that include all the letters in TSURO at least once? And let’s exclude plurals to keep it manageable.
I came up with 22 words. Can you top that?
And while I’m asking questions, what board game offer your best chance to compete for a national championship, fellow player? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
Clue (aka Cluedo) is one of the all-time classic board games.
It has seen numerous variations and licensed versions (like the Golden Girls edition, where you need to find out who ate the last piece of cheesecake) as well as escape room-style adaptations. Characters have come and gone, like Dr. Orchid, who took Mrs. White’s place in 2016.
It has even been turned into a movie, a comedic delight that’s on my rewatch list every year (alongside its less-appreciated but equally subversive counterpart, Murder By Death).
Now, this isn’t the first LEGO Clue board I’ve seen. In fact, I wrote about one back in 2016 that came with an interactive scorecard for your deductive reasoning.
But the set by Brickly_Pair goes above and beyond both of those previous endeavors.
The rooms are beautiful, richly detailed, and immersive. The logo in the center of the board is gorgeous. The game pieces are a little simple, but definitely feel inspired by the actual game’s pieces.
All the little nods to both its source material and classic LEGO sets (like the Wolfpack banner above the fireplace) make this a work of puzzly art as well as a fun way to revamp and revitalize a classic board game.
Now, seriously, could someone get to work on a Murder By Death set? It could have the shifting rooms, falling gargoyles, and best of all, a Jamesir Bensonmum minifig!
Do you think this Clue LEGO set will grace your shelves one day, fellow puzzler? Or would you like to see another board game get the LEGO brick treatment? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.
I know Star Wars Day was a few days ago — check out the Star Wars crossword I constructed for May the Fourth — but while the spirit of that galaxy far, far away is still being celebrated, I want to recommend some Star Wars-infused fun for board game and RPG fans to savor.
Now, there are dozens, possibly hundreds, of Star Wars-themed games. But, as I proved with my history of Godzilla games, it can take a long time for a beloved franchise to get a tabletop game worthy of the subject matter.
Thankfully, there are some choice options out there with Star Wars sauce for your tabletop enjoyment.
Image courtesy of BoardGameGeek.
Star Wars: Asteroid Escape
In this space-based variation on the game Tsuro — one of my all-time favorite board games — you try to navigate your ship through space by laying tiles and following the path as it connects to other tiles. Each player is laying tiles, quickly filling up the board, so you need to grow more and more strategic with your plays as the stack of tiles dwindles.
But with asteroids also roaming the field of play, can you outlast every other ship on the board? This is a terrific mix of Star Wars flavor with everything that makes Tsuro fun and challenging. It might be hard to find, but it will be a welcome addition to your game shelf.
Images courtesy of BoardGameGeek.
Star Wars: Timeline
I love the Timeline games. (I own nearly a dozen of them!) The simple act of trying to place your card in relation to other events on the table is both a great trivia experience and an opportunity to engage in some deduction and logical thinking.
So when I heard about Star Wars versions of Timeline, I happily snapped them up. With editions for both the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, it will definitely exact a toll on your memory to see if you can precisely place key moments from the movies in the proper order.
Although easier than some of the other editions of Timeline (like their Inventions edition), this is still great fun for Star Wars fans of all ages.
Image courtesy of BoardGameGeek.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
In this prequel era take on Pandemic, players take on the role of Jedi trying to battle back the onslaught of battle droids across the galaxy. Can you stop the spread of Confederacy forces by saving one world at a time?
While Star Wars versions of Risk and Monopoly are pretty much the same game with Star Wars seasoning, The Clone Wars takes the best of the Pandemic system and feels like it takes it in a fresh direction. This isn’t just another version of Pandemic, this is a very clever marriage of the two that takes the best from both.
Strategy and cooperation is absolutely key in this one, and the cooperative aspect separates it from many of the other games on today’s list.
Image courtesy of BoardGameGeek.
Villainous: The Power of the Dark Side
The Villainous games are amazingly well-designed games. Balancing different mechanics for four different villains as you try to achieve their goals and foil the efforts of the villains played by other players, this Disney franchise continues to expand and never disappoints.
And The Power of the Dark Side, their first Star Wars edition of the game, is one of the best versions of Villainous available today. With five villains to choose from — spanning the original, prequel, and new trilogies, as well as the Clone Wars TV show –there’s truly a villain here for any Star Wars fan.
Can you achieve your villainous dreams, or will the other evildoers at the table outmaneuver you and realize their darkest ambitions?
Embrace your inner scoundrel with this game, where each player strives to complete jobs for their employers, collect bounties, smuggle cargo… you know, your usual day-to-day shenanigans in the Star Wars universe.
This game sorta gives you the roleplaying experience in a one-session microcosm. You’ll make your character, make your choices, upgrade your gear and your ship, and make some money, all while dealing with shady and dangerous folks. It’s a whole narrative arc crammed into a single sitting.
While Outer Rim is a personal journey, Rebellion is Star Wars on a galactic scale. This is full-blown war between the Rebellion and the Empire, where one side has a Death Star to build and an insurrection to crush, while the other builds alliances, plays cat-and-mouse with the Empire, and plots to destroy the Empire’s greatest weapon.
I’ve only played this game a few times — it’s expensive, a bit overwhelming, and takes a while to get good at — but it’s been a blast every time.
The tabletop scene for Star Wars sure is stacked, but there are plenty of terrific immersive options out there as well for roleplaying fans looking to explore the universe of Star Wars.
And while officially licensed games are great (I’ll be mentioning one below), sometimes the best stories are told in the shadows by companies that understand the spirit of that franchise, but can’t afford all the bells and whistles.
This game manages to feel like an epic battle across the stars AND a session of playing with your favorite action figures all at the same time. It’s childhood wonder and all the heroic action we wish we could undertake as adults.
Will you stop Baron Deathray and his Killtroopers with a handful of dice and a lot of gumption? Only one way to find out.
Scum and Villainy
If you really like the Han Solo-esque scrappy smuggler making his way through the universe sorta thing, Evil Hat Productions have you covered with Scum and Villainy.
While the Evil Galactic Hegemony is ever-present, this game is more about criminal dealings, clever negotiation, devious schemes, and profiteering adventure. It feels like the day-to-day trials and tribulations of a struggling spaceship crew.
I love the focus in Scum and Villainy on the roleplay aspect of RPGs. So much of the game is about character and the worlds you visit, and not as much about swinging lightsabers and dodging turbolasers.
As you can see, there are many different ways to play a Star Wars game. It can be a war game, an exploration game, a scheming game, a storytelling game… sometimes all of them at once. And Fantasy Flight Games brings a seriously impressive narrative tool to the table with their Star Wars Roleplaying Game.
Like most RPGs, you pick a class and build your stats and roll dice to determine the outcome of your choices. But unlike many RPGs where the number you roll declares your action a success or a failure, the narrative dice of Star Wars FFG offer a much more exciting and engaging answer.
It’s not just a binary option, you succeed or you fail. With narrative dice, you can have additional complications, both positive and negative.
You could fail, but with some unexpected advantage: You missed a swing of your lightsaber, but you cut through the awning supports and blinded your foe for a round.
You could succeed, but with some negative consequence: You might have caught the bad guy with your blaster, but you also shot the engines of your ship, and now they need repairs.
Your actions tell a story that goes well beyond yes and no. And in a world where scoundrels often make mistakes while trying to do good, it’s a more interesting, more immersive journey every time, and it truly brings those adventurous moments to life.
Whether you’re a scoundrel on the Edge of the Empire, a hero during the Age of Rebellion, or someone caught between the Light Side and the Dark Side in Force and Destiny, they’ve got a place for you to tell your story.
Did your favorite Star Wars game or RPG get mentioned? Or are you miffed I left out Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and its bweepy little R2-D2 dice roller?
Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
I was surfing social media on my lunch break when I stumbled upon a video on Twitter (not X, never X) featuring a giant balancing game with Tetris-style game pieces.
It’s called Tetris Tumble XL and it’s apparently available at Walmart. And although it’s not a one-to-one gameplay comparison, it is interesting to see Tetris super-sized as a gaming experience.
It’s neat. It’s not building-sized Tetris neat, but it’s neat.
Of course, it’s only the latest example of a traditional game experiencing Godilla-like growth to turn it into a party game.
The most traditional form of “board game, but big” is undoubtedly Chess.
There are literally dozens of places where you can enjoy a gargantuan game of Chess. Wooden cutouts, full wooden pieces, sculpted stone… the aesthetics are all part of the experience.
Plus you can easily play with humans as the chess pieces, which adds a fun element to the sheer scale of the game. I’ll never forget seeing a game just like that decades ago in an episode of The Prisoner.
There’s something about people as literal pawns being controlled that adds some serious philosophical spice to the game’s proceedings.
Now, this isn’t playable because there’s no game board, but if we’re all being honest, did anyone actually play the game? Or did you simply set up the contraption and let it tumble and turn and clatter in delightful motion?
This 25-ton version of the board game’s colorful selling point toured festivals and fairs for years, concluding with a car-smashing weight rather than a plastic diver and a little net over some hungry mice.
Hammacher Schlemmer used to sell a wall-sized giant Scrabble game that they dubbed The World’s Largest Scrabble Game, and it retailed for $12,000!
There are some more affordable large Scrabble games out there now for players to enjoy on a sunny day outside, but nothing that rivals this Hammacher Schlemmer monstrosity.
You’ve probably seen outdoor versions of Jenga. There’s a wooden version that still remains relatively portable, and an XXL gigantic edition that dwarfs the man playing it in the photo.
I’m not a huge fan of the cacophony that ensues when a regular game of Jenga ends, so I don’t really enjoy the larger versions either. Give me Catch the Moon any day, or maybe a nice round Junk Art or Rhino Hero instead.
Have you ever wanted to play Yahtzee but wished the cup for the dice was garbage-can sized? Well, your mediocre dream has come true! With big foam dice, you can turn Yahtzee into a yard game.
Look at how much fun these people are having! And no, I did not crop the photo that way. That’s the promotional photo as intended, crouching half-man and all!
Operation has always been a finicky little beast of a game, and it seems like no two versions of the game are the same.
Some are more sensitive, while some — like the version at my babysitter’s house — had a buzz that was downright painful.
But this giant version? I could see this being a pretty fun challenge, depending on how heavy the pieces are.
Family-Size Settlers of Catan, Caracas Comic Con 2011
Settlers of Catan is not just a modern addition to the classic board game pantheon. It’s also the only possible challenger to Chess’s dominance as a build-it-big board game.
Life-size versions of Catan have been played at numerous gaming conventions and other events, and it’s hard to get an accurate number of how many giant sets of this resource management game are out there in the wild.
That’s not the case for the fictional game turned real life game Cones of Dunshire. As far as I know, there’s only one larger-sized version of the game, produced for a charity event at GenCon by Mayfair Games (the same company that created Settlers of Catan).
And you know, for the most part, I can see the appeal of these inflated, occasionally inflatable versions of classic games.
I take that back. I do not get how making Battleship bigger makes it more fun in any way, shape, or form. It seems so easy to cheat, intentionally or otherwise. Unless I actually get to lob stuff at my opponent’s ships over the wall, I’m not interested.
And while this giant Monopoly board is impressive, I still don’t think it’s enough of a whimsical gimmick to actually get me to play Monopoly.
Clearly there is a market for oversized versions of classic games. And I have some suggestions for board games that should, nay, MUST make the jump to human-sized for the betterment of play all over!
Let’s start with a Canadian classic: Crokinole.
This would be so simple. Get a bunch of curling stones, a hockey rink, draw out the board, and secure some posts with sandbags or something. Then get tossing!
Next, there’s Chutes and Ladders.
Yes, there was a life-size version of this from 2010 when Indonesia’s University of Surabaya honored the original version of the game — Snakes and Ladders — with a 45-foot game board and 105 players.
But that’s just a big flat board. I want a version with actual ladders and actual chutes! (Sorry, no snakes in this one.) Imagine if we could find the right hill OR wide-stepped public staircase so that you could actually ascend the board and slide down in delightful misfortune! That sounds awesome.
In this game, you used little marble-spewing guns to knock targets into your opponent’s space. Imagine getting to sit sidecar-style next to a dodgeball launcher and trying to outwit your opponent!
Sorta like this, except with dodgeballs instead of a laser.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to constructing my life-size version of Fireball Island.
I’ve almost got all the kinks worked out of the Indiana Jones-esque giant fireball chase sequence.
Oh, hey, I need a couple of game testers. You’re pretty fleet-footed, right, fellow puzzler?
The ongoing stupidity, insanity, and outright graft involving the US’s approach to tariffs has been one of the most unpleasant subjects to cover in this blog.
The implementation of broad global tariffs on a whim (or based on a slight, real or imagined, against the gilded tinpot dictator who occupies the Oval Office) has made it challenging at best, and absolutely untenable at worst, for many game designers and manufacturers in the board game industry.
In the year since those tariffs were enacted, hundreds of board game projects have been canceled or drastically simplified to manage costs. Some brands, like Tokaido, have been sold to other companies to minimize costs. Print runs were lessened, and prices increased.
The tariff’s impact was put plainly by the owner of Avalanche Press, who stated that tariff costs would have covered the production costs of two additional games this year alone. Essentially, he was taking 3 copies of every game and throwing them in the dumpster.
Some game designers, like TinkerHouse Games, have sued the government in the hopes of clawing back those tariffs.
“Relief!” said Jamey Steigmaier of Stonemaier Games. “Relief that the tariff taxes can’t skyrocket on a whim tomorrow, a fear I’ve lived with every day since April,” he told Polygon via email.
Immediately, speculation ran rampant in board game spaces. Hopes that shipping and importing would become cheaper again, and that those game companies in hibernation could return.
Unfortunately, the long-term effects of the tariffs would still be evident. All those companies that folded because of the tariffs are still gone. All that inventory that cost two or three times as much as expected to ship… those costs still need to be covered.
All those more expensive game components, all those attempts to find US-based manufacturing for these games — a manufacturing infrastructure that is no closer to existing than it was a year ago when the tariffs were haphazardly implemented.
All that tariff money that those companies will probably never see back.
The board game industry has been decimated, decades of growth wiped out in less than a year.
But sadly, only one avenue for applying tariffs has been closed to Trump.
He has since spitefully announced an increase in global tariffs instead through another governmental mechanism, and the industry must wait again with bated breath to see how bad it will be when the latest tsunami hits.
It’s exhausting to watch as a board game fan, so I can only imagine how absolutely brutal it must be as a game designer or employee of a game company.
I can only hope this very public defeat is the first of many in favor of independent creators.
In the meantime, support puzzle and game creators whenever and however you can. It’s more important than ever to find small joys wherever possible, whether it’s inside a black-and-white grid or at the table with friends, rolling dice.
Every tabletop game starts somewhere. Once the box is opened, the pieces distributed, and the board set up, all that’s left is figuring out who goes first.
After twodays buried in board game rule books, you might think you’ve seen everything the industry has to offer, especially when it comes to starting prompts.
But I assure you, friend, I’ve saved the best for last. Please enjoy the most elaborate, the most cartoonish, and the flat-out craziest suggestions for Who Goes First, as well as a countdown of my personal favorites.
Without further ado, let’s get into it!
Board games often have an off-the-wall premise, whether you’re dealing with aliens abducting ducks (Abducktion), using mad cows to detonate leftover war-time munitions (Unexploded Cow), or slowly going insane whilst spelling words (Unspeakable Words).
But even games with more down-to-earth concepts can still have mind-bendingly silly or crazy prompts to decide Who Goes First.
Time Masters asks for the player who last spoke with a wizard, while Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side suggests the last player to use The Force. Time Bomb Evolution lets the player who most recently evolved start the game.
Image courtesy of Disney.
1001 Karawane prefers the player who has ridden on a flying carpet most recently. In Big Monster, it’s the last player to have been to the moon who begins.
Were you the player most recently abducted by the CIA or the KGB (Secrets)? Or the player who most recently killed a monarch (Regicide)? Or the person who last destroyed an entire civilization (Gentes)?
Viking-themed games go pretty hard right out of the gate. Walhalla wants to know who most recently drank mead from a cow’s horn. Vikings, meanwhile, opts for the player who has pillaged and razed the most defenseless villages.
If you can perform miracles, I have a few recommendations for you. In Dead Man’s Cabal, the player who last raised the dead goes first. In Kazaam, the player who has most recently turned lead into gold begins. (This is also the case in Trismegistus: The Ultimate Formula, though that game accepts any alchemical transmutation.)
A successful alchemist’s copy of Monopoly…
Some games raise the bar even higher, asking for insanity AND specificity.
How specific? Well, a game of Colorado starts with the player who last visited an abandoned mine in a rusty wagon oozing coal residue.
Fantastiqa: The Rucksack Edition asks just one thing of the starting player. They want the person who most recently conducted a successful short symphony for the Mountain Moles of Mu. Simple, right?
At least Smash Up! gets specific by offering lots of options. The player who most recently experienced ANY of these scenarios can go first…
abducted by an alien
shanghaied by a pirate
bitten by a vampire
burned by a dragon
kissed by a princess
driven insane by Cthulhu
attacked by a teddy bear
eaten by an orc
Along the same lines, Cleopatra and the Society of Architects prefers the player with the best Egyptian credentials. This could be a nose as famous as Cleopatra’s, a mummified Crocodile pet, or an extensive hieroglyphic library, for instance.
Some of those starting rules listed above are pretty unusual. Thankfully, some games have a ridiculous starting request, but a more reasonable back-up suggestion all lined up. And these “In case of” scenarios can be just as entertaining as the totally bonkers starting prompts.
In Simurgh, the player who last rode a dragon goes first. But if no one has ridden a dragon, they’ll take a horse, a pony, or an extremely large dog instead. Reasonable!
Which player has most recently been to space? You get to go first in Space Explorers. And if no one has, then it’s the player who most recently watched or read something about space.
In the same vein, the player most recently abducted by aliens goes first in Pasture 51: They Came for our Angus. (Whomever has most recently been to a farm is the back-up in this case.)
Dinosaur Island suggests that the player who most recently extracted DNA from a mosquito trapped in amber begins. I mean, sure, we’ve all been there. But, if for some reason, no one at the table has successfully completed that task, you can go with the player who most recently visited a theme park.
And if that feels unlikely, consider this one.
Are you the player who last reached the peak of Mount Everest using nothing but blue-and-white-checkered stilts carved from the wood of a Mammoth tree? Then you start this particular game of The Bridges of Shangri-La. (In case of a tie, choose the wisest player of the group. I imagine that might be the person who didn’t try to climb Everest on stilts in the first place.)
The Great Heartland Hauling Co. is almost contractual in their starting prompt. The player with either (A) the best mustache or (B) the longest hair goes first. If one player has a very nice mustache and another other player has the longest hair, settle the issue with an arm-wrestling match.
This combination of physical qualities, debate, and physical challenge manages to encompass so many different Who Starts ideas that it’s genuinely impressive.
Before I conclude this three-day journey through the world of board game starting gimmicks with my personal favorites, I would like to highlight one delightful subset of starting rules: the “player to the left” option.
Dominion is perhaps the most famous game to use this mechanic, suggesting that the player sitting to the left of whomever won the previous game should start. Since play passes to the left, this means the person who won the previous game goes last. It’s an elegant equalizer for all involved.
Flock Together has a nice variation on this, opting for the player to the left of the player who most recently ate chicken to begin the game.
And Galaktico is absolutely ruthless in this regard, suggesting that play starts with the player to the left of the most impatient player (meaning the most impatient person must go last). That’s brutal!
I’ll conclude today’s post with my favorite Who Goes First prompts. After reading through hundreds and hundreds of board game rule sets, these are the ten I liked the most. They’re an eclectic mix of creative, sincere, silly, and thematic hooks.
#10: Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar
Give the Starting Player Marker to the player who most recently sacrificed something. This can be as silly or as serious as you choose, offering a whole range of potential debate opponents.
#9: T-Rex’s Holiday
The player with the most scars from animal scratches begins. This is clearly someone who deserves a little reward.
#8: Terror Below
The player who most recently defeated a worm in combat begins. The door is wide open on this one, and the debate never fails to make everyone at the table laugh.
#7: Tempus
The player who most recently had a great idea begins. As you can tell, I love a passionate debate, and this one has led to some genuinely fascinating pre-game discussions.
#6: A Thief’s Fortune
The player who most recently borrowed something and never returned it begins. Confession time, you light-fingered fiends!
#5: Fog of Love
The player who last blew a kiss begins. I just think this suggestion is so lovely.
#4: Surfosaurus MAX
The most experienced paleontologist/surfer begins. While you could interpret this as the most experienced paleontologist OR surfer, I prefer to debate who best embodies the qualities of both a paleontologist AND a surfer.
#3: Potemkin Empire
The player who most recently had to deal with government bureaucracy. Again, this is someone who absolutely deserves a little kindness.
#2: Trogdor!!: The Board Game
The player with the coolest consonant cluster in their name begins. This one is so unique that I had to put it high on my list. Reward those people whose names are constantly getting mispronounced!
#1: Fairy Tails
The player who most recently took a walk in the forest while contemplating the existence of hidden peoples begins. Plenty of games ask who went hiking or walking in the forest last, but the contemplation aspect makes this one so cute and considerate.
Thank you for taking this deep dive with me into the world of board games. It’s been an absolute blast to dig through not only my own extensive board game collection, but the brilliant archive of Who Goes First rules compiled at First Player Fun. Please check them out!
Did I (somehow) manage to miss your favorite starting prompt across these three days, fellow tabletopper? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
PuzzCulture 