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rid

@manaworm.com

62 followers 290 following 140 posts

he/him. board games. indiana pacers + fever. osrs. tyrese haliburton enjoyer. writing about games @ manaworm.com

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rid @manaworm.com · Aug 5

I started writing about board games over on a new blog! I'll be sharing my reviews/essays/etc. on BlueSky when I publish them. There's a couple already on there and they're pretty good, I'm proud of what I have done.

#boardgames #boardgamesky

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mana worm

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rid @manaworm.com · 4d

I love drafting games, but those games tend to be razor-sharp. Let's Go! To Japan offers a cozy alternative. It's a game for those who love reading Wikipedia articles and restaurant menus, basking in the anticipation of a well-planned trip.

My review: manaworm.com/2025/10/04/l...

#boardgames

Let’s Go! To Japan Review: A Cozy Week Away

Before I go someplace new, I revel in the opportunity to do some research. Reading blog posts from locals, restaurant reviews (and their menus), Wikipedia articles, rosters of local sports teams an…

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rid @manaworm.com · 7d

🎲 Got some good plays in this September. A couple of new favorites, too.

#boardgames #bgstats

BG Stats Sep 2025

Plays: 45
H-index: 3
Games: 24
New: 9
Players: 18
Locations: 5
Hours: 24
Days: 23

FlipToons
Duel for Cardia
King of Tokyo: Duel
Arigatō
Please Don't Burn My Village!
Sky Team
Slay the Spire: The Board Game
Leviathan Wilds
Apiary

37 designers:
326: 4%
Alessandro Zucchini: 4%
Alex Hague: 4%
Ammon Anderson: 4%
Anthony Giovannetti: 4%.

rid @manaworm.com · 8d

i like when something i worked on or set up on a previous turn means I get an easy, "obvious" turn somewhere later. i appreciate you labeling it as an "ebb and flow," cause that's exactly what I want in games too

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rid @manaworm.com · 11d

FlipToons takes the formula of Luck Be a Landlord and shrinks it down into a 20 minute small box card game. A great deckbuilding 101 style game, with a pretty good solo mode, too.

My review: manaworm.com/2025/09/27/f...

#boardgames

FlipToons Review: Luck Be a Ladybug

Like designers Jordy Adan and Renato Simões Silva, I was very intrigued by the video game Luck Be a Landlord. In that game, the player builds up a tiny slot machine to pay off the titular landlord.…

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rid @manaworm.com · 13d

shocking: local man finally tries out slay the spire board game and it's... really good. people really weren't kidding about how well it's adapted, huh

rid @manaworm.com · 15d

In Duel for Cardia, tactical losses compound to gradual wins. It is a clever treat, albeit one that may have trouble standing out.

My review: manaworm.com/2025/09/23/d...

#boardgames

Duel for Cardia Review: Seven Signets

The name “Duel for Cardia” did not instill confidence in me. Worse yet was my little brother, for whom the invocation of “Cardia” was less a tongue-in-cheek reference to, yo…

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rid @manaworm.com · 16d

this looks really cool, i've thought about trying to get a copy. is it easy to play/learn without being able to read korean?

rid @manaworm.com · 20d

With the second printing and retail release of Leviathan Wilds, I finally got a chance to claw my way up the side of all these behemoths. Here's my review, an ode to these sick leviathans and the heights they reach:

manaworm.com/2025/09/18/l...

#boardgames

Leviathan Wilds Review: Once More Unto the Beast

You can’t deny the inherent drama of The Climb. Starting low, looking up at the insurmountable; lodging an ice pick here, leaping there; finally reaching the precipice of what was always seem…

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rid @manaworm.com · 26d

Sky Team is one of the easiest two player games to recommend to just about anyone. I wrote about how good it is, even if the theme of two pilots who can't communicate is a little... strange.

manaworm.com/2025/09/12/s...

#boardgames

Sky Team Review: Don’t Talk to Me Until I’ve Had My Morning Cup of Crashing the Airplane

Much has been written about the precarity of Sky Team’s airplane. This is a plane that, if the intern-on-board hasn’t done sufficient grunt work, will disintegrate upon touching the tar…

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rid @manaworm.com · 28d

the running joke in my family is that I always *always* get a rule wrong that makes the cooperative game we are learning way harder to win.

i just saw someone explain the rules to the lord of the rings trick taking game and realized i did it again.

#boardgames

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rid @manaworm.com · Sep 5

I wrote about Blade Runner-inspired roleplaying board game Inhuman Conditions. It's about, among other things, Being A Normal Chill Guy.

My review:
manaworm.com/2025/09/05/i...

#boardgames #ttrpg

Inhuman Conditions Review: Act Normal

I’m intimidated by writing about RPGs. I have a deep-seated belief that everyone is playing every game so completely differently that valuable insight is hard to come by. The characters we in…

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rid @manaworm.com · Sep 5

a big cardboard box of plastic venerating and justifying all the other big cardboard boxes of plastic you know and love

rid @manaworm.com · Sep 2

🎲 Here's (most) of what I played in August. A very co-op, fairly light month.

#bgstats #boardgames

a five by five grid of different board games I played!
BG Stats 5 x 5.
Top Tier;
King of Tokyo: Duel;
Things in Rings;
Alibis;
Leviathan Wilds;
The Quest for El Dorado;
TEKKEN – the Board Game;
Fromage;
Sky Team;
FlipToons;
Castle Combo;
Toy Battle;
Landmarks;
Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game;
Let's Go! To Japan;
Tiny Towns;
Railroad Tiles;
Hanabi;
Kinfire Delve: Callous' Lab;
Just One;
Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition;
Forbidden Island;
Next Station: Paris;
Santorini;
Please Don't Burn My Village!.

rid @manaworm.com · Sep 1

I love @dom2d.bsky.social's art, deduction, and not blowing up. A lot of people seem to agree.

My review of Bomb Busters:

manaworm.com/2025/09/01/b...

#boardgames

Bomb Busters Review: Duct Tape Defusal

All good cooperative games should strive to be a heist movie. Not that they should be about stealing from some vault– though at least a couple are– I mean the opportunities for people t…

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rid @manaworm.com · Aug 25

I wrote about Alibis, a new game by Allplay about exonerating villains with one-word clues. If you want a new Codenames-adjacent game, you should give this one a try.

My review:
manaworm.com/2025/08/25/a...

#boardgames

Alibis Review: Your Honor, My Client Should Be Hooping

For my family, party games hit the table frequently. When I can wrangle together a group of my siblings, it is almost guaranteed that someone at the table will cap the type of game we play to somet…

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rid @manaworm.com · Aug 19

Kinfire Delve is a very cool take on the "one deck dungeon" style of smooshing a dungeon crawl into a tiny box.

There's a lot of offerings in the Kinfire universe but for 20 dollars, this seemed like a good place to start. My review of Callous' Lab:

manaworm.com/2025/08/19/k...

#boardgames

Kinfire Delve Callous’ Lab Review: Well Kept

In Kinfire Delve: Callous’ Lab, I’ve been beset on all sides by half-finished science experiments called husks. I’ve been befuddled by a sapience test when a guardian stumbled upo…

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rid @manaworm.com · Aug 19

bone 🦴

rid @manaworm.com · Aug 14

Ahead of the new Extra Pepper expansion, I reviewed Sea Salt & Paper. It's a game that allows you to be very annoying to your partner by taking all the stuff they discard and some cards from their hand, too.

#boardgames

manaworm.com/2025/08/14/s...

Sea Salt & Paper Review: Two Crabs Folding

I used to keep some origami cranes in my wallet. Someone had made them from post it notes. They lived condensed back behind the dollar bills and so I’d sometimes accidentally drop one when I …

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rid @manaworm.com · Aug 13

I've only played it once so far but I agree with your take! I also wanna try playing it with nigoichi's rules, cause I really thought alibis was competitive not cooperative before I read the rules

rid @manaworm.com · Aug 13

hey im in a cool clan, dm me

rid @manaworm.com · Aug 11

New review! I wrote about Santorini: Second Edition, how intimidating 1v1 abstracts can be, and an abundance of plastic. It's a good game, too.

#boardgames

Santorini Second Edition Review: Chibi Showdown

If you need a little extra push to get into abstracts, I get it. I am happy to move chunky pieces around a grid and score for doing so. However, I would be happier if I was instead a druid or a til…

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rid @manaworm.com · Aug 9

i don't have as much opportunity, but i like low to the ground scrapping and playing with weaker cards, so i love limited and especially sealed.

rid @manaworm.com · Aug 9

Rounding out my launch lineup of reviews, I wrote about Canvas, a game with a neat gimmick of slotting transparent pieces of art into card sleeves. The resulting paintings are funny, cute and, hopefully, brimming with victory points.

manaworm.com/2025/08/05/c...

#boardgames

Canvas Review: Beauty Is in the Eye of the Ribbon Holder

In Canvas, players are expected to make art. For some players, that declaration alone may sound like a threat and reflexively trigger a “but I can’t draw,” or “can I do stic…

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Reposted by rid

Kenna Alexander @kennaalexander.bsky.social · Aug 7

That's so far out of fucking line, I'm kind of stunned. Then I thought, wait, if they represented Black people this way...And sure enough, got ourselves a glowing-eyed Indian with steer horns. JFC. Devir, this is way beyond "oops". This looks intentional. Leave Natives out of your products.

A card from the Devir game, Ace of Spades, depicting Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Lakota, as a red-eyed person with steer horns.

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rid @manaworm.com · Aug 7

In Top Tier, you will argue which historical or fictional character would best lead the Mighty Ducks to a championship. It has potential, but falls short of party game greatness. You do get to make some funny tier lists though.

My review here:

manaworm.com/2025/08/05/t...

#boardgames

Top Tier Review: Put This One Next to “C”

Every few months I put together a comprehensive tier list template and get my partner to rank every board game we have ever played. It’s a collaborative process, partially because some games …

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