Hot Game Magnet: Board game reviews

Kingdom Death Monster is like no other game we have reviewed. It's easily the biggest, both in physical size and gameplay content. It is very dark. Very very dark, and gory, and violent, and really dark. However, it is at the same time artistically beautiful. Every miniature, every graphic, and illustration, even the choices of color feel part of one powerful artistic vision. It is heavily derivat...

Getting your kids involved in the boardgame hobby is one of the major payoffs for parents who are avid gamers. It's not always so easy though. What if you're into heavy fantasy dungeon crawlers? How do you get your kids into that? There are a lot of kids' games and educational games out there, but let's be honest, most of them are just not fun. Zaberias is relatively new educational game. It's als...

Chateau is a new Roll&Write game coming to kickstarter as a Print&Play. We got the chance to check it out early when Rolling Rhino Games sent us a review copy. It's definitely a lot of fun, and it's interesting how well Roll&Write games work as a Print&Play. All you need is some dice, pencils and a printer. I wonder what other syles and Formats of games are a perfect match. Let us know what combon...

I don't buy every game I like but I probably buy more than I should. that's okay. I've made my peace. It could be drugs, right? At least it's not drugs. It's now February and I've been up to my old tricks. Hanging around kickstarter pages. Perusing Facebook marketplace. Coveting surprise preorders. LOL. Anyway, I've made up a short list of the games I find most tantalizing, and we discuss the pros...

I always wanted to be a skate boarder, but I grew up in the country with a dirt road and also, I didn't like all the falling down so I never really got to live the dream. Pandasaurus games new release Skate Summer, grabbed me from the first, with its nostalgic promise to relive that childhood dream. It has some really interesting and unique mechanics, spot on artwork, and the creator clearly knows...

Another Year come and gone. We played a lot of games. Some of them were good, some of them not so good, and some of them were pretty great. We went over every new game that we played this year and came six that we could both agree were or favorites. Find out what they are and find out what we each chose to be our 2022 best game of the year.

Mechanics are supremely important to a great game, but mechanics are not the only thing that makes a game great. Story, theme, and art are clearly very important as well. Namiji, the newest game from FunForge (the creators of Tokaido) has decent low weight mechanics and is a fun game to play. However, where it really shines is in the other three categories. Particularly Theme and Art. the Aestheti...

Zombicide is pretty much what got us into modern board gaming, so we are always exited to see a new version, and man do they every have a lot of versions. There is modern, medieval, sci-fi, western, a role and write and more. The latest version that we have had the chance to play is Marvel Zombies Heroes Resistance a minimized retail edition of the huge CMON and Spinmaster adaptation of the Marvel...

What's more fun than playing your favorite boardgame? Maybe nothing, but a close second is drooling over the latest list of upcoming boardgames that might just be your next favorite. It's time again for our kickstarter roundup. Let us know if you agree with our list.

We got to check out the Mayhem Games system from CMON with our kickstarter copies of Looney Tunes and Teen Titans Go from the CMON animation collection. Despite being called the Mayhem system I have to say the game is a lot more family fun and a lot less destruction and chaos. This could be a good or a bad thing depending on your expectations. For us it was a definite good thing.

So You've Been Eaten has to be one of the funniest premises for a game that we've come across. It also helps that the game has fun mechanics, great art, and is for 2 players. Also, it Plays in about 30 minutes which makes it great for the time poor.

The hardest part about getting kids into board-games is probably dealing with their often very short attention spans. In this world of YouTube, TikToc and instagram influencers, kids don't really have a lot of patience for games with a lot of set up and gameplay. That's why we love it when we find a game that's fun, easy to learn and most importantly Quick to play. this week we look at 2MinuteDino...

We love a good crunchy game with lots of paths to victory, but you know what, we also love a good simple game of smashing your enemies. There is a bit more to Catapult Kingdom(Feud) but it definitely falls into the later category with it's action packed castle destroying game play.

I've been trying really hard not to buy too many things on Kickstarter this year. Thanks a lot June! You've kicked me right off the wagon once again. Check out what kickstarter games are currently destroying my savings account. lol!

We love unique concepts combined with great gameplay. We recently got to preview Clash of Galliformes from Todys Design and it really did grab us. the game play is strategic and action packed, but what we really loved was the idea of waging war against each other using giant death dealing pheasants. We're pretty exited to jump on board the kickstarter launching on June 15th.

I've never had much interest in trains but I have to say, Railroad Ink is so well designed and beautifully illustrated I can almost see myself as a train enthusiast. At least I can while I'm playing the game.

Do you love ghost stories and Magic shows? I'm not sure if the metaphysical world is real but I love pretending. I don't really want to know how the rabbit got in the hat because I love feeling the magic. If this is how you feel you will probably want to play "The Mind" by Panadasaurus Games . It's such an interesting little game. I'm not so sure that it taps into anything supernatural, but it sur...

I can't believe it took us almost a year to get Ankh off the shelf and onto the table. Was it worth the wait? Could this be a contender for HotGameMagnet game of the year, or will it go back on the shelf never to be spoken of again?

Factories are not the funnest thing in the world. I think actually, they have a pretty strong reputation for being not at all fun. However, from the point of view of a child's imagination a factory could be a fantastical, colorful, and mind boggling place of fun and excitement. Not unlike that famous chocolate factory. This week we look at Factory Funner by BoardGameTables.com. A game that really...

Sometimes the best part of a game is the physical nature of it's mechanics. Potion Explosion is a perfect example. It's at it's core an excellent puzzle game, but what really makes it shine is the way it uses glass marbles to represent the explosive chemical reactions that drive the game play.

Wow! 2022 is off too an exciting start with some awesome looking games up on kickstarter. One in particular looks to overshadow everything else, but hey, don't sell short the underdogs.

I'm not sure how many dinosaur themed games is too many, but I am sure we haven't hit that limit. This week we review God's Love Dinosaurs from Pandasuarus Games. Even though it is from the same company that created Dinosaur Island and Dinosaur World, God's Love Dinosaurs is it's own game with unique theme and mechanics. We really had a lot of fun with this one. Could this be our new favorite dino...

2021 as a pretty wild year, but through it all we got to play and review some excellent games. This is the end of our third year going at HotGameMagnet and it's time to pick our top five games for the year. let us know if you agree or if we've inspired you to try out some new games. Happy New Year!

Power Slam is a hand management card game designed to bring all the fun and excitement of professional wrestling to your table. If you are a huge wrestling fan, like the games creators, this might just be the perfect game for you.

We haven't done a kickstarter roundup in a while so I'm pretty excited to have a look at a few really cool games currently running funding campaigns. There's some role and writes, there's dice, and even a bit of time travel!