Calvin’s Commentaries: Chess Federation of Canada part 2 of 2

Yesterday started a look at the game of chess with Vlad Drkulec, President of the Chess…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Chess Federation of Canada part 1 of 2

It is always interesting to learn about another’s interest in board games, and especially so when…

Calvin’s Commentaries: World Backgammon Association

Gamers might not be aware, but March 21 is World Backgammon Day. For several years the…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Thru-Hiker

It is always interesting to come upon games that are decidedly different from those filling the…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Wandering Steel

“Doval Robotics claimed that abandoning its headquarters on the island of Korvorak was a strategic cost-cutting…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Hive

The list of games being produced each year is simply massive, and that has been the…

Calvin’s Commentaries: XENOSCAPE

Role-playing games are always a fun diversion if you have a like-minded group of friends –…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Tumbleweed

Regular readers will know when it comes to a preferred style of game I lean heavily…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Infinity

Miniature games come and go with near startling regularity. While some games you quickly get the…

Calvin’s Commentaries: The Transcontinental

There is always some new game that attracts a player to venture into areas of gaming…

Calvin’s Commentaries: What Game of HAM

When you take a game off the shelf with a name like ‘Game of Ham’ you…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Wildsea

In a real-world where we face a worldwide pandemic, worsening world weather events, a widening divide…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Legions of Steel: Operation Anvil

When it comes to gaming I am an admitted sucker for miniature skirmish games. In general…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Moons and Stars

When a new game comes out with everything about it screaming that it is a very…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Infinity: Betrayal

It’s always interesting when two hobbies come together. For example, when it comes to the hobby…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Roots of Mali

While dice and I get along slightly less well than a wild dog and a feral…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Nomadic Caravan Project

When it comes to miniature gaming, you can never have too many miniatures – truly it’s…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Xodul

There really is a cornucopia, (a good word to work in in the fall), of chess…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Paiko

The current year has been a strange one in almost every facet of our lives, reviewing…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Peruke

You just have to love games that come in small, pocket-sized tins. The simple fact that…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Aristeia

Regular readers will know that the gaming group behind this weekly column collectively has an addiction…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Sword Noir

As a reader, I have long been a fan of ‘pulp noir’. The world of role-play…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Longboat

Throw a Viking theme onto a game and you have at least teased this gamer enough…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Crazy Tower

In terms of popular family/party games, Jenga has to be among the most recognizable. It is…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Trench

In the world of my beloved abstract strategy games there is a rather diverse range of…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Masker

Recently we have delved into a lot of games from designer Philippe Proux and publisher Ludarden.…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Green Skull

When you are part of a small gaming group, who still has access to a couple…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Backgammon

Some games wear the label ‘classic’ easily.  Backgammon in most certainly one of those, with its…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Tak

If it was a case of choosing a 10-best games of the current millennium, while it…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Table Hockey

When it comes to games fondly remembered from my childhood, now some half-century in the rearview…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Othello

There are not many games with simpler rules that can still hold one’s attention through repeated…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Scrabble

When it comes to board games, a scant few among the thousands have developed national and/or…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Star Scrappers: Battledrill

It’s always good when you discover a new game and become excited by it before ever…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Super Chess

There is one area of board gaming I find myself drawn to time and time again;…

Calvin’s Commentaries: King’s Cribbage

So last week’s review mentioned my favored cribbage variant was King’s Cribbage so I thought it…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Cribbage: The Board Game

One of my easy top-10 games to play is cribbage. I love its quirky counting rules,…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Hive

One of the best abstract strategy games created this millennium is Hive from John Yianni. The…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Ludarden

All good things must come to an end, and that is the case with this review…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Doce

There is an entire gaming trunk full of games that come down to getting the desired…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Flock

Rolling dice and relying on the fickleness of the fates is not a core game mechanic…

Calvin’s Commentaries: First Snow

When you enter the world of Print ‘n Play games you quickly find yourself drawn to…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Seasons of Rice

When you are stuck in the house finding a new game to play is not as…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Shadows of Mogg

There are always new role-playing games popping up, and some have the most-interesting themes. Take Shadows…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Expedition

Back in August of 2018, I reviewed Expedition: The Roleplaying Card Game from designers Scott Martin…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Maiak

When a game comes in a strange little wooden box, one that opens with a sort…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Quar

Miniature games are generally a passion for those who play. And, that holds true for those…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Dungeon Alliance

Dungeon crawling adventures in board game form are not new. Nor are deck-builders with a few…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Crokinole with Cues

Regular readers are most likely aware that in terms of board games I rate crokinole at…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Alice Chess

In terms of board games, few offer the long term interest that chess has. There is…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Triad

There are games that you sit down to play and quickly wonder how it is the…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Totem

Some games just look so good that you want to buy them, play them, and share…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Greener

Greener is one of those great little abstract strategy games in a bag from XV games.…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Tonooo

It was interesting to get Tonooo to the table. This is one of those interesting games…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Squarriors: The Card Game

Among the members of the tiny Meeple Guild, we own literally dozens and dozens and dozens…

Calvin’s Commentaries: X-Mas Games

So the calendar has flipped to December, so it’s time to think of holiday gifts for…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Dungeon WC

When it comes to theme board games have covered just about everything, or at least I…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Tasso

Typically dexterity games are either love them, or leave them in my world. Crokinole is the…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Libraria

When it comes to abstract strategy games there is a lot to be said for simplicity.…

Calvin’s Commentaries: 1066

While not a massive fan of historical battle recreation games – not something I generally seek…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Widget Ridge

When I read a description that states “a steampunk deckbuilding game with crazy inventions that connect…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Wizard’s Garden

As a bonafide fan of abstract strategy games I am quite surprised it has taken so…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Parks

If you are a sucker for great looking games then you will be blown away by…

Calvin’s Commentaries: Aristeia

The best games, or perhaps these days, like movies, almost all games, end up with expansions.…