When it comes to a game based on cards one of the first things you notice…
Calvin Daniels
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Assistant Editor of Yorkton This Week, with more than 25-years in the newspaper business. He has numerous Saskatchewan Weekly Newspaper Assoc. awards, various other honours for writing, and has freelanced stories around the world. He has also authored eight books to-date.
Calvin’s Commentaries: CHAK
A fresh take on the birth of chess Often hobbies evolve to incorporate related activities. For…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Tactigon
When you receive a game to play and review before it has even started to be…
Calvin’s Commentaries: CHAINS, Disc Golf Board Game
HEAD Rattling chains at the gamer table It so happens most of those who game in…
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: 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: Trench
In the world of my beloved abstract strategy games there is a rather diverse range of…