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Shafausa Review – Where Orcs, Trolls and Dark Elves Sit Down and Talk About The Economy

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This past week I finally sat down and took the time to learn and play the board game Shafausa from Helvetia games.

This game has been on my personal pile of shame the longest and I was determined to get it played as part of the #LessShameMoreGame challenge.
This past Saturday we played a four player game and while the game isn't exactly what you would expect, it's a very solid game. [ READ MORE ]

Gaming in the New Year 2018 – Recap

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Every year I host a Gaming in the New Year party at my place on New Year's Eve. This year was no exception.

I have a group of my friends over and we play games through the night and early into the morning. We take a short break for pizza but basically it's about 12 hours of non-stop gaming.
I closed out 2018 and welcomed 2019 with 8 different games and 14 total plays. [ READ MORE ]

A Look Back at Most Played and Best New Games of 2018

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First up, happy holidays to everyone reading this. I hope this season has been filled with games and gaming.

With 2018 coming to and end I thought this would be a good time to do a look back at the past year. The way the timing works out we will be recording our last podcast of the year on Boxing Day and that episode will release on New Years Day. So I thought this would make for a great discussion topic for that show.
I'm going to be looking at my most played games of 2018. I will follow that up with a list of some of the best new games of 2018 as well as my biggest surprise of 2018. [ READ MORE ]

A look at the origins of Deck Building – Returning to Dominion

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Dominion is known as the grandfather of Deck Building, one of the most popular game mechanics out there.

I first reviewed Dominion back in 2010, when it was still The New Hotness. I think it's time we take a look at that review as part of #ThrowbackThursday.
Below you will find my original review,  with only very minor editing. I'm trying to keep the feel and tone of the original post. I will, at times, insert comments or corrections, and you will find these in [square brackets]. After the original post, you can find my current thoughts on the game reviewed. [ READ MORE ]

Cities and Knights of Catan 12 Years Later

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A question about Settlers of Catan was the first question I ever answered here on the blog. Our first ever podcast episode was all about Catan and the various editions and expansions.  You could almost say The Tabletop Bellhop started with Catan.

That's why I'm bringing back this classic review of Cities & Knights of Catan for #ThrowbackThursday.
Below you will find my original review,  with only very minor editing. I'm trying to keep the feel and tone of the original post. I will, at times, insert comments or corrections, and you will find these in [square brackets]. After the original post, you can find my current thoughts on the game reviewed. [ READ MORE ]

A Round Table on my game table – A look back at Shadows Over Camelot

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Everyone that reads this blog or tunes into our show should know my feelings on hidden role and social deduction games. It's interesting to know that I didn't always feel that way. Like back in 2006 when I reviewed Shadows Over Camelot and through it was the best cooperative game I'd ever played.

Let's take a trip back in time for #ThrowBackThursday and check out that happier time in my life.
Below you will find my original review with only very minor editing. I'm trying to keep the feel and tone of the original post. I've kept any pictures I used in the initial review as well. I will, at times, insert comments and you will find these in [square brackets]. After the original post, you can find my current thoughts on the game reviewed. [ READ MORE ]

Back on the farm – Another look at Agricola

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Last week I took a look at Power Grid. Which at one time was #1 on BoardGameGeek. This week I take a look at another game that was once the number one game in the world. That game is Agricola.

Each #ThrowbackThursday I'm taking a trip back in time, bringing back a review I wrote many years ago.
Below you will find an original review with only very minor editing. I'm trying to keep the feel and tone of the original post. I've kept any pictures I used in the initial review as well. I will, at times, insert comments, you will find these in [square brackets]. At the end of the original content, I will follow up with some current thoughts on the topic. [ READ MORE ]

A return to Eternia – The Masters of the Universe Role Playing Game from FASA

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By The Power of Grayskull! I resurrect an actual play review of The Masters of The Universe Role Playing Game by FASA that I wrote back on July 5th, 2013.

Welcome back to #ThrowbackThursday.
Each week I plan to bring back an original review with only minor editing, keeping the feel and tone of the original post. At the end of the original article, I will follow up with my current thoughts on whatever it is I was reviewing. [ READ MORE ]

Never Unprepared – Classic RPG book review revisited.

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This week I'm looking back, way back, to December 2012 when I reviewed an excellent book for roleplaying game Game Masters called Never Unprepared: The Complete Game Master's Guide to Session Prep.

Welcome to #ThrowbackThursday, a regular feature here at Tabletop Bellhop where I'm going to dig up something I wrote in the past and re-publish it. We're practicing review necromancy.
My plan is to repost the original review with only minor editing. I want to keep the feel and tone of the original post. I will also try to include any original photos (though in this case, the only image in the original review was the book cover). I will, at times, insert comments, you will find these in [square brackets]. At the end of the original content, I will follow up with some current thoughts on the topic. [ READ MORE ]