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Game Info
Year
2020
Collection
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Description
Sedlec Ossuary, 16th Century AD.
The Black Plague and Hussite Wars have overcrowded the graveyard. Help the Bone Collector, a half-blind monk, by exhuming graves and arranging the skulls inside the crypt.
You are novice monks, competing to create the best arrangement of skulls.
Dig up graves from the graveyard to reveal cards, take cards into your hand to collect skulls, and arrange the cards from your hand into a stack. Whoever better honors the deceased’s last wishes will score more points.
The Bone Collector will then judge each player’s completed stack and declare one as the most exceptional.
—description from the publisher
Released in the June 2020 Board Game of the Month Club $20+ package.
Finalist (top 3) of Button Shy's 18 Card Challenge: Design a game about a real life location.
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 11
This page: 11
Sentiment:
pos 10 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–11 of 11
Video w1D8SPDSsyA
Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Discussion at 4:01 sentiment: positive
video_pk 87250 · mention_pk 227603
Click to watch at 4:01 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Compact and clever
Cons
- May require the solo expansion for depth
Thematic elements
- Array
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- there is the wall for September it is button shy month what's your favorite button shy game let me know in the comments
- September it is Button Shy month
- fishing lessons and skulls of sedlick with the solo expansion as well as
- Aqua Rove Kickstarter will deliver
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video Bz06QbFEC9w
Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Discussion at 2:28 sentiment: positive
video_pk 87106 · mention_pk 227122
Click to watch at 2:28 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Challenging, elegant puzzle mechanics
- Compact components, good look
Cons
- Rule complexity can be tricky; initial confusion on placements
Thematic elements
- puzzle-strategy with skull-themed artwork
- Pyramid/dual-orientation card placement
- puzzle-first with scoring based on arrangement
Comparison games
- Aqua Ro
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — Score points based on level-specific symbol combinations (e.g., criminals next to priests).
- flip two at a time — In solo mode, flip two cards at a time to determine options.
- scoring based on symbol alignment — Score points based on level-specific symbol combinations (e.g., criminals next to priests).
- two orientations — Place cards into four piles and orient into two layouts: pyramid and monstr solo.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Ro was one of my top games of 2023
- Aqua Ro takes Ro and ramps it up another level
- I really like these skulls ... it's a simple artwork but themed well
- it's not easy; it's a brain burner
- there isn't really any scoring because you are simply trying to get the goal
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video E_TlEWjKDeE
Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Top 10 List at 5:03 sentiment: positive
video_pk 86176 · mention_pk 222263
Click to watch at 5:03 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- enjoyable puzzle and moderate difficulty
- interest in expanding with future content
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- puzzle with stacking/skull arrangement
- spooky/occult-themed puzzle
- quirky abstract
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- puzzle/stacking — solve a skull stacking/placement puzzle to optimize score
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I love this puzzle of trying to make a path from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain
- Ro is my number one button shy game
- I like trying to figure out which animals can eat which animals to make sure that I have the fewest animals left
- this one jumped up and I think it's going to jump up even more the more I play with the expansions
- I cannot figure out how to get the river to go down to surround the animals to get a decent score
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video vx29sQvkd_Y
Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Top 15 List at 18:53 sentiment: positive
video_pk 86192 · mention_pk 222321
Click to watch at 18:53 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Engaging solo drafting with a dynamic graveyard mechanic
- Direct progression toward pyramid shapes
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Pyramid-building with card drafting
- Mystical skull pyramids; fantasized necromancy
- Dark fantasy with layering of pyramids
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Placement constraint — Placed cards must touch existing cards; the graveyard feeds directly into your figure.
- Solo drafting with a graveyard — In solo, four face-down piles are used; you turn two over and draft into your configuration, placing cards in sequence and ensuring legal adjacency.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I really like that drafting mechanism in the solo because it makes an interesting way to do drafting in a Solo game
- it's triple aspect of almost three different drafting things that you're doing in the game
- the drafting comes in is on the bottom of the main board there are six different events
- the conveyor belt so everything moves down the conveyor belt
- the drafting mechanism of this because it is more than just a pick and pass
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video wQWZwu8N0ts
Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Top 10 List at 34:10 sentiment: positive
video_pk 85644 · mention_pk 220025
Click to watch at 34:10 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Engaging solo puzzle with expansions
- Numerous scoring interactions
Cons
- Can be complex to grasp the scoring rules
Thematic elements
- Social puzzle with adjacency scoring
- Skulls and various archetypes on a grid
- Abstract, strategic
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Solo configuration with expansion — Solo play uses a fixed setup and expansion rules.
- Tile Placement — Place skull cards to form scoring adjacencies with constraints.
- Tile placement / adjacency — Place skull cards to form scoring adjacencies with constraints.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is a really fun lighter game.
- Calico fun game.
- This is a really fun one. It makes you think.
- We really like that one.
- It's a lot of fun. I like Honeybuzz.
- Lost Ruins of Arnack is a really good one.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video FGgTm4ZuXcc
Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Discussion at 17:52 sentiment: positive
video_pk 84332 · mention_pk 214228
Click to watch at 17:52 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- compact, elegant puzzle
- solo mode adds replayability
Cons
- small footprint may limit group play
Thematic elements
- arranging skulls to honor the deceased
- 16th century AD cemetery/bones theme
- tableau-building puzzle using skull cards
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card tableau building — arrange skull cards into a stack following adjacency rules.
- Hand Management — take cards into hand and organize into a scoring stack.
- Solo variant — Monstrance mode provides a solo scoring experience.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm Ian, your makeupy casual gamer.
- This is now October of 2025. And this month's theme is going to be spooky season.
- The Haunted Mansion there's the hitchhiking ghosts who follow you home and they may spell your doom in the end.
- the box is actually the dice tower
- basically living out that first movie
- the rules as written you can kind of manipulate into cheating but you can just play the spirit of the game
- everything about this game is just super thematic
- the artwork is absolutely fabulous. I mean, you can tell by the cover. The cover of this is just gorgeous
- you can play as different monster and they're going to play differently
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video tAEkS8w3NYs
Grant Lyon Top List at 5:38 sentiment: positive
video_pk 81830 · mention_pk 204584
Click to watch at 5:38 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- fits in your wallet
- unique theme
- appeals to different people
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- digging up bodies and stacking skulls
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Drafting — you're going to be drafting cards and then building a pyramid of cards.
- card flipping — you will be flipping cards from piles, getting them into your hand
- pyramid building — building a pyramid with those cards.
- Set Collection — Things will score points in different ways. And I always like when games do that and do it well. And, you know, it's like these you need next to each other. And these you don't want in the same row. And this one you want above this other one.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- At this point, I feel like it wouldn't be a Grant's Game Rex top 10 unless I threw an 11th game into the into the mix, into the list, onto the list.
- Number three on my list is in fact the newest game on this list.
- I absolutely love Flip Tunes.
- Although again, probably one of the more strategic games on this list.
- And so, every round there is an excitement factor, a level of excitement that I think that makes the game really fun where you're like, you're flipping cards out and you're like, "Yes. Oh, I needed that one to come out." OR LIKE, "NO, I NEEDED that one to be on the top row and now it's on the bottom row, dang it."
- Number two on my list of the top 10 pocket games of all time is probably my most played game of any on this list and it is the game Love Letter.
- This is one of those games that sort of got me into the modern hobby of board games.
- And I love the player interaction and it's very simple to teach.
- And the number one game when I think of my top pocket games of all time.
- And the reason this is number one is when I thought about doing this topic as a video, this is the first game that popped in my head and that is Deep Sea Adventure.
- And the further out from the submarine you get, the farther out from the submarine that you get, the higher value the treasure. But also, the harder it is to get back to the submarine before the oxygen runs out.
- Everybody thinks they're going to make it back. You're not. You're not going to make it back.
- The sort of table trash talking of Deep Sea Adventure is really fun and I've had memorable moments playing Deep Sea Adventure in countries all over the world.
- If you have really great pocket game that you feel more people should know about, put it in the comments.
- Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for liking, subscribing, and all that great stuff.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video TvOtU8bU-Vc
The Dice Tower News at 4:48
video_pk 81460 · mention_pk 202375
Click to watch at 4:48 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- man, this theme and everything about this from One More Turn Games, I'm very pumped about this one. I love the I cannot wait.
- It's a cool cover actually. It's just not very legible, but it's a life.
- If you like gardens, that's great. You like dragons, that's great. You like them both, buy three copies.
- This is teetering on the edge. This is almost more of a tainted grail type of a look to me.
- I think of all the ones that we've mentioned, this is the one I'm least interested in
- Never mind. This might be the one I'm least interested in.
- Cuz Clank! Catacombs exists.
- that's a really good-looking prototype.
- This would have been my most anticipated game of the year or one of them had I known about it
- This is one of my most anticipated games of the year now.
- This is basically um a Star Trek version of Captain Sonar.
- We know about this for a while. We've been very excited. We've already played it actually.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 32j01l43PIc
Discussion at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 69069 · mention_pk 165392
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Brilliantly designed
- Challenging and deeply satisfying
- Compact size
- Clever mechanisms
- Minimalist design done right
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- puzzle game
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Pattern Building — Players arrange skulls in specific patterns to maximize the scoring potential.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Skulls of Sedle is a brilliantly designed puzzle game made up of just 18 cards.
- Fantastic Factories is an engine building game that strikes the perfect balance between strategic depth and approachability.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 9_iBoL7knkM
Totally Tabled Playthrough at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 33623 · mention_pk 100005
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Compact filler game that plays quickly
- Solid solo variant via expansion that keeps the feel of the original game
- Seasonal Halloween aesthetics and theme add charm
- Relatively easy to teach yet allows for thoughtful placement decisions
Cons
- Scoring can become arithmetic-heavy and fiddly
- Reliance on card draw for optimal placement can reduce certainties
- Limited player count reduces variability beyond the solo and two-player baseline
Thematic elements
- skulls, ranking through stacking, ritual structure
- Halloween-themed skull-pyramid puzzle setting
- procedural scoring framework with a spooky vibe
Comparison games
- Sprawlopolis
- Rove
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — Scoring depends on the position of skull types (priest, criminal, royal, peasant, etc.) and adjacency within stacks
- gravity-like stacking / structural integrity — Cards must be supported by others as you build the pyramid and the jack-o-lantern structure
- Layer Building — Cards must be supported by others as you build the pyramid and the jack-o-lantern structure
- pattern-based scoring — Scoring depends on the position of skull types (priest, criminal, royal, peasant, etc.) and adjacency within stacks
- promo shape scoring — Promo shapes (jack-o-lantern, gargoyle, etc.) replace or supplement the base pyramid for scoring in solo mode
- set collection / drafting — Draw or flip to add skull cards to one of several stacks, with actions constrained by face-up visibility and flip choices
- solo variant with feature card — A random feature card from the expansion defines a unique scoring condition for the round
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this is another quick puzzly filler game
- it's a filler game that I really enjoy
- we've completed our two structures
- Renowned Creator
- Humble monk
- five points short of Legendary Artisan
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video jfTg204Sl-c
Adam in Wales - Board Game Design Review at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 3470 · mention_pk 10292
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Extremely portable with an 18-card deck
- Engaging blend of drafting and set collection
- Strong thematic alignment with the Sedlec ossuary
- Expandable through The Executioner's expansion for multiplayer
- Compact footprint that supports a catalog-like experience
Cons
- End-game scoring is delayed; gratification is not immediate
- Hand limit of two can constrain early decisions
- Not revolutionary in isolation, but exemplary as a Button Shy product
Thematic elements
- mortality and ceremonial arrangement of skulls
- Sedlec Ossuary, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic
- theme-first microgame with historical setting
Comparison games
- Sushi Go!
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Drafting — On your turn you reveal a top card and may either take it, or flip two more and take one of those; hand limit of two drives pacing
- Domino-like placement — Placed cards form a pyramid-shaped display; skulls interlock by placement and adjacency
- End-game scoring by position — Scoring is determined by positions within the pyramid and adjacency bonuses
- Set Collection — Cards function as two-skull domino-like pieces; players collect skulls to form scoring opportunities
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Skulls of Sedleck was a finalist in a challenge where designers were asked to design an 18 card game based on a real-life location
- Button Shy released one new hand assembled wallet game every month that's 12 very affordable games per year
- The real product is Button Shy itself and that's a great concept well executed
- a catalog of tiny games in cute wallets curated experiences sold at an affordable price
- If you'd like to hear more about some simple portable games then click on the link and until next time all the best
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–11 of 11