Look Back - 12/31/25

[music] [music] Hey everybody, I'm Tom Vassel. Welcome to Look Back, a series where I take a look at the reviews I did last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, and all the way back to 20 years ago. So, let's start with to 20 years ago first. These are the games I reviewed. Then let's talk about what I think about them, if I think about them at all.

First, we have debate this, which was a thing about, hey, let's have some topics and debate them in a game. 20 years ago, I was much more, you know, agreeable to do this. I am not now. So, I've dropped this to a five out of 10. Shark Park, a memory kind of game. There was the Finding Nemo craze. Obviously, this game was based on that.

Not very good. Five out of 10. Pacru, Shakru, and a Zachru. So, these are three games that all came in the same box, and they're all kind of the same thing. They're essentially a uh a board game version of Snake where you're moving around and trying to eat the other snake or kind of like a Pac-Man snake type thing.

I reviewed each one separately. Um the, you know, they're they're essentially just more complex versions of the last. I think the middle one, Shakru, is the one I like the best, but I did enjoy them a lot. 7.5. Uh, 10 years ago, I reviewed Pelpine Card Game, which I thought was just terrible. Four out of 10.

Portigra, this is a Kramer Keling game, and I tend to like their combinations, but this one just didn't do it for me. I found it to be a little boring. Five out of 10. The King is Dead from Pier Sylvester Osprey Games. This is a game it it it feels like it's a bigger game that was streamlined and streamlining is often very good, but this one I felt almost a little streamlined too much.

A six out of 10. The Gallerist of the Talisera game 6.5 for me. This one's almost there. And I know a lot of people love the Talisera. His games are probably not for me for the most part. And this is the game that kind of showed me that. I It's not bad. I didn't hate it. I had a good time playing it to some degree, but it felt like it was more work than it was worth.

Hence the reason it didn't make a seven. Um, Andromeda. This is a game from Galactic A Galacta. Um, kind of a futuristic space game. It's It was fine, but very forgettable to some degree. 6.5. Flee Warfide. This is the fleet game no one ever talks about. We have Fleet and Fleet the Dice game, but there was also Fleet Warside.

Kind of like Fleet Fleet Card game. It was nice. A seven out of 10. San Franito. This is a game. This was actually remade recently with a I think a sushi theme. It might have been called habachi or something like that. Um, and that's not sushi, but anyway, I think it was called habachi the second time through, but San Franito is a game where you were tossing chips onto a board, but there was a game built around that.

So, it was dexterity, but also trying to collect ingredients and stuff. I I and I love the Indian spice theme to it. So, that's that was neat. Seven out of 10. My village did not was not a huge fan of Village, a game in which your workers died as the game went by. And I get the theming of that and all.

I just for some reason village didn't do it for me. But My Village, which was the dice version, that one I enjoyed a seven out of 10. Speaking of dice, Rolling America, which I believe was the follow-up to Rolling Japan. I'm not actually sure which one came first. I think Rolling Japan came first, but Rolling America is a very, very simple almost bingoesque rolling, right?

where you're I mean I think you can play with you know hundreds of people if you wanted to play the same game but it's but it works well in that situation 7.5 Brick Party you probably haven't heard of this but just this past year game called came out called Brick like this which is a remaking of this game wasn't originally Lego themed now it is Lego used Legoike blocks originally but a fun game in which one person's telling another person what to build 7.5 KTI this is a game and I like this expansion And I feel the same way as I did about it when it first came out.

Um, where there was a whole pre-section of it which I did not think was great. But the other part with just adding more stuff I enjoyed a lot. I still feel that way, but it's kind of a moot point because the new Chemmit kind of adds this stuff and now there's a new expansion adds even more stuff. So this is it doesn't really matter.

Sharf Shulton. This is a trick-taking game where you would predict the color you would take the least of with a hot pepper theme, which doesn't really mean anything, but I did enjoy this one more than many trick-T games. An eight out of 10. 5 years ago, I played a game called Fidget Factory. They were trying to, hey, we're going to take fidget and make them into a game.

They did not. Three out of 10. Photosynthesis under the moonlight. This expansion made me dislike the base game photosynthesis more than I did what be without the expansion. It's weird that very few expansions have made me dislike made my drop my rating of the original game, but this was just it added nothing.

Um I don't know. It just added animals and stuff and it just it it made the game actively worse. Five out of 10. P for pizza. Simple little party game. You flip slices. There's a letter. There's a category. Shout out the thing. It's fine. Six out of 10. Vic counts of the West Kingdom. As I've time has gone by now, five years, I look at the West Kingdom series.

Architects is my favorite. Paladins is close behind. Vic Counts is the one I probably like the least. I don't dislike it necessarily, but I don't find myself ever going to it. Thus, a 6.5. Red Outpost. This is a weird game from Lifestyle Board Games about Marxist Mars. Um, it has like almost a communistic theme to it.

That's the the reasoning where everyone is equal and not. But you're forced to rest and it's just an odd way to work workers. It's a weird game, but I thought it was interesting. Seven out of 10. Ducks in tow is a cute game in which you have a bunch of ducks. The pieces are great. You're they're following you around and you're feeding them, picking them up.

It's just an overload of cuteness. Seven out of 10. Gates Amara is a game from Whiz Kids which has been forgotten by everybody. U but there's it's just about opening gates. There's so many weird things in this game. It's like a Euro style game. It doesn't look like it at all. Seven out of 10. Cafe. This is from Pythagoras.

I I I think this is the size box of theirs I like the most. They just recently came out a game with Oliva, which I liked a lot. And Cafe was I think the first in this line about making coffee. Seven out of 10. Or the mining game looks horrible. I mean, it is one of the worst covers of all time, frankly.

But the game inside, I think, is fun. You're collecting these different ore. There's a fun worker placement turning the ore into points. Really neat game, but the theme isn't particularly grabbing for most people and it just doesn't look great. So, it's been completely forgotten, but I still liked it.

A 7.5. Santorini New York. A terrible name for a game because what? But it's basically it's in New York based on the game called Santorini, which is why it's called that. It actually works better for multiplayers. Santorini, I think, is best at two. You can play two to three, but I it's best at two.

While Santorini, New York I thought worked better with more players. Eight out of 10. And Paris, well, I just earlier I said I didn't like the one game from Kramer and Keling. Uh, but Paris is a game from Kramer that I really enjoyed. It's a big points out. You're building up Paris, but I enjoyed it.

Eight out of 10. Last year I reviewed Babylon. I wanted to love Babylon. All these 3D pieces, but the 3D pieces were a problem. They fell and then the game itself wasn't very good. Beyond that, it was okay. Five out of 10. The Vibe, a party game in which you are trying to put things in order. There's a lot of these games out there.

This one used a lot of public domain art, which I felt detracted from it. I mean, eh, 6 out of 10. It was fine. Rafter 5, a silly little game from Oink where you have a little raft and you're building out pieces and trying to balance stuff. It's so stupid, but I like it. Seven out of 10. Slide, a game where you slide cards into a grid.

Enjoyed this one. It's a neat little game as you put a card and slide it. I like it. Seven out of 10. Contrarium. I think I'm the only person on earth who likes this game, but it is a game in which I say, "What is the opposite of a house?" And then the card lists answers that people have given in order and you're trying to have the highest ranked one on that list.

The problem is everyone argues over what the opposite of a house is. Is the opposite of a house homeless or is the opposite of a house a skyscraper? And people say different things. I really like this concept. Um, it's 8 out of 10. Tilt and Shout. A fun party game where you're tilting back and forth and shouting out answers.

Works really well, I think, at conventions or big party gatherings. Eight out of 10. Ticket to Ride Iberia and South Korea. Hooray. They came out with another expansion for Ticket to Ride. Uh, they didn't come out with one this year. Is this the final one? We'll see. But I thought it was very enjoyable.

Even though I lived in South Korea for 10 years, I thought I would like that side better, but I actually like the Iberia side better. Eight out of 10. Title Blades 2, a dungeon crawl with some of the most fun mechanisms I've ever played. Uh, a cool theme. This is an 8.5, but I can see this one raising for me as time goes by.

Shackleton Base. This one did raise for me an 8.5. This one just keeps getting better each time I I I think about it and play it. A game in which you're building a base on Mars. It's, you know, whatever. But there's different modules and I think the theme actually comes out with these modules and you plug in three modules.

The game comes I think five or six and you plug them in and they add different mechanisms but the base mechanisms are already good as is. There's just lots of variety there but the game itself is fun. Good interaction for a Euro style game. So 8.5. Those are the reviews I did 1, five, 10, and 20 years ago.

Thanks so much for watching. I'm Tom Vassel and this is Look Back on the Dice. >> [music] >> Hey, uh, thanks for watching another video here on the Dice Tower. Uh, we really appreciate you stopping by and checking our things out. Thanks so much for joining us today. And hey, if you really like what we're doing here at the Dice Tower, then there are different ways to support the Dice Tower.

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