Tabletok Games

16/09/2025

So today marks 28 trips around the sun for me, my incredible wife made a board game inspired cake to celebrate.

Barbecubes by was on my birthday list this year and so it made sense to make this delicious tin game into my birthday cake.

What board game would you like to have as a birthday cake?

27/08/2025

I have been somewhat absent from Instagram recently, for no other reason than just not having the time or energy to put into it. However, I've just returned from our annual holiday in the Lake District and this time I had a beaut of a game with me.

In The Lakes Card Game, players are exploring the Lake District and scoring points based on different locations or notable figures. There are 7 different categories of cards, Lakes, Nature, Mountains, Fells, Forests, Valleys and People.

Players take their turns by moving the explorer either horizontally and vertically across the grid of cards, landing on either a face up or face up card and taking said card. This card may help them towards their end game objectives as well as scoring the points shown on the top left corner of the card.

The game ends when there are no more cards in either the column or row of where the explorer last landed. Players count up the points on the cards they collected as well as work out any mission objectives they've completed. The player with the most points wins.

There is also an advanced variation when playing in the Lake District in that any locations visited that day are worth double points.

Full disclosure, though there is longitude and latitude on each cards, my position for these photos don't match that but does feature the location shown. 😂

12/08/2025

My 54321 challenge board game edition inspired by and the many other content creators who have shared there's

05/08/2025

In a move that brings licences to UK gamers such as Clash of Clans, Hello Kitty, Dark Souls, and Elden Rings, Zatu Games Distribution has signed with two of the world’s leading board game publishers: Steamforged Games and Maestro Media

In a move that brings licences to UK gamers such as Clash of Clans, Hello Kitty, Dark Souls, and Elden Rings, Zatu Distribution has signed with two of the world’s leading board game publishers: Steamforged Games and Maestro Media which is inclusive of full exclusivity of Maestro Media games as wel...

01/08/2025

⚔️🛡️ Guildlands 🛡️⚔️

It's 🎲, a community hashtag created by .

This week I am featuring Guildlands by , and designed by and Ken Boyter.

👥 2-6 players
⏰ 45-90 mins
🧑 10+

🎲 Gameplay 🎲

On their turn players must perform a tile action and may also perform one of their special actions, this can be done in any order.

🛡️ Tile actions 🛡️

🛡️ Lay a tile: Choose a tile from the face up pool of five tiles or take a tile blind from the stack. Place it adjacent to another tile already in play, ensuring the edges align. Refresh the pool of tiles back up to five.

🛡️ Rotate a tile: Select a tile on the city's edge and rotate it. Tiles must not be fully surrounded or occupied by a worker of Guilds token.

⚔️ Special Actions ⚔️

⚔️ Place a worker: Players may chose to place one of their workers in the centre of any unoccupied tile.

⚔️ Move a worker: Move one of your places workers to a different unoccupied tile connected by a continuous unbroken road.

⚔️ Place a Guild Token: Each Guild has their own unique action of placing a guild token on any qualifying space on a tile. For example, road toll collectors can place a bridge to connect a road to another, whereas druids can place their Shrine token in the centre of a completed circle of stones.

Players can also earn gold by connecting exactly 3 tiles of the same road pattern.

Coins are used to gain additional turns or can be saved for end game scoring.

Summary

There is so much to say about this game and evidently not enough characters in this caption to convey them all and so a full review is likely required however this is a lovely thinky little game, the Guilds add a lot of replayability and I'm looking forward to playing each one and working out the best strategy.

The components are gorgeous, linen finish tiles and screen printed tokens add to the charm of this game.

I am very much looking forward to getting this game to the table more.

This game was kindly gifted by , and however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

30/07/2025

Back for round 3 of this months , the theme is Spiel de Jarhes chosen by me.

My opponent, having won the previous 2 rounds is and for this final round we are looking at Spiel de Jarhes nominees.

For this I have chosen Looot by , now I am a bit sour as I feel this should have definitely won an award though I am not sure whether Kennerspiele was the right category but that's a discussion for another time.

I had the pleasure of demoing Looot at back in 2024 with the amazing team at . My signed copy from Charles himself quickly became my favourite game of last year and one I still enjoy playing today and will happily get it out at any given opportunity.

Alex has chosen Faraway by , another of this years Kennerspiel nominees and also distributed by . Though Alex has won our faceoff I see this being a highly contended round.

Voting is in Alex's story, and remember, you don't want rampaging vikings at your door if you choose the wrong side.

29/07/2025

Today we're celebrating the incredible 's instaversary. Typically as all group chats go, plans resulted into chaos and therefore to celebrate we're showcasing three games of differing complexity in the style of Goldilocks and the three bears.

To begin with, I am starting with my "Too Cold" game which is Flip 7 by . Now this Spiel de Jarhes nominee is a firm favourite of mine, especially as a filler game or for large player counts and one I affectionately refer to as Family-friendly Blackjack. I have chosen this for my too cold game as though it's a great gateway game that all players can enjoy regardless of whether they play games or not.

Next for my 'Too Hot' game, is ARCS by , now this is probably one of the heavier games in my collection but still one I really enjoyed playing. I am classing it as my too hot game as it doesn't hit the table as much due to its complexity as I only have a few gaming friends interested in playing. This game has it all, hand management, area control, dice rolling, what more can you want?! It's utterly brutal, no game has been the same and I am actually yet to win and when I thought I was going to secure victory my opponent spawned 9 ships around me without me even realising.

And finally, my 'Just Right' game, my favourite game of 2024 and one I think should have definitely won an award at the Spiel de Jarhes this year and it's Looot by . I love everything about Looot, from the gorgeous viking components to the puzzley tile placement and worker placement mechanics. With it being a 2-4 player game it's quick to play and the modular boards and different buildings to complete make for lots of replayability. It's thinky as you want to maximise as much of your Fjord as possible whilst also blocking off your opponents but it is also quick to learn and play.

And there we have it, my analysis of my favourite three games of differing weight and complexity.

What would be your go to game out of the three select?

Flip 7 was kindly gifted by
ARCS was kindly gifted by

23/07/2025

🍍🎲 Piña Coladice 🍍🎲

If you like Piña Coladas and rolling dice, this is the perfect game for you.

Players roll 5 dice up to 3 times, aiming to match combinations shown on coasters in a 4x4 grid. If successful, they place a cocktail token on the matching coaster and score points. The game ends when a player scores 20+ points or places their last token. Everyone then gets the same number of turns and the highest score wins. Or, place 4 tokens in a row, column or diagonal and win instantly with the famous Piña Coladice cocktail.

Components: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Some of the best components for a game of this size and price. Actual bar-style coasters, chunky wooden cocktail tokens in lovely colours, and vibrant sapphire blue dice that feel great to roll.

Gameplay: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Quick to learn and play. While it’s mostly dice combos, the different coaster difficulties, player layouts, and instant-win conditions add a nice layer of interaction. The *Happy Hour* variant improves gameplay even further and is simple enough for experienced gamers to use straight away.

Replayability: ⭐⭐⭐
With 25 coasters but only 16 used per game, there’s loads of variety in grid setups. Scoring also changes based on player count. For more chaos and fun, use the Happy Hour variant where failed rolls trigger effects.

Overall, Piña Coladice is a fun, fruity, and light-hearted party game that blends simple dice mechanics with stunning components and tropical charm.

Kindly gifted by although all thoughts and opinions are my own.



Full review via link in bio.

22/07/2025

Round 2 of , this month theme is as chosen by me and I will be up against .

For this round we have chosen Kennerspiel des Jarhes winners and I have chosen 7 Wonders by . In 7 Wonders players compete across three ages, drafting cards to develop their city and earn victory points

Alex has chosen Wingspan, a firm favourite and a serious contender in other face offs from what I can see.

Voting is in my story.

is a community hashtag created by and

18/07/2025

🏛️ Age of Rome 🏛️

It's 🎲, a community hashtag created by

This week I am featuring Age of Rome by

👥 1-4 players
⏰ 60-90 mins
🧑 14+

🎲 Gameplay 🎲

In this strategic worker placement game, play consists of 9 rounds with each player aiming to become the new emperor of Rome, each round consists of;

🐍 Scheme phase: In the scheme phase a new event card is drawn, the event card dictates the direction of play as well as offering a bonus to certain players. In this phase players can also scheme by placing a scheme marker in another players province, this can be activated in the action phase.

🏛️ Building phase: Players building all there buildings in one action, they spend the cost on the board and earn the points of whatever they have built. Types of buildings include trade, politics, farming, military and religion, each will give a player a specific action when a follower is placed on them.

⚡ Action phase: During the action phase, players place there followers on buildings within the province in front of them to gain the bonus. Trade buildings allow the users to draft a trade card politics let you cast votes, farming allows you to earn money, military let's you place your legionaries and religion let's you build your pantheon.

I really enjoyed playing this game, there are multiple ways of earning points allowing for players to run with different strategies, as well as a range of end game bonuses allowing for plenty of relayability.

The theme is a little loose, and though the modular board with the lazy susan is a fun mechanic it doesn't quite make sense in my mind how provinces change between players.

Special thanks to my good friends at for hosting our games night.

17/07/2025

Back with the 's, this month theme is as chosen by yours truly and I will be up against .

For the first round we will be battling out with game of the year winners, for this I have chosen the 2018 Spiel des Jarhes winning classic tile laying game of Azul. In this game players draft tiles from factories, placing them on their player board to strategically score patterns on their grid to ultimately earn points and earn the favour of King Manuel I by decorating the Royal Palace of Evora.

Alex has chosen another classic that changed the board game industry with it's wooden people shaped tokens 👀, Carcassonne.

So, two tile placement games, two Spiel des Jarhes winners, who comes out on top?

Voting is in Alex's story and remember King Manuel I is watching.

is a community hashtag created by and

16/07/2025

Thought I would jump on this trend.

At the start of the year I celebrated 7 years of this account, and the most amazing thing is the incredible community of creators. Whether they've been posting for weeks, months or years, it's the community and the people who make it all worthwhile.