Meeple Mountain

1 week ago | meeplemountain.com | Thomas Wells

Who would have thought that a game about a fishing village would be an effective argument for both the welfare state and, dare I say, the working class owning the means of production? That’s Nusfjord, the best Uwe Rosenberg game that you probably haven’t played (yet). Every round of Nusfjord begins with everyone bringing in their catch. Each player has a player board that you’ll cover with boat tiles as the game goes on. Each boat tile covers up numbers representing a haul size.

2 weeks ago | meeplemountain.com | Justin Bell

No matter where you land on the American political spectrum, I think you’d agree that the first few months of 2025 have been interesting. For some people, that might mean interesting in a good way; others might have a different perspective. But reading the news each day brings new revelations that are often shocking in a world that recently acknowledged the fifth anniversary of the most shocking world event of my lifetime, the COVID-19 pandemic.

3 weeks ago | meeplemountain.com | Matt Fleming

One of the good things that came out of the pandemic lockdowns was the bonus of another year together for my family. All three of my children are adults, and two were studying or working out of state. The switch to remote work and education meant that they came home for a year. And while this was challenging at times, it gave us more of the meaningful time together that we thought was passed forever. The lockdown was also an opportunity to spend time around the table playing games together.

1 month ago | meeplemountain.com | Thomas Wells

Writing a review of Tigris & Euphrates (T&E) feels like writing a review of chess—it’s indisputably great, and, to paraphrase a friend of mine: “any problem you have with chess is a problem with you.” The same goes for T&E. Entire branches of game design—including games by designer Reiner Knizia himself — have forked from this ur-text, yet none have quite managed to replicate it.

2 months ago | meeplemountain.com | Justin Bell |Justin Bell

Katmai: The Bears of Brooks River (2025, Osprey Games) is one of those rare tabletop experiences that is a river of contradictions. It’s got a bumpy, long title that sounds more like a book than a board game. (This is not a surprise, given that Osprey is a publishing house that is a subsidiary of the company that first published the Harry Potter series.) However, when referred to as simply “Katmai”, my kids loved saying the word “KATMAI” to no one in particular.