Matthew Smail

Let's Go! To Japan is a brand new game from designer Josh Wood and publisher Alderac Entertainment Group, and offers one to four players the opportunity to plan their dream holiday in one of the most unique countries in the world. With…

With board gaming becoming quite a mainstream hobby, the days of purchasing Catan or Carcassonne for your teenage children or gaming-adjacent friends are long gone. Those people are no longer interested in gateway games and lightweight…

When System Shock came out in 1994, I really was too young to appreciate it. At just 11 years old, I remember popping the CD into my Pentium 166 (MMX) powered Hewlett Packard PC and shortly after, I was absolutely soiling myself. Not only…

I have very fond memories of Worms – especially the 1995 PlayStation One release which captivated me and my friends over many an evening, in particular because one of us suffered for six weeks with a broken leg. No Worms game has ever felt…

Updated: 15/11/2024 - Two new entries added Animals have always made for a popular theme in board games, but did you know that not every game about animals is designed for younger players? Whilst some certainly are, some of the most complex…

I have a long and potted history with the Broken Sword series — which begins back in 1997 when 14 year old me would get the bus into Leeds to trade three or four of my older games for one brand new one. Whilst I would often regret making…

For readers of a certain age, Survive: Escape from Atlantis will be a core memory. With its modular island made up of bright, plastic hexagons, this 1980’s classic is a game that I remember well. In keeping with the current fashion,…

Ticket to Ride remains one of the most popular board games in modern history - possibly ever if we exclude Chess, Draughts and other truly timeless games. There's no doubt that when you ask almost any gamer what their go to game for "new…

A couple of months ago when I previewed Empire of the Ants, I was excited by several things — the amazing graphics, the focus on gamepad based control and the kind of things the game had me doing. There were reservations though — a couple…

I’ve heard a lot about Deep Rock Galactic, and we’ve certainly covered it here at B3 — but I’d never played it myself. Dwarves, beer, mining etc — I felt I’d seen and done it all before. But on the tabletop things hit differently. Creating…