Best new board game apps of 2020
Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com. The 2020 global pandemic might seem like an ideal time for new board game app releases, but the increasing development time for more complex games means we're going longer between initial announcements and final releases than…
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion makes the megahit more accessible
Enlarge / There's still a lot of stuff in this box.Cephalofair Games Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com. There’s a reason Gloomhaven (read our 2017 review) is so popular. There’s also a reason why half of my friends who own a copy…
Black Angel review: Run your own tabletop “generation ship”
Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com. Black Angel reminds me of a pocket watch I once had. (This isn’t the setup to a bad joke.) You see, the watch was broken. A memento from my time in Germany, the watch broke during…
6 board games I’m playing during the pandemic
Nate Anderson Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com. What's keeping me grounded in our current pandemic? Board games, for one. But I'm not reaching for the latest and the greatest at the moment; I've found myself reaching for shorter titles that don't…
Review: Sagrada, a top dice-drafting board game, goes digital
Enlarge / Sagrada on Steam. Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com. Sagrada is one of the best dice-drafting games on the market. It makes excellent use of the inherent randomness of dice while still providing copious opportunities for strategic thinking and long-term…
Evolving underwater: Oceans board game review
Enlarge / The game in all its glory on the table.North Star Games Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com. I once spotted a barracuda while scuba diving. It darted in close, shimmering silver, its features reminiscent of a high school bully: lean,…
Cloudspire: a $130 MOBA for your tabletop?
Enlarge / Look at everything that comes in the box. It's mostly plastic and neoprene. Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com. Locating the perfect tabletop MOBA is a bit like looking for a unicorn. It simply doesn’t exist and no amount of…
Nemesis brings alien impregnation horror to your tabletop—and it works
Enlarge / The intruders are... unpleasant.Awaken Realms Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com. You’re roused early from cold sleep. The ship’s hibernatorium—and likely the remainder of the ship—is running on half power. There’s a body nearby. More accurately, there’s a body all…
Review: Cowboy Bebop becomes a boardgame
Enlarge / Get ready to relive iconic moments from the series... by playing cards with icons on them.Charlie Theel Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com. It’s been years since I watched Cowboy Bebop. I remember borrowing imported VHS tapes and flying through…
The 8 best board game apps of 2019
Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our regular look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com, or peruse our massive 2019 board game gift guide. Tabletop games continue their push into the electronic space, with at least a dozen digital adaptations released in 2019—and that’s not counting the numerous games in Early…