Two Rex Plays #23 - CuBirds
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing CuBirds, a set collection card game designed by Stefan Alexander and with artwork by Kristiaan der Nederlanden. Players select cards from their hand to add to a shared 3x4 grid which sits in the centre of the table. If you surround cards with the same type of bird, you capture these and add them to your hand. Build up enough of one species of bird and you have a ‘flock’ which enables you to permanently set aside cards and work toward the end game condition.
Two Rex Plays #22 - Woodcraft: Roll & Write
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing the roll & write version of Woodcraft, a dice drafting, contract fulfilment game designed by Ross Arnold and Vladimír Suchý and published by Delicious Games. Complete carpentry orders by matching the spots on your drafted dice to the orders in your workshop, using a variety of tools and workers to help you achieve your goals.
Two Rex Plays #21 - Point City
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Point City, an engine building card game designed by Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, Shawn Stankewich and published by Flatout Games. Using a single deck of cards, you create a marketplace where players choose from five different construction resources and a variety of buildings. These buildings either provide permanent resources for future construction phases, score end game points, or earn special civic tokens that act as personal scoring objectives.
Two Rex Plays #20 - Lost Ruins of Arnak
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Lost Ruins of Arnak, a deck building, worker placement game designed by Michal Štach and Michaela Štachová and published by Czech Games Edition. After discovering the lost island of Arnak players have 5 turns to send their meeples out on expeditions to find golden idols, fight guardians in ancient temples, and research the island’s mysterious past.
Two Rex Plays #19 - Trekking Through History
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Trekking Through History, a set collection card game which doubles up as a bite sized history lesson. The game is designed by Charlie Bink and illustrated by Eric Hibbeler and takes place over three ‘days’ of time travelling tourism. On each day of the trip, the players will take turns to select a series of cards representing a significant historic event, with a restriction is that the cards must be collected in chronological order (running forward in time). The longer you can extend your run, the more points you score.
Two Rex Plays #18 - Fantastic Factories
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Fantastic Factories, a worker placement, engine building game designed and illustrated by Joseph Chen and Justin Faulkner. At the start of each turn, chose between buying a blueprint or hiring a specialist contractor, then role your worker dice to determine what resources you’ll have at your disposal. Those resources are then used to construct the blueprints and build out your industrial empire or use existing factories to manufacture goods.
Two Rex Plays #17 - Silver & Gold
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Silver & Gold, a flip & write treasure hunting game designed by Phil Walker-Harding and illustrated by Oliver Freudenreich. Explore treasure maps by drawing expedition cards that allow you to mark-off polyomino shaped areas, taking special actions when you discover coins, palm trees, and ‘x marks the spot’ symbols.
Two Rex Plays #16 - Cascadia
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Cascadia, a tile & token placement game designed by Randy Flynn and illustrated by Beth Sobel. Using an entwined drafting system, players select terrain hexes to build diverse natural habitats which their animals will inhabit.
Two Rex Makes #9 - Power Curve
We’ve made good progress with our game over the last few weeks after switching it from a space combat game into a factory builder (there are more similarities than you might think!). It’s essentially a flip & write where you’re gathering resources to construct fantastical equipment that produces and distributes a range of sweets.
Two Rex Plays #15 - Dicey Dungeons
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Dicey Dungeons, a digital worker placement, deck building, dungeon crawler. Choose from one of six anthropomorphised dice avatars and battle your way through a battle your way through an eclectic cast of enemies in a procedurally generated dungeon to face off against the final boss.
Two Rex Makes #8 - Creative Destruction
What connects time travel, space combat, and a sweet factory? The answer is our first game design which has been through several Doctor Who style regenerations over recent months! This blog discusses our first game’s various resurrections.
Two Rex Plays #14 - Life of the Amazonia
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Life of the Amazonia, a bag building, tile placement game designed by Jamie Bloom and published by Bad Comet Games. Draw from a bag of tokens to build your own custom jungle and populate it with a series of exotic animals, trees, and aquatic flowers.
Two Rex Plays #13 - Leaf
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Leaf, a tile placement game designed by Tim Eisner and published by Weird City Games. Collect cards to create a connected network of leaves which allow you to score points by growing mushrooms, collecting sets of woodland animals, and sending squirrels spiralling up a tree.
Two Rex Plays #12 - Floriferous
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Floriferous, a flip & collect card game designed by Eduardo Baraf and Steve Finn with artwork by Clémentine Campardou. Pick from a selection of immaculately illustrated flowers and gardening paraphernalia as you look to score points by satisfying a variety of collection tasks.
Two Rex Plays #11 - Dice Throne
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing the original Dice Throne, a roll & fight game designed by Nate Chatellier and Manny Trembley and published by Roxley Games. Pick from a diverse cast of characters, roll custom dice to activate an attack from your thematic move set, and chip away at your opponent’s health whilst defending your own.
Two Rex Plays #10 - Dungeons, Dice and Danger
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Dungeons, Dice and Danger, a roll & write dungeon crawler designed by Richard Garfield and illustrated by Cam Kendal. Roll dice to determine how you move through one of four handcrafted dungeons, with the aim of seeking out treasure and fighting monsters.
Two Rex Plays #9 - Fliptown
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Fliptown, a wild west themed flip & write designed by Steven Aramani and published by Write Stuff Games. Saddle up and hit the trail for a variety of period appropriate activities including cattle rustling, stagecoach robbery, mining for gold, and grave robbing!
Two Rex Plays #8 - Deep Space D-6
In this edition of Two Rex plays we’re discussing Deep Space D-6, a dice placement, spaceship simulator designed by Tony Go and published by Tau Leader Games. Choose your ship, tailor the difficulty, complete away missions, and fight-off a series of enemy ships until help arrives.
Two Rex Plays #7 - One Card Dungeon
In this edition of Two Rex plays we’re discussing One Card Dungeon, a dice placement dungeon crawler designed by Barny Skinner and published by Little Rocket Games. Playing on a single card, roll your adventure’s stats and see how far you can delve into a series of monster infested dungeons.
Two Rex Makes #7 - Growing an Audience
One of the first pieces of advice we were given was to build an audience before releasing a game - the logic being that you can design the best game in the world, but if no one knows about it then no one will play it. In such a crowded marketplace it’s unlikely that word of mouth alone will help a game to attract attention, and great designs can slip under the radar. This blog sets out our thoughts on how first-time designers might be able to generate that audience.