I Played It Like Twice... Archives - Unwinnable

I Played It, Like, Twice...

A promo picture of all the components of Warhammer 40 K Fireteam with a big urban map and many miniature marines and warriors as well as dice and cards scattered about

In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future There is Occasionally Very Small War: Fireteam and Warhammer Underworlds

By Orrin Grey • December 17th, 2024

Fireteam brings many of the elements that make Underworlds tick to the grimdark 40k universe, to varying effect.

I Played It, Like, Twice...

A photo of a game of Warhammer Underworlds in action with a hex map, cards on a table, several six-sided dice, and many miniatures of various warriors, with bows, swords, and other weapons

Mad About Underworlds: In This Case, I Mean Mad as in Angry

By Orrin Grey • November 12th, 2024

The Warhammer: Underworlds warbands have a level of personality that larger armies simply can’t, with each individual model given a name, special rules, and some character that help it to pop.

I Played It, Like, Twice...

A crop of the cover for the game Bump in the Night where a terrified child cowers under the blankets while skeletal death hovers above them

Midnight in the Garden of Goo: Going Haunting with Bump in the Night

By Orrin Grey • October 22nd, 2024

There’s an odd sense that, somehow, what we’re pulling from are more weirdo Italian movies like Ghosthouse than more standard haunted house fare.

I Played It, Like, Twice

A picture of The Ghosts Betwixt on the table with a colorful map of a house full of tiles with baseball bat swinger, slingshot dead eye, golf homie, and baddies with kitchen weapons and stained clothes

Everyone’s Heard the Stories: Dungeon Crawling in the Haunted Heartland with The Ghosts Betwixt

By Orrin Grey • October 8th, 2024

The Ghosts Betwixt takes a cue from Stranger Things to tell a story set in the “1990s haunted heartland”

I Played It, Like, Twice...

A closeup of the board for Scooby Doo 2 Monsters Unleashed, with a purple layout, comic drawing of the control room, bats, and skulls with peace symbols for eyes for some resaon

The Monster Race: Simple Times with the Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed Game

By Orrin Grey • August 12th, 2024

When it comes to comparing the Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed Game to any of the other Scooby-Doo games we’ve covered here, there’s really no comparison at all.

I Played It, Like, Twice...

A picture of all the bits of Starquest Arcadia Build a Bot expansion, with some space pirate like minis with guns and computers as well as a red board and smaller space ship boards to move the minis around on

Space is the Place: Starcadia Quest and the Mystery of Aesthetics

By Orrin Grey • July 16th, 2024

It may be unsurprising to learn that Starcadia Quest is pretty much the exact same game as Arcadia Quest but in spaaaaaaaaaace!

I Played It, Like, Twice...

A crop of the cover of the rulebook for Dreadfleet with a pirate with a mossy back and horned red pirate hat and golden chin

Blood and Plunder: Finding Lost Treasure (Though Maybe Not the Kind You Want) in Dreadfleet

By Orrin Grey • June 21st, 2024

Just as Dreadfleet is one of the last games released before Warhammer’s “Old World” became the “Mortal Realms” of Age of Sigmar, it is also one of the last gasps of an aesthetic style that had once defined the brand but was already on the way out.

I Played It, Like, Twice...

A close up look at some of the cards in Scooby Doo Escape from the Haunted Mansion, featuring portraits from Fred, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, and the other investigator but her name is cut off and I can't remember it at the moment

Coded Capers: Counting Clues in Scooby-Doo: Escape from the Haunted Mansion

By Orrin Grey • May 15th, 2024

The moment seems ripe for an escape room-style Scooby-Doo game like this, as the show feels poised in the cultural zeitgeist right now.

I Played It, Like, Twice...

a close up shot of the game Super Boss Monster, featuring a library area and a hideout area with minion meeples standing there as well as some dungeon room cards like Kobold Union and Puzzle Door

But Not Too Bold: Building a Better Dungeon in Boss Monster

By Orrin Grey • April 3rd, 2024

The real draw of both Boss Monster and Overboss is the low-res pixel art of side-scrolling dungeon rooms (in the former case) and top-down overworlds (in the latter).

I Played It, Like, Twice...

Key art for Disney's Lorcana game, with ice queen, Mickey Mausritter, and crow queen standing in a line together

Versus Mode: Lorcana x Sorcerer’s Arena

By Orrin Grey • March 7th, 2024

Unlike Lorcana, Sorcerer’s Arena is not an original game cooked up whole cloth. It is, instead, an adaptation of the mobile game of the same name. I’ve tried out the mobile game a bit, but not enough to really get a feel for it, and there’s something to be said for the joy of pushing little plastic standees around on a board.