Orloj last night. The set up and teach might seem a touch intimidating but the actual game flows quite nicely and intuitively - some big action chains but most were pretty manageable. Minor quibble: the clock is already built, you're only doing the decoration. #boardgames #j2s #brettspiele #spiel25

Posted a breakdown on BGG of changes I observed in the prototype of Blood Rage: Valhalla I played at Essen Spiel #spiel25 #boardgames #j2d #brettspiele boardgamegeek.com/thread/35975...

Thanks to a friendly Dutch contingent who had a spare space in their reservation, was able to try out The Presence. Moving around a haunted house with an ambiguously friendly/wrathful spirit. Very nice feel and good pressure to not waste actions. #spiel25

Played a few rounds of Bohemians, a nice, fairly simple but interesting card game. Mostly cosy except for the jobs and hardship cards which really don't pull their punches about the life of a struggling artist. Picked up a copy myself. #spiel25

People sharing info on sold out games here: boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/360... Check carefully though, some only sold out in a specific language or in Ghost Lift's case, they said they will have some more copies today (but not many!) #spiel25

Also had time for a full game of Leylines, also from @arcanewonders.bsky.social. Cute update of an older pick-up and delivery game.

Checked out Raas: A Dance of Love from @arcanewonders.bsky.social colourful game of trying to assemble sets and advancing tracks to increase multipliers. Or pick up a juicy bonus from dials with adjacent die with the same number or colour. #spiel25

Had a quick round of the new Joyride expansion. Definitely needs as many players as you can get for maximum chaos. Think I prefer it to Heat. #spiel25

If you wanted a copy of Freya's Swamp, based on how busy it is already, then all I can say is: good luck! #spiel25

And we're off! Well, in the waiting pen after a brief steam bath in the packed U-Bahn #spiel2025

Well, had wanted to set this up before now. But hey, still before SPIEL Essen at least!