FANTASY REALMS
The crazy combo-building classic returns
Designer: Bruce Glassco | Publisher: Wizkids
Give me a standard deck of playing cards and I’ll give you a hundred ways to play with them. Well, not me, but someone could. In the contemporary gaming scene, designers have picked up on this inherent blend of minimalism and flexibility, simultaneously expanding upon and moving away from the basic 52 card deck to create similarly compact but endlessly varied modern tabletop experiences. Some are overwhelmingly vast (Magic: The Gathering), others are wonderfully inventive (Oh My Goods), but the ones of most value to the hobby are those striking that perfect balance of simplicity and depth. Fantasy Realms is one of those games: staggeringly easy to teach with an emergent depth and cleverness that’s sure to beckon most who play it towards the gates of our curious hobby.