Kurt Pankau
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About Kurt Pankau
Kurt Pankau is a software developer from St. Louis. He enjoys dad-jokes, board games, and stories about time travel. His work has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Nature: Futures, Escape Pod, and Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. He tweets at @kurtpankau and blogs at kurtpankau.com
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Blog postMy Misspent Youth In Films...Darby O'Gill & The Little PeopleDirected by: Robert StevensonStarring: Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, Sean ConneryReleased: June 22, 1960A wily old codger matches wits with the King of the Leprechauns and helps play matchmaker for his daughter and the strapping lad who has replaced him as caretaker.What I Thought ThenA magical story of Leprechauns in which two old men6 days ago Read more
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Blog postMy Misspent Youth In Films...Seven Brides For Seven BrothersDirected by: Stanley DonanStarring: Jane Powell, Howard KeelReleased: June 22, 1954In 1850 Oregon, when a backwoodsman brings a wife home to his farm, his six brothers decide that they want to get married too.What I Thought ThenThis was one that we watched a lot. It's fun, funny, and filled with fighting, dancing, and slapstick humor. I1 week ago Read more
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Blog postIn 2019 I blogged about music. Last year I wrote about board games. For 2021, I'm going to write about the movies I grew up on and how they've aged (as I have). I'll be going through them in the order in which they were released, starting a week from today with 1954's Seven Brides For Seven Brothers.The list is not finalized but it's going to be in the 60-70 range, which lines up really poorly2 weeks ago Read more
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Blog postAnd we're done! It's been fun ride, and hopefully somebody reading this has discovered a game they hadn't heard of or reconsidered one that they had discounted before. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to write.Of course, I have discovered games since starting this list that I would not have been able to incorporate. So here are some of the games that I really enjoy that didn't make cut, mostly because3 weeks ago Read more
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Blog post🧩 Riddle Me This...2001, 3-5 playersComplexity: light/moderateFrom the weirdos who brought you Fluxx and Pyramid Arcade, it's a game that's not so much a game as it is a competitive logic puzzle. Players will take turns building structures from blue, yellow, and red blocks, wedges, and pyramids to try to discern the secret rule that only the Master knows!Let's See It In ActionIn Zendo, you or4 weeks ago Read more
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Blog post🐦 A Wing And A Prayer...2019, 1-5 playersComplexity: moderateEvery now and then a game comes along and just takes the gaming world by storm. In 2019, that game was Wingspan. Stonemeier's perennially out-of-print lovingly-crafted engine builder was the must-have-can't-find item for board game enthusiasts and it is, in fact, still difficult to come across in the 2020 holiday season.Let's See It In1 month ago Read more
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Blog post🥈 We're Number 2! We're Number 2! We're Number...2015, 2-6 playersComplexity: lightWhat is victory? Why do we place so much emphasis on winning? This is the deeply philosophical question at the root of Why First?, which is a deeply silly small-box party game.Let's See It In ActionIn Why First?, you and two to five friends (there are separate rules for two-players, but it's intended to be played1 month ago Read more
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Blog post💣 Hope And Optimism Are Soooooo 2008...2019, 4-10 playersComplexity: light/moderateIn fifteen minutes the world is going to blow up and we're all going to die. The various major governments of the world have gotten together to build a rocket as quickly as they can and put as many of themselves on it as possible. How big will the rocket be? How many people can get on it? Who gets priority in the2 months ago Read more
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Blog post⚔️ What Is It Good For, Absolutely Nothing...2018, 2 or 4 playersComplexity: moderateThe old general arrived on the heir to the throne's birthday and presented him with a gift: a chest that he claimed contained all the knowledge he would need in order to rule. Inside was a set of coins and some instructions...Let's See It In ActionIn War Chest, you and your opponent will square off to take2 months ago Read more
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Blog post🚶🏻♀️ The Long And Winding Road...2004, 2-8 playersComplexity: lightTsuro is another instance of what's referred to as a "filler" game--something to kill time between bigger games while other tables finish up. It plays in about fifteen minutes and doesn't require a whole lot of brain space, but it's still fun and challenging in its own way.Let's See It In ActionIn Tsuro, you and one to seven2 months ago Read more
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Blog post🐰 They're Furry, They're Funny...2019, 1-6 playersComplexity: moderateYou are the mayor of a town of small woodland creatures, and you've found a patch of land to develop. Now it's up to you to turn it into a bountiful little burg that is safe from predators.Let's See It In ActionIn Tiny Towns, you and up to five friends will take turns naming resources and using them to flesh out the 4x4 grid2 months ago Read more
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Blog post🚂 And She Don't Care...2004, 2-5 playersComplexity: light/moderateTicket To Ride is one of the games at the vanguard of the modern gaming renaissance. It's a wildly popular eurostyle game that is easily accessible to both children and adults. And it's about trains, so it's automatically populate with the old-man/little-boy set.Let's See It In ActionIn Ticket To Ride, you and one-to-four friends2 months ago Read more
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Blog post🐲 We Built This City...2013, 2-4 playersComplexity: lightTerror In Meeple City is a game about monsters demolishing a city. It was originally released under the name Rampage, but that got changed because of "brand confusion" with the video game Rampage, which is a game about monsters demolishing a city. Which... okay, that's fair.Let's See It In ActionIn Terror In Meeple City, you and one to3 months ago Read more
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Blog post🧙♂️ Durbgu! Nazg-shu! Durbgu! Nazg-shu! ...2013, 2-4 playersComplexity: mediumMages gather in the arena to summon their servants to do battle with one another. This is a card-based dueling game in the tradition of Magic: The Gathering, but unlike MTG, this is a fixed-deck game that relies on pattern matching and spatial logic in order to win.Let's See It In ActionIn Tash-Kalar: Arena Of3 months ago Read more
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Blog post🐼 Pandemonium...2011, 2-4 playersComplexity: lightLong ago the Emperor of Japan received a panda as a symbolic gift of peace from the Emperor of China. It was a powerful gesture. It was also a bit of a pain to care for, so the Emperor tasked his courtiers with managing it.Let's See It In ActionIn Takenoko, you and one to three friends will take on the role of courtiers to the Japanese Emperor3 months ago Read more
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Blog post🌠 Star Trekking Across The Universe...2011, 2-6 playersComplexity: lightFluxx is a series of games from Looney Labs that are all based around the same engine and come in a variety of flavors. There's Pirate Fluxx, Zombie Fluxx, Cthulhu Fluxx, even Batman Fluxx and Firefly Fluxx. But out of all of them, Star Fluxx is my favorite.Let's See It In ActionFluxx games are all based around the same3 months ago Read more
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Blog post💎 In The Sky With Diamonds...2014, 2-4 playersComplexity: lightSet in the Italian Renaissance, Splendor is game about collecting gems, acquiring mining and transportation rights, and building a jewelry supply chain. But mostly it's a eurogame about buying cards and building a tableau.Let's See It In ActionIn Splendor, you and up to three friends will take on the role of gem merchants, dealing4 months ago Read more
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Blog post🏝️ We've Got Spirits, Yes We Do...2017, 1-4 playersComplexity: HEAVYGames--not just tabletop games, but video games as well--are increasingly about ideas. Modern gaming puts more emphasis on tying theme to gameplay and using gameplay to have something to say about the ideas at the core of its theme. This can be subtle, as in the way Megacity Oceania is premised around a world flooded by rising4 months ago Read more
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Blog post👨🚀 All Your Base Are Belong To Us...2018, 2-5 playersComplexity: moderateMachi Koro is the first tableau-building game I remember playing. It took the mechanics of deck-building--purchasing cards and adding them to your pool--but changed things up by using a die as a randomizer instead of your deck. Purchased cards went in front of you as part of your "tableau" and were activated by a die roll4 months ago Read more
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Blog post💥 And Everybody's Smashing Things Down...2012, 2-4 playersComplexity: light/moderateSmash Up is the flagship title for AEG. It was featured on an early episode of Wil Wheaton's TableTop and with its myriad expansions and party-like atmosphere, it's been a gaming fixture for the last eight years.Let's See It In ActionSmash Up is sort of hybrid of area control gameplay, take that mechanics, and4 months ago Read more
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Blog post💀 Leave Your Body At The Door...2011, 3-6 playersComplexity: light/moderateSkull, also known as Skull And Roses, is a bluffing game inspired by Dia De Los Muertos. I've heard apocryphal stories that it was played by the Hell's Angels in biker bars, which is why it's played with coaster.That's... almost certainly not true, but it's a very intense press-your-luck bluffing game.Let's See It In5 months ago Read more
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Blog post🦸🏼 The World Needs A Hero. I AM THAT HERO!2011, 3-5 playersComplexity: mediumIn 2011, Christopher Badell and Adam Rebotaro pulled off a trick that every nerdy kid has dreamed of for years. They made a career out of creating a comic book superhero world. This game, the flagship property for Greater Than Games, has cast a long shadow. In addition to expanding its own content, there is a spin-off5 months ago Read more
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Blog post🐾 Schneebles Schnobble But They Don't Fall Down...2017, 3-5 playersComplexity: lightI love trick-taking games. I grew up playing Spades at church camp and Hearts on the computer. I never learned Contract Bridge, but I bet I'd be into it. (Serious aside--at what point are Bridge players going to come up with a new word for "trump"? Because that needs to happen.) I hardly ever get to play them5 months ago Read more
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Blog post🔱 I Ain't Got No Crystal Ball...2016, 2 playersComplexity: lightThe island of Santorini is a real place in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea. It is known for--among other things--the striking architecture consisting of white cuboid buildings that are occasionally capped with blue domes. Game designer Gordon Hamilton drew inspiration from the architecture of the island to develop an5 months ago Read more
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Blog post🌈 I'd As Soon Destroy A Stained-Glass Window As An Artist Like Yourself...2017, 2-4 playersComplexity: light/moderateSkilled artisans have traveled to Barcelona to see who among them can build the most beautiful stained-glass windows for the Sagrada Familia. Draft dice that represent shades of glass while you assemble your masterpiece.Let's See It In ActionIn Sagrada, you and up to three players5 months ago Read more
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