A few weeks ago, I had professor and author Marco Arnaudo on the show. We talked about his amazing book, Tabletop Revolution. One of the many games I bought because this book was A Universal Truth. It was in the card games section. Marco talked about how cards have evolved from their rudimentary beginnings as just a suit and a number to multi-use, multi-functional components. He mentioned A Universal Truth: The Strategic Game of Courtship, designed by Patrick Einheber, self-published by Danger Toad Games via The Game Crafter.

What drew me to this game truly was Marco talking about how Patrick used every inch, every side, every bit of the card to move the game forward.

As happened many times while I was reading Tabletop Revolution, I put my copy down, picked up my phone, and immediately did some digging into A Universal Truth. I reached out to the designer, who graciously mailed me a copy. When it arrived, Edward and I carefully tore into it.

In A Universal Truth, you and your coworkers are trying to woo your loved one. To do this, you must meet or exceed all of their requirements: affection, social amity, accomplishments, and of course money. That is just the basic version of the game. I will explain more later in the episode. So, put on your ascot and monocle, gather your coworkers, and see who can court their love first in A Universal Truth.

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Just a routine reading of Board Game Geek put me onto the release of today’s focus game, King of Tokyo: Duel. There was a banner ad on the homepage. From there, a quick click over to my local game shop webpage allowed me to preorder the game. I did not need any more information. It was King of Tokyo. It was designed by Richard Garfield. It was two-player.

Upon further inspection, it appeared to be a tug of war style game. It had the established characters. Well, my copy arrived. I went to get it. Edward and I sat down to play it.

King of Tokyo Duel sets you and your opponent in a mano a mano battle over Tokyo. As with the original game, there are multiple ways to win: knock the other monster out, get both the star and building markers into your spotlight zone, or one of the markers reaches the last space on your side of the board.

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My family loves this game. My sister has not yet played it because it's a little over her skill level. But my mom, dad and I love this game. We have played this game dozens of times. When it comes to the expansion (which I will talk about later), we have only played it a few times.

In Chili Mafia, you are a mob boss building gangs of various chili peppers. You can either build a gang of different peppers, or one of similar peppers. Both have their benefits. The game ends when the cards run out. The gang worth the most points wins!

So, gather your gang, and let's get into the review for “Chili Mafia”

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