Reviews

Two Hits and a Miss: Moon, Draft and Write Records, Kinfire Delve Vainglory’s Grotto

Welcome to the Tabletop Family Two Hits and a Miss. Three games we’ve recently played, two that found the mark, and one that didn’t.

Moon by Sinister Fish Game

Moon is a pick-and-pass drafting game where players compete to build the best lunar base. Each card you draft helps you either gather resources or build buildings to gain a majority in various aspects of your base.

The unique twist in this drafting game is using rovers to gather resources from your neighbors and unique player powers that get passed from player to player with the hand of cards you are drafting.

During the game, paying attention to other players’ actions is crucial as it is a race for public goals, or you can deny them valuable cards in the draft. If you enjoy It’s A Wonderful World, you’ll likely also enjoy Moon. Ultimately, we were split on the theme, Kelsey bounced off the space theme and found it difficult to connect to while Adam enjoyed it for the little rover minis. For both of us the gameplay was intriguing enough to make Moon a HIT and worth playing.

Draft and Write Records by Inside Up Games

In Draft and Write Records, players recruit band members, go on tour, and make music videos to earn fame and recognition. You will do a pick-and-pass draft to select a card, then advance on various tracks on your score sheet. As you advance, you will score at multiple points in each section and earn bonuses to help advance on other tracks or complete shared public objectives.

The theme of building a band, hiring members, and planning a tour is enjoyable, but the game mechanism doesn’t feel overly thematic. The cascade of combos on the score sheet is a fun puzzle to solve to maximize your score.

However, the drafting aspect of the game was not as enjoyable. We often faced limited options that hindered our success with no way to mitigate our lack of helpful cards. With numerous other alternative games in the “blank”- and-write genre, we suggest exploring other options because this one is a MISS for us.

Kinfire Delve: Vainglory’s Grotto by Incredible Dreams

Kinfire Delve is a new card game series designed for one to two players. It involves battling monsters, solving puzzles, avoiding traps, and encountering events leading to a final boss fight. Kinfire Delve is especially unique in that each time you must draw a new hand of cards you suffer a penalty, this forces players to work diligently to utilize their cards and abilities as efficiently as possible.

The production quality, card artwork, and game components are stunning, especially considering its affordable price of $20. You can tell the creators put a lot of thought into the Kinfire series’s world-building, making me curious to learn more. The gameplay is highly engaging, requiring players to work together to be victorious and make tough choices each turn as you weigh out the value of your cards. The decision-making process of contributing cards or relying on luck with dice rolling adds depth to the game.

Kinfire Delve: Vainglory’s Grotto was a BIG HIT for us and one we highly recommend for couples seeking a cooperative tactical experience that is easy to learn but provides excellent depth in decision-making and replayability. This is the first game in the Kinfire Delve series. Two more games are set to release in 2024.

A special thank you to our friends at Sinister Fish, Inside Up Games, and Incredible Dreams for sending us copies for review. As always, our thoughts and opinions are our own.