Gingham

This game is excellent. I love that the design started as trick taking with a board, where all players must follow which side of the board to play from. The way turn order plays into the selection points is really neat and makes for some tough decisions. There is plenty of interaction and surprising big swings that can happen. This is one of my top-tier games for sure.

Gingham is such a spicy little game of jockeying for turn order, racing for connections, and splurging for abilities. I’m delighted by the dastardly maneuvers that players can pull. I also love how the production and presentation of this one came together. Cute ants and alluring sweets on a picnic blanket — what more could you want? (Disclosure: I am the publisher, but now you know why I love this game :)

Gingham is a tactical masterpiece. It evokes games like Age of Steam and Hansa Teutonica while being shorter, simpler, and far more portable. That’s not to say it’s a 1:1 comparison with those games, but the nature of the interaction feels very similar.

Gingham is a brilliant design that looks abstract on the surface but has just enough thematic tie-ins for new players to be intuitive to the rules. I love the tension of stockpiles never being safe from opponents, and the tradeoff between securing early turn order vs gaining more flexibility of tile placement. The Hansa-style bumping of pieces adds needed depth to the battle of who can build board presence. Claiming stacks becomes a huge source of points in the lategame or at 4p, which offers an alternative path to victory for anyone who got shut out of chain strength on the map.

MWAH. Smooth and in your face without being overly mean or aggressive. The struggle between carrying out your plans and taking control of the turn order/side of play is awesome, and I strongly suspect playing with the adorable ants in person will only strengthen my opinion of this lovely display. Update: Heyo, it did! I demoed this a ton at Dice Tower West, and it just keeps growing more and more in my estimation. The wide variety of play styles and strategies is so impressive from such a stripped-back ruleset, and I'd always be happy to play this. [Yo! I'm the editor for this game, so hey wow this comment isn't completely objective, but these are my honest feelings.]