There are so many great looking games from the 70’s and 80’s. Games that were probably too expensive at the time. Games that just had table presence to spare. Sub Search was one such game. Edward and I loved that game. It has led us to search out other games in that realm. Chopper Strike was our next purchase. Chopper Strike has a tag line on the box that reads: “The Two-Level land/air Battle Game.” And that was precisely what drew us to the game: the two-level aspect.

Since the game came out in 1976, and it had many little pieces, I went to my board game dealer whom I trust. He had a complete copy with all the pieces intact. I brought it home, and Edward wanted to play it immediately. So, grab your favorite opponent, and let’s play Chopper Strike!

A lot of past guests have mentioned Elizabeth Hargrave’s Wingspan as an answer to a question. Whether as the current game, 60 minute game, or just in passing, there is no denying Wingspan’s impact on the industry since its debut in 2019. It was nominated for, and won, lots of awards that year and in 2020. It has had four expansions so far with a fifth in the distant queue according to the Stonemeir emails.

Its deeper impact came in 2024 with the release of Wyrmspan, a reimaging, or reimplementation, of Wingspan, by Connie Vogelman with additional development by Hargrave. In this version, dragons replace the birds. Wyrmspan has an expansion as well.

Then, last year, a third game entered the Span world, Finspan, and that game is the focus of this episode. Finspan was designed by David Gordon and Michael O’Connell. In this rendition, the birds and dragons have been replaced with fish. Each of the games in the Span world have varied the mechanics of the original.
In Finspan, you are, according to the BGG page, a marine researcher seeking to observe aquatic life. You place fish in one of three zones, in one of three tracks, to dive down and observe. The marine researcher with the most points at the end of four weeks (or rounds) is the winner.

Gather your fellow divers, and let’s take a look at the Rule Clarity for Finspan.

Well, Facebook ads’s algorithm targeted me perfectly, again. While doomscrolling (which I have tried very hard NOT to do lately), an ad for a new dexterity game came across my feed. It was for a game called Catch 33, published by a company called Buddy Pal Games. So, of course I hit the notify me button and backed it on Kickstarter, probably on day one. What caught my attention were the ramps. Yes, ramps.

In Catch 33, you and your opponent are ramping dice up and into the bottom of the box trying to land it in the center cup. When it arrived, close to on time as any Kickstarter lately, my kids and I sat down, read the rules, and proceeded to play it. So, let’s see how it went.