My weak spot is area control or area majority/influence as BGG now calls it… I am not even necessarily good at it but give me some form of this (favorite examples from my collection include Inis, Root, Terra Mystica & Gaia Project, Spirit Island, Dune and at least 6 of my yet-to-arrive kickstarters also fall into this category) and I will want this game; for bonus cravings combine with unique player powers and/or a hand of beautiful cards and I will hand over the money without hesitation. There are very few of these that I played and didn’t like (but there are)
Sadly, my partner does not enjoy this as much as I do, so it takes a lot of convincing to get these games to the table–even the few coop variants that exist are a hard sell (Spirit Island & Root coop are the only ones I know) and the rest of my local gaming circle aren’t fans either…
But that’s not enough to keep me from backing/buying games that promise to allow me to spread out over a map with my markers, meeples or minis.




