Renee Noortman
Hi!
I have been a fan of playing board games for a long time, but only became a true enthusiast when I met Marijn and his collection of games. I like having a good mix of games, one for every moment. Amongst my personal favourites are Scythe, Pandemic Legacy, Euphoria and Alchemists. Sometimes I prefer the smaller games and you would catch me playing Set, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Sushi Go!, Potion Explosion or Doodle City. I find that I am pretty susceptible to the theme of a game and this will often define whether I like it or don’t like it. A story that’s appealing to me will significantly help my immersion in the game.
Besides playing a lot of board games, I am currently a Master student in Industrial Design at Eindhoven University, specialising in design research. My designer eye is very keen on clever game mechanics and on appealing graphic design (yes, I do often pick up game boxes because I think they look pretty). As we both have a background in design, we often find ourselves discussing how a game could be improved and balanced after a sometimes disappointing game experience. We would love to design our own game someday and already have some exciting ideas on the shelf!
Marijn van der Steen
Hello!
Already as a little kid my parents introduced me to tabletop games. First playing simple games and puzzles based on colours and shapes, slowly progressing towards Risk and Monopoly. My true love for board games kicked off after playing Catan. We quickly picked up a couple of expansions and also the card game. Later we also started picking up other games such as Carcassonne, Bohnanza, Ultimate Werewolves and eventually picked up a true classic, Power Grid.
When I became a student, I was living on my own. This was the moment I really started to collect board games for my own. We now own a serious collection of board games and my taste is far and wide. I am more of a strategical guy and therefor Scythe is probably one of my favourite board games thus far. I am also really intrigued by Legacy games. We are playing Charterstone, Pandemic Legacy, Gloomhaven and we also have to start with SeaFall.
I have a background in Industrial Design and am working as a Developer and Consultant. I therefore have a mixed mind with Design Thinking and a practical, systematical side which loves problem solving. I also apply this when playing games, coming up with creative strategies and quickly adopting to new situations.
Our Goal
The next big step is running this blog and the associated social media accounts. We do this for fun, but I think it will be a big achievement once we are able to review games which are not even out yet and maybe play test some games. We already support a lot of Kickstart projects and we are searching for opportunities to get collaborations with publishers and board game designers.
If you ever are in need of some critical feedback, or some extra attention and love for your game. We are happy to help.