Roux Dat: Santa’s Workshop, ESP: Experiment in Supersensory Perspicacity, and Map Masters

We are still in the Christmas Octave, so it’s a perfect time to play Christmas themed games, n’est pas? The inimitable Jay Bell is in town, and the Doblers love to host game days, so I headed over for some post-Christmas gaming. 

First up, we played Santa’s Workshop (Second Edition), with Jeremy’s blinged out deluxe copy. Designer Keith Ferguson has crafted the perfect holiday experience — Santa’s Workshop has elves, and toys, and reindeer, and ornaments, and … coal? 

After playing the base game with the family last week, it was nice digging into the advanced game. In this one, which still has worker placement at its heart, players will have to gather and spend coal for most of the cooler (get it?) actions. And this time, most of the spots do more stuff. Reindeer cards are not only set collection, but they can give out bonuses. The Christmas tree not only scores you points but also gives you more stuff. 

I love the fact that every player has a chance to upgrade their board, making some of their actions stronger, or giving points at end game, or even increasing their ability to generate coal. Santa’s Workshop is very thematic and very breezy, too. There’s no question now that Santa’s Workshop is going to get played every holiday season. 

Next, we played an interesting new game that Jay Bell discovered from Odd Candy, a relatively new publisher. It’s called ESP: Experiment in Supersensory Perspicacity, and it is a trick-taker with a few twists. Players are trying to score more points by winning tricks but also by deducing what the trump card is that round and correctly bidding the number of tricks they will win. 

Sounds familiar? Well, trying playing an increasing number of your cards face down and having to remember what they are before you play them again. (It’s almost like Silver but in reverse.) Not tough enough for you? Well, let’s make the hand of cards dual-purposed — that’s right, each card is not only a value and a suit, but the suits are also a value, too! This game is brain-burny in all the right ways. It’s a clever concoction of memory and bidding and I really dug it. 

Finally, I got to teach and play another game of Map Masters, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite small box games of the year. You can play the co-op or competitive version, but we played the competitive one here. I have nicknamed this game “Five Card Dungeon Run”, because in each round, players get a hand of five cards representing tunnels and rooms in a dungeon, lay them out, and then try to “run” the dungeon in the most efficient and highest scoring way possible. 

But hand management is not the only mechanic. There is some slight deck building, too, as players can use the coins they find in the dungeon to buy better dungeon cards, spell books to help them break the rules of the game, and fairy tokens that help them get past obstacles like trolls and traps. 

Map Masters is a lock for my list top games of 2025, and I can’t wait to show it off some more at Southern Board Game Fest in the spring. Kudos to Captain Games (who published the wonderful Duck & Cover last year) for another great game. 

Did you get any holiday gaming in? Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!
–BJ from Board Game Gumbo