Words by David C. Obenour
Origins Game Fair | June 19-22, 2025 | Greater Columbus Convention Center
Are you still with us? You can’t expect to experience everything at Origins 50 in just one pass of the exhibitor hall. Actually, “experiencing everything” isn’t even possible. So enjoy your short, “Oh my god, hello!” with Amy Schneider and just have fun, take another swig of water, switch shoulders for your messenger bag, and let’s go the back the opposite direction this time and see what new games we can find!
Five-Hundred-Year-Old Vampire (Central Michigan University Press)
Central Michigan University has a publishing company for games? Set up at Indie Press Revolution‘s booth (who handles their distribution), that’s pretty cool! As the sequel to the solo journaling game Thousand Year Old Vampire, Five Hundred Year Old Vampire introduces cooperative play for 3-5 players over 2-3 hours. During that comparatively short play time, you will gradually lose your humanity while struggling to adapt to the changing world. But hey, it is a keepsake game. So at least you’ll have a fun memento!
NecroMansters (Speedrobo Games)
It’s alive! And now that it is, it must fight to the death! In NecroMansters, mad scientists of the necrotic collect, build, and revive beings from cards of meat, bone, and spirit to create powerful battling mansters. Inspired by classic collectible card game mechanics, these mansters are further empowered by stacking cards, boosts, and special powers. A fun and thematic twist!
Tailor Master (Whales Entertainment)
The fabric is all laid out before you. The design is revealed. Now you just need to be the first to figure out how to layout the pattern and replicate it! To quote Tim Gunn, it’s up to you to “make it work.” This deceptively simple game is a fun rush of pattern rotation and spotting, different from many other games on the shelf.
Molly House (Wehrlegig)
As mentioned in part one of our highlights, games can be eye-opening methods to immersively illuminate lesser known aspects of history. In line with that, one of the most compelling games we experienced at Origins was Molly House – a semi-cooperative game about creating joy in a queer community in 1720s London. Taking on the real-life role of a gender defying Molly, players throw grand masquerades for their community while being careful to evade moralistic constables and envious informants.
Sunday Club (Black King Games)
All the fun of newspaper games with none of the news! Given the resurgent popularity of classic word games, it’s surprising that the Sunday Club is only now publishing its first issues. It worked for comics and graphic novels, after all! Of course having a good idea is one thing. Being able to pull it off with the beautiful design and cleverness in games of Sunday Club is another thing altogether.
Re;MATCH (Brother Ming Games)
Load your pockets with quarters and limber up your fingers, it’s time for a Re;MATCH! Coming soon to Kickstarter, Re;MATCH brings the aesthetic of arcade action to the tabletop. Players choose their characters, learn the button combinations, and take turns trading attacks from the visible marbles that fall through the tower. Devastating hits smash your opponent’s buttons, but smashed buttons open up more combination connections for attacks headed back at you. Who’s ready for round two?
Lata (Mayfair Games)
I am, at my core, a thematic gamer. So when there’s a nicely illustrated and clearly designed game about something as esoteric but uniquely appealing to me as the mid-20th century tinned fish industry, it’s on the mechanics to lose. Thankfully for Lata, the game integrates well enough with the theme for its short playtime, centering on a bidding / action point mechanic that drives much of the resulting play. Who brought crackers?
Ruins (Allplay)
I’d have to check with Alanis on whether it’s ironic or not but it at least seems interesting that the company previously known for Board Game Tables (literally, that was their name) is now the reigning champ of the mini game. More big fun in a small box from renamed publisher Allplay, Ruins is a light excavation expedition where players develop their archeological digs by slotting cleverly overlayed transparent cards into sleeves.
License to Krill (MaKa Games)
License to Krill challenges players to avoid the hungry Whale Plush – which seems almost impossible given how adorable he is. Unzip the zipper to “unbox the game” and also open the toothed mouth? Who can – or would even want to – avoid that? As for the game, you’re krill competing to live 20 minutes or so of your best life while avoiding the “hot potato” that is the hungry Whale Plush. But – not to sound to morose – in the end, you all end up going back in his mouth anyway.
Mystic Manor (Last Night Games)
Summon all of your courage and strategy, because it will take both to capture these ghosts, imps, and apparitions! With the help of your trusty dog and cat companions – and a few items found along the way – you will literally stamp out every space on the house sheet you have cleared. Then once you’re feeling brave enough, head up to the attic before the night is through for higher risk and higher reward!
Uh Oh, Dino! (LudoLiminal)
Uh oh, earthquake! As the hapless dinos on a crumbling planet, players work cooperatively as a herd of stegosaurus racing to rescue their eggs from a collapsing board. Clever and fun components include an egg slot on your dino’s back (how stegosaurus did carry their eggs) and a modular board of shifting land tiles and bursting lava. Designed for family play, the inevitable end does seem a little grim – but we’ve been telling our children Grimm tales for centuries now.
And those are the games we played at Origins 2025! Be sure to follow along for more gaming interviews and features, including coverage from Gen Con in the coming weeks.