Cape May

We had Plants vs Zombies; Cape May offers something closer to Birds vs bogeymen. Here I am both a property tycoon and a collector of photographs of rare birds, which sounds like a theme devised over a particularly strange lunch, yet it has a gentle charm once it is spread across the table. The production is very good too: it looks cared for without demanding applause.

At its centre, this is light action selection paired with an area-majority contest. You choose what to do and try to make better use of the shared space than everyone else; it does not require rolling up your office sleeves and opening a spreadsheet. There is room to move comfortably between building and bird photography.

Players affect one another chiefly through their presence on the map and through the fight to hold the advantage in its areas. It is a nudge rather than a table-flipping confrontation, and the construction and bird-collecting sides fit together convincingly instead of feeling like two ideas that happened to share a box.

For a relaxed group, especially on an evening when Scrabble or Monopoly might otherwise appear, Cape May is an entirely respectable choice. It is polished, balanced, and we enjoyed playing it; it simply does not feel like the game anyone in our group will request again after a long Tuesday at work. Quietly good, but not essential.