Base price: $27.95.
2 – 8 players.
Play time: 15 – 30 minutes.
BGG Link
Buy on Amazon (via What’s Eric Playing?)
Logged plays: 2 

Full disclosure: A review copy of Phantom Ink: Arcana was provided by Resonym.

Unsurprisingly, I’m behind the eight ball again. I had my whole day planned out and then I realized I was exhausted and slept for three hours. Probably not a great idea for my overall sleep schedule, but it is what it is. We will continue as planned. In pursuit of that goal, I also managed to have a board game night again this week, which is wild; I’m almost back to a regular game night cadence. Could you imagine? If that happens, sky’s the limit on games, I suppose, but we’re working our way up in terms of complexity and challenge. This week it was Wind the Film, Phantom Ink: Arcana, and Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken, so expect to see Wind the Film up on the site in the near future, once I get some more time. Let’s check out Phantom Ink: Arcana, though!

In Phantom Ink: Arcana, the spirits have returned once again, but the Mediums have new tricks! Using the power of an enchanted deck of Tarot Cards, they can compel the spirits to be more helpful than ever before. However, using such power requires crystals, so be careful of what you have! Like Phantom Ink, Arcana is a word game of two teams trying to guess the same word. The spirits still answer one word at a time, but now the game adds these Arcana Cards to let you draw additional Questions, gain Whispers (letters that aren’t shared with the opposing team) or even make a free Ask action. Will you be able to leverage the power of the Tarot to crack the secrets of the beyond?

Overall: 8.25 / 10

Overall, I think Phantom Ink: Arcana is a lot of fun! It’s a standalone expansion, so, you know, you can play Phantom Ink alone or with the Arcana extras. That alone is a positive, since even if you don’t like what Arcana adds, if you like Phantom Ink, this adds more words and more questions. I like the modularity of games like that; it’s respectful of what made the original game fun even as it tries its own thing. That’s ideal for a standalone expansion. Plus, there’s so much new art from Spring Yu and it’s impeccable. The choice to use gold foil for accent effects is an inspired one that makes me want a Spring Yu Tarot Deck, to some degree. There’s a lot to those cards and they’re great to look at even if you’re not playing them straight away. There’s also a cooperative mode that I’m excited to dig more into!

That said, there are some things I’m a bit less enthused about with this one. It might just be random chance, so I’m not inclined to lean too much on this, but I wasn’t as impressed with the question selection this time around. Maybe a bad shuffle, but I had so many cards that asked about how the object was used that I felt like I almost had nothing to ask, at times. That said, this was a minor complaint. The Arcana Cards are fine, though sometimes I worry I’m more visually interested in them than from a gameplay standpoint. They’re not bad, but they’re not necessarily going to be game-changers either, for the most part. They’re just kind of nice. The major upgrade is being able to dump a crystal to refresh your question cards, but that means you play one fewer Arcana card over the course of the game. It’s a tossup.

All things being equal, I don’t think those minor things are enough to take away from what I enjoy about Phantom Ink. I love the base game and it’s a great team-based game (though I think it’s one of the few I think benefits from more people, unlike, say, Codenames). It’s got the aesthetic and the vibe I’m looking for (though the purple box is bold in a way that I’m very excited about). I regularly break it out during spooky season or at game nights, so this is likely going to get combined with my base game and make it a double feature. If you’re a fan of Phantom Ink, this is strictly speaking, more, so that’s always good. If you’re looking to get into it, you can really get started with either. Up to you. I’m excited about Phantom Ink: Arcana, though, and looking forward to playing it again!

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