Derek 'Dez' Maggs 
PAX Australia 2023 holds a special place in my heart, thanks to Double Jump and VR Distribution. I had the incredible opportunity to meet board game royalty, Phil Walker-Harding & Matthew Dunstan, and experience their latest games.
When I first received the email invitation, I was genuinely shocked. Meeting Phil Walker-Harding and Matthew Dunstan at an event in Australia was not something I anticipated. Yes, I am aware they are Australian designers, but their global success and the remarkable games they’ve designed make them standout figures. Meeting them was a tremendous Honour, let alone getting the chance to play their latest games.
As we approached VR Distribution’s booth, we were introduced to a kind, gentle & quiet looking man, which seemed surprising for someone as well-known and awarded as Phil Walker-Harding. He greeted us warmly, engaging in small talk about our experiences at PAX Australia so far. It felt surreal to converse with someone whose name is synonymous with board gaming, even for those not deeply immersed in the hobby.
After some initial chit-chat, Phil introduced us to his new game, Spellbook. In Spellbook, each player, accompanied by a familiar and their own spellbook, must collect coloured tokens with runes on them. By gathering tokens of the same colour and spending them to learn spells, you gain points and additional powers that benefit you throughout the game.
It’s a delicate balance between deciding whether to go all out in the early game to gain an initial advantage, hoping it’ll carry me to victory, or whether to exercise patience and focus on maximizing my spells for a more substantial mid or late-game bonus. Let’s not forget the added challenge of feeding your familiar.
With the game features two end game conditions: filling your spellbook of seven spells or feeding your familiar 18 tokens. The latter condition prompted me to adjust my gameplay strategy mid game. As I had been primarily focused on the spells and didn’t pay enough attention to my familiar. However, when I observed a fellow player amass 12 of the 18 points need for the end game condition; it completely changed my approach. As I never even thought that was a viable option to win. Suddenly the familiar became a lot more important to me & learning the black spell to pump up the familiar was my number one priority.
This game’s charm lies in its staggering variety of over 2,100 spell combinations, ensuring that every playthrough is unique. It means that no matter your strategy, countless other strategies can outmaneuver you, offering faster and better alternatives. This variety contributes to Spellbook’s playability and replayability.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish the game, but I couldn’t help but feel elated when Phil Walker-Harding suggested that I might have won based on the board state at that moment. It was a genuine fangirl moment.
With only an hour to spend with both designers, we had to conclude our time with Phil and move on to Matthew Dunstan’s game, Perspectives. Having enjoyed Matthews’ Elysium, I was excited to try this strategy heavy game that emerged from his creative genius. To my surprise, Perspectives was nothing like Elysium, and actually like nothing I’ve played before.
In Perspectives, each player possesses key information about a case. While you can’t show your photos to others, you can explain them. By only conveying the contents of your photos, you must solve the case’s mystery. Due to time constraints, we could only tackle one act of one case, though there are three cases with four acts per case in the box. We managed to deduce the answer, with a little help from Matthew, OK maybe a lot of help.
It was an extraordinary amount of fun. Having played several of Matthew Dunstan’s games, I couldn’t fathom how the same mind behind titles like Elysium and Chocolate Factory could create something so beautiful in its simplicity.
Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege of playing various game styles and types, but I’ve never encountered anything quite like Perspectives. With nothing more than simple rules on the case folder and 12 straightforward cards, it told a captivating story solely through people’s perception and how they conveyed those perceptions.
Attending PAX Australia is always the highlight of my year, and getting to sit down and play games with the designers is genuinely special. Playing with board game royalty such as Matthew Dunstan and Phil Walker-Harding is an unforgettable experience.
While this post offers my initial impressions of their games, I also left with a copy of Spellbook, which I’ll be reviewing in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for that.
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