Wispwood is online
Sunday, February 8, 2026
by
Sparhawk
A cat chases colorful will-o’-the-wisps through the forest: that’s really all it takes for a game that is abstract at its core, but made genuinely cute by its theme, artwork, and the variety of objective cards.
On top of that, there’s a charming solo mode against Catty, who is always ready for a game and is not easy to beat at the higher difficulty levels. The rules are really easy to learn, the game doesn’t take long, and playing against Catty is a great way to practice.
Apart from the theme and artwork the game captivated me fast with the simple rules but high replayability.
CGE shared some of their experience when choosing the game:
Wispwood (known as „Foolish Fire“ at the time) was one of the new prototypes brought to the company's annual testing event at the start of year 2025. With other titles being currently developed and also other prototypes considered for publishing it was just a light game (both in the sense of its complexity but also since the prototype was cut from paper for the event) :) and it was sought out mostly to relax after playing some of the heavier games. But it quickly got a reputation among the attendees and eventually a second copy was printed out as well to satisfy the demand. After the event, the majority of the company agreed that this game should be one of our 2025 releases.
I think what got us hooked was the game was easy to learn and teach, it had a lot of replayability and also the theme and its interconnection with the mechanics was rather unusual – you're building a forest that periodically disappears while a curious cat roams among the trees. There are multiple goals for each wisp type of which one is chosen for each game. But each wisp type sticks to a theme, which helps the players to navigate in the game. It is not super interactive, but you have to keep an eye on your opponents as well, since the game is also a race for the grid completion, which ends the round for all players.
As always: a big thank you to the publisher, CGE, who granted us the license. And now: Have fun!
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Alpujarras now available to play
Sunday, January 25, 2026
by
Sparhawk
The time has come: our developer StCharles has finished his next game and it is ready for the beta phase. After Waters of Nereus, Alpujarras is the second game from Dr. Finn's Games (https://www.doctorfinns.com) to be hosted by us.
Publisher description:
During the great Arab Agricultural Revolution, hardworking farmers transformed the landscape of the Alpujarra into a world of bounty. With their innovative irrigation and terracing techniques, they brought water to the hillsides to create fertile farmlands. In this game, take on the role of a fruit farmer, diligently working to grow your crops and deliver them to the hillside villages. Life here is not easy, but with tenacity and dedication, you can live a rewarding life close to this wonderful land and all its beauty.
Alpujarras is a turn-based game in which players move their mules around an action track outside the game board. The player who is furthest behind takes the turn and moves their mule to an action space to perform an action.
Actions include: placing a farmer, moving a farmer, expanding an irrigation channel. By performing these different actions, you can grow fruit, which are delivered to the towns, where they are sold for dinars.
This is what it looks like online now.
On our game info page you can also find an introduction video for the game.
We hope you enjoy the game!
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Yucata Helps: Microloans as a Shared Project
Tuesday, January 6, 2026
by
Sparhawk
The Yucata team has already issued thousands of microloans through Kiva. This article explains how it works, why as little as $25 can make a difference – and how we can achieve even more together.
Yucata is also a non-commercial initiative because I firmly believe that there must be things you do for your karma – and not for money. That is why, as a private individual, I occasionally allow myself to share topics that are not directly related to board games. And since the year is still young, some of you may still have New Year’s resolutions.
Playing board games – whether at the table or online – is a luxury that not everyone can afford. That is why I have been looking for a long time at where and how I can meaningfully support people around the world.
One concept that particularly convinces me is microloans for people in countries who otherwise have no access to credit, or only under very poor conditions. In 2006, Muhammad Yunus received the Nobel Prize for his work in this field. In 2010, I issued my first microloan via Kiva. Since then, I have continuously increased my involvement there – for a total of 16 years now.
Four years ago, I founded the Yucata team on Kiva. By now, the team can point to an impressive track record: 195 members have invested around USD 87,000 in approximately 3,700 loans.
How it works: Typically, you lend money in small chunks of USD 25 each. The loans usually run for 6 to 36 months, and the money is repaid gradually. You can then withdraw it or lend it again. There is no interest, and there is a risk that a loan may not be fully repaid.
Everyone has to assess risks for themselves, but my personal statistics may serve as a reference: over 16 years, 98.96% of the total amount I lent has been repaid.
The barrier to entry at Kiva is very low. With USD 25, you can easily try out how microloans work and what people around the world need the money for.
Here is my invitation link to the Yucata team on Kiva:
https://www.kiva.org/invitedto/yucata/by/sparhawk5751
Maybe we can reach 250 team members together 🙂
Anyone who has made it this far may also be interested in taking the next step.
I looked into further options related to microloans. For the direct issuance of individual loans, Kiva is clearly the dominant platform.
In addition, I came across Lend-a-hand, a Dutch platform that works somewhat differently. Even on Kiva, most loans do not go directly from Kiva to the borrowers, but through local microfinance institutions that handle all administrative tasks. Listing and managing a large number of individual small loans naturally involves significant effort.
With Lend-a-hand, these microfinance institutions bundle many loan requests and refinance themselves via the platform. As a result, there is often only a small selection of current projects, and they tend to be much larger.
Lend-a-hand actually pays 5–8% interest. At first, this felt immoral to me, but my research showed that the loans on the ground are still significantly cheaper than the available alternatives. Lend-a-hand states that 97.4% of loans are repaid on time.
Here is the platform’s URL:
http://lendahand.com/
However, the barrier to entry at Lend-a-hand is significantly higher. Because the loans bear interest, the company is subject to banking regulation. For me, this is more of a second step rather than a first step into the world of microloans.
Here as well, I have a personal invitation link with benefits. If you are interested, feel free to contact me.
Just to be clear: these are personal recommendations and not financial or investment advice.
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Tuesday, December 30, 2025
by
Sparhawk
We made it – together ❤️
Today, on December 30, something happened that truly moved me:
You reached the annual donation goal.
After a really strong start to our support phase, there was a long period where things became very quiet. At times, I wasn’t even sure we would reach half of the goal – progress was slow, step by step.
And then came these last ten days.
Suddenly, there was something in the air. A tangible “We can do this. Together.” A real we-can-do-it run that honestly left me speechless. Individual donations, encouraging words – stone by stone, you brought the goal closer until it was actually reached today.
For that, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.
- Thank you for your trust.
- Thank you for your support.
- Thank you for making this site not just about games, but about a real community.
As a small symbol, I would like to officially ring in the year 2026 already. Let’s close out this year together – and start 2026 with momentum. An incredible amount happened in 2025, and I still have many ideas and plans for the year ahead.
And maybe a small look ahead: On March 1st, we will turn 25 years old. For the 20th anniversary, we had a new banner, new emojis, and several special actions – and this milestone shouldn’t go unnoticed either. What ideas do you have for our first quarter century? Feel free to get involved and discuss your ideas in the forum!
Thank you for being here.
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The New Achievements Are Here!
Monday, December 8, 2025
by
Sparhawk
The new achievements have just gone live. They complement the existing ranking system and are meant to provide small boosts of motivation along the way.
For the initial release, we intentionally implemented only a manageable number of achievements to establish a solid foundation. We already have ideas for many more – and they will be added over time.
Where can you find the achievements?
You can now find a new menu item called “Achievements” in the footer of the page. There you will find:
- a global leaderboard showing who has collected the most achievements
- leaderboards for each individual achievement
- an overview of your own current standing
Additionally, every player now has a dedicated section in their player profile where all personal achievements are displayed.
Levels and tiered achievements
Instead of creating an enormous number of individual achievements, we decided to introduce levels.
- A single achievement can have up to 8 levels, represented by the frame around the corresponding icon.
- In addition, there can be up to three tiered achievements that build on each other – meaning up to 24 levels within a category.
In this example, the player has reached level 18 in the Top 10 Rankings achievements. This means they completed the first two achievements at level 8 and have reached level 2 on the third one.
Retroactive awarding
Thanks to our database built over more than 20 years, it was possible in many cases to calculate and award achievements retroactively. Technically, this wasn’t feasible for every achievement, but we did everything that was realistically possible.
What’s next?
Before adding new achievements, we want to fix any remaining issues with the current version. After that, development will continue.
One feature is still missing: At the moment, no email is sent when a new achievement or a new level is earned. We will add this notification once everything else is running smoothly.
Have fun exploring the new achievements!
Feel free to share your ideas – including game-specific achievements – in the forum.
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>Why we now verify email addresses – and what it means for you
Thursday, December 4, 2025
by
Sparhawk
It happened faster than expected: our new feature for email address verification is now live. If your address has not been confirmed yet, you will see a notice at the top of the pages and can easily request a verification link.
More security for everyone
For automated hacking tools, it is much harder to create accounts with valid – that is, verified – email addresses. Of course, abuse can never be prevented completely, but the barrier is higher and Yucata is less attractive as a target.
Cheating by creating lots of fake accounts also becomes more difficult. Many people have two or three email addresses, but it quickly gets harder after that.
Data protection in practice
Under data protection laws, we are not really allowed to send emails to addresses if it is not clear that they actually belong to the player. Even storing such addresses can be problematic.
By verifying your email address, we ensure that:
- the email address really belongs to you, and
- we are allowed to send you important messages in a compliant way.
Making sure important messages reach you
With verified addresses we can reliably send you important information in the future – for example, if an inactive account is scheduled for deletion after some time or if legal conditions change.
A gentle transition until January
Until the end of this year, there are no disadvantages if your email address is not yet verified.
Starting in January, accounts with unverified email addresses will see limitations:
- no creating invitations,
- no accepting invitations,
- no sending messages.
You will still be able to:
- log in as usual,
- finish your ongoing games,
- change your email address and verify it.
So as promised, this is a smooth and gentle transition, not a hard cut.
One email address per account
Each email address can only be verified for a single account. If there are multiple accounts using the same email address, these duplicate accounts will gradually phase out.
Wrapping up our data protection work
With email verification in place, we complete the current round of data protection improvements on Yucata. At the same time, we improve overall security and account quality.
Thank you for verifying your email address and helping to make Yucata safer for everyone!
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A Note on Our Privacy Improvements
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
by
Sparhawk
Have you noticed that nearly every website these days shows you a cookie banner – except Yucata?
That’s not an oversight or a technical glitch. It’s intentional.
We are a board gaming platform, not an advertising or tracking machine.
If you ever open the network tab of your browser and take a look at what large websites load behind the scenes, it can be quite unsettling. Many companies – often with questionable business practices – know exactly when you visit a site, how long you stay, what interests you, what you buy, and much more.
Yucata wants no part of that.
When you open Yucata, almost everything comes directly from our own server – with no tracking, no ads, and no hidden data flows.
Well… almost everything. Over the past few days, I’ve taken our already privacy-friendly setup a step further.
You may have noticed that YouTube videos and Gravatar avatars are no longer loaded automatically, but only after you explicitly allow them.
Is it a bit inconvenient? Maybe.
But now the choice is entirely yours.
To make sure you can still see other players’ Gravatar images without sending your own data to US services, all avatar traffic is now routed through our Yucata server. Your information stays with us – and only with us.
You can revoke your consent for YouTube or Gravatar at any time in your profile.
You have always been able to delete your account — and when you do, it’s really gone.
Of course, Yucata relies on a few external services to keep the site fast and reliable. All of them are now clearly listed in the completely revised Privacy Policy.
We also introduced formal Terms of Use. Most of the content isn’t new — it used to be scattered across various FAQ sections — but now everything is clearly documented.
One thing we still need to implement is email address validation, not only for new accounts but also for existing ones. Don’t worry: we’ll roll this out in a way that ensures no one suddenly gets locked out.
For website operators, privacy topics are often a bit of a chore. But when working through them, you inevitably ask yourself:
Does it really have to be the way we’ve always done it? Or was that just the convenient option?
With these changes, Yucata has become a little bit better.
And that feels good.
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The Voyages of Marco Polo can now be played with the New Characters!
Saturday, November 29, 2025
by
Sparhawk
The Voyages of Marco Polo has been available on Yucata for 10 years now, originally implemented by be_com4. Even ten years later, it's still very popular and has many fans.
As a thank you to the fans for voting for it to win the German Game Price 2015, the designers released the mini-expansion "The New Characters". I (alorak13) have now implemented this expansion on Yucata for the 10th anniversary.
Anyone familiar with the base game will find the expansion very easy to learn. There are four new characters, and you can play either with only the new characters or with a mix of new and old characters. Based on game testing, I think the new characters are all quite strong.
Gifts are also introduced as a new element. Gifts can be obtained in various ways: through new contracts, through a new city bonus, or through one of the new characters (Fratre Nicolao).
And for those unfamiliar with the base game, now is a great opportunity to learn both the base game and the expansion!
This is my first time programming on Yucata. I'd like to thank be_com4 for the opportunity to integrate the expansion into the base game he implemented. For me, this was a great introduction to Yucata programming. Many thanks also to all the testers and translators!
And last but not least, our thanks go to the authors and the publisher, Hans im Glück, for allowing to have this expansion available on Yucata.
Enjoy the expansion!
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New Features, Less Frustration: What’s Changing on Yucata – and Why
Saturday, November 22, 2025
by
Sparhawk
Why do we play games? For some, it’s all about fun. For others, it’s the thrill of competition and the satisfaction of climbing the ranks. A portal like Yucata offers both—through the games themselves and through all the “meta-games” surrounding them: rankings, statistics, achievements.
We’ve just made several updates in this area. So let’s take a look at what has changed—and why.
1. The Ranking System: You Can Rise, but You Can’t Fall
The ranking system has been part of Yucata for many years. Early on, it motivates players to try new games and enjoy those first exciting steps upward. But the higher you climb, the tougher it gets—and the more painful a sudden drop can be.
Many players know the feeling: you fight for a whole year to reach a higher rank, only to slide back down after a few unlucky games. That creates pressure—pressure that can overshadow the joy of playing. To offer a way out, we introduced the Hermit status long ago.
Now we’re taking another step:
👉 There are no more rank demotions.
Some may consider this too soft, while others feel genuinely relieved. But after more than 20 years, it’s time to support those who struggle with the stress of losing their rank.
2. Top 10 Rankings: Activity Now Matters
If you regularly play a certain game, you naturally want to know how you compare to others. That’s what our Top 10 lists and the placement shown in your profile are for. Until now, you could keep your place indefinitely—as long as you were active on Yucata in general, even if you hadn’t touched that particular game in years.
This led to frustration:
Players complained that Top 10 lists were filled with names of people who hadn’t played the game in ages—either because they feared losing their spot or simply because they were good at so many games that they couldn’t keep up everywhere.
To fix this, we’re introducing a clear, fair rule:
👉 Only players who completed a match of that game within the last 90 days will be included in the rankings.
This keeps the rankings fresh and meaningful. It also gives you a quick overview in your profile of which games you haven’t played in a while—maybe a good reminder to revisit an old favorite!
3. New Profile Statistics: More Insights, More Motivation
We’ve also added several new pieces of information to the player profile. These stats have been calculated retroactively and will continue to be updated automatically:
-
How many different games you’ve played in the last 30 days
-
Your longest winning streak
-
How many games you’re currently in the Top 10 for
-
How many countries your opponents have been from
These numbers are more than fun trivia—they’re part of our preparations for upcoming achievements. So stay tuned for new challenges!
Conclusion: Fairer, More Motivating, More Fun
With these updates, we want to do one thing above all: make Yucata even more enjoyable—whether you’re here for casual fun, competitive play, or the fascination of deep strategy games. We’re looking forward to your feedback and excited to see how these changes shape the experience for everyone.
Enjoy your games—and your stats, rankings, and discoveries!
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New game on yucata: P'achakuna
Friday, October 31, 2025
by
Kerstinee
P'achakuna is a clever 2-player game experience on a unique, modular game board. Both players follow their own paths on the same playing field, but are never completely separated from each other. The rules of the game are easy to learn and allow for a quick and uncomplicated start. However, the depth of the game and its high replay value should not be underestimated.
The players use their llamas to transport resources from one village to another. One player's llamas can only move through the valleys, while the other player's llamas can only move on the mountains. There are 7 different villages where the resources can be sold and new resources loaded onto the llamas. The landscape through which the llamas move is constantly changing. Players change the paths by rotating terrain tiles to build a path for their llamas to the place where the transported resource is in demand. Not every village buys every resource, and the demand for resources in each village varies. Therefore, it is sometimes crucial who arrives at a village first and can sell there. For collected resources, you can rotate additional terrain tiles or buy additional llamas during your turn. The first player to collect all 7 resources wins the game.
P'achakuna is our first game from Treecer, a game publisher based in Switzerland that develops, produces, and sells creative, sustainable nature-themed products.
Having already done translations and rule pages for several games, P'achakuna is my first game that I (Kerstinee) developed for Yucata. I like the theme and the game mechanics. The short, easy-to-understand rules and the fact that the game is easy to learn were also decisive factors. Nevertheless, the game has a tactical component and you are challenged to find the best path for your llama. I really enjoyed familiarizing myself with the theme and the development environment, which was new to me.
My special thanks go to Stonecrusher, who supported me with the implementation, patiently answered my many questions, and gave me lots of good tips.
Thanks to all the testers who improved the quality of the implementation through their testing, and to the translators who made it possible to play the game in several languages.
Many thanks to Marc from Treecer, who always answered my questions very quickly. It was a very pleasant collaboration. Thank you very much for allowing us to play the game on Yucata.
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Fundraising Campaign 2025 – Together We Can Do It Again!
Friday, October 31, 2025
by
Sparhawk
This year, we’re once again launching our End-of-Year Fundraising Campaign. Our goal remains the same as in 2024: €2 per active player. Last year, we barely made it – can we do it again this time? 💪
2025 has been a very special year for us. We’ve achieved more than ever before – technically, creatively, and as a community.
Here’s what happened:
- A New Forum
A big step right at the start: the old forum had to be replaced for technical reasons. Now everything runs more smoothly, faster – and we can finally upload screenshots!
- Multilingual Support for Everyone
A massive project: the entire portal and all games had to be prepared for multiple languages. New tools were developed so that even non-programmers could help with translations – and it worked! Thanks to your support, the site is now available in Spanish, French, and even Chinese, with more languages on the way. 🌍
- Finally, a Blog!
A long-awaited passion project – and now it’s here. And you’re reading it right now!
- A New Design
Completely new, modern, and clearer – though yes, we all had to get used to it at first. 😉
- Farewell to Guest Accounts
A long discussion finally came to an end, and we’re happy with the decision: guest accounts are now history.
- Flexible Game Order
A seemingly small change with a big impact – you now have much more freedom in how you play.
- Game Framework Harmonization
A huge task to wrap up the year: while new games only needed minor adjustments, around 100 older games received a full modernization. And there’s a new unified feature: you can now quit any game in the same way!
- New Donation System
Lots has changed behind the scenes, too: the entire donation system was completely rebuilt. The process is now fully automated and offers many more payment options – simpler, faster, and more convenient than ever. 💶💳
And of course: New Games!
Our game developers have also been busy. So far in 2025, these games have been released:
Fancy Feathers, Glory Islands, Haleakala, Instinct, Paris, Tholos, and The White Castle. 🎲
All of this was only possible thanks to your support – with feedback, translations, testing, and of course, your donations. Let’s make sure we reach our goal again in 2025. Every euro helps us keep improving the portal.
👉 Donate now and start 2026 strong together!
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Yucata Framework Update – Unified Design and Improved Player Experience
Friday, October 10, 2025
by
Sparhawk
Yucata has updated its frameworks to create a more consistent design and better user experience. Older FW1 games are now wrapped in FW2.2, with unified and simplified features such as chat, notes, and game resignation.
Yucata has been around for almost 25 years, so it’s not surprising that the standards for game development have changed somewhat over time. Every game fits into a framework, and we call the versions Fw1 (Framework), FW2.1, and FW2.2.
To achieve a better player experience, we have now taken a closer look at these frameworks.
The strategy for our adjustments differs depending on the framework. Frameworks 2.1 and 2.2 will continue to exist as independent frameworks, but we have aligned their functionality. Both now have an easily adjustable sidebar.
Unnecessary or very rarely used options have been removed.
Really major changes can be seen in our older games that still use Framework 1. Since we can’t reprogram all 96 games, we used a trick: we left the games as they are but wrapped them in an FW2.2 frame. Sounds abstract? Here’s what a *Dragonheart* game used to look like:
We have now removed the header and footer, and after wrapping, it looks like this:
Chat and notes now work just like in the newer games. In particular, you no longer have to worry about losing typed text if the page suddenly reloads.
In this game, we even took the time to re-implement a game log. So far, we’ve only done that for about 10 games. The other games only show "A move has been done", which is no big help. But at least the rest of the FW2.2 standard functionality is there (auto-replay, jump to specific turn after game end, ....).
Stonecrusher had developed an “Adjust to Window” function for many games that scales the game. We have renamed this function to “Autoscale.” It is now enabled by default and can be found in the options. Not all games support this feature yet.
The function to resign from a game has also been standardized and simplified. We didn’t want it too prominently placed in the footer, nor too hidden in some settings menu, so it’s now located in the chat tab. After all, you should always talk to your fellow players before quitting a game—that’s just good manners.
The button looks like this:
You can click it without worry—it first opens a dialog. There, you can select how you want to resign from the game and write a message to your fellow players. In a two-player game, the resignation happens immediately. In other cases, your opponents will be asked on their next turn whether they agree or disagree, and the decision is also logged in the chat.
More than 200 games are affected by these changes, so we’ll inevitably notice some irregularities. Some games may still have their own hidden “Resign” buttons that are no longer needed, or something may look quite different than before. Please feel free to report such issues in the forum, always including a screenshot—it’s easy to attach one there.
In our opinion, Yucata has once again become a little bit better.
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Haleakala is online!
Sunday, September 14, 2025
by
Zzrxes
Zzrxes was able to witness the sunrise on Haleakala live.We present: 
- House of the Sun.
Haleakala is the center of the volcanic island of Maui - surrounded by crystal-clear water - and in this 2-player game we want to honor our gods and erect countless statues on the slopes of the volcano. 
Here we strive for prestige, and whoever builds their statues as close as possible to the crater of the volcano will surely gain this prestige - but at the same time the risk increases of falling victim to an eruption and losing one or another statue. So: carefully weigh how much you want to increase your prestige at the cost of risk.
The driving force of the game is the players' shared boat, which circles the island several times during the game. The beach section where the boat lands after a player's move is the area where both players now compare their strengths. For this purpose, they previously placed some of their chips on that beach section (the other part is used to give the boat its movement around the island).
Each sector contains 2 cards, and whoever wins there may take first pick and thus, for example, has the opportunity to erect statues, buy bonus cards, and do some other things. But at some point nature strikes back and the volcano erupts, which for us players means that the time for scoring has come. However, this happens only twice in the game, and after the second scoring the game ends.
Will you be able to impress the gods and finish the game as the winner?
The implementation for Yucata was done by mlmpn, marking her debut. We thank her and are happy with you about this new game. Many thanks also to Fairspielt for the above blog text, as well as to all testers who contributed to the success of the game. As always, our thanks also go to the author and Feuerland Spiele for the license to offer Haleakala on Yucata.
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Balda now playable with German dictionary
Sunday, August 31, 2025
by
Zzrxes
For a long time we have seen requests to be able to play Balda also in other languages. Now it's here: the German dictionary.
Balda has got a new option: "Language", which allows to choose between English or German dictionary. Rules and ingame text were translated into German as well.
Some stats:
- Wiktionary dump lines processed: 61222562
- Wiktionary pages processed: 1338804
- German words processed: 830088
- German words added to Balda: 138995
- German definitions added to Balda: 191899
- German nouns added to Balda: 111334
- German verbs added to Balda: 14634
- German adjectives added to Balda: 16127
- German adverbs added to Balda: 1398
If you believe that you have found a valid word that is not included in Wiktionary (and consequently in Balda's dictionary) and you would like to correct this discrepancy then firstly you should add the new word to Wiktionary by following the Wiktionary guidelines.
After some time when new words accumulate the developer will download the wiki dump, run the parser and extract words from Wiktionary to Balda.
That way Yucata players could also help other people by improving the Wiktionary while having some fun at the same time. :)
Balda has been implemented by Buchas, thanks for adding the German dictionary!
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Now live: Glory Islands
Sunday, August 17, 2025
by
Zzrxes
And once more we are able to offer you a new game!
Glory Islands features easy-to-learn rules and fast, simple turns! You must outwit your opponents to claim fame and fortune.
GloryIslands has been implemented by karmiris. As he does not have that much time anymore, Jack-Spirio has offered to take over for the final touches and in case of any issues. Thank you both!
Thanks also to the author and to the publisher Rio Grande Games for the license to have GloryIslands at Yucata.
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The new group feature is now available
Tuesday, August 5, 2025
by
Sparhawk
What are groups for?
Groups are designed to let players organize themselves into smaller communities, communicate with each other, and play together.
Each group gets its own chat channel, which works like a private chat.
From now on, you can also send an invitation to a group instead of to everyone or to individual users: This new group invitation can only be accepted by members of that group.
Typical use cases:
-
Playing with friends or family:
I create a private group, for example with friends or my local board game club, and invite specific members.
-
Communication in a specific language:
I create a public group that anyone can join.
-
Group with entry requirements:
I only want experienced players for a certain game to join a group.
For this, I create an approval group. Players can request access, but the owner reviews each request individually.
How does it work?
You can access and create groups from your profile or profile menu. From within a group, you can send invitations. The chat and invitations should then work intuitively. Groups are always recognizable by a preceding #.
The feature is currently in testing and will likely get several updates. Feel free to try it out and share your experiences!
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Getting Started with the New Portal
Monday, July 21, 2025
by
Sparhawk
Ten days ago, I shared with you why we’re rebuilding our portal and what’s changing. You can find the detailed blog post a bit further down this page.
On both the lobby and the games page, you’ll find a quick help guide behind the red question mark icon. 
Interestingly, new players often find it easier to get started with the new portal than experienced Yucata users. That’s completely understandable — it’s tempting to approach everything the same way as before and to look for familiar features in the same old places. At first, it might feel a bit strange — like wearing your wristwatch on the other arm after twenty years.
I’ve been using the new portal for several months now and recently compared its features directly with the old one. To me, the old portal now feels clunky and outdated — switching to the new Yucata feels like coming home. Please take a bit of time to explore, use the two help pages, and don’t hesitate to ask questions in the chat. And maybe hold off for a week before submitting feature requests like “I want it to work just like before” — many things start to feel natural after a short while.
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Now new: Play Skymines against Luna!
Friday, July 11, 2025
by
Zzrxes
In the Yucata forum poll about which feature or module I (Stonecrusher) should implement next for Skymines, the Automa, the artificial player, received the most votes.
Now "Luna" is ready. She allows you to play Skymines solo. You can also add her to multiplayer games. Unlike the physical game, this is possible multiple times on Yucata. For example, you can create a game with 2 human players and 2 Luna players.
Luna has her own Yucata account. On her player info page, for example Luna level 2, you can track her current Trueskill (which only changes in games with 2 or more human players).
I’m curious to see how this value will develop across the 9 total Luna users (there is a separate Luna user for each difficulty level).
Testing showed that Luna plays very strongly, even above level 2. My tip: Start by playing against a Luna with level 2 or lower!
Many thanks again to the publisher for the Skymines license! The Automa was implemented by me, Stonecrusher. Kerstinee extended the rule pages with the Luna manual. Thanks to all testers, especially 9M9K9, who found many bugs and gave great suggestions for improvement!
Have fun trying it out!
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Big Changes at Yucata: The New Portal Is Here!
Friday, July 11, 2025
by
Sparhawk
Yucata is getting a completely redesigned portal with a modern, mobile-friendly interface and a much simpler navigation system. The goal is to make it easier for new players to get started and to ensure smooth gameplay across all devices. The new version is now available for testing at https://y4.yucata.de – feedback is highly welcome!
Many of you have already noticed – a lot has been happening at Yucata since the beginning of the year. We started with multilingual support: in addition to German and English, the platform is now also available in Spanish and French, with more languages in the works.
Next, we rebuilt the forum from the ground up – a necessary step to prepare for what comes now: the biggest and most visible change of all – the complete redesign of the Yucata portal.
Our two main goals:
Both were major challenges. The old portal had a fixed-width layout – great for developers, but frustrating for users on mobile devices. Our new "mobile-first" approach had to balance clean usability on small screens without turning the desktop version into an oversized mobile app with giant buttons and empty space.
We ended up designing eight different screen-size layouts, from 320-pixel phones to 1440-pixel desktops. Elements show, hide, or behave differently depending on the device. It feels great in testing – but of course, we expect to find real-world cases where it's only almost perfect.
Now, with Y4, I can easily use the chat, forum, game list, and profiles on my phone – and it still feels compact and efficient on a large desktop monitor.
New Navigation – Easier Onboarding
I recently ran an analysis: 60% of newly registered users never made a single move in a game.
These were not guest accounts, and they didn’t bounce due to the old layout – they completed the full registration and still disappeared.
Here’s my take on why – in order of urgency:
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Too complicated navigation: Games, invites, and overviews were scattered and hard to connect. New users often asked “How does this work?” in chat – and we gave them a survival guide.
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No immediate gameplay: New players want to start now, not in 2 hours. But creating or accepting an invite doesn’t start a game right away, and even after the first move, it might take a while to continue.
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No way out: If you're stuck in a game you don’t like or don’t understand, there was no clear way to leave. The game just sits there, waiting.
These are the three biggest hurdles for onboarding.
What has changed?
1. Simplified navigation:
The main menu now has just two entries: Lobby and Games. Everything else is moved to the footer. The game list now combines all the old lists into one – and it's far more powerful.
2. Redesigned game list:
We reworked all the cover images and categorized each game by theme, mechanics, and complexity. Questions like “Which games are fast?” or “Do you have abstract games?” are now answered visually and intuitively.
3. Streamlined invite creation:
Previously, some invite pages had multiple screens of options – including advanced features like TrueSkill filters. Now it's clean, clear, and usable without reading a FAQ.
4. Better first steps with solo games:
While we can’t guarantee immediate multiplayer games yet, solo games are now more visible and easier to access. With over 20 solo games available, players can dive right in, try things out, and experience the quality of our implementations – making the wait for an opponent feel worthwhile.
5. “I want to leave a game”:
We have concrete ideas for this issue – but it’s planned for a future update.
Try It Now!
Y4 isn’t fully finished yet, but you can already try the new version at https://y4.yucata.de.
We’re aiming to go live by the end of July.
Please post any feedback or bug reports in the forum, in the channel “The New Yucata.”
One topic per post, if possible – to keep discussions manageable.
What’s New?
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Games and invites are now fully integrated, with two views: list and category. Category view is default for new users.
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Chat and messages are now unified – private messages are shown as personal chat channels, with image support just like the forum.
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New chat channel to contact admins/moderators
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Completely new donation system: many more payment options beyond PayPal, fully integrated into the site. Donation badges are automatically granted and instantly visible.
What’s Gone?
What’s Still Missing?
Beyond many minor fixes already in progress, there’s one major feature we still want to add:
A new-player info section that guides users step by step, along with a one-click solo game launcher – including an option to cancel.
Thanks to everyone testing, contributing, and sharing ideas – we’re excited to shape the new Yucata together with you!
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Now Live: Tholos - A Clever Duel for Two Players!
Sunday, June 29, 2025
by
Zzrxes
We're excited to welcome Tholos to the site - a smart, streamlined strategy game for two players that's all about timing, tactics, and outthinking your opponent.
In Tholos, you're each placing stones into ancient temple columns, trying to win them - but not always by having the most. Sometimes, letting your opponent overcommit is the real path to victory. It's simple to pick up, quick to play, and full of little surprises that make every match feel fresh.
Quick matches with meaningful choices
A fresh twist on area control
Perfect for fans of head-to-head strategy games
If you enjoy games that are easy to learn but reward clever planning, Tholos is a great pick. It's ideal for short sessions - or for getting in a rematch or two.
Tholos is the first game Nima1629 has implemented for us - thanks a lot for joining our developers :)
Thanks also to the author and to the publisher Perro Loko Games for the license to have Tholos at Yucata.
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Fancy Feathers is online
Sunday, June 15, 2025
by
Zzrxes
Hello Yucata friends, there's another game to add to your playlists:
Fluff up your feathers, folks, flighty pheasants flock the footpaths, and your employer would like some to fancy up their faculty!
Watch out for sneaky foxes and feisty dogs!
Yucata.de introduces to us another fine game from the indefatigable Friedemann Friese. Thanks go to the designer, publisher 2F and illustrator for allowing us to enjoy this fun card game here, and special thanks to Watno for bringing it to us.
The game info page for Fancy feathers can be found here
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Paris: La Cité de la Lumière now available!
Saturday, May 31, 2025
by
coastliner
Build the beautiful nocturnal Parisian streets
Try Paris: La Cité de la Lumière, the latest game available on Yucata! We have a complete implementation here, that also includes the Eiffel expansion and a couple of promotional add-ons. This is a quick, highly interactive two player tile placement game. The game is played over two phases, and you'll need to do some clever planning from the very beginning of the game if you want to find success.
I'm Craig (coastliner), the implementer of this game along with eight others here. I've been playing and coding and having a blast on this site for almost seven years now. After trying many of the games we have available here, I've started to get a good feel for the kinds of games that I enjoy playing digitally. And this is the main reason I chose to implement Paris -- it has that feeling of the kind of game that I'll enjoy playing here for many years.
It was great fun to implement this game, but towards the end of the process, I started to have some doubts. I'd heard so much about the beautiful nighttime Parisian streets. Was the online implementation doing it justice? Clearly some on-site research was required. 😃 So, after a wonderful trip where I was able to visit many of the landmarks from the game's postcards, I felt a lot better. I managed to capture six of the postcard sites in one photo, can you find them? (To be fair, two of those six are perhaps questionable.)
There's one unusual aspect of this implementation I'd like to call out. I discovered early in playtesting the online version that this planning aspect could be challenging in an asynchronous game. While you place your tiles in phase 1, you will be creating spaces for the polyomino building tiles that you'll place in phase 2. But when you return to an asynchronous game after several hours, it's not always obvious what those plans were. I normally like to use the fantastic "Notes" feature on Yucata to track these kinds of things, but in this case that was becoming tedious. Writing notes like "Place the zig-zag building along the left side of the board, one row from the bottom, aligned like a staircase leading up off the left side of the board" again and again was draining some of the fun out of the game.
So I created some planning functionality that lets you privately track those plans. It's totally optional, and probably those with a better memory capacity than I might not need it at all. But for the rest of us, I think it really improves the playability of this game, especially if you start multiple games at the same time, so check it out! Click on the blue "i" icon next to the game/plan switch in the top left of the board for more information, or see the "Hints for Handling" section of the rules.
If you still need convincing to give the game a try, I created a short (less than 5 minutes) video that demonstrates the game. It's not a complete rules explanation, but it does show how the game works on Yucata.
Many thanks to the publisher Devir, who have been very involved in bringing some of their games to Yucata recently. I'm also grateful for the efforts of the translators and testers (whose suggestions have had a very positive impact on the final product).
Enjoy!
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Instinct just went online
Saturday, March 22, 2025
by
Sparhawk
Enter the duel in a gloomy forest full of mystical creatures.
Instinct is a tactical tile laying game for two players. Battle it out in a gloomy forest full of mystical creatures! Take turns placing cards in a 4x4 display. Make your choices carefully to score points. Sometimes it‘s all about the right timing! The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Instinkt is a pure 2-player game and plays fast — about 20 minutes on the table. It’s our first game by Udo Peise, but already our third release by publisher Board Game Circus, the other two being CuBirds and Rollecate.
We’ve worked closely with Michiel de Wit from Gam’inBIZ, who handled the Dutch localization of the game. Here’s what he had to say about Instinkt:
The first time Daniel from Board Game Circus showed me Instinkt, I was completely blown away. I instantly fell for its art and slick gameplay. Instinkt is a cracking little puzzle that plays out in just 10 minutes and really challenges you. The rules are simple, the choices pretty straightforward, but every game has surprised me with some sneaky move or clever twist.
Gameplay-wise, Instinkt kinda reminds me of Hive, that classic abstract game with hex tiles. In Instinkt, the play area's just a 4-by-4 grid, but during the game, this grid can shift about, which is really cool and one of the reasons I find Instinkt so fascinating to play. Everything’s well balanced—never gets dull, though. Like the artwork, there's sharp contrasts between moves, scoring chances, and strategies. I absolutely adore that about the game.
The rules of Instinkt are super easy: each player starts with the same 12 square cards. Each turn, they chuck down one of their 3 hand cards. The numbers on the cards sort out who goes when, but going first isn’t always a bonus. Most cards (9 of them) offer a specific scoring chance, usually needing a certain placement. The other 3 cards don’t score points but give you a one-off special move that can shake things up. I’m especially fond of the Stag, as it can really flip the game on its head, keeping everyone on their toes.
The digital version of Instinkt on Yucata is super sleek. While the gameplay is smooth in both versions, scoring in the tabletop game requires a bit more attention to track. Yucata handles that beautifully by offering intermediate scoring updates, giving you a clear idea of where you and your opponent stand. This feature makes the digital game even more addictive than the tabletop version already is. I can totally see loads of folks playing Instinkt during their lunch breaks and over a coffee, both online and off.
This is the 22nd board game implementation by be_com4. Since each developer spends many hours implementing a game, it might be interesting to hear how they choose their next project. Here's what Bart shared:
Since we got the license before the game was even announced or published, I couldn’t rely on player reviews. But the rules are very short and easy to grasp — and that’s what drew me in.
It’s a very short game where each player has the same 12 animals. In each game, you’ll only play 8 of them on the board. The goal is to position your animals more strategically than your opponent. But watch out for the Deer, Raccoon, and Snake! These animals — when played at just the right moment — can cause havoc!
I found the game especially interesting after a few plays, once I understood the different characteristics of each animal and where they should be placed to score points.
As always you'll find all information here: Game information
We thank Board Game Circus and Gam’inBIZ for the permission to host their game!
This is the first post in our new blog. It’s still pretty rudimentary and will improve over time. You’re welcome to leave comments — but please post bugs and feature requests in the appropriate forums.
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