Recent Articles & Reviews by Justin Bell

I joined the Meeple Mountain team in February 2021. Like many others, I found myself with a lot of free time during the early stages of COVID and I turned that downtime into a tabletop writing hobby! It was an easy transition, because I’ve been gaming my whole life—I was big on Fortress America, UNO, Yahtzee, Axis & Allies, Spades, Monopoly, Rummikub, Pay Day, Hotels, Go for It! and so many other games growing up along with a D&D game called Mertwig’s Maze—and now I participate in multiple game groups in the Chicagoland area.

Some of the games in my rotation include auction and economic games such as Stockpile, City of the Big Shoulders, Railways of the Lost Atlas and Brick & Mortar; medium-weight Eurogames such as Grand Austria Hotel, Tiletum, The White Castle and Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon; dice chuckers like Thunder Road: Vendetta and Arcadia Quest; card games like Inheritors, Xylotar, Anansi, and Trio; heavier fare such as Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory, Kanban EV and Voidfall. In 2024, my three favorite games were Rebel Princess Deluxe Edition, Andromeda's Edge, and Dead Cells: The Rogue-Lite Board Game. In 2025, I am planning to cover a wider mix of genres, including dexterity games, trick-takers, and family-weight strategy games. I am also working on a series of articles dedicated to publisher visits both in the US and abroad.

Offline, I am an employee engagement leader in the consumer products & retail space, with experience building training programs and community engagement activities in the tech, legal and professional services fields. I have had the distinct pleasure of representing Meeple Mountain at tabletop conventions around the world, at shows including the Festival International des Jeux, Gen Con, TraXX, PAX Unplugged, Dice Tower West, BGG Con, and Essen SPIEL. I typically write about 150 articles, reviews, convention roundups, and industry profiles each year, and I also created two new series on the site to explore older games: our "Back in the Day" series, covering games from the childhood of our writing team, and "The Dusty Euro Series", dedicated to exploring older Eurogames that I have not previously played. I have also served as a guest on a number of podcasts, including The BGG Podcast, The Tabletop Merchant Podcast, Board Game Times, Tabletop Submarine, and as a regular contributor on The Five By. I participated as a member of the jury panel for Dicebreaker's Tabletop Awards 2023. I love chatting with others who have a passion for the hobby!