C&C Ranking System
When reviewing a board game, Corax & Coffee uses an internally-developed assessment tool consisting of 10 domains each with 10 subdomains. Based on our experience after numerous playthroughs of a game, combined with our assessment ranking tool, we may award a game one of three specific seals (Seal of Preeminence, Seal of Distinction, or Seal of Nonchalance), which we describe below.
Since one of the emphases of Corax & Coffee reviews is games that are more easily played with new and old friends in public spaces, we also created a Cafe Approved banner, which is an indication that a game may be appropriately played in a coffee shop or cafe within the space of an hour. We want to encourage you to make gaming more visible, accessible, and welcoming to those who are new to the hobby—and our Cafe Approved games are meant to be games that will advance that goal. More details about our Cafe Approved banner are below.
Finally, some board games may not be awarded any seals from us. We believe that reviewing games is important even if they don’t all earn a seal. However without a seal, a game cannot receive the Cafe Approved banner, either.
Seal of Preeminence
A game that receives our Seal of Preeminence has received high marks all around and does not have any unforgivable flaws or deficits, as far as we can tell. We believe these games are either the cream of the crop or are so exceptional in certain areas that we just have to give it our highest recommendation. We believe these games to be head and shoulders above the rest. We will certainly be holding on to these games and getting them to the table for years to come. Click here to see all of the reviews for games that have received our Seal of Preeminence.
Seal of Distinction
We award our Seal of Distinction to games that are worthy of distinction and certainly a ladder rung above the rest. These are games we thoroughly enjoyed playing, would happily recommend to the majority of gamers we encounter, and would wholeheartedly play again if we were invited into a game. Click here to see all of the reviews for games that have received our Seal of Distinction.
Seal of Nonchalance
Our Seal of Nonchalance is our seal that we award to games that are...okay. They’re not terrible. They certainly have their merits and some individuals may love them, but, for one reason or another, these games are just not for us. Perhaps these games, in our opinion, have more than a few serious flaws in their design or production, or maybe they are not up to par with current industry standards. Either way, if we give a Seal of Nonchalance, we will explain the reasoning behind our ranking in the review. While we may be willing to play a game that we are nonchalant about in the future, they certainly will not be our 1st, 5th, or 11th choices. But your mileage may vary. We want to make sure you know what we like and don’t like about these games so you can make an informed decision. Just because the game is not for us, doesn’t mean you won’t love it. Click here to see all of the reviews for games that have received our Seal of Nonchalance.
Cafe Approved (banner)
In addition to the three seals that we may award to a game that we review, we may also award a game our Cafe Approved banner. The Cafe Approved banner signifies the game, regardless of (almost) any other qualities, is well-suited to be taught to others and played in a coffee shop or restaurant setting where both time and space may be limited. In the event where we review a game and we do not award any of our three seals we will not award the Cafe Approved banner either. Click here to see all of the reviews for games that have received our Cafe Approved banner.
The Sealless (and, therefore, bannerless)
Sometimes a game receives poor marks in so many domains on our ranking tool that we can’t justify giving it a seal at all. We believe it is important to provide information about these games because some people might still enjoy them, but they just did nothing (or maybe they did negative things) for us. Of course, feel free to explore these if they sound interesting to you. Just don’t ask us to play. Click here to see all of our reviews where we have awarded no seals and banners.