Tag: Onirim

Top Posts of 2025

I’m sorry about the lateness of this post. Usually I am sharing with you the biggest posts of the year right around New Year’s Day, but because I was traveling through Patagonia at that time, I wasn’t able to sit down and sort through all of the data until now. 2025 was a crazy year for most of us for various reasons, and this was no different for me. I had taken a new job in Peru in July, so I spent a lot of the time getting all of my stuff together and moving it halfway around the world in Jordan. During that time, I was able to travel to many places such as Egypt, London, around Jordan one last time and a couple of trips back to the United States, but most of my time was spent moving all of our stuff and our puppy to Peru. Because of the visa requirements, I was not able to leave Peru once we arrived, but this was not a bad thing because the time I did have off was spent traveling through this amazing country. I hope you enjoy this look back of last year, and here is to more opportunities to see the world this year.

10. The Start of the Last Hurrah – Jordan

2025 was the last year that I spent in Jordan, and before we left, we started to have visitors. I was able to make the Jordan Loop, (Petra, the Dead Sea, and Jerash) one last time. It was a month before I left, and it was like my farewell tour of the area. I do consider myself lucky that I was able to make this trip that one last time, and do it with such good friends. It allowed me to create great memories of Jordan before I left it forever.

9. The Mummy

Egypt featured heavily in the posts for 2025, showing up four times in the top 10. The first time was a poem that I had written while out there, thinking about what it would be like to be a mummy so many years after you had been rediscovered by archaeologists. It was great to see them, but it was also gave me a sense of dread of what it would be like to have your body on display in a museum so people could come by and view you.

8. Packing Up the Holidays

My first post of the year was also one of your favorites. I spent a lot of time in the States this year, and I had spent some of that time with my family during the holidays. It is easily the best way to spend this time of year, and it always makes for great memories, but at the same time, there comes that moment when you have to pack everything up, and return to the life that you live. It is the reason that January is always a quiet month for most people, but it was still nice to have this to hold on to during that quiet month.

7. Santa Catalina Monastery – Arequipa, Peru

I made a big move this year, coming from Jordan halfway around the world to land in Peru. Because it was my first year there, I needed to stay in Peru for my visa. It is not a bad place to be stuck in as there are a lot of things to see. We were holding off on the big one, Machu Picchu, because we knew we would have visitors and we would see that eventually, so we went off to other locations. Our first big trip was to Arequipa, and it is a place in Peru that is not talked about enough. The monastery is a great place to visit if you are in Arequipa, and a lot of people enjoyed the post.

6. Cultural Duality

A return to Egypt with another poem about my time in Cairo. I really enjoyed this unexpected trip last year as what I thought would be another experience in a Muslim country turned out to be a cultural education about one of the oldest places in the world. The thing that struck me the most about the place was the way that the people embraced both aspects of their past. There was a huge pride in both their connection to Islam and the Egyptian kings of centuries past. At times, it seemed as if these cultures were at odds with each other, but there was a marriage between the two that allowed them to exist in perfect harmony in this part of the world.

5. The Last 100 Days

For many people, 2025 was a tough year. The world seemed to be imploding, and as I left one of the parts of the world where that struggle could really be felt, I wanted to take some time to reflect on my time there. I started to take one picture a day during my lat 100 days in Jordan as I went about my routine and posting that picture to Facebook. I was not trying to be political or get people motivated to think a certain way; I was just documenting the mundane. I received a lot of feedback from doing this as it gave people a reprieve from the crazy they were seeing on social media. This little experiment resinated with you as well, and oddly enough, it became a simple way to bring a little happiness to people’s lives during a time when they needed it.

4. Enchanted Grounds – Littleton’s Board Game Cafe

I had gotten back into one of my favorite hobbies, board games, during the 2020 pandemic. It was a great way to have fun with the few people that I had contact with at that time. It turned into something that stuck with me beyond that strange time in the world. As I explored this hobby more, I have gone to a couple board game cafes, but never the one that was right down the street from where my dad lives. Over the summer of 2025, I met a few of my friends down there to finish off our Dungeons and Dragons campaign that we were unable to finish due to me having to leave Jordan early. I am glad that I had finally gone into this place. It has opened the door to look for more of these little places around the world as a way to enjoy a couple hours of downtime during my travels. It was also nice to give Enchanted Grounds a little plug to keep them busy for future years.

3. Onirim – Welcome to the Oniverse

As I started to explore the board game hobby more, I started to review the games that I picked up along the way. I have only done one or two reviews a year, but they always seem to be very popular, and people continue to come back to them as they decided on the board games for their collections as well. This year I reviewed one of my favorite solo board games, Onirim. Many people must have been just as curious about this game as I was when I first came across it because it was one of the posts that was visited, and is still visited, the most last year. I still stick with my initial assessment that the game is fun, but the free app is a better way to enjoy the game.

2. Coptic Cairo

Usually when I think of Egypt, I think of the ancient culture with its pantheon of deities, or the modern people with their position in the Middle East. What I tend to forget about is the fact that Egypt plays a prominent part in the Bible. Jesus and his family spent a lot of time in this part of the world, and even some of the more important saints, such as Saint George, have part of their stories told in Cairo. There is a little corner of the city where these Christianity stories come to life, Coptic Cairo. It added a deeper level of nuance to a part of the world that already held a lot of depth, and it is one of the places on this trip that really stuck with me.

  1. Grand Egyptian Museum

Egypt has been putting a lot of energy and resources in order to get this museum open, and as of October 2024, it was 90 percent of the way there. I was able to visit it shortly after the opening in February of 2025, and the place is easily the best museum that I have ever been in. The collection of antiquities that can be found in this place is overwhelming, but I was lucky enough to have a guide to take me to the things that I really should be seeing. I must have stuck with a lot of you as well because it was the biggest post of mine last year.

Thank you for going through this walk down recent memory lane, and joining me on all my voyages throughout the year. I hope to see you more often in 2026, and look forward to sharing with you all that this crazy world has to offer.

Onirim – Welcome to the Oniverse

Welcome to your nightmare. There is nothing worse than the dark shadows that lurk in the corners of our consciousness while we are unable to do anything about them. At least there are hidden doors that will lead us to safety. If we can only find them within our imagination filled with sunny days, watery depths, deep forests, and tall bookshelves. It goes deeper than the dreams we have at night; it is an introduction to the world created by Shadi Torbey, the Oniverse, a series of games produced by Z-Man games designed for solo players to immerse themselves into the various corners of his imagination.

If you have had the opportunity to play one of the Oniverse games, you know about the solo game design that scratches that itch to play a complex game when nobody else is around. Even though the box claims that the games are designed for one to two players, they are basically solo board games that are wonderful to experience time and time again. Onirim is the one that started is all off, and is the perfect one to look at when introducing oneself to the wonderful world of the Oniverse.

THEME

This is a story that is birthed in our greatest fears, hidden deep within our minds. We are the only ones that can find the doors to help us escape from this fear, and we have to duck and dodge the terrors that could easily find us. The theme of this game really comes to life as you sort through the cards and look for the combination that will allow you to escape from the terrors. Sometimes doors will appear when you do not have what you need in order to open that door, just like it happens in a dream. At other times, the key you have been holding for a long time will come into use to open up another door that you had been looking for a long time. Throughout all of this, there is the creature lurking in the darkness that is the greatest fear that we hold in our hearts. It will come out unexpectedly, and send us to another corner quickly just to escape the horror that it brings with it. All of these ideas present themselves brilliantly in this game, and it sometimes feels as if you are a part of that dreamscape in your waking hours.

Rating – 10

GAMEPLAY

At the heart of this game is solitaire card play. There is a stack of cards that you will draw one card from into a hand of five. Within that deck, there are four different suits with moon cards, sun cards, key cards, and door cards. After you have drawn a card, you have to either play it to a matrix that will give you the combination that will open the doors so you can escape your nightmare. You do this by playing three cards from the same suit in a row where you do not repeat the symbol on the card. If you cannot play to the matrix, you must discard a card. While all this is happening, you have to beware the Oniverse monsters that are lurking in the deck. If you draw one of these, you have the potential to lose all the cards in your hand to the discard pile, a key card which are more powerful than other symbols, or lose five cards you have not even seen yet. You win if you open all the doors. You lose if you make through the whole deck without opening up all the doors.

There are a couple of rules, but this is basically what is at the heart of the gameplay. It is a fun little puzzle, and after a couple of games, you can fall easily into its rhythm much like you do with any game of solitaire. The problem with the game comes when you come across a door or a Oniverse monster. You resolve the conflict that comes with one of these cards, and then you have to reshuffle the deck. During one game of Onirim you can end up shuffling the deck up to fifteen times that will pull you out of that rhythm that you are looking for in a solitaire game.

If you are looking for a more streamlined version of the game, there is an app version of the game that can include two of the expansions that come with the game. It is a little wonky when trying to discard a card, but for the most part it solves the problem of always having to reshuffle the cards anytime one of the special cards shows up. It does not have the feel of a solitaire card game, but it is a great way to experience the game especially if you find yourself waiting around and have nothing to do.

Rating – 8

ARTWORK

The unboxing experience is always a fun one, but never have I ever been more enthralled than when opening the box for Onirim for the first time. Elise Plessis, the artist for the game went beyond just supplying with pretty pictures, and cute little plastic pieces. The box unfolds all of the goodies hidden inside through various layers just like you are entering the nightmare that you will eventually try to escape. This then opens up to the two large decks of cards that includes not only the base game but all of the expansions that come with the game. There is a little plastic monster that comes with the game tat serves no real purpose but adds to the mystique of the game. I like to place it just outside of my gameplay to remind me that the monster is lurking anywhere within the confines of my adventure through the cards. The cards themselves have a surreal artwork that belongs nowhere else but the dreamland that you are about to enter. It all combines to immerse a person into the dramatic theme that goes along with this game.

Rating – 10

SOLO PLAY

Like a lot of games out there, Onirim markets itself as a game that is able to be played by two people but in reality, it is nothing more than a solo game. It is a great puzzle to work out, but my one complaint with it is the constant reshuffling that occurs during the game. The base game is a little easy as well, and after you figure out what to do in each situation, it presents a game very similar to regular solitaire that does not offer a lot of options in its design. The complication starts to occur when you start to add the expansions that come with the game, and it allows you to amp up the options that are available to you.

Rating – 7

EXPANSIONS/ OTHER GAMES in the ONIVERSE

Just like the box says, Onirim comes with seven different expansions. If you get the app, two of the options are available to you, and the nice thing about all of these expansions, you can mix and match them until you create the deck that you like to play the most. It also adds enough variety to the game that it will have you opening the box on numerous occasions to see if you can escape from the nightmare presented to you. This makes the game extremely fun with an great amount of replay-ability that allows it to live on long after you have bought it.

Onirim is also the introduction to the Oniverse, a series of solitaire games that Shadi Torbey claims that you can play with two people. At the writing of this blog there are eight games in total with what appears to be a new additional coming soon. Each game is another box with a great solo experience with additional expansions to the game that you can mix and match to create your own version of the game that you like best. The games do not work with each other except thematically, and they are more there own games than they are an extension of Onirim. Like any other sequels there are some better than others. I have not played all of them, but out of the ones I have played I enjoy Sylvion the best though there are some other fun ones out there.

Rating – 9

OVERALL

Onirim and its universe is a great introduction to solo board gaming. The games possess a zen-like quality to them that help you relax while presenting you with an engaging puzzle. Each box in the Oniverse has enough variety and challenge that you can build your own deck to find the complexity of the puzzle that you are most comfortable with. Though I do enjoy the app more than the actual box for the game Onirim because of the amount of shuffling involved to play the game right, the other games do not have this problem, and at the time of writing this review, also do not have apps available. It is always nice to have a box or two in the Oniverse in your collection so you can have a great solo experience that you are looking for.

Overall Rating – 4.4 stars out of 5