Chamber of Wonders is FANTASTIC!

Oh my… Ludus Magnus’ decision to create a “lite” line could not have been a better call! Chamber of Wonders delivers on ALL counts! A fast-playing, light/medium-light tale of intrigue, oddities, and bored aristocracy! LOVE it!

The table presence is absolutely lovely… with the two-sided cardboard standees for the different buildings you can visit in place, the game board is magical! I’m usually a “wooden bits and plastic minis with gold coins galore” type of player (as you are all WELL aware)… but the building standees in this game just WORK! Such a creative way to make the board pop! 🍾 Put that together with the cardboard-constructed display cases for your curiosities and what not.. and the overall presence is palpable. Plus, the artwork just OOZES with theme… YES, please!

Of course, I am a huge fan of worker placement… and I am also quite fond of a game that plays fast but still keeps you engaged and entertained. This game is firing on all cylinders.

The game play runs 30 minutes on average… and the quirky theme and straightforward mechanics means that you might even be able to break this game out at a family holiday gathering and scoop up a few of those relatives who “couldn’t possibly imagine playing a game that takes 3 hours!” You know what I’m talking about 😬

Now, what exactly is contained in this Upstart Bundle?

Well.. it’s quite simple really 😉 I’ve got the Kickstarter edition of the game that includes all the stretch goals and the exclusive expansions, inside the main game box —> Black Market and Don’t Gamble with Strangers… and the club cards and solo mode. PLUS your very own copy of the “Sherlock: A Chamber in Red” expansion!  Oh yes… and I tossed in the “Fair of Wonders” 5th/6th player expansion… because you can never have too many friends at the table!

** A quick shout out to Danielle… who reached out recently (this note was added on June 2, 2025) to ask about the Sherlock expansion.  I had totally forgotten to add that above!  😬 Thank you, Danielle!  Here at Upstart, it clearly takes a village!  Your help is truly appreciated!!

Videos displaying this magnificent curiosity…

Straight out of the gate, this thematic trailer created by the good folks at Ludus Magnus provides a great sense of the theme’y goodness built into Chamber of Wonders. You can check it out HERE.

Next up is a really great overview of the game layout and rules… with loads of great camera work so you can get a solid appreciation of the components… brought to you by Cardboard Rhino.  You can find the link HERE.

And finally… here are some Final Thoughts by Shea over at Rhado’s channel. His thoughts follow a paid preview of the game, but I’ll let you discover that video on your own. After watching cardboard rhino’s overview I didn’t think it added much bonus content… So I jumped straight to the final thoughts bit (in case you were curious) 😉

*Please note that he had been working with a prototype where the 3D buildings didn’t slot into the game board… so if you’d really like to see the awesome table presence that this game delivers, check out the Cardboard Rhino video above!

You can find those final thoughts HERE.

Kickstarter Campaign Link – to check out all the juicy exclusives!

Let’s take a look at the original Kickstarter campaign… so you can review all the wonder-filled exclusives that come with this bundle! 😉 The original Kickstarter campaign can be found HERE.