Slumber Realm: roll a d6, fight the Lunch Lady, decorate your dreams

Slumber Realm drops you into the dreams of a '90s kid, where the school day comes back as Knightmares: a Lunch Lady serving unwanted seconds, Geology Homework that is still due, and a Werecoach who makes you run laps until you howl. You fight them with a backpack full of cards and a single trusty d6, and each roll fires off every card that matches.

The magic is in the arranging. Pick two Aspects (its word for classes), draft cards from both, and line up your grid so one lucky roll sets off a chain where defense feeds damage and tricks retrigger everything. There are over 150 cards plus Memories and Snacks to bend runs further, and the runs themselves are snappy, around half an hour each. Between dreams, your allowance buys retro decor like lava lamps and boomboxes for your room, which earns Cool Points to unlock new cards, Aspects and Knightmares. The humour is everywhere, down to a report card that roasts you.

It is still very new, so how the balance holds up over the long haul is an open question. Treat the announced free mini-expansions as a bonus, not the reason to buy: what matters is the cheerful combo machine already here. There is a demo if you want a taste first.