Pull up a cushion. We saved you a seat.

— a letter from the bench, updated whenever the kettle allows —

Hello, you. This is The Jester Bench — a small blog written by two friends in Melbourne who share one worn-out sofa, an enormous teapot, and a very specific hobby: casual games where a joker, jester or wild card runs the show. We play them slowly, usually in the evening while the tram bells fade outside, and then we write about them the way you'd tell a friend about a good book.

There are no scores out of a hundred here, no launch-day rushes, and absolutely nothing to buy. We rate games in teacups — five means we forgot dinner because of it — and we only review games you can play, in full, for free. That's the whole arrangement. It's a nice one.

Party card game

Bells & Bluffs

☕☕☕☕☕ five of five teacups

A bluffing game gentle enough for your gran and sneaky enough for your group chat. Everyone passes cards face-down, someone is always fibbing, and the jester card lets you swap your whole hand at the cheekiest moment. We played eleven rounds the night it arrived. Read the full post

Word puzzle

Fool's Gambit

☕☕☕☕ four of five teacups

A daily word game with one wild tile that can be any letter — but once you place it, it wanders one square every guess. Chasing your own wildcard around the board is exactly as silly and exactly as moreish as it sounds. Read the full post

Gentle climber

Cap'n'Bells Climb

☕☕☕☕ four of five teacups

You climb a tower of teacups and grandfather clocks, one considered hop at a time. No timer, no falling damage — just the soft jingle of your cap and a view that keeps getting lovelier. The most relaxing thing we've played all year. Read the full post

Tile matcher

Trickster Tiles

☕☕☕ three of five teacups

Beautiful folk-art tiles, a winking trickster who shuffles a row when matched, and a lovely rain-on-the-window soundtrack. It loses a teacup only because the later puzzles repeat themselves — but oh, those first forty boards. Read the full post

One-thumb arcade

Juggler's Dozen

☕☕☕☕ four of five teacups

Keep twelve things in the air with one thumb. Apples are easy, bells are floaty, and the wild card changes what everything weighs. Sounds stressful; is somehow the opposite. Best played standing in a queue. Read the full post

• ☕☕☕☕☕ Five teacups — we forgot dinner. A game we'll still be playing next winter.
• ☕☕☕☕ Four teacups — properly lovely, with one small quibble we'll tell you about honestly.
• ☕☕☕ Three teacups — worth an afternoon, especially if the genre is your cup of tea already.
• ☕☕ Two teacups — some charm, more friction. We finish the review so you don't have to finish the game.
• ☕ One teacup — rare, and we're never mean about it. Some games just aren't ready for the bench.

Every game we review is played by both of us for at least a week of evenings. We only write about games that are free to play in full — no exceptions, no fine print. And if a game changes after we've written about it, we go back and update the post with a dated note.