Trent, Author at The Board Game Family

Some Exciting News – and Free Games!

With the COVID-19 pandemic still rolling along, interest in family board games continues strong.

More people are looking for games to play with their families while they’re mostly spending time at home. With so many activities canceled (like sports, travel, concerts, etc.), families have more evening time for hanging out together. And once the binge-watching runs its course, there’s more time for games!

And we think that’s great news!

We get a number of family board game-related news items on a daily basis. Yet we usually don’t share them through our site so we can keep focused on reviewing great family games instead. However, there have been a couple of game-related news items over the last month we think you’ll be interested in.

Check these out!

July 1, 2020December 5, 2020 Trent 0 Comments Asmodee, family, Thames and Kosmos

Card Games Game Reviews Party Games

Relative Insanity: See What I Mean?! game review

“There are few certainties in life. One of them is everybody’s relatives are crazy. You can let them make you nuts too, or you can learn to laugh about it. I prefer laughter every time.” — Jeff Foxworthy

And when you get a game with Jeff Foxworthy’s name emblazoned on it, you can expect laughter.

That’s definitely the case with Relative Insanity: See What I Mean?! by PlayMonster.

June 24, 2020 Trent 0 Comments cards, choose, party, photos, PlayMonster

Articles Board Games Card Games Family Games

Are you BOOKSMART?

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

“Call me Ishmael.”

“All children, except one, grow up.”

Can you name which famous books these are opening lines for?

Or better yet, if you heard the title of a book, would you be able to come up with the opening line?

That’s the premise of a new game just launched on Kickstarter that sounds really intriguing to us – BOOKSMART.

Do you consider yourself BOOKSMART? Let’s find out…

June 18, 2020 Trent 7 Comments book, Stampede Ventures Games

Back to the Future: Back in Time board game

Board Games Cooperative Games Family Games Game Reviews

Back to the Future: Back in Time cooperative game review

I was a teenager when the first Back to the Future movie hit the big screen in 1985. And I remember absolutely loving the movie!

The premise was a lot of fun and I laughed the whole time.

That first movie became a cultural iconic film that’s still fun to revisit to this day. That also explains why a bunch of Back to the Future games have been made since. Unfortunately, the few I’ve played over the years haven’t been very good games.

That is, until now!

Back to the Future: Back in Time, by Funko, breaks that mold. As a cooperative board game, it delivers the right type of gameplay for the theme — making a fun game!

June 16, 2020 Trent 0 Comments 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, dice, Funko, luck, strategy, theme

Board Games Cooperative Games Family Games Game Reviews

Harry Potter: Death Eaters Rising game review

Are you ready to defeat Lord Voldemort and thwart his rise to power?

Wait…

Have we talked about this already, because it feels very familiar?

Well, we’ve got yet another new Harry Potter-themed game for you to check out from The Op — Harry Potter: Death Eaters Rising!

Over the 11 years we’ve been reviewing family board games, we’ve reviewed a bunch of Harry Potter games. Yet, we still don’t get tired of playing them.

That’s because each game has a totally different feel to it.

June 7, 2020June 7, 2020 Trent 0 Comments 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, cooperative, dice, Harry Potter, luck, strategy, The OP, theme

Board Games Family Games Game Reviews Party Games

Decrypto board game review

It’s hard to believe it’s been over a month since we posted our last review. There have only a few periods of time over the past decade where we haven’t posted a board game review at least once a week. But we all know the past couple of months have been anything but normal.

But today we’re going to remedy that! (Not the world back to normal, but us back to posting a fun family game review.)

And to jump right back into things we’re reviewing a game we received from our BoardGameGeek.com Secret Santa for last Christmas. It’s also one of our most-played games since then – DECRYPTO!

Decrypto is a team game for up to 8 players of codebreaking and it’s addicting.

May 25, 2020June 8, 2020 Trent 0 Comments 3-player, 4-player, 5-player, 6-player, 7-player, 8-player, Clue, code, guess, secret, strategy

Board Games Family Games Game Reviews

Funkoverse Strategy Game Review

When I first came across the Funko POP characters years ago, I was hooked. My favorites were the Star Wars characters and I bought a bunch to sit atop my office shelves.

Since then, the number and variety of Funko POP characters available seems endless.

When I heard they were making a board game, I immediately added it to my “want to play” list.

Thanks to Miniature Market, we got a number of Funkoverse Strategy Games in time for Christmas last year!

And now, a few months later, we’re ready to tell you all about them!

Plus – thanks to Fun.com, you may also win a copy of a Funkoverse Strategy Game of your choice!

April 23, 2020June 6, 2020 Trent 29 Comments 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, characters, Funko, Funkoverse, giveaway, luck, strategy, theme

Board Games Cooperative Games Game Reviews

Wolfenstein the Board Game preview

Do you remember the very first Wolfenstein video game in 1981? I do.

Castle Wolfenstein was one of the first games I played on my Commodore 64. It was a stealth-based game where you’d try to avoid detection as long as possible. You had to work through the levels of the castle to find secret plans and get out alive.

Since that first release, 12 more Wolfenstein games have been released. And the fun of the original game has stuck with me.

So when I heard about the upcoming release of Wolfenstein the Board Game, I was totally on board with checking it out.

And thanks to the folks at Archon Studio, I got my chance!

April 12, 2020April 12, 2020 Trent 0 Comments 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, adventure, Archon Studio, cooperative, Kickstarter, missions, strategy, theme, war

Toy Story Obstacles and Adventures cooperative board game

Board Games Card Games Cooperative Games Family Games Game Reviews Kid Games

Help the Toy Story gang!

I’m a big Toy Story fan.

I was blown away with the animation in the first Toy Story movie in 1995 and have loved every one since. So when Disney and Pixar released Toy Story 4 last summer, it didn’t matter if my kids weren’t young anymore. I was going to see it!

And as soon as it hit Disney+ this year, I was ready to see it again.

But Toy Story 4 wasn’t the only cool Toy Story release last year. The OP also released a new Toy Story cooperative board game — Toy Story Obstacles and Adventures!

With as much as I like Toy Story. And as much as we enjoy cooperative board games. I had high hopes diving into the game.

And I won’t make you wait until later for the surprise — it delivers the fun!

April 6, 2020March 30, 2022 Trent 0 Comments 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, card, cooperative, family, luck, The OP, theme

Card Games Family Games Game Reviews

Ready to join The Crew?

We’ve all been pretty disappointed since Pluto was declassified as a planet in our solar system.

Not that we had any actual travel plans of getting there some day. But when the International Astronomical Union decided to withdraw Pluto’s status as our solar system’s 9th planet in 2006, it caused quite the stir.

Well, all that’s behind us now. We must look to the future!

And your future may include becoming part of the crew to rediscover the 9th planet in The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine by Kosmos!