Since we’ve been reviewing family board games for more than 13 years, we’re often asked for advice about what games to buy, how to make a family game night, and other family game-related topics.
Last week, a writer asked us to help contribute to their article on Expert Advice for the Ultimate Game Room at Home.
The question they had for us was, “How do board games bring families together?”
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Perhaps the first question you’ll have when you see our review of Founders of Teotihuacan is “How should I pronounce Teotihuacan?”
Our answer to that is, “However you’d like.”
That way you can move right on to the next question, “Is it fun to play?”
And for that we respond, “It depends on what type of fun you like in your board games.”
Take a deeper look and see if it’s a fit for you and your family.
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The number of people wanting to plays games over lunch at the company I work at has been growing. And for such a group and setting, the board games and card games that get played are those that are relatively short and can accommodate many players.
So when I got a review copy of Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace – A Love Letter Game from Asmodee, and realized that up to 6 players could play, I knew the perfect place to break it in!
Not only are the Love Letter games fun and quick-playing, but this new iteration is a Star Wars version of the game. And there are plenty of people who love Star Wars at the office.
So what better place to give it a go!
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With Spring in the air and the many shutdowns of the last couple of pandemic years coming to an end, so many of us are looking for an escape. Although we may have settled into new routines, there’s often still an urge to break free.
And our review today is all about setting things free from their confined boxes.
In particular, these are “escape room” style puzzle boxes from EscapeWelt in Germany. Taking a look at their website, you’ll see they have a nice assortment to choose from.
The two we dove into are House of the Dragon and Space Box.
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When our monthly game night fell close to Star Wars Day earlier this month, we had to dive into some Star Wars games.
And that meant it was a perfect time to play Star Wars: Destiny!
It’s a 2-player card and dice game battle that we have tons of cards for – so we could set up multiple head-to-head battles among everyone there. Plus, it can be played in 30 minutes and then we can be on to the next battle against a different opponent.
That’s also when I realized that even though we’ve had the game for a number of years, we haven’t posted our full review of Star Wars: Destiny yet.
That changes today!
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“Within the charming valley of Everdell, beneath the boughs of towering trees, among meandering streams and mossy hollows, a civilization of forest critters is thriving and expanding. There are buildings to construct, lively characters to meet, events to host—you have a busy year ahead of yourself. Will the sun shine brightest on your city before the winter moon rises?
Prepare to be enchanted by the wondrous world of Everdell. Once you are here, you might never, ever, want to leave.”
Such is the intro text to the board game Everdell by Starling Games.
The big question is, is it true – Once you enter and play, will you ever want to leave?
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Whenever we visit a US National Park, we take a lot of photos!
How can you not take photos when you’re wandering around, taking in nature’s beauty?
These are also the types of photos I use for my phone and desktop backgrounds. Looking at the scenic photos can bring a sense of peace.
However, when such pictures are all broken up, mixed around, and players are racing against the clock to be the first to arrange their picture, that peace can evaporate quickly!
That’s a bit what it’s like playing PicTwist: National Parks – a new board game from The Op.
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Two years ago we took off on a quest in space and now we’re searching the depths of the sea.
In fact, it was exactly 2 years ago, in March 2020, when we reviewed The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine by Kosmos. We played it a TON leading up to doing our review. And then we played it even more in the months after that while we were all shut inside as the Covid pandemic broke out around the world.
Needless to say, we absolutely loved the cooperative, trick-taking, mission-based card game. We could hardly get enough of it, even making up our own challenging mission scenarios.
Since then, Kosmos has gone ahead and outdone themselves with the follow-up game The Crew: Mission Deep Sea!
Yes, that’s right – they found a way to make a fantastic game even better. And I don’t think we’ll ever play the original again.
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I had a fantastic first weekend of March because I was hanging out and playing tons of games with my friends at SaltCon Spring 2022!
I look forward to this 4-day gaming event with much anticipation every year. And it was especially great this year because the air was finally clearing around the Covid pandemic. Which means we could see the smiling faces of the 1,700 or so people who came out to play all sorts of games.
This year I was able to attend 3 full days of the event and played 22 different board games, card games, and dice games!
It was a lot of fun and I’m ready to share my thoughts on each of the games I played.
(Consider it like a bunch of mini-reviews.)
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5 years ago, Next Move Games published a unique tile-laying game that made huge waves in the board game industry – Azul.
The game includes colorful and chunky tiles made of bakelite and it quickly jumped to the top of Hot Games lists all over the world. Because of its immediate success, it was very hard to find a copy of the game for months.
Due to the game’s popularity, it was quickly followed by 2 additional Azul games in 2018 and 2019–each delivering familiar elements mixed with novelty. And today we’re reviewing and comparing each of these sequel games:
* Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra
* Azul: Summer Pavilion