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!

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Stuck inside? Play more family board games!

Being stuck inside for long periods of time can really stink!

Since most of the world is now practicing this new hot term, “social distancing”, it can really get you down.

It’s definitely impacted our lives. And we’re sure it has yours too.

More time at home can mean a lot more family time to do things together. And that means things of every sort.

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Another SaltCon Success

Last weekend wasn’t what I’d expected.

But SaltCon still made me smile.

That’s because every year, I look forward to attending SaltCon — an awesome board game convention in Utah.

As you can see from my anticipatory post last month, SaltCon has tons to offer.

However, this year turned out to be much different for me.

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Countdown to SaltCon 2020!

February just rolled around and it’s time to get excited!

Of course, there was a lot of excitement around the Super Bowl last weekend when the Chiefs triumphed over the 49er’s.

And Valentine’s Day is next week — which can be something to get excited about.

Then there’s also President’s Day right after — which brings a day off of work in the U.S. for many companies. So we can see people getting excited for that.

But what I really get excited about when February hits is that SaltCon is only a month away!

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2019 – Year in Review

2019 marked a huge milestone for The Board Game Family. We celebrated 10 years of doing family board game reviews!

With our video reviews hitting 2 million views and our written reviews and articles being read by millions more, it’s been an amazing 10 years.

But today’s not about looking back on all 10 years (we’ve already done that). Instead, we’re just looking back at 2019.

As I’ve done at the start of each year, let’s take a quick look back at the games we’ve enjoyed the most from 2019.

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Favorite Games of the Decade!

Wow – what a fantastic decade in board gaming!

Now that we’ve rolled into 2020, we want to pay homage to the stellar board games published over the past decade. It just so happens that we’ve also been reviewing family board games, card games, party games and more for just over 10 years!

In October 2019, we celebrated the 10 year mark for The Board Game Family!

Which means we’ve been front and center with the amazing new games that have hit family tables across the world this past decade.

So, here’s our list of great family games from 2010-2019.

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What kind of Planet will you create?

You’ve got the whole world in your hands. So, what are you going to do with it?

It’s time to find out in Planet!

Planet, by Blue Orange Games, has players crafting their own 3D planet to attract a variety of animals to them. It’s a unique tile-laying game where the tiles are magnetic continents consisting of various habitats.

Different animals are attracted to different types of habitats so players have to choose wisely in which animals they want to inhabit their planets.

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Harry Potter maze-shifting fun

For many years we’ve heard of a great introductory family board game called, Labyrinth — first published in 1986. So when I had the chance to get a copy in a trade at SaltCon this year, I was happy to end up with a copy of the game for our family.

But then an even better deal came along.

Ravensburger sent us a copy of the new iteration of the game — Harry Potter Labyrinth!

Yes, it’s exactly the same game play as the original — but we love Harry Potter, so this is totally the way to go for us. Read on to see if it is for your family too.

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Board Game Gift Guide 2019!

Are you looking for fun board games as gifts for family and friends?

Then you’ve come to the right place!

Because for the 9th year running, we’ve got fantastic suggestions for you!

This year’s Board Game Gift Guide includes 43 great game ideas in various categories: children, family, dice, party, cooperative, abstract, and more!

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Quick Look: Charley Harper’s Spot the Birds Board Game

If you are a fan of Charley Harper (like my family is!), you are in for a treat with this new game… if you’re not a fan, just wait… you will be!

Charley Harper was an American modern artist who used a style he called “minimal realism” to create prints, posters, and illustrations of the natural world, mostly birds, in a brightly charming style.

Pomegranate Communications and designer Cory Mimms have collaborated with the Charley Harper Art Studio to create an endearing, engaging board game for kids and families that features his signature style illustrating a variety of North American birds in five common habitats.

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