Harry Potter is at it again

Are you ready for another Harry Potter family board game?

We sure are!

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle – Defence Against the Dark Arts may sound like it’s an expansion to Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle that we reviewed a few years ago. But it’s not.

It’s a standalone game that’s great on its own merits!

The original game is a cooperative game where players work together to defeat wizarding world villains.

But in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle – Defence Against the Dark Arts, rather than working together, 2 players go head-to-head in a dueling battle!

Read more

Lander Board Game Preview

If you crash landed on a foreign planet, what would you do?

The good news is that you survived. And while many of the crew sent to establish a colony perished in the crash, a handful of survivors are there with you.

With that type of a set up, you might think Lander, an upcoming new game by Intrepid Games, would be a cooperative game where you’ll all rally together to establish a flourishing colony.

Lander is actually a competitive game for 2-4 players where each player builds their own crew, manages resources, expands and upgrades their sectors, and completes missions to become the overall leader of this new colony.

Read more

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!

Read more

That’s Pretty Clever dice game review

You know you’ve found a hit game when your family plays it over and over and over.

Such is the case with That’s Pretty Clever dice game by Schmidt Spiele and Stronghold Games.

Since we first played it a couple weeks ago, we’ve played it at least once almost every day. And since it’s hard to just play once, we’ve played it back to back many of those days.

So what’s the big draw to this simple dice game?

Read on and we’ll tell you.

Read more

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.

Read more

Extraordinary Adventures: Pirates board game review

Ahoy mateys!

It’s time to hit the Caribbean, set sail, and race other pirate crews from port to port toward the Spanish Treasure Galleon at Trinidad in Extraordinary Adventures: Pirates board game by Forbidden Games.

But it’s not necessarily the first to Trinidad that gets the most spoils.

Along the way, you’ll guide your multiple ships to plunder merchant vessels and stop in ports to exchange your cargo for valuable treasures and recruit more crew. The additional crew will help your ships sail faster and pull off additional feats.

Are you ready for the adventure?

Read more

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.

Read more

Who wants to win some Trophies?

I guess I should really ask, “who doesn’t want to win a trophy?” After all, don’t we all love the accolades that come with winning a trophy?

We may not want another thing to dust on our shelves, the the joy of winning something can last a long time.

And it may be even better when you can win a trophy in under 10 minutes!

That’s the way it is in the new game, Trophies, by Facade Games.

Read more

Escape Rooms come to Puzzles!

We’ve reviewed a bunch of Escape Room type board games and even included a number of them in our 2019 Board Game Gift Guide.

Well, we’ve got a new twist on Escape Room games for you today — Escape Puzzles!

We first heard about Escape Puzzles from Ravensburger a few months ago and just attempted our first one last week. And I had a lot of fun doing it!

Read more

Point Salad scores big!

This past summer I switched jobs.

The switch was great for me for a number of reasons. One of the cool perks is that there are a bunch of employees that love playing games during lunch breaks.

Since not every game makes a great lunch break game, I’ve been selective on which games to take to the office to play.

A good lunch break game is one that’s quick to set up, relatively quick to play, easy to teach, can accommodate varying numbers of players, has a lot of replay value, and can be enjoyed by almost anyone.

Point Salad has turned out to be a perfect lunch break game!

It also gets lunch break game bonus points for being about food!

Read more