Codenames: Pictures is better than the original

Codenames became an almost instant hit with our family when we got it. It quickly achieved a place among our Family Favorite Board Games.

So when we first heard a new version of Codenames was being published using pictures, we thought it sounded ridiculous. After all, how could Czech Games Edition improve upon the original Codenames?

Boy, am I glad we were wrong!

Because we’ve found that we actually like Codenames: Pictures more than the original!

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Our Favorite Family Board Games A to Z

This time of year it’s popular among board game reviews to list their Top 100 games of all time.

However, we don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. Instead, we’re trying a new guideline for our favorite board games list.

We’ve narrowed our list down to our favorite games starting with each letter of the alphabet.

That’s right. It’s time to reveal our favorite family board games from A to Z!

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Speechless = fun charades without talking

In Speechless, players all take their turn at acting. However, when it’s a player’s turn, they have a limited time to act out 6 words for everyone else to guess.

Instead of shouting out answers, each player has a dry erase board with 6 lines. They only write down a single word for each thing the person acts out.

So instead of getting closer and closer to the right words by elimination, players just make their best guess and move on.

After the timer runs out, the actor reads the words they were acting out and the other players score their answers.

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Broken Token box organizers are fantastic!

With so many board games in our game closet, we’re always looking for ways to organize our games to save space.

Some of the culprits that take up shelf space are game expansions.

When the games we love come out with game expansions, what are we to do?

Enter The Broken Token box organizers!

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Top 11 Games and Experiences YTD

So far this year, I’ve already played 142 different games!

As I looked over my list this past weekend, I thought about my favorite gaming moments for the year so far.

In some cases, I thought of particular games I’ve had a blast playing. And in other cases, it’s more about the experience overall.

Here are my Top 11 Games and Experiences of 2016 so far.

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Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a huge hit!

Deception has been such a hit in our family that it’s shot past a ton of other games on our “to review” shelf.

This isn’t like a checkout line at the grocery store – first come, first served.

Instead, it’s like at a desert buffet where the tastiest treat gets eaten first.

Or in this case – the game most played is the game next reviewed.

And with more than 15 plays in just two weeks, Deception is screaming for a review.

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And Then There Were 2

On Wednesday, Jaden headed out on his 2-year mission to serve the people in Singapore and Malaysia!

He’s been looking forward to this day for so long and it’s so exciting that it’s finally here.

He was all smiles as we dropped him off at the Missionary Training Center where he would spend the next couple months learning Mandarin Chinese before making his way to Singapore.

In fact, everyone was all smiles.

There’s not doubt it’s an emotional moment.

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Gen Con 2016 Game Publisher Interviews

Earlier this week I shared an overview of my first Gen Con experience.

I had a great time being immersed in the spectacle of so much gaming goodness. But without a doubt, the best part for me was meeting with people I’ve only interacted with via email and online for so many years.

And many of these were board game publishers with fun games that we’ve done reviews of.

If you’d like to jump to a video interview of one of these fabulous game publishers, simply click on their name in the list below.

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