Downtown Farmers Market

Farmers markets are known the world over as almost all countries have some form of them.

At these markets, patrons enjoy a wide variety of goods that reflect the culture and economy of the area they’re being held in. From produce to handcrafted goods, you can find almost anything you want or need at one of these amazing local events.

In Downtown Farmers Market, from Blue Orange Games, players compete to gather goods from the market that fulfill 8 overlapping objectives. The player who does this the best is crowned Market Champion.

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Star Wars: Destiny card game review

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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Gridopolis Game Review

Imagine if Checkers married a building system like Kenex or Tinker Toys, what would their baby look like?

Well, I might have found the answer to that, Gridopolis!

On the front of the rulebook it says Gridopolis is a “3D strategy game and system”. The system part of it comes in the form of a modular playing board called the Grid-Set. The Grid-Set can be built in any manner of ways before you start playing and may change throughout the course of the game making this a truly unique experience.

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Everdell Board Game Review

“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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PicTwist: National Parks board game review

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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The Crew: Mission Deep Sea game review

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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Neoville Board Game Review

Frank Lloyd Wright has been my favorite architect as long as I can remember. His modern organic architecture has been an inspiration to many of today’s prominent architects. Falling Water, a house designed by Frank in 1935, exemplifies his philosophy of organic architecture with the harmonious union of art and nature.

Blue Orange Games new release, Neoville, picks right up on this theme of bio-architecture as players take on the role of an architect creating a new kind of city where the buildings conform to their surrounding and nature is the star.

Create giant stone edifices, fluid water buildings, tall tree towers or mighty clay high-rises bringing harmony to your city and prestige to you.

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3 Azul Board Games Compared

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

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Magnate: The First City board game review

“Welcome to Humbleburg, a sleepy commuter community that has resisted development for years. That is until one fateful city council meeting where everything changed in the blink of an eye. Developers from all over raced to Humbleburg to make their fortunes in this small town. Will you be one of them?”

In Magnate: The First City players take on the role of developers who buy land, develop it, and lease space to tenants. But nothing lasts forever and sooner or later the bubble will burst.

The player who can manage their properties the best and sells at the right time will be victorious.

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Galaxy Trucker 2022 board game review

We had a CB radio in our van when I was a kid and I remember talking to long-haul truckers via that radio during long trips with our family. Chatting over the radio while riding was a fun way to get a very small glimpse inside the cab of truckers.

I can only imagine the stories we’d get if we were to tap into truckers in space.

Because if they’re anything like what happens during a game of Galaxy Trucker, then we’d be in for quite the tale!

In the game, players frantically build their ships and then take them on a flight to gather goods, face space pirates, encounter meteor swarms, and more.

Strap in and check it out!

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