When you play a new game, and immediately everyone asks to play it again, you think you might have discovered something good.
When everyone wants to play it repeatedly again and again, you know you’ve got a family card-game hit!
That’s the way we discovered Trio from Happy Camper.
Likewise, that’s how a game shoots right to the top of our “to review” pile – bumping ahead of many other fun games in the queue.
So let’s talk about Trio!
Read more
How good is your short-term memory?
I used to think my memory was superb…until I played That’s Not A Hat by Ravensburger.
It’s a simple party game to play but it can also pack a deceptive punch.
That is, a punch right to your pride in front of your friends and family when you can’t remember what’s on the card just passed to you (or that you just passed to someone).
I first heard about the game last summer and it sounded like a fun group game. So I bought a copy and have had fun playing it with family, friends, and co-workers on lunch breaks.
Will you be able to remember if you were just passed a hat?
Read more
Sometimes you just want a quick and light dice-rolling game for a bit of fun.
No heavy strategy.
No belabored turns.
Just some quick choices as you roll away.
In Splitter, by Pandasaurus Games you really don’t have to wait for typical turns anyway because everyone is active with every roll of the dice.
We included Splitter in our 2024 Board Game Gift Guide in the dice game category because it’s such a simple game that anyone can join in the fun.
Read more
A friend of ours has designed a new family board game and we’re excited to tell you about it.
Stack City, by Quinn Biesinger, is a competitive city-planning game in which players construct a 3D city full of business, community, entertainment, and service buildings. It has what we look for in good family board games—a good balance of strategy and luck.
And regardless of the outcome, because of how you’ve stacked the city, it’s always fun to sit back after the game and admire how the city turned out.
He’s been working on it for years, and we were able to participate in some of the original play testing for the game last year. After many revisions, his prototype is ready to share with the world in anticipation of his upcoming crowdfunding campaign early 2025.
Read more
Four years ago, just as people were starting to travel again after being cooped up for months for COVID, we reviewed a fun family board game by Underdog Games called Trekking the World.
So when we heard Underdog Games was publishing a new version of the game, we were more than eager to try it out. And now that it’s hitting store shelves, we’re happy to share the details with you.
While the premise remains the same as the original, Trekking the World 2nd Edition is much more streamlined and simplified to play. Not that the 1st edition is complicated. But this new version is even better for general family play.
We really like the changes made to the game.
We’ll give a quick overview of how to play Trekking the World 2nd Edition, then go into details on the many elements that have changed to make this fun family board game even better.
Read more
Has a black cat crossed your path lately?
Halloween is in the air, and you never know what’s lurking around the next corner.
Actually, the Cat In The Box game doesn’t have anything to do with Halloween. (It’s just fun review timing.)
Instead, the game refers to Schrödinger’s cat.
Schrödinger’s Cat is a thought experiment devised by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger. If you place a cat and something that could kill the cat (a radioactive atom) in a box and seal it, you won’t know if the cat is dead or alive until you open the box. Thus, until the box was opened, the cat was both “dead and alive”.
Okay, so maybe a “dead and alive” cat is pretty Halloweenish.
However, rest assured that no cats are harmed in this unique trick-taking, card game by Bezier Games.
Read more
Welcome back to the world of Valeria!
In May, we reviewed the first Valeria game published by Daily Magic Games, Valeria: Card Kingdoms. It’s a fun card and dice game where players build their crew of various citizens to expand their realm and fight monsters.
Since then, Daily Magic Games has published a number of card games in the Valeria universe. Each have unique game mechanics.
Today, we’re excited to share our thoughts on one of the most recent Valeria card games, Thrones of Valeria.
It’s a unique trick-taking card game where the ranks of the different Houses (suits) change constantly. Every card played may alter your plans. We hope you’ve got what it takes to win in Valeria.
Read more
In our recent review of World Wonders we mentioned how it’s more than just a tile-laying game and that there’s plenty to think about during the game.
In addition to the spatial layout of your city, you need to consider the money you have to spend, how your resources are growing, where you want to be in turn order, how to keep expanding with roads, and when you’ll meet the requirements for adding a monument to your city.
Well, if that’s not enough for you, Arcane Wonders has already published an expansion for the game!
It’s time to take a look at World Wonders: Mundo Wonders Pack.
Read more
Earlier this year, I had my first chance to play World Wonders – a fun new tile-laying board game published by Arcane Wonders in 2023.
I played it at one of the Hot Games tables at SaltCon Spring 2024 and immediately wanted to play it again.
I couldn’t get it out of my mind and was still thinking about it a month later.
That’s when you know you’ve found another great family board game.
Even though I’d categorize World Wonders as a tile-laying game, it’s packed with much more than that. The game also includes economic, turn-order, and resource elements that keep players considering many choices throughout the whole game.
Read more
In 2016, I played a fun board game at SaltCon that left me thinking about it long after – Metropolys.
The only problem was that the game was first published in 2008 and was out of print, and I couldn’t find a copy anywhere. I’ve kept an eye out for it ever since.
That’s why I got super excited a few years ago when I heard the game was being reimplemented as Skyrise!
And I was even more excited when I learned it was being designed by Adam Wyse (a game designer I’ve met, played some games with, and reviewed a couple of his games, Head of Mousehold and Gorilla Marketing) and published by Roxley Games (a publishing company that produces fantastic games and that we’ve also reviewed a bunch of).
But the real questions you’re asking are, “What’s the game all about?”, “Why did you find it so fun?”, and “Is the reimplementation any good?”
Read more