Got any Spies and Turncoats?

“These are the times that try men’s souls.”

I’m sure many people may have uttered that phrase this past year. But we’re not here to talk about last year. Instead, we’re looking back to 1776 when Thomas Paine penned those words in The American Crisis.

Of course, we’re not here for a book report either, but instead to look at a social deduction card game set during the American Revolutionary War — Patriots & Redcoats by Green Feet Games.

In the game, players take on the roles of the Americans fighting to win independence and the British fighting to stop the rebellion. And like in typical social deduction type games, players are secretly assigned which side they’re on and must figure out who to eliminate to win.

But, be careful because players may also change loyalty along the way!

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Smart10 – Trivia Challenges That Are Fun

I really don’t like trivia games.

At least, the trivia game most people are familiar with — Trivial Pursuit. And I’ve tried to like it. But to no avail. It’s just not for me.

That’s why I was a bit wary when we got a copy of Smart10 from Bananagrams.

Yet, once we pulled it out and played it, Smart10 became the hit group game this holiday break!

And I’m happy to tell you why.

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Hues and Cues Board Game Review

If I gave you the clue “Barney”, would you be able to pick it out of a grid of 480 colors?

What about “Mustard”, “Ocean Spray”, or “Slime”?

That’s the premise in a new game by The Op called Hues and Cues. And it’s much tougher than we first imagined.cBut that doesn’t mean it’s not a fun game to play. The real question is will your family and friends enjoy playing it?

After all, that’s why we do these reviews — to give you a feel for a game and help you decide if it’s right for your group.

So let’s see where Hues and Cues may fall for you.

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Sketchy Tales: Disney Edition Game Review

One of our family’s favorite party games is Telestrations. It’s a hoot every time we play it because things never turn out the way they start.

So when we heard about Sketchy Tales: Disney Edition by Big Potato Games, and that it sounded a lot like Telestrations, we were happy to give it a go.

I mean, why not take a crack at seeing how mixed up our Disney drawings could get?

And we’re happy to report we’ve had plenty of laughs with Sketchy Tales!

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Blinks Game System Review

There’s been a big meshing of digital and physical board games over the last decade.

Many physical board games have taken on digital form and can be a blast to play with friends at a distance. And other physical board games have incorporated a digital element that we love for extending the gameplay — such as the cooperative games Star Wars: Imperial Assault, Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition, and Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition that we love using the app to play the bad side.

Well, today we’ve got something quite different from anything we’ve reviewed in the past. It’s actually a digitally-driven complete game system called Blinks!

But it doesn’t use any computers, mobile devices, or apps. All the game data and rules are stored in the hex game pieces themselves!

The cool thing is that each hex game piece, called a Blink, stores the information/rules of one game. And that Blink “teaches” the other Blinks the rules of the game and then they’re all in!

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Gorilla Marketing party game review

My day job is in marketing.

That means 25 years in marketing.

As such, I’ve heard many times about “guerilla marketing”.

So when I saw the game Gorilla Marketing, designed by Adam Wyse and published by Roxley Games, I couldn’t wait to give it a try!

I was especially excited to play with my Marketing team at work. But as luck would have it, the game arrived the very day we all started working from home because of COVID. Major bummer – no more lunch break games of any sort at the office.

But that wouldn’t deter me from giving it a shot with my family. And I’m so glad I did — because it’s been an absolute hoot!

We have yet to play a game without busting a gut laughing. And we have yet to stop playing after just one game. There’s just too much fun to be had!

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Decrypto board game review

It’s hard to believe it’s been over a month since we posted our last review. There have only a few periods of time over the past decade where we haven’t posted a board game review at least once a week. But we all know the past couple of months have been anything but normal.

But today we’re going to remedy that! (Not the world back to normal, but us back to posting a fun family game review.)

And to jump right back into things we’re reviewing a game we received from our BoardGameGeek.com Secret Santa for last Christmas. It’s also one of our most-played games since then – DECRYPTO!

Decrypto is a team game for up to 8 players of codebreaking and it’s addicting.

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Calling all creative detectives for Detective Club!

How good are your detective skills?

No, not like CSI skills. But rather, your powers of detecting the bluffer among you?

Detective Club, by Blue Orange Games, gives you a chance to find out!

When I look over the list of board games we’ve reviewed over the last 10 years, Blue Orange Games is second on the list of game publishers in quantity of our game reviews.

And there’s a very good reason for that — Blue Orange Games publishes fantastic board games for families!

We’re happy to report that Detective Club continues with that tradition.

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Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig game review

“The king demands a castle!

You’re a world-renowned master builder who has been asked by Mad King Ludwig to help design his castles. Projects of such significance require the expertise of more than one person, so for each assignment you’re paired with another master builder to execute your grandiose plans.

Will your planning and collaborative skills be enough to design the most impressive castles in the world?”

Such is the introduction to the tile-laying, family board game, Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, a collaborative production from Stonemaier Games and Bézier Games.

And what a fantastic collaborative production it is!

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Spyfall & Spyfall 2 Party Game Review

Do you love party games?
Do you love deduction games?
What about a game that combines both elements?

If so, you’re in luck because Spyfall is both a party game and a deduction game!

We included both Spyfall and Spyfall 2 in our annual Board Game Gift Guides in the past because they’re such fun games.

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