Cascadia board game review

We really enjoy tile-laying board games.

Whether we’re building out our own areas like in Barenpark or adding to a central area like in Carcassonne, we love creating a unique arrangement every time. No matter whether we win or not, we feel accomplished seeing what we’ve made.

That’s one reason we were drawn to Cascadia when it was first published in 2021 by Flatout Games.

We were also drawn to the gameplay and the wonderful theme of habitats and wildlife of the Pacific Northwest.

And after having played it numerous times, we’re happy to report that Cascadia knocks it out of the park on all accounts!

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Lucky Numbers board game review

When playing with family, we like games that have a good balance of both luck and strategy. We enjoy having to make interesting choices during a game but also like an element of luck to keep things interesting.

So when a game has “Lucky” in the very name, should we shun it?

Don’t be too quick to do so!

At least, you shouldn’t do so with Lucky Numbers by Tiki Editions.

That’s because Lucky Numbers has great choices throughout to keep players engaged and having fun.

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Similo deduction game review

This time of year, it’s great to gather as family and friends for some light-hearted games.

Similo, by Horrible Guild, fits that very well.

That’s because Similo is a cooperative deduction game where everyone either wins or loses together. It comes in a variety of card sets of 30 cards such as Fables, Myths, Animals, History, and more. All of which have fantastic artwork that add to the enjoyment of the game.

The goal is to make the other players guess one secret character by playing other character cards from your hand as clues, stating whether they’re similar to or different from the secret character.

And because it’s nice and compact, it’s a great game to give as a gift as well.

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Expeditions board game review

When I heard Stonemaier Games was publishing a sequel to Scythe, my interest jumped into overdrive.

After all, if you’ve seen my video review “17 Things I Love About Scythe” then you know how much I enjoy the original board game. And even while I write this, I realize my original review was over 7 years ago in July 2016!

Wow, how time flies.

Anyway, earlier this year, Stonemaier Games released Expeditions to the delight of many.

I was fortunate enough to get a review copy and now I’m eager to share my thoughts after diving into the game wholeheartedly.

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The Lord of the Rings: Adventure to Mount Doom game review

Over our 14 years of doing family board game reviews, we’ve played and reviewed a number of The Lord of the Rings games.

Today’s review is on the lighter side of The Lord of the Rings board and card games, The Lord of the Rings: Adventure to Mount Doom, by Kosmos.

Like a number of LOTR games, this game is a cooperative board game. Players work together to help Frodo and Sam get the ring to Mount Doom. They do so by rolling dice, reacting to cards, fighting Uruk-hai, dodging Nazgul, and overall maneuvering the Fellowship along the treacherous route.

While it’s a simpler LOTR game, we’ve still lost more times than we’ve won. Just begging us to play again.

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Four Corners board game review

Growing up in Utah, I often heard about the Four Corners. That’s because the Four Corners is the place where the corner borders of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico all meet. In fact, it’s the only location in the United States where four states meet.

Friends would talk about going to the Four Corners where they could be in all four states at the same time by placing their hands and feet in each state (or just laying on the crosshair mark).

So even though that image is firmly planted in my mind when I hear “Four Corners”, the latest game from Calliope Games, named Four Corners, has nothing to do with any of those states.

Instead, the Four Corners board game is a puzzle type game where players race to complete their dealt goals before their opponents complete theirs. They do so by adding and twisting tiles to create different patterns in the play area.

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7 Wonders Architects board game review

Way back in 2012, we reviewed a hot new card game getting a lot of buzz – 7 Wonders.

While it looked intimidating with so many colors and symbols, it quickly became a family hit – even for mom!

Fast forward a decade and Asmodee released a new standalone iteration on the theme with 7 Wonders Architects.

The game play is quite different while still feeling familiar for those who enjoy the original. It’s a much simpler card game and also includes players physically building their personal wonder in stages.

And because it’s a standalone game, one wonderful thing is that you don’t have to know the original to enjoy 7 Wonders Architects.

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Hive Mind revised edition party game review

In early 2017 we reviewed a new party game from Calliope Games called Hive Mind.

It was a hit with all the groups we played with and we only had one complaint – it looked like a children’s game.

In fact, we were quite surprised with how much we enjoyed the game because of what we’d anticipated by seeing the game box.

That’s right. Our biggest issue was with who the target market was for the game because the visuals didn’t match who would actually enjoy playing the game.

Well, Calliope Games has recently released a revised version of Hive Mind and we want to give them a huge high-five for doing so!

Yes, the branding is a big improvement. But that’s not the only thing that makes this version a better party game.

We’re excited to tell you all about it.

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Star Wars: Unlock! game review

Happy Star Wars Day!

To celebrate, we’re diving into a review of another Star Wars family board game – Star Wars: Unlock!

That’s right, the very cool Unlock! escape-room series of games now has a Star Wars themed game – with 3 distinct game adventures. As far as escape-room games go, the Unlock! series have been our favorite. So I was super excited when Asmodee published a Star Wars version.

After having played through all 3 adventures, I’m happy to report that all of them are super fun to play.

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Decorum board game review

How well do you get along with the people living under your same roof? Do you know what makes them happy? And can you provide that?

Well, even if you can’t help out in that regard, you can at least try to make them happy with their decorating goals in a fun cooperative board game by Floodgate Games – Decorum!

Decorum is a cooperative, hidden information game where players try to decorate their shared home in a way that makes everyone happy. The catch is that you don’t know what’s going to make the other players happy!

You must deduce what types of things make them happy by what changes they make to the decorations in the various rooms during their turns. Hopefully you’ll all be able to figure that out and arrange things just so before the game ends or you’re not going to survive in the same house for long.

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