Card Games Archives - The Board Game Family

5 Hot Games I’m looking forward to at SaltCon Spring 2026

SaltCon Spring 2026 is only a couple of weeks away and the excitement is building.

I’ve attended our local board game convention near Salt Lake City, Utah for 15 years and have loved seeing it grow every year. More than 2,500 people are anticipated to attend again this year to enjoy 4 days of gaming fun.

One of the aspects I look forward to each year is trying out some of the Hot Games.

These are recent board game releases that so many people are interested in playing that the organizers set up dedicated tables just for these games. Rather than only having a copy or two in the Game Library for people to check out. These games are always set up and volunteers are in place to teach the games over and over. That way a ton more people get a chance to try them out.

From the 8 Hot Games this year, the 5 I’m most looking forward to playing are:

February 25, 2026 Trent 0 Comments SaltCon

Card Games Family Games Game Reviews

Scream! card game review

If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?

How about, If a camper screams in the woods because they spot strange creatures throughout their campsite, will they be heard?

Well, you better hope you can clear your campsite of those creatures before the end of the game. Because the player with the safest campsite will be declared the winner in this new game from Bezier Games called Scream!

A couple of years ago, Bezier Games published a card game called Scram! The setting in that game is players returning to their campsite after a hike to find their campsite ransacked by woodland critters. They need to clear their campsite of those pesky critters.

Well, now its night time and these campsites are teaming with a beings that are a lot worse than pesky mice and squirrels. In Scream! players are dealing with werewolves, zombies, aliens, and more.

And perhaps even worse, they’ll have to deal with other players potentially bluffing!

July 13, 2025 Trent 0 Comments 2 players, 3-players, 4 players, 5 players, Bezier Games, bluffing, card game, theme

Card Games Family Games Game Reviews Kid Games

Trio card game review

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!

March 20, 2025March 20, 2025 Trent 0 Comments 3-player, 4-player, 5-player, 6-player, card, Happy Camper, memory

Articles Board Games Card Games Cooperative Games Dice Games Family Games Game Reviews Kid Games Party Games Top 10 Lists

17 Games Mini Reviews – Played at SaltCon Spring 2025

I had a great time last weekend playing a bunch of new games with friends at SaltCon Spring 2025.

This year I was able to get in a few games after work Thursday night, a bunch of games for a full Friday, followed by a handful of games for half a day on Saturday.

Most of the games I played were new to me. Some game were hits that I’d love to play again. While other games fell flat and I was happy to move on.

If you’d like to know more about the SaltCon event itself, check out my post from last month covering the many things that happen at SaltCon. This post will focus on mini-reviews of the 17 games I played – in the order in which I played them.

March 11, 2025March 11, 2025 Trent 0 Comments board game, card game, cooperative game, dice game, drafting, luck, SaltCon, strategy, tile-laying

Articles Board Games Card Games Cooperative Games Dice Games Family Games Game Reviews Kid Games Party Games

SaltCon Spring 2025 one month away

It’s odd to think of Spring being in the air when we just rolled into February.

But I can’t help look forward to Spring when I think about the SaltCon Spring event coming up in one month!

Regular followers of our family board game reviews will be familiar with us sharing about the SaltCon game convention each year.

With the popularity of board games skyrocketing over the past decade, board game conventions have likewise grown in popularity. Chances are you can find one near you with a quick online search.

And SaltCon Spring is the board game convention I attend every year in Layton, UT. It’s local and it’s a lot of fun.

February 2, 2025 Trent 1 Comment SaltCon

Articles Board Games Card Games Cooperative Games Dice Games Family Games Game Reviews Party Games

Games we played over the holidays

Happy New Year!!

We hope you all had a fantastic year-end with many holidays to celebrate with family and friends.

In our family, we celebrate Christmas. And we had a wonderful couple of weeks with plenty of gatherings where we could all be together. We visited a lot, had plenty of laughs, and watched a couple of fun movies. We also enjoyed time with extended family eating lots of food and catching up on all the goings-on.

And among the celebrations, we were able to play a handful of games.

January 7, 2025 Trent 2 Comments board, card, dice, family board games, holiday

Articles Board Games Card Games Cooperative Games Dice Games Family Games Game Reviews Kid Games Party Games Top 10 Lists

Board Game Gift Guide 2024!

Our 14th year of Board Game Gift Guides is here!

For each of the past 13 years, we’ve recommended around 40 games to get your friends and family as gifts.

We know that’s a lot to look through, so we’ve dialed it back a bit this year to 25 great games!

Below, you’ll find a few games in each of the following categories to get your juices flowing about what game gifts you can give this year.

November 11, 2024November 11, 2024 Trent 0 Comments Best Board Games, board game, card game, children, cooperative, dice game, friends, game gift guide, gift guide, gifts, party, solo

Card Games Family Games Game Reviews

Cat In The Box card game review

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.

October 21, 2024 Trent 0 Comments 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, 5-player, Bezier Games, luck, strategy, trick-taking

Card Games Family Games Game Reviews

Thrones of Valeria card game review

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.

September 11, 2024September 16, 2024 Trent 0 Comments 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, 5-player, 6-player, card, Daily Magic Games, luck

Card Games Family Games Game Reviews

Sandbag card game review

We enjoy playing several trick-taking card games.

Our favorites over the years have been Skull King, The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, and Cat in the Box. That’s because they all present some very unique spins on basic trick-taking game play.

We’ve recently played a new trick-taking card game with unique twists that have us thinking in fresh ways yet again.

Sandbag, by Bezier Games, is a fun new spin on trick-taking card games that’s a lot of fun.