2-player

Blorp board game
Board Games Family Games Game Reviews Kid Games 

BLORP! board game review

Tile-laying games have been a staple of the board gaming hobby for decades. Classics like Carcassonne have proven just how satisfying it can be to build something one tile at a time.

BLORP!, from Smirk & Dagger Games, takes that familiar concept and gives it a delightfully weird twist. Instead of everyone contributing to one shared landscape, each player creates their own strange ecosystem of colorful blob-like creatures called Blorps.

With colorful, blobby artwork, simple rules, and enough decisions to keep players of all ages interested, BLORP! lands between a relaxing puzzle and a competitive race for points.

Does it have enough staying power to earn a spot on your family’s game shelf?

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Tulikko board game
Board Games Family Games 

Tulikko board game review

Tile-laying games are some of our family’s favorite board games.

There’s something satisfying about watching a colorful puzzle slowly come together over the course of a game. And when a game adds an interesting twist to the formula, we’re even more eager to give it a try.

So, when we saw the colorful tiles and unique drafting mechanism in Tulikko by Pandasaurus Games, we were excited to give it a go.

Tulikko takes a familiar tile-laying formula and adds a unique tile-drafting mechanism that makes every turn feel interesting. Combined with gorgeous artwork, quick gameplay, easy-to-learn rules, and variable goals, it creates a fun game experience.

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Board Games Family Games Game Reviews 

Finspan board game review

In 2019, Wingspan took the world by storm.

Rookie game designer, Elizabeth Hargrave, hit a home run on her debut board game with a Kennerspiel des Jahres win. Board game lovers and bird lovers alike all flocked to it. It’s a card-driven, engine-building board game featuring 180 unique birds. Since its initial publication, Stonemaier Games has sold over 2 million copies of Wingspan!

Inspired by that success, Stonemaier Games published Wyrmspan in 2024. It’s a dragon-themed board game with similarities to Wingspan but with plenty of unique elements and an added level of complexity.

Which leads us to the release earlier this year of Finspan.

With 125 unique fish cards, Finspan has players diving into the oceans for aquatic life. They’ll grow their collection of fish, discover fresh eggs, hatch them into young, and nurture them into schools to gain the most points.

So the big question is, “Is Finspan just a quick spinoff without substance, or is it a good game of its own accord?”

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The Search for Planet X deduction game
Board Games Family Games Game Reviews 

The Search for Planet X deduction game review

I love logic puzzles.

In fact, a number of years ago, I bought a stack of back issues of Penny Dell Logic Puzzles so I could rattle through logic puzzles during flights on business trips.

As such, I also love good deduction board games.

I enjoy thinking through various logic conditions to figure out the solution in a deduction game before the other players. And modern deduction board games have come a long way from classic Clue.

So when I heard about The Search for Planet X, by Renegade Game Studios, it caught my attention.

I got a copy of the game at SaltCon Spring 2024, and was immediately hooked from my very first play. Since then, I’ve played it with family and friends – many of who have bought a copy of their own. Yep, it’s a good one.

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Twice As Clever dice game
Dice Games Family Games Game Reviews 

Twice As Clever dice game review

Five years ago we reviewed a fun dice game that has stayed a family favorite game ever since. The game is That’s Pretty Clever by Schmidt Spiele and Stronghold Games.

We rattled through the score pads so quickly that we laminated the last of them so we can use dry erase markers to track our games. And we still pull it out regularly to play around dinner time for some light family fun.

Since the original was published in 2018, Schmidt Spiele has published 3 more iterations of this dice game: Twice As Clever, Clever Cubed, Clever 4-Ever.

Today we’re reviewing the second in the set, Twice As Clever.

We’ll answer what’s added, what’s different, and if it’s just as fun.

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Do You Even Know Me? party game
Board Games Family Games Game Reviews Party Games 

Do You Even Know Me? party game review

Who hasn’t played a “get-to-know-you” game before?

They’re all over the place.

Whenever you find a newly formed group of people, you’ll find a “get to know each other” activity. We encounter them at school, at work, and at family reunions. Many such activities are merely spoken and don’t include any typical game-type components. There are also a slew of published party games that seek to achieve similar results.

So why are we reviewing Do You Even Know Me? – a similar game that’s new on the scene?

Because we appreciate the work of the person who created it!

(And we enjoy the game.)

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Stack City board game
Board Games Family Games Game Reviews 

Stack City board game preview

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.

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Trekking the World 2nd Edition family board game
Board Games Family Games Game Reviews 

Trekking the World 2nd Edition game review and comparison

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.

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Cat in the Box card game
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.

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Thrones of Valeria card game
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.

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