4-player Archives - The Board Game Family

Skull – Is it a fun game or colorful drink coasters?

Forget the regular preamble to a board game review. We’ll cut right to the chase – Skull is an absolutely hit with everyone we’ve introduced the game to.

It’s a short game packed with strategizing, guessing, second guessing, and bluffing. Yes, bluffing.

While players don’t actually lie during the game, the way they choose their disks and state how many disks they think they can safely flip, they can definitely influence other players into thinking one way or another.

To do well, you’ll need to anticipate what your opponents will do and try to call their bluff at the right times while also making careful choices yourself.

And that’s exactly why we keep playing Skull over and over again.

October 17, 2025 Trent 0 Comments 3-player, 4-player, 5-player, 6-player, bluffing

Family Games Game Reviews Party Games

25 Words or Less party game review

“I can name that tune in 5 notes.”
“You go ahead and name that tune!”

That’s exactly what I thought when reading the rules to 25 Words or Less, a new game from The Op Games.

Since most of our readers won’t be familiar with the 1970’s TV game show, Name That Tune, I’ll briefly explain. Essentially contestants would battle for how quickly they could name a song. They bid lower and lower until one contestant stopped and forced the other to name the song in that many notes.

In a similar vein, in 25 Words or Less teams compete to see which team can guess the 5 answers on a card in as few word clues as possible.

But efficiency of word clues isn’t the only challenge – because the sand timer is also ticking away.

If you’re up for a fun team word challenge, keep on reading.

August 11, 2025 Trent 0 Comments 10-player, 4-player, 5-player, 6-player, 7-player, 8-player, 9-player, party, The Op Games, word

Board Games Family Games Game Reviews Party Games

Top Tier party game review

It’s always been popular to rank things.

By human nature, we feel compelled to place all sorts of things in order of preference.

And with the meteoric rise of our online world, ranking things have reached all time highs.

So why not make a new party along those same lines?

Top Tier, recently published by Indie Boards & Cards, is exactly that.

It’s a light party game where players take turns ranking contenders based on a crazy category and the rest of the players try to guess the rankings.

June 21, 2025 Trent 0 Comments 10-player, 4-player, 5-player, 6-player, 7-player, 8-player, 9-player, Indie Boards and Cards, party

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?”

June 3, 2025November 15, 2025 Davin Perkins 0 Comments 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, 5-player, card, luck, solo, Stonemaier Games, strategy, theme

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.

May 20, 2025 Trent 0 Comments 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, deduction, logic, puzzle, Renegade Game Studios, solo, space, strategy

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.

May 2, 2025 Trent 0 Comments 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, dice, luck, solo, Stronghold Games

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.)

April 5, 2025 Trent 0 Comments 10-player, 11-player, 12-player, 2-player, 3-player, 4-player, 5-player, 6-player, 7-player, 8-player, 9-player, group, party, social

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

Family Games Game Reviews Party Games

That’s Not a Hat party & memory game review

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?