Living in the Western United States, we’re very familiar with Pioneers. In fact, many of our ancestors were pioneers who helped settle the West.
So games about pioneers have a certain draw for me. The good news is that The River, by Days of Wonder, is a good family board game.
It’s relatively quick to play, keeps players engaged throughout, and has a good balance of luck and strategy.
Check it out!
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When a game takes over almost all our family game time, it must mean it’s time to review it.
And while we have a large stack of games on our “to review” shelf, some games just shoot right to the top of the stack.
Such is the case with Skull King!
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Happy New Year!
We’re not sure if 2018 flew by for you, but it sure seemed like it did for us. We passed a number of milestones as a family this year. And we ended 2018 with a bang by taking a family vacation over Christmas and into the New Year. It’s so great to all be together again.
But before we dive into the new year, let’s take a look back at 2018.
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Heading into the Christmas holidays, everyone seems to get a little bit nostalgic.
We watch old Christmas movies. We think about the fun of Christmas in our childhood. We reminisce about years gone by with family members. And we often think back to “simpler” times.
Well, for some reason, playing Bridget, by ET Games, is a lot like that.
Perhaps it’s the wooden blocks. Or perhaps it’s the simple rules.
Either way, playing Bridget feels like hearkening back to simpler times. And I love that respite.
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You’ve rescued treasure from a sinking island and recovered a legendary flying machine from the desert — now it’s time to power up a rocket from a platform in the clouds 7,000 feet above the ground.
In order to do so, you’ll have to work together as a team to wire together capacitors and lightning rods in a true electrical circuit with the launch pad!
This third installment in the “Forbidden” series of cooperative games is more than just playing with tiles on a table. Players now must create an actual electrical circuit in order to win.
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Over the coming 7 days we’re reviewing 7 new board games and card games your kids may love.
Since kids games have very simple rules, each review will be a shorter than our typical reviews. As such, we’re also going to review a couple games at a time. And we’ll end with a game giveaway!
We’re starting off with 3 games that can help your kids with math:
* Monster Crunch: The Breakfast Battle Game
* This Game Goes to Eleven
* Make 7
It’s hard for an abstract strategy game to make its way in this world. The masses clamor for board games dripping with theme. Like with movies and books, players are drawn to games that help them escape into a new realm.
So when an abstract board game comes along and wins the coveted Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award, people take notice.
Such is the case with Azul by Plan B Games and Next Move Games.
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One look at the box art for Blue Lagoon and we know exactly what you’ll think.
That’s because we, and everyone else we’ve shown the game to has said the exact same thing, “Is this Moana, the Board Game?”
Nope, it’s not.
It’s Blue Lagoon – another Gen Con 2018 release from Blue Orange Games!
And while there’s no “Maui, shapeshifter, Demigod of the wind and sea, hero of men” to be found anywhere in Blue Lagoon, you will find lots of island settlers and colorful huts to dot the board.
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Brandon Sanderson’s books have a very prominent spot on our family bookshelves.
That’s because our boys absolutely LOVE his fantasy novels – especially his Stormlight Archive and Mistborn series.
They love them so much, I finally cracked the cover on the first book in the Stormlight Archive, The Way of Kings and am enjoying it as well. My plan is to dive into the Mistborn series once I get through the 3 thick Stormlight books.
And thanks to playing Mistborn: House War, I’ve already been introduced to characters and themes of the series.
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Century: Golem Edition is a fantastic board game for the whole family!
It’s a game that both young and old players can all enjoy playing together. The game play is straightforward yet also offers enough choices due to the variety of cards and when they appear to keep players coming back for more.
Young players will love collecting crystals as well as exchanging them for more powerful combinations of crystals. And older players will realize there’s also depth of strategy involved in the choices they make.
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