Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Secrets & Soirees – expansion game review

The king is at it again!

More crazy castles to build with your neighbors plus options to go it alone!

Last year we reviewed a fun game from Stonemaier Games called Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig. It was a mash up of two games we really enjoy — Between Two Cities and Castles of Mad King Ludwig. And they did a fantastic job bringing those two games together in yet another enjoyable game.

So of course we were excited to get a chance to review this new expansion, Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Secrets & Soirees.

And it’s time to share our thoughts about the expansion game!

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Board Game Gift Guide 2020!

It’s that awesome time of year again when we look for great fun ideas for gifts for family and friends.

With this crazy year, we know many families have already been grabbing a lot more board games to pass the time together throughout the year.

But it’s always nice to get some ideas for fresh games to play too.

This marks our 10th annual Board Game Gift Guide and we love sharing great gift ideas!

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Starting My Legacy in My City

No two cities are alike.

That’s as true in life as it is when playing My City by Thames & Kosmos.

That’s because players in My City will end up with a unique city every game. And there will be many games played!

And not just because My City is a “legacy” game, but because it’s so easy and fun to play you’ll want to play over and over.

At least, that’s how it is with us.

Let’s see if it’s a board game your family will enjoy too.

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Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig game review

“The king demands a castle!

You’re a world-renowned master builder who has been asked by Mad King Ludwig to help design his castles. Projects of such significance require the expertise of more than one person, so for each assignment you’re paired with another master builder to execute your grandiose plans.

Will your planning and collaborative skills be enough to design the most impressive castles in the world?”

Such is the introduction to the tile-laying, family board game, Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, a collaborative production from Stonemaier Games and Bézier Games.

And what a fantastic collaborative production it is!

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2019 – Year in Review

2019 marked a huge milestone for The Board Game Family. We celebrated 10 years of doing family board game reviews!

With our video reviews hitting 2 million views and our written reviews and articles being read by millions more, it’s been an amazing 10 years.

But today’s not about looking back on all 10 years (we’ve already done that). Instead, we’re just looking back at 2019.

As I’ve done at the start of each year, let’s take a quick look back at the games we’ve enjoyed the most from 2019.

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What kind of Planet will you create?

You’ve got the whole world in your hands. So, what are you going to do with it?

It’s time to find out in Planet!

Planet, by Blue Orange Games, has players crafting their own 3D planet to attract a variety of animals to them. It’s a unique tile-laying game where the tiles are magnetic continents consisting of various habitats.

Different animals are attracted to different types of habitats so players have to choose wisely in which animals they want to inhabit their planets.

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Build your own city in Bloom Town

I can’t quite place my finger on why, but I’ve got a penchant for tile-laying games.

So, when I saw the new tile-laying game, Bloom Town, with its awesome artwork, I was immediately anxious to play it.

Lucky for us, the great team at Sidekick Games sent us a copy to review, so we didn’t have to wait long!

In Bloom Town, players all have their own player board where they’ll place tiles to build out their town to their liking. And they get the tiles to play from a common, central area – which means they’re also competing for those precious tiles.

With multiple things to think about during game play, it makes for an engaging play experience throughout!

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Build your own bear park in Barenpark!

When was the last time you’ve been to a bear park?

What’s that – you’ve never been to a bear park? Well, you’re missing out!

Not only that, but with Barenpark you can build your own bear park!

Barenpark is a fun family, tile-laying game where players compete to build the best bear park complete with enclosures, animal houses, and green areas.

Even though we have a bunch of tile-laying games already, we love finding those that still offer something new. And Barenpark hits that mark.

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Build your own galaxies in Cosmic Factory

How are your galaxy building skills?

Oh, you haven’t built a galaxy recently?

Well, maybe it’s time you give it a try.

In Cosmic Factory, players race to build personal galaxies in ways that will score them the most points. The catch is that they must do so in under 1 minute!

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Can’t stop playing NMBR 9!

In our home, it’s very rare that one game gets played every day for weeks on end. But that’s exactly what’s happened this past month since we started playing NMBR 9!

And it’s not pulled out to play on our game table downstairs, it’s front and center kitchen table play!

Which is also why it gets played multiple times after dinner (and sometimes after breakfast).

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