In this episode, we make some movies while accusing our friends and coworkers of being communists in Hollywood 1947. Hollywood 1947 is the latest entry in the Dark Cities line from Façade Games publisher and designer Travis Hancock and artist Sarah Keele. It takes the Red Scare’s Hollywood blacklist and turns it into a lively and thematic game that’s hit our gaming table many times. The game is a particular favorite of our twelve-year-old, which might surprise you unless you know she’s ...

It just was over two years ago when we covered the game system called Unmatched here on the podcast. In Unmatched by Restoration Games, two players battle, each with a different hero that has their own unique deck of 30 cards for attack and defense. When we covered Unmatched here on the podcast in 2023, we only had six heroes in our collection for our battles. But now, two years later, we have a lot more than six Unmatched heroes! I think we’re up to 25 characters, drawn from eight different ...

In this episode, we work together to find out just how hard it is land an airplane in Sky Team. Sky Team is a 2023 game designed by Luc Rémond with art by Eric Hibbeler and Adrien Rives published by Montreal-based Scorpion Masqué. Sky Team is a two-player game in which players work together to land a passenger airplane. Emily and I had the chance to try it at Tennessee Game Days last year, and one play was enough to ensure Sky Team would be found under our Christmas tree! It’s bee...

In this episode, we grab our binoculars and our field guides to go birdwatching in Wingspan. Wingspan is a 2019 game designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and published by Stonemaier Games. Most days, if you ask me what my favorite board game is, I'll tell you it's Wingspan. It's my most played game, and it's the one that Emily and I are most likely to pull out and enjoy after the kids go to bed. We first covered the game on the podcast back in 2020. That was five years ago! In this episode, E...

In this episode, we plant a prize-winning vegetable garden while dodging tedious neighbors in Mr. Cabbagehead’s Garden. Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden is a solo game designed by Todd Sanders first released in 2016 as a print-and-play and later published by LudiCreations. The game is inspired by the whimsical illustrations of anthropomorphic vegetables found in Victoria-era seed catalogs. Your job as Mr. Cabbagehead is to plant an award-winning vegetable garden while avoiding your tedious and ...

In this episode, I play capture the flag with seven of my friends in Challengers! Challengers! is 2022 game for 2 to 8 players designed by Johannes Krenner and Markus Slawitscheck and published by Z-Man Games with art by Jeff Harvey. It’s a little hard to describe. If I said it’s a deck-building, auto-battler built around a capture-the-flag tournament structure, would that make sense? Maybe not. You'll have to listen to this episode to get the full description. If you're looking for a h...

Our last episode on second editions of the games Santorini and Tortuga 1667 reminded me about another second edition of a family favorite game that’s out now: Parks designed by Henry Audubon and published by Keymaster Games. We covered the first edition of Parks way back on episode 7 of the podcast, and I thought I would reshare that episode here on the podcast feed in honor of the new edition of Parks. In this episode, I’m changing things up a bit and recommending a great board game fo...

In this episode, we go back to the island in second editions of podcast favorites Santorini and Tortuga 1667! Santorini: Pantheon Edition takes the original Santorini and its “Golden Fleece” expansion and presents them in a new package with revised rules and upgraded components. The teenager and I have been playing it regularly since we got it, and we are loving it. When I heard about Tortuga 1667: Deluxe Edition, I was excited at the prospect of upgraded components for the game, ...

In this episode, we conspire together to take out one of the worst evils of the 20th century in Black Orchestra! Black Orchestra is a 2016 cooperative game for 1 to 5 players designed by Phillip duBarry with art by Lucas Soriano published by Tabletop Tycoon. In Black Orchestra, players take on the role of conspirators in Nazi Germany working together to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The game is based on actual attempts by members of Hitler’s military and civilians to take out the man they s...

In this episode, we sail the high seas on our Viking ships to establish trading routes and not pillage in Knarr! Knarr is a 2023 game designed by Thomas Dupont with art by Antoine Carrion published in the US by Pandasaurus Games. Knarr celebrates the trading life of a Viking. In the game, players take on the role of Viking traders, recruiting crew to your ship, then sailing to distant lands to establish trade routes. Your trade routes will earn you victory points, as will the songs that...

In this episode, we work together to tell the story of how a religion changes over the centuries in… Keep the Faith! Keep the Faith is a storytelling game for 2 to 5 players about religions in transition. Each player represents a sect within a fictional religion. Players collaboratively make up the story about the religion and how it changes over five hundred years, with a focus on how the material and observable aspects of the religion reflect or contradict the religion’s core values.&...

Today we have a FIRST PLAY review of Everdell Duo, a 2025 game designed by James and Clarissa Wilson with art by Andrew Bosley and Enggar Adirasa, published by Tabletop Tycoon. The game is a two-player version of the popular 2018 game Everdell, a game that launched a trend in board games featuring friendly anthropomorphic forest animals. Both games are set in the land of Everdell where the squirrels are woodcarvers, the badgers are innkeepers, and the hedgehogs are doctors. Everdell Duo is ...

In this episode, we gather around an African watering hole to see who can chase away the most animals in Kariba! Kariba is about animals gathering around an African watering hold, so the cards are all elephants and giraffes and zebras and meerkats and such. Players take turns playing cards from their hands to the watering hole in the middle of the table, with larger animals chasing off smaller ones. Kariba is my favorite game to bring to family gatherings when (a) I know there will be young...

In this episode, we fight zombies and frostbite and maybe stab our friends in the back in Dead of Winter! In Dead of Winter, a 2014 game designed by Isaac Vega and Jonathan Gilmour with art by Fernanda Suarez, players take on the role of survivors of a zombie apocalypse, trying to find the resources they need to fend off zombies and hunger and cold and the occasional fellow survivor. Dead of Winter is a semi-cooperative game, in that you’re mostly working together to beat the game, but each...

In this bonus episode, I share an extended cut of my recent interview with Jonathan Chaffer, designer of the Holiday Hijinks series of 18-card escape room games. Jonathan had a lot to say about the design constraints he faced in creating these games, more than I could fit in last episode's review of the series. If you're interested in tabletop game design, I think you'll find this interesting. Links: Back the newest Holiday Hijinks games on Kickstarter. Order the original Holiday Hijinks ga...

In this episode, we save Christmas and a lot of other holidays from potential catastrophe in Holiday Hijinks! Holiday Hijinks is a line of 18-card holiday-themed escape room games designed and illustrated by Jonathan Chaffer and published by Grand Gamers Guild. Each one offers the cooperative puzzle solving of an escape room in just 18 cards. There are nine games in the series currently, with names like The Cupid Crisis, The Turkey Trial, and The Groundhog Gambit. The newest Holiday Hijinks...

In this episode, we load up our donkey carts with fruit to deliver around the island in Finca! In Finca, players take on the role of farmers at harvest time on the Spanish island of Mallorca. Move your farmers around the windmill to generate resources, collect colorful chunky fruit tokens, deliver fruit strategically around the island with your donkey cart... That's Finca in a nutshell. It's easy to teach, has beautiful art and components, and ramps up nicely to a very tense ending. Finca i...

Today we have a FIRST PLAY review of Sirens, a 2024 game for two players designed by Art Casey with illustrations by Gabi Naftaly and published by Envy Born Games. In Sirens, players take on the role of the sirens of Greek myths, those creatures whose beautiful singing lured Odysseus’ sailors into the sea and to their doom. In the game, players draft cards to create musical symphonies, with the best symphonies enthralling those hapless sailors. This episode features an interview with Sirens ...

Usually when I review and recommend a board game here on the podcast, I’ve played that game at least ten times. That way I know the game well and I know it has some staying power. That means I usually review older games, but I like to play new games, too. So here’s a FIRST PLAY review of a new game that I think you might like! Today we’ll take a look at Tír na nÓg, a 2024 game for designed by Isaac Shalev and Jason Slingerland and published by Grand Gamers Guild. In Tír na nÓg, we journey in...

In this episode, we build the technologies and societies needed to fight climate change in Daybreak! Daybreak is a 2023 game published by CMYK and designed by Matt Leacock and Matteo Menapace. In this cooperative board game, up to four players take on the role of world powers like the U.S. and China enacting climate action policies. The goal of the game is to cut carbon emissions before the planet gets too hot or too many communities are put into crisis. That sounds like a lot of heavy lifti...