March Board Gaming

1. My City (6 Plays)

So started playing this legacy game last December, I think, maybe it was November. And then we took a long break. But the great thing about My City, besides 6 plays in one evening, is that it is very simple to pick back up again. The game is mainly flip a card, everyone places that tile. You try and cover a few different types of spots to not lose points. Then it’s positive points surrounding others, and other adjacency. Simple but fun, and a game that you need to pace out.

2. Paper Dungeons (6 Plays)

You can watch this one played here. Were mistakes made, yes, but I am really loving this dungeon crawling roll and write game. The game play is just fun and there’s just enough going on in it. I have good decisions to make when it comes how I build up my characters and plan of attack. I feel like I have a decent strategy now.

3. Arboretum (4 Plays)

This is a game that got played at work, and normally I bring in a game, we place it once at work, and then I take it home. But we really liked Arboretum, even one of my less gaming co-workers. This is a good puzzle of a game, and a mean game. You’d think a game about trees not that mean, but most that are about trees are mean that I’ve played. This one I really like that you need to keep cards of the type you are building your row of in order to score. But you can block someone if you have more points worth.

4. Mesozooic (4 Plays)

Another new one on the list, played at work and a game night. Mesozooic is a silly game. It plays in two parts, first you draft 11 cards, then you put them out in a four by three grid and it becomes a timed sliding puzzle. Normally, I don’t love timed elements, but the sliding puzzle piece is fun. The game is light and silly, and it just works well with any player count. Plus you make real choices when you draft cards, so it isn’t just real time.

5. Canvas (3 Plays)

This is a Kickstarter that came in at the end of the month. I need to play with the reflections expansion still, but the base game is fun. It’s a very light game, basically filler level, where you are making three paintings. You do that by layering cards to make those paintings. What really matters are the colors and shapes at the bottom, but what picture you come up with too is great. And then it is just a puzzle with those colors and shapes to get as many ribbons and points as you can.

6. Under Falling Skies (3 Plays)

A solo game that is a new play for me but has been on my shelf for a while. Under Falling Skies is a cross between Space Invaders and Independence Day, and I like the game a lot. No real complaints about it and you can see my review here. The game has smart dice placement and strategy to it, and eventually I will win.

7. Qxixx (3 Plays)

Another new one and a light little roll and write game. Qwixx is just about filling in rows over numbers with different colored dice. The game plays extremely fast, and the strategy is light for it. But, that said, I was worried before I’d play it that it’d be too boring. I don’t think it is, the game has the right time to weight ratio for me. Just enough interesting decisions, and I like the excitement for hoping to get that one roll you really need to score a lot of points.

8. Sleeping Gods (2 Plays)

Another one that I streamed on Malts and Meeples. Sleeping Gods was a campaign game that I just wrapped up. It is a great game, good story in it, amazing artwork. I’ve talked about it a lot, though, I still need to do a full review.

9. Tainted Grail (2 Plays)

And Tainted Grail is another one I talk about a lot. It’s a great campaign game. Only two plays this month because we missed a week with one of the players being sick. Granted, that week we then played My City instead, which was fun. If you want a big campaign game with great story and a lot of survival, Tainted Grail really works.

10. Nidavellir (2 Plays)

I think this game might be a disappointment to me, which is odd because it does a lot of things I like. Nidavellir is a bidding and set collection game. But, at least at two players, the set collection feels less interesting than it might. The bidding is cool with how you do it, and I like being able to level up my cards. Overall, though, just felt underwhelming. I wonder if it might be better at a higher player count.

11. Res Arcana (2 Plays)

Res Arcana is a really cool engine building game. One that I played for the first time this month as well. What is so cool about it is that the cards in your deck that make up your engine, those are determined at the start of the game. Either through predetermined sets or a draft. And drafting is the way to go, but you start with eight cards and you really don’t get more. So how do you build and leverage an engine with just those cards?

12. Dice Throne (2 Plays)

It’d been too long since playing Dice Throne. I really like that game, though, I’ve come to realize I don’t win too often. I thought I was going to with the Barbarian almost taking down the Paladin, but a bad roll at the end. And then the Moon Knight took out the Monk fairly easily when all was said and done, mainly by stopping a few too many attacks.

13. So Clover! (2 Plays)

So Clover, new game, and maybe favorite party game. It’s up there with Just One and Cross Clues. And honestly, it feels a bit like both. You get a clover leaf that you put four cards onto and you come up with one word clues to match up. This one takes a bit more explaining if you can’t read it, so check that out here.

14. Air, Land, & Sea (2 Plays)

Another new game for me to play, you can see I got a lot in this month. Air, Land, & Sea is a two player game where you battle over various theaters of war, air, land, and sea. I am getting rid of it after two plays, not because it isn’t a fun game, I think it’s solid, probably a B for me, the issue is, I have an A+ two player game that feels close enough and actually more challenging in Hanamikoji.

15. Quarto (2 Plays)

Two player abstract game, this one I think is solid. I don’t love it, I don’t hate it. But it might just move to work with me, as it’d be a good one for there. In this game you are trying to get four in a row of shape, color, height, or hollow. But I pick what piece you put down and you pick the one I put down. It’s a good challenging game as you try and puzzle out where you can put a piece to not set-up your opponent or give you options for pieces to give to them.

16. Roll Player Adventures (1 Play)

Second adventure in Roll Player Adventures. This is the one that I played at GenCon, so I sat back some to not spoil anything. But it is still a lot of fun, we made different decisions than at GenCon, not always for the better, or so it seems. But lots of fun to be had, and I really like the story and decisions. A lot of story and just enough decisions to keep the game interesting.

17. Spire’s End (1 Play)

Another one that I played on Malts and Meeples. Spire’s End is a two or one player game where you explore a spire that came up from out the ground and captured a lot of people. It was not a favorable ending for me, but I really like the game, overall a lot of fun. Really, I think that it might be too dice dependent for some people, but I think the dice mechanics are really nice.

18. Fox in the Forest Duet (1 Play)

Trick taking is a mechanic that I like, and cooperative trick taking is fun, yes, I need to play The Crew still. But Fox in the Forest Duet is cool because it is a push and pull of needing to move the fox on the board both directions to collect leaves. And you do that through trick taking, so how you manipulate the tricks is interesting. You most certainly don’t want to always win a trick or you will lose the game.

19. Monza (1 Play)

A kids game, I mainly played it right with my toddler. We moved a bit faster than we were supposed to, but he’s 3, so it is mainly just fun to play games with him. He knows that daddy has his game room and he wants to see the games but he can’t play with him, so now he has a few games to play with. Monza is a simple racing game, you roll dice and move your car according to the color on the die. Simple but fun enough for a kids game.

Year Totals

So if you do the math, that was 49 plays for the month. I should have played a solo game to get to 50. If I could average 50 that’d be amazing, but hard to do some months. So I’m at 133 plays through the end of March, that’s 36-37%, so well on my way. Now, we are getting two kittens tonight, so that might cut into some game playing, but we’ll see, and I need to get through my game collection with my other video series. But I am confident I’ll make 365, my real goal is kind of 100. Plus 12 out of the 19 games were new, and I’m not sure, besides Canvas coming in I added any games.

Which game would you want to play most?

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February Board Gaming

Sleeping Gods: 3 Plays

Lots of Sleeping Gods plays, and one of five with three plays. If you want to know what the game is about, I play it weekly on Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. Still enjoying the story, and I wonder how it’s going to end for me, I’m guessing I’ll wrap it up this month.

Tainted Grail: 3 Plays

Tainted Grail is another consistent one on the list. The game is a ton of fun, and the Last Knight campaign feels different than the Fall of Avalon. It’ll be on the list for a while, we still have another one after that to play through.

Squire’s End: 3 Plays

So, I just wrote about Spire’s End. You can read that here. But this is a good solo game, one that I’m going to stream once I’m done with Sleeping Gods. The game play is simple, and the story is good, but combined together, it makes an experience that feels very unique. And I like the mechanics with resting, and how you use health to determine what attack you do.

Project L: 3 Plays

Another one that I wrote about, Project L is a Tetris like game. But it’s also an engine building game. You pick cards and then use little pieces to fill in shapes on them. When you fill in a shape then you get those pieces used back and a new shape that gives you. You eventually want to start getting points, but how can you optimize your turns and actions.

Super Mega Lucky Box: 3 Plays

Another one that I’ve played before, 12 plays in January. I can see Super Mega Lucky Box being like Ganz Schon Clever last year where I’ll play it most months. Super straight forward roll and write game but in a good way.

The Quacks of Quedlinburg: 2 Plays

I held off on playing The Quacks of Quedlinburg for a long time and even getting it. But I wish I had done so sooner because The Quacks of Quedlinburg is a fun game. It’s a good push your luck game and bag building game. Which I can see playing this one with a lot of different people.

I think with the set-up of everything and the variability in that, the game, just the base game, is going to have a lot of replayability. And the ease of play, it definitely makes it more accessible to a lot of different gaming groups.

Fleet: The Dice Game: 2 Plays

Another one that I talked about recently, honestly, shouldn’t be a surprise, there were a number of games games. Fleet: The Dice Game is a big roll and write game. I think that it is solid, I’m not sure if it’s amazing. Not because I wouldn’t play it again or it won’t make the Top 100 for me when I do that later this year. But Fleet: The Dice Game is a lot to learn, so I can mainly see it being a solo game for me.

The Fox in the Forest Duet: 2 Plays

The Fox in the Forest Duet is a two player cooperative trick taking game. And I figured I’d like it, but I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it. Trick taking is generally something that works well for me. The cooperative nature is something else that is interesting. I think the push and pull of trying to get the fox to land where you need it to is a lot of fun.

Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write: 2 Plays

Most disappointing game of the month, Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write is an okay roll and write. Mainly, it doesn’t feel like it gives you interesting choices. Even something like Yahtzee offers more choices because you can push your luck. Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write doesn’t give you that, so most, if not all the options are obvious.

Skull: 2 Plays

Skull is another push your luck game, between this and Quacks it’s something I played a fair amount. Skull basically has you bluffing to try and get people to flip over roses and not hit a skull. But then you also read what other people are doing and try and guess what you can flip without getting a skull. That’s very basic for what it is, but a good simple push your luck game.

Floriferous: 2 Plays

Floriferous is what I’d call a relaxing game. The decision space is limited but not too limited. It feels like you do the right amount each turn. And I really like how turn order is determined. If you take something lower in a column, that means you’ll be going later. So there’s a decision that’s good, do you pick something high because you need a certain card in the next column and take a less ideal flower this turn. It falls into a nice and pretty style of game that is becoming more common.

Quoridor: 2 Plays

Good abstract game with nice pieces. I think that Quoridor works well with a lot of people, though, if everyone rushes across the board, it makes the game really odd. But, I think it works better when people meet in the middle and start blocking routes early. The game also falls apart a bit when someone is close to winning and you skip blocking them so the person before they needs to. Everyone can dictate who needs to block.

Aldarra: 1 Play

I got to play this one for the Kickstarter, you can see the play down below. And the play of another game as well. Aldarra launched and will be coming back, but I have to say, it is a fun game. It’ll feel different when it comes back at a smaller size, but that will make it cheaper which is good. It’s a nice area control game with a tight board, so you fight a lot. And you get knocked off the board, kind of, and then rebuild again. I like that Small World like feel to it.

Roll Player Adventures: 1 Play

I got to start Roll Player Adventures this month and I’m so excited. I had a chance to play this as a prototype at GenCon, as I always mention. And the game is a ton of fun, and that was my best gaming experience there. To now have it in my hands and for the expansion stuff as well, I’m so excited to play this. It takes choose your own adventure and then adds in some cool dice combat. The game isn’t that difficult, but the choices are really good.

Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Sun: 1 Play

Another one that was on Kickstarter, and I was supposed to do a live stream while it was on Kickstarter. Rogue Angels launched the same time as Marvel Zombies and Final Girl Season 2 were finishing up. So it got lost in the shuffle. It is coming back. And I still played, and streamed it with the creator. Great game, I love the story and the differences in the scenarios. It does with the scenarios, something I think Frotsthaven is going to fix from Gloomhaven, where it isn’t so much just kill everyone.

Final Girl: 1 Play

When my local game store, All Systems Go, took in a trade of Final Girl, I was so excited. This is a game that I looked at on Kickstarter, but ultimately passed on. The backers started to receive their copies and people loved it. When it made it to my FLGS, I called immediately and had them set it aside for me, and I’m glad I did. I played once thus far, as you can see, but it is amazing. I love the theme so much.

No Thanks!: 1 Play

I enjoy No Thanks! a lot. Mainly because it is another one of those simple games where you don’t have a lot of decisions to make. But the decisions you do make, mainly take a card or pass on it, it matters a lot. I won’t say much more, it is one I’ve played and talked about before, but if you want a simple but difficult game, No Thanks is really interesting.

Year Totals

So, 34 plays in February, taking that with January’s 50 plays, I’m now at 84 (well, 86 counting two thus far in March). So it’s very strong in terms of a start and I hope I can end around 500 plays for the year, or maybe even higher.

And for the secondary goal of getting through a lot of my unplayed games, 9 of my plays were games on that list. Well, kind of, I don’t know that Project L was on the list, because I didn’t have it in yet. And Final Girl got picked up in February, so it wasn’t on the list. Still, the list is getting shorter, I do believe. And I actually knocked out another one last night.

Which is the most exciting game for you, or one that you’d want to play from my February list?

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Different Board Game Challenges

Let’s go over some of the challenges that are pretty common for people.

1×100 – Pick one game in your collection and play it 100 times

10×10 – 10 games played 10 times each

365 – What I did this year, 365 game plays in 365 days

Whole Collection – Play through my whole collection, that doesn’t mean beat all legacy or campaign games, but give them a whirl.

Shelf of Shame/Opportunity – This is playing all the games in your collection that you haven’t played before.

# of Total Plays or # of Different Games – Two similar but different ones. It’s basically picking an arbitrary

The Tough Things With Challenges

So, you can see there are a lot of different challenges that can be done. And I also get why some people don’t like doing a board game challenge. 1×100 is extremely restrictive. If you find after 50 plays of a game you’re done with it, now what do you do? Do you power through the last 50 plays or risk the same scenario happening again by trying to get to 100 with a new game?

Any total number of game one is easier for me to do. If I play any game I want in my collection, I want to play games all the time. But now I’ve done 365 plays in 365 days plus some. I’ll end around 420 I think. So just doing that again wouldn’t be too challenging. I could push to a higher number 500 plays for the year. But that feels the same as last years in some ways. Covid kept my plays down to start the year, and I can’t see it doing the same again.

What Board Game Challenge Do I Pick?

Well, it’s going to be a two part challenge. I’m shooting for 365 again. But to go with that, I have a number of my games that I need to play. I might be off slightly on some of this. I have 137 games that I own and haven’t played. Why I say this might be off is because these games aren’t rated, but I might have just missed rating a game.

So, I am not guaranteeing that I’ll play all of them. but I want to get that list lower. So my goal, by the end of 2022, is to have that unplayed games list down below 100. Now, that doesn’t sound too hard. But keep in mind that I buy new games, that doesn’t include crowdfunding games that will come in. And I did a whole article on board games that are going to be released, theoretically in 2022 that I’m interested in. You can find that here.

By putting the target at below 100 is going to be a challenge since I need to find people to play them with. I can’t do every game night that I run as a new board game night. Thankfully I do have one friend who is always up for trying a new board game, we played Kohaku last week. So he’ll play some of them with me, some I’ll play solo, and who knows when I’ll bust out others.

Plus, this is the end of year target. If I get in 30 new games that makes it way harder. Now, there is a chance a game might be sold without a play, making it easier, but this is going to be the tougher part of the challenge than the 365 plays in a year.

Final Thoughts

It was fun to do a challenge last year. And I am excited to do it again this year. And I’m excited to use this as an excuse to push for getting more of those games that I own but haven’t played played to know if they are going to be a game for me. Like I said, crowdfunded games are going to start showing up and I’ll need the shelf space.

Now, a challenge like this isn’t for everyone. I get it that it can make playing games seem like work. And that is never the goal. We want to play games because they are fun. For me, this is a way to help keep me in the fun. I love to play board games and doing so makes me happy. So this is a nudge to keep playing games and keep being happy, I’ll give myself that nudge.

Have you done a board game challenge? How did it work for you?

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Let’s talk about the games:

Orchard: A 9 card solitaire game – 38 Plays

This is the game that pushed me over, when I was under the weather I knocked out a lot of it. It gave me something to do while I was bored at home. Orchard is also now at 100 plays for the year, which is impressive because I started playing it in August. But Orchard is a great little solo game and it allows me to do something while watching a sporting event or something like that. If you are looking for a little solo game, I love Orchard.

Tainted Grail: The Last Knight – 4 Plays

From a small game to a big game, Tainted Grail, the second campaign has been started. This is just two evenings and it’s been a lot of fun. I will say, The Last Knight legitimately feels different than first campaign, The Fall of Avalon. And there are a few different things, such as exposure that make the game trickier. I still like it for story mode so that there is less maintenance for the characters, and it’s still tough. The story and aesthetic of the game are so very good.

Ohanami – 4 Plays

And back to another small game, this one I like because it’s pretty simple but has some good decision making in it. You are just putting cards down in numerical order as you draft them, but scoring matters in what you draft. You score blue in the first round, for only three points. But then it scores the next two rounds. Green scores four points but only scores the last two rounds, and seven for grey but only the last round. So you can strategize some. And I played this two and four player and it’s fun but different at both player counts.

Patchwork Doodle – 4 Plays

A roll and write game, I won’t say too much about it, because I did a TableTopTakes review on it recently. You can read that here. It’s a good roll and write game, it is a bit like Second Chance. So that makes it easy to get to the table but it also adds in a bit more than Second Chance does and gives good game play.

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – 1 Play

I keep on coming back to this game and really enjoying it. I have only played it with one friend, but we know how to play it and can play it very fast. And we’re tied at two wins a piece. Our scores, my friend is average 47 points per game, I am averaging 46.75, so it’s always been amazingly close. And I have gone with different strategies in different games, depending on the corporation that I have, and it’s a lot of fun every time.

Dice Throne – 1 Play

Finally we have Dice Throne. It was Pyromancer versus Shadow Thief. I played the Pyromancer and won handily. I’ve had some rough games recently with the Pyromancer because I wasn’t able to get the fire mastery going, but I did this time and the Shadow Thief didn’t keep their CP high enough early on to deal that much damage. Dice Throne is a game I love, and you can see where it ended up on my Top 100 Board Games (of all time) 2021 Edition if you want here.

365 Days of Gaming Stats

The challenge got completed on November 25th. Looking at the numbers, it is 71 different games. Orchard: A 9 card solitaire game was the most played with 95 plays followed by Tainted Grail (34), Dice Throne (16), Deadly Doodles (12) and Ohanami (12). So that rounds out the Top 5 games that I’ve played in the challenge. And I finished with 36 days to spare.

Yearly Gaming Stats

So for the year, 378 plays recorded. Stats for games are pretty similar. Orchard is at 100 total plays and Tainted Grail is up to 36. 8 games have more than 10 plays and 17 with more than five. Plus a total of 72 different games over all. I am up to 23% of the games that I own that have a play this year. That number keeps on being pretty steady because I buy more games. I’d love to get that up to 25% by the end of the year, and I have a month left to get there.

I suspect that I won’t get to 25% played but we’ll see. I think that next years challenge might be based more off of playing new games, and by new games, I mean games in my collection that I haven’t recorded any plays of. My shelves are full, or nearly full, so I need to play more to make decisions on what games are kept.

What game would you want to play from my list last month?

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Let’s get to the games:

Marvel United – 5 Plays

Marvel United only got played one evening. But we played it a lot because the game is so fast to play. It’s great to pull out whatever hero you want, whatever villain you want and just get going on the game. And it was fun to play around with other villains and heroes. The different villains in particular really change up the game.

But one really nice thing that I’ve found about this game is that I can get it to the table in a minute. Finding a villain figure and their cards, and then heroes and their cards is so fast, and there’s so little set-up for the game. It is extremely accessible and I’m excited to get it back to the table, though, thus far in November, I haven’t.

Werewords – 4 Plays

Werewords is a word based social deduction game. It’s basically playing twenty questions, but you can ask more, with someone being a traitor, or werewolf. I wrote up my thoughts on the game here. For me it was an okay game. I actually want to sell it, either to a friend or my FLGS (friendly local game store) because I don’t see pulling it off the shelf more.

Yes, it has more interesting going on than a game like Secret Hitler, The Resistance, and One Night Ultimate Werewolf. But it is still kind of a guessing game based off of no real information, in the end. And for me, that doesn’t work all that well. I want something with more meat to it, like Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, if I’m going to play a social deduction game.

Hanamikoji – 3 Plays

There is a new version of Hanamikoji on Kickstarter right now that I’m backing. It seems to add in some level of area control, more so than the base game has. And there are mini expansion for base Hanamikoji, which I’m tempted to get as well.

This is an abstract game about winning the favor of Geisha. The game plays so fast and only at two players that it’s one I need to break out more often. It’s a good filler to either end an evening or start and evening. And I have even brought it into work because it’s a nice lunch break game.

Tainted Grail – 2 Plays

Less plays of Tainted Grail than normal. We finished up Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon campaign, so we took a week off to just play other gamers. That is where five plays of Marvel United came from and some plays of other games as well. But we’re back to playing Tainted Grail, this time playing the Last Knight campaign.

This one we’re doing in story mode again, and honestly, I think this one needs to be played in story mode. I’ll write about it as a whole later after we get a few more plays of the game with what the new stuff is. And, the new stuff in the game is interesting. It is extremely challenging but again the writing is good and the story is good.

The Night Cage – 2 Plays

Of course had to play The Night Cage around Halloween. This is a cooperative game where you are going through a labyrinth but you can’t see much. Only the spots around you and as you lose site of spots they drop off the map and it twists and changes.

This game is fairly abstract, but it does create a good sense of tension. You carry candles which illuminate the board around you. That can go out and then you are moving around blind. But also all the tiles sit in a candle holder so as you remove tiles it looks as though the candle is burning down. The tension of it burning down works really well.

Dice Throne – 2 Plays

Dice Throne got a couple plays in. One king of the hill and one two player. The more I play King of the Hill style the more I enjoy it that way. I know I talk about Dice Throne quite often but mainly in the two player context. In King of the Hill, you get a benefit, an extra card, for attacking the player with the most health. It’s a nice twist and a good way to keep players from ganging up on a single player and knocking them out.

Hats – 2 Plays

Another game that hadn’t hit the table in a long time. Hats is an abstract game that I prefer at two players. It can play more, but with more players it becomes way more chaotic. With two players you can plan and push for things to go your way. The game play is a lot of fun for it, and it’s one that is tricky to wrap your head around. Especially the idea of the cards you play down influence what scores but aren’t the cards that you score.

Cross Clues – 2 Plays

This party game only had been played on Zoom before. Playing Cross Clues in person is a lot of fun. You are trying to come up with a one word clue to get people to guess the intersection of two words. It could be something like cat and taco, what word would link those two.

When playing with a big group, you only get one coordinate card. That means that sometimes you are stuck without giving a clue for a while. But the game moves quickly enough that you never feel like you are holding up the game. And sometimes you need something else, another clue to be given, before you can give one as well. It’s a newer party game, but one I highly recommend.

Clank! In! Space! – 1 Play

I busted out Clank! In! Space! again, this time with an expansion. And I have to say, the expansion we played with is fun. The black cubes that you pull now matter in the expansion. Basically it is a mission that can happen which makes your life harder as the game goes on. So, a game where you can already die and have zero points at the end of it becomes even tougher. But it is still a good game with that expansion and it’s a nice twist.

Tiny Towns – 1 Play

First game, not of Tiny Towns, but of Tiny Towns with more than two players. Two player Tiny Towns sometimes ends up with one player controlling everything. With three players, it makes the game more random but in a good way. Players diversify what they do more in a three player game which is good. It means that there are more things you can get stuck on, but also more interesting decisions to make. I still need to play with expansions.

Letter Jam – 1 Play

Another game that sat on the shelf for a long time. I love Letter Jam. It’s a cooperative word game that uses some of the mechanics of Hanabi. You can’t see your cards. But everyone else can. And you give clues that are words putting a marker in front of each letter that makes up the word. So if you did FROM, and my letter was the M, I’d see the word FRO* and need to figure out my letter.

The number of clues is limited. So you need to be smart about how you give them. And everyone needs to figure out their letters and words, so one person can’t give all the clues. The game works really well and doesn’t require a massive vocabulary or knowledge of how to game the game like a lot of word games do.

Calico – 1 Play

I played Calico with my wife and parents, and we played it in the simple version. That means that instead of having quilt blocks that determine any scoring, you only score buttons and cats. To me, it made the game too simple. But it is a solid way to learn the game. The basic concept of matching colors and patterns isn’t that hard to get. But adding in the scoring from quilt tiles adds a lot to think about.

Zombie Dice – 1 Play

Zombie Dice makes a great filler for a Halloween game night. Well, it was the October game night, but I did horror themed. That is why it came off the shelf. Zombie Dice is a basic push your luck dice game. And if things go poorly. people push too far, it can take way too long. But it is fun to pull of the shelf. And it is an easy game to teach and play. It is even easy to have people join part way through the game. I don’t own expansions for it, and I’m not sure I’d want to.

Yearly Gaming Stats

So, in October I added in 27 more plays. Slightly less than a play a day, but I was over that threshold already, so I am still on target. Currently, I am 98% of the way to completing the challenge, so a chance that even this month I finish it and then everything else is a bonus.

Now, because we are mid month, I do have plays on the list from November. But Orchard is still my most played game, up to 90 plays. And for all 356 plays that I have, there are 71 different games that I’ve played. Hitting 100 different games played would be great, but I doubt it will happen.

I have enjoyed this challenge a lot. I think that next year I will try it again, but also might put a focus on playing games in my collection that I haven’t played before. There are lots of games that need to get played on my shelf. Some are getting played, but I have 31 Kickstarters coming in and I’m sure more games than that, so a lot to get to the table.

Which of these games would you like to get played from my October plays?

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But, enough about that, let’s get to the games.

Orchard – 34 Plays

So this game alone is going to push me over the finish line for the year, maybe even with a month to spare. I really like Orchard, and I really like Orchard because it is such a simple solo game. And it doesn’t take up much space. You are overlapping cards to get matching tree colors which allows them to grow and produce more fruit. It is one that I can play while having a baseball game or a football game on in the background. Really, this game just works.

Ohanami – 5 Plays

This is such a good little game. It’s one that works well at the lowest player count, two, and the highest, four. I will say, this game changes drastically between player counts, though. With more players it is more relaxing and casual. You draft 2 cards from a hand of ten, so you can’t plan. When your hand comes back it’ll have two cards that you need to take. At two players, I can look at what someone has an optimize my drafting strategy. I can leave cards I might want because I know you won’t take them.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon – 4 Plays

We’ve finished playing Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. And we’re going to jump into the two expansions coming up here pretty soon. This is one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had. Is the game play the best, probably not, but the story it tells is so amazing. And with how we played it, we could certainly go back and play it again and find even more. Which is really cool because we got a lot of play out of the game.

My Farm Shop – 3 Plays

This was a Pop-Up GenCon game that I picked up because it is very easy to get to the table. I do wonder how long it’ll stick in my collection. While I like it, the more I’ve played it, the more I can see how light it is. I did a TableTopTakes on that very recently that you can see here. But I do want to play it more. I want to play it with three or four players because while two is fu n, it can limit the game a little bit. I think it might be stronger with more.

Downforce – 3 Plays

Now this is a great game that I was really glad to play at the the start of this month. It’s a racing game, but it’s a racing game where bidding matters as much, if not more, than how well your car does in a race. I really want to set-up a “season”. It’d be pretty easy to do and I think would be a lot of fun. I have all the tracks for it, and going through all of them once would be very interesting to do and see how strategies might change.

HexRoller – 2 Plays

A new game to the collection, I got it played twice over a work lunch. This is a very fast roll and write and I’ll be writing up a review on it soon. The basic idea is that you are trying to connect numbers, fill in groups of hexes, and generally just score the most points that you can. But how you score points is interesting and how the dice come out is as well. You are rolling seven or eight dice and playing groups of numbers which feels different.

Unfathomable – 1 Play

Another Pop-Up GenCon play, as is the next game. Unfathomable is the new version of Battlestar Galactica (BSG). It’s a big social deduction game or hidden traitor game. I really enjoy it because it feels a bit more streamlined than BSG. I’m not sure it is that much but with BSG you had two expansions that could be mixed in. And it’s never a bad thing when you can spend a chunk of a game just blasting away at deep ones.

Descent: Legends of the Dark – 1 Play

The final Pop-Up GenCon game, I wanted to play this one not because I wanted to know if I’d like it, but because I already knew I would and I wanted to learn how to play it. Game play, it turns out, is very easy to do. And the game play is interesting. It’s an app driven game that causes the map to emerge as you go. And I really like that about the game. It gives you that fog of war as your characters race to complete their goals and not die.

Aeon’s End Legacy – 1 Play

This will likely be the final play of Aeon’s End Legacy for a while. I did see my FLGS has a recharge/reset pack for this legacy game. I could see, if I got a group, buying that and playing it again. But another very good gaming experience. I knew I’d like it because I like Aeon’s End and legacy games. Now I need to figure out what to stream after my Top 100 list is done. It might be some smaller solo games until 2022 and then dive into another new campaign.

PitchCar – 1 Play

Finally, I played PitchCar again. This time I didn’t put in the loop or a change of elevation, but it was still fun. I really like the loop but that can slow down the game. You get stuck at the loop and now it takes a few rounds for people to really progress. On a flatter course it feels more like a racing game as you speed around. Definitely shortens the game time. Doesn’t make the game better or worse, just, mainly faster.

Yearly Gaming Stats

So let’s start out with how close I am to the goal. As of today, which is a few days after the end of the month, I have 66 plays left in 88 days. Two other ways to put it are that I’ve gotten 299 plays under my belt and am 82% of the way done with the challenge. For the year, I have two games that I’ve played over 25 times (Tainted Grail and Orchard) , six more th an 10 times and 7 more than five times. I think that Orchard might break the century mark. I’ve also played 66 different games. 15 of those different games are roll and writes.

So right now it’s looking good. But I know that I’ll likely need get a number of plays this month and before Thanksgiving because the holidays might put a damper on a late gaming push.

Which game would you want to play out of Octobers list?

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Let’s see everything that was played.

Orchard: A 9 Card Solitaire Game – 28 Plays

So that is a ton of plays of this game. But I talked about it in my recent review, this is a very easy game to get to the table. It calls itself a 9 card game, there are actually 18. But you only use 9 each game. That means I can shuffle up once, split the deck and play twice in a row. It’s also a good solo game because it doesn’t take up much space. I got in something like 10 plays during under a quarter of a college football game. This is a really good solo game.

Aeon’s End Legacy – 4 Plays

So, like I said, probably not getting that played tonight. But I’ve really loved my playthroughs of this game. It’ll be on the list for the last time next month though. I only have one more to go. But you can check out all the plays over on Malts and Meeples. Really good legacy game and I can’t stress enough, this is how I’d recommend that people learn to play Aeon’s End, it teaches you so well.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon – 3 Plays

We’re getting towards the end game of Tainted Grail as well. I do think it’ll run through all of September as we only will get in a couple of plays. But I’m still really loving the game. I and I really like how much the world has changed because of a few things we’ve done. I’m not sure it always changes that way, but it’s given us some cool and interesting things to think about. The story is really what makes this game so good

The Night Cage – 3 Plays

I’ve been waiting on this one to show up for a bit, so when it did, I needed to get it to the table. And it was a lot of fun to get it to the table. I like Night Cage as almost a horror themed game, well, it is one but it gives you that feeling of tension. I think that the candle burning down as you play out tiles and showing how that is shortening up works really well.

Downforce – 2 Plays

It happens from time to time but not all that often that I will get an expansion after playing a game. In the case of Downforce, I liked the two plays of it that I had so much that I got two expansions for it. Those expansions are just more maps to race around, but it’s going to be a lot of fun to get those to the table. I think that this upcoming months board game night might be racing games.

Claim – 2 Plays

It’d been a while but every time I play a trick taking game, I realize that I do like trick taking. It is just a lot of fun to see how well I can play. And it is interesting too because with this game, you are first winning tricks to build your hand to then win tricks to actually win the game. First game was close then dominated in the second one, which is the only downside I have for this game, it can be a bit swingy.

Hanamikoji – 2 Plays

In terms of two player games, I think that Hanamikoji is my favorite. I really like how smoothly and simply it plays. I could have used this for my abstract game example because it’s easy to learn abut offers amazing decision making space. One that I know I’ll keep on coming back to.

Deranged – 1 Plays

Got this during 2020 and needless to say, I didn’t get 3+ player games to the table then. But I got to play the introductory scenario of the game again. And I still really enjoy this game even after so long. This was one that I originally played and demoed at GenCon back in 2019. Another horror themed game but one that is lighter in tone than Night Cage but also more thematic as you try and break curses. I want to play the bigger version of the game just to see how it goes.

Detective: Dig Deeper – 1 Plays

So I’ve talked about Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game a fair amount. It is one of my favorite thematic games where what you are doing matches the theme so well. This takes you into the 70’s, so things are a bit different but still offers an amazing thematic experience. And I am curious to see who will be the next designer they announce for this signature series because it is fun to see what other people are doing.

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – 1 Plays

Got in a really fast play of this game last night. And it was surprising how fast, basically one hour for two players. Generally they’ve taken longer, but we got our engines up and running very quickly. I still really like this game. The mechanics are smooth and that engine building aspect is so much fun. I need to get the paper off of my overlays for the boards so I can make it even easier to keep track of things. I know some people are mad about Target getting retail copies before they got their nicer Kickstarter copies, but it’s a really good game.

Parade – 1 Plays

This small little card game with kind of an Alice in Wonderland theme is always fun to play. I like it as a puzzle to solve, how you can push for a fair amount of one color if you can avoid the rest of the colors. The clever thing of having the most of a color and that making all those cards worth a point each instead of face value really works for me. And the game plays pretty quickly, you need to think a bit on your turn, but you don’t have too many options to get analysis paralysis.

Calico – 1 Plays

Another play of Calico, and the more I get of it, the more I realize how much I like the game. It just works for me because it is a simple game to play but the puzzle gives you hard choices. Plus it’s cats so that theme is always good. I do think it might be too much of a puzzle for really casual gamers, but overall it’ll be one that works for a lot of people.

Cartographers – 1 Plays

This, I think, is becoming my favorite roll and write game. It just works so well and works well with a large group of players. I like making maps and I can’t wait to get more maps and more expansions and stuff for this game. If you want a thematic roll and write, this isn’t the best, Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade I would say is, but it’s up there. And I think the simplicity of this game with the theme of map making is going to draw people in.

Sonora – 1 Plays

Another roll and write game, but of course this starts with flicking. I really like this game. It is not the easiest roll and write game to play. It is so combotastic that filling out your board can take a while. And for some people that take longer. But I still really like it for that aspect. In fact, it’s very high on my list because it feels different every time. I can pick a new area to try and optimize.

Dice Throne – 1 Plays

A game I got in last night of Vampire versus Samurai and the Samurai had no problem winning. I was rolling really poorly as the vampire. And I was really pushing for blood power. I want to try that match-up again, or play around more with the Vampire Lord. I feel like I need to come up with a better strategy. Even getting stomped, I want to play it again and still love the game.

Railroad Ink Challenge – 1 Plays

Final game played this month. Railroad Ink Challenge I think is a better version of Railroad Ink. I talked about it before, it just offers more to do. This one was fun because we had eight people playing it. That means that we had a lot of wildly different boards and scores. The challenges just offer more direction early in the game. Regular Railroad Ink is fine, but challenge for me is the better of the two, though harder to teach.

Yearly Gaming Stats

So like I said, I am all caught up. 244 total plays and 121 plays left to go in 121 days. With that there are 62 different games that I’ve played and 7 that I’ve played over 10 times. I think that Orchard is going to help me keep up on my plays, and probably a few more of A Gentle Rain coming as well. I’m also now at 22% of the base, not expansion, board games that I own played in this calendar year.

So which of those games would you want to play from this past month?

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So let’s see what got played in July.

Tainted Grail – 4 Plays

No shock here that Tainted Grail is again towards the top of the list. It’s the campaign game that I’m playing quite often. And we got into Chapter 9 now, which is exciting. The story is still amazing and it’s progressed in some interesting ways. This is still a really tough game and if you want to see why you might want to buy it or not, I did a video on that.

Aeon’s End Legacy – 3 Plays

The other game that I streamed comes in #2 in terms of most plays. Starting Aeon’s End Legacy has been a blast. I love Legacy games and I really like Aeon’s End. You can see my playthroughs over on Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. I really like deck builders and I think that Aeon’s End Legacy works really well for a cooperative deck building game.

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – 2 Plays

This was a new game into my collection and a new game to get played, obviously, this month. I am bummed I didn’t back it on Kickstarter for some of the nicer pieces. But I am glad that I picked it up at Target. It’s a pretty big game for a card game, in terms of the combos and game length, but so much fun. You can find my thoughts for it in a TableTopTakes.

Dice Throne – 2 Plays

Dice Throne is always a blast when I play it. I got to play head to head once and three player king of the hill another time. I really like it head to head, but king of the hill works well. Mainly, I like that it incentivizes you to attack the person with the most health. There is no ganging up on a single player, which just normal 3 player could do.

Hanabi – 2 Plays

This was one that I hadn’t played in a long time but it was fun when I got it back to the table. We did okay in both of our games, but I like the concept of this one. You play with your cards facing away from you and are giving clues to other people as to what cards they have. Still need to get a perfect game on this one, but that might take a while.

Fruit Picking – 2 Plays

So, this one isn’t new, but it was the first time I played my copy. In 2020 I played this digitally for GenCon and I had a lot of fun with it, probably the second favorite game I played after Night Cage (which came in). Playing the physical version was a lot of fun. It’s a nice simple game in what you do, but there is strategy to it as you play. I like big games, but also simple games with good decision space.

Point Salad – 2 Plays

Another game that is simple. Now, I don’t think the decision space is as good on this one but still fun. Point Salad is a great drafting and tableau building game, especially with two players. I play it really fast at two which means two plays in a sitting. I also like that even with the same set of cards if feels different when you play it. Good filler game.

A Gentle Rain – 2 Plays

Two plays of this solo game while watching the Olympics. I should pull it out some more and get it played that way. I really do like this game as a relaxing game and a mind clearing and refocusing game.

Similo – 2 Plays

Another new game for me, this one I picked up from Horrible Guild recently. It is a really nice party style game. I really like mixing sets together because it’s fun to use animals to try and get people to guess a mythological figure or the other way around.

Calico – 1 Play

And yet another new to me game. This one I didn’t buy recently, but I hadn’t played to this point. The game play is a ton of fun in this one. It is in the category of games that are simple but have a great decision space. No full review of it yet, but if you want to see Beyond the Box Cover on it, I did write about that on Friday.

Icecool – 1 Play

Game night game and I am so glad to get this back to the table. Icecool is just a game of silly fun and flicking penguins around. Had an amazing time playing it as I always do, and with eight players it is just a little bit hectic and crazy. If you want a simple and cheap dexterity game, Icecool is it.

PitchCar – 1 Play

On the other side, this is a simple and expensive dexterity game, but also a ton of fun. We had 7 players, I believe, flicking our cars around in this game and it was a blast. The look for it is amazing and so much fun to play with. I loved playing it with more people as compared to two or three. Everyone was just having a great time and I want to get it out again soon.

Yearly Stats

So, like I said, I didn’t get as many plays in as I wanted to. I am at 191 plays which isn’t bad at all. But to hit my target it would be 174 plays in 151 days, which is doable for sure. I’m over 50% of the way to the goal. One cool thing is that it tells me what % of my collection I’ve played. 20% of the games that I own I’ve now played. And six of those games I’ve played 10 or more times.

So which of those games would you want to play from this past month?

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But let’s work our ways onto the games that I did get played and see which ones top the list for the month of June.

A Gentle Rain – 5 Plays

This one got played a lot on stream last month. A Gentle Rain is really such a relaxing game. I should probably pull it out and play it again some evening. The game play is simple, but I don’t feel like I need to think much about it. A good solo only game that is a nice quick play and a chance to relax and let my mind clear.

Tainted Grail – 2 Plays

Normally this would have given me a few more plays. I count each session we play as multiple games depending on where we go with the chapters of the story. But we are on Chapter 7 now, and our first session we finished up Chapter 6, second session started Chapter 7. That means only two plays of this. And I get to play it again tomorrow. I’m still really loving Tainted Grail. it is such an epic story driven game.

Merchants Cove – 2 Plays

A new game for me this past month was Merchants Cove. It is a fun asymmetrical game where players are running their own little engine to try and score the most points possible. You can read my full review of it here. The game play just works for me. It takes a bit to play for such a light game but I like how the engines work, and I like how the different characters play. Plus there is just enough interaction with loading the ships to make it interesting, but not so much to make it feel cut throat.

Xenoshyft Onslaught – 2 Plays

A game that I always love to play, I talked about it in my Top 10 cooperative games over on Malts and Meeples.

Then I immediately got it played the day after. Xenoshyft: Onslaught is so much fun. It’s a game that I don’t win often, but I still love it. And when I play it, I want to play it again. I think t hat I’ve played this game around a dozen times and maybe won twice. But it always feels so close. And it is a fun deck building game that does some different things.

Medium – 2 Plays

Another new game for me, Medium was picked up on a whim at Target. A friend had demoed it at GenCon and thought it was fun, and I thought the concept was fun. Medium has two players trying to match up words. Or come up with the same word between two words. If it’s cat and turtle, what is the word that links the two or is between the two? Animal would make a lot of sense for that, but pasta and turtle that might take a bit more time (shell) and cat and spaceship, might be even harder. Can you match it up in three guesses, it’s fun and good for a laugh.

Homebrewers – 2 Plays

Almost forgot to add this one to the list, in fact if you saw this right away it wasn’t there. Homebrewers is such a fun game. I got to play two players again and I love it for the engine building. You get to create crazy homebrew and see who is the best brewer. Plus at the end, I always like to decide if I’d try the beer or not. The answer is basically always yes, I’d try it, but there are a number where I’m not sure if I want to drink a full pint of it. If you want a fast and light engine building game, Homebrewers is great.

Railroad Ink Challenge – 2 Plays

Yet another new game, Railroad Ink Challenge is just another version of Railroad Ink, but it adds in even more to the game. Another one that I played on Malts and Meeples, you can watch it played below. It just adds to Railroad Ink in a really fun way. You now have goals you want to complete. Can you get them done in time, how well can you score, the game is just a blast and worth checking out for a roll and write.

Blood Rage – 1 Play

This is my #2 game of all time. And while I did have fun playing it again and it won’t ever leave my collection, I do wonder if it’ll stay at #2 come October. I like this drafting and dudes on a map game. There is a lot of strategy and a lot of fun in the game. And I got to play it four player which is pretty rare, I’ve normally played it two player. The winners both had different strategies and the two of us lagging behind were going for more of a Loki style strategy. It was fun to see all the different options, and I’m kind of ready to play it again just have some revenge.

Aeon’s End – 1 Play

Now, technically this was another new game for me. I have played Aeon’s End War Eternal several times. But now that I own everything for Aeon’s End, I finally played the base game. Aeon’s End is another deck building game that does some different things. I like fighting the giant monster, I like trying to keep the town alive, and I like how different each giant monster is. I think I will start playing Aeon’s End Legacy on Wednesday over on Malts and Meeples. Join me if you want to see more Aeon’s End there. I really think it’s a very good cooperative deck building game.

Clever Hoch Drei – 1 Play

Yup, I played all the Clever games again. They are just such nice roll and write games. And now I’ve taught a lot of people, so it makes it really easy to get to the table.

Hues and Cues – 1 Play

So Hues and Cues is a pandemic purchase. I got it because it was one that could be played via Zoom. But, I think it is more fun in person. Like most games, it is easier to just talk across the table and it helps up the silly level of the game. Sometimes you just want to play something is silly and a good time. Hues and Cues doesn’t force silliness, but gives a lot of good laughs. Plus it’s tricky to give one word clues or two to get people to guess a color. So there is lots of time to chat while playing without slowing down the game.

Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade – 1 Play

Another o ne that I played on Malt and Meeples, I won’t post the video this time. But check it out over there if you want to see how Super-Skill Pinball plays. The game is a lot of fun and gives you some good choices. The thing I always come back to with Super-Skill Pinball is that it is the most thematic roll and write that I’ve played. Does it feel just like playing a pinball machine, it’s can’t really, but the mechanics all make so much sense, and as you get combos it just works so well. And it does truly try and have a theme and ends up with a solid theme to it.

Ganz Schon Clever – 1 Play

What, more Clever roll and writes? No shock there. I still think the first is my favorite, but I can get some really great games of the third one at times.

Doppelt So Clever – 1 Play

Yes, the final Clever game. Right now I almost always play them as a trilogy. It is fun to see how well I can do across all three of them. And sometimes the answer to that question is not well at all, and other times I end up with a really high score.

Sushi Go Party! – 1 Play

I got to play this two months ago and then this month. I actually like the fact that I had some time off from it. We were playing it fairly often, but now I’m ready to play it more. Sushi Go Party is a fun drafting game, and now I own 4 different promo cards for it. So I can play with even more variety than I normally would And I will say that some of the promos are a lot of fun. Sake gives you three points but then the next card is drafted blind. That one is just goofy, but somehow thematic at the same time.

Onirim – 1 Play

Final one that got played is Onirim. Another solo game, Onirim definitely gives you a bit more to think about than A Gentle Rain, but still not too much. I think my only real knock on Onirim is that it can be a bit fiddly. While I have streamed it, I almost prefer Onirim for when I’m watching a sporting event or something like that and want to keep my hands busy. I don’t need to be completely engaged but it gives me something to do.

Yearly Stats

Half way through the year and I have 166 plays under my belt. That is 48 different games and 18% of my current collection. This month was interesting because like I said, there were some bigger games in there. Blood Rage, Xenoshyft, and Merchants Cove were all games that might have gotten played twice or might have had more games played in those evenings if they didn’t take as long.

Tainted Grail still leads the way with most plays. Followed by Deadly Doodle, Dice Throne, Ganz Schon Clever, and Metro X, so a huge game and three smaller games. But 10 games are at the 5+ plays or more for the year. And I feel like 18% of the collection played isn’t that bad. Though, I hope by the end of the year to have that pushing into that range of 1/3 of my collection played or more.

Which of my games last month do you want to play most?

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But beyond that, I got 34 plays in during the month of May, so I was able to cut down on that deficit a little bit for gaming. On my challenge, I am now 9 games behind pace with plans for gaming tomorrow evening and hopefully cutting into that some more. And that’s with a few days already this month without me playing games, though a few days with me playing games. Let’s get to the games.

Dice Throne – 5 Plays

Dice Throne, one I talk about all the time, but one that I know will never leave my collection. Really love all the characters and all the variety in it.

Tainted Grail – 4 Plays

Massive exploration story game. Getting close to the mid point of the game. Still loving it so much and there is so much story that we definitely haven’t gone to. We’ve branched down certain story paths, and I’m excited for that because that means I can play it again if I want.

PitchCar – 4 Plays

I have so much stuff for PitchCar now. And I am so excited to play this for game night in July. It is a silly fun time and one that I think will be even better with a bigger group. And now I have a loop to add to it which will be awesome.

Floor Plan – 3 Plays

A roll and write I’ve been wanting to try for a while. This one has you building a house, or a floor plan, and scoring points based off of certain criteria. It is pretty straight forward, but play is a lot of fun. Not that you could live in any of the places when they are done, but it’s still a good roll and write game.

A Gentle Rain – 3 Plays

Tiny solo game. I just played this on Malts and Meeples on Wednesday. You can find that posted over here. Simple game but it’s very chill and relaxing. It’s a good one to just kind of clear your mind with.

Tokyo Highway – 2 Plays

Another dexterity game, this one I always call a work of art. You are balancing things, but with the colors it just works so well. You can see one of the pictures I’ve taken here, it only kind of does it justice.

Potion Explosion – 2 Plays

I always say this game is like an app game. It really is true, you remove something, get colors to hit, remove those colors and get that whole cascade that makes some app games so fun. The game is simple and the gimmick is great for it.

Ascension – 2 Plays

A lot of people like Dominion, but Ascension is my preferred pure deckbuilder. It has you adding in cards, fighting monsters, but what I like about it is the variable market. The game just feels like it has more robust choices than Dominion, and better art.

Welcome To.. – 2 Plays

Another roll and write, Welcome To… is one of my favorites in the genre. The game play is a ton of fun, and the choices are definitely deeper than a lot of roll and writes. It also works so well in large groups.

Point Salad – 2 Plays

Point Salad is a wonderful light filler game. I like how variable it can be as the cards come out and you pick how you are going to be scoring. Works well at low player counts and is solid at higher player counts. I think with two or three people it’s a great one to pull off the shelf.

Arkham Horror LCG – 1 Play

Another one that I played on Malts and Meeples.

Super fun game and one that I need to get back to playing more often. The game play is interesting and I actually just talked about a change that I really like for it in the news today. I like the deck construction aspect of it as well.

The Isle of Cats – 1 Play

The last of the four first time played games on the list to go along with A Gentle Rain, PitchCar and Floor Plan. The Isle of Cats is the most complex of all of them. This is a polyomino playing game which has your rescuing cats from an island. But you only have a limited amount of time and fish to lure the cats with. Game play is fun, I want to try it with more than two, but even at two was cool. Has a lot of cards and things I haven’t seen that I want to play around with. And currently an expansion is on Kickstarter for it.

Silver Amulet – 1 Play

One that I haven’t played this year, but really fun game. It basically is a hidden information game where you are trying to score the fewest points possible. It’s like a game that I grew up playing with a deck of cards, but adds in a whole lot more and a whole lot of fun. The expansions (all stand alone) are great as well.

Just One – 1 Play

A favorite party game of mine. This one works well because of it’s simplicity and the fact it’s cooperative. You are trying to get the person who is it to guess one word by giving them one word clues. But you write down the clues in secret and any duplicate clues cancel and aren’t show. Really fun and works with a large number of players.

Sushi Go Party – 1 Play

Probably my favorite drafting game. I like how simple and fun Sushi Go Party! is. The game works well with non-gamers and gamers alike because of how cute it looks. Definitely the one I reach for to teach people have to draft.

Which of these games do you want to play?

Yearly Stats

So let’s check out the stats and see where I am at. I have 146 different plays of games this year. So that’s a lot, especially considering how hard it has been to do in person gaming. I have five games that I’ve played 10 or more times, and Tainted Grail is almost to 20. 10 games that I’ve played five or more times. And out of those 146 plays, I’ve played 38 different games.

As far as being on track, right now I need 219 plays in 210 days left. So I am slowly making up ground, and I hope that trend continues so that I’m nearly caught up by the end of the month.

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