Though my cooking history suggests otherwise, Cook It! has taught me that confidence is apparently the secret ingredient to becoming a world class chef. This game will challenge you to think that confidence is the secret ingredient to becoming a world class chef. At its core, Cook It! is a party game about building ridiculous recipes and convincing everyone else they're brilliant. You'll draft random ingredients, occasionally throw a wrench into someone else's plans with an a

Every board game has to start somewhere. For first time designer and illustrator Ovi Nedelcu, it wasn't a childhood dream of publishing games or years spent filling notebooks with prototypes. In fact, before last year, creating a board game wasn't even on his radar. "I thought to myself, 'Huh, that seems easy enough,'" Ovi laughs, recalling a game design talk he stumbled upon. "And was I ever wrong about that" Looking back, Ovi admits that if he had known how much work goes i

Mindbug: First Contact is a fast-paced two-player card game that captures the excitement of Magic: The Gathering without deck building. Learn why its clever Mindbug mechanic, unique creatures, and strategic gameplay make it one of the best 20-minute dueling card games for beginners and experienced players alike

Had a midweek escapade to play board games and temporarily ignore all my adult responsibilities. This was a lovely way to support a friend that is recovering from surgery and cooped up at home during the day, but also any excuse to get cardboard to the table is a good one, right? There is, however, a dangerous side effect to these sessions: immediate buyer's remorse. I literally left our post-breakfast session and the first moment I was able to, I drove straight to Millennium

I grew up playing Magic: The Gathering. I loved building decks and dreaming up ridiculous card combinations, even if I either never drew the mana I needed or the combo never came together the way I imagined. I don't own any Magic cards anymore, but every now and then I miss that head to head card battling. That's where Mindbug comes in. It scratches that nostalgic itch in about 20 minutes without the cost of chasing new cards. Battlefruit Kingdom can be played as a standalone

We had the opportunity to playtest Pairloopa. As my niece gets older, I'm always looking for games that help me keep my title as the cool aunt. Pairloopa is a family friendly card game where players combine two words to create compound words. Think: SUN + GLASSES = SUNGLASSES The gameplay itself is simple, but what stood out to me was the trading mechanic. Because anyone can offer a trade when a card is discarded, every discard matters. Instead of waiting for your next turn,

I love board games, but I also love data A few years ago, I started tracking every play in BG Stats to make sure our collection wasn't just gathering dust. Sure, part of me wanted to be able to objectively say, "I'm not playing this game with you because the numbers guarantee I'll lose." (Just kidding... I think 🙈) But the real magic of tracking our plays is seeing the stories behind the numbers. It shows me what our friends keep asking to play, what games quietly become sta

👩🏻‍🎨 Designer: Uwe Rosenberg | 📦 Publisher: Lookout Games ⚙️ Abstract strategy, rondel puzzle, open drafting, polyomino ♟️ 2 players | ⏳ ~10-15 minutes Patchwork is an absolute classic in our house. Six years ago, it was our very first Uwe Rosenberg game, and our introduction to polyominos. I was obsessed with Tetris growing up, so finding that same feeling inside a cardboard box was kind of magical. It manages to feel cozy and calming while still being rewarding every

I’ve had a weird long standing relationship with sugar skulls and I honestly cannot explain it. About 20 years ago my childhood best friend and I were traveling through Colombia when we walked past a tattoo shop with a sugar skull in the window. We looked at each other, made a very questionable life decision, and walked out with matching tattoos. I was barely 18. My family was thrilled, obviously 😒 Fast forward to now and nothing has changed. If I see sugar skull art, I’m in

The Mindbug obsession continues. I grew up playing Magic, so when I learned there was another game that streamlined the process, made it pretty, was accessible, and still played well at two players, I was bought in. King of Tokyo was our first board game with dice rolling, so combining the two felt like pure nostalgia crashing together on the tabletop 🎰 THE DATA ROW Game Title: Mindbug: King of Tokyo Publisher: Nerd Lab Games and IELLO Designer: Richard Garfield, Christian K

I am the person who always has a board game with me. Going to a brewery? Game in the bag. Waiting for food? Game in the bag. Family gathering where someone inevitably says "we should play something"? (Even if that person is me) Game in the bag For a game to earn permanent residency in my purse, backpack, or meeple bag, it needs to be easy to teach, quick to play, and small enough that I don't think twice about bringing it along PUSH checks every box The box itself is a little

Lucky Jack is one of those cool random finds. The colorful retro visuals instantly gravitate me to wards it. The game is designed by Richard Brault and Pascal Thoniel and published by FoxMind. The game promises high stakes intensity of Vegas, but without the risk of actually losing your money or having to go to a casino Objective The goal is simple: discard your hand as fast as possible to be the first to lay down a 3 or 4-card jackpot of matching symbols Components Rulebook

The first thing that hooked me was the box. It’s a clever peek a boo window. It looks like nothing, and then, voila! You see the chameleon hidden in plain sight. Chameleon was designed by Rikki Tahta and published by Big Potato Games. The game plays 3-8 players. It was one of those games you keep seeing when browsing. Eventually, it ends up in your cart We logged 16 plays in the few years we owned it. It had a good run. But we are currently on a mission to clear up the shelve

Reiner Knizia, cats, tile placement, and push your luck? Yeah... this game basically had my name written all over it. Purrramid is one of those games that feels familiar the moment you start playing. Roll dice. Chase your luck. Regret your life choices. Roll again anyway 🙄 I learned this one with a friend, and within a few turns we were already doing the classic push your luck thing where you know you should stop but convince yourself that one more roll is definitely the rig

We need to have a heart to heart. We’ve all been there. You look at a critically acclaimed, universally loved board game and realize: it’s not you, it’s me 💔 My personal brick wall is bluffing and social deduction games What exactly are these genres? Social deduction games are all about hidden identities. Players use conversations, accusations, and clues to figure out who is secretly on their team Bluffing games revolve around deception, asking players to misrepresent their

Whether you’re walking the halls of the NEC or following along from your couch, the best part of UKGE is the stories these games tell once they hit your table. Tabletop gaming is at its best when it surprises you, so while you're hunting down the big names, keep an eye out for the small boxes and indie developers. They’re often where the real magic is hiding. Here’s the list of the games I’ve been playing and the ones I’m hunting for 🌲 Aspens If you’re a fan of Photosynthesi

When I first saw this, I read Road to Edinburgh. I was so excited. All I could think about was Makars, but nope. I read that wrong. The game art is super cute, and if you want to play something like Irish Gauge or Ticket to Ride without the time commitment, this is it! I’m a sucker for a game that distills a massive genre into a sleek experience, and this one manages to do it in about 30 minutes! Plus, my wife didn’t hate it, so I can play train games again 🚊 Mini Rails Road

We’ve all been there. You’re squinting at a gorgeous box cover or a high BGG rating, wondering if a game actually earns its spot on your shelf. At home, we are trying to abide by our budget but also be more strict on not collecting games that won’t play the table. Every new addition has to prove its worth. That is where Board Game Arena (BGA) has become my secret weapon for intentional curation 🌐 What is Board Game Arena? BGA as a virtual wonderland for board games. It is a

I have a type. While some people collect massive campaign games, I gravitate toward roll-and-writes. There is something about the tactile click of dice and the efficiency of a dry-erase marker that just speaks to my soul (and when they are not dry-erase ready, I laminate the games 😎). In my collection, I like a balance. Sometimes, I want a real brain-burner. The kind of cutthroat tension you find in the Clever series (looking at you, Ganz Schön Clever--someone please teach m

You know that feeling when looking at an old photo, and you don't recognize what's staring back at you? That's how I feel looking at our first shelfie. When my wife and I first moved in together, we put together a board game shelf that was less of a curated collection and more of a messy archaeological dig. It was packed with the classics that survived childhood moves. Games like Rummikub, Taboo, and Cranium. Out of all of them, Rummikub is the only one that has survived. It’