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Ever wonder how much slang has changed over the past 100 years? Slanguage teaches you all about it in about 30-minutes. This 3-8 players family-friendly party game is designed by April Mitchell and published by FoxMind . Slanguage is all about guessing decades, showing off creativity, and laughing at how wild people’s interpretation of certain slang can get The Goal: Give the best description of a slang word based on the category rolled on the die. Earn extra points by guessing which decade the word belongs to. What are the die possibilities? Define it – Put the slang word into your own words Make it musical – Name a song or band that uses the slang word or phrase Draw it – Sketch a symbol or image that shows what it means Screen it – Come up with a movie or TV show title that fits Use it – Guess the slang word and use it in a sentence Sell it – Create a tagline that matches it How It Works: Players have 2 minutes to write or draw their answer on their Speech Bubble Sheet. They also write the decade they think the slang word comes from. Answers are then shared and the Judge determines their favorite. The winner of the round scores three points, everyone scores one point if they guessed the decade correctly. The player with the highest total after one or two rounds depending on player count, wins the game! Who This Game Is For: Slanguage is for people who love word games, pop culture, and creative chaos. It’s great if you enjoy drawing, writing, or coming up with funny connections under pressure. Linguists, trivia fans, or anyone wanting an excuse to judge their family or friends drawings Pros 🎨 Educational game with creative freedom 🎲 Short and fast paced game that is easy to learn 🧠 From linguists to pop culture fans, this game offers great wordplay 📚 Even though it covers a century of slang, the fact that the judge chooses who wins a round makes it accessible to players of all ages Considerations The rulebook is concise, yet it could be improved Best at six or more players The two-minute timer can be stressful, especially for overthinkers Bottom Line: Slanguage is a fun, fast, and clever party game that brings wordplay, creativity, and a dash of nostalgia to the table. I’m always on the hunt for games that hit with nongamers or casual players who want something light, easy to learn in under five minutes, and still genuinely fun. Slanguage nails that. Whether you’re a linguist, a trivia fan, or just looking for a reason to roast your friends’ drawings, this one delivers laughs without overcomplicating things

I’m a bookworm who’s terrible at tidying up. My wife, on the other hand, is a master organizer with zero interest in literature. Can you imagine our excitement when we discovered Ada’s Library published by Playte Games? This 20 minute, two player game is like a match made in heaven—books, sorting, and a healthy dose of friendly competition. I’ve been trying my hardest to outsmart her at this game, but she's always one step ahead. Is it my luck? My strategy? Or is she just that  good at organizing? 📚 The Setup Place the model bookshelf at the center of the playing area to reveal the target order. Then, each player gets their own messy book pile. With the help of some trusty library cards, you aim to outsmart your opponent by organizing your bookshelf first. Good luck transforming your chaotic library into beautiful order!order. 📝 Game Components 26 books Library cards 1 cloth bag Rulebook Box that becomes the game board 💡 How to Play Randomly place one book of each color in the center of your playing area. Then, each player draws 10 random book tiles from the cloth bag and lines them up. This is your book pile. You'll need to reorder to match the model bookshelf. Give 5 library cards to each player and take turns playing these cards to rearrange your books to match the model library. Beware that there are cards that can move the model area and trade cards with your opponent! 🔄 Playing Library Cards During your turn, you’ll play a library card. These cards will help you organize your unruly book pile and maybe get naughty and rearrange your opponent books. Cards let you move certain spaces between your books, switch a book with your opponent, and reverse books within your pile. 🏁 Winning the Game The first player to perfectly match their book pile to the model bookshelf wins. Didn’t get all the colors in your pile? No worries—just focus on what you’ve got and ignore the missing books. This can be a blessing in disguise! 👍 Pros and Key Features Two-player game: my favorite kind of game! I love two player games and abstract games I can enjoy with my wife Portable and compact: The box transforms into the board. The game could do without a board, but it is a nice touch. The board is beautifully design! Good quality components: The books are made out of wood. The colors of the books and the design of the cards integrate well and are easy to understand Language Independent: No text-cards—anyone can play regardless of language 👎 Cons This abstract game could be considered luck based as the arrangement of the books and the cards you draw can easily influence your first moves or get you stuck with your options. Hard to Acquire: Depending on where you are, this version may be hard to get. However, you can purchase Playte games via eBay 🧠 Final Thoughts Ada's Library is an abstract puzzle game perfect for bibliophiles! The game has a quick setup and the components are portable. The setup is quick and the gameplay is engaging. While the game's luck-based elements can sometimes be frustrating, they also add an element of unpredictability that keeps things interesting. Whether you're a seasoned puzzle solver or simply a fan of books, Ada's Library may be what you are looking for! This game is available in eBay and at Spiel Essen. You can even snag your preorder through this link .

Introduction Lately, I’ve been obsessing over Playte games. I love their clever design and small boxes packed with big games. Enter, Orapa Mine, designed by Junghee Choi with art by Wanjin Gill. At first, I pictured digging for relics or chasing treasure. Then I thought maybe it was a high-tech Battleship clone. Nope. It’s something better. A tense two-player deduction puzzle where color-mixing, logic, and a little intuition collide Orapa Mine: The Basics I’ve been obsessing over Playte games lately, and Orapa Mine is a gem, literally! This two-player head-to-head deduction game (scales to five with a Quiz Master) takes about 30 minutes and will have your brain twisting in delightful ways 🎯The goal? Crack your opponent’s hidden gemstone layout before they figure out yours. Spatial reasoning, careful observation, and a dash of intuition are your best friends here How It Plays Each player sets up five geometric gemstone pieces: red, blue, yellow, and white on a grid hidden behind a screen. Pieces must line up with the grid and can only touch at corners, which makes placement just as sneaky as your guesses. On your turn, you fire an ultrasonic beam into your opponent’s mine by picking a coordinate of the 80 possible entry spots ranging from A-R to 1-18. The beam tells a story as it passes through gems: white plus red turns pink, white plus blue turns sky blue, white plus yellow turns lemon, and hit multiple colors? Gray confusion. Track exit points and colors on your solution sheet, and bit by bit, you unravel their layout ⚠️ Guess wrong and you lose instantly, which keeps every turn tense and oh-so-satisfyingly frightening. To win, crack the gemstone layout first, and take the crown Multiplayer Twist Got more than two players? One person becomes the Quiz Master. They arrange the mine and answering beam questions while the others race to solve it. The duel becomes a frantic puzzle race, turning careful deduction into full-blown chaos. I like going last as I get to hear everyone's ideas before plotting my own Pros 🧩 Crunchy, satisfying deduction 👝 Small-box, big game 🎓 Simple rules, quick teach 🩼 Surprisingly colorblind-friendly 🌍 Language independent 👥 Works at all counts 🎲 High replayability 🪞 Premium-feeling components Considerations 🧠 Can get very  thinky (not ideal if you want light filler) 📢 Multiplayer mode changes the feel, it’s a race, not a duel ⚠️ Be prepared for analysis paralysis if someone really wants to crack it perfectly Where to find Orapa Mine? Want to dig into the mine yourself? Check the game out in BoardGameArena . Playte has an: eBay Store:  https://ebay.com/str/playte Amazon Store :  https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/32CB51EC-19A5-466C-A39B-6022AD1B330C Going to Essen? Preorder it at: https://tally.so/r/mBYNZe Conclusion 🏆 Orapa Mine takes the familiar satisfaction of Battleship and dials it up into a full-blown logic puzzle. It’s all about deduction, spatial reasoning, and that delicious moment of “aha” when the colors finally make sense. If you enjoy puzzles that keep you on edge and reward careful thinking, this little gem is worth digging up.

Tasso Banana  is fast, silly, and way more strategic than you'd expect from a bunch of wobbly wooden bananas. It’s also a Playte  game, which means a few things right off the bat: 📦 The box becomes the board 🧳 It fits in your bag 🎉 It sets up in seconds This one’s a perfect guest star for literally any occasion. Waiting for dinner? ✅ Have 15 minutes? ✅ Feeling competitive? ✅✅✅ It’s light, quick, and somehow always a little tense, and I mean that in the best way. The game is designed by Junghee Choi and Phillippe Proux. It is available in the North America by 25th Century Games. The game plays 2-6 players, and it scales well. I feel that the game really shines at 4 or more players. 🎮 How It Plays Unfold the box to make the board. This is my favorite feature on many of Playte games Give each player an equal bunch of wooden bananas On your turn, place one banana on the board. You can place this banana anywhere as long as you are in the board area and you don't touch one of the largest leaves (there are three and they can be added as you wish to make the game more competitive). If you are feeling lucky or greedy, you can try to balance a banana between two already placed bananas. If you succeed, you take another turn. If you fail, you collect all the bananas that fell or are now touching the extra leaves AND you must also take a banana from the player that went before you This move can be super rewarding or punishing. Depending how the banana gods are feeling in that precise moment 🏆 The player to place all their bananas first wins! Pros 🍌 Stacking tension keeps everyone engaged 🧳 Portable game that plays anywhere 🧠 Light strategy 🎓 Super easy to teach 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Great with kids, friends, even non-gamers ⏱️ Under 15 minutes 🌐 Language independent 🎲 Sturdy, high-quality components 🚀 Quick turns with minimal downtime Considerations 💥 If someone sneezes, the game might end (seriously). If this happens to you, you lose and play again 🙈 👀 Expect debates about banana placement, but fear not and trust your gut 🍌 Wooden bananas roll, so make sure to find an even surface or at least make sure that if the table wobbles, it is not in during your turn Bottom Line Tasso Banana  is a quick, goofy dexterity game that’s sneakily smart. It plays well at any player count, is easy to bring anywhere, and adds instant energy to a game night. We’ve been pairing it with banana pudding as a themed appetizer, followed by Monkey Palace for a cheeky climb-the-ladder moment, or After Us for something a little more crunchy. Then we wind down with a round of Bananagrams or Tasso Banana depending on the crowd. Turns out banana night is kind of a-peeling (follow me for more puns 🙈)

Introduction Two player games are our favorite, and cooperative ones always give us just the right amount of stress. Codenames Duet takes the classic party game and turns it into a secret mission for two. Have you ever wanted to be a spy? Now is your chance! Sit across from each other, trade clues, dodge the assassin, and wonder how on earth your one and only could have chosen that word. My clues are usually terrible, so we usually play more than once. Whether you have played the original Codenames or are looking for a cozier twist, Codenames Duet  is a clever way to spend a night in Gameplay Players work together to find 15 secret agents hidden in a 5 by 5 grid of 25 words. Each of you has your own side of a key card showing which words your partner needs to guess. Nine agents per side, twelve bystanders, three possible assassins, and nine rounds to find all fifteen agents (three agents overlap). Guess an assassin and it is game over. Trust me, it happens more than you think in our house because I seem to have a magnetic talent for finding them 🙈 On your turn, give a one-word clue plus a number and hope your partner can read your mind. Guess an agent, cover it with a green tile. Guess a bystander, and the turn ends. Guess the assassin and lose immediately. Each turn uses one timer token, and if you run out, there is one last sudden death round to save the mission. My advice: do not overthink it, trust your gut, and remember, double guessing usually leads straight into trouble Tips When a clue feels impossible, do not sweat it. You can always pass. Sometimes it helps to give a zero clue to steer your partner away from the wrong words. Make sure to read all words before giving out a word. Patience is key. It’s okay to think for a minute (which will probably seem like forever) before giving out a word and a number. Also, do not react to your partner’s possible guesses. That's cheating. I have a bad poker face, so when things get tense, I turn around Conclusion Codenames Duet is a tense, clever mission for two. This cooperative word association game feels like a fresh puzzle every time. It plays fast and works well for two or a group. Bring your creativity and try not to overthink it! Once you’re comfortable with the basics, the mission maps add a new layer where you guess within a set number of turns and limited mistakes. Less turns, more tension, more fun as long as the assassin doesn’t come up. And oh, boy! That dude comes up a lot in my house 🙈 I'm in a mission to only keep games we play in our collection, and Codenames is a keeper. Here's my rubric and my Geeklist with all the 2-player games I've reviewed

A.E.G.I.S.: Second Ignition is all about sparks, steel, and smashing robots together until they combine into something bigger, or get destroyed. It’s tactical, chaotic, and blends dice chucking with clever positioning. The game is published by Zephyr Workshop, and it plays 1–4 players. It has an expansion that allows for up to six players I tried a three player game on the expansion six player mat. The hex board gave me nostalgic Chinese Checkers vibes. If Chinese Checkers had blocked spaces, missiles, lasers, and giant anime mechs shouting “Combine!” The game is designed by Cassandra Clark, Breeze Grigas, and Zach Kettell. The production is gorgeous: bold art, flashy standees, and tokens that pop. I was ready to love it. Dice rolling, robots combining, big tactical battles? Yes please! ⚠️ Disclaimer: I do not usually play war strategy or miniature games, so my perspective might be very different from someone who does. After playing AEGIS, I realized this one might not be for me. And that’s a shame, because who doesn’t like the excitement of rolling dice? I’ll give it another go with more of an RPG twist. If you lean into narration and storytelling, I think it could really shine. The art, the boards, the robots, it all looks like an anime crossover dropped onto your table. But for me, the gameplay didn’t click. And that’s rough to admit, because I wanted to love it What’s the Game About? At its core, A.E.G.I.S. is a tactical combat game where each player builds a squad of five robots and battles it out. There are five robot classes, and together they spell the game’s name: Assault : Aggressive attackers with melee and guns Evasive : Fast scouts with bombs, missiles, and machine guns Guard : Big tanks that soak up damage Intel : Tricksters with lightning and energy abilities Support : Long-range helpers and healers Each robot generates energy at the start of your turn, which you spend to move, attack, or activate special abilities. Each hex you move costs one energy, and most actions require dice rolls that also consume energy. Managing this resource is key as you balance positioning, attacking, and saving enough for powerful combinations. Robots can also merge into larger forms, fusing multiple units into one more powerful robot Victory comes when your opponents can no longer function effectively. Either they can’t produce at least five points to keep their team running, or their remaining robots can’t deal damage, drain energy, or move other robots around the battlefield My Experience The variety in this game is staggering. There are over 100 unique robots, each with a card and standee. You could play dozens of times and never field the same squad. The rulebook is detailed and well-written, and the system has a lot of clever ideas. And yet… I struggled 😭 Pacing : while the system allows for big tactical setups, the game can drag. In the three-player variant, players start too far apart. You’ll often spend two or three turns just maneuvering into position and playing defensively before the action really starts Analysis Paralysis : If you thrive on complex decisions, this game has plenty. For me, though, the sheer number of options (which robot to activate, where to move, which action to use, whether to combine) slowed things to a crawl as players calculated every possibility. I’m hopeful this eases with more experience Combining Robots : Cool in theory, confusing in practice. Once standees start fusing into duos, trios, or beyond, I often wasn’t sure who was who or where my target had moved to Dice Probability : Some attacks feel frustratingly punishing. When you roll three dice and all of them need to be greater than a certain number, it can waste precious energy and come up empty Components : The iconography is heavy, and while the summary cards help, there’s a lot to absorb at first. Plus, there just aren’t enough damage tokens to go around That said, when the system clicks, you really do feel like you’re commanding an over-the-top anime battle, complete with giant robots clashing, combining, and pulling off big cinematic moves Who Is This Game For? This is a game for players who: Love tactical skirmish games and plotting every move like a battlefield general Grew up on anime mechs and dream of shouting at the table Enjoy long, swingy battles with crunchy rules Don’t mind chaos and dice luck in their strategy Pros: 💕 Gorgeous artwork and components 🤖 Loads of unique robots, tons of variety 🎲 Multiple game modes 📍 Pre-built squads and detailed rules to get you started Cons: Gameplay can drag Combined robots are hard to track on the board If luck is not in your favor, dice can be punishing Iconography learning curve is steep Final Thoughts I wanted to love A.E.G.I.S.: Second Ignition. The concept, the style, the dice-chucking chaos, it all seemed tailor-made for me. But in practice, I found myself more frustrated than thrilled. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. For the right group, especially those who thrive on tactical depth and anime-style battles, this could be an absolute hit. For me, though? I may try it once more with a narrative. In the meantime, I’ll admire it from afar and let someone else pilot the giant robot

Some games teach you how to plant crops or stack engines. Watergate is about corruption, conspiracy, and dragging a president’s reputation through a heap of redacted memos. Just another two-player date night at our place 🥰 Designed by Matthias Cramer and published by Capstone Games, Watergate is a card-driven duel that takes about 45 minutes to play. It’s light on rules but heavy on tension. Unlike most games, this one also teaches you history, and oh boy! It brings the drama. I didn’t grow up in the States, so learning about the scandal and the real people behind it was unexpectedly fascinating. The informants, the conspirators, the journalists, so many people! Spoiler alert : the rulebook goes all in with background blurbs for everyone involved. It’s basically a two-player civics lesson, with bonus paranoia What’s Going On Here? Watergate pits one player as the Nixon Administration, trying to survive their full term by suppressing evidence, and the other as a an editor scrambling to connect the dots and publish the truth before it's too late. The game is all about the cards and feels a lot like tug-of-war. Both players constantly trying to keep their evidence momentum. The game is very dramatic and deliciously tense What’s in the Box? 2 decks of unique cards (20 for Nixon, 20 for the Editor) A central board that feels like a bulletin board straight out of a conspiracy movie A mess of evidence tokens in three colors with a few wildcards Momentum tokens, picture tiles, and the one initiative token everyone wants A nice little cloth bag How It Sets Up This is the best part, pick your role, shuffle your deck, seed the board, and boom. You’re ready to start your own miniature historical scandal How It Plays Each round has three phases: Draw and Seed : Players draw cards based on initiative and Nixon secretly pulls three evidence tokens from the bag Card Play : Players alternate playing cards either for their value or for their actions. While the editor tries to plant evidence, Nixon tried to bury the truth Evaluate : Tokens get awarded. Evidence gets pinned to the board face up for the editor, and face down for Nixon. If Nixon has five momentum? Victory! But if the Editor is able to connect two informants, journalism prevails! Pros 📰 Sharp theme 📍 Snappy, high-stakes tug-of-war gameplay 📅 Plays in about 45 minutes 🃏 Every card feels meaningful 🤐 Nixon gets to hoard secrets and a chance to rewrite history 🧠 Really clever asymmetry. Both sides play very differently Considerations 🧩 Not for folks who dislike hidden info or historical games 🛑 Some card effects are super swingy. Queue up the drama Editor's Note If you’ve ever wanted to scream “Check the tapes!” across the table at someone you love, Watergate  is for you. It’s tense, thematic, and constantly asks you to gamble. The game is all about timing, the cards combos you can create, and hoping to trust your gut. Below is my two player rubric for Watergate. Though the game is not language-independent and cannot be taken everywhere, it is a solid game for those who dig a history tug-of-war game that plays under an hour

You know when life is fine… and then someone introduces you to something like sriracha or Chick-fil-A sauce? Your life was perfectly okay before, but now you’re wondering how you lived so long without that little bit of yummy magic That’s exactly how I felt about Dominion. The game dropped in 2008, but I didn’t even hear about it until 2020. Then the pandemic hit, so I wasn’t able to try it until 2021. One night, a friend and I were comparing how our game nights had escalated. Many started with Monopoly or Uno, but we had graduated to Catan. In fact, we’d played so much Catan that I get queasy when someone suggests it. She grinned and said, “Ah, Catan is great, but have you experienced Dominion?” I had no idea what I was walking into. My first reaction was, “A game with just cards?” I had no idea what a deck-builder was. The concept is brilliantly simple: you start with a small deck of basic cards and build it up as you play by buying new, more powerful ones. Each turn, you draw from your deck, use those cards, and try to create powerful combos that help you score points or mess with your opponents. It’s like building your own toolkit on the fly. And Dominion was the OG that kicked off the whole genre! At first glance, Dominion isn’t winning any beauty contests. It's just a plain box and art that feels more old-school Magic: The Gathering than modern, glossy card games. The newer printings have improved, but the real beauty is in the gameplay Underneath that plain wrapper is a strategic and addicting powerhouse. Not all kingdoms (the unique card setups) are created equal, and not every set of cards works for all player counts. Discovering which combinations shine at 2, 3, 4, 5, or even 6 players has been half the fun. Some groups love money-heavy games, others crave attack card. The perfect set really depends on the vibe Why am I hooked? ✅ Easy to learn 🔄 Infinite replayability ⏩ Quick turns (unless someone gets stuck with analysis paralysis) 👩‍👩‍👧‍👦 Anyone can play 📦 Travel-friendly (I keep a travel copy in my car) 📜 Clear rules. I really like that each card explains what it does Heads up though: ⚠️ The OG box and art won’t wow your friends 🧠 The game is delightfully crunchy 💸 Expansions are dangerously addictive Since that first game, we’ve upgraded, sleeved, laminated, organized, and packed expansions into boxes like Tetris pros (I have about 3-4 expansions per box). I even challenged myself to play 100 different kingdoms this year, and I’m well on my way So yeah, I was late to the Dominion party. But like that Chick-fil-A sauce, once you get a taste, it sticks with you forever Who's that in the photo? That’s Mozart Bartholomeo! My newly retired, 10 or so year old cat who’s also been enjoying Dominion. Mostly, he naps on my side while we play. But if you need a furry game buddy with chill vibes and the occasional paw swipe, he’s your guy!

Witch better have my package  💌 Tried Delivery Witches  by a new publisher Undigital. The game is designed by Eric Rodriguez and illustrated by Mado Peña and Ernest Sala. This is a cozy broom-riding delivery game is based on Mika and the Witch’s Mountain (I am not into video games but if there's a comic or movie about this, I want to know about it). What first drew me in? The art — it’s absolutely gorgeous. You play as a young witch flying around a dreamy coastal island, delivering mail, upgrading your broom, dodging hazards, and flexing your magical logistics skills 🧹What is Delivery Witches? 1–4 player delivery game where you're a witch-in-training zipping around a dreamy coastal island in about 30 minutes per player. Your job? Pick up packages, dodge hazards, flex your magical logistics skills, and upgrade your broom to delivery packages and score points. You’ll start in the sleepy village, but to reach the spooky woods and dramatic mountain, you’ll need better gear! ✨ How It Plays Each turn, you get 4 actions . Choose from: Moving along the paths Picking up a delivery Upgrading your broom Getting new abilities You can also save your actions for a future turn as long as you don't exceed eight actions. Dropping off packages is a free action. Once you match the corresponding house, boom! mail delivered. Want bonus points? Go for mastery challenges: Deliver on a specific number of moves Avoid terrain hazards like mountains or water If you succeed, you’ll move up the matching mastery track and maybe even snag a mastery Token. Fail the challenge? That's okay. The delivery still counts! The game offers subtle player interaction through racing for deliveries and strategic use of abilities to leap over rivals or avoid hazards. The components are colorful. The witch meeples are chunky and beautiful. The iconography of the game is clear and once you understand it, it's very thematic and easy to follow. 🏅 Endgame The game ends once someone earns their fourth medal. Everyone else gets one last turn, then tally up: Delivered packages Earned medals Mastery bonuses Leftover coins and crystals Most points wins and becomes the island’s magical mail carrier! Pros 📦 Satisfying delivery system 🎯 Medals give clear, fun goals 🔮 Strong ability combos 🗺️ Smart map design with level-based areas. I really like that you can randomize the setup to mix up hazards and deliveries 🌐 Language independent 🎨 Stunning art with a cute witchy vibe Considerations 📖 Review based on prototype copy . Rules and components may change or evolve 🕰️ The game takes about 30 minutes per player 🔄 No way to refresh the ability card market which can be frustrating at times 🙃 Some downtime at three and four player counts, but you get more player interaction! Bottom Line Delivery Witches is beautiful, whimsical, and just the right amount of thinky. It reminds me of fall, pumpkin spice lattes, just add a spreadsheet. If you’ve ever dreamed of running a magical FedEx, this is your moment!

🌲 Aspens  scratches a very specific itch. We’re big Photosynthesis fans, and I’ve been hunting for a two-player nature game that’s faster, cozier, and still offers that satisfying chess-like crunch 🚨Spoiler alert: Aspens delivers One of my favorite things about board games is how much you learn along the way. I thought Aspen was just a ski town in Colorado. Turns out they’re beautiful, tough trees that grow in huge underground colonies. Aspens are like one big forest family quietly expanding together.That calm, persistent and resilient growth? That's basically the theme of this game! Aspens  is a fast, strategic, two-player forest expansion game from new publisher Ludivore Games, designed by Neil Edwards and Luke Roberts. It's a tug-of-war powered by dice and pretty trees. The wind die establishes the direction in which you can grow, and the sun die determines which tiles get to spread their roots. Outgrow your opponent, claim the most territory, and hopefully become the ruler of the woods! Forest Fresh: The Setup The board? Seven hex tiles with three water tiles scattered around. Players choose either yellow aspens or green pines. Then, each player plants three seeds, one next to each water tile. I'm happily taking pro tips on where to face my first trees to maximize my growth! Player than take turns planting four trees. You can plant all the trees on one existing tile, or spread out to try to maximize your space. 🌞 How to Play Each turn rolls the sun die and the wind die. The sun die shows a number, and each of your forest tiles with at least that many trees will generate one tree The wind die tells you which directions you can expand into empty tiles The rolling player, gets a bonus tree Then, collect trees based on your forest size and the sun roll Here comes the fun. Plan your move! Either grow up on your existing tiles to boost future tree production, or grow out in wind-allowed directions to claim more territory. If you enclose an area that your opponent can’t reach, you instantly celebrate and fill it with your trees to claim the whole zone. This is a very satisfying and savage way to strategically and peacefully conquer the forest. But beware, claiming a huge chunk of the forest doesn't guarantee your victory. 🏆 You win by controlling the most tiles when the board is full! Who’s This Game For? Nature game lovers who want a beautiful and fast game Two-player gamers who crave tactical decisions with a touch of luck Fans of spatial puzzles and peaceful competition Anyone who likes watching something grow (and then totally cutting off their opponent’s opportunities) What Makes Aspens Unique? Tug-of-forest decisions by balancing the growth of tall forests vs. quick expansion Sun and wind dice that add luck yet keep the game strategic Territory claiming  race your opponent to close off areas to instantly claim them Chain planting  place new trees adjacent to ones just planted for massive growth Pros 🌞 Clever dice system mixing luck with strategy 🧩 Spatial puzzle keeps you thinking each turn 🎓 Quick to learn, teach, and play 🌐 Language independent 🚀 Fast turns, minimal downtime Considerations ⏳ Dice rolls can mess with your plans 🌳 Forest tiles can get crowded if you stack too many trees in one spot 📦 There are two versions: standard edition which has abstract pieces deluxe version with beautiful treeples and cloth bags for easier set up Bottom Line Aspens is a beautiful, brainy, quick-to-play forest game. It takes up a bit of table space, but it’s worth it. I really enjoy how the board gets colorful as you play. I had the chance to playtest an early copy, and while my opinions are totally my own, I can’t wait to play the finished version. This one hits right on target for my 2025 goal to find and review the best two-player games. Check out Aspens Kickstarter campaign to learn more about the campaign and see how the final forest takes shape

I blinked and somehow it’s July. It's time to check on those 2025 board game goals and see what’s actually making it to the table. Spoiler: the hype fades, but some games are forever! 📊 Progress Report ✅ Collection under 500  — nailed it! 🕹️ 27% of the collection played 👑 25/100 unique Dominion kingdoms  — slowly but surely building our own Throne Room 🏆 Most Played Games So Far Let’s be honest, some games just don’t leave the rotation: 👑 Dominion  – The reigning champ. Still discovering new combos and kingdoms 🧑‍🚀 The Crew  – Quiet chaos and teamwork at its finest. I honestly think that if LotR Trick taking Game could be counted as The Crew, this would be the most played game of the year. It's so good, and depending on the group, we can't finish a night without playing one of the other, or sometimes both 🔥 Knister  – Fast, crunchy, and chaotic fun. Like Splitter  but speedier. We keep trying to outsmart the dice… spoiler alert: we never do 🙈 🧙‍♂️ The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game  – Long name, probably one of the longest ones I've seen. Amazing game! We are obsessed! ⚓ Captain Flip  – Bag mechanic magic from Paolo Mori? Yes please. 🪐 Jump Drive  – Forever in our deck box. Still teaching it, still loving it, still undefeated in universal appeal. We've sleeved this game, we got a second copy, so it can live in the car, and! We got score counting dials, so we can play this EVERYWHERE! 🎒 Games That Go Everywhere We love a good portable game — here are the ones that live in bags, purses, and glove compartments: 7️⃣ Flip 7  – The one we always  bring. Even non-gamers ask for it! ✍🏻 Knister  – Fast, tense, and somehow always just  out of reach 🧳 Jump Drive  – Our default pick for cafes and travel nights (And don’t worry — Dominion still  travels with us in that iconic Gamegenic sleeved 1,000-card case) We’re chasing fewer new releases this year and playing more of what we love. What’s been hitting your table lately? Any 2025 games still going strong?

Our First Look at Cat in 8 🐾 We pounced on the chance to try a prototype of Cat in 8 , and I gotta say, we’re already clearing shelf space for the finished version. Like Sequence ? Love cats? Obsessed with pretty art? This game is a delight. It’s a cozy spatial strategy game where every card you play brings you closer to completing patterns on the board or blocking someone else’s perfect setup. It’s clever without being crunchy. Fast to teach. Easy to love. What makes it shine is the modular board. It changes every time you play but never feels overwhelming. It plays well at any count, looks gorgeous on the table, and you’re constantly doing something. Scoring. Building. Blocking. Plotting. During our first game, we played four times in a row. Sad news? I did not win, but I did come close. The fact that you are able to score throughout the game makes it a blast and anyone's game. 🎯 What’s the Game? Cat in 8  is published by Ghetti Games and illustrated by Katerina Izobova. It plays 2–6 players, and it scales purrfectly (more cat puns incoming). It’s a beautiful spatial strategy game that blends pattern-building with just the right amount of chaos. Think of it as Sequence’s modern and mischievous feline cousin—better art, chunkier tokens, rotating tiles, and just a little extra bite 📦 What’s in the Box Please note that this is a first impression, so some components may change at production. With that said, the components are very high-quality Chunky double-sided cat tokens Gorgeous full-color cards A sleek organizer that fits everything purrfectly One (yes, ONE) plastic bag—for scoring pegs only, which is brilliantly intentional A neat modular board The production quality already has us swooning, and I can't wait to play the finished product 🧶 Setup The custom organizer makes setup a breeze! No digging through baggies, no fiddling with loose bits. Everything has its spot, and you’ll be playing within a few minutes. More games need to take notes from this level of thoughtful design As for the board, it’s just as easy. Lay out all 16 tiles face-up in a 4x4 grid—any order, any orientation. That forms the full 8x8 play area. The four blank corners get Free Space Cat Tokens, which are neutral and usable by anyone. The final version will have the pieces slightly raise. This will make it easier to see scoring opportunities 🎲 How It Plays Each turn, you play a card and place one of your chunky cat tokens on one of the matching spots on the board. Your goal? Create sequences of three or more of your tokens in a straight line. You’ll earn points for each new line you complete or extend on your turn, and if you manage to score in multiple directions at once—voilà! Even more points Here’s the twist : if you ever complete a line of eight of your tokens, it’s game over. Instant win. Cat in 8 , baby 🏆 The deck also includes a few special cards that adds just the right amount of chaos: Cat Fight  lets you swap one of your tokens with someone else’s, what a way to strategically block your opponent(s) and possibly score big points Cat Nado  rotates a tile to a new orientation. My wife played this in a four player game, and won with Cat in 8! Cat Zoomies  pushes an entire row of tiles across the board. This can either mess with your opponents, help you score big, or both! Lastly, don’t forget to draw a card at the end of your turn. If you forget, you play the next round with one fewer card. That rule is brutal. And we love it! 😻 Pros 🎓 Simple rules, quick to learn 🧠 Clever spatial mechanics—every tile move counts 🧩 Strategic yet accessible 📦 Packs small, plays big! 👜 Zero setup fuss 🎨 Gorgeous art and table presence 🐾 Chunky tokens and tactile tile design 🔄 High replayability with a dash of chaos 👩‍👩‍👧‍👦 Purrfect for families or game night groups 🤔 Considerations 🎲 Chaos Cards can turn the tide . . . expect surprises! 🧩 Strategic players may get caught in a thinky catnap 😸 Token placement can get c[h]atty  in a competitive way—blockers beware! 🐾 Bottom Line Cat in 8 is paws-down  one of our favorite prototypes we've ever played. It’s clean, clever, and cozy. It's a strategic snuggle wrapped in chunky tokens and charming art. If you love Sequence (as much as we do) but wish it had a glow-up, this is the cat’s meow 🐈‍⬛ And if you’re into a dash of competitive chaos, don’t sleep on this one. Cat in 8 plays well at any count whether playing at 2, 3, 4, or in a 2v2 team showdown.