0:0:00 Hello and welcome! This week we’ll be going over our holiday gift list of board games.

Fact for 384

384 is the sum of six consecutive primes (53 + 59 + 61 + 67 + 71 + 73)

Sponsor Message

If you need help figuring out how to get your engine started, First Move Financial might be able to help. Head over to FirstMoveFinancial.com/FamilyGamers to see how First Move Financial can kick start your financial engine today.

0:02:15 What We’ve Been Playing

Just two this week, that we’ll be reviewing soon.

Santa’s Workshop
Super Snipers

0:13:00 SNAP Review – Nekojima

Why are we building such a shoddy electrical grid, and why are cats hanging all over it? We don’t know, but it makes for a fun game!

Watch or read our review of Nekojima – the cat island full of power poles!

0:18:40 Board Game Gift Guide for the Holidays

Let’s walk through our whole list – these are games we recommend giving as gifts.

0:21:20 Very Young Children
0:27:10 Early Elementary (Age 6-9)
0:34:30 Older Kids (Age 10+)
0:41:40 Teens & Adults
0:48:15 Games for the Whole Family
0:58:00 Games for Two Players
1:03:55 Solo Games & Puzzles
1:07:30 Cooperative Games
1:11:00 Stocking Stuffers

1:20:00 Holiday Contests

Reminder: We have five giveaways – enter the ones you’re interested in:

ArcheOLogic
Patrician: Towers of Influence
Mutton Bustin
Avant Carde
Holiday Hijinks! (Kickstarter is done)

New (Old) Backtalk Question

Inspired by an up and coming SPONSORED For Science, we’re going to restate last week’s backtalk question to encourage you to keep weighing in: What’s your favorite beverage to have with a board game? Or do you forbid drinks from being anywhere near your games?

Find Us Online:

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
TikTok: @familygamersaa
Youtube: TheFamilyGamers

or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

Or, for the most direct method, email us! [email protected] and [email protected].

Check out our new Family Gamers and Play Games with Your Kids merchandise – T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs – at thefamilygamers.com/merch.

PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to the show, tell your friends about the show, and leave us a review at Apple Podcast or whatever your podcast subscription source is. We’re also on Amazon Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also now find us on YouTube Music! So pull it up and give us a listen while you’re toiling away at work :)

The Family Gamers is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers to learn how the team at First Move Financial can help you pile up the victory points.

The post Episode 384 – Board Game Holiday Gift List appeared first on The Family Gamers.

0:00 Hello and welcome!

Our holiday list is not ready, so we will be doing another podcast NEXT WEEK! Today’s podcast is just a smorgasbord of stuff.

Fact for 383

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/75367-most-strikeouts-in-a-major-league-baseball-season

Sponsor Message

Have you ever heard the term “it takes money to make money”?

Well, it’s not the only way to make money, but it is a true statement. Income, however it looks, is like an engine. It can start slow, but as you build your resource pool, it often becomes easier to make more.

If this sounds a little like the last time you played Wingspan or Terraforming Mars, it’s because there’s a lot of similarities between engine building in board gams and financial engine building in real life.

If you need help figuring out how to get that engine started, First Move Financial might be able to help. Head over to FirstMoveFinancial.com/FamilyGamers to see how First Move Financial can kick start your financial engine today.

04:00 What We’ve Been Playing

Bottle Imp (review coming soon)
Donut Shop (review coming soon)
Cabanga! – we will be teaching this at PAX Unplugged
Dodo – a great kids’ memory game with a cool slow-rolling ball as the timer. (review coming soon)
Runemasters (review coming soon)
Turns out beautiful games Deblockle (our review) and Quarto (our review) are also great for calm times or “sick” days.
Dirty Pig (our review – no longer in print)
Campaign Trail (one of the very first games featured on TheFamilyGamers.com)

26:00 October Monthly Report!

Andrew: 26 plays of 17 games. Primarily at 3 players! H-index: 2. Most played: Hamster Roll, Football Feud

Anitra: 44 plays of 24 games. H-index: 3. Most played: Hamster Roll, Circus Flohcati, Football Feud, Dodo

28:20 Welcome Facebook Community Members

Welcome, newbies! We’re thankful you’re here! Feel free to share some numbers if you’re statistics nerds like us.

29:00 Backtalk

Listeners tell us about their spookiest games. See responses on Discord and Facebook.

34:00 SNAP Review – Railroad Ink: Archipelago

Anitra reviews this expansion board that works with any version of Railroad Ink.

If you’re unsatisfied with how short a normal game of Railroad Ink is – this is the expansion for you.

Watch the video to see the Archipelago boards in action!

40:30 For Science!

We try Coca-Cola flavored Oreos, and Oreo flavored Coke Zero.

We’re not big fans. But Andrew dislikes this two-for-one taste experiment MORE than Anitra does!

Which one would you rather try?

45:00 Holiday Contests

We have five giveaways – enter the ones you’re interested in:

ArcheOLogic
Patrician: Towers of Influence
Mutton Bustin
Avant Carde
Holiday Hijinks! (check out the Kickstarter or check out one of our old reviews)

Enter the giveaways!

50:00 New Backtalk Question

What’s your favorite beverage to have with a board game? Or do you forbid drinks from being anywhere near your games?

Find Us Online:

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
TikTok: @familygamersaa
Youtube: TheFamilyGamers

or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

Or, for the most direct method, email us! [email protected] and [email protected].

Check out our new Family Gamers and Play Games with Your Kids merchandise – T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs – at thefamilygamers.com/merch.

PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to the show, tell your friends about the show, and leave us a review at Apple Podcast or whatever your podcast subscription source is. We’re also on Amazon Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also now find us on YouTube Music! So pull it up and give us a listen while you’re toiling away at work :)

The Family Gamers is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers to learn how the team at First Move Financial can help you pile up the victory points.

The post Episode 383 – Smorgasbord and Holiday Contests appeared first on The Family Gamers.

0:00 It’s the end of October, which means it’s time for Halloween-themed games!

382 Fact

Patent class 382 is the generic class for the automated analysis of an image or recognition of a pattern.

(What is this? All that AI that Google brags about with identifying people, or things to then shop for, all of that falls under patent class 382).

Find out more: https://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/uspc382/defs382.htm

Sponsor Message

If you want to talk to someone about your money history or personality then 15 minutes will just scratch the surface, but First Move can give you some resources to point you in the right direction. Set up a time to talk with them at firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers today.

5:08 What We’ve Been Playing

Football Feud (watch our SNAP review!)
Harmonies
Hamster Roll (review coming soon)
Ghosts Love Candy Too (more in the second half)
Circus Flohcati (review coming soon)
Felix: The Cat in the Sack – picked this bidding game up on a whim and had a pleasant time!
Tether

Welcome Community Members

Say hi to all the new Facebook group members! Welcome!

20:50 Backtalk

Listeners tell us about their favorite beautiful games on Discord.

Some other good content in the community:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/posts/3817897471833048/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/posts/3826331294322999/

27:35 SNAP Review – Mojo

Do you have the mojo? We do, in this snappy card game.

Watch the video or read the transcript.

32:30 Our Top Spooky Games for Families at Halloween

We’re not big into horror or being scared. But we do love these gently spooky games for Halloween play.

1. Ghosts Love Candy Too – you’re ghosts scaring kids in costume to try to get them to drop their candy. Scare the kids TOO much, and you’ll have to take responsibility (usually negative points). Only nine rounds, with a ton of variability due to the kids who appear and what candy each player values most. Read or watch our review.

2. Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters – we LOVED this game when our kids were younger. Cooperatively retrieve the treasures from a haunted house before too many ghosts and “hauntings” appear. It looks like the anniversary edition now includes rules for a player to control the ghosts, which means up to five people can play!

3. Studies in Sorcery – the darkest game on our list. Dig up graves for spell components to complete your degree in the dark arts in this card drafting / set building game. Read our review.

4. Zombie Dice – we’ve been playing this with our kids from very young ages. Pull three dice out, roll them. Brains are good, shotgun blasts are bad. Want to keep going? Gather any footsteps and add more dice to get back to three. Roll them and see if you are satisfied… or if you have three shotgun blasts, wiping out your brains this turn. (Find it on Amazon)

5. Horrified – There are four of these now! Classic, American Monsters, Greek Monsters, World of Monsters. Our favorite is Greek Monsters, but all are good. Cooperate to move “victims” away from the monsters and work towards defeating the monsters for good!

Bonus Games!

Unmatched: Cobble & Fog (Dracula, Invisible Man, Jekyll & Hyde) , Unmatched: Buffy

Some longer and more “adult” games: Fury of Dracula, Letters from Whitechapel, Arkham Horror, The Shining (Coded Chronicles).

And how about Scooby Doo: Escape from the Haunted Mansion (Coded Chronicles)?

Looking for more? Halloween isn’t really our thing. But the guys at One Board Family love Halloween and creepy games!

New Backtalk Question

What are your favorite spooky games for the family?

Find Us Online:

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
TikTok: @familygamersaa
Youtube: TheFamilyGamers

or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

Or, for the most direct method, email us! [email protected] and [email protected].

Check out our new Family Gamers and Play Games with Your Kids merchandise – T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs – at thefamilygamers.com/merch.

PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to the show, tell your friends about the show, and leave us a review at Apple Podcast or whatever your podcast subscription source is. We’re also on Amazon Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also now find us on YouTube Music! So pull it up and give us a listen while you’re toiling away at work :)

The Family Gamers is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers to learn how the team at First Move Financial can help you pile up the victory points.

The post Episode 382 – Top 5 Spooky Games for Halloween appeared first on The Family Gamers.

0:00 Hello and welcome! This week, we’re talking about beautiful games – ones you would leave out on a coffee table – that are great for families to play.

Fact for 381

We’re back to the Guinness Book of World Records, friends.

The largest hand-held video game console party was on 12 October 2007, at the Parramatta mall in Sydney Australia, where 381 people gathered together, each one brandishing their own Nintendo DS.

Sponsor Message

Did you know that according to a recent poll sponsored by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling only 18% of Americans feel very confident about their retirement? So if you aren’t sure about retirement, you’re not alone. If you want to talk to a professional to see if you are on track to achieve your goals, go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/FamilyGamers to schedule a quick phone call and see if First Move is the right fit for you.

02:43 What We’ve Been Playing

Nekojima – review coming soon. We love that it can be cooperative or competitive.
Mojo – review coming soon.
Mundus Novus
Captain Flip (our review)
Sky Team – we talked about playing this on Board Game Arena, but now we’ve played it in person. Looking forward to playing a lot more.
Dice Throne – as recommended in our Games for Teens. We don’t love king-of-the-hill with our boys.
Agueda: City of Umbrellas – review coming soon
Fire Tower
Football Feud! – very simple. Review coming soon.

18:20 September Monthly Report!

Andrew: 20 plays of 15 games. H-index: 2. Most played: Chrono-Trek (3 times) & Mojo (3 times). Also Trio (2 times).

Anitra: 29 plays of 18 games. H-index: 2. Most played: Chrono-Trek (6 times) & Mojo (4 times).

19:50 Welcome Facebook Community Members

Lots of new members this week! Stop in and tell us which animal pictured represents you.

21:30 Backtalk

Listeners tell us about games they wish they still had. See responses on Discord and Facebook.

26:25 SNAP Review – Super Kawaii Pets

This super-cute game is great for pet lovers. It’s really simple and light, best for kids or very light family play.

Watch the video to see our grumpy cat Romeo “help” with this one.

31:00 Top 5(ish) Beautiful Games

This is a very subjective topic. And we have a ton of games which we love for their art. But we’re thinking about coffee table games or “eye candy” games – not games with good art, but games that you could leave set up and would look good in and of themselves. Maybe one you could expect to see in the background in a design magazine. Usually this means abstract games made with natural materials.

• Shobu
• Deblockle
• The Gigamic abstract series: our favorite is Quarto, but there’s also Quoridor, Qawale, Pylos, Quixo, Squadro, and Quantik.
• Catch the Moon
• Suspend (or Suspend Junior) – this reminds us of the bead maze toys that used to be in the pediatrician’s waiting room.
• Azul

Shobu Deblockle Qawale Quarto Suspend Junior Catch the Moon Azul

49:40 New Backtalk Question

What are your favorite looking games? What games are absolutely gorgeous to you – and do you think they’d work in this coffee table kind of setting?

Find Us Online:

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
TikTok: @familygamersaa
Youtube: TheFamilyGamers

or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

Or, for the most direct method, email us! [email protected] and [email protected].

Check out our new Family Gamers and Play Games with Your Kids merchandise – T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs – at thefamilygamers.com/merch.

PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to the show, tell your friends about the show, and leave us a review at Apple Podcast or whatever your podcast subscription source is. We’re also on Amazon Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also now find us on YouTube Music! So pull it up and give us a listen while you’re toiling away at work :)

The Family Gamers is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers to learn how the team at First Move Financial can help you pile up the victory points.

The post Episode 381 – Top 5(ish) Beautiful Family Games appeared first on The Family Gamers.

0:00:00 Intro – We usually talk about kids on this show. But our children aren’t little children anymore – so what about games for teenagers?

380 Fact

The Ukraine country code for international calling is: 380.

Sponsor Message

To set up either a 15 minute phone call or a 90 minute meeting, go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/FamilyGamers.

0:04:45 What We’ve Been Playing

Clash of Magic Schools (review coming soon)
Trio (our review)
Skull King (review from One Board Family)
Little Alchemists
Floating Floors (review coming soon)

0:18:30 Welcome Community Members

Join in and welcome!
Don’t forget, you can also join our Board Game Arena community!

0:19:30 Backtalk

Speaking of our community, let’s talk about our backtalk. We got a lot this week! Lots of people playing games online I guess.

See responses on Discord and Facebook.

0:29:00 We explain H-index to answer a listener’s question.

0:32:30 SNAP Review – Charcuterie

This delicious game is great for mixed-age groups, or as a short appetizer before a longer game.

Watch the video and see how yummy this game is!

0:37:00 Top 10 Games for Teenagers

A follow on to our Games for Every Age series. Find the full list at TheFamilyGamers.com/top-10-games-teens/

0:56:00 New Backtalk Question

Is there a game from your past that you wish you could bring back, because you’re in a different season of life and you think it would fit better now?

For Andrew, it’s the videogame Rock Band. We used to play it in college and as young professionals with our friends, but it went away as we had kids and our video game consoles got older. Now that our kids are old enough to play with us, he misses it, and wishes he could bring it back to play with them!

Find Us Online:

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
TikTok: @familygamersaa
Youtube: TheFamilyGamers

or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

Or, for the most direct method, email us! [email protected] and [email protected].

Check out our new Family Gamers and Play Games with Your Kids merchandise – T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs – at thefamilygamers.com/merch.

PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to the show, tell your friends about the show, and leave us a review at Apple Podcast or whatever your podcast subscription source is. We’re also on Amazon Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also now find us on YouTube Music! So pull it up and give us a listen while you’re toiling away at work :)

The Family Gamers is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers to learn how the team at First Move Financial can help you pile up the victory points.

The post Episode 380 – Top Ten Games for Teens appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Let’s talk about playing board games online!

379 Fact

The Peterbilt 379, in production from 1992-2007, is still popular. And it was the model used for Optimus Prime in the Transformers movies.

https://blog.ritchiebros.com/the-classic-peterbilt-379-a-semi-truck-that-carries-its-value

Sponsor Message

Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/FamilyGamers. There, you can set up a quick, free phone call to see if First Move is a good fit for you.

What We’ve Been Playing

Star Trek: Chrono-Trek – Every time we set it up, we play it a bunch of times in a row.
Super Kawaii Pets
Mojo (try it on Board Game Arena)
Cosmoctopus

All of the games above are ones we are preparing to review.

We also learned Sky Team and played it together on Board Game Arena!
We recommend this video from Monique at Before You Play

August Monthly Report

Anitra: 42 plays of 25 games. H-index: 3. Most played: Chrono-Trek, Trio, Grove, Jinxx, and Donuts.

Andrew: 21 plays of 15 games. H-index: 2. Most played: Chrono-Trek, Trio. (also Secret Identity and Roll to the Top)

Welcome Community Members

Just a few this week. Stop in and say hi!

P.S. We will officially be at PAX Unplugged – with FOUR writers (and family members)! We will be running a Learn-and-Play on Sunday of that weekend.

Backtalk

Listeners tell us their favorite date-game stories.

See responses on Discord and Facebook.

SNAP Review – Secret Identity

Give clues and guess each other’s identities in this feel-good guessing game. There’s only shared success, which makes it a great family game, with a little bit of silliness. Just watch out for very small text and symbols!

Watch the video or read the transcript for our Secret Identity review.

Board Game Arena

So this week we’re going to talk about Board Game Arena. It’s not the only way to play board games online, but for us, it’s probably the most valuable. Why?

• Play with anyone (friends or strangers) all around the world.
• Asynchronous play
  • We can play against each other without trying to leave a game set up (which our cats would destroy)
  • Take five minutes to “solve the puzzle” of a single turn, in the middle of your day.
• Bookkeeping – allows play of fiddly or complex games that we might not otherwise play. (example: Seasons)
• You can try a game (or expansion) for free before you buy it.
• Tutorials – yet another way to learn a new game. Or you can try playing here before you play it with your family.
• Hundreds of games available.

Our Five Favorite Games to Play on Board Game Arena

7 Wonders Duel – we like this in person, but having BGA handle the bookkeeping is amazing.
7 Wonders – Bookkeeping again, plus this game is a table hog in person.
Happy City – we love this simple tableau-building game (our review) – but the cards can get a little fiddly.
Roll to the Top – because each turn is so simple; a great way to take a minute to drop in and take a quick break from your day. Love this one in person, too (our review)!
Space Base – huge numbers of cards. Gets really messy in person. And BGA lets you set up options to speed the game when it’s not your turn.

Some more games we play because they’re hard to get to the table at home:

For Sale – a double bidding game. Anitra prefers it in real-time.
Tzolk’in – a complex game, that Andrew loves and Anitra does not want to play.
6 Nimmt! (AKA Take 5) – a quick numbers-on-cards games of predicting what others will play.
Lucky Numbers – we enjoy this game (our review) but no longer have this game at home. Another one that’s great to drop in and make one simple decision.

Some games are NOT as good on Board Game Arena! For example, Turing Machine or any game that requires “judging” (like Similo).

Other Apps

Through the Ages and Railroad Ink are both available on BGA, but are much better in their custom mobile apps.

Codenames app is in beta – Andrew says it’s awesome.

New Backtalk Question

Do you play board games online? What’s your favorite on Board Game Arena – or anywhere else? Tell us about your online board gaming experience!

And you should join our Board Game Arena group – let’s see if we can get some more games going there.

Find Us Online:

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
TikTok: @familygamersaa
Youtube: TheFamilyGamers

or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

Or, for the most direct method, email us! [email protected] and [email protected].

Check out our new Family Gamers and Play Games with Your Kids merchandise – T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs – at thefamilygamers.com/merch.

PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to the show, tell your friends about the show, and leave us a review at Apple Podcast or whatever your podcast subscription source is. We’re also on Amazon Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also now find us on YouTube Music! So pull it up and give us a listen while you’re toiling away at work :)

The Family Gamers is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers to learn how the team at First Move Financial can help you pile up the victory points.

The post Episode 379 – 5 Board Game Arena Favorites appeared first on The Family Gamers.

This week the kids go back to school. You know what that means? The return of Date Breakfast and “date night” games!

378 Fact

Did you know about the London Overground? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_378

Sponsor Message

If you’ve got questions about home ownership, investment, or any other financial question, go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/FamilyGamers. There, you can set up a quick (free) phone call to see if First Move is a good fit for you.

What We’ve Been Playing

Hero Kids (we interviewed the creator way back in episode 5!)
Nekojima
Dragonkeepers – review coming soon
Unmatched
Tír na nÓg – you should check out the Kickstarter for the reprint!
Railroad Ink Challenge (with new Archipelago boards)
Project L
Streamer Standoff
Chrono Trek – fun for Star Trek fans. Review coming soon.

July Monthly Report

Anitra: 37 plays of 18 games. H-index 3. Most played: Tether, Autumn, Merchants of Magick, Unboxed, Unmatched.

Andrew: 29 plays of 15 games. H-index 3. Most played: Merchants of Magick, Clash of Magic Schools, Unboxed, Tether, Charcuterie.

Welcome Community Members

Say hi to all the new Facebook group members! Welcome!

Backtalk

Listeners tell us about games they’ve played based on locations.

See responses on Discord and Facebook!

SNAP Review – Flip Circus

We flipped for Flip Circus – a challenging memory duel in a small pouch.

Check out the transcript or watch the video for Flip Circus.

Date Night Games

So, Flip Circus is NOT a good date game. But what is?

We talked about this way back in episode 180. We go through the old list we made (four years ago!) and say whether we’d still pick these for a date.

What would we pick now? Listen to us narrow down a list in real time, until we can get to a top six.

Our Top 6 Games for a Date Night (in 2024)

Jekyll vs. Hyde (our review) – 2 player competitive trick-taking.
Compile (our review) – card dueling.
boop (our review) – be mean kittens and boop each other off the bed.
Catch the Moon – a beautiful dexterity game, in a small space, and you can be as mean or as kind as you want to be.
Tussie Mussie – I-split-you-choose for 2+ players. Secret messages in flower bouquets.
Unmatched – Skirmishing game with lots of mix-and-match themes.

The runners-up:

Royal Visit
Lanaikea
Tether (needs a large table)
Jaipur
Onitama
Shobu
Sherlock Solitaire – or Ultimatch – cooperative games are great!

New Backtalk Question – Date Night Games

What is your favorite game to play with your partner?
Do you ever bring games on a date?
Do you have any great stories about playing a game on a date?

Send us more weird food FOR SCIENCE! :
The Family Gamers
60 Auburn St. #528
Auburn, MA 01501

Find Us Online:

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
TikTok: @familygamersaa
Youtube: TheFamilyGamers

or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

Or, for the most direct method, email us! [email protected] and [email protected].

Check out our new Family Gamers and Play Games with Your Kids merchandise – T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs – at thefamilygamers.com/merch.

PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to the show, tell your friends about the show, and leave us a review at Apple Podcast or whatever your podcast subscription source is. We’re also on Amazon Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also now find us on YouTube Music! So pull it up and give us a listen while you’re toiling away at work :)

The Family Gamers is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers to learn how the team at First Move Financial can help you pile up the victory points.

The post Episode 378 – Top 6 Date Games appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We waited an extra week for this podcast so we could bring you all the Gen Con goodies with Nick.

377 Fact

The most people wearing aviator sunglasses is 377, achieved by ProofPilot (USA) in Orlando, Florida, USA, on 7 February 2023.

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/727771-most-people-wearing-aviator-sunglasses

Sponsor Message

If you’ve got questions about home ownership, debt, or any other financial question, go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/FamilyGamers. There, you can set up a quick (free) phone call to see if First Move is a good fit for you.

What We’ve Been Playing

Sausage Sizzle
Renature
Gnome Hollow
Xylotar
Sagrada
Floating Floors
Secret Identity

Welcome Community Members

Whoa! A whole bunch of people have come to spend time in The Family Gamers Community over the last few weeks! Let’s gather ’round and say hi! Welcome!

Backtalk

Not many kid-friendly board game clubs among our listeners. Maybe you could help start one?

Gen Con Adventures

Nick tells us about his adventures at Gen Con. Picking up cheap older games at the used game consignment market and the auction, demoing others, escape rooms, meeting designers, and of course, being our roving reporter!

Nick highly recommends Snatch It! from HeidelBAR Games.

SNAP Review – Paper App Dungeon

Looking for a portable game your kid can play all by themselves? Our boys highly recommend Paper App Dungeon.

Watch the video or read the transcript of our review. But seriously, watch the video!

Gen Con 2024 Interviews

Calliope Games with Chris Leder

Brand new: Patrician: Towers of Influence

Coming: Day of the Brambles – “a card-flicking throwdown”

Coming: Legends of the Monster Academy

Doing well: Four Corners and Hive Mind

and a few we’ve reviewed in the past: Enchanted Plumes and Mass Transit

Find more at CalliopeGames.com

Amigo with Corey

CloudShip
Pick-a-pen games
Cabanga!

30th anniversary of Take 5 / 6 nimmt!
20th anniversary of Saboteur
2?th anniversary of Bonanza (and check out Bonanza Dahlias !)
26th anniversary of No Thanks!

coming soon: 3 Chapters

Find more at Amigo.games

Perplext with Chris Handy

Set 3 of Pack-O-Games, with
WIN – distilled version of Long Shot the Dice Game
BOG – 2 player card programming / hand-management
MAD – trick-taking

Long Shot: The Dice Game

Find them at PackOGame.com or Perplext.com

Grandpa Beck’s Games with Brent

Coming soon: 3-2-1 Countdown

Out now: Toil & Troublez
Another Man’s Treasure

Classics: Cover Your A$$ets
Skull King

GrandpaBecksGames.com or check the bottom of any of their boxes and find Brent’s phone number
For a discount, use GET15 on their website for 15% off.

Grand Gamers Guild with Marc

Tir na Nog (sold out! There’s now a reprint campaign on Kickstarter)
Endeavor: Deep Sea (with Burnt Island Games)
La Familia Hort (review coming soon)
Words of a Feather (our preview)
Holiday Hijinks games (we love these! and more are coming soon)
Endangered – Red Wolves expansion, and Endangered: Australia (coming 2025 – with koalas, toads, Great Barrier Reef)

For more, check out GrandGamersGuild.com.

Happy Camper Games with Jason

Trio (we love it! – our review)

coming soon: Combo

Find more at HappyCamper.Games

Envy Born Games with Mathue

Tiny Games series

Confusing Lands – expansions are in the works

coming soon: Dragon Roost

Kalahari (coming 2025 – not a tiny box)

Find more at EnvyBornGames.com, or on social media. Mathue says “I spend a lot of time on TikTok”.

New Backtalk Question!

Anitra mentioned playing Sagrada after being at the Sagrada Familia. Have you ever played a game at a location it’s based on? Or has a trip ever motivated you to play a certain game?

We know that we have to go visit the Greek town of Santorini because of how much Asher likes the game.

Find Us Online:

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
TikTok: @familygamersaa
Youtube: TheFamilyGamers

or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

Or, for the most direct method, email us! [email protected] and [email protected].

Check out our new Family Gamers and Play Games with Your Kids merchandise – T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs – at thefamilygamers.com/merch.

PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to the show, tell your friends about the show, and leave us a review at Apple Podcast or whatever your podcast subscription source is. We’re also on Amazon Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also now find us on YouTube Music! So pull it up and give us a listen while you’re toiling away at work :)

The Family Gamers is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers to learn how the team at First Move Financial can help you pile up the victory points.

The post Episode 377 – Gen Con 2024 with Nick appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Wow. We’re… Back? It’s been a very busy two weeks, and we’re already halfway through the summer. Let’s look forward to the start of school and talk about board game clubs!

376 Fact

Space facts are always cool. Let’s talk about the HS-376 – a popular type of satellite, and the first launched by the Space Shuttle!

Sponsor Message

If you have (student) loans forgiven, the US counts that as taxable income.

This has been specifically changed to not include student loans that are forgiven until the end of 2025, but if a client is in a forgiveness program and won’t be meeting their number of payments requirement in that time then they’ll want to have money saved up to pay the taxes on the forgiveness. A good thing to remember that is easily missed!

If you’ve got questions about how to manage your student loans, or any other financial question, go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/FamilyGamers. There, you can set up a quick (free) phone call to see if First Move is a good fit for you.

What We’ve Been Playing

Clash of Magic Schools
Merchants of Magick (our review)
Paper App Dungeon (review coming soon)
Charcuterie
Canvas Critters (we think that’s the name? It’s in development)
Autumn (bought from Gameria in Barcelona)
Colt Express

Welcome Community Members

Whoa! A whole bunch of people have come to spend time in The Family Gamers Community over the last few weeks! Let’s gather ’round and say hi! Welcome!

Backtalk

We talk about hobbies in the Discord community and games we’d like to see based on those. Organs? Eurovision? Camping?

For more on organs, check out episode 253 with our organist friend.

For more on camping, read our review of Camp Pinetop.

SNAP Review – Captain Flip

Aye! We build our pirate crews in this bag-pulling, tile-flipping game.

Captain Flip was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres, and it’s easy to see why.

Watch the video or read the transcript of this review.

For Science!

We try a special Polar seltzer flavor – Jalapeno Citrus Margarita.

Very different from other Polar seltzers we are familiar with.

5 Board Game Club Tips – For Parents

We reached out to our friend Liz (a teacher who runs a board game club) for some help with these tips.

1. Is there a board game club at all? Help start one!

Reach out to your children’s principal. Is there a board game club? Is there a similar club (like chess club) that could be expanded to include board games?

You can also reach out to the Parent-Teacher organization to suggest a board game club as a new after school activity.

2. Help with Programming

If there is a club, or if you’re helping to start it, help the club advisor with planning what to do each week! Be prepared to teach games, too.

Teachers have full time jobs and do this extra. But if you’re listening to this podcast, you might know more about hobby board games than they do.

3. Figure out how to purchase games FOR the club

You’ll be tempted to loan your own games, but you don’t want to do that. Kids will lose pieces and not treat the games with the same care you would. You’ll probably want multiple copies of some games too.

So, approach the PTO with financing the purchase of those games. Your word will carry more than a teacher’s in this case.

4. Suggest and help organize a PARENT NIGHT

The school can host an event where parents and kids play games together (hopefully with help from the PTO).

Gamewright used to have a fundraiser program called the Gamewright Game Night. We don’t know if they do that any more, but that was a great community event. You can combine it with a bake sale or another school community event – and then also show that there would be support for an after-school club.

5. BE ON TIME

The number one complaint from teachers who run clubs is that people don’t respect their time. They don’t show up on time to pick up their kids (or don’t show up on time as volunteers). Teachers are people too, often with their own kids they need to pick up from other places!

What if My Kid Doesn’t Go to a Traditional School?

Most of these tips still apply for a homeschool co-op, library, or community club. Ask what’s available, make suggestions of what YOU can do to help make this happen. Be willing to volunteer, and you don’t have to fund this all yourself!

New Backtalk Question!

We are talking about school board game groups. So tell us about yours!

Do you have a board game group at your school? A D&D group? What’s it like? Share your best story from your school game group!

Find Us Online:

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
TikTok: @familygamersaa
Youtube: TheFamilyGamers

or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

Or, for the most direct method, email us! [email protected] and [email protected].

Check out our new Family Gamers and Play Games with Your Kids merchandise – T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs – at thefamilygamers.com/merch.

PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to the show, tell your friends about the show, and leave us a review at Apple Podcast or whatever your podcast subscription source is. We’re also on Amazon Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also now find us on YouTube Music! So pull it up and give us a listen while you’re toiling away at work :)

The Family Gamers is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers to learn how the team at First Move Financial can help you pile up the victory points.

The post Episode 376 – 5 Ways to Help Your School’s Board Game Club appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Welcome Stephanie Nye this week, to talk about the games we’ve been playing lately and the Origins Game Fair.

375 Fact

A fact about gold

Sponsor Message

First Move Financial gives us tips about repayment plans and student loan debt.

Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/FamilyGamers to set up a free call.

What We’ve Been Playing

In the Footsteps of Darwin – Spiel des Jahres nominee!
Captain Flip – another nominee!
Lords of Waterdeep – a classic worker placement game. Should we try Champions of Midgard?
Sequoia – this doesn’t need to be as big on the table as the instructions say.
Jinxx (and Hijinks) from Looney Labs
Flip Circus

June Monthly Report

Anitra: 40 plays of 22 games (H-index:3, mostly Jinxx, Captain Flip and A Gentle Rain)

Stephanie: 31 plays of 18 games. Most played: Deduckto. (H-index: 3, with Deduckto, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Sequoia, and High Risk)

Andrew: 21 plays of 17 games. (H-index: 3 with Compile, Captain Flip, Kiri-ai The Duel, Ogre Under, and Unboxed.)

Welcome New Members

Stop in and say hi!

Backtalk

What game would make a good movie or TV show?

Check out the Facebook discussion or the Discord.

SNAP Review – A Gentle Rain

Anitra shares the details about this new version of A Gentle Rain – a great, simple solo game.

Watch the video to see the new art, or read the full transcript.

Topic: Origins!

Origins Game Fair is a medium-sized convention (“the smallest of the big conventions” says Anitra). It’s great for both seeing new games and for playing games. Stephanie and her husband always set aside time to play games from the Origins library.

Exciting games from the convention:

Café Baras – a must-buy
Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
Super Kawaii Pets (look for a review of this one in the future)
boop. (Andrew & Anitra love this one!)
Captain Flip
Nimalia
Skyteam (the other Spiel des Jahres nominee!)
Romi Rami
Santa’s Workshop

Columbus Ohio is a great, family-friendly city to visit – and accommodations/food are a lot easier than some of the bigger conventions.

The board gaming community is usually very welcoming, and Origins is a great example of that.

New Backtalk Question!

You may remember in the past Andrew talking about his hobby of bowling, and once he even mentioned a bowling board game that he played called Dragon Bowl. If you could pick a hobby YOU have that you would want a board game about, what would it be, and what would the game be called?

Find Us Online:

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
TikTok: @familygamersaa
Youtube: TheFamilyGamers

or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

Or, for the most direct method, email us! [email protected] and [email protected].

Check out our new Family Gamers and Play Games with Your Kids merchandise – T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs – at thefamilygamers.com/merch.

PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to the show, tell your friends about the show, and leave us a review at Apple Podcast or whatever your podcast subscription source is. We’re also on Amazon Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also now find us on YouTube Music! So pull it up and give us a listen while you’re toiling away at work :)

The Family Gamers is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers to learn how the team at First Move Financial can help you pile up the victory points.

The post Episode 375 – Origins with Stephanie! appeared first on The Family Gamers.

If you have kids in school, you've probably heard of the "summer slide" or summer learning loss. The best way to keep your kids from losing math and reading skills is to use them! So let's talk about five games that will give some practice.

The post Episode 374 – Top 5 Games to Beat the Summer Slide appeared first on The Family Gamers.