I have been waiting with bated breath to write another board games post, but I told myself I couldn’t write one until I had at least three games to talk about, and until recently, I’ve only had two. And now suddenly I have FOUR!
I always want to play this game. The fact that I haven’t yet purchased my own copy is a travesty that means I don’t get to play it half as much as I would like.
This game consists of collecting pleasingly tactile coins that represent different kinds of gems, which you use to purchase cards that also represent gems and potentially give you the points you need to win the game. So really it’s all gems all the time! Do not underestimate the pleasure of stacking up your gem coins.
Playing this game is an almost meditative experience for me. I have the best time being completely quiet and slowly building my collection of stunning gems.
Great things about the game: It plays well with 2 players as well as 3 or 4, which is pretty rare. It is great for travel (it went to Bali and back). The rules are easy to learn, and the gameplay is relatively quick.
Cons about the game: I don’t want to talk to anyone while I’m playing. Some people don’t love it as much as I do. If you get too far behind, it becomes almost impossible to catch up (although I even enjoy playing it then, which I understand sounds bizarre.)
I want to play this game almost but not quite as often as I want to play Splendor.
Featuring simultaneous card drafting, this game is very similar to Seven Wonders (which I also love) except it has a SPACE STATION THEME. Therefore it is awesome. There is less player interaction than in Seven Wonders, which means which chair you selected at your gaming table is less important.
Great things about the game: The theming is very well done. SPACE STATIONS! YOU GET TO BUILD THEM! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
Cons about the game: It’s easy for newbies to forget about the energy cube mechanic. Some people don’t care about space stations, which is hard to understand but nevertheless true. A few of the race cards seem to be more powerful than the rest.
Here are some people playing Among the Stars. I wish I were one of them….
I don’t know how I got to play a social game that isn’t Cards Against Humanity with my group of friends, but it has happened. More than once, even!
Reminiscent of Taboo, Codenames is a social word game at which I don’t suck horribly, which is very exciting for me! Two teams compete against each other to guess all their team words from one word clues from their spymaster. The spymaster tries to choose their clues to act for more than one word at a time. For example, if the spymaster says “Travel, three,” the correct words might be France, airplane, and suitcase. But what if there’s also the word beach on the board? Needless to say, there is a lot of strategy involved.
Pros about the game: A word game I can play without being super bad at it! Great for larger groups. Very challenging but fun to be one of the spymasters. Funny.
Cons about the game: There is an hourglass included with no real mechanics for its use, and it can break the game (or at least make it unnecessarily stressful).
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Aaaah, this game! So much fun!
This computer game (available on Steam) reminds me of the game Space Team, only more complicated. One person is trying to defuse the bomb on the computer. The other people, unable to see the monitor, are using the manual to try to explain how to defuse the bomb. Each bomb consists of several possible mini games, as well as variations in time allotted and mistakes allowed.
Pros about the game: It is super super fun. And quite challenging. The teamwork involved is really satisfying.
Cons about the game: You need a PC to play it. And I’m really bad at the Morse code mini game, which is tragic for me.
Played any games you’ve liked recently? Let me know in the comments.
The Practical Free Spirit 
[…] played perhaps fewer board games this year, but I still had several favorites. And last week I got to try two new games, both of which I enjoyed: Dead of Winter and Mysterium. […]
[…] I’d gotten kind of sick of board games. I really liked BSG, but otherwise wasn’t very enthusiastic. But then a friend of mine invited me to a game night and introduced me to Dominion, which I enjoyed, and I made other friends there who introduced me to other games I really liked too. And then I began to seek out games myself and talk to other people who also liked games and gave me their recommendations. And before long, I knew a fair amount about board games. […]