We talk a lot about playing games with your kids. But boardgames aren’t the only way to connect – and they aren’t always the BEST way, either.

404 BC: Sparta finally defeated Athens, ending the second Peloponnesian War.
404 AD: The last gladiatorial games are held in Rome.

The most popular scam right now is any variation of the authority scam. No bank, police officer, or any other legitimate entity will ever ask for your private data when they call you on the phone.

If you’d like to talk to someone about how you can protect your financial assets, remember you can book a free meeting with First Move at firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers.

A Gentle Rain (our review)
HiFi
Unmatched: Battle of Legends volume 3 (our review)
Fruition
Red Letter, Yellow Letter – we played it in the car!
Backstories: Emerald Wedding Anniversary (review coming soon)
Tesla vs. Edison: War of Currents
Juicy Fruits
Dinosaur Tea Party (our review)
Prisma Arena (our review)
Obelus (our review)
Quarto (our review)

Welcome to our newest community members! You can join the community too, on Facebook.

We asked about “low-key” games. You answered on the #backtalk channel on our Discord, and in this post in the Facebook community. Shout out to The Joyful Jedi for his humorous answer for Loki games instead.

Inspired by Kendra’s comments on Facebook.

We’ve talked before about WHY to play games with your kids. But a reason that’s easy to skip over is connection: spending time working together on something – or lightly competing – can build memories and emphasize commonalities between people. And the important part is the CONNECTION, not the method you use.

Forcing your kids to the table does not really foster connection. (Bartering could work, though.)

Instead of always bringing them into the things you enjoy, bring yourself to something they enjoy.

Free-for-all fighting games like
Super Smash Bros (any version)
Ultimate Chicken Horse
Gang Beasts

Objective-based games:
Overcooked
Moving Out
Totally Reliable Delivery Service

Minecraft, of course. “Like playing with LEGO ‘together’.”

Two-player cooperative games that have a plot:
It Takes Two (content warning: divorce, language – best for teens)
Split Fiction (we haven’t played this yet)
Unravel Two

Death Squared (abstract strategy puzzles for 2-4 players)
Jackbox (get teens using their phones to play TOGETHER)
Rock Band (or Guitar Hero, etc.) “It simulates the experience of making music together, while removing barriers”

Takeaway: Meet your kid on their terms to better connect with them!

What video games are you playing with other people LOCALLY? We’re talking couch co-op and local multiplayer.

Tell us on the #backtalk channel on our Discord, or in our Facebook community.

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].

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 404 – Connecting Through Gaming appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We love the board game community, but it can lead to pressure to play MORE or HARDER games, to keep up with the newest games. What can we do to dial it back down and make games FUN again?

403 is the code on the internet for NO. If you want to go to a website, but you don’t have access, 403. Technically the word is “FORBIDDEN”, but really it means no.

Here’s actual standards document. But it’s really, really boring. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7235

First Move would like to make us all more aware of some of the newer scams out there. Be very careful clicking links, even ones that look legitimate!

If you’d like to talk to someone about how you can protect your financial assets, remember you can book a free meeting with First Move at firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers.

more Paint the Roses, with 4 players this time. Much harder!
Charcuterie (our review)
HUTAN (our review)
Stew
Horrified: World of Monsters / Greek Monsters mashup (review coming soon)
Goblin Vaults (off the shelf of opportunity!)
Sagrada
The Magnificent

While camping:
Flip 7 (our review)
Cabanga! (our review)
Trio (our review)
Sushi Go Party!
Order Overload: Cafe
Sabobatage
Altiplano – a big miss for us.

Anitra: 49 plays of 27 unique games. H-index 3, with a lot of plays of Trio & HUTAN, but also at least 3 times with: Paint the Roses, Fight for Olympus, Canvas Critters, Jekyll & Hyde vs Scotland Yard, Quarto.

Andrew: 29 plays of 17 unique games. H-index 3. Lots of The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Paint the Roses, Trio, plus Jekyll & Hyde v. Scotland Yard, HUTAN.

Welcome to our newest community members!

We asked about board game mechanics you dislike, and what you do about them. You answered on the #backtalk channel on our Discord, and in this Backtalk post in the Facebook community.

This hobby of board gaming lends itself to always chasing the hot new thing or trying to do MORE. Probably true of a lot of hobbies, since it’s so easy to find a community online where people brag on the cool things they’re doing.

Do you feel pressure to go to every convention, or keep up with the latest hot new thing? Pressure to get your kids to play “real” games with you? Pressure to finish a game you don’t like, or pull games off your “shelf of shame”?

First: when you feel that pressure, realize that YOU are the one putting pressure on yourself; no one else can do that to you without your consent.

We prefer to call this the “shelf of opportunity”, but it still means games that are sitting unplayed. What are some strategies to deal with this without feeling guilty?

If you’re listening to this podcast, you want your kids to play games with you. You may also be feeling pressure from your friends (or other parent gamers) if your kids don’t want to play games!

Even when we aren’t enjoying a game we often feel like “we started it, we have to finish it!”

But we don’t need to finish. Yes, we want to teach our kids not to be quitters, but we also don’t want to frustrate them unnecessarily.

How do you know if everyone is frustrated, or if you should push through to the end? ASK QUESTIONS!

There is no merit badge for finishing a game that nobody liked.

We tell our kids “it’s just a game” when we talk about being good winners and good losers. So we need to demonstrate that in our own playing, too! It’s just a game. Being willing to set the game aside shows your kids that they’re more important than the cardboard.

Sometimes, it’s not that your kids don’t want to play games, it’s that they don’t want to play with you. This is especially common around ages 11-15, in our experience. This is a normal part of growing up and finding their independence!

Hopefully, you can still get kids to do some things with you, but they’ll be more interested in their friends. If you had a good relationship when they were younger, be patient! Keep offering games and fun activities, don’t be offended when they say “no”, and they’ll (probably) come back in a while.

If you can, try to set up space to make it easier for your kid to host their friends. (Be “the fun house”.) This makes it easier to stay involved and know what they’re doing, as well as making it easier to take a break with Mom or Dad when the friends go home again.

Big takeaway: games are supposed to be FUN. If they’re not fun anymore, examine why not, and try to take a break from that.

Our kids say “low key” all the time. But let’s use it the way we used to. What’s your favorite low key game? When you just want to relax, what do you play?

Tell us on the #backtalk channel on our Discord, or in this Backtalk post in the Facebook community.

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].

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 403 – Taking the Pressure Off appeared first on The Family Gamers.

“The Kids from Room 402” – a kids’ TV show from 1999-2001.

So our fact this week is a direct callout to basically anybody in their mid to late thirties who grew up in the US or Canada. In the late 90’s and early aughts, there was a kids’ TV show that came out called “The Kids from Room 402”. Do you remember that Anitra?
This was an animated show based on the book “Gracie Graves and the Kids from Room 402”. It was basically a sitcom with all sorts of goofy school-based adventures the kids were going through. Animation wise it reminds me of Doug, but less polished. Do you remember Doug?
Anyway, you can find full episodes of The Kids from Room 402 on YouTube and remember what it was like being 14 years old and having plenty of time to waste watching TV. And that’s my fact!

We talk about the “planning fallacy” and look at average in-state tuition for public college (we’ll be sending a kid to college soon). But wait! In-state tuition for schools in our own state of Massachusetts is a little different.

With a better estimate of the cost we can do a better job of making a realistic plan of how to get to that goal. If you’d like to talk to someone about your goals, remember you can book a free meeting with First Move at firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers.

Paint the Roses – after 5+ years. First saw at PAX Unplugged 2019.
Jekyll & Hyde vs. Scotland Yard – great, but we don’t like it as much as Jekyll vs. Hyde.
Toriki – new review!
HUTAN – review coming soon. Try it on BGA!
Stew
Skulls of Sedlec
Cake Stack – a homemade game.
Trio – our review.

Welcome to our newest community members! https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/posts/4104499843172808

We asked for your family’s evergreen game(s). You answered on the #backtalk channel on our Discord, and in this Backtalk post in the Facebook community.

What is deck building? We defined it this way all the way back in episode 64: “play cards, to accumulate currency, to buy better cards that will allow you to do more things.”

Our goal with Room to Grow is to bring your kids – or your family – through a series of games that grow in complexity. Normally, we take a beginner game, an intermediate game, and an advanced game (and some honorable mentions). They offer a plan for growth for players to get comfortable with that mechanic, and all are family-friendly.

Deck building was a little challenging because even among “pure” deck-building games, some of their foundational mechanics are different – how you add new cards to your hand, how many cards you can add, how you get rid of cards you don’t want (if you can get rid of them at all!), and even what the PURPOSE of the deck building is.

Nevertheless, we came up with three we’d recommend to learn this style of game more thoroughly.

The subtitle to Star Realms Academy (our review) is “my first deck building game” and that seems about right!

Compared to other deckbuilding games, you have a very small hand size (3 cards).
There is very minimal reading, and only a few icons.
Like many deckbuilding games, you gain coins to use to buy better cards – but in this game, you can SAVE some of your coins from turn to turn.

And the purpose of the game is easy for kids to understand: attack your opponent and protect your own health.

You can, of course, move on to Star Realms from here, but we’d recommend…

This is the game that started it all – the very first deck building game, and sets a foundation to learn this mechanic.

Play card(s) from your hand, then use currency from what you played to buy ONE new card. Then everything goes into your discard pile and you draw a new hand.

As you build your deck, you get opportunities to buy more cards, set cards aside, or trash cards (aka “culling”). When enough piles run out, count victory points on the cards in your deck & in your hand.

Some of the features we don’t love in Dominon (card market is static, little player interaction) also make it easier to learn. And Dominion can have its own “room to grow” moment by adding expansions.

A trio of games:

What makes any of these games special:

We recommend these games to explore other aspects of deck building:

Tea Dragon Society Card Game (our review) – simple and cute, but more reading than Star Realms Academy.
Abandon All Artichokes (our review) (episode 345 interview with Emma Larkins) – deck “wrecking”
Clank! – build a deck to get further into the dungeon and find more treasure
Avant Carde (our review) – build your deck to play more cards on your turn.
Quarriors or Marvel/DC Dice Masters – a “deck-builder” with dice instead of cards!

What board game mechanic do you struggle with – or you really don’t like?
Do you want to get better, or do you avoid those games?

Tell us on the #backtalk channel on our Discord, or in this Backtalk post in the Facebook community.

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].

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 402 – Room to Grow: Deck Building appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Family evergreen games? Evergreen family games? Let’s discuss.

The term “401(k)” comes from the section of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code that established this retirement savings plan.

Did you know, that if your child is working they can be saving money into a Roth IRA?

If you need help finding some unique ways to look at income and saving, visit firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers to schedule a time to talk to First Move – for free!

Santa’s Workshop (our review)
Trio (our review)
Smug Owls (our review)
Canvas Critters (check out the Kickstarter)
Sabobatage
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
Caution Signs (our review)
Donald Duck in Happy Camper (next written review)
Unmatched: Battle of Legends vol 3 (review coming soon)
Marvel X-Men Dice Throne
Fight for Olympus (old school! our review)
Quarto (our review) – great when you’ve only got a few minutes
Suspend – just fun.
For Sale
Doomlings (our review)
Floristry (our review)
Food Chain Island – great to play with just one hand

We both have ALREADY (as of July 12) played more games in July than we did in June.

Andrew: 11 plays, 10 unique games, H-index: 1. Most played: Ultimatch (2x)

Anitra: 20 plays, 16 unique games. H-index: 2 (Dice Throne, Micro Macro Kids, Ultimatch, Grove)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/posts/4090537511235708

We asked for your feedback on the podcast in general. You answered, with a lot of encouraging comments on the #backtalk channel on our Discord, and in this Backtalk post in the Facebook community.

We discuss Happy Camper’s next release: Jungo (here’s the trailer video)

What’s an evergreen game? Just like an evergreen plant that doesn’t die, this is a game that stays popular in stores year after year. The games that get pulled out and played over and over again. (Games like Wingspan that have staying power.)

We thought it would be easy to find a list on BGG of “evergreen” games… but it’s a lot harder to determine than we thought! Much thanks to BGG user Daniel_M, who compiled a list using data analysis to find the top 100 games that have stayed popular over time, back in 2023.

Here are the top ten from his list:

10 Race for the Galaxy
09 Agricola
08 Power Grid
07 Puerto Rico
06 Ticket to Ride
05 Pandemic
04 Dominion
03 7 Wonders
02 CATAN
01 Carcassonne

Maybe three of these we’d consider “family” games: Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, and Catan (although you could argue for others).

A “family” evergreen game might be a little different – something that works at all – or most – stages for your family. By definition these are going to be simpler games, because

#1 – Not everyone in the family is a board game nerd!
#2 – The game has to support multiple age ranges: not too many rules, not a lot of reading required.

So without further ado, here are our 10 games, in no particular order.

Ticket to Ride
CATAN
Carcassonne
Can’t Stop
Just One
Kingdomino
Drop It!
Azul
Strike (also available as Impact: Battle of Elements)
Trio (also available outside the US as nana)`

What’s the game that, these days, your family is going back to over and over again? This doesn’t have to be your favorite game – but what’s spending the most time on your table?

Tell us on the #backtalk channel on our Discord, or in this Backtalk post in the Facebook community.

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].

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 401 – Ten Top Evergreen Family Games appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Isn’t The Family Gamers Podcast always about families? Yes, but we’re doing a special focus on different ages this week, as a sort of retrospective over the last ten years.

Factopia! Follow the Trail of 400 Facts
https://shop.merriam-webster.com/products/factopia

First Move has been our sponsor since episode 175! We really appreciate their partnering with us.

If you need help finding some “bonus points” and seeing which areas of your personal finance you should be focusing on, visit firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers to schedule a time to talk to First Move – for free!

Canvas Critters (coming to crowdfunding soon – from 3WS and Katia Howatson)
Unmatched: Battle of Legends volume 3 (Blackbeard vs. Loki)
Micro Macro Kids: Crazy City Park (review linked below)
Royal Visit – making it work in a small space, as we imagined all the way back in episode 278.
Toriki: The Castaway Island
Floristry (our review) “the perfect date game”
Hutan: Life in the Rainforest – played solo. But now also available on Board Game Arena!

We just passed 1000 members in the community. Thanks for sticking with us!

Giveaway Winners: Seth (Avant Carde) and Candice (Avatar the Last Airbender: Aang’s Destiny)

We asked what you’d like to see in a future Room to Grow series. Thanks for the responses on Discord!

We review the newest entry in the Micro Macro series. This one is 100% appropriate for kids, and adds some tools that will help ANYONE who wants to play this seek-and-find game.

Watch the video or read the transcript of our review.

We drink a pickle juice electrolyte drink: JUCE from TruPickles.

Why? Because they’re also a partner with friend-of-the-show Andy Geremia for a pickleball dice game.

In August, The Family Gamers Podcast turns ten years old! Playing games with kids looks a lot different for us now than it did in 2015. Let’s talk about what family gaming looks like at different ages.

Do you have to just wait to play games? Kind of, but not exactly. Toddlers want to be a part of what you’re doing: so let them sit with you and play with some of the (larger/non-chewable) pieces. We also recommend playing with them with big chunky foam dice or “My Very First” games.

This is when kids begin to learn about taking turns or causality (“if I do this, then this happens”).

More: Ep 236 – Babies & Boardgames (bringing kids in at any age)

At this age, kids want play the same very short games over and over and over… as frustrating as this can be, it’s really important. Playing repetitively works on building rule-following, turn-taking, and pattern-matching. This is the right time to start teaching about being a graceful winner or loser and also to start building emotional intelligence. Yes, even with CandyLand.

The most important thing at this age is to know your kids’ skill level. Too hard and they’ll be discouraged. That doesn’t mean letting them win! But you could set up a handicap so the adult is playing at a disadvantage. And you can talk through your strategy (and theirs) out loud to help them learn.

To avoid the stigma of playing a “baby” game or a “kids” game, be ready to pull out some VERY easy games that anyone can play like Roll for It or Zombie Dice.

At this age, use games to build skills gradually for reading (including skills that don’t look like reading!), math, science, and more.

Shift your focus from skills to your kids’ interests and preferences. Play the games they want to play!

This is also when you, as the parent, decide if you want games to be a priority for your family. That means setting aside time for family games (also episode 292 of the podcast).

If you’ve already built a culture of family gaming, it can continue even when kids leave home! At this point, it should be pretty much the same as playing games with your friends.

Don’t forget, you don’t always have to be in person to play games together. We hope to use Board Game Arena and other online gaming tools to keep the gaming going at a distance.

Why Play Games with Your Kids (Chrissy W.)
The Power of Learning – through Play (Chrissy W.)
Why I Hate CandyLand (and What to Play Instead) (Anitra)
Talk, Read, Sing, Write, Play (about ELL learning at any age, from Annabelle B.)

Tell us what you like about the show, what you don’t like about the show, what segments you’d like us to do more, or less. Should we free Anitra from Andrew’s weird food eating obsession? Should we do more Room to Grow? Board Game Terms? Lists? Guests?

We want to make sure the topics we cover and the goofy things we do are interesting to you.

Tell us on the #backtalk channel on our Discord, or in this Backtalk post in the Facebook community.

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].

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 400 – It’s All About Families appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We talked about older games last week like checkers and chess. This week we’re moving on to modern abstract games (within the last 20 years). We recommend three that grow in complexity – and add a few of our other favorites.

www.399film.com

First Move Financial is not a credit counseling company, but they’d be happy to spend a few minutes talking to you to help you find a reputable credit counselor. Go to firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers to set up a quick chat and start taking steps to dig out of debt.

The Castles of Burgundy
Marvel Dice Throne: X-Men (Rogue and Gambit this time)
Jekyll vs. Hyde – one of our favorites (our review)
Compile – we also love this one (our review)
Ultimatch – hardest at two players! (our review)
Cabanga
Belratti (review below)
Grove (our preview/review from its Kickstarter) – we’re working on a review for Hutan which feels similar but more involved.
Mojo (our review)

Welcome to our newest Facebook community members!

Last time, we asked about your favorite classic abstract games. People answered on Facebook and on Discord.

We’re almost at episode 400! Enter the giveaway for Avant Carde & Avatar The Last Airbender: Aang’s Destiny.

Can you pick cards that will fit one of two themes? Can you figure out the cards that your teammates picked, and avoid the “forgeries” (random cards) put in by Belratti?

Watch the video or read the transcript of our Belratti review.

Reese’s PB&J Big Cup

We try both the Grape and Strawberry versions (pictured).

If you like fruity candy and also like Reeses, you might like this combination.

Our goal with Room to Grow is to bring your kids – or your family – through a series of games that grow in complexity. Normally, we take a beginner game, an intermediate game, and an advanced game (and some honorable mentions). They offer a plan for growth for players to get comfortable with this style, and all are family-friendly.

This is part two – in part one we talked about classic abstract strategy games (Tic Tac Toe, Checkers, and Chess). This time, we’re recommending modern games, which are less well-known.

We discuss again what makes an “abstract strategy game” and decide that some luck is fine but “player choices matter more than luck”.

This has been a favorite since we first saw it in 2018 (our review then).

There is definitely NO theme – just shapes and colors. It’s a sort of dexterity game, but not exactly.

We like this because the idea of how it works is really simple: you only get points if your shape, when it lands, is not touching the same shape and not touching the same color. Even if they struggle with adding the scores, most 4 & 5 year olds can understand the binary of “did I get points this turn, or not?”

There’s not a deep strategy here and no story or other baggage. Pick a shape from your pile, drop it, and hope it lands where you want it to. But that’s what makes it fun for anyone to play!

Is there a story here? Maybe. If you want one.

Azul is bright and colorful, based on the Portuguese tiling called “azulejo” (Andrew was right).

The strategy CAN get complex as players get used to the game.

Draft tiles from a central area, and put them on your board. Different parts of your board require different numbers of identical tiles to “fill them up” and move a single tile to your scoring area.

The choices are simple: pick your tile group, and decide where to put them on your board.

This game introduces several modern elements: set collection, open drafting, and sacrificing to become first player.

And the beauty of the game will draw more people to want to play it.

We think this game is gorgeous: four wooden boards and polished stones in two colors.

Every turn, you move a piece on one of your two “home” boards. And then you have to move one of your pieces the same way on an opposite-color board. Try to knock off all your opponent’s pieces from any one of the four boards.

This is a nakedly aggressive game and the large decision space (looking at up to 16 different pieces and setting up the second half of your move) leads to brain-burning tactics, like you sometimes see in Go or Chess. This game has no luck at all, and the only hidden information is what’s in your opponent’s head.

And as beautiful as this game is, the simplicity of presentation is like the classic abstract games we talked about – you could put this together yourself with any pieces you have on hand. (But we recommend buying this lovely game from Smirk & Dagger!)

We gave Shobu a nearly-perfect score when we reviewed it.

Cinco Linko (which we reviewed as OK Play)
boop
Onitama
Deblockle
Quoridor (now in a Pac-Man theme)

Is there a Room to Grow series you’d like us to tackle? What kinds of games are you looking to grow through?

And… anything special about episode 400?

Tell us on Facebook or on Discord!

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].

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 399 – Room to Grow: Modern Abstract Games appeared first on The Family Gamers.

I bet you played checkers or chess with your relatives when you were a kid. We talk about newer games all the time on this podcast, but we think old games are great and you should play those, too! We recommend three that facilitate learning strategies.

In the Dewey Decimal filing system, 398 is the category for folklore (and 398.2 is fairy tales!)

Have you heard of the fun ratio? This idea comes from The Opposite of Spoiled by Ron Lieber.

If you want to talk about other ways to equip your children for their future, go to firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers to schedule a time to talk to First Move today for free.

Azul
Trio (our review)
Flip 7 (review out this week! Keep listening)
Disney Lorcana (Gateway review this week)
Food Chain Island
Toriki (review coming soon) – great for playing with kids
Gruzzle: The City – very hard! But take a look: gruzzle.com
5er Finden (our review)
HUTAN: Life in the Rainforest (review coming soon). So many trees!
Adventure Party (our review)

Anitra: 26 unique games, 51 plays. H-index: 3 – most played: Combo (7 times), Lorcana Gateway (6 times), Flip 7 (4 times), plus Patchwork and Food Chain Island.
37% of plays for the month were during the two days at PAX East.

Andrew: 13 unique games, 26 plays. H-index: 3 – most played: Lorcana, Toriki, Flip 7.
42% at 4 players!

Welcome to our newest Facebook community members!

Last time, we asked about your favorite convention memory. We got a couple of answers on Discord.

A tiny card game that works with up to 18 people and you can learn in under a minute? Flip 7 does exactly what it sets out to do: provide fast moving fun for families or groups of any size.

Watch the video or read the transcript of our review.

We enjoy abstract strategy games, but often find ourselves only talking about ones that are NEW (even if we compare them to older games). So this week is devoted to older, classic games. You probably know how to play these timeless games already, and have some of them relegated to the back corner of your shelves or your closet.

Our goal with Room to Grow is to bring your kids – or your family – through a series of games that grow in complexity. Normally, we take a beginner game, an intermediate game, and an advanced game (and some honorable mentions). They offer a plan for growth for players to get comfortable with that mechanic, and all are family-friendly.

No theme, or a theme that only exists in the player’s heads. They don’t require any kind of fancy art to pull you in.

Perfect information – no hidden cards or secret advantages.

Little or no luck – you’re not going to depend on dice or shuffled cards. (Can’t Stop and Backgammon are fantastic games, but don’t quite fit here.)

Lots of people know them.
Rules tend to be simple, even if the strategy is not.
Old abstract games can be played with the equipment you have at hand. You don’t need to go out and buy a fancy board or pieces (although those are nice!)

Also known as “naughts and crosses”, this is a very basic abstract game with easy rules and a simple goal: get three of your pieces in a row.

Tic-Tac-Toe is basically a “solved” game, and with just 8-9 moves, most adults know whether they can win by their second turn. Because of this, parents get tired of it quickly. But it is an excellent introduction! Since it’s so simple and games are so short (usually over in just 8 moves), kids can really master it with just a little bit of practice.

(And move on to variations like Hollywood Squares, Ultimate Tic Tac Toe, 3D Tic Tac Toe, larger boards, or Connect 4)

This one is also known as Draughts.

Checkers is still a simple ruleset, but games are longer and present more options.

Double-check that you know the true rules before you start! Handicapping and house rules are OK, but do them intentionally and clearly.

Since there are still relatively few options, Checkers encourages kids to start looking ahead to future moves, without presenting so many options that it’s overwhelming.

Getting bored of the regular rules? There are dozens of games you can play with a standard American checkerboard and some or all of the pieces.

Chess requires a significant jump in skill. It’s a harder game to learn, because there are lots of kinds of pieces and they move in lots of ways. You end up with a lot to keep track of, especially when you’re learning.

But it’s been popular for over a thousand years – and for good reason! It’s rewarding to learn and to see the different ways you can outmaneuver your opponent.

Ways to dial back the difficulty, especially for learning:

No Stress Chess
Chess.com has both lessons and puzzles
Play with fewer pieces and fewer kinds of pieces!

Go (the quintessential “easy to learn, hard to master” game)
Othello
Backgammon isn’t quite an abstract strategy game, because there’s too much luck involved, and there are a lot of edge cases in the rules.
Nine Men’s Morris is another one that’s very easy to learn, and you could probably play it on a checkerboard.

We just highly recommend the Klutz Book of Classic Board Games (edited by Sid Sackson) if you can find it. And maybe also the Games of Art book from Sid Sackson and Eagle-Gryphon Games (which is admittedly much more modern).

What’s your favorite classic abstract game?

(Anitra’s favorite: Mancala, Andrew’s favorite: Chess or Chinese Checkers)

Tell us on Facebook or on Discord!

We almost forgot – we are giving away two games for our 400th episode: Avant Carde & Avatar The Last Airbender: Aang’s Destiny. Enter the giveaway here!

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
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or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

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

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 398 – Room to Grow: Classic Abstract Games appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Welcome to The Family Gamers podcast! Last week, we attended PAX East 2025, a huge convention that’s practically in our backyard. What are the coolest things we saw there?

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2022/11/theres-not-many-downsides-man-with-the-worlds-longest-tongue-727048

If you’d like to have a free conversation to help you understand how to do some due diligence on a charity before making a donation, go to firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers and schedule a 15 minute phone call.

Flip 7 (review coming soon)
Smug Owls (our review)
Caution Signs (review coming soon)
Disney Lorcana Gateway (review coming soon)
Another Man’s Treasure (review linked below)
Combo (our review)
Patchwork
The Gang
Jungo – coming later this year from Happy Camper
Cantankerous Cats (review coming eventually)
Ultimatch (our review) – still fun even when we lose.

Everyone’s had family members try to foist off their “treasures” on them. In this game, collect the junk and make it into specific rummy-like groups to get it OUT of your hand.

Watch the video or read the transcript of our review.

Anitra went for two days, Andrew and Asher went for one day. Although it’s very videogame-heavy, there’s plenty of boardgame/tabletop stuff as well.

Anitra recommends Ultimate Sheep Racoon (coming soon) if your kids like wacky video games.

Andrew is excited by Ludocene – “Tinder for videogames”, which is on Kickstarter now. It’s possible that they’ll make a boardgame version as well!

The coolest thing we both saw was Pencil! (aka Pencil XR)

The other coolest thing Anitra saw was mass-produced dice with Braille for the numbers.

Anitra highly recommends trying the boardgame tournaments, which are surprisingly low-impact and low-stress. She got her start with “Thursday Night Throwdown” and “Friday Night Frenzy!” – tournaments where no one knows what the games will be until the tournament starts.

At a tournament this year, she learned: Schrodingers Cats, Lumberjacks with Rocket Launchers, Frozen Shinies, Mountain Goats.

This year, she got the courage to play in a Patchwork tournament and a 7 Blunders tournament. (The newer version of 7 Wonders is much easier to play with!)

Asher ended up doing Trio demos for an hour for Happy Camper. We’re so proud of him.

Andrew describes Caution Signs.

And Anitra was excited to finally see Bioshop Infinite (a barbershop quartet) perform on stage.

Choose Your Own Adventure books are BACK! The first book (The Cave of Time) is finally back after 25 years out of print, and the company has dozens of other books – some classics, some new.

Find out more at cyoa.com.

TNT Laser Works makes beautiful wooden boards that are both an art piece and a functional board game, based on a game Ted played in his childhood. There’s also a more portable version that is a leather scroll.

(Check out our Youtube channel for a quick how-to-play video.)

See all the available boards at TNTLaserWorks.com and look for them at Origins, National Gaming Expo, GenCon, PAX Unplugged, and NOVA Open.

Braille dice – mass produced or print-your-own with a 3D printer! See them at dotsRPG.org

We love the Gamey Susan, Player One board, dice vaults, and the rest of the modular Modern Meeple products.

See more and sign up for their email list at ModernMeeple.com.

An augmented reality VR app that gives drawing lessons, starting with tracing but moving on to 3D models, shading, and more. Both lessons and non-lesson tools to help you draw better with a real pencil and paper.

Available on the Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S. May be available on more VR headsets in the future.

Find out more at Pencil-XR.com.

Welcome new members – we’re glad you’re here!

Our community shares their biggest board game surprises – on Facebook and Discord.

Most of the surprises were good ones, but we also learn a lesson about calling games “simple” that have a large decision space (e.g. Splendor).

If you go to conventions, what’s your favorite convention memory? Or what is your favorite convention? If you don’t go to conventions, why not? Is there something a convention could offer you that would make you interested in going to one?

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
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or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

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

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 397 – PAX East Recap appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We’ve been reviewing board games for almost ten years. And sometimes, we run across ones that REALLY surprise us. Let’s talk about a few this week.

This week we’ve got an “at the same time” trend going.

Did you know that risk when it comes to investing is anything happening other than what is expected? (So, any kind of surprise, good or bad!)

Most people are loss averse, not risk averse. The amount of loss aversion you have should influence how you invest, how much insurance you own, and how much you have in your emergency fund. Knowing more about ourselves and how we instinctively react will help us make better financial decisions in the future. If you want to talk to someone about your natural money instinct reach out to First Move Financial by going to firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers to schedule a time to talk for free!

lots of games on vacation!
Games of Art (a dry-erase book compiled/designed by Sid Sackson, each game is based on 20th century abstract artists)
Flip 7 (review coming soon) – Here’s a video talking about why three different box sizes exist.
Combo (our review)
Trio (our review)
Shovel Knight: Dungeon Duels (review coming soon) – now that we are playing correctly, the game is less frustratingly difficult.
Micro Macro Kids: Crazy City Park (review coming soon – we highly recommend!)
Adventure Party (review coming soon)
Merchants of Magick (our review)

and also:
Toriki: The Castaway Island (review coming soon) – like Chronicles of Crime or Kids Chronicles, but somewhere in between.
Belratti (review coming soon)
Word Fluxx (review below)
So Clover (our review)
Floristry (our review)

Anitra: 36 plays of 23 unique games. H-index 2 (Lorcana Gateway, Games of Art, Flip 7, Word Fluxx, Floristry, Fruition, Trio)
42% of games played were on that 5-day vacation.

Andrew: 26 plays of 18 unique games. H-index: 2 (Lorcana Gateway, Obelus, Toriki, Word Fluxx, Floristry)
46% on the vacation trip!

Yes, this is another Fluxx game, but it does a surprisingly good job ALSO feeling like a classic word game. Some goals are still “collect this set of letters” but most goals have you make a WORD that meets specific restrictions. We recommend using the “meta rule” that keeps the game going while players collect completed goals.

Watch the video or read the transcript of our review.

Welcome new members! Mickey says hello.

Last time, we asked about your favorite Disney movie(s). And you stepped up to let us know – on Facebook and on Discord.

On our SNAP reviews we use the GAMES acronym – and we end with surprise. But what games REALLY surprised us? It might be the kids’ reaction, it might be something we didn’t expect when we opened the box. But here are five games that did something we didn’t expect, or didn’t do something we DID expect.

Adventure Party (review coming soon) – It’s a deduction game!

Magic Mountain – Looks like a kids game but it’s not just a kids game! It grabs EVERYONE.

Back Stories – The mechanics are simple, but put together unlike anything we’ve seen before! The card-back actions and the way your options change are just so much better than what we’ve seen in most other “escape room” card games.

Kingdomino – This is a solid game, which is not a surprise. But everything fits together SO WELL that even a 4 or 5 year old can understand the basics of how to play. That’s why I recommend it at the bottom of our list of games for 4-year-olds.

Pan Am – Our number one surprising game. The way this game feels SO DIFFERENT at different player counts is wild.

What’s the greatest surprise you ever had in gaming? Is there a game that shocked you? Or maybe a surprise that happened WHILE gaming. Or maybe a type of game you never thought you would enjoy?

Tell us on Facebook or on Discord!

And check out our review of kids’ game Octo Grabbo – which surprised us how much all kids <12 liked it!

Facebook: @familygamersaa and thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter (X): @familygamersaa
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or join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord! thefamilygamers.com/discord

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

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 396 – 5 Games that Surprise! appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Do you know what a “eurogame” is? Could you explain it to someone who hasn’t played a lot of boardgames? What are some other jargon terms we use that are unfriendly to new players?

We talk about our local Interstate 395, and the much more beautiful Route 395 in California.

https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/cant-miss-stops-along-californias-highway-395/

If you want help looking at your 401(k)s to make sure you’re not overpaying go to firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers to set up a time to chat, for free!

Order Overload: Cafe – I can’t believe we were ready to give this game away!
Trio (our review)
Circus Flohcati (our review) – I love how easy it is to get started playing this one: shuffle the deck and go!
Anomia – always a fun party game.
Green Team Wins (our review)
Landmarks (our review) – the surprising stand-out hit of the business/fun trip weekend.
Alpina (review linked below)
Floristry (our review)
Farkle
In the Footsteps of Marie Curie (our review)
Disney Lorcana: Gateway – Learn Lorcana in a structured way! Review coming soon
Escape from the Starline Express (“Professor Puzzle Presents…”) – like the easier EXIT boxes, and more-or-less re-giftable.

Andrew: 23 plays of 17 unique games. H-index: 2. Trio (3 plays), then Anomia, Project L, Order Overload: Cafe, Obelus (2 plays) 39% at home, 39% on the work trip.

Anitra: 48 plays of 28 unique games. H-index: 4. Trio (6 plays), plus Mezen, Landmarks, and Circus Flohcati at 4 times each.
46% of plays were on the work trip (because Anitra doesn’t have to work on that trip!)

Welcome new members! This cute goat says hi, and so do we!

Marc Specter (of Grand Gamers Guild) sent us an Australian candy bar called Violet Crumble.

Is it true that “it’s the way it shatters that matters” ?

Anitra’s verdict: “sugar and air, wrapped in chocolate”.

Create a grid of alpine habitats and animals, while choosing which objectives you want to score. There are a lot of symbols to learn and a lot of options to juggle in Alpina.

Watch the video of our Alpina review or read the transcript.

The responses to our Backtalk question last month kicked off a lively discussion of boardgamer jargon on Discord.

Are there any obscure or brand-new terms we could cover? There are some portmanteau / combinations of terms that we didn’t see until recently, like “co-opetition”, “deck breeding”, or “deck wrecking” (Abandon All Artichokes).

Wikipedia says it’s also called a “German style board game”. Euro games are notable for what they lack: player elimination, direct conflict, and luck. (If there’s some luck or randomness, it’s something that is revealed and then all players have to deal with it.)

Most euro games have very little player interaction – mostly just competing for limited resources – and require more forethought and planning. Euro games usually emphasize elegant mechanics instead of theme. (Examples: Catan, Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, Power Grid)

We use the phrase “classic euro” because this definition has morphed over time. Modern euro games will tend to have better art and hew a little closer to their themes.

“No player elimination” is an important feature that has been incorporated into a lot of newer games that we wouldn’t call euro games.

Euro games are usually contrasted with “American style” games (or sometimes “Ameritrash”)

Ameritrash is a term that we heard a lot a decade ago and don’t hear very often any more, probably because it’s kind of derogatory.

“American style” games that are heavy on theme and luck and often encourage direct conflict between players. Usually the theme informs the mechanics (not the kind of game where you could easily cut and paste a new theme).

These are also the games most likely to have excessive amounts of minis.

American-style games are informed by a culture that REALLY LOVES video games. It’s going to be a game with direct conflict (often combat), probably bright, saturated colors, a really strong theme, and lots of luck.

These are still not your typical American “family” game like Scrabble, Monopoly, or checkers.

We think of games like Mythalix, Cosmic Encounter, Imperial Assault, Blood Rage, Rising Sun, the Shovel Knight: Dungeon Duels game we’ve been playing…

What about Dice Throne and Unmatched? We guess they fit, too.

These are loose definitions, but the there’s a definite contrast between the two styles.

Both “euro” and “ameritrash” are problematic terms for people new to board gaming – because even with the definitions we just talked about, there’s a ton of disagreement over whether any particular game fits one of these definitions!

JP suggests that “straightforward” has entered gamer jargon. But if we call a game “straightforward” and then someone else struggles with the game, it can make them feel “less than” or kind of dumb.

I think when we say straightforward what we really mean is “this game was easy for me to learn and makes sense to ME.”

What about when we use multiple overlapping terms to talk about a game, like worker placement, action selection, and resource management? Or hand management, drafting, and push your luck?

And lastly – the different names we have for things we move around on a board!

From least complex to most complex: cube (or token), pawn, meeple, standee, and mini.

What’s your favorite Disney movie?

Andrew’s is Sword in the Stone (and Lion King for best music), Anitra’s is Tangled.

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].

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 395 – Euro, Ameritrash, and Other Boardgamer Jargon appeared first on The Family Gamers.