If you missed my Routine post, I mentioned that P and I have game night most nights. I’ve actually never been into games. I thought they were all lame and boring. All I knew were games like Monopoly, Candy Land, Sorry, Guess Who, etc., but P told me that there are actual fun and different variety of games out there. The first “game” he introduced me to, which isn’t a board game, was Animal Crossing (New Horizon 2020) on the Nintendo Switch. I swear that game saved me from being bored during the Pandemic. I was OBSESSED with that game. It’s a game for kids and adults!
After my obsession was over, he convinced me to give board/card games a try. Even though I was certain that I wouldn’t enjoy it, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try. The two games he bought were Star Realms and Tiny Epic Galaxies. I totally thought I was not going to be into it. Since I’m not a gamer of some sort, it took a little while for me to get a hang of the rules, but overall – I loved it and that was the start of me loving board/card games.
We recently bought a handful of games, and have been playing almost every night. In the month of February, we probably played board games 20 out of the 28 nights. It’s one of our favorite “date night” activity. I was going to mention the games we have been playing in February Favorites, but I thought that this deserves it’s own dedicated post.
FYI: I am bad at explaining games. I’m more of a hands-on teacher, but I did link references and other blog posts where you can read more about the game/rules. The games listed down below is base on when we purchased the game, and not in any particular order.
I bought this game back in November. It was 50% off for Black Friday/Cyber Monday at Target. It is currently my favorite board game to play as a group (recommended 2-5 players). I’ve had heard many people talking about this game, and I never realized it’s been out for almost two decades now! Although you can play with two players, I do like this game played with more people. I recently got my nieces into this game so I bring it with me every time I visit them now. I can’t wait to get the Europe Map edition (I have the USA one) – I’ve heard it’s much more fun!
A great website to learn more about this game. A short video of how to Play Ticket to Ride.
This is probably the most complicated game we own as of right now, but I think it’s my favorite 2 player game so far. It took me about 3 times playing it to finally get a hang of the rules. I love this game because so far, it’s been “neck and neck” and keeps the game exciting until the very end. I feel like I’m on my toes every time I play this game. You literally could think you’re either winning or losing, and things can change around real quickly. One of my favorite feature of this game is that there are multiple ways to win/lose so you have to be on the watch of what strategy your opponent is using.
There are expansion packs and we do have one, but we haven’t add it to our play yet.
A great website to learn more about this game. A 13 minutes video of how to play 7 Wonders Duel.
3. Pandemic
For some reason, I thought this game came out during the height of the 2020 Pandemic. I thought that was genius since everyone is staying indoors anyways, but it turns out that it was first released in the USA in 2008. This game is different than all the other ones I have mentioned so far: It is a co-op game; you are working with your team to beat the game. The designer of Pandemic really put in some thoughts into it… where it’s not too easy to win, but also not too hard to beat. There are a lot of variables such as random selected role cards (where you think strategically how to maximize your role with the team) and epidemic cards (from four for an introductory game up to six for experienced players – I think we’ve only ever played with 5 and barely won one game).
My friend, Patricia, mentioned that she doesn’t like this game. “Too much going on”, which does start off that way, but you’ll quickly pick up the pace and rules after a few games. Granted, I haven’t played with a group yet, so I can definitely see it getting too crazy. My co-worker, Frank, says that he has played it a few times with a friend and it gets very frustrating when the other player(s) disagree with the strategy. Luckily, P and I have been on the same page while playing this game.
A great website to learn more about this game. A 5 minutes video of how to play Pandemic.
I would say this is probably our current favorite game! It’s also a co-op game where you’re trying to beat the game together, but you’re not quite on the same “team”. You both have to sit opposite from each other and give each other clues. A very simple game, but endless play and fun! There are 200 codename cards, front and back, making it 400 words. You only play with 25 words at a time at random so when I say endless, I mean endless. If you have to get a game that’s a good Bang for the Buck, this is it.
A few reasons why I love this game: it comes with a “mission map” and you try to defeat each city on the map. Each city varies with different difficulty level and it doesn’t necessarily get harder. I love that I’m not familiar with all the words in the game, so I also have to do some research on what the word means. I love learning so it feels like I’m always learning while I’m playing this game. Also, your teammate(s) might not be in sync with your thoughts. It can be frustrating, but yet so exciting!
The rule book is very confusing, in my eyes. I honestly think it’s one of those games where you actually have to play it to understand it. From there, it’s simple. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. I believe there are other versions out there, but I have yet to play the other ones.
A great website to learn more about this game. A 9 minutes video of how to play Codenames: Duet.
5. Sprawlopolis
Unfortunately, this game can’t be purchased on Amazon. I linked the direct website you can purchase through. P has been on a search to look for more “small” games so that we can easily travel with them or even play on the plane. This is perfect to travel with, because the whole game only contain cards and no tiny pieces you can lose. Sprawlopolis might be small, but like Codenames, no game is ever the same twice and it’s a co-op. With just 18 cards, this game isn’t as simple and easy as it looks. It’s quite challenging as you really have to plan and strategize with your teammate(s).
An additional bonus: you can buy expansion packs. We bought 3 different expansion packs: Wrecktar, Beaches, and Interstate. So far, we’ve only won 1-2 games. We tried adding one expansion pack (Beaches), and we are not at that level yet. We got our butts beat.
A great website to learn more about this game. A 6 minutes video of how to play Sprawlopolis.
6. Mint Works
This game is tiny, cute, and full of fun! Everything fits into a small tin container like a mint tin. It does come with tiny pieces so I wouldn’t play on a plane ride, but would definitely recommend traveling with it since it’s so small and convenient. A few things I love about this game is that it’s quick, easy to set up, and you can play solo!
So far, we have played where he was a clear winner. I was a clear winner. Neck and Neck. And sudden turnaround. It makes it very exciting and fun! I do have to say that there aren’t endless play. However, you can make it last longer/more challenging by increasing the winning score point. I’m not at the point of being sick of this game yet since we have been doing a good job at rotating our games for game nights. After some googling, I just realize there are different versions (including a co-op one)… will have to get that in the future!
A great website to learn more about this game. A 9 minutes video of how to play Mint Works.
These are all the games we have been playing in rotation including Star Realms and Tiny Epic Galaxies. So much fun! I am glad that P has gotten me into games and game night is part of our routine now. Hope you enjoy today’s random post. Please let me know your thoughts if you had played any of these games or if there is any game you recommend. Thank you!