Episode 351 – SAHM Reviews with the Bradys

Nicole and Scott Brady
Nicole and Scott Brady

Episode 351 – SAHM Reviews
Scott & Nicole Brady

Today we are joined by Scott and Nicole Brady of SAHM Reviews.

351 Facts!

  1. Andrew’s and Anitra’s home state (ahem, “commonwealth”) of Massachusetts has 351 cities and towns.
  2. 351 species of turtle (across 14 families): https://thehamny.com/types-of-turtles/

Sponsor Message

If this or any of the other questions we’ve talked about sound familiar, head over to firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers to set up a time to chat and ask your questions directly.

What We’ve Been Playing

Space Base
Frosthaven
Running Out of Time
River Wild
Unmatched: Teen Spirit
Scott describes playing board games on a cruise – and seeing other people bringing their own games!
Splito

Key to the Kingdom

SNAP Review – Key to the Kingdom

This “restored” adventure game is great for kids and families. Roll your die, move that number of spaces, and do what it says where you land. Use items and abilities to change your die rolls while you complete adventures and collect key pieces.

Watch the video for Key to the Kingdom or read the transcript of our review.

Scott & Nicole Brady

Nicole and Scott have been doing family-friendly review content since 2008 with their site, SAHMReviews.com. But they started with a wide variety of family-oriented products (when word-of-mouth marketing through mommy blogs was rapidly growing), and very few board games. They cover everything from electronics, to toys, to food.

The reason they started writing about games was similar to what we do at The Family Gamers – they were finding that games were a great way to spend time together as a family, and started writing about games they were picking up at thrift stores.

Their approach was different from what anyone else in the hobby board game industry was doing (and a different audience), so publishers started asking them more and more about reviewing their games.

GAMA

But that’s not all! Nicole is on the board of directors for GAMA, one of the two members from “Media and Events”. This trade organization is for all aspects of the board gaming industry.

Board Game Design

And that’s not all! Scott is a game designer. We love his game boop.

The goal was to take an abstract strategy game, something that many people find intimidating, and put a theme on it that makes it more approachable while also making sense.

Our cats would 100% jump onto the bed and push each other off. Here’s our weirdo cat Felix looking out the window:

Felix the cat
It looks like he should fall over, but I can assure you he was well-balanced.

But boop wasn’t Scott’s first published game. He also designed Hues & Cues, which is a party game unfortunately released in 2020. But the publisher (The Op) found a way to market it as playable online.

What’s coming next?

BOOoop – a new version of boop with a Halloween theme and some slight rule changes. Available summer/fall 2023.

beep-boop – another follow up to boop. This time with robots on a hexagonal board – coming in 2024.

If/Then (working name) – a card game from Arcane Wonders. Like UNO but players are trying to figure out what the rules are to shed cards from their hands. One player knows the secret rules and arbitrates whether a card play is valid or not.

Find SAHM Reviews online:

SAHMReviews.com

Facebook: @SAHMReviews
Twitter: @SAHMReviews and @SAHM_Reviews (Scott)
Instagram: @nicolebrady
TikTok: @SAHMReviews

and for Scott’s game design updates:

Facebook: @wscottbrady
Twitter: @wscottbrady
Instagram: @wscottbrady

Find Us Online:

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

Or, for the most direct method, email us! andrew@thefamilygamers.com and anitra@thefamilygamers.com.

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