Our staff reviews games to help your family find new games to play that are worth your time and money! Please see our review policy for more information.
Unboxed is a set of puzzles based on deciphering the rules to games. Each puzzle should take about 30 minutes to solve, for up to 4 players.
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Destinies is an incredibly immersive app-driven RPG that allows players to engage in quests and map out their fates, all without the need for a game master. The base game offers five unique scenarios with three characters for each, and each character has two paths to choose from.
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Paper App Dungeon doesn’t look like any other dungeon crawl game. It’s this small notebook. Each page is a new floor of the dungeon, divided up into little squares with symbols representing enemies, treasure, traps, and more.
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For a game to have two expansions in just two years suggests the original game must be good.
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Randomly draw crew tiles from the bag, then decide to keep them or flip them. Craft the best crew organization to earn the most treasure and prove yourself the best captain!
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The Walking Dead: The Dice Game is quick to learn and suitable for all levels of gamers. Is it family-friendly? That depends on your comfort with zombie content, light gore, and weapons.
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In Cosmic Cow Collectors you get to make abductions. Of cows. Because in this universe, cows are the most precious resource.
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Genotype did a great job incorporating many of the aspects of the science of Mendelian genetics. By modifying the Punnett squares you affect the available Phenotypes, which can help you validate your Pea Plants for points.
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I really enjoyed the tight, back-and-forth nature of this duel. Even with so few cards in your hand, you’ll have to work hard to predict what your opponent will do, and try to counter it, or try to surprise them.
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All paintings start as color and line. Color Field lets us play with matching up colors in an artistic framework.
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One of the calmest games I’ve ever played is A Gentle Rain, which I discovered in 2022, and is now back in print with a new publisher.
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I’ve never thought a mushroom was *cute*. Then I played Mycelia.
It’s a lovely game with sentient mushroom “heroes”, who will help you remove the dewdrops from your forest.
Although I did have a fraternity brother nicknamed Mackerel, I can’t say I’ve played a board game with mackerel in it before this.
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We recommend Mind Up! for families; but not for kids under 8. You’ll bid cards from your hand to acquire cards on the table… but the cards you bid become the cards you might get next turn!
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Some board gamers might thrive on the nail-biting tension caused by resource acquisition and challenging fighting in this game. We, however, often found it overly frustrating in many of our plays.
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Compile is a two-player card dueling game with just 18 cards on each side, but a huge variety of possibilities! Why do Andrew and Anitra enjoy it so much?
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Pátzcuaro drew me in with its unique theme, colorful art, and set collection mechanics. Its star mechanic, a rondel for action selection, blew me away.
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Place your marker on a graph to get other players to guess which word is yours! Mind Map is a party clueing and guessing game that’s best for nerdy families and small friend groups.
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