The Family Gamers

Visitor in Blackwood Grove: An Alien Assumption

April 29, 2019 Updated: March 13th, 2025 Anitra Smith Reviews

An alien ship has crash-landed in the forest outside of town. Agents have been tracking the craft and rush to the scene, hoping to dissect the Visitor and seize its craft. But a local Kid has also ridden her bike out to the wreck to save the Visitor. Who will make it through the ship’s force field first?

If you’re up for an unusual deduction game with asymmetric roles that accommodate many skill levels, we highly recommend Visitor in Blackwood Grove.

143 – Joe Comings, Art of Boardgaming in an RV – The Family Gamers Podcast

April 29, 2019 Anitra Smith Podcast Episodes, The Family Gamers Podcast

It’s our friend Joe from ArtOfBoardGaming.com! How does he keep up with boardgames now that he’s on the road? Can we recommend a dice-heavy game that he’ll actually enjoy?

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Andrew, Anitra, Art of BoardGaming, Board Games, Interview, storage, travel

SNAP Review – Supertall: The Sky’s the Limit!

April 27, 2019 Updated: December 5th, 2022 Anitra Smith SNAP Reviews

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… a skyscraper! Build the tallest and best buildings in Supertall, a micro game designed by Nat Levan and published by Button Shy Games.

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2 players, 3 players, Anitra, audio, build, Button Shy Games, Card Game, city building, Nat Levan

ShutterBug: Snap Some Sensational Cryptids

April 23, 2019 Updated: November 12th, 2020 Anitra Smith Reviews

In ShutterBug from Mike Elliott and Calliope Games, play the role of a freelance photographer, traveling the country to find mythical creatures and snap pictures of them. Pursue tips and hope you can get high quality pictures – complete your assignment and some side jobs and become a world-renowned photographer!

142 – Abstraction! Top Abstract Games – The Family Gamers Podcast

April 22, 2019 Anitra Smith Podcast Episodes, The Family Gamers Podcast

Episode 142: Abrastraction! Top Abstract Games

Abstract strategy (or abstract puzzle) games are Anitra’s favorite! Let’s talk about what makes these games great for family game night.

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abstract, Andrew, Anitra, Battle Sheep, Board Games, Classic Games, Family Gaming, puzzles

141 – Joe Hopkins, Endangered – The Family Gamers Podcast

April 15, 2019 Anitra Smith Podcast Episodes, The Family Gamers Podcast

Endangered: A game of sruvival by Joe Hopkins

Let’s talk to Joe Hopkins, the designer of Endangered. Endangered is on Kickstarter right now. Published by Grand Gamers Guild, with art by Beth Sobel and Ben Flores, we think it looks great!

140 – Build Me Up, Buttercup – The Family Gamers Podcast

April 8, 2019 Anitra Smith Podcast Episodes, The Family Gamers Podcast

Building Games: Tournament of Towers, Castellan, Sprawlopolis, Supertall, Machi Koro, The Stars Align

Building games! We’re taking a lot of liberty with this idea, but centering around creating a “structure” you can see throughout the game. What’s your favorite?

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Andrew, Anitra, build, city building

SNAP Review – Tiny Ninjas

April 5, 2019 Updated: November 12th, 2020 Anitra Smith SNAP Reviews

Duel to the death with a cast of unlikely-looking ninjas in Tiny Ninjas, a portable game of cards and dice by Ryan Leininger.

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2 players, Anitra, Asher, audio, battle, card games, dice, ninja

SNAP Review – Fluff: Liar’s Dice for Cunning Critters

March 29, 2019 Updated: March 31st, 2024 Anitra Smith SNAP Reviews

Fluff, from Bananagrams, is actually the two-hundred-year-old game Liar’s Dice, with adorable but shady looking critters and clever dice cups. Claire tells you why we like it.

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2 players, 3 players, 4 players, animals, Anitra, audio, Bananagrams, bluffing, Claire, dice

138 – Time is Ticking – The Family Gamers Podcast

March 26, 2019 Anitra Smith Podcast Episodes, The Family Gamers Podcast

We talk about the use of time in boardgames. Time and time travel can make for an interesting theme, and some games use interesting time mechanics to add tension to the gameplay.

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Andrew, Anitra, cooperative games, real time, timed game

SNAP Review – Shikoku: The Middle Path

March 22, 2019 Updated: March 4th, 2023 Anitra Smith SNAP Reviews

In Shikoku, you learn that coming in first isn’t always the best. We try to tackle this game with rules that are easy to learn, but hard to explain, in about 8 minutes of audio.

Palm Island: A Game in Hand is Worth Two on the Table

March 18, 2019 Updated: March 4th, 2023 Anitra Smith Reviews

Palm Island is a 17-card game designed and illustrated by Jon Mietling, published by Portal Dragon Games. It needs no flat surface at all; the entire game is played in one hand.

137 – Super Saturday Super Showdown – The Family Gamers Podcast

March 17, 2019 Anitra Smith Podcast Episodes, The Family Gamers Podcast

Flip Florey, Andrew Smith, Anitra Smith, Chris Michaud, Jason Lees, Gil Hova

This episode is special! It’s our combined show with Flip Florey at Granite Game Summit, with special guests Gil Hova, Jason Lees, and “Your Moderator” Chris Michaud. We’re calling it the Super Saturday Family Gamers Super Showdown.

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Andrew, Anitra, Asher, Claire, Flip Florey, G2S, G2S19

136 – Spring Cleaning – The Family Gamers Podcast

March 10, 2019 Anitra Smith Podcast Episodes, The Family Gamers Podcast

If your shelves are overflowing, it’s time to take a hard look at what you’ve got. How can you decide to get rid of boardgames? We share listener feedback and how we’re making these hard decisions.

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Andrew, Anitra, donate, how to, sell, Tabletop Games, trade

SNAP Review – Get the MacGuffin

March 8, 2019 Updated: January 23rd, 2025 Anitra Smith Hall of Fame Reviews, SNAP Reviews

Get the MacGuffin from Looney Labs is a fast-playing game of player elimination. It’s silly and incredibly quick, even at the maximum of 11 players. Can we find the MacGuffin or were we disappointed?

Poetry Slam: A Boardgame for Beatniks

March 5, 2019 Updated: February 15th, 2025 Anitra Smith Reviews

We’d recommend Poetry Slam to any hep cat. It’s fun for strategy gamers as well as fans of more casual word games.

135 – Portal Dragon Games, Planetoid, Games for Foster Kids – The Family Gamers Podcast

March 4, 2019 Updated: April 15th, 2019 Anitra Smith Podcast Episodes, The Family Gamers Podcast

On this week’s episode, we are joined by Jon Mietling of Portal Dragon Games, to talk about the Kickstarter for his game Planetoid, his other games, and how games have helped him connect with his foster kids.

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Andrew, Anitra, Family Gaming, Interview, Kickstarter, Portal Dragon Games

134 – Cons and Pros of Cons – The Family Gamers Podcast

February 26, 2019 Updated: August 5th, 2019 Anitra Smith Podcast Episodes, The Family Gamers Podcast

Mostly a catching-up show this week, plus ten minutes talking about different approaches to gaming conventions. It should surprise no one that Andrew and Anitra get very different things out of the conventions we attend.

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Andrew, Anitra, convention, G2S, PAX Unplugged, TotalCon, travel

SNAP Review – Sparkle*Kitty: Powerful Princesses in Peril

February 22, 2019 Updated: September 19th, 2022 Anitra Smith Hall of Fame Reviews, SNAP Reviews

Be a pretty princess and save yourself with sweet spells in Sparkle Kitty, a silly word game from Breaking Games. Hear our thoughts in 5 minutes with this audio review.

Why I Hate Candy Land (and What to Play Instead)

February 21, 2019 Updated: October 18th, 2024 Anitra Smith Resources for Parents

Kids love the candy theme and the fun characters. But Candy Land is too hard, too long, and uninteresting.

So, what can we do about that?

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