Episode 128 - Mental Health in Games
April 8, 2021
Ambie and Crystal discuss a couple games they've played recently, including Black Sonata and Viscounts of the West Kingdom. We then talk about how mental health and mental illness is depicted in board games.
Training Games: Hungry as a Bear
April 4, 2021
by Ambie Valdés
This is part of a series called Training Games, where I review children's games when playing (with modified rules) with my twin toddlers. This review was written when my twins were 18 and a half months old.
Hungry as a Bear is a dexterity game where you feed different colored cardboard food tokens to a Bear. There’s a big cardboard plate and spoon that you use, and the bear stands up in the box and has a cut out mouth like a carnival game.
How to Play: Rolling Stock Stars
March 29, 2021
Our How to Play videos are designed to be short (but still complete) instructional videos, mainly for people who want an overview before playing with someone who knows how to play (in place of that person teaching the rules).
Episode 127 - Savor the Flavor
March 25, 2021
Ambie and Crystal discuss a couple games they've played recently, including Horrified and The Castles of Tuscany. We then talk about flavor text in board games. In the return of the Board Game Etymology segment, Crystal discusses the origins of the word "flavor."
Episode 126 - The 2020 Blitzies
March 11, 2021
Ambie and Crystal discuss a couple games they've played recently, including Rosetta: The Lost Language, Dream Runners, and Break In: Area 51. We then host the annual Blitzies for 2020!
Episode 125 - And the Crowd Goes Wild!
February 25, 2021
Ambie and Crystal discuss a couple games they've played recently, including Night Market and The Adventure Zone: Bureau of Balance Game. We then discuss what can make board games fun to watch instead of just play.
Training Games: Tidy Up!
February 22, 2021
by Ambie Valdés
This is part of a series called Training Games, where I review children's games when playing (with modified rules) with my twin toddlers. This review was written when my twins were 17 months old.
Tidy Up! Is a game where you have cardboard squares representing different types of toys - stuffed animals, vehicles, or blocks. The box itself has a storage shelf of cardboard with slots in it, so you take a piece and put it into the correct slot to match the type of toy.
Training Games: Go Away Monster!
February 22, 2021
by Ambie Valdés
This is part of a series called Training Games, where I review children's games when playing (with modified rules) with my twin toddlers. This review was written when my twins were 17 months old.
Go Away Monster! Is a game where you take turns drawing cardboard shapes out of a bag and placing them into your bedroom. But if you get a monster, you say “go away monster” and put it to the side (or throw it across the room). There’s shape matching in placing the pieces, and older children start learning how to differentiate the shapes by feel.
Training Games: Teddy's Colors and Shapes
February 22, 2021
by Ambie Valdés
This is part of a series called Training Games, where I review children's games when playing (with modified rules) with my twin toddlers. This review was written when my twins were 17 months old.
Teddy’s Colors and Shapes has boards with different cut out shapes and wooden pieces of different shapes and colors. You roll a die that’s either a color or a shape (depending on which mode you’re playing) and then get one of those colors or shapes and place them into a corresponding cut out.
Training Games: Here, Fishy, Fishy!
February 22, 2021
by Ambie Valdés
This is part of a series called Training Games, where I review children's games when playing (with modified rules) with my twin toddlers. This review was written when my twins were 17 months old.
Here, Fishy, Fishy! Is a game that uses the box to hold different colored wooden fish with magnets in them. You roll a colored die and use a fishing rod to get that fish, and then you place a matching colored cardboard piece in your scoreboard, trying to fill it with all the colors.
