First Player Token, a short board game review show

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we’re going back to the space race with the upcoming new expansion, Space Explorers: Age of Ambition! Back in Episode 19, I reviewed a game called Space Explorers published by 25th Century Games. I interviewed Chad Elkins, the one-man show behind 25th Century Games, and he gave me my first podcast exclusive: 25th Century had an expansion i...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we have a very special guest joining us to review Takenoko, a game that teaches you what to do in the unlikely event someone gives you a panda. Takenoko is a 2011 game designed by Antoine Bauza and published by Bombyx Studios. In the game, players work together to grow a bamboo garden and send a friendly panda around that garden eating bam...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we review Tsuro: The Game of the Path! See whose path to enlightenment lasts the longest... Podcast Links: Order a First Player Token coffee mug . Visit the First Player Token website . Join the FPT Facebook group . Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky . Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord .

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we review the game Clank! Go searching for dragon treasure while moving very quietly... Podcast Links: Order a First Player Token coffee mug . Visit the First Player Token website . Join the FPT Facebook group . Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky . Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord .

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we review Incan Gold, a game that will have you pressing your luck to recover lost treasure! Incan Gold is a 2005 game designed by Alan R. Moon (Ticket to Ride) and Burno Faidutti. In the game, between 3 and 8 players take on the role of treasure hunters exploring the ruins of an ancient Incan temple looking for turquoise, obsidian, and go...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we take a look at one of the best two-player games around, Patchwork, a game about quilting! Patchwork is a colorful 2014 game designed by Uwe Rosenberg with art by Klemens Franz that takes the notion of patches on a quilt and turns it into an elegantly designed game for exactly two players. In Patchwork, players take on the role of quilte...

Text us your thoughts about this episode.  In this episode, we take a look at a modern classic, a game about collecting gems and impressing fancy people… Splendor! Splendor is a 2014 game from Space Cowboys that handles 2 to 4 players in 30 to 60 minutes per game. In the game, players take on the role of jewel collectors during the Renaissance, trying to build the most prestigious collection of em...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we learn about an upcoming game about building mountains and seeking knowledge in Oros! Oros is a 2-to-4-player game which takes its name from the geological term orogenesis, the process of mountain building when two tectonic plates collide. In the game, players take turns shifting and colliding tiles on a shared map, representing the move...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we take a look at a game of queens and kings and dragons and knights and basic arithmetic in… Sleeping Queens! Sleeping Queens is a 2005 game designed by Miranda Evarts with art by Jimmy Pickering and Red Hansen. In the game, players compete to collect some rather whimsical queens, like the Pancake Queen, the Cat Queen, and the Book Queen....

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we time-travel to the 1960s to compete in the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union in… Space Explorers! Space Explorers is a 2017 board game that conjures up the excitement of the 1960s space race. Players take on the roles of heads of space research centers, recruiting a variety of experts to build and launch satellit...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we travel to a beautiful island off the coast of Greece famous for its white and blue buildings in the board game Santorini! Santorini is a charming and puzzly game designed by Gordon Hamilton and published in 2016 by Roxley Games. In Santorini, players take on the role of builders in ancient Greece. Each player has two workers, which they...

Text us your thoughts about this episode.  In this episode, we travel to 17th century Japan for some competitive vacationing in the board game Tokaido! Tokaido is a 2012 game designed by Antoine Bauza with art by Xavier Durin and published by Funforge. Players take on the roles of travelers in 17th century Japan making their way along the Tokaido, which means “eastern sea road.” The Tokaido was an...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. We’re back with another family game recommendation, one that will have you taking tricks and exploring space: The Crew! “The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine” is a 2019 game from Kosmos Games designed by Thomas Sing with art by Marco Armbruster. In the game, players take on the role of astronauts working together to find a mysterious ninth planet at the edg...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. This is a short podcast for people who enjoy playing games with family and friends, but this time, I’m recommending a game to play without family and friends: the city-building, solo game Sprawlopolis. Sprawlopolis is a 2018 release from Button Shy Games, designed by Steven Aramani, Danny Devine, and Paul Kluka, with art by Danny Devine. Like all Button Sh...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. We’re back with another family board game recommendation, one that will have you eating your vegetables: Abandon All Artichokes! Abandon All Artichokes is a 2020 game from Gamewright designed by Emma Larkins with illustrations by Bonnie Pang. No one likes to eat artichokes, right? That’s the premise behind this game, which has players composting artichokes...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. We’re back with another family board game recommendation, this time with a game that will have you bluffing, bribing, and smuggling: Sheriff of Nottingham. If you’ve ever wanted to play a bad guy, then Sheriff of Nottingham, a 2014 game from Arcane Wonders, is the game for you. In the game, designed by Sergio Halaban, Andre Zatz, and Bryan Pope, players ar...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. We’re back with another family board game recommendation, this time with a game that will have you cheering on cute, colorful penguins: ICECOOL. ICECOOL is a 2016 game designed by Brian Gomez and published by Brain Games. The kids call it the “penguin game” because it involves flicking little plastic penguins around a cardboard maze decked out to look like...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. We’re back with another family board game recommendation, a game that will make you want an ice cream cone: Rocky Road a la Mode! Rocky Road a la Mode, a 2017 game from Green Couch Games, is a compact, colorful, and easy to learn game for 2 to 4 players that captures a bit of that ice cream truck magic. The game was designed by Joshua J. Mills, with art an...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. We’re back with another family board game recommendation. Ever want to create your own Rube Goldberg machine? Then Gizmos is the game for you. Gizmos is a 2018 game from CMON Games designed by Phil Walker-Harding very much in the spirit of a Rube Goldberg machine. Players take on the role of inventors, constructing ever more elaborate contraptions out of s...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, I have another family board game recommendation: Herbaceous. Herbaceous was designed by Steve Finn and published in 2017 by Pencil First Games. The game’s art is by the amazing Beth Sobel. Sobel’s art makes Herbaceous is one of the prettiest games we own. Players take on the roles of herb collectors, growing and potting herbs like tarragon...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, I have another recommendation for a great game for couples: Wingspan, a game about birds. Wingspan was published in 2019 by Stonemaier Games. It was designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and features art by Natalia Rojas, Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo, and Beth Sobel. Back in 2014, Hargrave and her husband had recently started birdwatching. Around...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, I’m changing things up a bit and recommending a great board game for couples: PARKS by Keymaster Games. I’m a big fan of the US National Parks, ever since I took my kids out west on what we called the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Tour. We saw the largest of each: we went whale-watching off the coast of San Francisco, we saw redwoods and sequoi...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we have another family game recommendation: Forbidden Island. Forbidden Island, published in 2010 by Gamewright, is a cooperative game where the players work together to explore a mysterious island, find its treasures, and escape before the island floods. If you’re successful, then everybody wins! If not, well, in my house, we usually want...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. In this episode, we have another family game recommendation: Deep Sea Adventure. Deep Sea Adventure is a push-your-luck game with colorful components about diving for underwater treasure. It was designed by Jun Sasaki and Goro Sasaki, and published in 2014 by Oink Games, a Japanese publisher that specializes in games that come in very small boxes. In Deep...

Text us your thoughts about this episode. n this episode, we have more family game recommendations: Sushi Go! and its sequel, Sushi Go Party! In some sushi restaurants, the sushi comes out on a conveyor belt, and customers pick the sushi they want as it moves past them. The game Sushi Go! plays with that idea, using what it calls “pick and pass.” The game consists of a big deck of cards, each one...