Garrett's Games and Geekiness

Two chicken-themed games this week! First, we're foxes trying to get as many chickens as possible for dinner in Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! by chad Elkins from 25th Century Games Then, we bid for the best eggs from the chicken in Fafnir by Jun Sasaki from Oink Games

Shelley and I work at building our respective modular-board regions with various hex-tile buildings in Castles of Tuscany by Stefan Feld from alea then we attempt to build up both our wealth and fame (until they cross in  Rajas of the Ganges: The Dice Charmers by Inka and Markus Brand from R&R Games

Shelley and I spend some time building our webs of power in Iwari (The Deluxe Edition) by Michael Schacht from ThunderrGryph Games then capture and transport polyomino cats in our respective boast in  The Isle of Cats by Frank West from The City of Games

Shelley and I work hard to get our villages cleared of werewolves in  Silver Dagger by Ted Alspach from Bezier Games and then we wander the world checking out various sites and collecting touristy trinkets in Trekking the World by Charlie Bink from Underdog Games 

Shelley and I get Hadara off the shelf once again to discuss playing it with its expansion: Hadara: Marketplaces and Monuments by Benjamin Schwer and from Hans im Glück then we take a spin with the newest version of Hansa, now with steampunk aspects and called Traders of the Air by Michael Schacht from Compass Games

Shelley and I spend some time developing route around the house in  Ticket to Ride: Stay at Home (Print & Play) from Alan R. Moon and Days of Wonder then we develop airline routes around the world in Pan Am by Prospero Hall from Funko Games

Shelley and I head back to the Middle Ages for both of this week's games, manipulating multi-use cards to draft workers and citizens and build our village in  Tybor the Builder by Dennis Rappel and Alexander Pfister from Mayfair and Lookout Games then we compete to elicit the services of many different experts for our strongholds in Medieval Realms by Carlos Michán Amado from Los Games Entertainme...

Shelley and I talk about THREE games in this quick episode, and sadly we can't really recommend any of them: First we tried out the 2-player only  Fluttering Souls by Joel Lewis from Good Games Publishing next we attempted to collect "dream shards" and build them into proper dreams in  Dreamscape by David Ausloos and Pierre Steenebruggen from Sylex Finally, it seems that Terraforming Mars, one of...

Shelley and are delivering stuff this week, using trains to deliver a bunch of materials in Grand Trunk Journey by Claude Sirois from Spielworxx then using carts to deliver kegs of beer in Heaven & Ale + the Kegs and More Expansion by Michael Kiesling and Andreas Schmidt from eggertspiele

Shelley and get two family-oriented games to the table this week, looking first at  Succulent by J. Alex Kevern from Renegade Game Studios then at Endangered by Joe Hopkins from Grand Gamers Guild

This week Shelley and I add and modify the HEAVY 2018 title  Teotihuacan: City of Gods by Daniele Tascini from NSKN and Board&Dice by adding most of the expansions that come in 2019's  Teotihuacan: Late Preclassic Period Expansion by Tascini, Rainer Ahlfors, and Andrei Novac Then we race to build our factory towns in  Fantastic Factories by Joseph Z Chen and Justin Faulkner from Metafactory Games...

Shelley and I get out the much-discussed Welcome To... by Benoit Turpin to the table once again with most recent Easter and Quack expansions Then we check out the brand new stand-alone version Welcome To New Las Vegas by Benoit Turpin and Alexis Allard,  both from Blue Cocker and Deep Water Games

Shelley and I tackle two Kickstarter games in odd-shaped boxes; first we create our own towns in Villagers by Haakon Gaarder from Sinister Fish and then we take the band  On Tour by Chad DeShon from BoardGameTables.com

Shelley and I head to Japan to build different colored pagodas in  Tajuto by Reiner Knizia from Super Meeple and Abacusspiele then we head to a world of wonderful trains that move the tourists and workers throughout different networks in Traintopia by Przemek Wojtkowiak from Board&Dice

Shelley and I get to drawing some polyominoes in individual grids in Second Chance by Uwe Rosenberg from Stronghold & Edition Spielwiese then we compete to build our civilizations in Tapestry by Jamey Stegmaier from Stonemaier Games

Shelley and I wander with our camels through the desert, attempting to reunite the nomad tribes in Gobi by Shaun Graham and Scott Huntington from Capsicum Games and then compete to plant and harvest the biggest crops of different types of fruit in Harvest Island by Chih-Fan Chen from Big Fun Games

Shelley and I check out TWO EmperorS4 games this week. First, we get our gem-collecting hats on in order to advance along paths in Trial of the Temples by Wei-Min Ling and Michael Mihealsick then we gather gears and attempt to create mechanical beasts from blueprints in Jiguan: The Eastern Mechanist by Eros Lin

Shelley and I head to Southern California to design and help both locals and tourists find a place to enjoy the beach and shops in Santa Monica by Josh Wood from AEG and then we work to help the meeples escape from the evil gamers who have enslaved them in Save the Meeples by Florian Sirieix from Blue Cocker Games

Shelley and I get another 'draw and draw' game to the table, this time filling our papers with tetris-style pieces that represent landscapes in Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale by Jordy Adan from Thunderworks Games then we pull out one of our favorites to try out a new map and sail around some islands in the Mediterranean in Concordia: Balearica & Cyprus by Mac Gerts from PD Verlag

Shelley and I compete over mandala designs in  Mandala by Trevor Benjamin and Brett J. Gilbert from Lookout Games and Funforge and then we head back to our youth and compete to build the tunnel that connected England to the rest of Europe in 1987: Channel Tunnel by Israel Cendrero and Sheila Santos from Looping Games

Shelley and I get two flawed recent Kickstarter releases to the table this week, making tea in  Chai by Dan and Connie Kazmaier from Steeped Games then head to the Sierra foothills for the gold rush in  Coloma by Jonny Pac from Final Frontier Games

Shelley and I travel around islands on pontoon planes in Wayfinders by Thomas Dagenais-Lesperance from Pandasaurus Games then we travel back in time and wander the Far East in  Marco Polo II: In The Service of the Khan by Daniele Tascini and Simone Luciani from Hans im Glück

Shelley and I have some fun with a quick and easy card game (that's better with MORE than 2 players) 5211 by Tsuyoshi Hashiguchi from Next Move Games and then try a new twist on building rails across the United States in  Railroad Revolution: Railroad Evolution Expansion by Marco Canetta and Stefania Niccolini from What's Your Game?

Shelley and I head to Asia this week, planning a bike trip around Taiwan in UBike Tour: Taiwan by Chih-Fan Chen from Big Fun Games then travel around Kyoto and Singapore in Remember Our Trip by Saashi and Daryl Chow from Saashi & Saashi

Shelley and I put on our hard hats and build up our two cities' electrical infrastructure in  Electropolis by Chang Yu Di, Ku Chun Wei, and Wang Liang from Homosapiens Lab and then get out our binoculars and head 'outside'  to collect birds in new European habitats in Wingspan and its European Expansion by Elizabeth Hargrave from Stonemeier Games