At the beginning of last year, I published my first-ever “most anticipated games” list for 2021. This list consisted of several new releases as well as many older games which I had not gotten around to playing yet. Today we look back at that list and reveal whether or not I got around to playing all these games, and if so, whether they lived up to the hype! So without further ado, let’s dive in. 10. Fort I purchased Fort through the second-hand BGG marketplace early on in 2021. I managed to play it several times with my wife and, unfortunately for me, it absolutely did not click for her. She ..read more

It is hard to believe that 2022 is here! I think most people are happy to say goodbye to 2021, and for good reasons. However, I believe 2021 was a great year for board games. So many great games have come out and are coming out. So many in fact that most all of my 2022 anticipated games are actually technically 2021 releases that either haven’t been widely distributed yet or I haven’t gotten a copy of yet. With that in mind, I am happy to present my most anticipated games of 2022: 10. Cascadia I have largely overlooked Cascadia over the last year simply because it looks too abstract for my ta ..read more

Check out the games my kids received for Christmas and my thoughts on them so far My kids had a great Christmas in terms of board games. This year, I did a ton of research into kid’s games that would be appropriate for my 5 and 3 year olds. I am happy to share these picks with you and give you my thoughts on them thus far. Without further ado, here are the games: Robot Turtles Designer Dan Shapiro Publisher ThinkFun Players 2-5 Age Range 4+ Playing Time 15 Minutes Read more on BoardGameGeek This little programming game is adorable. I’m not sure how I had never heard of it before but I recentl ..read more

Hi everyone, welcome back to Instant Game Night. With the holiday season behind us, I wanted to take a moment to share with you my board game haul from Christmas 2020. Although the year 2020 has been a rough one, I had one of the most enjoyable Christmases yet with my family. And not only that, but I managed to score quite a haul of board games this year as gifts. In fact, I didn't put a single thing on my wish list this year that wasn't a board game. And with 3 different family Christmases to attend, let's just say I was not disappointed. Below I am going to provide a brief description about ..read more

“Is Hues and Cues a good game to bring to game night?” Hues and Cues Year Published 2020 Designer Scott Brady Artists n/a Publisher The Op Players 3-10 Age Range 8+ Playing Time 30 Minutes Hues and Cues is a clue-giving party board game where players attempt to place their player pieces on the specific hue of color that the clue giver is describing. These “cues” consist of one or two words describing the color. Players earn points based on how close their player pieces were to the actual hue the player was describing. Below you will find a brief summary of the game play along with our thought ..read more

“Is Hanabi a good game to bring to game night?” Hanabi Year Published 2010 Designer Antoine Bauza Artists Antoine Bauza, Gérald Guerlais, Albertine Ralenti Publisher R&R Games (various others) Players 2-5 Age Range 8+ Playing Time 25 Minutes Hanabi (Japanese word for "fireworks") is a cooperative card game where players take on the roles of pyrotechnicians trying to put on the best possible fireworks show for their crowd. To do this, they will need to arrange the five different colored fireworks cards in ascending order, from 1 to 5. If this seems simple, it's because I haven't mentioned ..read more

Welcome back to Instant Game Night, I hope everyone had a great New Year's holiday. I, like so many others, am very happy to have said goodbye to 2020. I am looking forward to a fresh start in 2021 and with that fresh start, I am also looking forward to playing a number of new games in the new year. Today, I wanted to talk about my top 10 games I'm looking forward to playing this year. Before we get into the list, I should mention that you are very likely to see some older games on this list. That's because, as you might know, I am still a relative newcomer to the hobby. I only started buildin ..read more

“Is Canvas a good game to bring to game night?” Canvas Year Published 2021 Designer Jeff Chin, Andrew Nerger Artist Luan Huynh Publisher Road To Infamy Games Players 1-5 Age Range 14+ Playing Time 30 Minutes Canvas is a set collection board game where players take on the role of painters competing in a grand art show. Over the course of the game, players will be creating three unique paintings by layering art cards and will earn "Best in Show" ribbons (points) based in the icons that are visible in their finished product. Below you will find a brief summary of the game play along with our tho ..read more

“Is Downforce a good game to bring to game night?” Downforce Year Published 2017 Designers Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, Wolfgang Kramer Artists Tavis Coburn, Michael Crampton, Jason Taylor Publisher Restoration Games Players 2-6 Age Range 10+ Playing Time 20-40 Minutes Downforce is a high stakes racing-style board game where players take control of their own racing team and guide their drivers around the track, hoping to reach victory and earn the 1st place grand prize. But only a fool doesn't hedge their bets. As the owner of a racing team, of course you are betting on yourself. But if you ..read more

“Is Penny Press a good game to bring to game night?” Penny Press Year Published 2015 Designers Robert Dijkman Dulkes, Matt Golec Artist Mackenzie Schubert Publisher Asmadi Games Players 2-5 Age Range 13+ Playing Time 45-60 Minutes Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Penny Press is a worker placement board game set in late 1800s New York City. In this game, players take on the role of owners of major newspaper companies during the era of “yellow journalism”. To succeed in this industry, you and your reporters will need to be cutthroat and stop at nothing to beat your rivals to the best (and most s ..read more