146 – Top 5 Family Food Games – The Family Gamers Podcast

Who doesn’t like food? In this episode of the podcast, we’ll talk about our favorite food games to play as a family.

Thanks to our sponsor, Breaking Games. We play a little Order of Invention on the show, and you can play along at home. Which came first?

1. Espresso machine (piston-driven)
2. Instant coffee
3. Pop-up toaster
4. Tea bags

The answer might surprise you!

What We’ve Been Playing!

Shadows in Kyoto (review coming Friday) – we’ve enjoyed this two-player game of strategy and deception, as well as learning a bit of the historical background.

Pyramid of Pengqueen – this is a great asymmetric game to play with kids, but it hasn’t been great for our family, due to our resident agent of chaos.

Imhotep: Das Duel – The German was a little tricky to get around, but you can now get it in English as Imhotep: The Duel. It flips some of the strategy of Imhotep around. Place workers in a 3×3 grid. Each turn, decide whether to place a worker or unload a boat (each worker in that boat’s row/column unloads a resource in order). Use the tiles to create building types on your individual board. Enjoyable, but we prefer the original Imhotep.

Rescue Polar Bears: Data and Temperature – don’t let these cute polar bears fool you! This is a very challenging cooperative game. The name is deceptive: your goal is not actually to rescue the bears, but instead to capture data tokens while preventing the existing bears from drowning.

Spy Club – It’s been quite a while since we’d last played this cooperative game, but we were able to pick up our campaign right where we left off. Now that we understand the mechanics of the game, it feels like riding a bicycle – easy to pick back up. The “mosaic” campaign adds a lot.

My First Castle Panic – still a big hit with our preschooler. It’s appropriately easy, but winning is not guaranteed. (Read our review.)

Food, Glorious Food!

Such a great theme. Who doesn’t like food? There are tons of great food games, and we can’t play them all. However, we’ve reviewed several in the past (just look for the “food” tag), and we’ll tell you our favorite food games to play as a family.

We asked the Family Gamers community, and we also asked the Dice Tower community. Some games (Sushi Go & New York Slice) came up over and over again. A few other notables though: Wasabi, Stir Fry 18, Pie Town, At the Gates of Loyang, Food Chain Magnate, Kitchen Rush, Fabled Fruit, and a brand-new game called Consumption.

Andrew suggests a game called “Gluttony”. Maybe we’ll suggest this to One Board Family for their next “Will it Game?” terrible game idea.

Top Food Games for Family Play

Honorable mention to Filler, but we haven’t played it enough yet to make a judgement call.

Our top food games, ranked by complexity. We’ll start with the most preschooler-friendly and work our way up to adults-only.

Mmm! – a great cooperative press-your-luck game with no reading. Good for 3 year olds, but your older kids won’t get tired of it right away. Our review – Find it on Amazon.

Dinosaur Tea Party – a tiny bit of reading, but truly great for all ages. A great game to play with non-gamer family. Our review – Find it on Amazon.

Go Nuts for Donuts – one of our all-time family favorites. Vote on the donut you want and collect the best set. Playable with preschoolers, but best with kids who can read and comprehend the point structure. Find it on Amazon.

Sushi Go Party (or Sushi Go) – Similar to Go Nuts for Donuts, but card drafting is a little more difficult for players to learn, and the point structure (calculating at the end of each round) is a bit more complex. We’ve heard good things about Sushi Roll (dice game version), so that might be a good option, too. Find them on Amazon.

Viticulture – A solid worker placement game. Plant vines, gather the grapes, mash them, and decide which wines to make. Perfect for a themed game night. Find it on Amazon.

What’s your favorite food game to play with your family?

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