Episode 324 – Top Games of 2022

This week, we’ll talk about our top games of 2022. Ones that were new to us this year; our favorites and games that really surprised us. And we ask each of the kids for their favorite game of the year, too.

324 Fact

The highest earning Super Smash Brothers competitor in the world has earned about 324 thousand dollars playing that game.

Don’t tell our kids!

Sponsored by First Move Financial

The best time to start planning for your holiday spending is right now! To schedule a time to talk to First Move about other ways to take control of your finances head over to firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers to set up an initial 15 minute call.

What We’ve Been Playing

Framework (our review – thanks Dave!)
Skull Canyon Ski Fest – we have opinions on this one.
Mada – very casual and best at 4-5 players. Review coming soon.
Anomia: Pop Culture – hilarious with our mix of teens & adults.
Flamecraft – super cute, but there’s a lot of game there.
Fyfe
Starship Captains
Quacks of Quedlinburg
Drop It – a perennial favorite (our review)
Once Upon a Line – better than our previous play. Coming to Kickstarter soon!
Beer & Bread – a great 2 player game with multi-use cards and lots of different mechanics that all fit together well.
Turing Machine
Garden Nation – review coming soon.
On Tour: Paris and New York (our review)
Quarto
Monopoly Deal

The Monthly Report – December

Anitra: 42 unique games, 71 plays. H-index 4. Most played: Quarto, Turing Machine, Star Trek: Super-Skill Pinball, Splitter.

Andrew: 38 total plays. H-index 2. Most played: Anomia: Pop Culture and Turing Machine, along with Garden Nation, Drop It, Unmatched, Mada, Quarto.

The Yearly Report – 2022!

We did NOT complete our family 10×10 challenge. Only four of the games got played 10 times, but every game got played at least 4 times. Next year, we’ll either do a 10×5 or possibly a 20×5. It was really hard to pick games that were easy to get to the table! But we did discover that having a goal like that motivates our kids (Zombie Kidz Evolution and Zombie Teenz Evolution both got a LOT of play for that reason.)

Anitra: 196 unique games, 544 plays. H-index 8. Most played: Santorini at 20 plays (surprising absolutely no one). Then, Unmatched, A Gentle Rain, Royal Visit, The Key: Theft at Cliffrock Villa, Under Falling Skies, Maul Peak, Railroad Ink Challenge

Andrew: 182 unique games, 337 plays. H-index 6. Most played: Royal Visit at 12 plays. Then, Jekyll vs. Hyde, So Clover, Green Team Wins, Laniakea, Drop It, Unmatched, Quacks of Quedlinburg, Barenpark.

New Community Members

Stop into the community and say hi! Did you play any games to ring in the New Year?

SNAP Review – The Root Beer Float Challenge

We highly recommend watching our video about this silly family party game.

Play fast challenges using physical components of “the root beer float” to collect ingredients. We guarantee it will get you up and moving!

The Family Gamers’ Top Games in 2022

Each kid picked one.

Elliot: Castle Panic Big Box (review coming in 2023) – because of new art and including all the expansions.

Asher: Santorini (to no one’s surprise) – “a lot of replayability with all the different god powers…”

Claire: Flamecraft (review coming soon) – because of cute dragons and also that they are “working dragons”. Everyone has jobs! Of all the dragon-themed games we’ve played, this gives us the most stuff to do. Also she loves her stuffed dragon “Steak Tips” who is a meat dragon from the game.

Anitra’s top three:

A Gentle Rain – published in 2021, but I first played in February.
Magic Mountain – we immediately loved this after first seeing it in March.
Jekyll vs. Hyde – SO surprised at this game. I love the way it all ties together with theme and the trick-taking mechanics.

runners up:

Three Sisters
Papageno
Aldabas

Andrew’s top three five:

5. Juicy Fruits – the sliding mechanic and “modules” make this really cool.
4. First Rat – incredibly intuitive and simple for what it is: a Euro game that’s approachable for kids!
3. Gutenberg – so smooth!
2. Suspects: Claire Harper Takes the Stage – although the mysteries were very hard to solve, it’s surprisingly great for a family!
1. Turing Machine – as computer scientists, we love this game and are really impressed by how it’s put together.

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