Our staff reviews games to help your family find new games to play that are worth your time and money! Please see our review policy for more information.
Oh no! The volcano is about to explode! Don’t panic: get all 16 islanders (cave dwellers, dodo birds, eggs) off the island in time! Panic Island! is a speed memory game from Blue Orange Games. We’ll tell you our thoughts on it in just 5 minutes.
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Gather food, barter, attract mammoths, and protect your tribe – but don’t forget to pet Honga, the friendly neighborhood saber-tooth tiger! Read more about this excellent introduction to action selection games.
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Can you become the Most Wanted outlaw in the wild west? Try your luck to rob the stagecoach and duel your fellow outlaws in this fast-playing game. We’ll tell you about it in 7 minutes.
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Work the mine with your fellow dwarfs to find the best treasures, but don’t have an accident! Is this mining game a hidden gem, or a worthless rock?
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SHOBU is an abstract two player game that immediately feels classic. The simplicity of play and beautiful natural materials are immediately inviting. Splitting your focus between 4 boards and out-thinking your opponent will keep you coming back for more.
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Ingenious is a game with great accessibility for new players and depth of strategy for experienced players. Lay down a tile, making straight lines in each color.
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Fortune is the 4th installment of Friedemann Friese’s Fast Forward series, in which players open the box and just begin playing. No rulebooks are included because the game teaches you how to play as cards are drawn from the deck. As the game progresses, new rules and new card types are introduced to change up the game.
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Grab gumballs, then guess what they’re feeling! Guess It, Get It, Gumballs is a unusual cooperative memory game for ages 4+. It’s perfect to get your kid talking about feelings.
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Compete with tribes of Cave People to shove mammoths off cliffs… or trick each other into careening off the edge! Survive prehistoric pitfalls and collect Mammoth Meat to feed your tribe.
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Did you know that cuckoos don’t build their own nests? Kiki Cuckoo never learned to build one, and now she needs your help! Elliot helps Andrew and Anitra explain this cute all-ages dexterity game from HABA.
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Match It, Slap It, Group It, Build It, and Connect It, building habitats for wildlife in this educational card game system. What In The Wild? is produced by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, but covers species native to most of the northern United States.
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Guide magical creatures to their homes in the sky, and use magic to push away the oncoming storm. Roll the dice and move any character in Sky Magic, a simple cooperative game with lots of imagination.
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Do you enjoy the freedom of open roads and pausing to explore landmarks along the way? Have fond memories of taking road trips with family or friends? Or were your road trips right out of the Griswold family vacation playbook with a little bit of chaos just for fun? If you checked any of the boxes above, you’re ready for
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Hex Roller stands out from a lot of other roll-and-write games because it dispenses with theme, to focus on making this puzzle the best it can be.
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Build your own Jurassic Park and fill it with the best dinosaurs in this short game for 2-5 players.
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We love Slide Quest, a cooperative dexterity puzzle game. Work together to slide the rolling knight through 5 levels, knocking enemies over on the way.
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Dice Throne is an easy game to pick up and learn. The core of the game is manipulating your dice to get the best result, leading some people to call it “battle Yahtzee”. However, the wide variety present in the cards and characters keeps games feeling fresh and allows for many different overall strategies.
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Constellations is a tile-laying, pattern matching game for 2-4 players, lasting from 30-60 minutes. The game was designed by Ian Zang and Dante Lauretta and beautifully illustrated by Ashley Kenawell. Lay hexagons to grow the night sky and score points as you match patterns on your tiles!
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I love eating baked goods, but my daughter loves making them. In Filler, 1-6 players are pastry chefs, reporting to work at the bakery. Use your supplies to fill recipes; may the best baker win!
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Pikoko turns traditional trick-taking upside down with feathery flair. Place bets on the tricks that each player will take. The only catch is that you can see their cards but not your own!
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