After a few months of playing older games, we played a lot of new ones (to us) in September and October (and it’s pretty much a roll-and-write extravaganza):
- Root – I finally got a few plays in of the hotness (as the cats, of course). I enjoy asymmetrical games when they feel like a puzzle, and Root has that going for it, for now at least.
- Discover: Lands Unknown – We only played a 2-player game of scenario 1 of the Island. I liked the condensed version of an exploration game (it reminded me of the 7th Continent) but I don’t know how different the other scenarios will feel.
- Let’s Make a Bus Route – We played a lot of roll-and-writes this month, and this Japanese one was probably our favorite. As you might have guessed, you are literally making a bus routes, but unlike other mostly solo roll-and-writes, this is played on a shared board, with different player setups. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get a hold of.
- Welcome To… – This neighborhood planning roll-and-write was a close second. It’s nice to have a slightly more complex strategy game on top of simple mechanics.
- Tagiron – We only played this numerical deduction game 2-player, but really enjoyed it. It feels like Code 777 but with actual choices.
- Decrypto – Easily one of our favorite word guessing games, even though we kept sabotaging ourselves with impossible clues to confuse the other team. Oops.
- Circle The Wagons – An entertaining, portable take on “I split, you chose” with surprisingly difficult decisions.
- Werewords Deluxe – Another great word guessing game, this time with some basic werewolf roles to spice up what would otherwise be 20 Questions.
- Spy Club – An entertaining family weight (and themed) coop set collection game with different mechanics each game. It was fun for a casual gaming crowd.
- Mint Works – A short and portable worker placement game. We’ll probably only play it while traveling, but still fun to play.
- MetroX – Another Japanese roll-and-write, this one themed to the subway system. I enjoy it, although depending on the stack of your deck it’s sometimes frustratingly difficult.
- Ganz Shon Clever – An abstract roll-and-write. There’s enough choices to be made, but I enjoyed the themed ones more. Also, this one had the most significant downtime. Fun to play solo on the phone though.
- The Game – We picked up the new Target version of this old game, in which you silently work with a team to lay down numeric cards. It’s like The Mind (which you can also play with this deck and a few counters) but with more substance.
- Qwinto – Another basic abstract roll-and-write. A good alternative when you’re getting tired of Quixx.
- Choose Your Own Adventure: House Of Danger – While this is basically just a book on cards, it did allow our group to play it together, which made the absurdity more enjoyable. It was a nice break from our heavier fare.
- Kokoro: Avenue Of The Kodama – Something about this roll-and-write just didn’t engage me in comparison to the others. I’ll give it another shot with more players.
- Mint Delivery – I don’t find pick-up-and-deliver that entertaining, so a game that was only a basic version of one was pretty meh.
- A Fake Artist Goes To New York – This drawing game with a traitor just completely fell flat with my group unfortunately.
New expansions:
- Too Many Bones: Undertow – We love the base game, and have only played the new characters once so far. Stanza is really complicated, so I definitely recommend playing the base game first.
- The Grizzled: At Your Orders – This expansion turned The Grizzled into a more complete feeling 2-player game.
Eclectic Gamer 