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Happy 2025!!!
Welcome to another new year and another year of board gaming!!
Our Christmas game haul was lighter than usual because, with Selena out of the house and Julie struggling to deal with all that life keeps throwing at her, our gaming has become less frequent…
I’ll start by repeating one from the end of last year…
As I’ve done since Selena was little, there was a package under the tree marked to be opened Christmas Eve… it was getting late (by my schedule) as Julie finished her wrapping… she knew it was a game (I’m that predictable I guess) and recognized it as soon as she opened it and, even though we were both tired, we had to play a few games of Flip 7!!
(from the publisher): Flip over cards one by one without flipping the same number twice.
Sound easy? Think again! This isn’t just any deck of cards… In Flip 7 there’s only one 1 card, two 2’s, three 3’s, etc. plus a bunch of special cards that can score you extra points, give you a second chance, or freeze you or your opponents in your tracks.
Are you the type of player to play it safe and bank points before you bust, or are you going to risk it all and go for the bonus points by flipping over seven in a row? Press your luck meets strategy in this addictive card game that’s sure to be the greatest card game you’ve ever played!
Why (we wanted it / like it (or don’t): This game had caught my attention a while back but didn’t make my shopping list until a few weeks ago when we were in bed watching various YouTuber’s games of the year and this came up a couple different times and Julie thought it looked like fun… and it is!! We played 3 games on Christmas Eve though both of us were exhausted… it’s such a simple concept that I have to wonder why no one thought of it before… the special deck with twelve 12 cards, eleven 11’s, ten 10’s on down to one 1 and one 0 card plus various bonus / screw your opponent card makes for a Blackjack meets Farkle style game… we love it! Such a great game!! I stopped at Mom’s facility on the way home from work and introduced it to her and she flipped (sorry) for it!! I’ll be bringing it by when I can because she trounced me this time… 🙂
Let’s start with the newest game entering the collection… Windmill Valley!!
(from the publisher): It’s the late 19th century, and more than 9000 windmills dot the landscape of the Netherlands, some of them purpose-built to dry the lowlands, called polders. In the polders between these windmills are fields filled with colorful tulips—the flower that once was a part of the turbulent history of the first financial bubble but is now simply a quintessential part of the Dutch landscape, especially on the famous Bloemen Route (or “Flower Route”).
In Windmill Valley , a game inspired by the Bloemen Route, you and up to three players take on the role of tulip farmers and entrepreneurs. You will build and enhance your windmills, look for new tulip bulbs in foreign trades or among local vendors to buy and plant, and try to get an edge with hired help and lucrative contracts. Let your blooming fields make your competitors green with envy!
During their turn, players choose the action by rotating the wheels on their windmill board. During the game they can:
Enhance their wheels, by adding enhancements, to build their engine
Plant tulips in their fields, which will score VP at the end of the game
Build windmills on the main board to activate rewards from adjacent fields
Hire helpers that provide bonuses for certain actions
Get contracts for endgame scoring
Visit the local market and conduct a foreign trade
All in all, Windmill Valley is a lightweight game with quick turns, a smart action-selection mechanism, multiple options to build your engine, and a lovely setting.
Awards & Honors
2024 UK Games Expo Best Boardgame (Euro-Style) People’s Choice Award Winner
2024 UK Games Expo Best Boardgame (Euro-Style) Nominee
Why (we wanted it / like it (or don’t): I thought Julie would like this game for the bright colors if nothing else… and maybe the cool action selection gears… I knew I’d like the gameplay but I didn’t expect there to be this much going on… 🙂 I can’t wait to learn it and get it to the table!!
Next up… my Christmas present to myself from Julie… the 3rd game in the South Tigris trilogy… Inventors of the South Tigris.
(from the publisher): Inventors of the South Tigris is set during the height of the Abbasid Caliphate, circa 850 AD. Over the past decades, Baghdad has become home to thousands of mathematicians, astronomers, chemists, and physicians. As inspired innovators, players are eager to develop clever contraptions to impress their peers. Will your ingenious devices adorn the House of Wisdom, or are they destined for dust and decay?
The aim of Inventors of the South Tigris is to be the player with the most Victory Points (VP) at the game’s end. Points are primarily gained by Inventing, Building, Testing, and Publishing Devices. Players can also score points by training their Craftspeople, developing their Workshops, Researching, and Influencing the 3 scientific Guilds.
Why (we wanted it / like it (or don’t): If you’ve been on any of the game pages you probably already know the answer to this… I’ve loved everything that Shem Phillips and Sam McDonald and Garphil Games have put out since I first found Architects of the West Kingdom in their 2nd trilogy… I haven’t played this one or even read the rules yet but I’m already looking forward to the 4th trilogy which I expect to be announced in the next couple months. I’ll follow up once I get it to the table either with Julie or the local game group which also has a huge Garphil fan… 🙂
The rest of our Christmas haul are some older games including one that I was so excited to give Julie that I may have gone off the deep end… I told a friend what I’d done and he paused then remarked, “Don’t get the bends on the way up!” 🙂
But first, let’s go back to 2019’s Tiny Towns…
(from the publisher): You are the mayor of a tiny town in the forest in which the smaller creatures of the woods have created a civilization hidden away from predators. This new land is small and the resources are scarce, so you take what you can get and never say no to building materials. Cleverly plan and construct a thriving town, and don’t let it fill up with wasted resources! Whoever builds the most prosperous tiny town wins!
In Tiny Towns, your town is represented by a 4×4 grid on which you will place resource cubes in specific layouts to construct buildings. Each building scores victory points (VPs) in a unique way. When no player can place any more resources or construct any buildings, the game ends, and any squares without a building are worth -1 VP. The player with the most VP wins!
Awards & Honors
2019 Board Game Quest Awards Best Family Game Nominee
2020 Spiel der Spiele Hit für Familien Recommended
2020 Origins Awards Game of the Year Winner
2020 Origins Awards Game of the Year Finalist
2020 Origins Awards Best Board Game Winner
2020 Origins Awards Best Board Game Nominee
2020 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Best Advanced Game Nominee
2020 Gouden Ludo Best Family Game Nominee
2019 Mensa Recommended
2019 Meeples Choice Award Nominee
2019 Golden Geek Board Game of the Year Nominee
2019 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee
2019 Cardboard Republic Architect Laurel Nominee
Why (we wanted it / like it (or don’t): Julie loves Tetris-y type games and this fits that with a bit of a twist…
Before we continue, I should mention that I also picked up the Tiny Towns: Fortune expansion as well… of course I wrapped the expansion and the original game in the same paper then taped them together just to make Julie wonder… 🙂
(from the publisher): The smaller creatures of the forest have created a civilization free of predators, and they look to you as mayor to guide their growing and thriving town. However, the area is small, and resources are scarce. The clever use of limited resources will determine the most successful tiny town.
In the expansion Tiny Towns: Fortune, the creatures of the forest have found a way to trick each other into thinking shiny bits of metal have arbitrary value. It’s very useful — so much so that you can use this thing called “money” to get other creatures to give you almost anything in return for the right number of shiny bits. If only earning money weren’t so difficult!
Why (we wanted it / like it (or don’t): This was a no-brainer because it adds in seamlessly and provides a way to mitigate when your opponents are purposely NOT calling out the resources you need… 🙂
Next up, another game from about 5 years ago that I was turned on to by the Elementary Technology teacher at school… I thought it was so clever I had to find a copy… that’s Hey Robot!! NOTE: I couldn’t find a review of this that didn’t give away a bunch of the cards included with the game so there are no links for this… sorry.
(from the publisher): Hey Robot is a party game where two teams compete to get a smart speaker (like Alexa or Google Home) to say specific words. It can be played by any group size, from 2 players to as many as you can fit around a table.
You start the game by laying out a 4×4 grid of word cards. Cards have a point value from 1 to 3. Teams take turns trying to capture one of the cards by asking the speaker a single question, without using any form of the word on the card. If the speaker says the word in its response, the team captures that card and scores the points.
Whenever a team misses with their question, they must add a bonus point token to the card, increasing its value. Whenever a team captures a card, they add a bonus point token to any of the cards next to the captured card. The first team to score 16 points wins the game.
Hey Robot rewards general knowledge, linguistic dexterity, and the ability to reverse-engineer the algorithms that power the smart devices we’ve brought into our homes. It’s the first board game designed for humans and AI to play together.
Why (we wanted it / like it (or don’t): As soon as the teacher told me about this game I wondered why I’d never heard of it but knew I had to find a copy… 🙂
