The Board Game Night Playlist: Intro to Board Games

Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary Edition BoardWelcome to the Board Game Night Playlist! In what will hopefully grow into an ongoing series, I put together a playlist of games that you could use for your next board game night. Ideally, each playlist is created with the thought that all of the games on the list could be played within an evening of gaming. Also, I’d like for each playlist to contain some sort of thread that ties them together. For instance, I want to make playlists that are tuned for specific player counts, themes, gameplay mechanics or other logical through lines to make the most out of your next session.

This first playlist was inspired by a board game night we had with Mat and his now-fiancĂ©e Liza. Neither of them had played board games in years, with most of their experience coming from playing mainstream hits like Monopoly or Scrabble. What set of games could we pull together that were equal parts fun and accessible? Our picks out to be excellent choices, as we had a great night and inspired Mat and Liza to seek out more great board game experiences for themselves. This first playlist is the exact lineup of games we played that fateful night. If you’re hosting a board game night with newcomers, or are new to the medium yourself, try out this introductory playlist!

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Guillotine Review

Heads will roll in Guillotine (sorry, had to do it). In this 2-5 player card game set in the French Revolution, players take turns executing different nobles. Each noble is assigned a point value based on how much their execution is worth. For instance, beheading Marie Antoinette will earn you a lot of points, while a lowly guard is only worth one. After three “days”, the person with the most points at the end of the game wins. Or, morbidly speaking, the player with the most valuable set of heads wins. While the game at a root level is dark nature, Guillotine is actually a humourous and fun card game.

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Lost Legacy: The Starship Review

Seiji Kanai and AEG caught lightning in a bottle with their smash-hit game Love Letter. Using only 16 cards and a simple rule set, Love Letter provides a masterful gaming experience that is fun for virtually anyone. I first gushed about it in my review of the game last year and I still consider it to be one of my all-time favourites.

Trying to build on the success of Love Letter, Seiji Kanai and AEG are back with Lost Legacy: The Starship. Building on Love Letter‘s 16-card setup and ruleset while pairing it with an all-new theme, Lost Legacy aims to add another layer of depth to the gameplay. While this is certainly more complicated than its predecessor, it’s not necessarily better off.

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Tokaido and Board Game Scarcity

A few months ago, Steff and I went on a date to Snakes and Lattes, which is Toronto’s premier board game cafe. On that day, a game called Tokaido made a positive impact on us. In it, players trek hike through Japan, making stops along the way to take in the scenery, relax in hot springs, meet cool people and more. The player who has had the most fulfilling trip wins. The game’s charm and interesting strategy mechanics won us over, but we weren’t quite ready to purchase it that day. Months later, we’re ready to buy, but the game has been sold out of at most stores and online retailers ever since. My only options to purchase the game through international retailers and eat the extra shipping costs, or purchase the game at a premium price through a third party seller. I’ve actually seen the game for sale at over double it’s suggested retail price!

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Pick-Up Post: Knights, Dark Knights, Dark Nights and Wild Nights

Board Games

How long can I keep up with “clever” titles that tie together all of my purchases in a post? Probably not much longer, though I’m going to give myself the benefit of the doubt this time. A sale at Snakes & Lattes and a restock on a game Steff’s wanted for months rounds out this pick-up post.

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April 5th, 2014 is International Tabletop Day!

This year will be the second annual International Tabletop Day. Founded by Geek & Sundry of Tabletop fame, this is a day meant to celebrate the awesomeness of board games and card games. There are a ton of official and unofficial events happening around the world which should be fun to take part in. Head over to the website and track one down near you.

I’m actually getting my brain scanned on the morning of for research purposes, but I may make a stop at my local board game store afterwards to check out what’s going on. Also, Steff and I might host our own board game day at our place with everyone that’s coming with us for the brain scan. You don’t need to give me excuses to play more board games, but I’ll gladly take this one!


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Saving The World Alone in Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game

Legendary: Fantastic 4Board games and card games to me have mainly been a social pursuit. I never really put much thought into playing these games alone, nor did I really have much desire to do so. Of late though, I’ve had a desire to play Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game without anyone to play with. After doing some snooping around in the Board Game Geek forums, it turns out that playing it alone is a popular way to go. Within that community, they even make challenges for everyone to try out and players report back on their results. Curious, I set up all of the cards for a solo battle with Marvel’s most devious supervillains.

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