August 2023

This month we cover new additions to the rental library; turn our spotlight on to Ocean Pods and continue our series on travel friendly games to take on holiday.  We’ll also update you on our Have Fun, Do Good charity drive and bring you another chance to win a game of your choice from our online shop.

New additions to our library

We are excited to add some great new games to our growing rental library.  You can visit our site on the link below to view the full list of games you can rent but first here are three gems we recently got to unbox and enjoy.

Can you overcome the climate crisis in 20 years?

Earth Rising is a co-operative board game about saving our planet.  In Earth Rising, one to six players take on individual specialist roles and work together to create a sustainable future over 20 rounds (representing 20 years).  Player make decisions on real-word scenarios:  each unsustainable practices places strain on our planet while sustainable practices remove it. Too much strain will lead to ecological collapse!  As an added challenge the players are also up against those who would seek to preserve the status quo.   The game does a great job of simulating the  race against time to preserve the balance of our society and ecology and is both educational and exciting to play.  

It’s ready, set, go! for the fastest, most dangerous, and zaniest racing game.

In this push-your luck game, players are daredevil racers with only one goal: win the race—no matter how dangerous!  Strap into one of the six racers, each with a unique ability to help you press your advantage over the other racers.   Each race lasts  three laps and in addition to speeding round the track, players will fight battles against other racers they encounter.    Players need a mix of tactical skills, daring and good luck to make it round the track without crashing and be victorious at the finish line.

Battle for resources on an alien planet.

Amass sees teams of deep space miners engage in intense battles to extract valuable resources from a dangerous alien planet. Your primary objective is to fulfill your mining contract while amassing the highest-quality resources. Players compete for resources scattered across the planet, seize supplies from rival crew bases, and remain vigilant against the ever-present threat of hostile Alien raider.  Decisions are locked in via hidden-movement selection at the start of each turn, with players  making strategic use of action cards to help in combat situations for extra power, re-rolls or other ways to mitigate bad die rolls.

Summer Holidays: get ready for take off!

Schools out and for some this means having to take a break away from their home comforts such as the collection of board games. Fear not though, if, like us, you find yourself considering paying for an extra luggage to fit the “essential” games the kids just can’t do without or dread your carry-on bags bulging at the seams, we have some thoughts on what to consider when space is a tight squeeze.  

Tiny game pieces in tiny spaces are the first consideration. Nobody wants to be spending the train trip hunting under your seat for runaway meeples, coins or game bits that can easily roll off the table each time the train stops. Save yourself the stress and pack a box with compartments to keep all the pieces in one place. (Card based games remain an excellent choice for travel as they have few moving parts.)

Think about how much travel time you have - this will help in determining how much variety to include in your selection. Even a family favourite can be over played when you are waiting for the plane to board so our second tip is to find games that have multiple game variations and high re-playability score to promote multiple games and avoid having a a game take up precious space only to not get played again after the first day.

Beach days, hiking trails or relaxing picnics all require you to contend with the elements.  So while these destinations can certainly be an opportunity to enjoy a board game, remember to pack games that won’t blow away and have quick set up and take down times in case you have to make a break for shelter.

Here are our our top picks for outdoor gaming:

Two Player favourites:

Hive, Jaipur, Patchwork

Interactive Fun:

Dobble (Spot It!) , Overstocked

Dirt and rain resistant:

Honeycombs , Cobra Paw, Hive

All in the Shuffle:

6 Mimmt!, Pugs in mugs

Family favourites:

Azul Summer Pavilion, Code Names

If you’d like to take any of these to go with you on your summer break,you’ll find these titles and many more, available to rent from our library or buy from our online shop.  Newsletter and blog readers can use voucher code Summer23 for a 5% discount on any game purchases.

Spotlight on OCEAN PODS  by Molinarius Games

2-5 Players

30-45 minutes

Ocean Pods is a dice drafting game thate delivers an environmental message while still letting you have a whale of a time.   Players draft resources based on the dice rolls and use these to attract different whale and dolphin species in order to achieve research goals.    Players compete to score the most points by collecting whale cards and completing objectives.   The winner is the person with the highest score at the end of a round where a player reaches 12 points.

The game provides an interesting twist in that players need to take care not to focus exlusively on their quest for victory but have to be mindful of rising plastic pollution levels as leaving pollution unchecked could lead to the oceans being overrun by and the game ending with all players losing.

Ocean pods is easy to learn and teach making it accessible and the quick play time makes it a good filler game as well a great educational tool.

Click on the image above to learn more.

Join our charity drive in aid of Dementia UK

A big thank you to those who have made a donatioin to our just giving page in aid of Dementia UK. We have raised £75 in July and are challenging our readers to spread the word and see if we can beat that in August!

The charity drive will run from 1 July 2023 to 30 September 2023.

If you would like to participate and donate any amount  (even just the cost of a coffee would be greatly appreciated) please visit the link below and remember to share our Just Giving page. Your donations are safe and secure and will be sent straight to the charity by Just Giving at the end of each month.