September 2023

This month was birthday month for one of the crew and what better opportunity to break out some of our favourite party games? We also review a new addition to the library  Flame Craft as well as take a quick look ahead to the chirstmas season with this year’s exciting EXIT: Advent Calendar brought to you from the good folk at Kosmos.    September is also the last  chance to enter our facebook competition to win a game of your choice from our online shop - winners will be drawn next month! Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone who supported our charity drive which concludes this month.

Autumn is coming… and so is Christmas!

As soon as the weather starts cooling, stores start looking to Christmas promotions.  Normally this would incite from me a rant about how each year the season seems to creep forward until we’ll soon start seeing  next year’s christmas promotions on boxing day!   However, based on the rate at which these gems flew off our shelves last year, and the resulting stock shortage in December, I’ll join the fray in order to bring our newlsetter readers an early update of this year’s latest Exit The Game Advent Calendar :  The Silent Storm.    

For the uninitiated, the Exit series of games are effectively escape rooms in a box where players work together to solve puzzles, riddles and clues to make it through the game.    The concept has been brilliantly translated to Advent Calendar format where over the course of 24 days you will go on an adventure,  opening a new puzzle each day and earning a clue that will bring you one step closer to solving the game’s mystery.    The puzzles take 15 to 30 minutes to solve (though some of the more challenging enes require some “out the box” thinking!)

Previous editions have seen us exploring a mysterious ice cave to learn the identity of its occupant,  or searching far and wide to locate Santa’s naughty/nice list before D-day (delivery day) for presents.   This year’s installment sees you, as one of Santa’s toy makers, suddenly find yourself locked in the workshop during a storm…can you escape and find Santa in time to save Christmas (once more!) ?

Part escape room puzzle,  part adventure story, the Exit Advent Calendars are great fun. The whole family can participate (we even set up whatsapp groups with firends to compare notes and help each other out) and these games a great way to bring friends and family together in a spirit of lightearted fun based on a beloved holiday tradition.

Exit The Game Advent Calendar :  The Silent Storm is available to purchase from our online shop.

It’s party time !

One of our gnomes had a birthday and a retro-themed birthday party complete with a game of twister, party packs with monopoly money instead of chocolate coins and music was from the 70's.   Luckily someone at the party had a My Board Game Library boardgame subscription and had thought to order some modern crowd pleasers to keep the party flowing, and happily we avoided slipped discs and displaced hips!

The Party Games category is vast and at times controversial (isn’t anything “fun” suitable for a party? when is a pastime a game and not just a play activity?).  

There are many titles to choose from and which game to play will often depend on who is playing.  We recommend as a rule of thumb to choose games that are easy to teach, have good replayability and don't take too long to play.   Some games play better with bigger groups or with younger players so it is a good idea to check the box for group size and recommended player age.  Also try and find a theme your group enjoys and choose games that compliment the theme.

Here are some of our top picks:

For kids of all ages:

• Sushi go party

• Pass the pugs

• Quacks of Quedlinburg

• Exploding Kittens

For those who enjoy themed games

• Spyfall

• Code Names

• The Resistance

• One night ultimate werewolf

For the more creative minds

• Dixit

• Concept

• Telestrations

• Game For Fame

…and a new new entry for 2023:

• Dice and splice

Blog readers can still use discount code Summer23 for a 5% discount on any of the above games.

Spotlight on

Flame Craft

Cardboard Alchemy

1-5 Players

60 minutes

Imagine dragons… not as gold-hoarding beasts bent on brining fiery end to any who would steal their loot, but as lovable critters just getting along the daily business of helping to build and growing their dragon village.    Tha’s exactly what Flame Craft asks us to do.  This delightful game is easy to learn yet the cute and playful art and simple mechanics hide a deceptively strategic gameplay that pleasantly surprised the more serious gamers in our group.  

Each turn players will send their dragons to a shop location to either produce goods at that shop or to enchant the shop to score points,  enchanting a shop makes it more valuable for the next player that visits it, potentially helping them score more points. As the game progresses you will get fancier, more powerful dragons to work for your and unlock new shop locations to enchant, which gives everyone more options.   The game is a balance between a race to achieving your goals and helping others achieve their’s… just don’t hand out too much of an advantage to your opponents: the winner is the one with the most points in the end!  

Cardboard Alchemy have created a brilliant gateway game that will appeal both to new players and to families due to its insanely cute artwork,  original theme and engaging and enterntaining play.  There is probably not enough here to keep die-hard strategy fans or more serious gamers engaged long term but that shouldn’t deter you from experiencing this unique and entirely fun game.

Join our charity drive in aid of Dementia UK

A big thank you to all those who supported our just giving page in aid of Dementia UK.  To date you have helped us raise £110 for this worthy cause - let’s see if we can spread the word and get the total even higher as we enter the last month of this campaign in September.    

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 share our Just Giving page link.

Your donations are safe and secure and will be sent straight to the charity by Just Giving at the end of each month.