So I mentioned last year that I had developed quite the obsession with board games. This has not changed in the slightest. If anything it has only grown with time, fed by board game influencers on TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube. 

Yes, I have been influenced to acquire the following games. Please keep in mind that I have not played any of the following games as I just got them around the Holidays, be it as gifts or at our Friendly Local Game Store on sale. As a result, I will not be speaking about the gameplay. 

Hive by Gen 24 Games, Designed by John Yianna, Art by John Yianna. The objective of this game is to trap your opponent’s queen bee. It has a 7.8 player rating on Board Game Geek (a very useful website, by the way) and a difficulty rating of 2.3 out of 5. 

HerStory by UnderDog Games, Designed by Nick Bentley, Emerson Matsuuchi, Danielle Reynolds: Art by Eunice Adeyi and Cristina Aguirre. HerStory invites you to tell the stories of remarkable women throughout history. It has a 6.9 player rating on BGG and a difficulty rating of 1.36 out of 5. With an age range of 8 and up, I can imagine this would be a great game to play with the younglings in your life. This could be a great jumping-off point to teach them about some amazing women.

My City by Kosmos Games, Designed by Reiner Knizia, Art by Micheal Menzel. This one is basically Tetris, on a board, with a city. But it’s cooler than that, I promise. It has a 7.7 player rating on BGG, and a difficulty rating of 1.99 out of 5. 

Crystallo by Lightheart Games, Art, and Design by Liberty Kifer. I’m not gonna lie, I asked for this game based purely on the vibes I got while watching someone else play it…six months ago. I don’t even remember the game mechanics. Sigh. Sure has some pretty components though. It has a solid 7 player rating on BGG, and a difficulty rating of 1.78. 

Unrest by Pandasauras Games, Designed by Brendan Hansen, Art by Jor Ros. This game just looked like fun. Each player picks a side, Empire or Rebellion, and then battles it out during the revolution. Player rating of 6.6 on BGG, and a difficulty rating of 2.

LOTR Adventure Book Game by Ravensburger, Designed by Jay Little, Ryan Miller, Marcus Ross; Artist N/A. Rob and I played this just the other day, actually. Oops. It’s a fun co-op game that has strategy and time components to it. We had a great time, even though we lost. The player rating on BGG is 7.3, with a difficulty rating of 2.06.

Small World by Days of Wonder Games, Designed by Phillipe Keyearts, Art by Miguel Colmbra and Cyrille Daujean. I have been looking for this game for what feels like years. It has expansion packs and spin-offs that you can play, but finding the base game was hard. It’s always sold out! We finally found a copy at our Friendly Local Game Store after the holidays! So excited to play it! It has a 7.2 player rating on the BGG and a 2.35 difficulty rating.

Lost Ruins of Arnak, by Czech Games Edition, Designed by Min and Elwen, Art by Ondřej Hrdina, Jiří Kůs, Filip Murmak, Jakub Politzer, František Sedláček, and Milan Vavroň. Well if this game doesn’t speak to the Indiana Jones fan in me, I’m not sure what will! The good people of BGG gave this game an 8.1, with a difficulty rating of 2.9.

Have you picked up any new board games recently?