Got any Spies and Turncoats?

“These are the times that try men’s souls.”

I’m sure many people may have uttered that phrase this past year. But we’re not here to talk about last year. Instead, we’re looking back to 1776 when Thomas Paine penned those words in The American Crisis.

Of course, we’re not here for a book report either, but instead to look at a social deduction card game set during the American Revolutionary War — Patriots & Redcoats by Green Feet Games.

In the game, players take on the roles of the Americans fighting to win independence and the British fighting to stop the rebellion. And like in typical social deduction type games, players are secretly assigned which side they’re on and must figure out who to eliminate to win.

But, be careful because players may also change loyalty along the way!

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Smart10 – Trivia Challenges That Are Fun

I really don’t like trivia games.

At least, the trivia game most people are familiar with — Trivial Pursuit. And I’ve tried to like it. But to no avail. It’s just not for me.

That’s why I was a bit wary when we got a copy of Smart10 from Bananagrams.

Yet, once we pulled it out and played it, Smart10 became the hit group game this holiday break!

And I’m happy to tell you why.

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We’re on The Learning Life Podcast!

The board game hobby continues to smash through boundaries. And we’re excited to be a part of it!

Today we made another such breakthrough on a podcast targeted to business leaders — The Learning Life Podcast with Jon Tota.

As you might guess from the title, The Learning Life focuses on the learning industry. They have weekly guests sharing new insight, new stories, and best practices to help organizations take their learning to the next level.

But when Jon saw our 2020 Board Game Gift Guide, he thought it would be awesome to take a break from the weekly corporate learning talk and talk about something fun — board games!

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Hues and Cues Board Game Review

If I gave you the clue “Barney”, would you be able to pick it out of a grid of 480 colors?

What about “Mustard”, “Ocean Spray”, or “Slime”?

That’s the premise in a new game by The Op called Hues and Cues. And it’s much tougher than we first imagined.cBut that doesn’t mean it’s not a fun game to play. The real question is will your family and friends enjoy playing it?

After all, that’s why we do these reviews — to give you a feel for a game and help you decide if it’s right for your group.

So let’s see where Hues and Cues may fall for you.

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Board Game Gift Guide 2020!

It’s that awesome time of year again when we look for great fun ideas for gifts for family and friends.

With this crazy year, we know many families have already been grabbing a lot more board games to pass the time together throughout the year.

But it’s always nice to get some ideas for fresh games to play too.

This marks our 10th annual Board Game Gift Guide and we love sharing great gift ideas!

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Sketchy Tales: Disney Edition Game Review

One of our family’s favorite party games is Telestrations. It’s a hoot every time we play it because things never turn out the way they start.

So when we heard about Sketchy Tales: Disney Edition by Big Potato Games, and that it sounded a lot like Telestrations, we were happy to give it a go.

I mean, why not take a crack at seeing how mixed up our Disney drawings could get?

And we’re happy to report we’ve had plenty of laughs with Sketchy Tales!

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Upside Drawn – No drawing talent needed

Telestrations is one of our favorite party games. It’s like playing the classic game of “telephone” but with pictures.

We always end up laughing a ton because of how the original depiction morphs over the course of the game.

So when we heard about Telestrations: Upside Drawn, we were very excited to get a copy from The Op to play.

Attaching the “Telestrations” brand name to the game is a nice move to get attention. Just don’t be fooled — because Upside Drawn it’s a much different game from regular Telestrations.

The great news is that it’s a lot of fun in its own right!

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Gorilla Marketing party game review

My day job is in marketing.

That means 25 years in marketing.

As such, I’ve heard many times about “guerilla marketing”.

So when I saw the game Gorilla Marketing, designed by Adam Wyse and published by Roxley Games, I couldn’t wait to give it a try!

I was especially excited to play with my Marketing team at work. But as luck would have it, the game arrived the very day we all started working from home because of COVID. Major bummer – no more lunch break games of any sort at the office.

But that wouldn’t deter me from giving it a shot with my family. And I’m so glad I did — because it’s been an absolute hoot!

We have yet to play a game without busting a gut laughing. And we have yet to stop playing after just one game. There’s just too much fun to be had!

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Relative Insanity: See What I Mean?! game review

“There are few certainties in life. One of them is everybody’s relatives are crazy. You can let them make you nuts too, or you can learn to laugh about it. I prefer laughter every time.” — Jeff Foxworthy

And when you get a game with Jeff Foxworthy’s name emblazoned on it, you can expect laughter.

That’s definitely the case with Relative Insanity: See What I Mean?! by PlayMonster.

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Calling all creative detectives for Detective Club!

How good are your detective skills?

No, not like CSI skills. But rather, your powers of detecting the bluffer among you?

Detective Club, by Blue Orange Games, gives you a chance to find out!

When I look over the list of board games we’ve reviewed over the last 10 years, Blue Orange Games is second on the list of game publishers in quantity of our game reviews.

And there’s a very good reason for that — Blue Orange Games publishes fantastic board games for families!

We’re happy to report that Detective Club continues with that tradition.

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