Summary: <br> <br> Best Games of 2019<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> We have a fact about 177 – about pellet guns? But we’ve also got a guest – Nick Martinelli!<br> <br> <br> <br> The Family Gamers Podcast is sponsored by First Move Financial. Go to <a href="https://firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers/">FirstMoveFinancial.com/familygamers</a> to find out more.<br> <br> <br> <br> We’re going to talk about our favorite games from 2019 – but first, let’s talk about what we’ve been playing recently.<br> <br> <br> <br> What We’ve Been Playing<br> <br> <br> <br> Just One – easy to explain and get into, but coming up with good clues uses some serious brain power.<br> <br> <br> <br> Magic Maze – Nick tried this for the first time, and lost the first level four times in a row!<br> <br> <br> <br> Cockroach Poker – an older game all about passing away your cards.<br> <br> <br> <br> Fine Sand – a deck-destruction (reverse deck-builder) game from Stronghold Games with a sand castle theme.<br> <br> <br> <br> Spaceteam – we’ve mentioned this before; a fast-paced cooperative game with a lot of yelling.<br> <br> <br> <br> Monza – “Everything that I wanted Candy Land to be” – it’s SHORTER and with a little bit of decision making. Did we mention that it’s SHORTER? Very simple but with some player agency. It managed to pull in our middle-schooler while also being accessible for a preschooler!<br> <br> <br> <br> A few quick favorites: HUE, Kintsugi, Silly Street.<br> <br> <br> <br> ClipCut Parks – instead of a roll-and-write, it’s a roll-and-cut. Roll the die, which tells you how many cuts to make from your sheet and how big each cut should be. You’re trying to cut out specific shapes & combinations to cover polyomino shapes on the cards you draw. The solo mode is very hard. Andrew wonders about it including scissors – Anitra points out that not everyone is a parent with school-aged kids with a million pairs of child-size scissors wandering around in their house.<br> <br> <br> <br> A quick aside about games with destructible components. Nick really wants legacy games but can’t bring himself to do it because you’re permanently changing it.<br> <br> <br> <br> Recommendations that aren’t games:<br> <br> <br> <br> Nick highly recommends Lost in Space (on Netflix).<br> <br> <br> <br> Anitra just read Skyward by Brandon Sanderson.<br> <br> <br> <br> Best of 2019<br> <br> <br> <br> We each have picked our personal favorite in these categories, inspired by our holiday gift guide.<br> <br> <br> <br> Best for Very Young Children<br> <br> <br> <br> Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! from Ultra PRO (Nick’s choice). Nick’s son fell in love with this game at <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/episode-157-gen-con-2019-wrap-up/">GenCon</a>, and even taught his great-grandmother.<br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/my-first-castle-panic/">My First Castle Panic</a> from Fireside Games (Andrew’s and Anitra’s choice). Our five-year-old taught his grandmother how to play.<br> <br> <br> <br> Best for Early Elementary<br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/slide-quest/">Slide Quest</a> from Blue Orange Games (Andrew’s choice). “Sir Rolley-butt” makes kids laugh and they get it right away. It also trains fine motor skills with immediate feedback.<br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/snap-review-panic-island/">Panic Island</a> from Blue Orange Games (Anitra’s choice). Plays well on memory skills that are still strong at this age, while giving goals to work towards. Also, very short.<br> <br> <br> <br>
