Mooki Island

For the youngest gamers in your family, Mooki Island is one to watch! Releasing in June, we got an early look at this one and our kids can’t get enough of it!

Mooki Island features simple drafting. Simply choose one of the cards on top of the two piles, then examine each side to select which to place face up in your victory pile. Each character has a suit and you’re goal is to hav the majority in as many suits as you can to earn their respective trophies at the end of the game. At first our kids were selecting the characters they liked best (they look like Pokemon!) but soon they realized they needed to think more about how many of each suit they had if they wanted to win the trophy.

It even comes with an adorable poster with all the Mookies on it — kids can name a few after each game! While it is perfect for kids as young as four, the game is perfect for older kids as well. Our 9 and 10 year olds quite enjoy playing and I can’t lie, I love getting to play a few fast games in a row as well!

Garden Rush

This is a tile placement game where you’ll draft vegetables to plant in your garden. Each vegetable has a unique pattern that you can create with it that, when harvested, will score you victory points.

This is an excellent game! Simple yet highly strategic as you plan ahead, sometimes multiple moves in advance, and patiently anticipate when the best time is to draft the vegetables you need and harvest at their most valuable without locking yourself in to a mix-matched, low scoring garden.

No two games will ever be the same and it all plays out in under 30 minutes!

Toy Battle

Let me tell you right now, is an top contender for our family game of the year! Toy Battle is incredible for both kids and adults!

Players go head to head in a toy battle. Deploying troops to take control of areas on the board or reach your opponent’s headquarters.

Each player has a selection of toy troops with various effects. On your turn you simply choose to either draw two toy troops, or place a troop on the board and resolve its action. Troops can be place on empty spaces, or take control of an enemy location if they are a higher value troop.

Toy Battle comes with 8 unique maps that will challenge your strategy and no two games will ever feel the same — and we would know, we played it over 30 times in one weekend!

Mythicals

I was so taken by surprise by this game in the best way! It’s a great date night pick and for fitting into a free half hour — morning, noon, or night!

This is a card collecting game where all of the information is out in the open. You’ll be able to see what your opponent has and anticipate their plans just as they’ll be able to do in regards to you.

You’ll draft and collect cards to form sets that you can turn in for victory points. The bigger the set, the more points you’ll earn, but if you wait too long to cash in, you risk losing out entirely.

I love how much this game is about carefully timing your moves. Sometimes it’s better to cash in on a lower value set than waiting for a larger one that never comes. The game can end quickly, and after all, some points are better than none!

The Architects of Amytis

I don’t know what I love most about this game, the worker placement, city building, pattern building, tile layering, or maybe the mini games of tic tac toe you play all the while! Safe to say, I love it all!

Architects of Amytis is a small but mighty game that has a lot going on, but in short, you’ll be drafting building tiles to place into your city to create various patterns. Each building scores differently and you can maximize the scoring potential of each by drafting buildings to meet their conditions.

The pawns you use to draft the buildings engage in a tic-tac-toe like game, blocking your opponent from specific locations, while also working to gain you extra points if you can manage to get three in a row.

This game has been living rent free in my head — I keep thinking of new strategies I want to try out and can’t wait to get the game out again for our next play!