In October, we played 32 unique board games, including new releases and old classics. Here are our picks for the best games we played last month.

Monthly recaps are to help you know about all the games we played in the past month, share our favorite games, and give out some end-of-month awards. Not all games we play make it onto social media or the blog, so this is a fun way to show you what we have played behind the scenes and which games left an impression.

Check out our previous month’s recaps:
2022:  Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May | June | July | Aug  | Sept

October Games Played

Make sure to let us know on Instagram which of these games you want to hear more about!

Kelsey’s Favorite Game: Port Royal: Big Box

From the first play we were all super impressed by this push your luck Pirate game. It is easy to see how in the base game, there are a lot of different strategies for victory. The big box also has all the expansion content that was previously not available in North America, making the game playable cooperatively and as a solo game as well. Lots of bang for your buck plus its great!

Adam’s Favorite Game: The Guild of Merchant Explorers

This game is a prime example of not only judging a game by its cover. Both the game’s title and box did not excite me, but the gameplay got me hooked. The two key aspects that bring this game back to the table are the feeling of exploration and variable player powers. The game has four maps with six unique goals per map and 28 different player powers, meaning you will have a lot of variety to discover. This is one of my favorite games of 2022. 

Kid’s Favorite Game: Quacks & Co Quedlinburg Dash

Our family loves Quacks of Quedlinburg, so we had high hopes for the kid’s version, Quacks & Co. Wow, does this game excel at feeling like the original game while being accessible for kids as young as four. Quacks & Co. has a scalable game design with short/long maps, beginner and advanced token powers, and a box to help with organization. Quack & Co is a kid’s game that your family will not outgrow quickly. If you have young gamers, you need to add this to their Christmas list this year.  

End-of-Month Awards

Best Game Coming to Kickstarter: Fit to Print

In general, we don’t pay much attention to Kickstarter games with the rare exception for those published by Flatout Games. Fit to Print is another hit, the meshing of theme and mechanism is what makes this game sparkle. This real-time puzzle has you rushing to get a paper to print. There are enough restrictions to be fun without being overwhelming and variable rules to fit your play style.  

Best Game Series: Silver Card Series (Amulet, Bullet, Coin, Dagger)

Our whole family loved to play the Silver Card Series. Between these four games, we played them over ten times this month. I love how each game is similar in play but have different card powers allowing you to mix and match sets. They also designed the box to hold multiple versions in one box, which is wonderful.  

Best Party Game: Master Word

If you like Just One, 20 Questions, and Mastermind, we recommend trying Master Word. This cooperative party game is not lively, but if you are looking for a low-key thinking game, this will work well for your group. 

Best Puzzle Game: FYFE

FYFE is a premium puzzle game, it has high-quality pieces that make the feel top-notch. This would be a good fit for fans of Sudoku puzzles. We could play FYFE with our six-year-old, so it still works for non-experience & younger gamers.  

Best Kids Dexterity Game: Happy Hoppers

If you ever played the Hasbro game Ants in your Pants, Happy Hoppers is a superior version of the children’s dexterity game that has you making plastic frogs hop into the game box.  It is fast fun that any kid can play since the game includes wooden sticks to help make the frogs hops. 

Most Played: Gobblet Gobblers / Checkers – 10 times

Classic abstract games are still popular with kids. Our kids love to sit down and play these games because they can play independently without parents, and they’re quick enough to play multiple games back to back to back.