What We’ve Been Playing Deblockle – abstract strategy for two players. Bad Doctor – tile-laying game to keep patients alive – at least on your turn! Unlock! The Adventurers of Oz – hard but fun. Supertall – build the best “tower” from 4 types of available floors at 6 different values. Very compact (it’s Button Shy after all), but a lot to balance. IceCOOL mega game (combined IceCOOL and IceCOOL 2) – zany fun for our whole family ShutterBug – travel around the country and capture pictures of odd-looking mythical creatures. Not our favorite, but not bad. Fire Tower – big shout out to Gwen and Sam at Runaway Parade! They made sure Asher got his copy in time for his birthday. Discoveries: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark Rocky Road à la Mode – Asher learned his lesson – make sure you’re actually at the front of the pack if you’re going to pass the 9-point threshold that ends the game! Cloud 9 – Andrew’s take: “best rendition of Liar’s Dice” Ricochet Robots – speed logic game; make the low bet to move the robot to the goal in as few moves as possible. Poetry Slam – “a party word game for gamers”. We had two 10-year-olds playing; they did OK but we would not recommend it any younger. In Vino Morte, Get the MacGuffin, Caverna: Cave vs. Cave Boardgame in the Middle Our newest segment: which one has the middle “average rating” on BGG? Two weeks ago was Smallworld (7.31), Jumanji (4.44 / 4.67 depending on version), and Kingdomino (7.40) – SMALLWORLD takes the middle! This week’s picks: IceCOOL (original), Caverna: Cave vs Cave, and Rocky Road à la Mode (Anitra guesses Rocky Road, Andrew guesses Cave vs. Cave for the middle. Find out next time!) Best of 2018 Let’s start with our kids! What were their favorites from 2018? Asher’s favorites were playing Fire Tower (naturally), and Tiny Ninjas. Claire’s favorite new game in 2018 was Fluff (a rendition of Liar’s Dice from Bananagrams), and her favorite game to play was Tokaido. First, the Numbers Would you be surprised to learn that our most-played game in 2018 is one we had never played until December? Drop It was our #1 most-played game of the year, and the first time we ever played it was December 1st. Rounding out our top 3 most-played are Ancestree and Deep Sea Adventure, which should not be a surprise to anyone. Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters also made our top 10 most-played, even though we tried it for the first time in September. Games from 2018 that Impressed Us We had completely forgotten that The Grimm Forest was a 2018 game! It’s fantastic, with light gameplay, but art and organization that set a new standard for what we expect from new boardgames. Drop It is an obvious choice. We gave it a perfect rating because it works for any age range, any skill level,