As always, we’re here to talk about gaming as a family. Our kids start school this week, and we are really looking forward to having a regular schedule again. However, it means less time for playing games! We are thinking about games that our kids could bring to school to play with their friends. Younger kids should check with the teacher first, of course. What We’ve Been Playing A ton of Panic Island – although every game only takes 2 minutes, plus about half a minute of set up time. Every time we play, we want to play again and do better. We visited family in Rochester, NY. While we were there, we visited TWO excellent local game stores that were recommended to us. Millennium Games Board games, Warhammer, and… disc golf? Apparently there’s a crossover there. We got to try Just One with an in-store demo. Easy to see how it refines the concepts from other word/guessing games. This is a lot of game in a small package. Highly recommended! Cat Lady – fun but a bit long to try to demo in the store. Similar set-collection mechanics to the Trapper Keeper Game – take a whole row or column, but then place a marker so the next player cannot make the same choice. We picked up Kero and played it a few times after we traveled back home. Two players, rolling dice to get resources while your sand timer runs down. There’s a lot of luck, and it’s not as tight as we’d expect from a two-player-only game. (Two player games that are really tight: Expedition Altiplano, Hanamikoji, and Caverna: Cave vs. Cave) Unlock! Heroic Adventures Rocky Road a la Mode – a way to end a night of gaming on a high note. Lives up to the Green Couch Games style: filler with some bite. Just Games A very different feel than Millennium Games. This one had a large LEGO section at the front and a very large play area at the back. They had a card-catalog-style organizer for individual Magic cards. The open play area had an option to rent board games! And there were a bunch of family-weight games from publishers we had never heard of – we picked one up and will report back. Back At Home SHOBU and even more Panic Island – not very similar except their both short. Draftosaurus Ancestree Quacks of Quedlinburg Ticket to Ride: New York – this might end up replacing the classic Ticket to Ride for us. It faithfully keeps the feel of the original, but plays in 20 minutes. Backtalk Thanks to Chrissy who has been sharing about the games they’ve been playing while camping. Aaron shared about The Fairy Game from Peaceable Kingdom. SNAP Review: Guess It, Get It, Gumballs Elliot helps Anitra explain this memory game “of faces and feelings” from Peaceable Kingdom. Read the summary and see more pictures here: Guess It, Get It, Gumballs.