My husband and I love our board game dates, and have found some routine with learning a new game on Sunday mornings after he makes a run to the coffee shop. On weeknights we opt for our quick favorites: games that play in under 30 minutes with a low rules overhead and fun decisions that don’t burn our overtired brains.
Sitting down over a game to chat and give ourselves a mental workout is time together we truly treasure.
Here are a few of our favorites we played in 2023. (Check out all that overlap!)
(These are games that were new-to-us in 2023, but not necessarily published in 2023.)
Our Shared Favorites:
Nidavellir (GRRRE Games)
We aren’t usually big fans of bidding games, but this mechanism is used so well in combination with set collection, we couldn’t help but fall in love with this game.
Savernake Forest (Devir)
Quick puzzly games are the way to our board gaming hearts, and once we acquired Savernake Forest at Origins in June, it quickly became one of our most-played games of the year. Creating paths of food for forest creatures is cute, cozy, and the perfect fall game. (But really, we pull this out on so many weeknights, regardless of season!)
Hens (Little Rocket Games)
An impulse buy at Origins, Hens is another quick puzzly game. This time, players lay out hen breed cards in a grid to maximize their scores. There is definitely some luck in the draw, but for a quick game like this it hasn’t bothered us.
Wingspan (Stonemaier Games)
We might be the last board gamers on the planet to play the smash hit Wingspan, but once we did, we instantly discovered its appeal. We also played Wingspan Asia (the two-player version which adds another small board with goals) but won’t keep that one in our collection.
Miyabi (Haba)
Haba makes a boatload of popular children’s games, but its family line has some genuine winners for even adult-only play. Miyabi isn’t just one of our favorite Haba games, it’s one of our favorite hidden gem games overall. This is the game I often champion now that we have played it.
Meadow (Rebel Studio)
We like everything about Meadow – the card drafting, the layering of cards, the set collection, and of course, the stunning artwork. We own the Downstream expansion and will be playing that in January.
Grand Austria Hotel (Lookout Games)
We love a nice medium-weight Euro, and finally bought a used copy of Grand Austria Hotel at Origins in June. We love drafting, and particularly love dice drafting, so using the dice rolls in this game is very rewarding for converting restaurant guests to hotel patrons. (Even as money management continues to give us issues in this game!)
Beer & Bread (Deep Print Games)
We rarely impulse buy games, but that’s exactly what we did at the Capstone Games booth at Origins when Brian picked up Beer & Bread. Designer Scott Almes tend to be hit-or-miss for us, but this two-player only game is fantastic. Balancing ingredients to craft beer and bake bread and scoring your lesser product makes for really strategic game play in about 35 minutes.
Stephanie’s Picks
Forest Shuffle (Lookout Games)
Played three times during the week of Christmas, Forest Shuffle quickly found a spot on Stephanie’s list because of the boxes it ticks for her: drafting, multi-use cards, and card layering. The game plays just a smidge long, but that abrupt ending when the third winter card is drawn adds some great tension towards the bottom of the deck.
Downtown Farmers Market (Blue Orange Games)
Have we mentioned we love grid placement games? Another extremely new addition to our shelf, Downtown Farmers Market is a super quick (15 min for us) puzzle for organizing tiles of goods to score the most points from your chosen goals. So, so good. The variant for younger players is a nice way to get children involved while the original rules are meatier.
Final Girl (Van Ryder Games)
We picked up Final Girl at the Van Ryder Games booth at Origins in June, and it is the most thematic game we played this year. Playing as a heroine against The Butcher at Camp Happy Trails created such a creepy and fun gaming experience for the two of us. Final Girl may be a solo game, but playing it cooperatively worked extremely well for us.
Brian’s Picks
Isle of Cats (The City of Games)
Another popular game we are late to playing, Isle of Cats balances card play and polyomino placement very well. The family variant included in the rules allows for younger children to play more easily as well.
3 Ring Circus (Devir)
Our first official review game for The Family Gamers, we played quite a bit of 3 Ring Circus when we received our copy. Assembling the best circus and traveling the United States to outperform Barnum made for a challenging experience.
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