Synopsis: The end-of-summer party at the Riva Malibu mansion is the season’s most anticipated event, making an invitation highly desirable. The four Riva siblings (Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit) come together at the party, with revelations spilling forth about their present lives and their childhood. The story is told alternating between past and present, beginning with the parents’ love story and concluding with the Malibu mansion erupting in devastating flames, Between the two, we get to know the four Riva children and their parents.
Why You Should Read It: TJR is just a fantastic storyteller, no matter the subjects she takes on. While this one won’t surpass my current favorites of hers, it was still a great read and one I would recommend.
Bottom line: Another solid novel from TJR, but not my favorite. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Welcome to the Cozy Little Brown House, where we are all about cozy, content moments.
Whether it’s snuggling up on the couch with a new book, gathering together around the dining room table for a board game, baking vegan chocolate chip cookies on a blustery autumn day, relaxing on the front porch with an iced tea and a podcast as the sun emerges for the day, or decorating our 102-year-old home for the seasons, we are all about cozy joy.
I’m glad you’re here! Find your joy.
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Sort cards into a maximum of three piles without duplicating color or number, trying to bank the most points. Push your luck, and you might bust and miss out on taking a card stack and then have to roll the dice to discard! We sort cards into piles of ten to practice addition and counting by tens during end game scoring.
Roll your dice to match the dice required by each card to earn the card for scoring, but watch out, because other players might want the card too! The first player to collect enough cards to reach 40 points wins. We use this game for dice and pattern matching, and addition.
Collect adventurer cards in sets of matching colors, numbers, or in sequential order to earn dice to roll for capturing creatures in the forest. The six dice are numbered from 1-4, so practicing addition is fantastic in this game. Probability also factors in – how many dice do you need to try to roll a particular number? Our daughter sometimes needs help with this skill.
Collect various baked goods to equal a dozen each by requesting from players what you would like. (Go-Fish-style.) The game also involves bluffing, as all players must lay down cards on each turn. Get rid of the pie cards, because they cost points at the end of the game. This is a good game to introduce basic addition to 12 points. Melon Rind games has additional titles in this series for more complex math skills too!
This was our daughter’s first card game, and it is still a favorite. Discard number cards or sets of matching number cards to draw from the draw pile, hoping to find king cards to wake the sleeping queens. Each queen has a point value – the first player to 5 queens or 50 points wins. Watch out for knights and sleeping potion! This is a perfect game to introduce number recognition and number matching to little gamers.
Deal four cards facedown to each player, only peeking at the two cards on the ends. Draw a card each turn, hoping to replace the higher value cards with lower value cards, aiming for the lowest score. When you’re ready to score, call out “rat-a-tat-cat!” and each player takes their final turn. Memory and basic addition of cards numbered 1-9 are practiced with this game. It’s one of our family’s favorites, and we play five rounds per gamethen score.
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While we liked Santa Monica the first time we played it, our gameplay was a bit rough with learning how to best place the cards, move the meeples, and score. With the next few plays, Santa Monica climbed its way onto BOTH of our top five lists.
Here’s what we love about Santa Monica, in our own words:
Stephanie: First off, the art and theme are awesome, and definitely what caught my eye when the game was released. I love 14 turns to choose the best cards for maximum scoring. It’s really puzzley without being a brainburner, and we can play in about 30 minutes.
Brian: I like that there is strategy to the game, but it doesn’t feel complex – this makes it a perfect 25-30 minute weeknight game for us. It’s fun to look for combos to try to score and make chains of cards. The art is great.
Who should play: people who like drafting and tableau building games with a nice theme we don’t usually see in boardgaming / people who like puzzley games
Good for newbies? I think for new gamers, getting used to different scoring methods and iconography can be challenging. BUT, I think this game is generally accessible.
Good for kids? The Board Game Geek community puts this game at a 10+ (never go by the ages on the box, as this is for safety testing, NOT ability) and I would agree with that. There is minimal reading, but the game is strategic.
Want to learn more about Santa Monica? Check out this post that covers the game in-depth!
Design a Santa Monica neighborhood that appeals to tourists, locals, and VIPs to score the most points.
Santa Monica
Designer: Josh Wood
Publisher: AEG
2-4 players
25-45 minutes
Theme: city building / travel
Complexity according to Board Game Geek: 2.17/5
Mechanisms: card drafting, tableau building, chaining, set collection
Overview
Draft cards or spend sand dollar currency to build a Santa Monica beach neighborhood that pleases tourists, locals, and VIPs while trying to meet various scoring conditions on the cards. You might focus on the beach by linking waves or leading locals to play volleyball. Or maybe you’ll build shops and restaurants along your street for the VIPs to visit. Why not a little of both? Either way, you can only play 14 cards into your neighborhood tableau.
Components
Check out the dreamy pastel shades of the meeples/components:
Light blue locals
Sand dollars (used as currency)
Light green VIP footprints (to mark the path of the VIPs for additional scoring)
Light orange tourists
Light green VIPs
With limited opportunities to move the people enjoying the beach and businesses of Santa Monica, you really need to consider placement.
Rule Book
The rule book is generally an easy read, but when we first started playing some of the descriptions of iconography and scoring methods were a bit confusing. We referred to the book quite a bit, and still do on occasion for clarification.
We are fans of “how to play” videos on You Tube, and use these for guidance with nearly every game we play.
How the Game Plays
Players take turns drawing cards from the bottom row of eight face-up cards in the center of the table, playing them immediately into their neighborhoods. The bottom left side of the card displays what you take for playing the card (sand dollars, tourists, or locals) and the bottom right side of the card shows the scoring condition. The small rectangular icons above that show the features of the card, used towards scoring conditions. This could be adjacent property types or chains of multiple property types. (For the beach, this is all at the top of the card.)
Moving the meeples is the tricky part, so card placement is important! Players can pay sand dollars to take advantage of a purchased perk (shown on the large sand dollars) and move meeples, and some cards allow for movement. Why move the meeples? Some cards require them for scoring conditions like 3 playing volleyball at the beach.
You have 14 cards to score the most points as possible. Each game will also use one of the beach towel additional scoring conditions, so don’t forget to plan for those points too!
The Food Truck and the Foodie
If you choose the card above the food truck, you may take a sand dollar (used as currency in the game.)
If you choose the foodie, you may move one of your meeples.
If the food truck and foodie ever meet up, it’s a “happy day” and you get to take a couple of perks!
Also pictured: the sea gull first player marker.
starting neighborhood tiles
additional actions / scoring goals
reference cards
Who Should Play?
People who like drafting and tableau building games with a nice theme we don’t usually see in boardgaming / people who like puzzley games
Good for newbies?
I think for new gamers, getting used to different scoring methods and iconography can be challenging. BUT, I think this game is GENERALLY accessible with a bit of patience.
Good for kids?
The Board Game Geek community puts this game at a 10+ (never go by the ages on the box, as this is for safety testing, NOT ability) and I would agree with that. There is minimal reading, but the game is strategic.
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