Summary: <br> What We’ve Been Playing<br> <br> <br> <br> Deblockle – abstract strategy for two players.<br> <br> <br> <br> Bad Doctor – tile-laying game to keep patients alive – at least on your turn!<br> <br> <br> <br> Unlock! The Adventurers of Oz – hard but fun. <br> <br> <br> <br> 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.<br> <br> <br> <br> IceCOOL mega game (combined IceCOOL and IceCOOL 2) – zany fun for our whole family<br> <br> <br> <br> ShutterBug – travel around the country and capture pictures of odd-looking mythical creatures. Not our favorite, but not bad.<br> <br> <br> <br> Fire Tower – big shout out to Gwen and Sam at <a href="https://www.runawayparade.com/">Runaway Parade</a>! They made sure Asher got his copy in time for his birthday.<br> <br> <br> <br> Discoveries: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark<br> <br> <br> <br> 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!<br> <br> <br> <br> Cloud 9 – Andrew’s take: “best rendition of Liar’s Dice”<br> <br> <br> <br> Ricochet Robots – speed logic game; make the low bet to move the robot to the goal in as few moves as possible.<br> <br> <br> <br> 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.<br> <br> <br> <br> In Vino Morte, Get the MacGuffin, Caverna: Cave vs. Cave<br> <br> <br> <br> Boardgame in the Middle<br> <br> <br> <br> Our newest segment: which one has the middle “average rating” on BGG?<br> <br> <br> <br> Two weeks ago was Smallworld (7.31), Jumanji (4.44 / 4.67 depending on version), and Kingdomino (7.40) – SMALLWORLD takes the middle!<br> <br> <br> <br> This week’s picks: IceCOOL (original), Caverna: Cave vs Cave, and Rocky Road à la Mode<br> <br> <br> <br> (Anitra guesses Rocky Road, Andrew guesses Cave vs. Cave for the middle. Find out next time!)<br> <br> <br> <br> Best of 2018<br> <br> <br> <br> Let’s start with our kids! What were their favorites from 2018?<br> <br> <br> <br> Asher’s favorites were playing Fire Tower (naturally), and Tiny Ninjas.<br> <br> <br> <br> 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.<br> <br> <br> <br> First, the Numbers<br> <br> <br> <br> Would you be surprised to learn that our most-played game in 2018 is one we had never played until December? <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/drop-it-review/">Drop It </a>was our #1 most-played game of the year, and the first time we ever played it was December 1st.<br> <br> <br> <br> Rounding out our top 3 most-played are <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/ancestree-review/">Ancestree</a> and Deep Sea Adventure, which should not be a surprise to anyone.<br> <br> <br> <br> Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters also made our top 10 most-played, even though we tried it for the first time in September.<br> <br> <br> <br> Games from 2018 that Impressed Us<br> <br> <br> <br> 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. <br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/drop-it-review/">Drop It</a> is an obvious choice. We gave it a perfect rating because it works for any age range, any skill level,
