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Board Game Dad
United States
Приєднався 29 січ 2021
On this channel, I provide rules overviews and reviews for board games. I'm launching with a series, "Boardgames with Dad" where I put a special focus on game that I play with my (young) kids and the modifications I sometimes make to the rules. This channel is perfect for the board game enthusiast/dad!
ThePerfectBoardgame.com scores games on five categories: theme, mechanics, strategy, luck, and complexity and helps fans find similar games based on matching component scores.
ThePerfectBoardgame.com scores games on five categories: theme, mechanics, strategy, luck, and complexity and helps fans find similar games based on matching component scores.
Castle Builder – A Solid Foundation with Some Crumbling Towers
Castle Builder (2024, FryxGames) brings an innovative twist to tile placement for 2-4 players. Featuring a novel adding-based mechanic, it’s a fresh and engaging take on strategic gameplay. However, I’ll highlight three key issues that prevent it from reaching its full potential. Join me as I examine what makes this game stand out and where it falls short. Is it a hit for your collection or one to pass on?
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☕ GIVE A ONE-TIME GIFT 🙏
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RATE Castle Builder on The Perfect Boardgame:
theperfectboardgame.com/product?id=bAjZBpaFmaa3rMqhdaVA
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 - Castle Builder Profile
0:44 - How to play Castle Builder
5:44 - What I love about Castle Builder
6:22 - What I DON'T like about Castle Builder
==================================================
🥰 BECOME A PATRON 🙏
www.patreon.com/neverbenbetter
☕ GIVE A ONE-TIME GIFT 🙏
www.buymeacoffee.com/boardgamedad
RATE Castle Builder on The Perfect Boardgame:
theperfectboardgame.com/product?id=bAjZBpaFmaa3rMqhdaVA
==================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 - Castle Builder Profile
0:44 - How to play Castle Builder
5:44 - What I love about Castle Builder
6:22 - What I DON'T like about Castle Builder
Переглядів: 69
Відео
2024 Top 10 Family Board Games
Переглядів 12 тис.21 день тому
The 10 BEST Family Boardgames of 2024! This is my biggest video of the year; after spending countless hours searching and playtesting, here are 10 games that are diverse, easy-to-learn, engaging and enriching, bringing YOU the BEST selection for your family. There are competitive and cooperative games, games for small and large families, and a variety of mechanics showcased in this list. 🥰 BECO...
Shallow Sea - Unboxing & Initial Impressions
Переглядів 19328 днів тому
Shallow Sea (2024, 1-5 Players) is produced by Bad Comet and is designed by Yeom.C.W with art by Sophia Kang. This is a tile placement game with objectives that are added dynamically over the course of the game. What sets this game apart is that fish tokens (which are used to fulfill requirements on coral tiles) are can be used to satisfy the requirement on multiple tiles, enabling players to c...
Shallow Sea - Shallow Waters, Yet Deeply Immersive
Переглядів 69728 днів тому
Get ready to dive into Shallow Sea: Great Barrier Reef (2024, Bad Comet Games) -a tile placement game for 1-4 players that brings thrilling strategy and combo-packed gameplay! In this unique family-friendly game, every turn is a chance to sequence multiple scoring tiles, creating powerful, satisfying combos that will keep you hooked. Gather shells along the way to enhance your plays, crafting t...
Gardlings - A Gem for Families
Переглядів 695Місяць тому
In this full review, I take a deep dive into Gardlings by Alion Games, a 1-4 player game where clever strategy meets whimsical fun. Build your garden, gather unique creatures, and balance risk with reward to outgrow your opponents. Is this the next must-have for your collection? Watch to find out! #Gardlings #BoardGameReview #BoardGameDad #AlionGames 🥰 BECOME A PATRON 🙏 www.patreon.com/neverben...
Smoothie Wars - A Board Game Review
Переглядів 466Місяць тому
In Smoothie Wars, it’s all about outsmarting your opponents to seize the best economic opportunities. Players secretly choose their location, inventory, and price to sell smoothies, aiming to undercut competitors and dominate demand. The game’s focus on manipulating the market and predicting your rivals makes it a strategic battle of wits, wrapped in an accessible ruleset. If you enjoy games wh...
The Best Educational Board Games - Classical Conversations Cycle 1
Переглядів 1,2 тис.2 місяці тому
All of these board games are FUN and ENRICHING for all ages. They support educational themes in science and history, but first and foremost, they are designed to be simply great games. The games in this particular list are aligned with cycle 1 of Classical Conversations, which is a Christian homeschool curriculum, however, ALL of these games are relevant no matter what curriculum you teach. 🥰 B...
Lava Run - A Game with CROCHETED Components!?
Переглядів 6982 місяці тому
Lava Run - A Game with CROCHETED Components!?
An Age Contrived - Review and Core Loop
Переглядів 5703 місяці тому
An Age Contrived - Review and Core Loop
Strategy is Overhyped, LUCK is the True Hero - Board Games & Coffee Ep. 6
Переглядів 8323 місяці тому
Strategy is Overhyped, LUCK is the True Hero - Board Games & Coffee Ep. 6
How to Paint Miniatures with NO Experience and CHEAP Materials
Переглядів 1,2 тис.4 місяці тому
How to Paint Miniatures with NO Experience and CHEAP Materials
The Problem with Brass: Birmingham and Why I STILL Love It
Переглядів 2,1 тис.6 місяців тому
The Problem with Brass: Birmingham and Why I STILL Love It
5 Pitfalls That Ruin Board Games (and How to Remedy Them)
Переглядів 3,3 тис.6 місяців тому
5 Pitfalls That Ruin Board Games (and How to Remedy Them)
Find Your Perfect Board Game! Interactive Quiz | 10K Subscriber Special
Переглядів 1,1 тис.6 місяців тому
Find Your Perfect Board Game! Interactive Quiz | 10K Subscriber Special
I Talk through the Perfect Boardgame Quiz
Переглядів 2666 місяців тому
I Talk through the Perfect Boardgame Quiz
Always Your Turn - 5 Best Simultaneous Action Board Games
Переглядів 2,4 тис.7 місяців тому
Always Your Turn - 5 Best Simultaneous Action Board Games
3 Sweet Family Games from Sweet Bros Games
Переглядів 5447 місяців тому
3 Sweet Family Games from Sweet Bros Games
5 Immortal Boardgames I CAN'T STOP Playing!
Переглядів 2,9 тис.8 місяців тому
5 Immortal Boardgames I CAN'T STOP Playing!
3 Lessons Board Games Teach Us That Schools DON'T
Переглядів 1,7 тис.9 місяців тому
3 Lessons Board Games Teach Us That Schools DON'T
The 18 Most Popular and Influential Games - An Intro to the Board Game Renaissance
Переглядів 5 тис.10 місяців тому
The 18 Most Popular and Influential Games - An Intro to the Board Game Renaissance
The White Castle - Example Turn and Review
Переглядів 1,2 тис.10 місяців тому
The White Castle - Example Turn and Review
Is A.I. a Threat to the Board Game Hobby?
Переглядів 1,2 тис.10 місяців тому
Is A.I. a Threat to the Board Game Hobby?
Shipyard - Action Selection in its Purest Form
Переглядів 1,9 тис.11 місяців тому
Shipyard - Action Selection in its Purest Form
Evacuation - A Seamless Fusion of Mechanics and Theme
Переглядів 1,3 тис.11 місяців тому
Evacuation - A Seamless Fusion of Mechanics and Theme
I actually appreciate you pointing out the flaws you see or rules you don't enjoy - understanding demotivating play factors or weak spots could influence future designers and designs to not make similar mistakes. I love seeing how and why people want to house rule a game; I'm into the psychology of fun. Don't apologize about that. Also, looks like a really cool little game. 🔥
I totally agree with you! A negative review is my favorite kind of review. I don’t do them often because I spend my energy finding games that I’ll enjoy playing, but for all the reasons you listed, they’re a fun intellectual exercise. Of course, I also have a great deal of respect for the art and the designers who make these games. And I want to be fair and respectful of them.
Yeah no, 10 for theme
Another successful board game channel that I never heard of until today. Good job. Good commentary All your comments are relativent and fair.
Too much luck sadly. Not enough strategy. But what a great idea to upgrade a dice!
Awesome video. Thank you!
Glad you liked it!
I checked your website and saw terraforming mars as high on skill and interaction and went like nahhhh xdd
Have you ever tried the game megaland? It’s one of our family favorites. It’s kind of like a video game! I enjoy playing it as much as our 6,8 and 10 yo!
Are the animal/captain meeples in the retail edition of the game?
Yes!
Funny. It's my birthday soon. My daughter asked me what I wanted : Planet unknown ! I answered. And I have Fit to print just unboxed to try ! Planet unknown is easy to find second hand at half prize .
Great list!! New York zoo is great!!
It really is!
Hi!! I really liked your analysis methodology!! nice video!
Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah... I hate Terraforming Mars.
what would a theme 10/10 look like?
A war simulation or role playing game. A 10/10 describes a different genre of game. Euro games always have a lean toward mechanics.
I’m glad you asked!
Where do you get your storage boxes? I can't understand the audio.
Dollar stores. Sometimes from Michael’s art supply stores.
Looks like I'm getting myself Swordcrafters. It looks like Dice Forge without being a table-hog. Swordcrafters will be joining Rhino Hero Super Battles for my fave party games.
Made up your mind already, huh? Glad this video helped.
Where did you find those token organisers.
Those were from The Container Store but I bought them years ago. Might not be sold anymore.
Aww, I'm sad I missed the giveaway. I've been dying to get my hands on this game for a while. Great video!
Thanks for telling me! That’s a huge confirmation that I should do more giveaways in the future!
@theperfectboardgame no one would be sad about that!
Great review! Thank you for this video!
Hey, thanks!
Listen, if you like Catan… cool. But me, Catan is by far the most overhyped game out there. I have played maybe a half dozen games. And, I am super ok with never touching the game again. Not my cup of tea at all. Not sure what people see in the game that it is as popular as it is. I’d move the meter a bit more into the luck side.
IIRC, the thematic reason given by Roxley for the cheap pottery and manufactured goods tiles, is that they are small artisan shops, they did not pay a significant direct role in the economy, however some of the innovations that were made did in fact lead to changes in the larger industry and changes in consumer demand. Thematically, it's a nod to the tiny-scale, but very creative and impactful businesses. This was originally supposed to be conveyed in manufactured goods by having different items shown on the different level tiles, and explained in the rulebook, but it was ultimately scrapped to keep the design streamlined.
Do you have any rating videos or shorts on ‘set a watch: swords of the coin.’
Just found this channel and I love your website you’ve built. I can’t believe you did it all on your own. It’s super cohesive and easy to navigate!
Thanks so much! It’s taken four years to build what I have so far, but this is just the beginning!
This vs Food Chain Magnate, which one would you recommend I pick up?
Brass. But only because FCM is too aggressive and not fun to play with players of different ability levels, so I play it less often. Given players with the same level of experience, FCM.
Will you review this game, now is out?
It is currently sitting on my shelf of “to-dos” ☺️
I played with my fam first time today. They know what's up - I didn't. I like board games, but not really good at strategy. This is NOT beginner or amateur friendly. Complexity is 7-8 at least. Be so for real.
SpaceCorp 2025-2300AD by John Butterfield, pub by GMT.
Man that shirt is awesome, I want one!
so cute !! 😂
A few games I would suggest are very family friendly that I have not seen you cover are Dorfromantik and Diced Veggies. Forgive me if you have, but I certainly do not see diced veggies on your website as of yet. It is a great family game as you can change the mechanics of the game depending on who is playing with you. So if playing with a table full of adults you can play the heavier more strategic rules, and if playing with some kids you simply play the generic rules. The kids love "cutting" veggies from the dice pile and building and developing their own recipes and meals. Love the videos and the site, keep it up!
Omg I love planet unknown!
Ben, I love Planet Unknown and that was most concise & thorough yet exciting & enticing description of it I have ever heard. Thank you for using your uniquely powerful perspective in the board game industry to promote such a wonderful (and unique) game. Bravo!
What high praise! Thank YOU!!
Have you tried mystic market
Great content! My oldest son is almost 7 so I love to see this genre of kid friendly (or non-gamer friendly) games.
Thanks for the video
Thank you for the review. I do find it useful.
Thank you for great video and great list of family games. Very useful.
Im shocked swordcrafters missed my radar. Might be a complete delight, or total disaster with my two boys (4 and 7) just wanting to battle! Paused watching this video to get a copy. Middle Ages i also want to look into more: i have family members that like Kingdomino, but they have moved past it complexity wise.
I’m so happy to share it with you!
I've stopped as soon as you said (in between the lines) that you hate Wingspan
How can the theme can only get two? It has endless character with difference variation.
I could explain what I was thinking, about how my rating system has evolved over the years, but in this case, I’ll just say I was wrong. Theme should be between 7 and maybe a 10.
My nephew's family of 5 kids is pretty unstructured (nothing wrong with that) and chaotic. He says the problem with games is that the pieces get lost. All these games seem to have tons of small pieces. Can anyone recommend a family game, ages 6-12, that is a little easier to keep up with?
That’s tough. On this list, Werewords is your best option. It has a lot of pieces, but they aren’t very important so if a few get lost it isn’t a problem. Also, each player gets dealt only one card. Another thing to look at are flip-and-write or roll-and-write games. For a 5 year old, I recommend Scribbly Gum. These games come with a pad of paper that players write on. After the game, their papers are scored and then thrown away! Scribbly Gum also has a few cardboard cards. Railroad Ink has some dice. But in both cases, only one player (say, the adult in the family) needs to access the cards/dice.
Whoops. I read that incorrectly. 5 kids, not a five-year-old. Nevertheless, those recommendations are very suitable.
My recommendation is Little Alchemists. My 9yr son plays anything but my 7yr daughter is super picky and not a big BG fan. The fact she is asking for that game makes it a win here. And the game is made in chapters so it is quite easy to introduce to true beginners. Additionally, I would say "Escape the Island" and "Wrath of the Fire Mountain".
Thanks. You are clearly someone who knows their games.
Tough thing with the "family game" concept is the fact it wildly varies based on the kids age... 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, etc... these are age brackets with vastly different abilities.
I have endeavored to choose games that will hit all of those ages except a 5-year-old. However, if you watch my older top ten list, in 2021 my daughter was 5 and none of the games required reading and all of them were even simpler.
Nice video. Now could you do Top 10 friends week evening board games? Seems no one does that kind of video.
Can you clarify what you mean? Like, games you can play on a weeknight with friends? Deep strategy games that you can learn and play in less than two hours?
@theperfectboardgame Yes, best games to play on weeknight with friends!
I have a video called 5 Gateway Games that are Better Than Catan. That’s about the same idea. For a new game, I think Explorers of Navoria is excellent. But I will see about making a new video. “Top 10 Weeknight Games”
These lists are so creative! I love how the mechanics are compared to other games and how you show kids playing the games! Great video!
Thanks for the feedback! (And for teaching me Werewords!) I looked at this list again: you haven’t played any of the other nine games with us! Wow. We have work to do!
I noticed that too and am super excited to play more games with you.
So many great games on this list. And we're very honored to see our game Gardlings in this company. I'm very happy that you liked it 😍
Our family really enjoyed Sparks, too. But the brilliance of Gardlings is the simplicity of the rules with simultaneous play. The tiles are also extremely intuitive. It’s wonderful!
I love Middle Ages! I want to eventually buy it but I’ve enjoyed playing it a lot on BGA. It’s so smooth but it has a nice decision space that makes it a good evolution for Kingdomino
“Smooth” is a good description. Maybe it’s because while other games might have a turn order phase and action phase, in Middle Ages, they are combined into one, adding expedience to gameplay.
@ and everything is visually tracked by the position of the player pieces too so turn order is very hard to lose too
Great list! I have Foundations of Metropolis but haven't got it to the table just yet, I also backed the reprint of Planet Unknown so even more hyped to get that now. Plenty for me to check out from this list thank you. We had Illiterati but for some reason it just didn't click with my family unfortunately, they seem to prefer Wordcraft, the theme is bolted on and the components are terrible quality but a great word game worth checking out. Hope you and the family are well and don't get hit hard with the Typhoon heading your way, stay safe.
Thanks. We are heading off island for two weeks so family can meet the twins. We’ll be in the Portland, OR area, where I was raised.
I haven’t heard of Wordcraft, I’ll have to take a look. I alluded to high expectations for a new game from Adam’s Apple Games. The game is Defenders of the Dictionary and it’s probably going to be our new favorite word game. Had a chance to play it at Essen; it was fantastic.
@@theperfectboardgame oh thanks, I'll check it out.
Love planet unknown. Super creative and fun, so much configuration and replay ability. Love the mechanic with the neighboring goals, and the simple fact that that there’s no “turns” where you have to wait for others first. Love it!
Yeah. I’m a bit predictable. Every time I play a family game with simultaneous play, it’s pretty much always going to be a favorite. It is just so much easier to keep kids engaged when they never have to wait long.
I’m so happy to find someone else who appreciates ViaNebula. I don’t get too many willing to play it with me often enough, so sometimes I play it “Solo”. Basically, I play as 2 players, and it works cause I always win 😂. This is a game that is just brainy enough, but not too much, when I’m too tired for something long, etc. and I’ve found that I really enjoy the tactile games with animal, etc meeples.
Instaback for me, looks like it could replace Cascadia for us.
What won you over? The cascading scoring?
@@theperfectboardgameYeah definitely the combo's, also the theme does it for me a lot more than cascadia, like you though I would definitely appreciate some text on the tiles maybe with the species of coral and fish, seems like an odd omittance for a nature game. How did your girls find it? Did they find the chaining easy to grasp? Would they miss things? Was the set up a little annoying? Removing certain titles for different set ups or player counts? Is the game different enough each time? I always find Azul and Cascadia a little too repetitive. Could there be more objective cards in the game? Do you feel it provides enough in the box or does it feel like it's missing some meat if that makes sense?