First Player Token

In this episode, I play capture the flag with seven of my friends in Challengers! Challengers! is 2022 game for 2 to 8 players designed by Johannes Krenner and Markus Slawitscheck and published by Z-Man Games with art by Jeff Harvey. It's a little hard to describe. If I said it's a deck-building, auto-battler built around a capture-the-flag tournament structure, would that make sense? Maybe not. You'll have to listen to this episode to get the full description.If you're looking for a high energy game that blends strategy and luck and plays equally well at 4 players or at 8 players, Challengers! is the game for you. Episode Links:Buy Challengers! on Amazon.Buy Challengers! Beach Cup on Amazon.Music:"Open Road" and "Rise of the Superhero" by Purple Planet.Send us a textPodcast Links: Order a First Player Token coffee mug. Visit the First Player Token website. Join the FPT Facebook group. Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky. Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Our last episode on second editions of the games Santorini and Tortuga 1667 reminded me about another second edition of a family favorite game that's out now: Parks designed by Henry Audubon and published by Keymaster Games. We covered the first edition of Parks way back on episode 7 of the podcast, and I thought I would reshare that episode here on the podcast feed in honor of the new edition of Parks. In this episode, I'm changing things up a bit and recommending a great board game for couples: Parks by Keymaster Games.I'm a big fan of the US National Parks, ever since I took my kids out west on what we called the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Tour. We saw the largest of each: we went whale-watching off the coast of San Francisco, we saw redwoods and sequoias in California, and we visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona. We visited three National Parks during that trip—Grand Canyon, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia—and each of them provided amazing sights and experiences.The board game Parks, designed by Henry Audubon, does a great job of capturing the beauty and wonder of the US National Parks. It is the prettiest game I own, with stunning artwork from the Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series. In the game, you take on the role of hikers, exploring the great outdoors and visiting as many National Parks as you can.We have two special guests in this episode. My wife Emily stops by for some color commentary and thoughts on why she enjoys playing Parks. Also, Matt Aiken from Keymaster Games joins us to talk about the origin of the game and why he thinks it's a great game for couples and to tell some stories of people playing PARKS in the great outdoors.See my photos of Parks, First Edition.Learn more about Parks, Second Edition.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:“Open Road,” “Sunbeam,” and “Summer in Paradise,” https://www.purple-planet.com/.Send us a text

In this episode, we go back to the island in second editions of podcast favorites Santorini and Tortuga 1667! Santorini: Pantheon Edition takes the original Santorini and its “Golden Fleece” expansion and presents them in a new package with revised rules and upgraded components. The teenager and I have been playing it regularly since we got it, and we are loving it. When I heard about Tortuga 1667: Deluxe Edition, I was excited at the prospect of upgraded components for the game, but I was a little worried when I heard that there would be revised rules. The original game is so, so good, it was hard to imagine how they would improve it, but they did!In this episode, I discuss what's new in each of these games and what I appreciate about the changes. Kudos to Roxley Games and Facade Games for these quality second editions of some of our favorite games! Links:Pre-order Santorini: Pantheon Edition from Roxley Games.Buy Tortuga 1667: Deluxe Edition from Facade Games.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:"Open Road," "The Concept" by Purple Planet. "Pirates!" by Tabletop Audio.Send us a text

In this episode, we conspire together to take out one of the worst evils of the 20th century in Black Orchestra! Black Orchestra is a 2016 cooperative game for 1 to 5 players designed by Phillip duBarry with art by Lucas Soriano published by Tabletop Tycoon. In Black Orchestra, players take on the role of conspirators in Nazi Germany working together to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The game is based on actual attempts by members of Hitler's military and civilians to take out the man they saw as an incredible threat to their country. The game is a rollercoaster full of close calls and near misses. Our military history correspondent (age 13) approves! Hear his thoughts on the game in this episode.Links:Buy Black Orchestra on Amazon.Listen to the Immersed episode about Black Orchestra.Read about The Faithful Spy by John Hendrix.Learn about the Black Orchestra expansion, Resistance.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:"Open Road," "The Concept" by Purple Planet.Send us a text

In this episode, we sail the high seas on our Viking ships to establish trading routes and not pillage in Knarr! Knarr is a 2023 game designed by Thomas Dupont with art by Antoine Carrion published in the US by Pandasaurus Games. Knarr celebrates the trading life of a Viking. In the game, players take on the role of Viking traders, recruiting crew to your ship, then sailing to distant lands to establish trade routes. Your trade routes will earn you victory points, as will the songs that skalds sing about you. If you're looking for a medium-light game that offers a fun twist on engine building and celebrates the softer side of Vikings, Knarr is the game for you.Links:Buy Knarr on Amazon.Get ready for your first play of Knarr.3D print your own Knarr insert.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:"Open Road" by Purple Planet. "Vikings" by Tabletop Audio.Send us a text

In this episode, we work together to tell the story of how a religion changes over the centuries in… Keep the Faith! Keep the Faith is a storytelling game for 2 to 5 players about religions in transition. Each player represents a sect within a fictional religion. Players collaboratively make up the story about the religion and how it changes over five hundred years, with a focus on how the material and observable aspects of the religion reflect or contradict the religion's core values. Keep the Faith is currently on BackerKit seeking crowdfunding. If you're listening to this before March 6, 2025, follow the link below to the BackerKit page to see if you'd like to help get this game published. Keep the Faith will be published by Central Michigan University Games, an academic press that specializes in peer-reviewed board and role-playing games with educational utility.The designer of Keep the Faith is Greg Loring-Albright, and I'm excited to share highlights from an interview with Greg that I did for my other podcast, Intentional Teaching. Greg shares about his design goals for the game, the role of agency in Keep the Faith, and the challenges of designing a game about a sensitive topic like religion.Links:Support Keep the Faith's crowdfunding effort before March 6, 2025.Listen to a longer cut of my conversation with Greg Loring-Albright on the Intentional Teaching podcast.Throw a few bucks at the Intentional Teaching Patreon to hear a few more clips of my talk with Greg.Listen to Liz Davidson's conversation with Greg on her Beyond Solitaire podcast.Learn more about Greg Loring-Albright on his professional website.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:"Open Road," "Summer in Paradise" by Purple Planet.Send us a text

Today we have a FIRST PLAY review of Everdell Duo, a 2025 game designed by James and Clarissa Wilson with art by Andrew Bosley and Enggar Adirasa, published by Tabletop Tycoon. The game is a two-player version of the popular 2018 game Everdell, a game that launched a trend in board games featuring friendly anthropomorphic forest animals. Both games are set in the land of Everdell where the squirrels are woodcarvers, the badgers are innkeepers, and the hedgehogs are doctors. Everdell Duo is a quality two-player experience with all the things you're looking for in a game: balanced design, thematic mechanics, and adorable art and components. Duo feels like the original Everdell, with worker placement and resource collection and card combos, but with a simpler, faster, and more competitive experience.Links:Preorder Everdell Duo from the publisher.See my photos of Everdell Duo.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:"Open Road" by Purple Planet. "Forest: Day" by Tabletop Audio.Send us a text

In this episode, we gather around an African watering hole to see who can chase away the most animals in Kariba! Kariba is about animals gathering around an African watering hold, so the cards are all elephants and giraffes and zebras and meerkats and such. Players take turns playing cards from their hands to the watering hole in the middle of the table, with larger animals chasing off smaller ones. Kariba is my favorite game to bring to family gatherings when (a) I know there will be young kids there, especially pre-readers and (b) I don't have much space in my luggage, since it comes in a very small box.Links:See my photo of Kariba.Buy Kariba on Amazon.Watch a watering hole in the Namib Desert.See Felix Kindelán's Instagram. Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:"Open Road," "The Concept" by Purple Planet.Send us a text

In this episode, we fight zombies and frostbite and maybe stab our friends in the back in Dead of Winter! In Dead of Winter, a 2014 game designed by Isaac Vega and Jonathan Gilmour with art by Fernanda Suarez, players take on the role of survivors of a zombie apocalypse, trying to find the resources they need to fend off zombies and hunger and cold and the occasional fellow survivor. Dead of Winter is a semi-cooperative game, in that you're mostly working together to beat the game, but each player has personal objectives that might get in the way. Dead of Winter was the game that helped me appreciate the world of board gaming beyond Settlers of Catan, and it was my favorite game for several years. I'm happy to help celebrate its tenth anniversary with this episode, which features comments on the game from me, the teenager, and the toddler.I didn't have time to mention the expansions for Dead of Winter in the episode, but there are two: The Long Night, which adds more characters and scenarios and three optional modules to the game, and Warring Colonies, which you can use to pit two colonies against each other in what can be an 11-player game. I played that one once, and it was a bit much, but The Long Night is a great addition to the base game.Links:See my photos of Dead of Winter.Buy Dead of Winter on Amazon.Listen to "Bringing Dead of Winter to Life" on the Quarter to Three podcast.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:“Winter Wonder" by Purple Planet.Send us a text

In this bonus episode, I share an extended cut of my recent interview with Jonathan Chaffer, designer of the Holiday Hijinks series of 18-card escape room games. Jonathan had a lot to say about the design constraints he faced in creating these games, more than I could fit in last episode's review of the series. If you're interested in tabletop game design, I think you'll find this interesting.Links:Back the newest Holiday Hijinks games on Kickstarter.Order the original Holiday Hijinks games from Game Gamers Guild.See Jonathan Chaffer's full list of designed games.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:"Open Road," "The Concept," and "Summer in Paradise" by Purple Planet.Send us a text

In this episode, we save Christmas and a lot of other holidays from potential catastrophe in Holiday Hijinks! Holiday Hijinks is a line of 18-card holiday-themed escape room games designed and illustrated by Jonathan Chaffer and published by Grand Gamers Guild. Each one offers the cooperative puzzle solving of an escape room in just 18 cards. There are nine games in the series currently, with names like The Cupid Crisis, The Turkey Trial, and The Groundhog Gambit. The newest Holiday Hijinks games -- The Leprechaun Larceny, The New Year Nightmare, and The Krampus Caper -- are now crowdfunding on Kickstarter, along with a collector's box that stores all 12 games. This episode features an interview with Holiday Hijinks designer and illustrator Jonathan Chaffer. What does it take to pack this much escape room fun in 18 cards? Will the Holiday Hijinks series run out of holidays? Jonathan pulls back the curtain on this clever game series in his interview.Links:Back the newest Holiday Hijinks games on Kickstarter.Order the original Holiday Hijinks games from Game Gamers Guild.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:"Open Road," "The Concept," and "Summer in Paradise" by Purple Planet.Send us a text

In this episode, we load up our donkey carts with fruit to deliver around the island in Finca!In Finca, players take on the role of farmers at harvest time on the Spanish island of Mallorca. Move your farmers around the windmill to generate resources, collect colorful chunky fruit tokens, deliver fruit strategically around the island with your donkey cart... That's Finca in a nutshell. It's easy to teach, has beautiful art and components, and ramps up nicely to a very tense ending.Finca is one of the older games we've covered here on the podcast, having first been published in 2009 in Germany. It had been out of print for a while, but Pandasaurus Games recently issued a new edition with updated art and streamlined rules. In this episode, I talk with Raina Huang, marketing manager at Pandasaurus games, about the new edition.Links:See my photos of the original edition of Finca.Buy the new edition of Finca from Amazon.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:“Open Road” and "Summer in Paradise" by Purple Planet.Send us a text

Today we have a FIRST PLAY review of Sirens, a 2024 game for two players designed by Art Casey with illustrations by Gabi Naftaly and published by Envy Born Games. In Sirens, players take on the role of the sirens of Greek myths, those creatures whose beautiful singing lured Odysseus' sailors into the sea and to their doom. In the game, players draft cards to create musical symphonies, with the best symphonies enthralling those hapless sailors.This episode features an interview with Sirens designer Art Casey (from the floor of Gen Con 2024) and some color commentary with my fascinating wife Emily!Links:Buy Sirens on Amazon.Get notified when the Kickstarter for Kalahari is launched.Check out some ancient Greek pottery: Example 1, Example 2.Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:"Open Road," "Summer in Paradise," and "Sunbeam" by Purple Planet. Send us a text

Usually when I review and recommend a board game here on the podcast, I've played that game at least ten times. That way I know the game well and I know it has some staying power. That means I usually review older games, but I like to play new games, too. So here's a FIRST PLAY review of a new game that I think you might like!Today we'll take a look at Tír na nÓg, a 2024 game for designed by Isaac Shalev and Jason Slingerland and published by Grand Gamers Guild. In Tír na nÓg, we journey into a world of Celtic myths and come back with amazing stories. Coincidentally, I recently journeyed into the world of Gen Con, North America's biggest board game convention, I have come back with amazing stories, one of which is an interview with Isaac Shalev, one of the designers of Tír na nÓg.Links:Pre-order Tír na nÓg by September 5, 2024. See my photos of Tír na nÓg. Order a First Player Token coffee mug.Visit the First Player Token website.Join the FPT Facebook group.Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.Music:“Open Road” and “Summer in Paradise” by Purple Planet. Send us a text

In this episode, we build the technologies and societies needed to fight climate change in Daybreak!

In this episode, we celebrate four years (and 50 episodes) of the podcast by recommending my top five games to start your board game collection!

Here's a FIRST PLAY review of a new game that I think you might like. Color Field is a 2024 game from 25th Century Games designed by Mondo Davis with art by Peach Benitez. The game Color Field puts players in the role of painters creating these moving pieces of nonobjective art.

In this episode, we put on our funny Viking hats and go plundering in Raiders of the North Sea!

In this episode, we board the Jolly Roger and steal from treasure from a Spanish galleon in Tortuga 1667!

In The Wolves, we build our packs and carve out our territory!

In this episode, we try to save the planet from a relentless alien invasion in Under Falling Skies!

In The Blood of an Englishman, we see if Jack can steal the goose that lays golden eggs from the giant at the top of the beanstalk!

In this episode, I try out a new format by giving very brief reviews of ten games I played at our local board game convention, Tennessee Game Days, earlier this fall!

In this episode, we review In Vino Morte and try to figure out if our opponent put the poison in our glass or in his glass in the game!

In this "First Play" bonus episode, we take a look at the game After Us from Pandasaurus Games. It's a 2023 game designed by Florian Sirieix with art by Vincent Dutrait.

In this episode, we see what happens when heroes from stories and legends battle it out in Unmatched!

In this "First Play" bonus episode, we take a look at the game Blazon from 25th Century Games. It's a 2023 game designed by Dave Conklin with art by Ian O'Toole.

In this episode, we battle for the honor of hosting the king in our chateaus in Royal Visit!

In this episode, we become Scottish chieftains expanding our lands in… Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King!

In this "First Play" bonus episode, we take a look at the game Kohaku from 25th Century Games, a 2020 game designed by Danny Devine with art also by Danny Devine!

Here's an extended cut of Emily's color commentary on the game Mysterium!

In this episode, we work together to solve a murder in the game with no words… Mysterium!

Today we have some initial impressions of the game Power Plants after a first play!

In this episode, we take a look at Gobblet Gobblers, a game that you'll want to know about if you're tired of playing tic-tac-toe!

In this episode, we work together to catch a sneaky, pot-pie-stealing fox in the cooperative kids game Outfoxed!

In this episode, we build cities and farms and roads in the modern classic, Carcassonne!

Today we have some initial impressions of the game Gartenbau after a first play!

In this episode, we review Bristol 1350 and try to avoid a pandemic like it's the 14th century by escaping the city on an apple cart!

In this episode, we're going back to the space race with the upcoming new expansion, Space Explorers: Age of Ambition!

In this episode, we have a very special guest joining us to review Takenoko, a game that teaches you what to do in the unlikely event someone gives you a panda.

In this episode, we review Tsuro: The Game of the Path! See whose path to enlightenment lasts the longest...

In this episode, we review the game Clank! Go searching for dragon treasure while moving very quietly...

In this episode, we review Incan Gold, a game that will have you pressing your luck to recover lost treasure!

We take a look at Patchwork, a game about quilting and one of the best two-player games around!

Splendor, a game about collecting gems and impressing fancy people!

Oros! A game about building mountains and seeking knowledge!

Sleeping Queens! A game of queens and kings and dragons and knights and basic arithmetic!

In this episode, we time-travel to the 1960s to compete in the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union in… Space Explorers!

In this episode, we travel to a beautiful island off the coast of Greece famous for its white and blue buildings in the board game Santorini!

In this episode, we travel to 17th century Japan for some competitive vacationing in the board game Tokaido!

We're back with another family game recommendation: The Crew, a game that will have you taking tricks and exploring space!