Three Manly amiibo
Have a Merry Mario Christmas!
Heist: One Team, One Mission (Boardgame)
Pass items back and forth as the central safe shouts out instructions in this cooperative real time game of bank robbery. Take on the role of one of four characters and follow the instructions on the battery-powered central cube. Pass items back and forth and then “use” them correctly to advance the timer. Success leads to the big payoff, while mistakes cost you money and perhaps the entire game. Heist: One Team, One Mission is a fast-paced game looks neat, is very family friendly, and plays in just a few minutes.
New Frontiers (Boardgame)
New Frontiers has players taking turns to select an action card, which then dictates the action that is performed by all players. Through the course of the game, players settle planets, build developments, and exchange goods for points or profit. Develop the best economy (be it building, exchanging, settling, or a combination of them) to be crowned the winner of the game. This 2-5 player game is a great, family-friendlier version of the popular Race for the Galaxy card game.
Welcome To… (Boardgame)
Fill in your suburb wisely (in numerical order) to score points in this (sort of) Roll and Write style game of designing neighborhoods. Cards are flipped up from a deck and players must choose which cards to use and for what purpose as they fill in the blanks on their personal score sheet.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Switch)
The simplicity of track and field events made them an excellent candidate for early videogames. I remember hammering away at our family computer in 1982 as my brother and I spammed keys in an effort to defeat each other in Olympic Decathlon. One year later, Track and FIeld appeared in the arcades and was an instant hit, allowing up to four players to spam buttons in a head to head competition. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (yes, that’s the full name) blends modern gaming with some retro-inspired gameplay through dozens of Olympic-themed mini-games. When played multiplayer (as it should be) iIt manages to capture much of that early videogame magic.
Cloudspire (Boardgame)
Cloudspire is a boardgame based around the extremely popular MOBA and tower defense genres of videogames. MOBAs have players working as a team of individual characters trying to destroy an enemy base, while fighting the other team and its stream of AI controlled “minions” streaming out of the opponent’s base. In Cloudspire, players send out heroes (which they control) and minions (which are sent out and just march along) against the other player (or players) in an attempt to wear down and destroy the opponent’s home base. Cloudspire provides plenty of gameplay in one package, with diverse starting factions (each with unique play styles) and many options of play (such as both solo, cooperative, and competitive modes.)
Solid Snake: Pokémon Trainer
Imperial Settlers: Roll & Write (Boardgame)
Use actions and resources to build up your kingdom in Imperial Settlers: Roll & Write. Convert the resources shown on the dice directly into points or use them to invest in buildings to gain even more resources in future rounds. Roll & Write games of this sort are a great family gaming option since all players take their turn at once. This particular game stands out because it also has solo mode that can be played as a campaign, where the game changes up slightly each time, keeping each game fresh.





