Wowee, New Games!!!
After the big culling, new games have arrived to take their place.
Hey all! I hope your week is going well. Earlier in June, I shared a post about a 14 game culling to clear some shelf space and part with games we either didn’t enjoy or didn’t see ourselves getting back to the table.
After completing a trade in with Noble Knight Games, we ended up with a significant amount of store credit, and of course I couldn’t let that sit for too long. Once Bunny Kingdom Town released, I was hard at work filling my cart to avoid paying shipping... and well, that’s a whole lot easier when you aren’t dealing with actual human money.
Here’s the haul from the trade in, and I still have some store credit left to burn! I also threw in a Prime Day pickup and another game we snagged from our FLGS using store credit. Safe to say this collection wasn't shrinking for long.
Cozy Stickerville
I’m not much of a cooperative game guy, and I definitely don’t gravitate toward campaign games. But I just couldn’t escape this one. It kept popping up everywhere, looked light on narrative and heavy on cozy fun, and honestly...it feels like a game my wife is going to love.
The whole concept is so unique. You’re working together to build a town, and the entire thing comes together with stickers. We’ll probably try to avoid giving our town another wildly unprofessional name like we did during our Charterstone campaign...(no promises)
Long live Tittytown.
Pirates of the High Teas
This is a game I knew (and honestly still know) almost nothing about other than the fact that it’s about pirates serving tea to impress their captain. After taking a look at the artwork and mechanics, though, it fits right in with our cutesy tootsy games.
It just fulfilled its crowdfunding campaign at the end of May and features worker placement along with what the publisher describes as a “whimsical” take on set collection. Sometimes that’s all I need to hear.
Bunny Kingdom Town
Me a few weeks ago:
“If you told me a few weeks ago that this is a game I’d be fine not owning, I would be surprised. It was love at first site for me when I played this on BGA, but it turned out to only be lust. After repeat plays ,though, things became samey and repetitive. There just isn’t enough variation from play-to-play to feel unique, but I still sorta want it.”
Well, I guess “sorta want it” is enough for me? Ha. In all seriousness, though, I kept playing it digitally and just couldn’t stop. It’s simply a fun game. It also feels like one of those games where experience really pays off, mostly because you start to understand the scoring opportunities so much better.
When you’re up against someone who’s played a similar number of games, though, that’s when it really shines. The matches feel much tighter, more competitive, and a whole lot more rewarding.
Explorers of Navoria
I played this one earlier in the year at the Level Up Retreat in New Jersey, and it made the list of “Games I Need to Play Again”. I love the artwork, the drafting mechanics are really unique with both the cards and markers, and it all really flows together nicely with the map exploration aspect of the game.
My wife has had her eye on this one for a while, too, so that helped make the decision a bit easier.
Tenby
Tenby was a completely spontaneous addition to the cart. I knew absolutely nothing about it, even less than Pirates of the High Teas, which I at least did a little research on before deciding to pick up.
What immediately grabbed me was the artwork. I’ve also heard it has a bit of a Santa Monica vibe, and I really enjoyed that one when I played it last year. From what I understand, you’ll be drafting cards and placing them in your own area to maximize your score through different icons and card types.
It’s just such a colorful, inviting game that I couldn’t help but add it to the haul.
Timber Town
This one’s been on my radar for a while now, but I never saw it out in the wild, which kept me from pulling the trigger. Luckily, I snagged a deal for it on Prime Day! I’m always on the lookout for fun two-player only games, and while this came out last year, I feel like I’m only just starting to see more and more content about it.
Honestly, you don’t need much more to convince me to buy a game than the fact that you’re a beaver architect trying to build the best town along the river.
Wondrous Creatures
This game came in at No. 2 on my most recent wishlist post, below a game I don’t really want anymore. Funny how things work out in the end. Since that post a few weeks ago, I’ve played Wondrous Creatures more than a handful of times on BGA and even got a solo game of it tabled at home last week.
Wondrous Creatures is everything I expected it to be. It’s so good. The mix of worker placement, unique card activation, artwork, and smoothness just makes for a completely wonderful (pun intended) experience. I can see why the game reminds some folks of Everdell, but I feel like this one is more up my alley than any Everdell I’ve played—and I love Everdell.
Needless to say, Wondrous Creatures is a game that’s going to rocket up into one of my top 10 lists, whether that’s 2026 or all time. It’s just that good.
That’ll do it! Thanks for reading. July’s going to be a busy month of travel, so posts are going to be sporatic. As always, I appreciate everyone who’s read my stuff to this point!