Rivisiting Our Collection | A to Z | Letter H | What Stays | What Goes

0:00 Welcome to Where There's a Wills, There's a Play. I'm Ian, you may come across a casual gamer.

0:04 I'm Stacey and your non-gamer gamer.

0:06 And today we are here revisiting our collection.

0:09 And we are up to the letter H.

0:13 Yeah, so we're going to get into this one and just so this is our series where we are going back through our collection and just looking at the games that start with each letter and seeing if we're going to keep them or cull them. I got my notebook here with a pen so we can keep track cuz we've kind of forgotten on a couple of letters. So, let's get right into this and the first one is Hadrian's Wall. Hadrian's Wall is a big roll and write and that picture for some reason does not want to come up. All right, sweet. Okay.

0:45 It's a snowman eating a

0:46 Yeah.

0:47 marshmallow.

0:47 Okay, so Hadrian's Wall is a flip and write game where you are flipping over cards, you're putting some down below this um that give you and then you have some that give you resources and then you get like these different people uh that are different categories of people and you get bricks and you can build things and you have two pads of paper where you're doing stuff over here in different uh types of people in different tracks and then over here you are trying to keep the um the enemies from attacking you and stuff. Um I enjoy this one. I've played it quite a bit. Uh I have not played it in quite some time on the tabletop. I do enjoy it, but I I don't know. I tend to just do the same thing over and over and I don't really use a whole lot of all the stuff on the right side. Um I enjoy it okay. It's on BGA so I can play it on there as well.

1:40 So, I don't know. I think at this point I think it is because it because it's on BGA and I also don't really play it a whole lot on there and it's just quicker on there. I think I'm going to I think I can I think I can get rid of this one. I think at this point um I've done everything I can do. I know there's a campaign that comes with later printings that you can print off and I've printed it off probably three times and I still have not gone through it. So, I think at this point, I think um, with our limited space that we have and other flip and roll and write moving up on my list, I think Hadrian's Wall is one that I can get rid of.

2:15 Is that a big box?

2:16 It's a It's a smaller box. It's actually right over here as I'm getting ready first to take some pictures for Instagram um, for some things. Uh, that may or may not be on that post. Uh, so yeah. Uh, so that's Hadrian's Wall. Yeah, I think at this point I think I've kind of done what I need to do. I don't need to play through the campaign on it. So, that's Hadrian's Wall. Next one. Ooh, Hamster

2:39 Hamster Roll. Hamster Roll, you are um, trying to get the wheel to roll by placing different shaped objects, little wooden pegs and um, round pegs and square pegs and um, flat squares onto the inside of the hamster wheel so that you can roll it without those pieces falling off. It's ha- lot harder than it looks. Um, this is kind of a kind of a table hog. You have to be able to roll it.

3:13 Yeah, it rolls. It rolls.

3:14 have a long space [clears throat] for it, it it's kind of troublesome, but thankfully we have the space for it to roll and if not, we just kind of gently pull it back and

3:23 And when you place them here, you have to place them further the the end of the the farthest end of the piece you're placing has to be further than any of the other pieces. So, you could stack something here possibly as long as it was further than this or you could put it up higher and as it rolls, if something falls, you then take it in your hand.

3:42 Yep.

3:43 Um

3:44 Trying to use up all the pieces before um,

3:47 The other person.

3:48 The other person.

3:48 get rid of all your pieces.

3:49 Yes. I This is a fun game. It's a big box though. That's

3:54 It's Yeah, that that

3:55 For somebody who has limited space this may be kind of troublesome to try and store but I mean, put it under a bed. I don't

4:01 It's a tall box. Thankfully, it's thin because it's only really slightly wider than the wheel is. So, it's not like it's big and wide. Um Yeah, this this one's just a lot of fun. Silly fun. Um

4:15 Agility.

4:16 We really enjoy it. Yeah, yeah. So, we really enjoy this one. Um I think we're ready.

4:20 Yeah, we're ready.

4:21 Three, two, one. Yeah, that one's staying. It's It's It's fun. We enjoy that one. Uh it while it does have a tall and wide box, it's not like deep. So, it's It's not It's pretty narrow box. So, it fits where we need it to fit if we need space.

4:36 It's easy to get out. It's easy to put back. You know, there's really not a whole lot of thinking to it. So, it's an easy weeknight game to get to the table. So,

4:45 And it hits the table on our New Year's Eve. Silly fun.

4:49 We played at least once a year since we've gotten it, which wasn't years ago. Yeah, absolutely.

4:54 All right, so that is Hamster Roll. Next one up is Hanamikoji. Hanamikoji is an I cut, you choose battle uh lane battling game where you are trying to earn the favor of geishas. So, here is the game. Um and so, you have these different geishas that you are trying to earn the favors of and you're doing this by laying out cards that have numbers on them. This is clearly not the English version, but there's numbers on them. And if you have more of them than your opponent, the geisha comes to your side. So, these these little trackers all start in the middle and then whoever earns the favor, it moves to their side.

5:41 And so, there's uh this is the there's two of each of the twos, three of each of the threes, four of the fours, and five of the fives. Um let's see if I can find one with

5:54 I love the artwork

5:55 Oh, the number on the the art on this is gorgeous.

5:57 I do like it.

5:58 There we go. So, we got the two, the three. So, there's two twos. So, if you know that like you've already got a two down, you know, you might you might put one out there and see what the other person does. So, you have four tokens that you are going to be playing during the game. Let's see if I can find a picture with the tokens on them that we can actually see. And the tokens allow you to do different things. So, one of the tokens you put you split your four cards you always have four cards in hand into two and two. Um and and you can't really see them on there. Um so, one of them allows you to you split them two and two and your opponent takes the two they want and then they leave you the other two. One of them you get to basically stash one for the end of the game. One of them you get to discard a card. So, you know, hey, I've discarded a five. I know there's only four fives left. So, if I get two of them, I know at least I'm going to be equal. Or, hey, I've stashed a four.

6:55 I know that I've discarded four. I know there's only four, you know, I know there's only two three fours left. So, I only need two of them to actually win. Um and then one of them you put uh three out and two um your opponent takes one and you keep two, I think it is. Each person has the same exact things. You can use them in the same order. Or you can use them in whatever order you want as you're placing them down. At the end of each round, whoever has the most this tracker moves their way. If it's on one person's side, it might go back to the middle. If you tie, it stays where it is. So, you've if you've already got it, it stays. The winner is the person who gets either four of these total or a total value of 11, I think it is. We haven't played for a little while, but I think it's a total value of 11. And then um you play up to three rounds.

7:42 Two rounds. No, two rounds. And then if you don't Nobody wins, then I think you I believe you count up whoever has the most value and that person wins. Um we also have expansions for this that had that give you different uh sets of uh the I got you choose tiles that you can use um which we've played a few of those and really enjoyed it. So, this one kind of came on our radar. I had heard about it and it came on our radar when they did the ex- they the sequel um which we're going to actually be talking about next. And so, I picked up both of them because I had heard great things about it. And this game like right away, we really both enjoyed this one.

8:22 I do enjoy this one. I like the artwork. I like how it plays. I like that it's a two-player game. So, you know, it's enjoyable for both of us. Um small box, easy to store, easy to get out. They're cards, so you know, it's in a small card box. Um

8:37 It's on our two-player cubes over here.

8:39 So, I really do enjoy this game not just for those reasons, but um it plays quick and Lord knows I have a short attention span. If it plays too very long, then I kind of lose interest. But this is one of those games that I I I can play, you know, more than once. I can actually lose and then play again.

8:59 It plays It plays very quickly. It plays very quickly. All right, ready? 3 2 1. This is an easy keep. This is an easy keep for us. We um both really enjoy this one. Like Stacy said, it's it's on the two-player cubes over here. Very small. You know, most of our two-player games are pretty small boxes overall. And yeah, we really enjoy this one. It's very quick to get out. And the fact that we have like all these extra expansions to play through that we've only played a couple of them really kind of keeps it

9:29 going and interesting.

9:31 And that gets us to Anami Koji Geisha's Road. This was the follow-up sequel in 2021 and I'm just going to flat out say this one did not hit for us. This one added some extra complexity with you're going around this rondel and there's different um visitors or whatever it was at each one of the places. Um

9:56 I think it strayed too far from the original game.

9:59 very dis- I I I was disappointed in this one. I I thought I'm like, "Oh, it's going to add some extra little things." And we played it and we're like This just it adds too much. Like Hanamikoji is a pretty simple, elegant head-to-head lane battler game. I cut, you choose. Whereas this one went too far from that and you're trying to collect these or something. We played it a couple times.

10:21 at two or more than two people.

10:23 it's only a two-player game.

10:24 Oh, it is?

10:25 it's only two-player game.

10:26 only a two-player?

10:27 I think it's only two-player. Let me Let me check. It is a two-player game. It is a two-player only game.

10:32 So, um

10:33 I'm trying.

10:34 We We played it a couple times.

10:36 Yeah.

10:36 Just didn't work for us. Um I think we can vote here pretty quickly. 3 2 1. Yeah.

10:41 I didn't wait for the countdown.

10:42 Oh, sorry. Yep. This one did not work for us and especially after we had played Hanamikoji for the first time and we're like, "Okay, we'll play Hanamikoji cuz if this is a sequel, there must be some sort of things that we'll play the original." And we absolutely loved Hanamikoji. And then this one we're like, "Oh, this one kind of does a little too much for what we want from this." So, Yep.

11:05 You may love it, but this wasn't for us.

11:08 I mean, this one is a 6.9 and Hanamikoji is a 7.4. So,

11:13 Oh.

11:13 you can see um

11:14 It's not just us.

11:16 No.

11:16 Okay.

11:17 All right. Next one. Happy Little Dinosaurs.

11:19 Oh, boy.

11:21 Haven't played this one for a while.

11:22 really long time and I only played it a couple times. Um you're trying to keep your dinosaurs happy. Um each card has a different, um, goal that you're trying to do, I believe, if if I remember.

11:37 The kids at board game club love this one. I don't know if they're playing it right or not. Um, you're trying to

11:44 Trying to save the world, aren't you?

11:45 No, that's a different game.

11:47 Oh, okay.

11:48 Um, you are trying to get either get to the end here or you're doing a little second like if you get there's different There's different things. There's three different types of cards. I think it's if you get like three of the same or something, you you end up losing automatically. Um, there's some cards that do some different things. Like we have not played this one in quite some time. We do have both expansions for it. Um, I do have two copies of this at my board game club as well and a copy of one of the expansions at the board game club. Um,

12:24 Okay.

12:24 Yeah, we haven't played this one in a while. I do believe I I do think it does play better at a higher player count cuz you have more cards being laid down. So, here's some of the cards.

12:34 Here's some of the cards and and like their abilities and you're like looking at like what they do and you're seeing who plays like the higher card and stuff. Um, but yeah, it's We've got a we've got a little small little area where this is stored. Um,

12:49 Doesn't take up a whole lot of space. It's It's bigger than your average card box.

12:54 Right.

12:55 Um,

12:55 but I think we have all the expansions that are stored in the one box. It's kind of overflowing. There's a there's a strap on it. Um, yeah. Ready?

13:04 Yeah.

13:05 Three, two, one. Yeah, I think this one we're going to have to probably play again and see like does it really need a spot in our collection? Can I just take it into my board game club? Um,

13:15 In my eyes, if I don't have the need, like I'm like, "Oh, let's play Happy Little Dinosaurs." Um, then

13:22 Yeah, and then

13:23 get, you know, go without.

13:25 That's kind of where we are in our collection is like if it's not like a game where like, "Hey, let's get this out and play." then there really is no need to keep it. So, we'll probably think about it. I have a feeling it's probably going to get moved on. Um but yeah, so that's Happy Little Dinosaurs. Next one is Harmonies, aka the Cascadia killer as everybody said when this first came out.

13:48 Which didn't happen.

13:49 Um it's it's actually moved to have above Cascadia on BG on on the rankings.

13:55 I like Cascadia better. But that's not what we're here to talk about. We're going to talk about Harmonies.

14:01 You want to talk about it or you want me to

14:02 No, you can talk about

14:03 Okay, so Harmonies, you are um you are drafting tokens and you are trying to make different Let's see if I can find the cards. You're trying to make different configurations of the tokens on your board and when you do, you get to put little token Oh, these people have some fancy They have some fancy upgrades. So, they have some fancy upgrades that they're using for all their stuff.

14:27 If I knew it came with little otter tokens like that

14:30 doesn't. You got to pay an arm and a leg to get those things off of

14:34 I'd say that would move right up the list.

14:36 Yeah, no, they they clearly paid for some upgrades somewhere, 3D printed or something. Um but then you got to get them for every hand. So, you're trying to form these different configurations as you are drafting these tiles on your board. So, you see this person has a lot of things that they've been able to place. Once you place them, you can't place any other tokens on top. Um so, here's the basic. You have you have little cubes that you put on there. Uh and then so you are you are placing these on top of each other. They score differently. The rivers, depending on which side of the board you're playing on, scores a little differently. Um on this side, it scores for uh the longest river you have. The trees all score based on how high they are. The um mountains score, but they only score if they're next to other mountains. You can't have a single mountain thing.

15:26 The

15:27 The land

15:28 score a certain way and the fields score certain different ways as well. So, you have two different types of scoring. You're scoring your animals and you're scoring your your actual habitats and stuff. Um I enjoy this one. I think this one's I think this one's got I think this one's got that spatial restriction of like a Calico but it kind of has the Cascadia feel to it where you have your habitats and you have your um animals So, here's the other side of the board. This side of the board the the river scores for every different section that you create by separating them. So, this has two different sections and you can see they've scored a lot of different animals. Um yeah. This one hasn't hit the table much. I've played it on BGA a little bit.

16:13 I think it hasn't hit the table as much because I am not I I've said this 5,000 times and I'm going to stand on my soapbox again. I do not do spatial games where I have to try and figure out Oh, I can put something else on here and change it up and make it do this and I don't do well with those games.

16:33 when you have to be like, "Hey, if I do this Okay, so I can do this, this, and this off of this one. How do I have to do them in order so that I can get this up?" Yeah.

16:40 I don't hate the game. I really I

16:43 [clears throat]

16:43 you know, I'll play it if

16:44 Once again, the artwork is absolutely gorgeous.

16:46 Yeah, I do

16:47 It does have a solo It does have a solo mode. And I've played it solo a few times. Um I played it on BGA quite a bit. I think the table presence with the tokens is nice. Um but yeah. Are you ready to vote?

17:00 Yeah.

17:00 Okay. 3 2 1 I think at this point I think we got to think about it because it doesn't hit the table. It is a very small box. It is a smaller but not I'm not tiny, but it is a smaller box. But it doesn't hit the table a whole lot and I think I need to get it to the table solo more and see if it is going to be one that I'm going to keep for solo. I know it's not one Stacy super enjoys and stuff, but and it's is that spatial part. She doesn't um

17:32 I'm terrible.

17:33 She doesn't the spatial stuff doesn't work for her um especially when you're especially when you are like if I do this then I can do this and this off it. That's just not

17:42 I can't plan ahead.

17:43 And we have plenty of games that we play together so it doesn't have to be. So

17:47 Yeah.

17:47 Okay, so that one's definitely going to think about. I mean I enjoy the game um but I can't tell you the last time I actually got it to the table because we do have so many games. So all right. That is Harmonies. Next one is Harvest. This is one that I purchased a while back earlier this year has not hit the table yet. Maybe we'll get it to the table for because it's fall. At least for solo play. It isn't 258 so it's right at the top end of your normal comfort level but I'm very excited to play it. I've heard amazing things about this game and some people that I know in the content creating world have told me just based on what they know that I like. They said they said I will really like this game. So I am very excited to get this one to the table just have not had time yet.

18:35 Okay.

18:36 Help your neighbor.

18:37 Help your neighbor. You are laying This is a very small box game. Literally like a box of cards and they're numbered and you are trying to lay down your numbers and we haven't played this in a really long time.

18:49 flip your numbers over.

18:50 Trying to flip them over so that they're in order. Right?

18:54 No, you're trying to just flip them all over. You start with them like this and you so you start with them like this two through six eight through 12.

18:59 right. That's right. This has been help We did a play through on

19:03 We did a play through of this a while back.

19:04 quite a while ago like probably a year ago so it's probably last time we played it as well.

19:08 I played it at board game club a few times.

19:10 Okay.

19:11 So what you're doing is you're rolling your dice. When you roll the number, you flip it over. If you if you've already flipped that number over, it's called help your neighbor because the next person around the circle gets to flip that number over. And then it's their turn. But, if they flip it over, then it's the next person. So, it can go all the way around. If everybody's got that number flipped over, it's still your turn. Um if you roll a seven, you'll notice there is no seven here. Seven is the number you don't want. If you roll a seven, you have to flip one of your numbers back over. This is where the strategy really comes in, especially when you're playing with like five or six people. I've played with a a bunch of kids before. Is you're looking to see what everybody else has already flipped over. Because even though a five is harder to roll than a six or an eight, if everybody has the if if people have the six or eight face up still, and everybody has the five flipped over, you're like, "Well, I'm going to flip the five over because then if anybody rolls a five, it's going to be my turn because I'm the only one that can flip it over." Um yeah, this is a really fun game. Uh we do have a copy at home and I have a copy at Board Game Club. They The kids love this one. It's it's a really easy, simple one for them to get out and play, especially if there's not a lot of time left or even during the day. Um if we have indoor recess, I can get I get this out sometimes with kids. Um yeah, this is a it's there's it's there's not a ton to it. It is literally rolling dice and flipping cards over if you have them.

20:33 There's six different colors, so you can play up to six people, I think it is. Is there six or eight? There's six different colors. So, yeah. Um Yeah, there is there is a lot of strategy in this one. For a simple little dice rolling game, there's a lot of strategy as you are flipping cards back. And like I always tell kids like, "Well, you probably don't want to flip the two and three or the 11 and 12 back over." Yes, if someone rolls it, but those are the hardest things to roll. So, you know, it's um kids have gotten some really good strategies with it once they've played it several times. So, this one this one is tiny box, like little This is the size of the box and there's six stacks of these cards.

21:10 Yeah.

21:10 Ready? 3 2 1. Yeah. I'd say keep it, but um that's only cuz it's a tiny box.

21:18 Yeah.

21:19 But

21:19 We'll put it down.

21:20 I think well I just need to play it again so I can remember cuz I do remember I enjoyed playing it. I think I even won once. So

21:26 I think you won more.

21:27 Usually if I can win, you know, that's usually

21:29 played I think you played it more I think you played more the ones.

21:32 Okay.

21:32 And if anything I could take it in a board game club

21:35 You just bring it home.

21:35 But it is it doesn't take up like any space really.

21:38 Mhm.

21:39 All right, next one is Herbaceous. This is the second game in the Floriferous Herbaceous What is the third one? And I can't think of the third one. Um I can't think of the third one. There's a third one that's a roll and write version that I haven't played yet.

21:56 No.

21:56 Uh I don't know. I can't remember what it is, but anyway.

21:59 Mhm.

21:59 Um

22:01 Is it a set collection game?

22:02 Set collection, push your luck. You're you're you're you're drafting cards and you're putting either in your area or in the middle area. Then you can draft from the middle. You have different um types of flower beds that you can plant in. Once you plant in them, that is they can't be used anymore. You can't put anything else in them. Let's zoom in any more yeah. So you see like here you're trying to get um three cards. Um and any more cards you plant in here cuz it's a single vase. This one has a series of vases. So you're trying to get some different uh pairs that don't that aren't don't match each other. But once I put them in there, I can't put anything else in there. So it's not like I can put like a pair and then another pair. I have to really plan from my area to put them in there. Um This one is different flowers so or different plants. So you got this little bed of things so you want different plants in here and the number of cards you put in there once again. But you're kind of pushing your luck cuz you can put stuff into the middle.

23:04 Uh Um we haven't played this one for a little while, but we really we really did enjoy playing this one. Let me see. You can put stuff into the middle um area. Let's see if I can find a picture. Here we go. So, you can put stuff um into the middle, or you can put stuff kind of into your area before you actually plant stuff. Um yeah, so it's a little push your luck. Like, how how long do you go before you plant things? How long do you put stuff in here before you grab stuff from the middle um Yeah, so couple things we like. Set collection, I grouping herbs in different types, grouping different types, group pairs, and group any three types, same or different. Um so, you so you draw an herb and decide either to keep it in your personal collection, or put it in the communal pile. So, that's where the push your luck comes in is like, okay, can I put it in the communal pile? Can I put it in there and then maybe get a big group of them at once um before somebody else does. So, yeah.

24:06 Okay.

24:07 All right. Anything?

24:10 I liked playing this game. We just need to play it more. Like most of our games, we just need to play it more.

24:15 Yep. Okay. 3 2 1. Yep. We both like this one. It's it's got that push your luck element, which we really um enjoy. Little set collecting. Um yeah, this one this one Now that volleyball season's over, we could probably get this to the table and like do it just quick one.

24:33 Small box.

24:34 Yep. Next is Here to Slay. This is another one from Tee Turtle and Unstable Games, like Happy Little Dinosaurs was. Um Got this one, played it. We I remember we really enjoyed this game. Got some um action points, some your It's a fantasy strategy card game that's about um assembling your party. So, you're assembling your party of heroes that are going on to defeat some different monsters. Let's see if I can if I can find this setup. And you have to defeat them by having more points than more attack points basically than they have. Um and then the first person to defeat three monsters wins. So, here's some monsters.

25:23 For the Italian

25:24 They're so scary.

25:26 So, they have and then they're and they're kind of immune to some different things. Um Yeah, another one we have not played in quite some time. Which once again, if we haven't played them in a while, it's one of the things that we got to really think about. Um Let's see. It's a um let's see. So, here's some of the heroes. I know there are like a ton of expansions for this and stuff. So, here's some of the heroes that you can get.

25:50 They are pretty cute.

25:52 are. It really is. Um I think this is probably our favorite Unstable game.

25:56 Yeah. Oh, definitely.

25:58 it, it definitely if there is one we would keep, it would be this one um to get back to the table. Um Yeah.

26:06 I like playing it. And again, it's just need to get it out more.

26:10 Yeah. Okay, ready?

26:11 Yeah.

26:12 Three, two, one. Okay. So, probably a keeper for now. Play it a few more times. Um and then we'll see where it where it lands overall. Next one, Her Story.

26:26 Ooh, this is one of my favorite games. This is easily in my top

26:31 Probably top 20, top 10

26:32 Yeah, it's in my top game. Um in Her Story, you are trying to build a book of history that is filled with female icons in um chemistry, aviation, um just history.

26:47 Pirates.

26:47 Pirates, yeah. This everything. If a woman did it, she's more than likely here. It's been researched by all kinds of um teachers, professors, students, grad students, who researched all of these women.

27:02 female teachers. I think it was all women who helped put together the final group of women in this.

27:09 Yeah. And you're drafting different tiles to collect different cards. What those cards have on them, you're collecting the tiles to that match those cards so that you can purchase that chapter for your book. And once you um get those cards, some of them have certain powers that you're able to use. Some of them you just get the the book or the light bulb, which is the science and the library. Um You're trying to go around, collect the points, and finish your book. The first person to I don't I don't think it's a certain points. The person with the highest points at the end wins. When you're done, you put all of the chapters into one little book. You put your cover on it, and then you can read the chapters if you'd like, and learn more about on the back side is the history of each female. So that it's an educational game as well as a fun game as well. So I really enjoy this game. I like the artwork. I like how it plays. I like the collection of it. I like the drawing of the tiles. If you have all the same tiles across the top, you can use the a library card to swap those tiles out.

28:25 It's just really fun. There's a on your turn card, there's a player aid.

28:29 I enjoy this one. Like they said, you have these tokens here, and these are the symbols you're using. This is what you need to build them. This is like if you have this card showing, you get it you basically have an extra book. Some of them are just worth a lot of points, but it's a lot harder to actually get them. And look, Dolly's right there.

28:46 Dolly.

28:47 Um but yeah, I mean you can see just from this look like the all the different ones that you have. Some of them like they said have end game bonuses, end game scoring.

28:55 Some end game, some are during the game scoring. So, you know, each card is going to be different on how and what you're going to be doing with that.

29:04 all over the world. I remember I had this at my board game club as well. And the first time the Hispanic girls played and Selena came out. Oh my god, they all wanted Selena. I mean, they all wanted to get Selena in their book and it was just so cool. Um it was a really cool moment. So, all right. Ready? 3 2 1. We both we both really we both really enjoy this one. This one isn't going anywhere. Um

29:33 I like education. So, you know, I'm a I'm a forever learner. So, some of the knowledge sticks, some of the knowledge don't stick.

29:42 All right, next one. I think this is another underdog game. Um High Tide.

29:46 High Tide. Ooh, High Tide is a two-player game as well. Where you [snorts] are uh one person's pink, one person is green, and then the yellow tiles are wild. And you are trying to move your tiles and stack them adjacent so that you are either covering the other person or making yours higher, but you can only move it higher or equal to or no, higher [clears throat] or

30:12 No, it has to go higher. It has to go higher.

30:14 Um and the first person that goes that can't move is the loser. Um and they have to stay connected. So, um

30:24 Not necessarily the loser, though.

30:26 No?

30:26 It is the round ends when nobody can move a tile anymore. And whoever has the most showing wins that round. So, you're playing with three of these. Um so, you can see like this yellow one, it can't be moved because you can't go higher. I can't go to the same space here. This one was stacked a lot few times. So right now, so the yellows are neutral. Right now the turquoise greenish color is the winner cuz they have four and pink only has two.

30:55 And there's no limit to how high you can go. Um you just have to be able to stack it higher. So

31:02 Very strategic as to how like where am I going to move things?

31:06 I'm terrible at this game, too. But I have won. I think I've won once.

31:10 I think you've won more than once. I think she's being very modest. She's won more than once because this is a game that I overthink what I'm doing and all of a sudden cuz I'll sit there and I'll be like, "Okay, if I do that and then I can do that and she's going to be doing that." And then somehow it's like, "Oh, wait. How did I miss that?" But we really enjoy this one. Um another small box two-player very easy to get to the table. Um you set up your you set up your starting circle. Um easy to set it up. So it starts with the middle ones and you just randomly put those in a circle and then you randomly put the rest of them around a circle. So every time you set up it's random. And we randomize it by putting these um seven in the bag and just we pick one out for the middle and then we randomly just go in a circle and we do the same thing here. We speak pick a spot and we just randomly pick them out of the bag.

31:59 So

31:59 Yeah. So it's a really good travel game cuz it is in the bag. So you can just put everything in the bag, throw it in your suitcase or your carry-on and play it on your board on the airplane or wherever. I It's a It's a small game. I like this game.

32:12 Yeah. All right. Ready? 3 2 1. Yeah. We both really enjoy this one. Very quick to table. Um I think this would be fairly high on our two-player

32:23 Yeah.

32:23 list. So All right. That is High Tide. Next one is Holiday Hills. This is another one that we is sitting over on our Shelf of Opportunity. It will be played by the end of the year. Um

32:34 Our holidays are

32:36 Christmas time this will definitely be played this year. Um and we need to get it played so when we re-rank our 2025 games, we have played it. So.

32:43 Yep.

32:44 All right, moving on. Honey Buzz. Honey Buzz is a dual hex tiling game where you are trying to make the best honey comb, basically. Uh let's see if I can get the board here. Um let me get a picture of the overall board. So you can kind of see what you're doing. It's a worker placement game. So let's see if we can Okay, so you got this worker placement game where I love how it jumps from not being able to see it really to I can't see it. So you have this board here and it is worker placement. So when you place a worker out, you're placing a bee in one a little bee pole in one of the sections to get one of those types of honeycombs. And when you do this, if somebody else wants to go there, they have to place more bees than the last person. So you can see blue clearly went here first, then yellow was like I really want to go there so they played two. Same thing over here. These ones over here, these are ones that were activated. I'll show you in a minute the the the player boards or the player area um where they were able to access extra bees so when they retrieve, they're going to have all these extra bees left. Um here's some bonus scoring cards. Um you can also during the game one of the actions you can do is to sell at the market. So you can either sell to customers or you can sell some of your um pollen. No, not your pollen. Your honey to um different for different prices. And when you do, the price drops. Same thing

34:14 with the pollen. Over here, you are foraging. So you see these little bee tokens, you're foraging around to be able to collect these cuz what you're doing, let me see. This Oh, this doesn't have a Oh, yeah, right here. We'll pull this one up right here to the side. Um so what you're doing is as you are dra as you as you are replacing your workers, your little people, you're placing them down and when you form a complete open hex here, you get to draft, you get to activate everything around it. So this one allows you to put an extra bee pollen. This one allows you to um fan your um you can see there's there's a a honey thing here and so what it is allows you to fan that so you can actually make that honey. Um this one allows you to I believe sell at the market. That's the one that allows you to sell stuff.

35:05 Um the contract is a freebie so you get to do anything with that one. So as you are placing your workers up here, you're trying to figure out what pieces do I want because also if you notice these these little hexes here, they have different their the outsides of them are different. So as you place these, you can only forage when you forage so there isn't a forage thing on here. Where is the forage? Oh, there's right here is the forage one with the flowers. So when you get this, you get the forage so you get to move your little bee a not one space for each forage thing you have. But you can really only take these if you have an open spot. So this one only has one that has the two red and the four white. So we can only take this. You can't place this one there because it's the wrong style. Um this is one that I played only solo for probably 2 years. I taught it to Stacy this year, earlier this year.

36:03 Um yeah, it's one I really enjoy. What do you what did you think about it?

36:09 There's a lot going on for me. Um but I did enjoy playing it. I needed some help remembering, you know, what the fan meant, what the foraging meant, and what I was supposed to do and go where. Um I enjoyed it. It's it's one of those games that's at my the high end I think for me. If I remember correctly.

36:29 Okay. Oh, I'm surprised it's that high. Yeah, 274 that's above that's

36:33 Yeah.

36:34 That's above your normal comfort zone.

36:36 time to play. So, because I had to stop so frequently and try and remember what I was doing. But, I mean, I did I did enjoy playing it. It took a long time to play. It wasn't that easy to get to a table. I wouldn't call it a weeknight game. Um, for what I consider.

36:52 had it set If I haven't set up already, I can play it at night. But, yeah, there's a lot of little set up.

36:57 But, I do enjoy playing it. If Ian wants to play it, I will play it. Um, it just have to It's one of those games that I have to reload.

37:03 based on what you think, though. If you If it's one that you wanted to do, okay? Ready? 3 2 1. Huh. Oh, you went You went up?

37:11 Yeah. I mean, I would play it.

37:14 I'm surprised. Um,

37:15 It's a big box. To me, it's a big box.

37:18 normal-size box.

37:19 normal-size box.

37:20 Um, this is one that I have played a lot of and

37:25 No, I haven't played that much of it.

37:27 like I've almost played out. I know there's an expansion, but I don't know if it's one that I'm feeling that I need to get the expansion to experience more from it or if I'm ready to move on from it because I've played it and I've enjoyed it and I do like the game, but sitting down and playing it solo, it's like, I've kind of played it. I've I've played it over 10 times, I think. It's fun.

37:54 change my vote. I

37:55 You don't have to change your vote, but yeah. We'll We'll We'll talk about it. We'll think about it.

37:59 you enjoy playing it. So, I mean, if you enjoy playing it, but if you feel it's I mean, I haven't played it nearly as much as you cuz you played it a bunch of solo games.

38:07 didn't think you were going to actually give it a thumbs up. I thought you were going to be like,

38:09 Well, I like I like the artwork. I like how you know, so.

38:13 Yeah.

38:14 I'm a sucker for some cute artwork. What can I say?

38:19 Speaking of cute artwork.

38:20 I love Honey Pot.

38:22 Careful with your water, there.

38:22 I know, I'm getting all excited. I'm getting all excited. Um Honey Pot is a set collection game. Um it's a also a kind of like a I cut, you choose um where you put the I stack and you put it in your secret little file, your undercover agent bear, and you're trying to figure out who did it for the most part. Ah, how cute. Um But anyway, um so you're going back and forth and you're trying to figure out how far in the pile you want to put the cards that you want back because you're going back and forth with that same secret file a couple times. So,

38:59 [snorts]

38:59 um you're trying to get the same the same bears so that you can get your set collections, but then you're also trying to um get the items that you see out in front of you so that you can earn your points. I really like this game. I When we first got it, it was not what I was expecting at all. I I was I don't know what I was expecting. I wasn't ex- expecting an undercover

39:23 Secret Agent Bear game.

39:24 secret agent bear game at agent bear. Um anyway, um I wasn't expecting

39:31 of you old enough.

39:33 I think that's even before our time. I don't know.

39:35 I don't know.

39:36 Um anyway, um it's not what I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it. When we opened the box, I was like, "Oh, this is I thought this was going to be something completely different." But I really enjoyed this game. It's a good family game, I think. Um Easy to get out.

39:53 like to play it with more people because what normally happens is you play six cards. You draw six cards and you put them in your little file however you want. And the people next to you looks at two of them. And then if they want them, they can take them. If they don't, they put them down and they can take the next two, but they can't go back to the first two. But if there's any left in the file, it keeps going around the circle. Whereas in the solo game, you just give the file to the other person and they go as far as they want. Like, do they want the first two? What did I say?

40:21 You said in a solo game.

40:22 Oh, two-player game. In a two-player game, not solo game. You can't play this solo.

40:26 Well, you can be handing to each other.

40:27 Yeah. In a two-player game, you are I'm used to talking about how solo is different. In a two-player game, you're just giving the file to the other person. It doesn't come back to you. So, they are going to go, "Okay, do I want these two? No. Do I want these two?" And then, if they get down to the bottom, they have to take the last two. Because they have to take two cards. So, um

40:46 That's right.

40:47 So, I it would be interesting to see it played even at four, because then you would at least be passing around more. But, you know, at two, it was a lot of fun, because you're like, you're playing mind games. You're like, "Okay, what do they have already? Okay, what can I maybe entice them with so that they don't get this thing that's going to really, really help them? Or maybe I entice them I give them something that they that they like, "Oh, hey, I really need this." But, there's something further down that would have helped them even more. Um so, yeah, a lot of fun. Really enjoyed this one this year. Um Probably I think we played this in the second half of the year, cuz it definitely wasn't in our top five games of the year mid-year.

41:24 Mhm.

41:25 This could end up in This one could end up in the top 10, I think, maybe, for the year.

41:30 I don't want to give away how I feel about it, but

41:33 Okay. All right. Ready?

41:35 Yeah.

41:35 Three, two, one. We both really enjoy this one. Uh so, this one is definitely a keeper. Um and it's one of um Flatout's small box games or smaller boxes, so it fits in a nice little spot where we have all of our Flatout games. All right. Next one is Horrified: American Monsters. Um Got this one at a at one of those bin stores where they just bring in a bunch of stuff, like wholesale stuff from larger stores. Um it was open, and I But, nothing was punched out, so I Or some of the stuff was punched out, but not everything. So

42:14 Sat in the corner and made sure everything was there.

42:16 and her sister and her sister's friend at the time were walking around, I sat down against the wall. I got everything out. I got the rule book out because I'm like, if I can get this for $9 or whatever it was that day, $7 or whatever the price was that day, I'm like, I'm getting this. I played it twice when I first got it. I have not played it the last 2 years. You can actually see it sort of over my shoulder here. Um I do want to play it again. Um so in Horrified, you are playing as a you are trying to get away from a different monster. And so you're playing against different monsters in it. Um it's cooperative game, but it can play solo. Um so you're facing off against uh classic American nightmares beasts. So you have like uh Bigfoot and Mothman and chupacabra in this one. And each one of them does acts a little differently. And you are playing as the citizens and you're trying to um move around. I do want to get this to table again. Um I don't n- I don't know if it really there's a lot of hype around like the Horrified series and some of them better than others. And I think I don't know if it grasped me as much as I was as I wanted to when I first got it because I was like hearing how great it was cuz I got it just a couple years ago. Um so this one I've only played solo. So this one for right now is a sideways. I need to play it again. play it this Halloween season. Maybe I'll get Stacy to play it with me.

43:45 Halloween season.

43:46 Well, this Halloween season. So like the Halloween week in a couple weeks.

43:49 2 weeks.

43:50 In the next 2 weeks. Maybe Halloween weekend, you know, maybe Halloween day is on a Saturday. We can play Oh, Halloween we can play some Halloween themed games before trick or treaters come. That'd be fun day. All right, so I do want to play it again and see if I'm going to hold on to it or not. Um that is Horrified American Monsters. Next one. Ooh, this is one This is Hot Streak. This was on both our top 10s last year.

44:14 I love Hot Streak. In Hot Streak, you are gambling. It's a Press Your Luck, um, where you have a set of cards, um, that is telling you what the

44:28 That's awesome. Um, where you are gambling on the mascots on how they're going to fare in the race. Um, these cards will tell you which mascot is going to be moving, which one's going to fall down, which one's going to spin around and go backwards, or run the wrong way. Um, and you are You know a couple of the cards that are in the stack, so you kind of have the first-hand knowledge of maybe, you know, the bear's going to, you know, take a five five person or a five space lead, or, you know, the um, the hot dog might fall down and spin around, cuz you get to put those cards in the stack, and then you get to shuffle them, and off you go to the races. This is a

45:12 It is a fun game.

45:13 fun game. We like to announce it as if we are at the Kentucky Derby.

45:18 Um, you know, we have one person doing the cards, one person doing the announcing.

45:23 the Moving the characters.

45:25 Moving them. And so, this is a lot of fun. The board goes right in the box. You just spin the wheel on the side of the box to put it back in there. It is just a bunch of fun. It's silly. It It's kind of a table hog in a way, but

45:41 It does It does take up a bit of space.

45:42 Yeah, the top of the box is the winner circle, where the top three player or the top three finishers

45:48 go up eventually if they finish.

45:50 Yeah, if they finish.

45:51 can run off the track.

45:52 They can. They can.

45:54 I'm trying to find a picture of it just set up. So, what you have is you have some cards Oh, here we go. You have some cards that are like the main cards that you shuffle and you get to see which cards have been dealt out for each character to start. And then like Stacy says, you have some hidden ones that you get to manipulate. So, over here, you you go, "Oh, well, this one's going to move minus, but it's going to go plus here. Well, maybe I put some more plus. Maybe I got some cards in my hand. I'm like, well, they think the hot dog's not going to move much because of the cards that are here, but you know, maybe I'm going to put some positive ones." Or look, this one's got a lot of positive movement. So, maybe I'm going to put some negative stuff in here for the bear, and I'm definitely not going to bet on the bear because I know he's going to move backwards.

46:43 Hopefully. But that doesn't always happen because maybe those cards don't actually come out by the time there's three winners. Um, they can run into each other's lanes. They can knock each other over. They can turn around and go backwards.

46:53 It's just a bunch of silly fun.

46:56 silly fun.

46:56 It no skill to it, really. There's a little bit of planning on, you know, with a little bit of tiny knowledge that you have and when you're betting. But for the most part, it's just really a pressure luck game in the end of it, and it's just silly fun.

47:12 people betting when you see the person betting I This is one I would definitely love to play at at like six players, you know, because more people are betting.

47:20 Yeah, you could bet to try and throw the other people off.

47:22 we see people betting and going, "Ooh, what cards did they put in? Did they bet on that one cuz they put some cards like maybe I should put a bet on there." And then it may or may not work out, but Okay, I think I'm ready to vote. Three, two, one. Yeah, this one is a keeper. Easily, it is down over here in our shelf next to Stacy that by kind of our fun party

47:45 I you know my favorite thing about this, I'm just going to I'm just going to elaborate a little bit more on this because I love it so much, is on each of the characters there's a little section where you can see the person's eyes where they're in the costume. And they look scared. They look like they are scared to be racing, but

48:06 I just really enjoy this game.

48:08 Yeah, it is it is kind of funny that they have the eyeballs in there, so you can zoom in you can see you can see the eyes on you can see the eyes in the mouth there right there the eyes. It'd be kind of cool if they had different characters.

48:19 Yeah.

48:20 Love this one. Very fun. And last one is hummingbirds.

48:23 Ooh, hummingbirds. This is

48:25 This

48:25 It looks like a relaxing game. Look at you know,

48:29 Nice hummingbirds. Cute color.

48:32 Nice nice you know, home colors that are in it. In reality you they're a bunch of timers and they're magnetic. Each of the hummingbirds is magnetic and each of the colors is a different length of time that has a timer down below it.

48:49 Sand timer.

48:50 Um, sand timer. So it could I think it's anywhere from 30 seconds up to 10 minutes that you've got.

48:55 don't Yeah, I want to move it.

48:56 in your head you're trying to remember, okay, this one is 3 minutes whatever and then you're taking that hummingbird you're pulling it up and if it's the wrong amount of time then you have to put it back down you get a bad card. Um, don't you you get a

49:14 Well, if you if you're right you get points. If you're wrong you just don't get a

49:18 that color of flower and put it in

49:21 If you're wrong you just don't get anything and you have to move you and you have to move your hummingbird somewhere.

49:24 That's right. And we haven't played this one in a little while either, but

49:28 you flip it over

49:29 Mhm.

49:29 and then

49:30 Starts over again.

49:31 And then you have to remember Wait.

49:34 Did I just start

49:36 or is that because it has to be completely gone when you pull it up. And so on your turn you are either moving a hummingbird or you are pulling your hummingbird up.

49:44 The longer the length is for each timer the more points it's worth I believe. So the 10 minute one is worth the most points. Um, I think it's genius with how they use the magnetic on the hummingbird [clears throat] pieces. I think that is just um

49:59 They're landing on the flowers. They're bringing in the pollen, basically.

50:02 Yep.

50:02 Now, it's a really It's It's a really fun game.

50:05 Yeah.

50:05 Another one I think would be that would be interesting at higher player counts. You have more hummingbirds moving on. But yeah, it is. You get like, wait, when did When is this one still on the original? Is this one going to be good or was this one flipped or not? And how long ago was it flipped?

50:19 It's difficult to keep track of all of them.

50:22 But another fun one that we both really enjoy. So, I think I'm ready to

50:26 I'm ready.

50:26 Three, two, one. All right.

50:29 Oh, I'm getting the hiccups.

50:29 You got to give it away. You always put your hand up like this.

50:31 Oh, I'm sorry.

50:33 This is a This is a This is a This is a keeper. We really enjoy this one this year. Um another 2026 game, which who knows? If we play it a few more times, it may end up on our end of the year list in just a couple months, which is kind of crazy. Like, we are winding up. We are midway through October.

50:49 I thought.

50:50 No, we're midway through October already. So, All right. So, there you have it. There is our H collection. Like I said, you can see Horrified over my shoulder. Put some Halloween games over our um on our shelf behind us. So, let us know uh of the games that we've listed, which ones are some of your favorites. Also, let us know what H games that we didn't mention that are some of your favorites. Uh once again, this is Ben where there's wheels

51:15 there's a play.

51:16 I'm in.

51:17 I'm Stacy.

51:17 see you next time

51:18 at the table.