Top 5 Board Games for DOGS

hi i'm adam porter i'm the designer of the games picoco quasal zulagans and several others and throughout this pandemic like many of you i'm sure i've been missing the opportunity to meet up with friends for a good old game night and i know that many people have been turning to the internet to play on online gaming platforms like tabletopia or tabletop simulator and in fact on tabletopia you can play my new two-player card game compromat if you fancy i know other people have been turning to playing games with their children but unfortunately uh i'm not much of a digital gamer and i don't have any children but what i do have is dogs so i've been looking at my collection and trying to work out which games i could possibly play with my dogs now alas unlike the average five-year-old human child our dog struggled with the complexities of scythe and even my little scythe was a stretch so i've had to venture out into the unfamiliar world of board games designed for dogs now trigger warning here i'm going to be showing you something that might be quite unsettling for you if you like to keep your cardboard components your snacks and saliva very much apart if there was any justice in the world and if it existed then trixie's flipboard would win the hundspiel yares which would be awarded seven times in every human year a classic euro as you can tell by the german writing on the box this one's a point salad game in flipboard you get to explore a myriad of different strategies pulling different levers and pushing cubes or treats around the board of course it doesn't really matter which strategy your dog chooses because they all dish out copious victory points or treats the aspect of lifting components to reveal what's underneath is borrowed directly from the blue orange classic goblet but trixie's general approach is much more along alia lines affordable less than a tenner with fantastic mechanisms but it ain't pretty this game from chinese company adogo is essentially a streamlined version of the same game with an updated aesthetic if flipboard is azul then this one is azul summer pavilion this iteration features a central rondelle mechanism clearly inspired by matt gertz navigator or imperial it's a slightly less challenging game than flipboard ideal for a slightly more intellectually challenged canine like our whip-it fawn it's my hope that the european release of this game will have a slightly less minimalistic box and a slightly less literal name alas for now the publisher at dogo has taken their lead no pun intended from nsv the creative team behind the factually accurate moniker of 2015's the game sadly until a doggo come to their senses we'll have to live with the less than exciting title of dog puzzle feeder toy if you're a fan of bird shuffling engine game or wingspan as it was known in its later editions then you're probably itching to get your dogs playing along with you sadly the lack of opposable thumbs make clever card combinations difficult for even the most strategic dog fortunately there is a dog dog-friendly wingspan spin-off produced by the makers of teddy's favorite game flipboard the mistake stonemaier games made when producing wingspan was constructing the majority of the components out of cardboard thereby alienating their saliva-ridden canine audience when played with a norfolk terrier the bird box holds up to two or three turns at best have you ever wondered what the dice tower would look like if stonemas still used kickstarter well the plastic monstrosity that is the trixie gambling tower might give you some idea it's bulky it's imposing with callbacks to kerplunk 1967's answer to potion explosion the gambling tower is impressive in the challenge that it presents to the average terrier there's no doubt that this is for expert doggos only and as such falls into the kennel spiel category with pet activity center we're very much at the other end of the spectrum in the same way that restoration games reimagine 1980s classic fireball island here amazon basics presents their modern take on hungry hungry hippos in this real-time strategy game your pet is asked to embody the role of one of the titular hippopotami this game does not present much of a challenge even for eight week old bella it is however bright and colorful and well constructed and a fantastic gateway game we've used it to try and entice fawn into utilizing her well-practiced nose strategy in other games such as the aforementioned flipboard and dog puzzle feeder toy if ever there was a board game which looks like a dog toy while also representing a significant choking hazard for dogs is blue orange is dr eureka players race to tip coloured balls out of test tubes in order to match the arrangement on the puzzle cards it's a tough little logic puzzle with a dexterity element and teddy isn't naturally driven by logic he's a thinker for sure but his thoughts tend to be focused less on logical deduction more on squirrels and other garden invaders but scrap the fiddly puzzle cards and you're still left with a delightful spin-off puzzle for dogs the nose strategy isn't going to get you very far in turn around from trixie this one's all about the paws and while teddy sits back and contemplates his strategy baby bella is more inclined to get stuck in and see what happens she's like a furry version of those irritating folk who say should we just start playing two minutes into a 30 minutes rules explanation there's no doubt that swedish designer nina otterson is the days of wonder of the dog board game world her products scream quality but they come at a premium here we're in the 20 to 30 pound bracket but the variety of products is fantastic my dogs love dog brick it's another very literal name for a product but no weirder than some of the titles in my human game collection dog brick is essentially like one of those expensive board game inserts it's all removable boxes and hidden compartments and if you don't mind a bit of slobber on your chits then it would even make a fantastic storage solution for quacks of quedlinberg of course you may be new to the world of board gaming with dogs in which case you might not want to splash out human cash just yet on these games without first tentatively dipping your toe into the water but not to worry there are print and play versions available and in fact the good news is that this game doesn't even require a printer just a trip to the recycling bin some gamers will be sad to hear that rather like pandemic legacy this particular game is once and done you might be able to scrape together a second game from the same components but you wouldn't want to pass it on as a gift or you know trade it in a maths trade but little's nine pack is good value and for all its limitations you certainly couldn't call this game over produced besides every serious canine gamer knows that quality gameplay is far more important than fancy artwork and plastic components i hope this video has given you some inspiration to revive your lagging game nights if you enjoyed it please check out some of my other videos on my channel on youtube by madam's board game wales on board game geek madden 78 and on twitter i'm at board game wales thank you very much for watching all the best