Mid Year Boardgame Tag | 2026

0:04 Hi everybody and welcome to a new video. Today we're going to do the mid-year board game tag, which is very kindly created by my friend Reggie from Rolling Reggie. He will obviously be linked below and he tagged me in this to do the mid-year board game tag. I've done this twice now, I think. I think this is the third time I'm doing it and it's always very fun and it's always just nice to reflect on the first half of the year to kind of see like what have I been playing and what have I been enjoying? What did I discover? So we're going to dive into it. Question number one is which game made the best impression after fewer than five plays?

0:50 For me this is definitely Flip Voyage. I mean I could have put multiple games in this slot, but you know, it's we have to pick from our darlings and that's always thing, but Flip Voyage definitely immediately clicked with me. I loved it way more than I expected to enjoy it when I first got it. I expected to enjoy it, but not as much as I did, which was so great and I can't wait to play that again. It's a very nice cozy flip and write. Well, is it cozy? You're in a submarine, so maybe not cozy cozy, but it feels cozy when you're playing it and that's all that matters. So very fun sea theme and as I've said you are it's a flip and write and you are trying to get the best score. It's from the same designer that did Flip Town, so if you haven't seen that I I have videos on both of those, so you can check those out if you want, but yeah, definitely very excited to play more Flip Voyage this year. Question number two is which game hit the table the most? And that is without a doubt Walk and Roll.

2:06 At the very top, it was Walk and Roll. I really like rediscovered this game this year. I've had it in my collection for a year now, and I played it when I first got it a couple times, but then it just kind of was left to the side and at I think around like maybe April ish. Um I don't know. I really just fell in love with it again. I played it so much. It's so quick and easy, and it was like my my morning coffee game for for a little bit. So that's why I quite played it quite a bit. Um and it's just lovely. It's a lovely game. It's difficult to find. So often times when I talk about it, people comment like, "Oh, I can't find it in the US." And I'm sorry. It is a very difficult game to find and get your hands on.

2:58 Um I always refer to Oink Games' own website. I will leave that linked below. Um it's probably one of the easiest ways to get it. I'm not sure, of course, but they are out of stock on there, but you can get like a notification or keep an eye on the website to see if it gets like restocked. Um but yeah, Walk and Roll 10 out of 10. Question number three, which was your biggest surprise? Well, here I mean, this was also difficult because I love a lot of games, and I'm I'm quite an easy person. So I like a lot of things. Um but I do think my biggest surprise was Cozy Sticker Ville. Uh and you might be surprised because like, "Why?" Cuz it's cozy. It's solo.

3:47 You put stickers down. It sounds perfect for me." And it does. Um but for some reason, because there was a lot of, uh, like hype online when this game came out, and a lot of like, uh, pictures of it, and things, it came, you know, on my feed quite a bit, and for some reason, I was skeptical. I don't know why. I just felt like, oh, just putting down stickers, and that's the whole gameplay. I don't know, it just felt like it was going to be a bit pointless for some reason, and I just didn't really collect the mechanics of stickers with gameplay, and I it just didn't really make sense to me. So, I was pretty skeptical, but then, after a while of seeing everybody love it so much, I was like, well, obviously, I'm going to have to at least try it. So, I found it, I bought it, I played it, and I loved it, and it was amazing. It's such It was the closest to Isla Island something shiny is like one of my favorite solo games of all time, one of my favorite games of all time, um, and it is just a gameplay experience that you have a you I haven't felt anywhere else except for with Isla. It's such a unique story-driven, like, narrative board game, and I haven't just experienced it anywhere else except for with Cozy Sticker Ville.

5:19 I mean, it's definitely different, but it's the closest I felt to it with the resource management, flipping one card each time, and just seeing, like, okay, what am I going to do with this card? What choice am I going to make? It felt so wonderful. I have only played through the whole game once. You can play it twice, so I'm definitely excited to play it again, but I want to wait a bit, and then, maybe in the winter, like, you know, like, by a cozy fire, ah, play it again. Yeah. So, we're going to probably do that um later this year, but definitely my biggest surprise. Question number four, which game's production uh or art has impressed you the most? Now, this is a difficult one because there's so many good ones that it's really hard to choose. So, I've done two. Um first one being Galileo Galilei. It's such a stunning looking game. It's so beautiful. Everything about it is beautiful. So, the artwork, but also the construction of like uh the little telescope, which is how you choose your action each turn, and everything just works really, really well um together. Um and I just I was very impressed with how everything looked. Um absolutely love that game. And second, I have Fate of Witches, which is a stunning game. The art is so unique and beautiful. Um and it really caught my

6:50 eye at UK Games Expo, and I was just like, "Wow. I just need this for the art alone." And then coincidentally, it's also a really fun and quick little like deck building game. It's not really a deck building. It's kind of like I don't know. I don't know. You're building a coven. Trying to get the the best score. And it's really great. And it's really quick. It's way quicker than I expected it to be, which was so fun solo as well. Um definitely recommend that game. Question number five, what has been your most reliable introductory board game? Now, this uh I had to choose again all the choices. It's so hard. Um I picked a game that's very recent in my collection, so it's probably not the most reliable because I haven't even played it that much yet, but I have brought it to every single board game like evening event that I've had since I got it. I brought this game and we played it because I was so excited to play it every time and you can't play it solo, so I have to bring it and it's also best with like three or more. It is two to five, I think or two to six players, but you can the three plus is really necessary, I think, with this game.

8:13 Um and that is Trinket Trove. Oh my god. Applause for Trinket Trove. I love it so much. It's not very unique in any way. It's set collection, um but your little mice gathering trinkets and it's just so cute and I really like them. It's like a bidding game, which usually I don't even really like bidding games, but somehow it works and it just feels good and it's great. So, you know, I just bring it everywhere and I want to play it all the time. So, and people always love it. Even when they're like, "Oh, I don't really enjoy bidding or how does this work?" And then they they're like, "Oh, that was great." And it's really quick as well. It's like it flies by and you want to play it again straight away.

8:59 I absolutely love it. So, yes. Question number six, which cult of the old title did you discover this year? So, I discovered it's 9 years old, so it needs to be 10 or more, but it's nine and I'm going to count it because, you know, sue me. Uh I play a lot of new games. I don't play a lot of older games. I need to I do want to play more classics. Um but the classic I discovered this year and I think if you follow me, this comes as no surprise and that is Nusfjord. I love this game. I've fallen in love with it. It was my second most played after Waggle and Write, games which says enough I think. I've only played it solo so far and I would be content if it stayed that way.

9:46 It's a perfect solo game. It's so fun. I don't even I can't even really explain why because when I think about what you need to do it sounds so boring cuz it's like you're fishing and you're trying to serve people the fish and you're building buildings and I don't know why it doesn't sound too too appealing but it's so good and it works so well and it's very addictive that once you play it you you just want to keep going. I usually put it out and I played like four games in a row because I was just like, yep. Let's go again, please. Again, thank you very much. So, yeah, definitely that one. Let me know if you have any like older game recommendations for me. I really want to play the like Grand Is it the Grand Austria Hotel?

10:40 But apparently it doesn't come with a solo mode. It has like an expansion with a solo mode. I don't know. I also just want to play more older Uwe. I really want A Feast for Odin and Caravan I think is one of his games that people have been recommending me. So, yes. So, I'm into I have like a list of Uwe games that I want and the Grand Austria Hotel I want to try as well. But yeah, let me know some other older games that you think I would enjoy. Question number seven, which game is at the top of your wish list? I have a lot of games on my wish list all the time so this is a difficult one but I think for me I will choose one that's yet to come out and that is A Night at the Zoo by Thomas Hollick. Uh I played this at UK Games Expo and it's supposed to release at Gen Con. I I absolutely fell in love with it at the UK Games Expo, and I just can't wait to play it more, because obviously we get a demo.

11:42 We did play a whole demo, so like a whole game, but you're obviously learning the rules, and you're figuring it out as you go. And I just need to play it again and do better, and I just need to try different tactics. And I'm just so excited. We didn't win, but I did feel like we were stumbling a bit, because obviously you're trying to get a like a grasp of everything. Um but oh my gosh, I can't wait to to try different things, uh play with the different animals, cuz there's like I think there's five different animals in the base game. I might be wrong. Four or five. Um so yes, or six. Six animals in the base game, four in the expansion. But yes, oh my gosh. Okay, well, I'm just excited. So that's at the top right now, and I'm hoping to pick it up at Gen Con. Question number eight is a shout out to a creator who made your year better.

12:38 I mean, there's so many that I can't even list them all, cuz I love everybody. There's so many lovely people on here that just have made my life better. Um number one is obviously Jennifer, my girl, uh from Jen Plays Solo. I'll leave her link below. We went to UK Games Expo together. We're going to Gen Con together. We're going to Spiel. I mean, it's a whole thing. Um it's just great. I love her so much. Um so many people, oh my goodness. Um Reggie, you did this tag. We chat like pretty much every day, almost. Um and it's just he's just a great guy, and I hope to someday meet him in real life. Reggie, if you're watching, it has to happen at some point. We're going to make it work.

13:24 Um I mean, so much. I really want to give a shout out to Grant. Everybody knows Grant. I don't think I have to specify. I met him at UK Games Expo and he's just such a lovely guy. He was so nice and we chatted a bit and he it's just been I mean, I only met him that one time but so lovely. Such a nice guy, really fun to chat with him and meet him. So that really made my day. I met Thinker Themer at UK Games Expo. Oh my goodness, that really made my day. I mean, I love Hannah from Hand Play Solo who obviously I spend a lot of time with at the UK Games Expo as well. And she is just such a sweetie patootie. I just I wish she could just move in with me, you know, that's how I feel. I just want her to move in with me and we can play games.

14:12 But yeah, I mean, so many lovely lovely people. So yeah, that is the mid year board game tag. Thank you so much for watching. Go check out Reggie's. He's great. He created this so check him out and I'll see you guys soon with a new video. Bye.