Most Relaxing Board Games | Our Top 5s

0:04 Hey, I'm Ryan. This is my brother Daniel. And this is Rolls in the Family. And Daniel, how you feeling this morning? It's It's a Friday morning. Friday morning. A little sleepy, Ryan. A little sleepy. You know, I was going to say like if you looked back at your last week, would and had to pick a word to describe your week, would it be relaxed? Uh, it would not be relaxed, Ryan. Actually, it would not. Well, then, you know, maybe it's a good time to talk about We use board games for, you know, escapism out of our That's right. our our lives to push it all out. Let's talk about what would be some great games if you need to just chill a little bit. You need to relax. Um, you know, these are games that maybe just don't don't raise the blood pressure as much. You just kind of feel a little bit more relaxed playing, but still have a good time. And we'll have links to all these in the description below if that's what you need in your life. I know. Yeah. If you need this could be a lifechanging. This could change your life. Yeah. We had a key threshold of a certain heart rate and the game has objectively. We went and played all our games with heart rate monitors and we'll drop our metrics and you can't just play it once. That would not be a statistically meaningful sample size. So, this video has been in the works for years. 10 years in the making for this. That could not be further from the truth with the amount of time u particularly Dagel just put into his list.

1:32 Like I said, it was a stressful week, you know. Uh in the comments below, you can leave what you think are some great relaxing games. You know, we can get some the the comments are like the extended list, right? Like if you're watching this video, we don't play every game in the world. Um to some people's surprise. Uh, so I don't know if we lose our credibility now that we've said that. Oh gosh. Do people think that? Oh no. But the comments are really the extended list. You can go down there and get some good good re on topic recommendations from others. Our commenters are way better than us. I'll say that. Yes. Really this is just a platform to give them a platform. Yes, that's right. Uh let's let's jump into this thing. I'm very intrigued to see if we have any overlap here. We kind of kind of just went at it with our own interpretations here. We do, which is a risky endeavor. Um, okay, Ryan, my number five, uh, most relaxing game. Is that what we're saying here? Um, yeah, it's like a combination of most relaxing. You have to like the game.

2:30 Yeah, like this game. It was very relaxing. No. Um, my number five. This game is uh the shortest game I own. Uh, which maybe that plays into it, but is one time to get stressed. Yeah. But is one that just uh everyone at the table you're is it's a a little more interactive maybe than you know sometimes relaxing games you sometimes think would lean more towards a solitary experience. This one is uh fairly interactive in terms of what you're paying attention to uh but plays quick and uh is super fun. This is going to go to Seoia. Um, I find this one just it is a, you know, very simple in that everyone is rolling uh a pair of dice or sorry, not a paradise, rolling five dice and making two pairs and deciding where with the two pairs. You add the numbers together and you're going to place one of your little uh chips on those spaces.

3:26 You've got a kind of a ring of the the number options from 2 to 12 going all the way around. And everyone does that simultaneously. So, everyone rolls. Everyone then places and and then ultimately you're competing for to trying whoever at the end of the game has the most chips on each one is going to win the first uh the first place uh token and then whoever's second gets the second. What's interesting is those are randomized every game. Kind of what how much the first place token's worth, how much the second place is, which is a fun little fun little thing there. But um yeah, this one just I mean in in terms of just relaxing. This is one that anyone can play. It is just uh like I can teach it in you know a minute and we're up and running and there's I I maybe that's part of the relaxing nature of it is there's there's not a lot of rules. there's just we are just rolling dice and it's just this shared fun uh enjoyable experience uh at the table.

4:25 Um, you know, there is I guess the I will say the heart rate can go up a little bit depending at the end, you know, when you're neck andneck with someone uh in an area, especially the the when you get to the end of the round if there's ties um you go into kind of a tiebreaker round. Um but again, just a a delightful little game. Key to have ones that are that are short like this and one that I find quite relaxing. Yeah, that's a good I like that pick, Daniel. I uh I uh think maybe also part of the reason it feels so relaxing is there's not a lot of like right answers to find. Like when you roll your dice, it's a little bit of a get in the other people's head of like where are other people going to go? Are they going to keep going after this? But because there isn't like a definitive right answer for you to like figure out, it doesn't feel like you need to like pour this brain power in or worry that you're maybe making a suboptim. You're kind of operating on vibes in this game. You're just kind of like it's all like what do I want to go for and like what do I think other people aren't Yeah. I mean, and I like what you say there. It is a lot of like kind of the mind game of like here I'll just I'm going to expose my Sequoia strategy to the world. Um, I am a really quick uh double down. Like I try to go hard on one early because then it intimidates people and then they don't want to they don't want to play on it cuz the worst thing you can do in this game is get in a fight with someone cuz then you're just wasting chips. Um, and even if and if you obviously if you don't win it, you're in a horrible

5:56 shape. But even if you win it, you maybe used more chips than than you needed to um or than you know was worth it. So uh yeah, I agree. you roll the dice and you kind of see your different options and you're like, "Huh, what am I feeling like going for uh going for right now? What kind of am I do I want to spread the wealth? Do I want to go hard on one?" Um the little dopamine hit when everybody reveals and you you picked one that like other people didn't and you know it is. Yeah. Yeah. It's very very enjoyable. Makes you feel smart even though it was like basically random. But we like to feel smart. Yeah. I I thought it was smart. Yeah. Nice. My number five uh is a game that uh I have fully converted you on board to Daniel's arc of opinion of this game has been you know it's really firing up in the last year or two. Um but a game that just uh works really well with larger group kind of still being strategy but just being so kind of relaxed.

6:58 Really? That was organic that I chose that word. It's almost like we picked this topic. Look at that. Um, this is this is going to be Seven Wonders Architects. Um, and in Seven Wonders Architects, unlike its u older, sister, brother, parent, Seven Wonders, I don't know how we refer to the hierarchy of uh game sequels, but uh where Seven Wonders was strict card drafting where you're picking at the same time as everybody else. This actually has turns and on your turn it's always take one from the pile on your left, the pile on the right, or randomly from the deck. So, you know the options on your left and right, but you don't know from the deck. And it's always such a just simple decision, but there's interest in it. Like enough interest that like we don't get bored playing this game, you know, and there's always the like it could be like this is pretty good, but it could be anything if I go from the deck. Um, but it's it's a decision that is not going to uh, you know, work up your oh my gosh, like am I doing the right strategy in this game? and it's kind of just feeding you that tactical decision once every time around the board.

8:02 There's not a ton of like, oh, better figure out my long-term strategy. It's here. It's like, okay, each time it comes back to me, I'll kind of evaluate which of these three should I get. And so I find that like when we play it with a larger group and especially with people that aren't looking for more, you know, heavy thinking in their game, they're having a good time with it. There's enough interest in it, but it's just presented in such a bite-sized way every time it gets to your turn that I think it still ends up feeling pretty just laidback. Um, yeah. Yeah, it it makes my list. Yeah, it uh you know, it's interesting. I feel like with this whole list, it's kind of a almost a skill of a game to to walk that line of being relaxing but not boring. Exactly. It's actually really hard. And I I'll I'll actually say this is a very hard list for me to put together because tension is one of my favorite things in like I mean if you go look at our favorite games, I would not describe them as relaxing. We we yeah we actually use board games to increase stress in our lives. Yeah. I don't get enough stress in my dayto-day life. Um so this was this was an interesting list and I I think it's getting me to talk about some games that maybe don't come up as much in some of our other lists for sure. Uh which uh moves me to my number four.

9:20 This is a very new game to my collection. Um I have only played it two player. um played it a few times, but in playing it, even though there is definitely I think from my list here, definitely the heaviest of the ones on the list, not a super heavy game, but the heaviest one on the list. Um again, just does in the process of playing it have a very relaxing feel. This is going to go to Forest Shuffle. Um interesting. Yeah. So I playing this one um it's very relaxing because you know what you know you're building out you're you're placing these trees in front of you and you know on your turn you got the I mean the really fun part about the game is that you're uh it's it's got a little bit of kind of what we love about like Race for the Galaxy where to pay for to play a card you pay other cards from your hand but the twist is those cards go to a center uh you know the center area and you can potent you And also on your turn, instead of taking cards from the top of the deck, you could take cards that are face up, which that's a huge twist cuz now it's like I could actually use a card to pay use cards to pay for another card, but I could potentially get those cards back.

10:32 Yeah. Um, which is just a really kind of interesting thing on that. And so I don't know in in playing it there's just there's not a lot of like uh oh my gosh like really really uh you know hard um hard decision making. Probably the hardest decision is when you need to pay with something that you know you want to play and you're kind of playing that game of am I going to be able which to be fair I've only played in two player and there's a lot higher chance you're going to get it back in a two you can control that a little more. Yeah. So I almost wonder if this would feel different at a you know higher player count if it would feel probably a little more chaotic. Yeah. a little more chaotic. And so, um, I don't know. It's one that there's I mean, the game is all about kind of comboing on things and stuff, which is very enjoyable. It's one of the most fun parts about it is just getting your little ecosystem combos going. Um, but there's so many options that you you really never feel like, oh gosh, I I can't do, you know, I I I can't find something, you know, good to kind of make happen here. And so, you know, you're just constantly being fed with lots of options of cards both, um, you know, from the main area, um, or getting cards off the top. And so, uh, you have a lot of options, which means you're, yeah, you're never going to have moments of stress of like, oh my gosh, I can't do anything. It's just kind of looking through and like, oh, and I got this, and I got and now I can do this.

12:02 And then, uh, so I find it just keeps you in that kind of positive comboing mode, which is a very relaxing uh, a very relaxing thing for me. It's not there's not a lot of um there's not a lot of interaction outside of I mean watching what the other players doing and yeah cuz even if you don't want a card you might be giving them the perfect thing for their combos which I guess is the counterpoint to what we just said about more stressful with more play because more players it's harder to pay attention to what everyone's doing whereas two player I'm watching what my wife's doing and if I see a card come out there I'm going to try to snag that thing um uh so that she can't get it. So, or hold on, you know, do kind of almost the Lost Cities uh uh thing of holding on to a card as much as, you know, possible to not let it go. So, um I don't know. Lost Cities is not a game I would describe as relax. Speaking of games that are that one's great cuz that takes that element of like, you know, holding cards and preventing to the extreme of that. It is like cutthroat with how you're holding and Yeah. Lost Cities didn't make this list for me, Ryan. Yeah. Sorry. I I would have I would have roasted you cities on this.

13:13 I could see some people that are very experienced with Lost Cities like falling into a rhythm of it that they find it relaxing, but the core gameplay is pretty stressful. That's my greatest fear in life, Ryan, is I'm going to come on with one of these lists and I'm just going to completely misinterpret and you are just going to I'm saving it. You know, you got to do it sparingly, but done sparingly. A good Daniel roast I think is good for the uh content on the channel. Yeah. Let us know down below. Comment down below. Would you appreciate a Daniel Rose? Like I Is it happening enough on the channel or do I need to bring it a little more? Yeah. Nice. Uh my number I I guess the nature theme also is just like that. There's a lot of nature now, but it is another thing that just kind of sets the tone a little bit. Uh which is a great segue. I'm just going to build my own segue into the next one, which is another uh kind of nature themed game. At the time when I got this game, it might have been the only game specifically about mushrooms. And my wife thought that was funny that there's a m was a modern board game that's like about foraging for mushrooms. Well, now I think in the last year like three more have come out. Like there are we could do our top five mushroom games except we haven't played them, but somebody could.

14:24 There's enough of them. Mushroom games. I kind of want to play them so that we can make that content. But uh this is the two-player game Morels's. And this is a very chill two-player card game where you're collecting mushrooms to try to make sets of mushrooms that you can cook into a pan and get the points for those sets. Um and it's got kind of just a nice hand management thing of on your turn, um you can take either of the next two cards in the like I forget what they call it. It's like the path. Um, if you've acquired sticks throughout the game, you can use those to reach. So, like if I want to take the fourth card, I could spend two sticks to take it. So, sticks give you a little bit more options, but then you're limited to how many cards you have in your hand. I think at the beginning of the game, it's it's eight.

15:11 You can get these baskets that increase your hand size, but you're trying to build up these sets cuz for different mushroom types, you need a certain amount of them to be able to play them as a set. Or actually, no, it's always you need at least three. So, so it's always at least three, but the different mushroom types have different scoring values per card. So, you need to get at least three of them, but then you also have to have a pan, which there's pan cards that come up. Um, and so you you get into these situations where like your hand is kind of filling up, but you have to decide like, oh, do I play this now or do I try to get more? Or another one of the things that like you can push to get is there's butter cards and cider cards that can get added to a set. Butter can only get added if the set I think has at least four cards and cider can only get get added if it has at least five, but it adds a bunch of points. You kind of have this like you want to go for that big scoring but it's kind of working within the constraints of your hand. Um, but it all comes together in this way that is just really just has a nice rhythm, but there's nothing too crazy going on here. And it's honestly a game that I would have thought even after playing it like the first or second time. I would have thought, okay, this is a game I'm probably gonna play 10 t 15 times and I'm probably gonna start getting a little tired of it because I feel like I've seen it's it's so simple and this is where we've talked about it's so hard to find that balance between like simplicity and like not

16:42 being boring or not Yeah. not like being really shallow because I've had games that it's like I enjoyed my first few plays of it but I got to a point where was like okay I don't need to experience this game anymore. I kind of um for my taste where I'm looking for maybe some more decisions. Morels's has surprisingly had some staying power. My wife and I have played it over 20 times. Yeah. Um and every time I play it, I'm just like, you know what? This has got some nice just the hand management piece of it. And when do I do things? And oh, I have two. If you have two of a mushroom, you can two or more, I guess, technically you can uh spend those to get sticks. And so there's this decision of like, okay, maybe I don't go to make a set that I'm going to cook with this. Maybe I trash it to free up some hand size, get some sticks that'll give me better reach. You know, you can see ahead eight on there's eight cards out.

17:31 So maybe I saw something come up that's really good. And I'm like, okay, I'm going to want to be able to reach for that here in a little bit. Yeah. Um, so there there is enough here that I that that uh has kept me interested, but it has really fit that niche of like my wife and I will pull it out. And my wife is definitely someone who's going to gravitate more towards the relaxing, lighter games. Um, and we just always have a good time playing it and it's nice and quick and easy. So, I'm glad Morel's I don't know that I've mentioned it on the channel. I'm glad that it uh gets a mention here. Yeah, I still just loved your uh your self-built segue that you did. Uh, I should do that more often. Is it even a segue if you build it yourself? Is that a I mean I I my self-built segue did segue off your thing. So it's like a change. You extended the segue. Segue. Yeah. I needed another building block to complete the segue. Very nice, Ryan.

18:20 Very nice. Uh okay, Ryan, my number three. We both own this game and this is one that like I've even had like considerations of like do I still want to own it? I don't know. Um, but I always keep it around because it is just so simple and the the gameplay, uh, despite being so simple, just has some really, uh, enjoyable aspects to it. This goes to King Domino. Uh, this is a very relaxing game. Um, it, uh, you know, in the game, you're uh, it's very simple. You're drafting these little uh, you know, tiles that are are basically two terrain types put together. Yeah, it's Oh my gosh, look at that. Right. Yeah. They uh And so you're you're, you know, drafting these domino type tiles with with terrain on them. And ultimately what you're trying to do is match terrain because the scoring is going to be the number of terrain spaces connected multiplied by the number of crowns in that space. And so uh the terrain kind of varies ver where you have some types where there's a lot of that terrain type but very few crowns that you might find on that terrain type versus you know the I forget what the black the really dark one type is called the mines or something and there's very few spaces for mines but when you can find them there's lots of crowns. Um, but it's uh but what's cool about this one is the whole drafting mechanism of you, you know, whoever's first can ch

19:52 there's going to be, you know, four options and you choose do you want the first one, second, third, fourth and those are ordered in terms of how uh valuable they are. Like on the back of those tiles, they have a number which tells you kind of how to order them. And so you choose which one you want, but then the order that you select for that draft determines the order that you're going to select tiles for the next one. And that little thing right there is just a really great um mechanic cuz you're, you know, it's not just what do I want now? It's how valuable is this now versus setting myself up for what could come. Am I willing to pick last, which means not picking, right? You're gonna get whatever's left in a four-player game anyway. Yeah. And so this one, I mean, a very uh, you know, you are playing your own little little puzzle right here. Uh, the only interaction is the drafting. Um, so it's very relaxing, very simple, um, but very, yeah, just has those fun moments.

20:55 And I love that you can also uh I've you know if you have two copies of the game you can uh or do you need two copies to play the or no you can play two player two player. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Cuz I' I was like I don't have two copies but if you're playing just two player you can actually do a uh 7 by seven grid and that's that's really fun. Yeah, it's actually I think a huge I mean besides the fact that the game is cheap and works really well as like a two to four like to be able to with two players that you know enjoy the game and want a little bit more go to that mighty duel variant where you have seven by seven is like an even more fun cuz like the potential for your multiplication is so much higher. Yeah. And I mean this is one that you could teach to you know so easy to teach and it's one that just as you're playing Yeah. the the you know I feel like in this you know relaxing category is also just vibes like the vibes are just it's just good and positive and people are just uh having fun you know getting getting their tiles and figuring out the best way to play it. So uh there you go Ryan my number three King Domino apparently has a connection to Domino apparently and kingdoms this is going to blow your mind when you look back this is this is changing King Domino uh did just miss my list but I strongly strongly considered it. It's It's a good choice. Thank you. Uh my next game and actually my next two games fall into like a different category of what makes them relaxing. And there was part of me that like almost didn't want to lean in

22:26 this direction. Um but the more I thought about the more I was like it really is true like that it's fitting the topic. Um, and this is going the my number three is going to be the dexterity game, Strike. Now, this is a really quick Have you played Strike? Uh, I think once. Okay. Cuz I've played it like 170 times, so I can't Okay, so we've got So, we've got a similar We're bringing similar thoughts in. So, this game plays in like five minutes. Um, and it's this game of throwing dice into an arena to try to, you know, hit dice and get anything that matches you get to take out. And you're trying to survive cuz if you ever lose all your dice, you're knocked out of the round and it's last person standing is going to win the game. And this one has proven to just be a hit for us in a few different scenarios. One, at just like a casual gathering because it's very much anybody can play this. It's also so quick that people can sub in and out.

23:26 you can kind of just mix it up. Um, but also like end of game night, you know, you've maybe played some heavier games and everybody's a little bit tapped out. Might be a good time for a relaxing game, one might say. Yeah. This is one that comes out. Um, and a lot of times we'll play it eight, nine times in a row cuz everybody's just It doesn't take like any brain power. You're kind of chatting and just throwing dice, but it still has these very funny, exciting moments. There's like drama built into there's enough, you know, there's the whole thing that if you hit the dice and like you take all the dice out cuz all the dice matched other dice. Well, the next player now has to go all in. So instead of just throwing one dice, they have to throw all the dice in. That's such a great rule. And that Yeah, it honestly like makes the game because there's these moments there's always the chance for comebacks. Wow. Um, and so this has just found a niche in being pulled out in situations where we just want a really casual but fun gets people laughing. Gets people um and and very low commitment. Like it's very easy to be like, "Hey, come try this game. Don't worry, it's only 5 minutes." Like, and if you know, we'll sub out. You can't commit to a 5minute board game, man.

24:40 Like, you know, we uh we played it for a little bit with our uh almost 90year-old grandpa. Um played this. Oh, really? You know, we don't teach a lot of new games, you know, to our our grandparents at this point. Well, we're usually going to play a card game or something that they're familiar with. Yeah. Um but we were playing it and he was kind of watching and joined in. And so, it's just fun to have a game that can do that. Um, and that just uh from a mental perspective, this game could almost not be more relaxing. Like you're not doing a whole lot of Again, you there's a little bit of the the going off of vibes. Like there's sometimes where you might you're just feeling it, right? Like you do something that maybe isn't like your normal uh strategy of what you would do, but you're like, I have a feeling I'm going to That's actually I'm going to get it here. That's interesting. Yeah. a game that you're not so like it, you know, invested in the trying to figure out the best strategy, but you can just ride that vibes wave. It's fun to it's fun to kind of like, you know, it's the same thing with like sports. I mean, like whether it's like betting on sports or something just like kind of going with your your heart on something because the payoff is higher like cuz then if if it works out and you're just like, "Yeah, I did that or I picked that." Um, so yeah, it's good fun. I strike. I mean, it is of recent games in my collection. Actually, this would be a good video for maybe us to do every couple years is what have been the best new additions to the collection. Like, from a perspective of things that really just like fill a new

26:11 niche or something that we didn't have. Strike has been an absolute home run as evidenced by how many times I've gotten it. Well, now we need to make the video. Um, and there's not very many games that play in five minutes. That's awesome. Yeah, very nice, Ryan. Uh my number two has this is I'm we'll see if it's the only crossover. We'll see with my uh number one. But uh you already mentioned it. Uh my love for this game has absolutely shot up. This goes to Seven Wonders Architects. And I totally agree with all you were saying, Ryan. Like this game, it's uh just the simple do I choose the left, the right, the center. It is so relaxing when you play this game. like you are just like it's just a very uh very chill experience but with fun decision making um and I don't know it's when games can make such a simple decision like it is so simple right choose one of the three things like that does like you just saw on the surface that doesn't even sound fun but it's so fun I don't know why I don't know what they it's varied in what it could be and then one of them is also unknown and Those are just enough variables to make it and it's and you have a little bit of the group interaction of, you know, uh, you know, sometimes like you get stuck like there's a there's a thing on the top and neither one of you wants it, but then that's brutal cuz one of your three choices is gone. Um, this I think why was this game our was it our one I think

27:44 it was your number one family game. I mean, it's cuz it's so accessible. It's so relaxing um and such an enjoyable experience. Plays with a wide number of players. I mean truly Ryan, I feel like we just keep gl you know glowing on this game. But it it really is like borderline mustave in the in someone like it serves a really like it it serves that niche really really well and across a lot of players. It's hard to think of a scenario where a group would I mean the only scenario would be a group that just wants something a lot heavier. Like that's really that's really it. But if you have a group that's newer or looking for something light like I just can't imagine how this wouldn't be one that would go over super well. And I think um again that that just relaxing experience. It's just everyone is I just played it recently with a larger group and everyone is just going around the table um enjoying what's enjoying what's happening. So, you know who else the the the other type of person this game is really good for is the type of person who's really bad about thinking about their turn ahead of time cuz there's people that this happens in games that like it gets to their turn and that's when for the first time they like evaluate and you're like, "Oh my gosh."

29:04 Like when that happens in these heavier strategic games, you're like this is why whenever I'm playing Twilight Imperium, I take on the role of moderator and I not only do I announce whose turn it is, I go to the next player and say you're on I do I say you're on deck. That's very smart. Yeah. Start thinking like get ready. So um and I think Seven Wonders Architects definitely lends itself towards people that kind of you know cuz some people's brains or they just want to socialize more so they get talking. People's brains. I mean, it's true. Some people are a little bit more I just like that comment overly generalizing and broad strokes, but um you know, some people are just a little bit more uh easily distracted or kind of scatterrained when it comes to a strategy game. Um but this one, I mean, you can chat whatever and when it gets to your turn, you can immediately look down and look at those three cards, you know, and make your decision in the moment. So, I think that's nice. It is.

29:57 Uh my number two is going to stay on the theme that I had with my number three. This is another dexterity game and in my estimation this is the greatest dexterity game of all time and I don't even think it's that close. This is Crokenol and Croinol. I've been playing it a lot lately cuz my son is into Crokenol. Um but just when you're playing Crokenol whereas Strike Strike was like relaxing because it's like okay this just doesn't take much for me. There's not a lot of skill in Strike. Crocodile is a pretty skill-based game and there's a lot of skill shots um you know you need to make, but you get into such a kind of zen, especially in a two-player game cuz your turns are coming back. And so you're just getting to like flick a disc, wait 5 seconds, flick a disc. And usually, you know, once you play Crokin enough, you're very quick to identify like what shot you want to try. So it's like, okay, I want to do this. And you just get into this rhythm and you're just kind of sitting there. And then you know you start chatting with the person you're playing with and it is just I could sit there and play Crokin for so long game after game and like not get tired of it because the game is so engaging and interesting but it's so just like laidback in how I'm engaging with it, you know. And there are times where you start to just get into this rhythm where you're just hitting shots and you're just kind of in the zone and then you'll kind of go out of the, you know, you'll kind of get into a funk for

31:27 a little bit, but then get back into the zone. Um, and I just find, especially when I've been playing it so much recently, I've been reminded. I was like, man, I just I just love this game. And it's just so it's such a great laidback experience while still cuz usually more laidback means that we're also pulling back skill. we're probably leaning more into luck or lighter decisions. Um, but that is not the case in Crokenol. Like you are playing a game that is like I mean you could argue it has no luck. It's literally physics, right? Like there's not random elements in this. I don't know. Sometimes my finger just makes this random. Yeah. Is that luck though or is that just layer? Um, and so yeah, I it strikes a really good balance there. Um, and I've played it a ton and have not tired of it at all. If anything, have have grown to love it more. You know, Ryan, this is the one that I'm going to disagree mo with most on your list cuz I think you just have a tainted uh tainted lens cuz you're the one that's always winning.

32:31 Like, of course, this is relaxing for you. I'm over here just getting beat down and getting shut out and this is the least relaxing experience of my life. So, I suppose it's it's when the the even players or you're on the side that you're you're better. Um, yeah, I have not often found myself on the side that Danielle's describing. I need to wow I need to be humbled a little bit in Cro cuz I haven't played, you know, people that actually I'm usually the one introducing it to somebody and there's definitely going to be a skill gap. Um, I need to go play some good. Yeah. And just get absolutely just decimated and then come back and be like, "Okay, I know my place in the cro world. This isn't as relaxing as I remember. Um, very nice, Ryan. Okay, my number one. You know, this will be interesting, Ryan. I'm I'm kind of curious what yours is. This was actually I almost feel like there's a gap. Like to me, this one and and part of it was when I thought about this list, I thought about what is the game that at the end of a game night is like maybe a goto and just uh this is I think I know what you're going to say and I'm actually thinking I should have considered it, right? Yeah. Well, we'll see. We'll see. So, and this is one that has been that it is just so relaxing slash enjoyable from a just social um interaction experience. My number one is going to go to Lovecraft Letter.

33:59 Uh, when I thought about this, Ryan, it is such a relaxing game to play because it is you draw a card and you pick one to play. And it's, you know, you're I mean, ultimately to win the game, you either or to win the round, you either need to knock everyone else out or be the last one standing with the highest card. And uh, and Lovecraft Letter, you know, has a few few things around, you know, little extra twist around kind of the Yeah, all that stuff around the love letter formula. But even we played a lot of love letter, you know, too. This is just the version that that we like most. Um, but that it is so just a simple play a card and you know whether it's you're playing a uh you know I'm going to get the different types the the one and you're guessing you know like just making a guess of what you think someone is even if it's blind and and then you get them and then it's like ah you know and the rounds are so quick they're so quick it plays fast there's just uh and yet there's There's a fun and exciting moments that happen. Like even still, we've played it a lot and there's still just interesting situations that happen within such a limited card.

35:17 Yeah. I mean, I would say we kind of like tapped that out a little in the original Love Letter. We kind cuz we played it probably 50 60 times and probably got to the point where it's like, okay, we've seen about every interesting scenario that this system is capable of. Lovecraft Letter really opened it up a little bit more for us by adding these alternate insane versions of cards. And you don't I mean there's you'll go many games with not seeing a particular a particular insane effect applied. Yeah. Um which is kind of fun. And I think the reason it goes to the top is that limited card selection. Like it is we pull it at the end of a game night. Maybe maybe you've played something heavy, your brain's a little a little tired and these are just so familiar and you know ex you don't even have to like there's no there's not much processing that needs to happen on like what does this do? Like once you've played this game, you know, multiple times, you know that. And so we can just have this enjoyable two cards, play one, knocking each other out, just this fun group experience. And it just goes around the table. It plays quick like you said. So even if you get knocked out of a round, the next round's going to start in the next, you know, minute or two. Like rounds move fast and and it just is an incredibly relaxing, enjoyable um experience. And so this for me honestly was the one that again I just relaxing when I thought about it through the lens of like what is that goto at the just end when you truly want

36:48 a relaxing experience to finish the night. Uh this was the one that that came to the top. So that was my number one love crash letter. Nice. I'm glad you included it because in hindsight I think I would have if I I think if I had thought about this one more it probably would have made my top five. I don't know where but it's a it is a good point like it has so been like particularly when we're thinking about like oftentimes our more gamer group that's spent the day playing some heavier games. This is kind of the relaxing ending one. Um, you know, and it's one that's so easy to set up and play again. So fast. Like you're never in your mind thinking like, "Oh, do I have another game in me of this?" Right?

37:34 Like you're like, "Yeah, sure." Like, "Do we have time? We can do it." Um, yeah. I I like that pick for what it's worth. So, Lovecraft Ladder, um, I think has been out of print. They just announced, maybe it's out already, a new edition that I think is called Love Ladder Arkham. Oh my gosh. They just got to stick to something, man. Um, and it's basically a remaking of this version. So, a lot of the things are the same, but they've tweaked some things, which I was reading the like design diary, and one of the things that they talked about was like there's a lot of ambiguity with like discard and when things do effects, and I'm like, yeah, there is. They fix the rule book. So, I think they made it way more clear, which is really good because this game was almost hard to That's why you kept it off the list because the rule book is not relaxing, I'll say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not relaxing when you have to go there and be like this is I don't know how this situation like we got to the point where we kind of like decided this is how things work um or we looked it up but somebody just going from the rule book could struggle. Um but they also added some new things and changed some things.

38:37 I So there's part of me that's like it' be you know maybe it's worth Mhm. replacing but it's also like man I do love these nice poker chips that are in the love cup. I don't think I don't think they're the full poker chips. I think it's different. So, I think the production value, which probably makes sense to bring the price point down a little bit, but I do I do love those nice and it's it's enough the same that it's hard to justify, but I can now probably strongly recommend this new edition. Um, you know, I'll probably put it on our website board game recommendation guide that's probably linked in the description below cuz I think I left Lovecraft Letter off partly because it wasn't available and partly because it's it's a little hard to recommend. Some might say hesitant to recommend. We should have included in that video. I know. My number one has not been mentioned. Unsurprisingly, you've only played it one time. Um, but this is a game that almost skirts the line of like is this going too far to relaxing? Is it going too loose with like the game that like there's not going to be enough to dig your teeth into here? But my experiences with it have been very positive so far. I think I know what this is. And this is Dwarf Romantic, the board game. And so Dwarf Romantic, you it's kind of a tile game, kind of like Carcasson or something, but it's fully cooperative. The tiles are these hexagons, and on your turn, you're drawing a tile, and you as a group are

40:07 all just kind of deciding where it should go in your growing landscape. And there's different things you're trying to do. you're trying to like, you know, make a long railroad and a long river, but then there's these task tokens that come out. And so there might be like a forest one that you that comes out on a forest task tile and says like five. And that means you need to grow that forest section to be exactly five and then that task will score. If you accidentally overshoot it cuz you like connect two things, it would be bad. You actually wouldn't uh complete it. But then you get that task and then you get to bring out a new task. there will always be like three tasks on the board that you're working on. Um, and literally the game is just like a get the best score game, which normally is like not what I'm looking for in a co-op game. Like I'm much a bigger fan of like give me a win loss condition. And you could say like there's some threshold for what what is winning. The way they kind of make it more compelling with the score is that after every game there's actually this legacy element that you unlock new things and that helps raise the ceiling of what you could score. So over multiple games, you're like driving up your how high you can score and you're beating your high scores because you have more opportunities. Mhm. But the actual playing of this game sitting around, it's almost like working on like a jigsaw puzzle together. I didn't like it, but like there's objectives. There's Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of just, you know, I I don't mind puzzles. The problem is almost any situation where I

41:38 would play a jigsaw puzzle, I also could be playing a board game and I'm going to pick board game pretty much every single time. Um, but it's got that feel of we're kind of working together and putting out these things. Everybody's, you know, involved on everybody's turn to as much as they want to be. Um, kind of discussing what should happen. Um, and then you have the satisfaction of seeing it build up and like these things and you have different tasks that you're working on, but it like you can't get much more laidback than this. There's like I would agree with that. There's there's maybe like a little tension with like oh man, we like need to complete the we're behind with like getting these tasks going. Might rise spike to 80 slightly. Yeah, you might come slightly out of that catatonic state to realize that something's happening on the board.

42:25 But I have to say, and that was why I was hesitant to get this game is I was like, man, is it really I feel like I need more, but it has just gone over really, really well, and I've had a good time with it. Um, and like have been wanting to me wanting to bring it out with other groups and show it. Um, so especially if you want like something kind of cooperative, puzzly, and you want to be relaxed, um, I think this is the game for you. And it's very rewarding over over multiple plays because you get to explore new content. It slowly gives you more things to kind of think about. you know, you get these um there's these like flags that come out that you put a flag on a section at the end of the game, it's going to score for the size of that section, but only if that section's completely closed. So, it's got kind of this push your luck of we want to make it really big, but we better close it by the end of the game.

43:19 Um, so that kind of stuff's fun. Um, yeah, it's maybe too relaxing for some people. I mean, this game will definitely fall flat for some people, yeah, I was uh I was not the biggest fan of it. Uh, I think part of it is just like cooperative games for me are just the dis the fun is the discussion around just like really tense or like in like oh we could do this and and it felt so simple that it almost in in turn and maybe I was just like tired. I think I was tired that night too. But um but it it led to just kind of like a well I don't know like like it's not a hard enough decision so why should I even like contribute to the discussion times where it's pretty clear like where might be the best place. So I will say in my game so far there's been a lot of times where we're considering something and somebody is like wait a second what if we did it here and like that would actually set this up or so there's there's those moments. I feel like I prefer I I feel like I prefer it at a smaller player count. I think so too. You played in like a sixplayer game, which is not really the ideal, but it was kind of a fun way to show the group that was there and kind of hang out and play it. Yeah, I think it's much better with a smaller group where you're getting more turns and you're kind of more involved involved in the discussion. The other thing, and this is maybe why I was a little hesitant to show it to you, is so much of the appeal of the game is game to game and like getting the new things and so you you know, you don't get to see any of that with just a a one-off.

44:50 Yeah. Um but you know, you you you looked relaxed over there playing. I think I was falling asleep. If that isn't evidence enough. Uh but yeah, that's those are our lists. Those are some relaxing games. And actually, I don't know that we had what, one crossover. Yeah, only one. Um, so we gave you a good batch of relaxing games to check out for yourself and let us know what relaxing games we should maybe be checking out. Well, if you've met with your doctor recently and they recommend lowering your heart rate, um, we got links to all of these very relaxing games down below. I'm sure that will be um, of assistance in your health journey. And we have more videos which will also be an assistance in your health journey, bringing you joy as you learn more about all the amazing board games are are out there. We will see you in the next