Board Game Theme | August 2026 | Grandpa Beck's | Charming Games

0:00 Welcome to Where There's Wheels. There's a play.

0:02 I'm Ian, your meek and blessed casual gamer.

0:04 I'm Stacy, I'm your knowing gamer gamer.

0:06 And it's a new month, which means it's time for a new theme. And with it being August, it's Stacy's birthday month.

0:14 So, with it being my birthday month, I get to pick the theme that goes on the wall. And this year we are doing our favorite publishers for our um monthly theme. And so, I got to choose the theme of the month, and I got to choose two publishers that are my favorites.

0:33 We We've kind of done a couple of your other favorites already this year, but these two are definitely at the top of your top of your list, top probably top three, four of your list of publishers.

0:43 Top five at least.

0:44 Top five, definitely top five.

0:45 You know. Um and the reason that I chose these two publishers for uh the month of August for my pick the wall month is that they are easy to get to the table, which is one of my favorite things in a game is how easy it is to get into the table, how they set up, how quickly they play, and how family-friendly are they. So, I think that these games that I chose fit Check, check, check all of those little boxes.

1:14 Definitely, definitely. They're definitely small, quick to the table. Um Yeah, so who's the first company that you are highlighting this month?

1:25 So, the excellent to start with Charming Games. And the reason I'm giggling is because not only do I love the name of the company, Charming Games, it just kind of encapsulates everything that I love about it is that they're just all so darn charming. But the picture on this first one just melts my heart. Every time I look at it, it just like a warm little hug around your heart. And that's Otter. And [snorts] this is This is

1:59 It's your favorite animal if you didn't know that by now.

2:01 Mhm. The only thing that would make it better is if it was orange. But

2:06 Otter is just a cute little game. You have your game mat that has a cute little otter on it and you're trying to match the cards with the otter that is laying down. So, you either have to lay a card on the otter's tummy that is maybe higher than the card that's also on it. There's three different columns that you're trying to lay cards on. It could you have to maybe play an even card on the next stack or maybe one that's close to that, maybe one upper hot one lower than the card that's laying there. So, this is kind of the thinkier of the games that I chose for the month, but this is as thinky as they're going to get. This is just a cute little game. Like I said, easy to get to the table. It's cute. It's for mostly all ages. I think most of these are going to be eight and up for the majority of these games that I chose for the month. So, that's Otter. It's cute.

3:03 It's adorable. It's easy to play, easy to get to the table. This one's probably the biggest um table hog that we have just because you have three columns. Maybe one

3:14 And there's another one coming up that takes up a fair amount of space. It's sprawling, pretty sprawling.

3:19 Yeah, but we'll talk about that when we get to it. So, that's Otter. That's one of my favorites.

3:23 Nice. The next one that has been chosen for the month is one of the newest games from Charming Games. And we just got in. I've actually not got it to the table. So, this is going to clear something off of our unplayed games. And this is called Use Up All Your Sick Days. And it's a cute little game that has two different play modes. It You can play as tired workers and you have to discard all of your PTO cards to to win first. So, you're you're tired stressed workers. You're trying to use up all your PTO before the end of the year before they expire. But, there's also a second mode that you can play solo, which I will probably give a shot, or co-op, so we'll probably give a shot, where you play as HR, um, the human resources, and you organize the work calendar like a little puzzle. So, I really like the fact that, um, there's two games in one in this. You can play both sides of things, and one is a solo co-op, and one is a competitive. So, that's very unique that you can do that. And it has the cutest little meeples in it because it has meeples that are from other games. So, it has this raccoon, it has the otter.

4:29 You can see over Stacy's shoulder, um, Park Life Hedgehog Edition, it has the hedgehog. You can see right here behind us, uh, Capybara Crush, has the capybara. Does not have a Doom Cat from Doom Cat up here. Um, but it does have also some other things. Um, it has the meeple for the game that Stacy's going to talk about next. And there's some other really cute meeples in it. So, really like that. So, we will probably have some coverage for this, um, definitely on our Instagrams, and most likely we'll do something on YouTube for this one as well. Um, I did back this one on BackerKit, I think, as part of, uh, as part of, um, their small box thing. Or that was Red Panda Surprise. I backed this on something.

5:09 And we got some cute little lapel pins to go with it.

5:11 Yeah, yeah, so that is Use Up All Your Sick Days from Charmain Games.

5:16 And the next one that I am going to talk about is packs a lot of punch in this little tiny box. And it's kind of a thinky game for me, anyway. It's Oh my gosh, it's another thinky game. I didn't consider thinky games. But, that is Red Panda Surprise. This is a little tiny box game with cards in it, where you are adding cards, and you're taking You have two people that are They're laying down their cards, and you're trying to lay down the lowest set. And then you're The lowest set, you're adding 10. And if that set is still lower than the other two cards that the other person laid down, then they win that

5:58 You discard your cards, and the other person has to take theirs back up or something like that.

6:02 This is a little thinky. I I didn't think of this. It's little thinky for a little box. So, um I do enjoy this game. Ian does a lot of the math for me, so I I don't know if I win or not. I just let him tell me. He could be lying. I don't know. Um but I do enjoy this game. I'm just kidding. Um I can add 10 to things. I'm I'm I'm pretty good with that. Um but this is a cute clever little game.

6:28 Um I don't know how long it took us. It didn't take us very long

6:32 It doesn't take very long. There is a slight The two-player game is a slight variation because you have two treasure chests you're laying cards next to, whereas in a more than two-player game, you're you're laying you have only one. Um but yeah, it's a fun little It's a cute little game.

6:47 And this is for one to seven players, ages eight and up, about 15 minutes is what it says on the box. So, cute little game, Red Panda Surprise. Who doesn't love a red panda?

6:57 And before you say the next company with the people are paying attention behind us, they might know already. Um this next company is a company that we discovered when I started up my board game club at school. We had never heard of them. Um I had never seen any of their games before. Maybe one of them I maybe have heard of, but I didn't know who they were from. And when I was starting up my board game club at school, I guess uh four school years ago now. This will be my fourth year running my board game club. Um the uh people had mentioned about reaching out to them, so I reached out to them. They sent a bunch of games that to my board game club. We had to learn them. We loved them and became a huge fan, so we started our own collection. And that company is

7:43 Grandpa Beck's Games.

7:45 Love Grandpa Beck's Games.

7:46 I love them.

7:47 And I surprised Stacy. So, they had a brand new game that is going to be available, well, when you see this it will be available. July 30th at Gen Con it will be available. And this is a game that we had seen we decided not to pre-order because I was in contact with Harrison back about possibly getting a review copy of this game. Stacy didn't know we were actually getting a review copy of the game. They got back to me last week and like yep, what's your address? And I was like, you know, Grandpa Beck's is going to be on our wall and August is my wife's birthday month and she loves Grandpa Beck's. We'll put her name on it. So, it was delivered yesterday as of the time we're filming this with Stacy's name on it.

8:33 She had no idea what was coming. She's like, I didn't order anything. So, that game is the newest one from Grandpa Beck's and it's perfect for summer. It is the ticket booth. And don't know a whole lot about it. I know you're spending tickets to travel around the fair picking up attraction cards. So, you're trying to get different attractions, trying to collect the most of each attraction to score big. I'm very excited to get this one to table just because we really love Grandpa Beck's and the components in this look really nice. The cards as always just look really cool. Grandpa Beck's has been doing a lot of stories on their Instagram lately where the different members of the Beck family have been talking about their memories, what card in here brings them the best memories from like their childhood or from fairs and stuff. So, it's been kind of cool listening to those and stuff. So, very excited to get this one to table. This is the newest one from Grandpa Beck's and this is the ticket booth.

9:21 And that was also on my list of most anticipated games that I was looking forward to. So, it all worked out. I'm so excited. I did post some stuff on my Instagram about that. Um, as soon as I got it I ripped it open, started thinking around and I'm so excited.

9:39 Yeah. Yeah.

9:40 So, the one that I want to talk about next is a game that I think I won.

9:46 Last year's Last year's Grandpa Beck games.

9:48 Yes, it was. Um I really enjoy this game. It's 321 Countdown. Now, in 321 Countdown, you are starting with your hand of cards, and all of Grandpa Beck's games have cards. They're all card games, and some of them are take it takes off of old or other card games that they've kind of changed and made their own. And with this one, you are trying to get rid of your high-numbered cards down to either zero or ones, and you're just trying to get the lowest number cards that you can. And when you think you have the lowest card or the lowest hand, um you get to call it and compare, and you can win. And I do really well at this game.

10:33 It's a fun one. Um

10:35 They're numbered zero to nine, I think.

10:38 I And another little story about this one is last year when this was released, I pre-ordered it because I'm like, "Oh, it's Grandpa Beck's, we're going to want it." And I think you got a little discount. I think there was a discount for the first 3 days of pre-orders. I'm like, "Oh, well, let's get the first day." And then, I won a giveaway on Instagram, so won another copy of it. So, now my board game club has a copy, and the kids last year really loved this one. They got this one out quite often. So, yeah, looking forward to getting that one back to the table as well.

11:02 And you play this one in five rounds. So, 321 Countdown, that is going to get played this month.

11:08 Nice. Nice.

11:09 So excited. I love this month.

11:10 Yeah, this month is going to be good. Um another good thing about this month is I do go back to school in just a couple weeks. Uh teachers report on the 10th, uh students on the 17th, and I start coaching. So, August and September are really busy for me because I put in about 12-hour days every day between getting to school and then getting back from coaching. So, having quick games for the weekends, um and Friday, you know, the three-day weekend is really good for us. Uh, we probably won't get any play during the week except for on Friday nights because of that, but we still have a couple weeks in August that we can get some stuff played before I do go back. So, that will be nice. We can get some of these played. Uh, the next one, Hitting the Wall, is probably one of our favorite push your luck games. Um, this this this one, um, is a push your luck game uh, with kind of a magical mystical feel. And this is Toil and Troubles. And in Toil and Troubles, the push your luck element is you have a stack of cards and you're placing them down into three rows. When you place them down, they have to go in ascending order.

12:11 You can never place the same number next to each other or the same color next to each other. So, even if you had a four and a five, if they're the same color, you can't place them next to each other. You push your luck by how far how many times can you put a card down before you decide to take a row? When you stop, you get to take an entire row. If you push your luck too far and you can't place a card, the other person gets to take one card off of the end of one of the rows. Um, there's also some special magic cards like there's one where if you you place it on another card and it basically cloaks it. So, it hides it. So, it no longer has a number or a color until you take that row, which can help you later. And it no longer has a number or a color, so you can put the same number or color next to it because it no longer has one. There's a witch in here that gives you negative points. And there's some other things that it has like some chains, some things. So, they're really fun push your luck game. We really enjoy this one. Um, excited to get this one to the table again. Um, this is Toil and Troubles.

13:05 artwork is really cute in

13:06 Oh, I love the artwork in that one. Such great artwork.

13:10 The next one that I am going to talk about is the one that I kind of talked about kind of a little bit earlier. And it is the table hog of the group.

13:19 Which is surprising. It's which is surprising.

13:21 It's It's amazing that you can fit a table hog in such a small little box. But, The Bears and the Bees by Grandpa Beck's Games is one of my favorite games that they make. Um I really enjoy this game. In The Bears and the Bees, it's actually a tile-laying game, um where you start with the bee in the middle, and you are trying to match the colors around the borders. Um there's a bear that can come in. Once the bear is laid down, you can no longer lay any um tiles or honey um around that bear. And then, you also have a hornet. I think it's a hornet or a wasp um that you can lay any color around, I believe is how it is.

14:00 it's the queen.

14:01 Is it the queen bee?

14:02 it's the queen.

14:03 Um but, I really do enjoy this game. You go I think it's three rounds.

14:09 Yeah.

14:10 Isn't it? Um it's been a while since we played it. So, I'm so happy that it's going to um come up this month. Um but, you play three rounds, and you are trying again to get your hand down to zero. And for each like bee or bear that you have in your hand when somebody else goes out is 10 points against you, and you want to end up with no points.

14:30 Yeah, each type of card you have in your hand is a different number of points, whether it's a blank card, it's one with the bees on it, it's a bear, it's the flower, um whatever it is. I think that Actually, I think the queen starts in the middle, and you're building out around it. Is that Yeah.

14:44 And then, the flowers each have a different color that you have to match. Um but, it's a color-matching tile-laying game. So, I really enjoy this one. Check it out if you haven't. It's one of my favorites.

14:54 Yeah, it does it does it does start growing out. Your hive starts growing out. You're like, "Oh."

14:58 one direction

14:59 Yeah, or all over the place. Yep, so. That is a good one. Um the next one I'm going to talk about is possibly my favorite trick-taking game. Um and this one is one of the two that was donated to our board my board game club, and we really enjoyed it, and we got copies for ourself. We actually got the um the original cover version or whatever it was. Um and this is Skull King. And uh this plays great at uh all player counts. Um I've played it on BGA as well at higher player counts in like live if I don't think you want to do this one uh turn-based. But basically in Skull King what you're doing is it's you are bidding for how many tricks you are going to take each round. It's 10 rounds. Every round you get another card. So it starts with one card, then two, then three, then four up to 10 rounds and you have 10 cards. You're bidding for how many tricks you get. If you're correct, you get points. If you're wrong, you lose points for how far off you were. So if I bid five and I only got three, well, I'm going to lose like 20 points.

16:01 If you bid zero and you are and you get zero, um you actually get 10 points per round it is. Um I had a game on Board Game Arena where um I went into the last like four rounds really really behind and I bid zero like three or four times and I got zero every single time and ended up tying for the win uh with like a six-player game. So it was it was really fun. Play this one at Board my board game club. I do modify it. I haven't gotten completely to the bidding cuz we haven't played enough with the kids and the kids cycle through so much. Um I kind of teach them the basics of trick taking with it and we deal out 10 cards. Uh we talk about it. Um we still use like the the black cards are stronger than everything else and the pirates are stronger than that and the Skull King is stronger, but we don't do the bidding quite yet uh and we we do ramp it up a little bit with um one card, two, three, four, but we do it with like 10 cards and we just kind of play a trick taking game with it just to introduce kids to trick taking. Um and I'm not sure if I'll be able to go past that or not cuz some of the kids who really like it uh I have now moved on to middle school, so we'll see. But that is Skull King. I like that one, too.

17:10 The last game that I'm going to talk about, I saved it for last because this one Now, I say they're all my favorite, but this one really is my favorite. Um this it's just so cute. And that's Gnome Around. This is a game about golfing and you're trying to get a um low golf score. Trying to get a negative if you can, just like in a real game of golf. You're trying to get below par, get I guess that's what it's called. I'm not a golfer, but below par. You are setting up your cards face down in front of you in a 3x3 grid and you are drawing cards either from the blind or from the face up and you're trying to replace those cards with the cards in your grid. Now as you're going along, you could screw up and you know, take a -3 off of your pile and replace it with a six and then first person that has all of has one card left face down, everybody gets a turn and then you get to turn your card over, see what you get and then you're adding up your score to figure out what hopefully what negative score you're going to end up with.

18:27 have three of the same positive in a row or column, that becomes negative. So having three sixes is -6. Um the other thing I like about this game is the bouncing mechanic.

18:36 Yes.

18:37 So if you flip a card over, so if I grab a card and I flip a card over and I've already got that card positive card, the negatives don't bounce. Somewhere else in my grid, I can bounce that card and I can flip another card over. That's how you can sometimes get two or three cards flipped over and because if you aren't the first one to completely uncover your grid, your stuff just gets flipped over and you may not know what you have down there and you may have a lot of big numbers on there. Um so there is this kind of push and pull of okay, I'm going for these eights. Do I keep trying to get this third eight so I have -8 here? It's getting awful late. Stacy's got hers almost done. Do I got to pivot here and get maybe get some lower numbers in there just so I don't end up completely screwed. So, I do like that mechanic in it.

19:23 this one. I love the artwork. I love how simple it is. It doesn't take up a lot of space. Um not a lot of thinking involved. Just try and get negative numbers if you can. That's all you got to do. Try and get negative numbers. Um I just really like it. It's I'm I love this one.

19:42 This is going to be a good one. And like I said, they're quick to play so we can get them out next week. I don't go back quite yet so we can get plenty out during the week and then weekends it'll be easy to get these to the table. Um the one other thing I want to say about Grandma Beck's games is it's really cool because every box um every games comes with a different recipe from Grandma Beck's kitchen. Um and uh we really need to make some of those cuz they sound really good. Like every game like so you know like if you get Toy on the Troubles, I believe you're going to get the same recipe.

20:10 Yep.

20:10 No, you're right. You're going to get the same recipe. So, everyone I've already put it up in the box. I've already put it up in the thing. Um it's uh fry bread. So, Ticket Booth came with fry bread and I think we definitely want to make that.

20:21 fry bread especially with some maple syrup. Mm.

20:23 Yeah, so you can see some of our other Grandma Beck's games uh we put behind us for for filming purposes. Um Cover Your Assets right here is one of my favorite ones to play at school. Um the kids who really Unfortunately, the kids who really were into that one um the last two years cuz they were fourth and fifth graders and moved down to middle school. So, we'll see. I've had some really great games with those kids. Like we played it a lot in four when they were in fourth and fifth grade the last two years. Um haven't played as much with some of this year's fifth graders but maybe.

20:50 And what Sorry.

20:51 We've had some good but uh we've had some great game. Like one of my favorite games one of my favorite game experiences ever was playing that one of the first times we we played it. Um yeah, so that was

21:01 You just pointed over there and I thought you were going to spoil it. One of my my games to play bec- I just love to say it so much is roll her cowboy.

21:14 That's Grandpa Beck's take on the classic game BS.

21:20 Okay, BS where you're bluffing each other which we cannot bluff each other. We we just start giggling which is funny because we played a bluffing game this summer and we were really good at bluffing with other people at the table. When it's just two of us we are horrible at it. Yeah, so we will probably get some of those games at the table but the ones that Stacy wanted on the wall are the ones we talked about so you've got all these ones hitting the wall.

21:45 Yeah, my little hands can only hold so many.

21:49 So there we go. That's what's hitting the showcase wall this month. Let us know if you've played any of these Grandpa Beck's games, what your favorite Grandpa Beck's games are or Charming Games collection games are. So yeah, let us know what you think about these games. Have you played them? Have you played other I think we own almost every Grandpa Beck's game or have access at my board game club and I think and I think at this point we own I think we own all of the Charming Games. We don't have the person version of Park Life. We got Hedgehog because it went better with all of the cuteness of the animals so yeah, let us know what your favorite Grandpa Beck's and Charming Games games are. Once again, this has been Where There's a Will There's a Way.

22:35 There's a plague.

22:36 I'm mean I'm Stacy and we'll see you next time.

22:38 at the table.

23:38 Mhm.