This one is not a board game review, but a year review.

In late 2024, we started playing board games more consistently. The fact that the local game store owner LOVES anything related to gaming helped a lot. Hosting weekly board game events was an important factor. In 2025, this continued. We played a lot, and we also increased our collection. Well, when I say a lot, I mean compared to other years. Some seasoned board gamers may call these rookie numbers, but we are very happy with how things went. Especially when you consider that we also play RPGs, Magic: The Gathering, and more.

The purpose of this article is for us to get a better idea of what we played and what we want to play next year. And we’re also going to have some fun with it. 

What we played this year

Time to see what we actually played. As a note, a lot of the games were played once. That’s because someone wanted to showcase a specific board game, and we were very happy to try it. And another note. While we logged our Magic: The Gathering games, we don’t count it as a boardgame for the purpose of this article. It’s getting its own special treatment next week.

Slay the Spire

What is it: A co-op deckbuilding game, and a very successful adaptation of the original video game, if you ask us. It can be played with up to 4 players, where each plays a different character trying to ascend the Spire, a tower full of strange monsters and mysterious encounters. You work together, and if one of the characters dies, you lose the game. The game has a ton of replayability, just by design, but there are also achievements and greater difficulties to try. It also has great solo support.

Good for: The fans of the video game, solo board gamers, and co-op and deckbuilding enjoyers. Minmaxers will also appreciate it, especially if they love the challenge behind optimising their deck.

Will we keep it in rotation? Definitely! We predict it’s going to be one of our main games for 2026 as well.

Exploding Kittens & Zombie Kittens

What it is: Two fast-paced card games inspired by Russian Roulette, with funny and colourful art. In Exploding Kittens, the goal is not to explode while playing cards to interrupt your opponents’ strategy. Zombie Kittens is not an expansion, but a standalone game, with more cards and rules, as exploding does not mean you lose the game. The two can be combined in one giga game. These are some very easy and fun board games to get others into playing, or fill up some time when waiting for the rest of the group to arrive.

Good for: Families, people you want to ease into boardgaming, parties, and trips.

Will we keep it in rotation? We always take at least one of them with us when we go on trips, so they’re going to get at least some amount of play.

Terraforming Mars

What it is: Players take the roles of corporations that want to turn Mars into a habitable planet while competing with each other. It’s a resource management and engine-building game, with sci-fi vibes. There are also a lot of expansions to the base game, some of which could probably be standalone games. Solo gaming is available, but you need to find a balance with how many expansions you can manage.

Good for: Strategists, fans of the civilisation franchise, solo board gamers, making Chris’ head hurt.Will we keep it in rotation? There is no way we won’t play at least a few sessions of Terraforming Mars each year. One day, Chris may even win once, though most probably he’ll just keep playing the cards he likes the most.

Cascadia

What it is: Create habitats and populate them with wildlife. So, basically, you place tiles and then some more tiles on top of them. Scoring is determined by cards picked at the start of the game, giving you nearly infinite scoring options. This is one of Chris’ favourite games, just because the salmon tile is pink and he likes collecting them. Surprisingly, this is almost a viable strategy. The game has a few achievements you can work with, giving it a lot of replayability, on top of the multiple scoring options. Solo is also quite enjoyable.

Good for: Families, solo board gamers, people you want to ease into boardgaming, trips (if you have a bit of extra space), people who love pink salmon tiles (looking at you, Chris)

Will we keep it in rotation? We really enjoyed this one, and we’re definitely keeping it in rotation. We probably didn’t play this enough.

Sushi Go!

What it is: This is a simple drafting game. You need to make the best combinations of sushi dishes. “Reading” what the players next to you are drafting, based on what cards get passed to you, is a good tactic. Then you can pick those cards to ruin their combos. Or you can disregard all that and just pick the cards you like. Both work and both are fun, and that gives a simple game some surprising depth.

Good for: Families, parties, trips, drafters

Will we keep it in rotation? It’s currently not our go-to quick game, since Exploding Kittens has this spot, but we swap it in every now and then.

Flamecraft

What it is: One of the cutest board games, where you grow your reputation by aiding dragons and shopkeepers while gathering items and placing enchantments or just try to do a bunch of stuff that looks fun and win! Also supports solo play. Picking the cutest dragons is quite the challenge, because all of them are the cutest.

Good for: Getting a step deeper into boardgaming, solo board gamers.

Will we keep it in rotation? It’s one of the best options for a lazy Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea. So yes, it’s in rotation.

Lost Cities: Rivals

What it is: A very simple card collection game. There are five different card types, with cards numbered from 2 to 10. You need to make the longest ascending streak you can for each type. You get cards through auctions. 

Good for: While this is a simple boardgame, it’s a bit weird to categorise it. You will enjoy this a lot if you vibe with the auction mechanism.

Will we keep it in rotation? We haven’t decided how we feel about this one, so we’re definitely going to play more. For science.

Cards Against Humanity

What it is: Fill in sentences or answer questions from a black card read by a rotating judge, with your funniest white card that may also seem offensive or weird. 

Good for: Adults, parties, people who enjoy dark humour.

Will we keep it in rotation? We don’t consider this an “in rotation” game. We just take it out when we want to have a giggle or two, while introducing it to people who have no idea what the game is. 

The Mind

What it is: As a team, play cards in ascending order without communicating, and if someone holds a card lower than the one that was played, you lose one life. With each level, you draw more cards. The goal is simple, complete all levels and win the game.

Good for: Psychics, trips

Will we keep it in rotation? Yes, because some of us are psychics.

From here on, the list contains the games we got to play at the local game store. They were showcased either by the owner himself or by other cool people who wanted to introduce a game they liked.

Fury of Dracula

What it is: You get to hunt Dracula all over Europe, or be said Dracula and try to terrorise the whole of Europe. One player takes the role of Dracula, while the others are vampire hunters who team up and hunt him down. If he manages to hide 6 vampires in Europe that the hunters don’t destroy, he is declared victorious.

Good for: It’s quite the unique boardgame so we can’t really categorise it. It’s worth trying at least once. Experience is not necessary for this game, just a good attention span, since it can take some time.

Would we play it again? The gentleman who showcased it was excellent at playing Dracula. We’d love to play with him again.

Bandido

What it is: This is a co-op, route-building game. You need to coordinate with the rest of the players and manage to block all the routes before the cards run out. The concept is super simple, but the game can get quite tricky. 

Good for: Trips, getting some quick games in while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive.

Would we play it again? It was really fun, and we would love to play it again.

The Quacks of Quedlinburg

What it is: You get to have fun brewing potions and scoring points. Your potion may explode if you’re not careful. Each round adds some variety, so the game doesn’t get boring. Plus, it’s really easy learn.

Good for: Pushing your luck. Come on, I dare you.

Would we play it again? Potions didn’t get to explode enough. A replay is in order.

Age of Conan: The Strategy Board Game

What it is: This is quite a strategic game (duh, it’s in the name!) but with some luck elements. You get to control one kingdom of the Hyborian age and, each round, each kingdom bids to control Conan. You also fight over territory, expand your army, and overall do some kingdomy things. The rules can be tricky sometimes.

Good for: If you’re a fan of Conan, strategy games, or both, you should give it a try. Again, just make sure you get the rules right.

Would we play it again? Chris is kinda meh on this one but would probably join for the vibes.

Alhambra

What it is: This is a simple, yet very fun, tile placement game, with draft elements. Each player tries to build the greatest Alhambra. You get to buy tiles that help you or mess with your opponents and place them in a way that scores the most points.

Good for: Introducing somewhat advanced tile placement games without burning out.

Would we play it again? Yes! 

Bomb Busters

What it is: This game is pretty cool, and it reminded me of The Mind but with more components. You need to work with your teammates in order to defuse a bomb. You do that by guessing which cards other players have. It’s not very forgiving, letting you make only a couple of mistakes, but that makes it even more fun 

Good for: If you like thinking a lot and making deductions based on the board

Would we play it again? We’re definitely playing more of this!

Bonanza

What it is: This is a card game from almost 30 years ago. The purpose is to plant beans and harvest them. You can trade with other players in order to get the beans you want. And that’s pretty much it. This simplicity intrigued Chris quite a lot.

Good for: Relaxing and farming some beans with your friends.

Would we play it again? Chris is always suggesting to play this again, so we’re going to grant him the favour soon.

Harmonies

What it is: Chris called this 3D Cascadia, and we can’t really disagree. 

Good for: If you like Cascadia, you will also like this one 

Would we play it again? While it feels similar to Cascadia, the verticality of the game was fun. We’d play it again.

The Briefies 2025

It wouldn’t be fun if we didn’t give some awards. It’s what all the cool people do. So there you go. Welcome to the Briefies 2025. Without further ado, let’s see our categories.

The time sink

The winner here is Slay the Spire. I am not 100% sure all our plays are logged, but the logged ones sum up to 37 hours. That’s an insane amount for us.

The most played

We weren’t expecting Exploding/Zombie Kittens to win, with 15 plays. But these quick boardgames can round up lots of games, without a lot of play time. Still, Kittens was worth this title. It’s also worth noting the runner-up here, which was Slay the Spire. There is a reason we consider it one of the best games.

The “I’ve got half an hour before my next Zoom call, and I don’t want to doom scroll”. Sponsored by Chris

Chris has to join too many online meetings throughout the week. Some of them are almost back-to-back and leave him only a bit of time in between. Having a game he can enjoy, instead of doomscrolling, is something he wasn’t expecting to need. So he started setting up some games that he would play for a bit in between calls. Solo Cascadia was a good option. Especially since it won’t take too much space. A runner-up is Lost Cities: Rivals, but it can’t be played solo out of the box, so Chris needs a victim helper for that one.

The Best with New Players

Complexity in boardgames is something we discuss a lot among our group. It is a factor that may either draw a newcomer further into the hobby or shoo them away forever. A good game with simple mechanics that also demonstrates how there can be a lot of depth in games is Cascadia. It is very easy to learn, really quick to set up, but it can also vary in difficulty based on your card setup.

The Cute one

The two games that were neck and neck in this category were Cascadia and Flamecraft. However, seeing a pastel coloured dragon bake a pastry is not something you can easily deal with. Flamecraft won this one.

The “I don’t really care much about what the objective is, so I’m just going to play the things I like the most”. Sponsored by Chris

There are games where the objective is very clear. There are some other games where the objective may be a bit blurry, but the way to reach it is well defined. Then there’s Chris, who, in many cases, doesn’t care for either the objective or the means. He tends to do this in many games, and sometimes it may work. Most of the time, it doesn’t. Still, Chris keeps doing it and has fun. The game for which he does it the most is and forever will be Terraforming Mars.

What We Want to Play Next Year 

While we want to replay a lot of the games we played this year, there are quite a few that we didn’t get to try. So here are some of the games we are going to make time for this year.

Mage Knight

It’s not our first play. We played a few games at the local game store in 2024, and we really liked it. It needs a bit more time than most games, so it’s not easy to arrange a session. But in 2026, we are definitely going to play this one again.

Sky Team

We have heard a ton of good things about this one, both online and from local people whose opinion we value greatly. It’s in our list.

Aeon’s End

We’ll be honest. We don’t know much about this one, but we have received an invitation to play it. We cannot pass up on an opportunity to try a co-op game.

SETI

Chris cannot stop talking about how cool-looking this game is. He’s always staring at the copy at the local game store. We need to try this soon.

Seas of Strife

We are always looking to add more quick to learn (or teach) games to our collection. We recently received Seas of Strife from Rio Grande Games, and it looks like it fits the description.

Jump Drive

This is another game we received from Rio Grande Games. It looks very interesting, especially its solo capabilities. We are going to test this thoroughly.

And that’s all for this year’s boardgames. Well, almost. We are having another game day in a few hours, and we’re most probably trying a 4-act run in Slay the Spire. But what about you? Was there a boardgame this year that was your clear winner? And are you excited to play something specific next year?

Stay crafty and keep playing,
Your new favourite author.