Episode 415 – Room to Grow: Card Games
Looking for some card games for your family to grow into? We've got you covered.
0:00:00 Fact for 415
The racing tall ship Amerigo Vespucci holds the record (https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/725309-largest-crew-for-a-racing-tall-ship) for the largest maximum crew complement: 415 sailors.
Sponsor Message
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0:04:25 What We've Been Playing
Compile: Main 2 (very much like Compile: Main 1 (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/compile/) )
Logic & Lore – review coming soon. Check out the Kickstarter (http://weirdgiraffegames.com/logic3) !
Ichor
Iliad
Carnuta
Dice Throne: Marvel X-men
Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders
Verdant Arizona
Dice Clash
Embers
Tag Team
0:29:00 January Monthly Report
Anitra: 42 plays, 23 unique games. H-index: 3. Most played: Trio
Andrew: 23 plays of 14 unique games. H-index: 2. Most played: Trio & Verdant Arizona
0:31:00 The Family Gamers Community
Welcome to our newest members! (https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/posts/4286970091592448/) You can join the community on Facebook.
We also cover some “for science” emails from listener Mallory. Would you be interested in hearing us try recipes “for science”?
0:35:15 #Backtalk
We asked about your New Year resolutions: any that have to do with board games?
You responded on the Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/posts/4274899756132815/) and on the #backtalk channel (https://discord.com/channels/1157003438425653379/1239323617368604672) of the Discord.
0:41:30 Room to Grow: Card Games
Our goal with Room to Grow (https://thefamilygamers.com/tag/room-to-grow) is to bring your kids – or your family – through a series of games that grow in complexity. Normally, we take a beginner game, an intermediate game, and an advanced game (and some honorable mentions). They offer a plan for growth for players to get comfortable with that mechanic, and all are family-friendly.
What is a card game? For the purposes of this podcast, we're defining it as:
• A game that uses only cards (plus maybe a few tokens or a scoresheet)
• Can be played with more than 2 players
• Rewards paying attention to what is going on around the table (not just your own hand/tableau)
Beginner: Flip 7
There are several games we could pick as a really easy starting point. But this one is the most like conventional card games, so we think it feels the most approachable.
Young kids can play this and enjoy it as long as they have basic numeracy. They might not get the statistics, but they can understand that there's only one 1 and a lot of 12s, and they don't want repeats.
See our review of Flip 7. (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/flip-7/)
Intermediate: Fantasy Realms or Marvel Remix
This is pretty much the same game with two themes: Fantasy Realms (https://amzn.to/4rwhYKM) is medieval-ish fantasy, and Marvel Remix (https://amzn.to/4abxOn5) is obviously Marvel super-heroes and villains. Turns out, there's a third one called Star Trek: Missions (https://amzn.to/46cPCNi) !
Build a hand of cards that combo well together to get the most points. Each turn, you will add a card to your hand and discard a card from your hand, trying to get a little better each time. All cards get discarded to a central area, which also becomes the pool to draw cards from (in addition to the deck).
The rules do get a little more complicated with two players, but it's still do-able.
Advanced: Res Arcana or Race for the Galaxy or San Juan
Another set of three games with very similar mechanics – probably because the same guy (Tom Lehmann) designed two and had a heavy hand in the development of the third.
Res Arcana is fantasy themed, Race for the Galaxy (https://www.riograndegames.com/games/race-for-the-galaxy/) is sci-fi, and San Juan (https://www.riograndegames.com/games/san-juan/) is loosely themed around colonizing the Americas.
In San Juan, you build buildings from the cards in your hands, paying other cards from your hand as the cost. Each turn, the current player chooses a “role” – everyone gets to do an action based on that role, while the chooser gets a bonus.
Race for the Galaxy is somewhat more complicated. Everyone secretly selects an action, then simultaneously reveals. All of the actions that were picked will be performed in a round. You're still paying out cards to play other cards, which interact in all kinds of ways in the different phases. This one has victory point & power chips to help you track values as the game goes along.
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