• Clever 4Ever is the first newer Clever game that I actually prefer over the original. Don’t see any exceptional deals on it but I thought I’d mention
• Spirit Island on Amazon for $44 is a decent price. Or Horizons of Spirit Island at $14.99 for a less expensive entry point.
• Tabletop Merchant has a bunch games on sale including Ark Nova which you might enjoy based on the Terraforming Mars like. The free-shipping threshold is pretty high but lots of good stuff to choose from and even their base prices tend to be decent
• Buttonshy has everything 25% off with the coupon code on that page
• Some other Amazon deals that are still live: Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game $15, Cat in the Box $17, Carpe Diem $16, Beyond the Sun $44, Jekyll vs Hyde $12

I am very happy to see For Northwood doing so well. #36 is an amazing debut especially for such a small and unique little game.

No change in the top 3 but some interesting moves after that. Gloomhaven is out of the top 10 despite being bundled together with JotL and Frosthaven. Both Dune Imperium and Arnak have made big jumps. The LotR LCG has climbed a few spots. Ark Nova overtook Terraforming Mars. Cascadia continues its steady climb while Wingspan continues to slide.

Dice Tower is running their 12 Games of Christmas 2023 series too. 9 videos so far with 12 games each for various categories.

Is this a hit board game? The number of BGG ratings and rank (13648) don’t reflect that. Does it stand out in some way from the multitude of similar games?

How is the Bitoku expansion in terms of extra rules and table space? Are you planning to leave it in permanently? And the most important question, does it fit in the base box?

Darwin’s Journey - A nice combo-tastic euro with an interesting theme. Looks great on the table. Many familiar elements from other Italian-style euros and also a hint of Maracaibo. Left it on the table for a couple more plays and I might try the solo too later on. Minor regrets about not having the double-layered boards from the collector’s edition.

Sky Team - This is a really good 2p-only co-op. I first tried it on BGA and had to immediately order it and we played it on the table a few times since. Easy to learn rules and the box contains a lot of content to allow you to ramp up the difficulty. Highly recommended if you enjoy limited-communication co-ops (Hanabi etc) and dice placement.

Castellion - got in a few solo plays, it was nice coming back to it after a long break I enjoyed it a lot more this time and I finally gave the advanced mode a try.

Best: play games with them

Might be pricey and difficult but will almost certainly make them happy: find out what game they’ve been wanting to get but it’s hard to find or too pricey. But it will be hard to find and pricey for you too. Maybe they have “Wishlist” or “Want to trade” items on boardgamegeek.

If they also play online: annual Boardgamearena subscription. They have a way to gift a subscription but you have to make a (free) account for yourself and you have to know their username.

More practical, lower budget: If they play on a regular table (not a special boardgame table) then they might like a neoprene mat. Ideally it should be close to the dimensions of the table. Deckboxes and the accessories others are mentioning are always nice too. Upgrade bits for their favorite game (etsy has a ton of stuff too) or trays/card holders etc.

Istanbul: The Dice Game - A simple but solid dice based take on the original Istanbul. Like in the original you are racing to get 5 or 6 rubies and the rolled dice faces, saved up resources, upgrade tiles and card draws give you various ways to get there. Nice chunky dice.

Maul Peak - a new version of Skulk Hollow. Only one play so far but looking forward to exploring this further. Very nice production.

I never look at the Type and Category fields, my eyes are just not drawn there.

What I do look at all the time is the Mechanism field. That’s one of the first things I check when finding out about a game for the first time. I also use that field extensively in searches. It’s fun to do an advanced search for combinations of different mechanisms. For example what are some co-op trick-taking games besides Crew and Fox in the Forest Duet?

I like it a lot! We play at two and sometimes use a fan made variant that pre-populates some of spaces with a dummy color. This tightens up the game quite a bit. I love the way the game looks on the table and the tactility of the tiles. This is a game where the production elevates a good game into a great experience. I only wish that the cards were standard size for easier shuffling and handling.

I’ve been thinking about different ways we could draft at 2p. For example a Biblios style draft where each player draws 3 cards one at a time and has to keep one, give one to the opponent and place one into the bonus area. Or maybe just an open draft where we take turns picking from the current batch of face-up cards.

If anyone has the expansion I’d love to hear you experiences with that, especially at 2.

Tenefyr is one of my favorites too, especially with the variety added by the expansion. I hope it gets a new printing soon so that more people can try it.

Thanks for this, didn’t know about the site. The Review Database page gives a more compact text table listing of all the reviews.

CGE’s channel also has a bunch of cool videos about their manufacturing processes. It’s fun to see components of some of my favorite games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BIgDpvooA8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qv_3aE-i_E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctNEN19xgAI

That background info helps. If your group is comfortable with Res Arcana and Ares Expedition then you could jump straight into RFTG fairly safely too.

I love Sagrada and I like the idea of Sagrada coloring books but it’s still way too expensive for me. The retail pre-orders are closer to $50 vs the almost $100 (with shipping) KS pledges but that still seems a lot for what I’ve seen so far. I hope somebody does a more spoilerful review at some point because I am not ready to make the jump blindly.

Race for the Galaxy will always be good enough for today’s standards! It really is a classic.

But if you are completely new to the series then Jump Drive is the safest place to start. It’s a simple but solid game and like you said it’s reasonably family friendly. It is a great way to get used to some of the symbology. You may also find that it’s all you really need, or that this type of game is not for you. At worst you are only out of about $20.

All of the games are available on BGA and some also have apps. If you are open to experimenting with the digital versions then Jump Drive on BGA is the first thing I’d try. Next I’d try the Race for the Galaxy app (would start with the app in this case because it’s easier to experiment there while learning).

One more game worth considering is Res Arcana by the same designer which is also playable on BGA. It’s another take on some of the ideas of RFTG. Plays quite differently but shares the race to the finish aspect.