You know it’s a real game night when your friends go from rescuing a stranded crew to double-crossing you for a herd of unicorns. That’s the magic of board games, you never know where the night will take you.
As Gamers Guild counts down to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, select board games are an extra 10% off, including preorders, during our month-long Black Friday sale. See the full lineup of select board games.
This week’s Featured Hotness lineup even features a few games where the board seems to have a mind of its own.
Captain Sofi Odessa and the crew of the Manticore are trying to find their way home, but Sleeping Gods gives them plenty of reasons to go a little farther off course.
The atlas is your game board, and a promising lead can send the crew sailing to a page you’ve never opened. It’s the sort of cooperative campaign where deciding what to do next is half the fun.
Captain’s tip: Jot down promising leads before you pack up. Future you will appreciate knowing why you wanted to go back to that island.
The unicorns are cute. The timing is ruthless. Unstable Unicorns is a race to fill your Stable while everyone else has cards that can undo your best work.
Stable tip: A well-timed “Neigh!” can stop a play cold, so it pays to hold onto yours until somebody’s move looks less annoying and more like a win.
Nippon: Genro, a preorder expansion for Nippon: Zaibatsu, gives your factories in Meiji-era Japan something new to contend with: the advisors.
Each game uses two of the five Genro. Both impose a rule that stays in effect throughout the game, so a production plan that worked last time might be harder to pull off with a different pair.
Factory tip: Before investing in a factory, check how both advisors’ rules could affect your deliveries.
