[Ryan] A Message from the Stars is one of the games in my collection that requires the most specific type of group for it to work. Not everyone is going to be a fan of a crunchy math-word-deduction puzzle, but fortunately, both of my brothers are! The three of us played a game on Hard Mode, where you only have 3 rounds of communication instead of 4, making every clue all the more crucial to give a chance of the human team cracking the code while still theming the clues to connect to the secret message. Really challenging, but oh so satisfying as we managed to score 10 out of a possible 12 points! Love the way this one scratches my brain.

[Daniel] The largest board game I own has officially been dethroned. Enter Primal: The Awakening. I was drawn in by the incredible miniatures, but what really sold me is how streamlined it is. Boss battler. 60–90 minutes. While you can play the larger campaign (and I probably will), it is great to also be able to pull it out with anyone and jump into an epic experience in a reasonable time commitment. I also love how most of the monster’s actions are reactions to what you do. It makes the game feel dynamic and back and forth. Excited to play this one more!

[Ryan] SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence has been the game I’ve been most interested in trying for well over a year now, and I finally acquired it and played it twice this month! Such a fantastic design that is right in the lane of games I really enjoy, such as Terraforming Mars. The rotating board introduces meaningful tactics that don’t feel gimicky, and the reveal of each alien species and their unique rules gives the game such a fun arc. Early signs are that this will be another all-time favorite, and I’m already eyeing the Space Agencies expansion that looks excellent.

[Daniel] It’s official. Harmonies is a must-own game for me. It is that good. I got that chance to play Ryan’s copy at our family reunion, and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite crunchy, puzzle experiences. It’s got a great, simplistic visual appeal. It plays fast. And yet it offers many tough decisions of optimization as you try to maximize both your terrain scoring and the cards you draft. Is this the Cascadia killer for me? Time will tell…

[Ryan] I feel like I don’t hear a lot of buzz about The Guild of Merchant Explorers these days, but after a couple of plays this month, I really think more gamers owe it a try. If you enjoy flip-and-write games where players simultaneously apply a choice to their own personal board, then there is a great chance you’ll love this. By using physical cubes, the design is able to “reset” each era, making for really interesting decisions in what to accomplish before each era ends. The killer feature is definitely the three powers you select every game, giving you extremely powerful and unique effects to apply when those cards are flipped. Really fantastic stuff, and our recent family reunion has me eyeing the “Party Pack” that would expand the max player count from 4 to 8.