[Ryan] I recently acquired Bomb Busters and while I really enjoyed the game’s take on cooperative deduction, I also worried that I wouldn’t be able to get it to the table often, especially since it benefits from a consistent group that can advance through the missions together. But the big surprise this month was that the game actually works really well two player! A little different experience with each player having two trays, but we have still had a lot of fun with it and it has allowed me to start exploring the scenarios with my son—also working great as a “next step” deduction game for him. Huge fan of this one and the quality of the two-player mode will probably be the difference between it hardly getting played and being one of my most played of the year!

[Daniel] August was an unusual month for board gaming, as I started the month with shoulder surgery and later spent a week in Illinois for a family wedding. Even so, I managed to squeeze in a few great plays, including a three-player game of Heat: Pedal to the Metal with my wife and her sister. Heat is a fantastic option when player counts fluctuate, as the Legends module lets you round out the field with automated racers. It made for a fun, tightly contested race, with my wife ultimately taking the victory!

[Ryan] For the first time in a decade, I actually went over a year without getting Eldritch Horror to the table! It has been a long-time group favorite for a long, thematic cooperative game (and Arkham Horror 2nd edition before that), and it was fun to return to such a familiar experience after a bit of a break. We ended up having a somewhat dominant performance (something that isn’t common in this game!), but it still was an entertaining session in a game that has soooo much variability now that I have all of the expansions.

[Daniel] My wife’s family and I also managed to get a four-player game of Splendor to the table, and it was an absolute blast! It’s such a tight game, demanding near-perfect efficiency to come out on top. I love how it rewards long-term strategy while forcing you to pivot as new cards become available. Splendor is a modern classic and still one of my all-time favorites.

[Ryan] Harmonies continues to be a go-to game this year, and I am eagerly anticipating the Pulse and Crescendo expansions coming out this year! The game has been such a hit for me personally that it has me wondering if any other spatial puzzle games in this genre are going to ever earn a spot in my collection, or if I am just going to feel like I’d rather be playing Harmonies. It’s best-in-class as far as I’m concerned, and I was pretty proud of my winding river (which was so close to being even longer) in the game shown above. 😎