Library Staff Directory
Posted Jan 23, 2025
From Uno to Settlers of Catan, I have played my fair share of Board Games (or Tabletop Games as some like to call it), enough to call myself a board game fanatic. Each game is a unique experience with a wide variety of art and gameplay, and serves as a wonderful way to meet new people and pass the time with an engaging roll of the dice or a flip of the card. That is why I am extremely excited to have started this new program for the library: Shorewood Shuffles, our biweekly game night on Thursdays! Below, I will be discussing some of the many board games we have here at the library, and my experience playing them in preparation for our first Shorewood Shuffles night on January 30th.
Avocado Smash!
One of the more beginner friendly games in our collection, Avocado Smash! is an intense game of fast action and nice art. All 70 cards are dealt equally to all players, who then take turns flipping over the top card of their decks into a pile in the center. If the next played cute fruit (yes, avocados are fruits, which I have learned while writing this) matches the card in the center, then it is a ‘Smash!’ and all players must race to slap the center pile. The player last to slap the pile must pick up the cards in the center and place them at the bottom of their deck. The player first to get rid of all their cards wins! With additional factors such as cards with special rules when played and a secondary counting rule, where players count from one to fifteen, creating a ‘Smash!’ When the card played matches the number said aloud, I found myself alert and ready for any matching numbers that happen to appear. One of the standout features of this game is its dedication to the love of avocados. Each card is full of bright green fruit, looking adorable by smiling, sleeping, and wearing sunglasses. The cards are even textured to feel like the skin of an avocado! With its simple rules and unique art style, Avocado Smash! is a great pick for those entering the world of board games for the first time.
Boggle
Unsurprisingly: Boggle is a great game for those who love to read. Surprisingly: This was my first time playing Boggle. It might have been the unassuming box art or the fact that no one I know owns Boggle, but I never considered playing it before. Now I can certainly claim that Boggle is a fun game. The premise is straightforward; you have a 4x4 grid of letters and three minutes to spell as many words as possible without using the same letter cube more than once. The real strategy is making the most out of a few well-positioned letter cubes. An "S" in the right spot gives you free pluralization of any word, while "bolt" becomes "blot", "lot", and "bot" if close enough to each other. I found enjoyment in squeezing the most out of a few jumble of words in such a fleeting time. Of course, you get more points when you spell longer words, and any words shared between players are invalidated, so in the end, the better wordsmith wins out. I played more than a few rounds of Boggle and would like to play it again for a chance to spell the elusive eight letter word worth the highest value of eleven points.
The Fox in the Forest
I love a good 2 player board game. There is nothing like gameplay that emphasizes long-term planning and competition against another person which brings out the best in me. The Fox in the Forest is a great 1v1 game involving a deck of 33 cards consisting of 3 suits (moons, keys, and bells) numbered 1-11. Players are dealt a hand of 13 cards and spend each round attempting to win the trick by either having the highest number suit that matches the first played card or suit of the decree card presented by flipping over the top card of the remaining deck at the round. The way a player wins is by obtaining 21 points, which are obtained by determining how tricks are won by a player. There is an interesting bit of back-and-forth action in trick-taking. If a player who wins too many tricks is described as ‘greedy’, they win no points while the opposing play wins six. This is a good bit of game design to prevent players from steamrolling and attempting to starve the other player of points, but taking few tricks will create a big point gap between the winning and losing player. There are also cards with special effects such as the Swan which allows a player to go first if they lose the trick or the Fox which lets a player pick up the decree card and replace it with another card in their hand, changing the decree suit and winning the trick. The Fox in the Forest is seeping with ways to gain the upper hand by thinking ahead and is a recommended board game for those who appreciate a round of Poker or Solitaire with friends.
written by Michael Smith, Library Clerk
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