Shelley and I take our first journey to the moon this week in

Welcome to The Moon by Alexis Allard and Benoit Turpin from Blue Cocker, Dude Games, and Pegasus Spiele

then we look back on an alternative reality when otherworldly helpers lent a hand to establish humanity's biggest projects in

Origins: First Builders by Adam Kwapinski from Board&Dice and CMON Global

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This week Shelley and I duel by making llama deliveries in

P'achakuna by Stefan Kraft and Moreno Vogel from Treecer

then make more elaborate deliveries from our farms to town in a re-review of

La Granja by Adreas 'ode' Odendahl and Michael Keller originally from Spielworxx and recently Kickstarted from Board&Dice

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Shelley and I reflect on our plays of 'new to us' games in 2021 and choose our favorites (though we forgot one that both of us would have added to our lists!).

Honorable Mentions (Shelley):

Nidavellir by Serge Laget from GRRRE Games

Ten by Johnson, Melvin & Stankewich from AEG

Juicy Fruits by Christian Stöhr from Deep Print Games

Meadow by Klemens Kalicki by Rebel

Nanga Parbat by Steve Finn from Dr. Finn's Games

Honorable Mentions (Doug):

New York Zoo by Uwe Rosenberg by Capstone Games and Feuerland Spiele

Cascadia by Randy Flynn from Flatout Games and AEG

Llamaland by Phil Walker-Harding from Lookout Spiele (we may have said that this was by Uwe - oops!!!)

On The Underground by Sebastian Bleasdale from Ludicreations

Maglev Metro by Ted Alspach from Bezier Games

Shelley's Top Ten:

Point Salad by Johnson, Melvin, & Stankewich from AEG

Evidence by Orestis Leontaritis from Edition Spielwiese and Pegasus Spiele

Hadrian's Wall by Bobby Hill from Garphil Games and Renegade Game Studio

Project L by Mikes, Soukal, & Spanel from Boardcubator

Praga Caput Regni by Vladimir Suchy from Delicious Games and Rio Grande Games

Explorers by Phil Walker-Harding from Ravensburger

Savannah Park by Kramer & Kiesling from Deep Print Games and Capstone Games

Mini Express by Mark Gerrits from Moaideas Game Design

Flourish by Wilson & Wilson from Starling Games and Matagot

Doug's Top Ten:

Café by Costa and Rola from PYTHAGORAS

Faiyum by Freidemann Friese from 2F Spiele and Rio Grande Games

Praga Caput Regni by Vladimir Suchy from Delicious Games and Rio Grande Games

Meadow by Klemens Kalicki by Rebel

Flourish by Wilson & Wilson from Starling Games and Matagot

Project L by Mikes, Soukal, & Spanel from Boardcubator

Let's Make A Bus Route: The Dice Game by Saashi from Saashi & Saashi

Point Salad by Johnson, Melvin, & Stankewich from AEG

Mini Express by Mark Gerrits from Moaideas Game Design

Hallertau by Uwe Rosenberg from Lookout Spiele

(and we both would have included Witchstone by Reiner Knizia from R&R Games in our Top Tens if we both hadn't had a brain fart)

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Shelley and I get the expansion to Dune: Imperium to the table

Dune: Imperium The Rise of Ix expansion by Paul Dennen from Dire Wolf and Legendary

and then get our potions going in

Brew by Stevo Torres from Pandasaurus Games

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Shelley and I enjoy two games set in the future

Cryo by Tom Jolly Luke Laurie from Z-Man Games

and

Dune: Imperium by Paul Dennen from Dire Wolf and Asmodee

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Shelley and I spend time playing games set in the past with 2-word titles. First, we head to New Jersey to design one USA's first vacation spots in

Cape May by Eric Mosso from Thunderworks Games

then we head over to southern Germany to become craftspeople in

Glass Road by Uwe Rosenberg originally from Z-Man Games and now re-released by Capstone Games

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Shelley and I place tiles in a beautiful square in Lisbon in

Rossio by Orlando Sa from Pythagoras

then harvest crops, play the markets, and develop apprentices in

Key Market by David Brain from R&D Games

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Shelley and I move animals around the savannah in

Savannah Park by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling from Capstone Games and Deep Print Games

then we attempt to strategically draft tiles to build our fields in Key Harvest by Richard Breese from R&D Games and Rio Grande Games in 2007

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Shelley and I try out the latest Dr. Reiner Knizia title as we wander the jungle doing research in

Sumatra from Ludo Nova

then check out the revamped game of inner and outer struggles - but now with hexes and set in ancient China

Yellow and Yangtze from Grail Games

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Shelley and I hurt our brains trying to finagle good investments in

Tokyo Metro by Jordan Draper from Jordan Draper Games

then we head into the garden to grow flowers and build follies in

Flourish by James & Clarissa Wilson from Starling Games and Matagot

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Shelley and I compete to build the most profitable museum in

Curators by Tove & Pablo Jomer and Jacob Westerlund from Worldshapers and Little Rocket Games

then we head under the sea to explore the deep from a research facility and with submarines in 2002's

Nautilus by Brigitte and Wolfgang Ditt from KOSMOS and Mayfair Games

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Shelley and I spend time building individual tableaus this week in this delayed episode (sorry for the Thursday release everyone!):

Village Green by Peer Sylvester from Osprey Games

and

Meadow by Klemens Kalicki from Rebel Studio

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Oops! I forgot my SD card reader, so can't get out today's episode until we return from our vacation getaway on Thursday. We hope you tune in then for our discussion of

Village Green by Peer Sylvester from Osprey Games

and

Meadow by Klemens Kalicki from Rebel

two beautiful tableau-building games.

Shelley and I enjoy some bon bons and create poker-esque sets in

Truffle Shuffle by Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, and Shawn Stankewich from AEG

then we head back to 2003 and ancient Greece to race to build structures in

Attika by Marcel-André Casasola Merkle from Hans im Gluck and Rio Grande Games which has been re-published with a western theme as

US Telegraph from Super Meeple

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Shelley and I enjoy collecting vegetables in the fun new card game

Point Salad by Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, and Shawn Stankewich

then we dust off a Spiel des Jahres winner from 1999 which has just been republished

Tikal by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling from Super Meeple, Rio Grande, and Ravensburger

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Shelley and I get our 19th Century industrialist hats on, building factories and funning them to the best of our ability in

Furnace by Ivan Lashin from Arcane Wonders and Hobby World

then we head to ancient Egypt to try our hands at building some of the world's wonders in

Egizia by Acchittocca (Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, and Antonio Tinto) originally from Rio Grande and Hans im Gluck, but re-released recently by Stronghold Games and Matagot

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Shelley and I build our lands out and UP as we herd llamas and try to claim points in

Llamaland by Phil Walker-Harding from Lookout Spiele

then we get abstract and push our luck, drawing cards and bidding in

TEN by Molly Johnson, Shawn Stankewich and Robert Melvin from AEG

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Shelley and I roll and draw our way through the four seasons using arrays in

Blätterrauschen by Paolo Mori from KOSMOS

then we plan our actions by building in our cauldrons to develop energy, move crystals, enlist our witch clan, and gather potions, etc. in

Witchstone by Dr. Reiner Knizia and Martino Chiacchiera from R&R Games and HUCH!

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Shelley and I head below the depths to buy and conquer land in

Aquatica by Ivan Tuzavsky from Cosmodrome Games and Arcane Wonders

then return to the farm for a re-review of a game from 2012, working hard on rival farms to raise our crops and animals (sound familiar?) in

Farmerama by Uwe Rosenberg from Ravensburger

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Shelley and I check out the third game in the Clever series of roll & writes:

Clever Cubed or Clever Hoch Drei by Wolfgang Warsch from Stronghold Games and Schmidt Spiele

and then we try out a new draw & draw exploration game

Explorers by Phil Walker-Harding from Ravensburger

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