June has arrived, which means that it’s time for the DWP writing team to assemble and compile our most memorable gaming experiences from the previous month! Curious to know what we have been playing? Keep on reading for all the juicy details!

NICOLE H:

I tried out a 2p game of Keystone: North America on Tabletopia, and it was great! The premise is simple, but it’s quite a puzzle of tile laying and optimizing your turns. I very much enjoyed it. And the ART!! I spent a good amount of time gushing over the gorgeousness.

It’s on KS for a couple more weeks.

STEVE T:

I finally got my hands on Calico (my video was shared with the DWP last week).

I also got Cosmic Encounter: Duel. I’ve only played it once, since getting it, but it seems to maintain much of the flavour of its predecessor. I am looking forward to many more plays with it.

SEAN J:

This past month I’ve actually gotten the chance to play a few new games. Cubitos was a runaway hit when I got to try it out with friends. So much so, in fact, I braved curbside pickup to get my own copy. It was a hit when I played it with my family as well. Cubitos is simply described as Quacks of Quedlinburg meets Dominion. The goal is to complete the race first (the game comes with four different tracks). To accomplish this, you are rolling dice, gaining movement and coins and buying upgrades to your dice pool. There are a number of different coloured dice that you can add to your hand and each one has several different abilities depending on the card set you use. You can try one of the suggested sets for specific races or design your own combinations. Cubitos always leaves me wanting to play more and that’s a good sign in my books.

I also have to mention Happy City which I have been delightfully addicted to on BGA. You buy different coloured buildings from a market and earn income, generate population, and earn happiness. At the end of the game, your score is your population multiplied by your happiness. You can also gain special buildings that will help you based on the makeup of your tableau. Games last about 10 minutes and it’s another one I love playing on repeat.

JON-PAUL D:

Nova Scotia is easing out of lockdown over the next few weeks, but tabletop gaming in May was limited to playing with my children or playing with friends online via Board Game Arena. I taught my girls the bare bones elements of Ticket to Ride, and while they don’t much care for scoring points, they love collecting train cards and hoarding the “rainbow trains”!

My most played game on BGA last month was Lucky Numbers, which we posted a review for over at the Little Big Thumbs YouTube channel. This is a game of organizing numbers into ascending order within a 4 by 4 grid – each row and column need to be ascending from left to right as well as top to bottom. It’s a light tactical puzzle, which is super easy to learn and teach, and could easily find its way onto many casual gaming shelves!

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Thank you for joining us for our monthly rundown of our favourite gaming experiences. Keep an eye out for more DWP articles headed your way each and every week!