First Player Token, a short board game review show – Details, episodes & analysis

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In this episode, we spend a weekend in a cabin in the woods and play a whole lot of board games! A few friends and I recently spent a weekend playing board games at a cabin we rented in Cedars of Lebanon State Park. We played the board games that don’t fit into normal game nights! Most ran about three hours long, some longer. These are the crunchy, brain-burning games that some of us love to play, and in this episode of the podcast, I report out on the games we played, all of which were fantastic.

Music:

"Open Road" by Purple Planet. "Old Tom Bombadil, A Hobbit Folk Song" by Heimburger Music.

Podcast Links:

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Text us your thoughts about this episode.

Usually when I review and recommend a board game here on the podcast, I’ve played that game at least ten times. That way I know the game well and I know it has some staying power. That means I usually review older games, but I like to play new games, too. So here’s a FIRST PLAY review of a new game that I think you might like!

Today we’ll take a look at Club Spooky, a 2-to-4-player game designed and illustrated by Connor Wake and published by Always Awake Games.

Episode Links:

Pre-order Club Spooky from Always Awake Games.

Music:

"Open Road" and "Spooked" by Purple Planet

Podcast Links:

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Text us your thoughts about this episode.

In this episode, I play capture the flag with seven of my friends in Challengers! 

Challengers! is 2022 game for 2 to 8 players designed by Johannes Krenner and Markus Slawitscheck and published by Z-Man Games with art by Jeff Harvey. It’s a little hard to describe. If I said it’s a deck-building, auto-battler built around a capture-the-flag tournament structure, would that make sense? Maybe not. You'll have to listen to this episode to get the full description.

If you're looking for a high energy game that blends strategy and luck and plays equally well at 4 players or at 8 players, Challengers! is the game for you. 

Episode Links:

Buy Challengers! on Amazon.

Buy Challengers! Beach Cup on Amazon.

Music:

"Open Road" and "Rise of the Superhero" by Purple Planet.

Podcast Links:

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Text us your thoughts about this episode.

Our last episode on second editions of the games Santorini and Tortuga 1667 reminded me about another second edition of a family favorite game that’s out now: Parks designed by Henry Audubon and published by Keymaster Games. We covered the first edition of Parks way back on episode 7 of the podcast, and I thought I would reshare that episode here on the podcast feed in honor of the new edition of Parks. 

In this episode, I’m changing things up a bit and recommending a great board game for couples: Parks by Keymaster Games.

I’m a big fan of the US National Parks, ever since I took my kids out west on what we called the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Tour. We saw the largest of each: we went whale-watching off the coast of San Francisco, we saw redwoods and sequoias in California, and we visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona. We visited three National Parks during that trip—Grand Canyon, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia—and each of them provided amazing sights and experiences.

The board game Parks, designed by Henry Audubon, does a great job of capturing the beauty and wonder of the US National Parks. It is the prettiest game I own, with stunning artwork from the Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series. In the game, you take on the role of hikers, exploring the great outdoors and visiting as many National Parks as you can.

We have two special guests in this episode. My wife Emily stops by for some color commentary and thoughts on why she enjoys playing Parks. Also, Matt Aiken from Keymaster Games joins us to talk about the origin of the game and why he thinks it’s a great game for couples and to tell some stories of people playing PARKS in the great outdoors.

See my photos of Parks, First Edition.

Learn more about Parks, Second Edition.

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Join the FPT Facebook group.

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Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Music:

“Open Road,” “Sunbeam,” and “Summer in Paradise,” https://www.purple-planet.com/.

Podcast Links:

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Text us your thoughts about this episode.

In this episode, we go back to the island in second editions of podcast favorites Santorini and Tortuga 1667! 

Santorini: Pantheon Edition takes the original Santorini and its “Golden Fleece” expansion and presents them in a new package with revised rules and upgraded components. The teenager and I have been playing it regularly since we got it, and we are loving it. 

When I heard about Tortuga 1667: Deluxe Edition, I was excited at the prospect of upgraded components for the game, but I was a little worried when I heard that there would be revised rules. The original game is so, so good, it was hard to imagine how they would improve it, but they did!

In this episode, I discuss what's new in each of these games and what I appreciate about the changes. Kudos to Roxley Games and Facade Games for these quality second editions of some of our favorite games! 

Links:

Pre-order Santorini: Pantheon Edition from Roxley Games.

Buy Tortuga 1667: Deluxe Edition from Facade Games.

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Music:

"Open Road," "The Concept" by Purple Planet. "Pirates!" by Tabletop Audio.

Podcast Links:

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Text us your thoughts about this episode.

In this episode, we conspire together to take out one of the worst evils of the 20th century in Black Orchestra! 

Black Orchestra is a 2016 cooperative game for 1 to 5 players designed by Phillip duBarry with art by Lucas Soriano published by Tabletop Tycoon. In Black Orchestra, players take on the role of conspirators in Nazi Germany working together to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The game is based on actual attempts by members of Hitler’s military and civilians to take out the man they saw as an incredible threat to their country. 

The game is a rollercoaster full of close calls and near misses. Our military history correspondent (age 13) approves! Hear his thoughts on the game in this episode.

Links:

Buy Black Orchestra on Amazon.

Listen to the Immersed episode about Black Orchestra.

Read about The Faithful Spy by John Hendrix.

Learn about the Black Orchestra expansion, Resistance.

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Music:

"Open Road," "The Concept" by Purple Planet.

Podcast Links:

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Text us your thoughts about this episode.

In this episode, we sail the high seas on our Viking ships to establish trading routes and not pillage in Knarr! 

Knarr is a 2023 game designed by Thomas Dupont with art by Antoine Carrion published in the US by Pandasaurus Games. Knarr celebrates the trading life of a Viking. In the game, players take on the role of Viking traders, recruiting crew to your ship, then sailing to distant lands to establish trade routes. Your trade routes will earn you victory points, as will the songs that skalds sing about you. 

If you’re looking for a medium-light game that offers a fun twist on engine building and celebrates the softer side of Vikings, Knarr is the game for you.

Links:

Buy Knarr on Amazon.

Get ready for your first play of Knarr.

3D print your own Knarr insert.

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Music:

"Open Road" by Purple Planet. "Vikings" by Tabletop Audio.

Podcast Links:

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Text us your thoughts about this episode.

In this episode, we work together to tell the story of how a religion changes over the centuries in… Keep the Faith! 

Keep the Faith is a storytelling game for 2 to 5 players about religions in transition. Each player represents a sect within a fictional religion. Players collaboratively make up the story about the religion and how it changes over five hundred years, with a focus on how the material and observable aspects of the religion reflect or contradict the religion’s core values. 

Keep the Faith is currently on BackerKit seeking crowdfunding. If you’re listening to this before March 6, 2025, follow the link below to the BackerKit page to see if you’d like to help get this game published. Keep the Faith will be published by Central Michigan University Games, an academic press that specializes in peer-reviewed board and role-playing games with educational utility.

The designer of Keep the Faith is Greg Loring-Albright, and I'm excited to share highlights from an interview with Greg that I did for my other podcast, Intentional Teaching. Greg shares about his design goals for the game, the role of agency in Keep the Faith, and the challenges of designing a game about a sensitive topic like religion.

Links:

Support Keep the Faith’s crowdfunding effort before March 6, 2025.

Listen to a longer cut of my conversation with Greg Loring-Albright on the Intentional Teaching podcast.

Throw a few bucks at the Intentional Teaching Patreon to hear a few more clips of my talk with Greg.

Listen to Liz Davidson’s conversation with Greg on her Beyond Solitaire podcast.

Learn more about Greg Loring-Albright on his professional website.

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Music:

"Open Road," "Summer in Paradise" by Purple Planet.

Podcast Links:

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Text us your thoughts about this episode.

Today we have a FIRST PLAY review of Everdell Duo, a 2025 game designed by James and Clarissa Wilson with art by Andrew Bosley and Enggar Adirasa, published by Tabletop Tycoon. The game is a two-player version of the popular 2018 game Everdell, a game that launched a trend in board games featuring friendly anthropomorphic forest animals. Both games are set in the land of Everdell where the squirrels are woodcarvers, the badgers are innkeepers, and the hedgehogs are doctors.

Everdell Duo is a quality two-player experience with all the things you’re looking for in a game: balanced design, thematic mechanics, and adorable art and components. Duo feels like the original Everdell, with worker placement and resource collection and card combos, but with a simpler, faster, and more competitive experience.

Links:

Preorder Everdell Duo from the publisher.

See my photos of Everdell Duo.

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Music:

"Open Road" by Purple Planet. "Forest: Day" by Tabletop Audio.

Podcast Links:

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Text us your thoughts about this episode.

In this episode, we gather around an African watering hole to see who can chase away the most animals in Kariba!

Kariba is about animals gathering around an African watering hold, so the cards are all elephants and giraffes and zebras and meerkats and such. Players take turns playing cards from their hands to the watering hole in the middle of the table, with larger animals chasing off smaller ones. Kariba is my favorite game to bring to family gatherings when (a) I know there will be young kids there, especially pre-readers and (b) I don’t have much space in my luggage, since it comes in a very small box.

Links:

See my photo of Kariba.

Buy Kariba on Amazon.

Watch a watering hole in the Namib Desert.

See Felix Kindelán's Instagram.

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Music:

"Open Road," "The Concept" by Purple Planet.

Podcast Links:

Order a First Player Token coffee mug.

Visit the First Player Token website.

Join the FPT Facebook group.

Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky.

Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.