Favorite Board Games: Part 2

It's been quite a while since I talked about my favorite board games (see my first post here) and unsurprisingly I've found a few new favorites, including my most favorite game in the history of ever. I figured that meant it was probably time to write another post.

We got several new games around Christmastime, and we've had a bit of time now to play them, and here are my three favorites from our new bunch:

1. Splendor

This is a pretty simply game rule wise, but decently intense if you actually want to win it. You can break your brain trying to figure out what the best move is, so I generally go with "chill out" method. Surprisingly I even win on occasion.

2. Takenoko

This game has a panda in it, so that really was enough for me. On your turn you can choose to play as the panda and eat bamboo, or play as the gardener and try to grow bamboo. It's fun and a really beautiful game to look at. Plus Panda. Obviously I don't need to say more.

3. Kingdom Builder

I am basically completely obsessed with this game. I never thought I would love a game quite as much as I love this one, and honestly I have a hard time allowing other games to be played. I think I love it because the game is always changing, between the board layout and the game objectives, so it's always exciting to see what will happen and you can't get tired of it because it's always different. I must admit that this plays to my strengths as a game player so I win this one a lot, which is unusual for me and probably one of the reasons I like it. But even when I lose I still have a good time.

Have you played any new games lately?