Diced Veggies is a cute and fast game published by KTBG and designed by Josh Cappel, Jory Cappel, and Rowan Cappel. In Diced Veggies you will be fulfilling beautiful recipes with a fun mechanism of cutting colourful dice. Each player takes on the role of chefs creating delicious dishes. This game is perfect for a casual game night. Fun and beautiful, it will be the new hit of your board game night.

In diced veggies, players will “cut” their veggies from a common pool of dice in the middle of the table. Each colour of dice represents a type of vegetable. You will have access to tomatoes, carrots, onions, peppers, and mushrooms. This pool of different vegetables will be shuffled and placed in a rectangle in the middle of the table. On your turn, using the super cute knife, you will cut dice in this rectangle of vegetable dices. Must remember that you are not allowed to collect dice with a total value of over 10. This little added rule will make take “hard” decisions every time you cut. After cutting those veggies, you will have the opportunity to cook one or multiple recipes of your choosing. Each recipe in this game is unique and requires a different combination of dice. Each time you cook a recipe; you will have the opportunity to “hype” it up and thus make more points. The hype card includes certain conditions to achieve them. These conditions are often related to the number on your veggie dice. For example, “the vegetable dice must contain three six” or “you must discard a pepper before cooking.”. The game will end once a player has cooked his sixth recipe.

What strategies should you use while playing diced veggies? First and most importantly, I think that for your first recipe, and throughout most of the game, you should focus on completing high-value recipes. Let’s remember, you need to have the most points to win the game. How do you get points in Dice Veggies? By making recipes and by hyping them up. Yes, you should cook a high-value recipe, but you should also try to always add a hype card with every one of your recipes.  Also, keep in mind that if a type of vegetable is missing from the pool, you can always reroll the whole pool and thus create more options for you. If you don’t mind winning by blocking others, then you should keep an eye on what recipes your opponents are working on; you could predict their moves and cut dice that could be advantageous for them.

Why choose to play Diced Veggies over other cooking games? Let's be honest; there are a bunch out there. The cooking theme is fun, and the game is light but super satisfying to complete all those orders. There is a big variety of recipe cards, and the randomisation of the dice pool gives this game a lot of replayability. Diced Veggies is a fast-paced game that combines dice cutting and recipe completing (contract fulfilment). Whether you’re looking for a light game or a portable one to take on the go, Diced Veggies is for you. Grab your apron, pick up your knife, and see who comes out as the best chef.

Flamecraft is a beautifully illustrated and surely whimsical board game. You will take on the role of Flamekeepers with the skills of enchanting to help the local shops thrive. Flamecraft is designed by Manny Vega and published by Carboard Alchemy and Lucky Duck Games. Flamecraft manages to blend resource management, worker placement, and engine-building mechanics. Your goal is to become the flamekeeper with the most reputation and be known as the master of flamecraft. Visit a shop to gain items and favour from one of the dragons there.

Flamecraft is played over multiple rounds. Players take turns performing one or two main actions. On your turn you can visit a shop and maybe enchant the shop you just visited. To visit a shop, place your flamekeeper there and gain the resources from the shop. After, you can decide to activate any present dragons’ abilities. If there is space, you can even add a new artisan dragon to the shop to increase its potential benefits for futur visits. You can also decide to enchant the shop you just visited. To do so, you need to spend resources and thus upgrade its production. Enchanting a shop will give you rewards like reputation points and additional dragon abilities. The game will end when all the artisan dragons have been placed, or all enchantments have been used. Each player will then count their reputation points earned from contracts, enchantments, dragon abilities, and shop bonuses.

What strategy should you use to win Flamecraft? The first tip would be to try and always optimise shop visits. Carefully choose which shop to visit based on availability but also based on rewards. The second tip would be to utilise dragon abilities; some powerful dragons offer powerful effects when placed strategically; thus, you should plan and try to maximise their benefits. Upgrading a shop is always beneficial but try to enchant the shop at the most beneficial moment; it will provide a significant advantage and maybe even disrupt some of your opponent's plans.

             Why should you play Flamecraft? First, and for us one of the most important arguments, IT IS GEORGEOUS. If you like cute, whimsical, and colourful, Flamecraft is for you. The blend of mechanism is a really good introduction to attract younger players into the hobby. There is a high variety of shops, dragons, and enchantments, making sure the game has high replayability. If you enjoy games that balance strategy with cute storytelling, Flamecraft is a must-try.

My Shelfie is a pretty, engaging, and strategic board game. In my shelfie, players compete to organise their bookshelf in the most aesthetically pleasing manner possible. What is fun in my shelfie is that it brings back the mechanism of the old classic “Connect four.”. Each player has a bookshelf (vertical grid) and slides in decoration like you did in this old classic. You will want to create a pattern and realise the communal objective before anyone else to get the most points.

How does my shelfie play out? Each player will get a vertical grid representing their personal bookshelf and 1 central shared display where the tiles are laid for drafting. On your turn, you will be allowed to take 1–3 adjacent tiles following the drafting rules. Once you have drafted those tiles, you will then immediately place them in your bookshelf by dropping them into 1 column of your choosing. At the end of the turn, check if you have fulfilled any communal objectives. The game will end when a player completely fills their bookshelf. You will score points according to your personal objective cards, adjacency bonuses, and set collection.

What strategy should you use to play My Shelfie? My first tip would be to plan which column you want to put your tiles in. Since the tile falls from the top to the bottom of your shelf, make sure you choose wisely which one you want to put first. The second tip would be to try and balance between personal and shared goals.  Yes, it is important to go for both of those objectives but try to maximise your points. Sometimes achieving one objective is going to block you from the other. Make sure the objective you choose gives you the most points. Third tip: Watch what your opponent is doing. Are they close to achieving a shared objective and removing it from you achieving it? If they are, maybe you should be working on something else instead of losing your time on something you won’t achieve.  Last tip, ALWAYS keep in mind that the large the group of tiles of the same color the most points they will give you.

What we really love about My Shelfie is the nostalgia it brings out with mechanisms like “Connect Four”. Who doesn’t like to organise a bookshelf (or shelf of board games) more than a board gamer? The idea of organising a bookshelf is charming AND relatable. My Shelfie has a quick playtime; thus, it does not overstay its welcome. Does it have high replayability? Yes, many different shared and personal objectives are going to make every game feel different. Get ready and organise your shelf with your board game friend and your non-board game friend. 

Picky Eaters is a light board game that brings out strategy in a new light. Players take on the challenge of preparing meals for a group of highly selective diners. The game is designed by Tanya Basu and Avi Setton and is published by Le Fou. This game blends a multitude of mechanisms, including set collection, contracts, hand management, and take that. In picky eaters, each player acts as a chef attempting to craft the meals that cater to the unique dietary preferences of different diners.

In Picky Eaters, your goal is to please the most guests by cooking the most liked recipes. The game consists of 5 rounds. Each round will reveal a new guest (with likes and dislikes). Each player will be dealt food cards, and the common market will be filled. On your turn, the player will have to choose between different actions that will allow them to collect food or cook recipes. At the end of the fifth round, points will be tallied, and the chef who has created the most satisfying meal will win.

What strategy should you use to win over picky eaters? Plan and keep an eye out on the available ingredients to optimise the recipe you want to cook. Make sure you balance multiple guests; do not focus only on 1 guest. Some like of one guest could be a dislike to another one. Another tip would be to use your action cards wisely; select the right moment to maximise their action and power. Do not discard unused ingredients just yet; you may have to adapt to changing conditions, for example, a guest can be replaced by another one, thus changing your plan of menus. In other words, stay flexible.

Picky eaters has a fun and relatable theme. Who has never struggled to manage all the eating preferences of their guests? Who doesn’t know a picky kid who won’t eat anything except mac and cheese or chicken nuggets? What happens to those kids? Well, they become picky eaters and make people live hell when they invite them over. Hihi. All jokes aside, Picky Eaters is easy to teach and learn, yet it offers an interesting depth of strategy possible with set collection and meal optimisation. There is interactive gameplay as players must always keep track of their opponents moves to try and block them with action cards. The multitude of diner preferences, recipes, and ingredients makes Picky Eaters have a lot of replayability. 

Takenoko is a beautiful board game that combines tile placement, grid movement, network building, contracts, and many more other mechanisms. Takenoko is designed by Antoine Bauza and published by Bombyx and Matagot. In Takenoko players take on the role of court gardeners tending to a bamboo plantation while also trying to manage a hungry panda. Players will try to complete objectives (contracts) and earn the most points. You will cultivate bamboo gardens by growing a common garden with hexagonal tiles, irrigating the land, or even making your bamboo grow. You will always have to keep in mind the hungry panda who will keep on trying to feed on the bamboo.

At the beginning of your turn, you will roll the weather dice, which will give you a special effect like growing extra bamboo, moving the panda as you wish, etc. After that, you will have to choose 2 actions between the following: draw and place a tile, take an irrigation channel, move the gardener, move the panda, or draw an objective card. After taking your 2 actions, you will check if you have completed any of your objectives, and the turn will go to the other player. The game will end when a player completes a set number of objectives depending on the number of players.

What strategy should you use to win at Takenoko? The first tip would be to balance your objectives. You will be able to choose objectives in 3 different categories. Make sure you do not only take objectives related to tile placement or size of bamboo, that would also make your accomplishment of them so much harder. The second tip would be to make sure you keep an eye on the panda and gardener. Do not let them move too far away from your objectives, as that could make your plan harder to achieve. The third tip would be to try and irrigate as you go. Do not wait till you have achieved a tile placement objective to irrigate, as those objectives are often related to the irrigation of these tiles.

Takenoko is an engaging game with vibrant colour, an adorable miniature panda, and eye-catching bamboo. The mix of mechanisms makes Takenoko engaging and strategic, but still with a bit of luck. Takenoko is easy to teach and learn, making it an accessible game for new gamers. But it is also not as easy as it looks to master and maximise your objective, making the game fun for more experienced gamers. Also, the shared growing garden of bamboo makes sure that the gameplay stays interactive; thus, there is almost no parallel play. Takenoko is a must try for you and your family! 

References: 

BGG. (n.d.) Connect Four. Board Games Geek. Retrieved January 2025, from: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2719/connect-four

BGG. (n.d.) Diced Veggies. Board Games Geek. Retrieved January 2025, from: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/381356/diced-veggies

BGG. (n.d.) Flamecraft. Board Games Geek. Retrieved January 2025, from: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/336986/flamecraft

BGG. (n.d.) My Shelfie. Board Games Geek. Retrieved January 2025, from: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/366456/my-shelfie

BGG. (n.d.) Picky Eaters. Board Games Geek. Retrieved January 2025, from: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/381881/picky-eaters

BGG. (n.d.) Takenoko. Board Games Geek. Retrieved January 2025, from: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70919/takenoko