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🔴 Katie 👭🏻 Coty 🟡
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Jump Drive is one of my most played games, and honestly one of my favorites. It is the perfect gem for anyone who loves engine building but does not have an hour to spare. Every card tells you exactly what it does as you play, so there are almost no rules overhead once you start

This 15 minute masterpiece somehow packs a full engine building experience into a lightning fast game. Jump Drive is also my most gifted game. The iconography can look intimidating at first, but it clicks fast. This is absolutely a learn while you play game. I have basically made it my personal mission to teach Jump Drive to anyone with even a remote interest in board games 😅

What really sets it apart is that even though it lives in the Race for the Galaxy universe, this is not a filler or a watered down version of that game. It stands completely on its own, and I love it!

Swipe through for a full breakdown of how to play. Review and How to Play posts on blog!

Have you played Jump Drive? What is your favorite short game or small box game that feels big?

🏷️ #jumpdrive #raceforthegalaxy #boardgames #boardgame #howtoplay #riograndegames #jumpdrivegame #topictuesday🎲 #boardgameintentions by @kacoplays

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6

9 months ago

#boardtober2026

When the sun comes down. . . And you are required to have human interaction in a room full of strangers with loud spaces where your thoughts can't be heard

Extroversion? Yuck!

There's nothing more exciting than saying hello and goodbye to retreat to the hotel room to learn solo games and do Murdoku in blessed silence. If board games win, does that make me introverted, or just a board game addict?

🏷️ #boardgames #sologaming #tabletopgames #thematicthursday by @kacoplays

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3

4 days ago

October 13th: Mistakes were made 🎲

I have a Shelf of Shame. At one point, it was about 50 games deep. I think this is just one of the stages of getting into board games. I remember watching a @paolobandita video about the different stages of the hobby and thinking, I don't get it. What is a legacy game? 😂

Turns out, she was right! We went through the “ooh, a new game! Add to cart!” phase. Then came @boardgamegeek, Instagram, anticipating new releases, discovering designers, and finding used games

We go to @millennium.games every week, and for a long time, we always found something that needed to come home with us. Now we're more mindful about what we buy. The equation has flipped from “new game! I need it!” to “what am I going to get rid of to make room for it?”

Welcome to the catch and release program. Sometimes a #game has its time on our shelf, but if it isn't getting played, it might be time to let someone else enjoy it

One thing that's helped is tracking our collection and plays in @bgstatsapp If you haven't heard of it and want to track anything #boardgames, it's a good place to start. Turns out, I like having data to back up my questionable purchasing decisions. It's also handy for figuring out which games work best with different groups and settling the debate over who statistically wins more 🙈

The one exception to buying without thinking? Caleb. We've been going to Millennium for years, and when you visit a game store regularly, you get to know the people who work there and learn whose recommendations you can trust. So if Caleb says we should try a game, that game is coming home with us

Sorry, #ShelfofShame we're not perfect

What stage of the hobby are you in right now?

🏷️ #boardtober2026 #topictuesday🎲 #boardgamecollection #hobby #bgg by @kacoplays

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5 days ago

One of my favorite things is teaching someone a game, watching them like it, and then seeing them teach it to someone else. That has happened a lot with

📦 Cross the Line
♟️ 2 to 8 players | ⏳ ~30 minutes
💬 A party game about predicting where your friends will land on different questions

Each round, you answer a question by placing yourself somewhere along a line between two options. Everyone else tries to predict where you'll land, so knowing your friends definitely helps. But don't be so sure. There's nothing more humbling than learning you don't know your pals as well as you thought you did 🥸

We've been playing a lot of party games at 6 this summer, and this one has gotten the most table time. Did I do well today? Absolutely not. But I still had a great time, which is exactly what I want from a party game

🏆 First to 12 points wins!

Cross the Line is the kind of game you can explain as you start playing. No board to set up or prep work needed. Everything happens right in the box, keeping the footprint small and making it easy to bring along. Plus you can snack or eat fancy charcuterie as you play 😋

For #Boardtober2026, I'm combining 🎃 "They weren't expecting this" and 🎃 "In an effort to fit in" because Cross the Line is all about thinking you know your friends, only to find out they can still surprise you

Scroll to the last picture to see the other games that have been hitting our table nonstop at 6. These are the games we're planning to bring to family and holiday gatherings, too

Have you tried Cross the Line yet?

Cross the Line was a review copy, but as always, my opinions are my own

📝 Full review on KaCoPlays

🏷️ #boardgames #crosstheline #boardgamereview #gameoftheweek #boardgamereview #partygame by @kacoplays

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7 days ago

🚀 Excursions by @kinsonkeygames
👽 Designer: Ben Rosset | 🎨 Artist: Ian O'Toole
👩🏻‍🚀 1–6 players | ⏳ ~60 minutes
🧩 Crunchy euro and simultaneous play

I love a good heavy euro, pretty art, and good instructions, and Galactic Cruise is the only one that checks all three boxes at once!

I love Galactic Cruise. The ships, the upgrades, the resources, the ridiculous amount of stuff to think about... it’s exactly the kind of heavy euro I enjoy. I just don’t always have the time or table space for it. That’s what made Excursions so interesting to me

It takes the Galactic Cruise universe and puts it into a smaller game with simultaneous play, a rotating action wheel, and a playtime that’s much easier to fit into a weeknight. You’re still building ships, managing passengers, collecting resources, visiting destinations, and trying to get your space tourism empire moving before someone else reaches 50 points. And that rotating wheel? One of my favorite parts. Everyone can see what’s coming, so you’re constantly deciding whether to work on your own plan or make someone else’s plan a little harder. Naturally, I always choose the mature option 😇

I’m really excited to see where this one goes. I don’t think Excursions replaces Galactic Cruise. For me, they fill different spots on the shelf. Galactic Cruise is the one I want when I’m ready for the full heavy euro experience.
Excursions is the one I want when I still want that crunchy space tourism puzzle but don’t want to plan my entire evening around it. Plus, it makes it more approachable to my friends that love board games, but don’t want to spend the whole afternoon going, who’s turn is it?

I received a prototype copy to preview. My opinions are my own. Full review on blog!

🏷️ #eurogames #boardgamereview #kinsonkeygames #galacticcruise #excursions Excursion meeples by @kacoplays

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13 days ago

#Boardtober Day 3: Threadbare and all alone

The prompt describes what your character is up against inside each of these boxes. It also describes their current status on my shelf pretty perfectly 🙈

Every single one was an enthusiastic staff pick from our favorite local game store. Every single one is about scraping by in isolation. And every single one is completely unplayed. One of our #boardgameintentions is to make sure each game earns it's spot in our #shelfie. October feels like a pretty good time to break the curse 🎃

Set a Watch is still in the shrink wrap. The other two are open because we bought them used

Have you played any of these? I hear you gotta hold your breath in Black Mold

🏷️ #Boardtober2026 #shelfofshame Black mold, set a watch, and so, you've been eaten board game covers by @kacoplays

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15 days ago

🪎 Incan Gold by @eaglegryphon
💎 3–8 players | ⏳ ~20 minutes
⚙️ Push your luck

Day 2 of #Boardtober2026 and today’s prompt is Fortune Favours the Brave

We bought Incan Gold after hiking the Inca Trail. We were wandering around Barnes & Noble, saw it on the shelf, and had to bring it home

We didn’t find any gems on our hike, but we did play Chicken! which is another push your luck that fits in any pocket 😂

In Incan Gold, you flip a card and everyone still exploring gets a share of the treasure. Then you have to decide: keep exploring or take what you’ve collected back to camp

The catch? If the same hazard comes up twice, everyone still exploring loses everything they’re carrying. So you’re constantly trying to decide how much is enough before your luck runs out

Would you keep exploring or take your treasure back to camp?

#boardgames #boardgamephotography #pushyourluck #boardgamegeek #incangold #firstimpressionfriday🎲 #firstimpressionfriday by @kacoplays

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17 days ago

I know what you did last #Boardtober

Thanks go to @getintogames for getting this whole month tag started. I’m hooked! This is our October lineup for #ThreeGameThursday, with this week’s #ThematicThursday theme being spooky:

Awkward Guests: The Walton Case: we’ve played this with friends before, and now we own it 😍. Can’t wait to try this one at #twoplayers and teach it to some of our other friends

Murder Mystery Party: Case Files: Death by Chef’s Kiss: a huge thanks to @ugmurdermysteryparty for sending this one our way. We’ve been doing Murdoku and I’ve been reading a lot more murder mystery lately, so adding an actual murder mystery party to the October lineup sounded like a lot of fun

MicroMacro: Crime City: Full House: our second #MicroMacro! We had a lot of fun with the first one, so we’re excited to see what kind of trouble we can find in this one

Now we just have to decide whether Death by Chef’s Kiss should be a couples activity or a friends night out kidn of activity. October is looking pretty spooky around here 🎃

🏷️ #boardtober2026 #halloween #october #thematicthursday #threegamethursday #murdermysteryparty #gifted by @kacoplays

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7

17 days ago

It’s #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 and I finally tried Tend by @iv___studio

👩🏻‍🌾 1-6 players |⏳~40 minutes per player
⚙️simultaneous strategic flip and write

@gamenightnuggets taught me this one and it's pretty. I’m a sucker for flip/roll and writes, and I have never played one this complex. It took me about half of the first game to actually understand what I was doing

In Tend you’re managing your own little piece of land. Over 12 turns you’re choosing different actions to fish, mine, farm, raise animals and gather resources. You’re also interacting with your neighbors, which means some of your choices can benefit both of you. There are a lot of options, which brings me to my first and only problem. I wanted to do EVERYTHING!

Once I understood it, the game went relatively quickly and I definitely want to play it again. The components are fantastic. My friend even has the markers that are stamps, so building your cargo manifesto ends up looking really pretty. When she was explaining the rules, we had to pause because I couldn't get over the scratch off! I have never played a game with one before and I still can't get over it 😂

The scratch off is a pro for sure but also a consideration because depending on how often you play, you’re going to need replacement sheets. I really like the neighbor aspect. You want to win, but some of the things you do can benefit your neighbors and you at the same time. I liked that there was an incentive to help each other and really enjoyed getting free resources from time to time

A few things to know: Tend is largely language independent, heavier than the average flip and write, and you need a decent amount of table space. You only get to roll the fish dice. Why???? As you add plant and animal dice, they just sit on your farm, getting bigger as they grow and produce resources. The different sizes would be so awesome to roll around in your hands, but I get it

Because of our #boardgameintentions, I haven’t added it the collection, but if I see it at a good discount at my favorite game store, that might change. Whoops 🙈

🏷️ #boardgamereviews #flipandwrite #tendgame by @kacoplays

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24 days ago

I’m a big fan of @pencilfirstgames so when I learned that Murder of Crows was @ed.baraf first game, we had to try it!

The art is really pretty and it comes in a tin 😍 The game itself is really light. You're trying to be the first to spell MURDER. The catch? Each of your cards has an ability to mess with the other players along the way. We played at two and I'm curious to try these at more players cuz it dragged a bit and felt predictable

After someone wins, you read the story created. Each card seems to be unique do you narrate who, where, how and why

Have you tried this one?

🐦‍⬛Murder of Crows published by @atlasgamesinsta
♟️2-5 peeps | ⏳~20 mins | ⚙️ card and word game

🏷️ #boardgames #murderofcrows #cardgames #tabletopgames #wordgames Murder of Crows card and word game by atlas games by @kacoplays

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2

25 days ago

I was out of town this week, which meant I could only play light games that fit in my I like meeples more than people bag. We got into Murdoku and wow. I'm in love. Does this count as solo game?

Bookshelf was the victim of choice and our #gameoftheweek 😂

Bookshelf by @alleycatgames is a cooperative dexterity game for 1-6 players. It can take a few seconds to two hours. Don't ask me how I know 🙈

You’re stacking tiny books onto bookshelf cards, building your shelf higher and higher, and trying not to knock the whole thing over. The cat needs to move from shelf to shelf which ends up tumbling the tower A LOT

The goal is eight shelves (six on easy mode). We decided that wasn't enough. So we kept playing until we could build the entire deck without the bookshelf toppling. It took us a few days and multiple attempts, but we did it 📚

Sometimes a tiny game is what you need. My only complaint is that when the tower falls you can't always easily find all the books

Review on blog

#boardgames #bookshelf #dexteritygames #bookshelfgame Murdoku bookshelf finished and board game bag by @kacoplays

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a month ago

It’s #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 and this week we unleashed some ancient Egyptian chaos with Kemet: Blood and Sand and added the Book of the Dead expansion

🇪🇬 Kemet: Blood and Sand + Book of the Dead
♟️ 2–5 players
⌛ 90–120 minutes
⚙️ Area control, card driven combat, push your luck

If you haven't played Kemet before, you're commanding an army of Egyptian gods, building up your powers, and fighting over territory and fame. Combat is aggressive, and there's really no sitting back and hoping everyone else sorts it out. Book of the Dead adds emerald pyramids and a whole new set of power tiles, along with a corruption system. The more you use those powers, the more corruption you take, and that will mess with your plans

So there's a pretty interesting choice between taking advantage of the new powers and deciding how much corruption you're willing to deal with. I hardly used the emerald powers in our game. My friend, on the other hand, went pretty hard with them and came out dead last 🤣

The corruption mechanic also adds another layer to a game that already has a lot going on. You have to pay attention to how far you've pushed it and whether you can actually recover before another player takes advantage of it. Kemet is one of those games I don't think about. I'll happily complain about the fact that it has miniatures and ask why anyone needs all those tiny plastic people, yet the opportunity to actually play it comes up and . . . I'm a hypocrite, because I really enjoy it 🙈

🏷️ #kemetbloodandsand #boardgames #boardgameintentions #kemetgame by @kacoplays

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a month ago