We acquired quite a few games this year as a result of games I kickstarted before/during the pandemic finally coming in, but apparently much of them are not even considered as released in 2022 on Board Game Geek. :shrug:

And in classic board game enthusiast fashion, we are acquiring games faster than we can play them.

Disney Villainous Badder & Badder [0]

A 3-character expansion to Disney's Villainous game series. I like the game because the rules are pretty easy to learn so kids and adults can understand and play it, and with the ever-expanding universe, there are more and more favorite characters coming out. This one in particular includes Syndrome (The Incredibles), Lotso (Toy Story 3), and Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone). I actually haven't played all the characters, but it seems to be pretty well-balanced.

Future Me Problems [1]

A game by a web comic artist whose work I enjoy (Sarah Anderson). It's super simple to pick up, and the art is cute, and the premise of the game is just how hard you can slack off. Good for kids and families.

Hand to Hand Wombat [2]

I can't leave a review of this game because this game is a 3+ player game and my wife and I haven't gotten around to hosting a game night. But the premise is that everyone is supposed to build a tower with their eyes closed, and the "bad wombat" (whose identity no one knows) must sabotage. Sort of a mix of tower-building and mafia, I suppose.

Dune Imperium Rise of Ix [3]

My boss actually bought this for me and I haven't gotten around to playing it, but its an expansion to Dune Imperium, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Mechanically it's pretty deep, so not recommended for non-gamers, but it's a fun twist on the deck-building genre.

Marvel Dice Throne [4]

I've never played a Dice Throne game before, but Marvel Dice Throne is pretty fun. With 8 characters to play as and lots of ways to sabotage your opponents, no two games are ever the same.

Verdant [5]

This is a pretty easy game to pick up, we've played with my in-laws. It's a spatial competitive "puzzle" game (aim is to optimally place your rooms and plants such that you maximize the favorable conditions for each plant and room). A nice blend of strategy and min-maxing. Somehow, despite my min-maxing strategies, my mother-in-law managed to win in our last game, which either says a lot about the game, or about my strategies.

Mind Mgmt [6]

OK, not technically a 2022 game for some reason, but this is a super fun deduction game. One player secretly moves their piece around the map and the rest of the players has to "interview" various tiles to determine where/when the character is. We haven't played past the training mission, but once you start playing the real game, there's a system they call the "SHIFT" system which adds more mechanics to the game depending on which team won. I like the idea, and the game itself is super fun and the art is nice as well.

Honorable Mentions: not board games, but puzzles!

Vizzles [7]

A regular puzzle with themed "riddles/puns" (the ones we've done so far were plays on words of movies and books)

Odd Pieces [8]

Construct a puzzle that is _slightly_ different from what you see on the box (the "lore" is that the puzzle you construct is at a moment in the future of the scene played out in the box).

While video games are enjoyable (just finished collecting all 400 Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet), sometimes you can't beat a nice screen-free night with friends/family.

[0] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/352764/disney-villainous...

[1] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/360177/future-me-problem...

[2] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/356909/hand-hand-wombat

[3] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/342031/dune-imp...

[4] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/348406/marvel-dice-thron...

[5] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/334065/verdant

[6] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/284653/mind-mgmt-psychic...

[7] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samuelmilham/vizzles-vi...

[8] https://oddpieces.com/