236: Cat Café | Undergrove | Splash Down

What this episode covers

Welcome to Which Game First where we boldly explore the hilariously huge world of board games. Did we unearth any hidden treasures you’ve been missing out on? Let’s find out! First up: We make a bee-line, with felines, up the treelines in Cat CaféNext:  We look for the humongous fungus among us in UndergroveAnd lastly: We get silly on the lily as we hop around willy-nilly in Splash Down Cat Café Designed by: Lee Ju-Hwa, Giung KimPublished by: Alley Cat Games (2019)Players: 2 – 4Ages: 10 & upPlaying time: 30 minutes Cat Café is a roll and write game. Players each occupy a corner of a cat café, and they are vying to make their corner the best. Players are going to fill their cat towers with toys, food, little houses and comfy places to rest. Roll the dice. There will be one more dice than there are players. Players each draft one die, then everyone makes use of the final unused die as well. Entice cats by literally drawing toys for the cats to play with. Place the toys in the most favorable way possible, and you win by attracting the most cats! Each player’s two dice are used to 1) Draw a particular type of cat toy and 2) Place it on that level of a particular tower. Placing each toy in a particular position is important as it gives a player points in specific ways. Place a bowl next to different and unique other toys, or place a cushion high up so that cats can sleep and watch from high up, or even give the cats yarn to play with, giving you potential majority scoring. Undergrove Designed by: Elizabeth Hargrave, Mark WoottonPublished by: Alderac Entertainment Group (2024)Players: 1 – 4Ages: 10 & upPlaying time: 60 – 90 minutes In Undergrove, you are a towering evergreen with an ancient symbiotic connection to the fungi in your forest. As new mushrooms appear, your options expand for converting nutrients and helping your seedlings. Using cube conversion, tile placement, area control, and a tiny bit of engine building, you’ll need to claim the most advantageous locations and optimize your actions to leave the best legacy in the forest. The player with the greatest number of successful seedlings, wins! ● Build a shared forest containing mushrooms with diverse abilities.● Trade with the mushrooms to get resources based on the partnerships you’ve made.● Place your seedings in the most advantageous positions to score the most points. Inspired by real mycorrhizal trading networks. Shape the destiny of your forest with every decision! Splash Down Designed by: Joseph WebPublished by: J&J Games (2022)Players: 2 – 6Ages: 8 & upPlaying time: 5 – 30 minutes Splash Down is a push your luck head to head game. Players control frogs that have to race across lily pads to get flies. This isn’t as safe as it sounds, as sometimes the pads break! Even worse, your fellow players can push you in on purpose to make you lose lives! In this push your luck game you have to put everything on the line. It’s not just about surviving, you also have to get the most flies safely back home. Are you up to the challenge?

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