Stronghold Family Games Review

The amazingly generous folks at Stronghold Games were kind enough to send me a box full of games to review! After I did a little happy dance around my living room when I saw what they included, I decided that the best way to handle reviews would be to break it up into manageable chunks. So this weekend my family and I took 4 of the games and played them!  I have to say, I was sure at least one of them would be a dud.  I mean, in 4 new games, one of them is gonna be "just OK," right?  Man, was I wrong!  So I want introduce you to those first 4 games in this post!

To begin with, on Saturday I picked 3 games for us to play as a family.  Honestly, I wasn't sure we'd get to all of them on Saturday afternoon.  After all, each new game we play involves me reading the rules, setting up the game, and explaining the rules to my hubby and 3 kids. Then we often have a long, confusing play through as we learn the game.  Thankfully, these 3 games were simple to learn, simple to play, and lots of fun!

1.) To begin with, we played Fabled Fruit (2-5 players) 

We’ve never played a "Legacy" game before, so this was a new experience. (Fabled Fruit is similar to a legacy game. But is re-startable and re-playable.) It was fairly simple and straightforward to learn and play! What I especially like is that it starts out really simple and then gets more complex as you continue playing.  So that first play through is pretty simple.  Then, as you play the game more times, it introduces new game mechanics.  Its really fabulous for younger kids because it introduces complexity slowly!   And it’s fun that there are certain game pieces that get introduced later on in the game, so it’s constantly building on itself!  The art in the game is also so stinking cute! 

We really enjoyed playing this game, however, we did make a mistake the first time through.  (Completely me fault.) We forgot to put a new card into play every time someone purchased one. So we decided to start the game over the next day. It was easy to start over - just like the box claimed.  And it was even more fun when we got it right!  Haha!  We most definitely enjoyed it and I can't wait to play again!  Even my hubby said he had fun!  

2.) Fuji Flush - (3-8 players) 

If you’re looking for card game that’s easy to learn, and yet still fun to play, Fuji Flush is the one for you! I couldn’t believe how easy AND fun it was! A lot of times, if a card game is super easy for kids to learn, it can be boring for adults. Or if it’s fun for adults, it’s often too challenging for younger kids. But Fuji Flush was SUPER easy to learn and SUPER fun to play! We all had a great time! The 6 year old was able to play completely independently. And she won the first game! Plus, it plays in about 10-15 minutes, so its a great filler game or great for a quick homeschool break! Its also small and you don't need a ton of room to play, so its perfect for travel, waiting in restaurants for your food to arrive, etc. 

We've now played it 7 times in the past 5 days. We play at lunch time, before dinner, before bed. All sorts of times. We've played indoors and outdoors. This game will DEFINITELY be part of the regular rotation! And we’ll be bringing it to family gatherings too!

3.) Farben - (3-5 players)

Farben - this was a lot of fun! Basically everyone gets a set of cards with colors on them. Then cards with words are revealed. Everyone picks a color from their hand that they associate with that word and then tells a personal story about why they associate that color with that word. Then the color cards get turned upside down underneath the word card. You do this 10 times. Then each player receives 2 or 3 stacks of cards and has to try to remember which color each person said with the word. You earn points for each one you remember. We played with our 3 kids, so it was a bit challenging. But I still felt like the kids did really well and we had lots of fun! There was even a very tender family moment where my 7 year old said she picked the color black to associate with the word “trust” because black reminded her of Jesus dying for us and that made her think of trust. (Even more timely, considering we just entered the Lenten season.) 

It was a really fun game! The kids ask to play it almost daily. But I can see it being even more fun on vacation with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law! Or with a couple of friends over for dinner! The story telling aspect can lead to some funny moments, but can also lead to some “get to know you” type moments!

4.) Nova Luna (1-4 players)

Lastly, Hubby and I played Nova Luna Saturday evening while the kids were watching a movie. It was easy to pick up because it shares a lot in common with Patchwork (also by Uwe Rosenberg) in how turns are taken. For instance, just like in Patchwork, the person who is farthest behind is the one who’s turn it is. So it’s possible to take multiple turns in a row. But it’s a tile laying, pattern matching game instead of a polyomino game. So I didn’t feel like we were playing a game that was “just another Patchwork.” I REALLY enjoyed it! And so did my hubby! It makes you think because you have to arrange your tiles in a way that fulfills the objectives on the tiles, but it’s actually very laid back. It was lots of fun. 

We played right before bed - which can be a bad time to play a new game.  Our brains are often too tired to wade through a new game's rulebook. But this game didn’t make us feel like our brains were being fried. I love light strategy games like this for a nice, relaxing time! It’s definitely something you could play while watching a football game, etc. (once college football starts again!), but also something you could focus solely on if you wanted. We enjoyed it so much that we've played it several more times since then!  We’ll definitely be playing more of this!

I received these games, free of charge from Stronghold Games, in exchange for my honest review.