Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
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 puff out our feathered chests for mating season as we scoop up seeds for the win in Piepmatz
Next: We scramble for woodland resources to help our little furry friends thrive, in Tiny Towns
And lastly: We dodge dragons and trolls to build luxe castles in forbidding territories in Kingdoms
Piepmatz – Little Songbirds
Designed by: Ben Pinchback, Matt Riddle
Published by: Lookout Games (2018)
Players: 2 – 4
Ages: 10 & up
Playing time: ~ 30 minutes
Piepmatz is a set collection card game where players play bird cards from their hand to collect seeds and birds at the bird feeder. Seeds and bird couples in your collection are worth points. Single birds only score if you have the most of their species.
Each turn, players add birds to the line at the bird feeder. The bird closest to the feeder is the one that is feeding. A player can collect that feeding bird by placing a card in that line, and if the value of all the birds waiting in line to feed is greater than that of the bird currently feeding, the player will collect the feeding bird, along with collecting some seed cards.
Bird cards can also be collected by playing a lower value card on the feeding line, and then taking another card from your hand and putting it into your collection.
Each bird card and each seed card have one , two, or three eggs on it, so the player who has the most eggs of a specific species of birds at the end of the game will score the victory points for that particular species.
Mating pairs – exact matches of birds in your hand – score bonus points. Beware squirrels and crows, you might have to pick them up along the way, and they will eat some of your seed cards.
When the seed card pile runs down, the game ends, add up your points, and the winner becomes top of the pecking order.
Tiny Towns
Designed by: Peter McPherson
Published by: Alderac Entertainment Group (2019)
Players: 1 – 6
Ages: 14 & up
Playing time: 45 minutes
Tiny Town is a resource management game in which players are the mayor of a tiny town, deep in the woods, where you must collect raw materials to build specific types of buildings.
A player’s town is represented by a 4×4 grid. As you collect a resource, you must place it on one of your squares. Place your resources in certain patterns to build certain types of buildings. When you have the resources in place in the correct pattern on your card, remove the resources and erect the building on one of those squares. Keep doing this until you have no more legal moves to make.
Each building scores victory points (VPs) in a unique way. Any squares without a building are worth -1 VP. The player with the most VP wins, and graduates from being the Mayor to the Lord and Overseer of the greatest Tiny Metropolis the forest has ever seen!
Kingdoms (Koninkrijk)
Designed by: Rogier J.C. Ooijevaar
Published by: self-published – (2016)
Players: 3 – 5
Ages: 12 & up
Playing time: 20 – 50 minutes
Kingdoms is a card game, where you use your hand of cards to battle opponents with them to win the cards that can make your kingdom complete.
The deck contains 3 sets – red, yellow, and blue. Each set is numbered 1-9. There are also a few non-suited treasure cards.
Group your cards. The cards numbered 1-3 are the people cards. Collecting them is worth half a point. 4-6 are army cards, collecting them is worth a point. 7-9 are a court, courts are worth 2 points.
Play a group in front of you in ascending order. The colors of the 3 cards represent your flag pattern. You can add more groups as long as they fit the flag pattern. You can return cards to your hand and change the flag pattern.
Each turn, a card from the pile is placed to the center. Then players battle to try and collect that card by throwing a card from their hand and adding the number value of the card to the value of any groups you have in play. So if I throw a 5 down, and if I have an army in front of me, the army is worth 1, so 5 +1 is 6, and that’s my bid to win the card.
The goal is to be the first player to build a kingdom with a people, an army, and a court with the correct flag pattern for all three sets. Here’s your crown, your majesty!