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 flock together like birds of a feather in Oh My Pigeons!
Next: We make really big bids and hope it does the trick in Colossal Cat In The Box
And lastly: We hop around the board releasing rabbits in our wake in Bunny Boom
Oh My Pigeons!
Designed by: (not listed)
Published by: Ravensburger (2024
Players: 2 – 5
Ages: 8 & up
Playing time: 15 minutes
Oh My Pigeons! is a fast-paced, “take-that” party game where players compete to be the first to fill their “bench” with silly little pigeons. On your turn, you play a card and set off one of the following:
- Gaining Pigeons: Take pigeons from the central flock and add them to your bench.
- Stealing Pigeons: Take pigeons directly from other players’ benches.
- Removing Pigeons: Force other players to return pigeons from their benches back to the central flock.
- Swapping Benches: Exchange your entire bench (and its pigeons) with another player.
- Rolling the Die: If you play the “Oh My Pigeons!” card, you roll a special die with various outcomes:
- Gain Pigeons: Take 3 or 5 pigeons from the flock.
- Steal Pigeons: Take 2 or 4 pigeons from other players (you can split them among multiple opponents).
- “Poo” Flick: This is a dexterity element! Place the die near your bench and flick it at an opponent’s bench. Any pigeons knocked off their bench return to the central flock.
- “NON” Card: This is a special card that can be played anytime, even on another player’s turn, to cancel their card action or prevent them from taking pigeons or flicking the die after a roll.
- Draw Cards: At the end of your turn, draw cards until you have 3 cards in your hand again.
The game immediately ends as soon as any player fills all the spaces on their bench with pigeons. That player is declared the winner.
Colossal Cat In The Box
Designed by: Muneyuki Yokouchi
Published by: Bézier Games (2024)
Players: 2 – 5
Ages: 14 & up
Playing time: 20 – 40 minutes
Cat in the Box is a unique trick-taking card game with a “quantum” twist: your cards don’t have a fixed suit until you play them! Unlike traditional trick-taking games where cards have a set suit (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades), in Cat in the Box, your cards are “colorless.” Each round is played in two parts: preparation, where you are dealt a hand, discard one card, then place a guess how many tricks you’ll win, and trick taking. When you play a card, you declare its color (red, blue, yellow, or green) and place a token on a central “research board” to mark that specific number/color combination as “observed.” Here’s the catch: You cannot declare a color for a card if that specific number/color combination has already been observed on the research board by any player. This is where the “paradox” comes in. If you’re forced to play a card but cannot legally declare a color for it (because all options for that number are taken), you’ve caused a paradox, and the round ends immediately. You can score points in multiple ways, as you score points for the number of tricks won, if your guess during preparation was correct, and if you’ve created a “run” of tokens on the research board. Careful though, as if you’re the player who caused the paradox you LOSE points equal to the number of tricks you won in that round!
The game is played for a number of rounds equal to the number of players. After all rounds are complete, the player with the highest total score wins.
Colossal Cat in the Box is a highly strategic and mind-bending trick-taking game four times larger than its original printing that rewards careful planning, deduction, and an awareness of what other players might declare.
Bunny Boom
Designed by: Guime
Published by: Ruse Games (2025)
Players: 2 – 4
Ages: 12 & up
Playing time: 15 – 45 minutes
Bunny Boom is a light, strategic card game where the goal is to end the game with the fewest bunnies. You’re essentially trying to offload as many of these adorable, yet burdensome, creatures onto your opponents as possible.
On your turn, you perform the following actions:
Play a Card: Choose one card from your hand and play it into the central “garden.” Cards have a few key elements:
On-Play Effect: An immediate action that triggers when you play the card. These can vary widely, from giving/taking bunnies, moving other players’ pawns, activating “river” card abilities, or even causing a “Bunny Boom!”
Movement Value: A number that indicates how many spaces your pawn will move through.
Symbol: Each card has a symbol (e.g., a carrot, a leaf, a sun). These symbols are crucial for closing off areas.
Move Your Pawn and Collect Bunnies:
After playing your card, you move your player pawn to the card you just played.
Then, you gain bunnies for every card your pawn moved through to get to its current position, plus any bunnies already on those cards. This is where the “boom” happens and bunnies proliferate!
At the end of your turn, refill your hand back to 3 cards. When the game ends, all players count the total number of bunnies they have collected. The player with the fewest bunnies wins the game!
Bunny Boom is about clever card play, predicting movement, and strategically passing on bunnies to your opponents while trying to minimize your own collection. It’s a game of managing an ever-growing problem in a lighthearted and chaotic way.