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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 gather stones from water in a particular order in River Valley Glassworks
Next: We deal in legal goods while striking up the contraband in Sheriff of Nottingham
And lastly: We come up with lists, while finding the decoy in OUTFOX the FOX
River Valley Glassworks
Designed by: Adam Hill, Ben Pinchback, Matt Riddle
Published by: Allplay (2024)
Players: 1 – 5
Ages: 8 & up
Playing time: 20 – 30 minutes
Welcome to River Valley! The beautiful pieces of glass that can be found along the river here have attracted the most entrepreneurial of woodland creatures to set up shop. In River Valley Glassworks, you play as a woodland artisan collecting colorful glass pieces from a flowing river to fill your inventory shop. On your turn, you place a glass piece from your hand into a matching river tile to draft all the pieces from an adjacent tile. The goal is to strategically arrange these pieces on your player board to complete rows and columns for the highest score before the river runs dry.
Sheriff of Nottingham: 2nd Edition
Designed by: Sérgio Halaban, André Zatz
Published by: CMON (2020)
Players: 3 – 6
Ages: 14 & up
Playing time: 60 minutes
The bustling market in Nottingham is filled with goods from all over the kingdom. Most of it is entirely legal, however, Prince John is looking to make sure no contraband gets sold. He’s tasked the Sheriff to inspect Merchant’s wares, looking for any illicit goods. The Sheriff’s shrewd, but not above taking a bribe to look the other way. Which Merchant will end up getting the best goods through and make the largest profits in the market stalls? In Sheriff of Nottingham, you play as a merchant attempting to bring goods into the city by packing them into a felt bag and declaring their contents to the Sheriff. The Sheriff must then decide whether to believe your claim or inspect the bag, leading to a high-stakes game of bluffing, bribery, and negotiation. If you get caught smuggling contraband, you pay a fine, but if the Sheriff wrongly inspects “legal” goods, they must pay you instead.
OUTFOX the FOX
Designed by: Jeff Grisenthwaite
Published by: Smirk & Dagger Games (2025)
Players: 2 – 10
Ages: 10 & up
Playing time: 40 – 60 minutes
A sly party game of Top Five lists! In this trivia game, players work together to correctly rank a “Top 5” list, but one player (the Fox) secretly inserts a fake answer into the mix. The group wins by sequencing the real items correctly and identifying the lie, while the Fox scores points by tricking the group into ranking their fake answer highly.