Purple Phoenix Games Posts

August 9, 2022 /

This past winter, I learned how to play euchre for the first time ever. I had heard of the game, but never actually played it – in my family, we were more into Dominoes. That being said, my introduction to euchre was quick and concise, and I was promptly thrown…

August 4, 2022 /

One of my favorite things about moonlighting as a board game reviewer is that I have the opportunity to have excellent relationships with other reviewers, designers, publishers, and gamers of all types. One such relationship is with Blue Orange Games. We have always been a fan of their games from…

August 2, 2022 /

Okay, what is happening here? Why is it that every game I play that has a super cute theme ends up being way more thinky than I expected it would be? Am I losing my mind? Probably, but I also need to realize that just because it looks like a…

July 28, 2022 /

I know, I know. ANOTHER pirate game? Yep! Some may feel that this theme is overdone. They would be quite wrong. There are so many themes in board games I thoroughly enjoy and of which I will never tire: pirates, Sherlock Holmes, fantasy, music, Disney, and absolutely no theme at…

July 26, 2022 /

Y’all have a favorite sport? Or couple of sports? What about a least favorite sport? My favorites are hands-down baseball and football (Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears, respectively). My least favorite sport? Soccer. However, when I was asked to preview Soccer Duel from FireStorm Labs, I just had to say…

May 12, 2022 /

You ever play a game where you feel completely overwhelmed at first, but then slowly figure everything out just to fall in love with it? I really hadn’t… until Cytress. This thing is beastly, huge, and like 4 main games crammed into one experience and one box. I really wasn’t…

May 7, 2022 /

If you are reading this, then we can agree on a few things: board games are cool and interesting, silly themes are usually fun, and we are all kids at heart. I appreciate other gamers so much because we all share a common bond of experiencing good and bad games,…

April 30, 2022 /

One cool thing about the board gaming hobby is getting to experience so many different types of games! That being said, sometimes you get yourself a game and it doesn’t turn out quite how you expected. So instead of letting it take up space on your shelf, you can sell…

April 22, 2022 /

With the ever-stable popularity of the Harry Potter universe, we tend to see offshoots of similarly-themed games pop up all around us. We have reviewed several of these “magic folk showing off to one another to see who is the best” games: Apotheca, WizBang!, Studies in Sorcery, etc. What you…

April 16, 2022 /

I absolutely love a beautiful game. Being a gamer, I have seen and played many gorgeous games. However, the first time I set up Holi: Festival of Colors (just Holi from here), both my 5 year old son and my slightly older mother-in-law both commented on how awesome it looked…

April 8, 2022 /

I’ve mentioned before that Travis and I are currently playing a D&D campaign with another friend. I’m the DM and those two dudes are my ever-entertaining party. The adventure we’re running at the moment is Dungeon of the Mad Mage, which takes place in Undermountain. So imagine my surprise whilst…

March 30, 2022 /

A magical bakery in a forest co-owned by a quirky board game loving contestant on The Great British Bake Off? If there was ever a game specifically designed for my wife, this is it. She loves baking, cute card games, and that super-famous show (she was always a fan of…

March 28, 2022 /

I don’t know about you, but I have always been fascinated by Russian nesting dolls, known as Matryoshka dolls. Something about opening the outer-most doll and finding an exact replica, but smaller, just brings me so much joy and satisfaction. I could play with them all day. So whilst perusing…

March 22, 2022 /

I am a big fan of fantasy. I love theories of how people believe the future will look, and one such common theme is that of terraforming and finding new places to pioneer. Now, I am obviously no scientist, so the logistics of actual terraforming or exploring foreign planets/systems are…

March 18, 2022 /

I enjoy going to my FLGS simply to just look at games. I may not have an intention to necessarily buy one each trip, but I love seeing all the different box art, titles, themes, and more. In several stores that I have visited, I always saw copies of Tikal…