Some Exciting News – and Free Games!

With the COVID-19 pandemic still rolling along, interest in family board games continues strong.

More people are looking for games to play with their families while they’re mostly spending time at home. With so many activities canceled (like sports, travel, concerts, etc.), families have more evening time for hanging out together. And once the binge-watching runs its course, there’s more time for games!

And we think that’s great news!

We get a number of family board game-related news items on a daily basis. Yet we usually don’t share them through our site so we can keep focused on reviewing great family games instead. However, there have been a couple of game-related news items over the last month we think you’ll be interested in.

Check these out!

My City

We’ve enjoyed playing a number of “legacy” board games over the last few years. These are board games where the players make decisions during games that permanently alter the game for future plays. Games like Risk Legacy, Pandemic Legacy, Aeon’s End Legacy, Betrayal Legacy, and more.

The latest legacy board game we heard of is My City by Thames & Kosmos. We’ve reviewed a number of Kosmos games over the years because they regularly hit the sweet spot for family board games. So we’re really looking forward to checking out My City.

The game is currently on pre-order through Barnes & Noble and will start hitting shelves July 31.

Here’s a snippet from the press release:

“The game consists of 24 different games, or episodes, beginning with the development of a city in its early preindustrial stages and progressing through industrialization. Each player has their own game board, which they permanently modify during each episode through the addition of stickers. As such, My City is a legacy game, but its distinction within this category of board games is in the family-oriented rules, play time, and built-in system of handicaps and advantages which provide a balance between players of different skill levels.

‘The brilliance and allure of My City is in its more accessible approach to this category of game. Through simple rules, a relatively short play time, and a pattern of increasing difficulty as the game progresses, My City fits perfectly in our mission to make fun, addictive games that the whole family can enjoy. Plus, it offers a secondary, repeatable play experience thanks to double-sided game boards. This isn’t a trait that many other legacy games share.’ says Andrew Quartin, CEO of Thames & Kosmos.”

One thing we really like about it is that it will feature polyomino playing pieces. Those games go over very well in our family.

Print and Play Pandemic

Pandemic is a hit cooperative board game that’s spawned a gazillion additional games. The original family board game is probably the most influential game to put cooperative board games on the map. Not only has almost every cooperative game published since then been compared to Pandemic, but Z-Man and Asmodee published many iterations of Pandemic itself.

One such upcoming game is Pandemic: Hot Zone North America.

But you don’t have to wait for the game to be published to enjoy it!

That’s because Asmodee has made a Print-and-Play version of the game available for free!

That’s right, simply download the files, print them out, and start playing with your family and friends!

How cool is that?

Pandemic Hot Zone board game — Play the upcoming game for free with Print-and-Play!

Here’s a quick description, “Pandemic: Hot Zone features the same nail-biting cooperative experience but in a smaller, quicker form that you can take anywhere. Work together to discover cures for three diseases threatening the continent. Travel from city to city treating cases and preventing outbreaks as you research the cures together. Use your character’s unique abilities and devise a strategy that plays to each player’s strengths—cooperation is key to keeping disaster at bay!”

Grab your Print-and-Play files for Pandemic: Hot Zone North America now!

But that’s not all…

Asmodee has also made print-and-play versions of many of their most popular games available for free during these challenging times we’re in.