Unboxed the Board Game Blog

With just a stove and a pan, each player starts on the road to culinary genius. Then chefs take turns selecting dishes, adjusting the heat on their stoves, and seasoning their creations. Players can even take coffee breaks, during which they can try to sabotage the opponents’ dishes, or even save their own creations from the garbage can. This madcap game all comes down to who has the best skills in the kitchen. Each time a chef attempts to spice a dish, he must try to pour the correct amount out of a seasoning container. Adding the right amount of seasoning is a difficult task, and getting the perfect pour from the seasoning container is a rare feat. To make the process even more challenging, each container also has salt which can ruin a dish if too much ends up in the pan. However, adeptly pouring spices yields the perfect dish, and creating three perfect dishes wins the game outright.

In Aquaretto, the players are managing the planning and selection of animals for their water themed zoo, in the hope of acquiring the most victory points. The players can expand the size of their water park and victory points can be earned in a number of ways. The most common way is to collect a large number of animals to your park in a variety of species.

Discover the lost treasures of Egypt and make your fortune! You are an archaeologist working the dig sites of the Egyptian desert. Search for the right pieces to complete torn parchments, broken pots and other priceless artifacts. Explore an ancient pyramid hoping to uncover a huge stash of treasure! Trade shrewdly at the local marketplace to increase the value of your collection. Sell your treasures to the museum at just the right time for maximum profit.

In Archaeology: The New Expedition, you are an archaeologist leading expeditions in search of lost relics. These artifacts lie hidden in the desert, but they belong in a museum! Luckily, the museum will pay you handsomely for whatever you deliver. Uncover shards of ancient pottery, valuable coins, masks of the Pharaohs, and more during your excavations. You can sell each right away, but you can earn even more by delivering complete sets. Don't wait too long to sell, though, or you might lose your discoveries to rival explorers or vicious sandstorms. The player with the most money when the Treasure deck runs out wins!

A new, stand-alone game in the universe of the internationally best-selling game, Terraforming Mars! In this time of unprecedented prosperity and advancement for humankind, we are finally ready to expand beyond what once were considered our limits and make a new home among the stars. Ares Expedition is a card game where you take control of an interplanetary corporation with the mission to make Mars habitable (and profitable). Featuring simultaneous action selection and simultaneous resolution, Ares Expedition is a fast-playing strategy game inspired by scientific principles. Will you lead humanity’s new era?

A game of heroes, lies and unfortunate fish for wannabe heroes!. You sit in The Hero's Return, a tavern renowned for its heroic clientele. You're not a hero, but you talk a good game. You and your friends are holding court, regaling the crowds with your tales of derring-do. Can you fight your way through a drunken haze to concoct the best boasts? The most believable? Or at least ones that are funny? Voted card game of the year at the UK Games Expo.

Up to two thousand pounds in weight and over ten feet tall, the bear is considered the biggest and heaviest terrestrial carnivore in the world. Of course, there is not just "one bear;" on the contrary, there are plenty of subspecies that differ from each other in various aspects. For instance, only the Kodiak bear (ursus arctos middendorffi) weighs about 2,000 lbs. The polar bear (ursus maritimus) weighs "only" 1,100 lbs., but gets much bigger than the Kodiak bear, being as much as 11 ft. tall! Bärenpark takes you into the world of bears, challenging you to build your own bear park. Would you like another polar bear enclosure or rather a koala* house? The park visitors are sure to get hungry on their tour through the park, so build them places to eat! Whatever your choices are, make sure you get the next building permit and use your land wisely! (* No, koalas aren't bears but they're so cute, we couldn't leave them out of this game!) In more detail, each player in Bärenpark builds their own bear park, attempting to make it as beautiful as they can, while also using every square meter possible. The park is created by combining polyomino tiles onto a grid, with players scoring for animal houses, outdoor areas, completed construction, and more. The sooner you build it, the better! Cover icons to get new tiles and park sections. The game ends as soon as one player has finished expanding their park, then players tally their points to see who has won.

Discover the enchanting beauty of the golem trade road and its mesmerizing crystals ! Wrap your mind around simple and pure game mechanics combined with a touch of hand-building system that lead to endless strategies and decisions

To be selected for the coveted post of Master Builder, you must impress the monarchy by constructing a majestic medieval metropolis. In Citadels, players use the local citizens to acquire gold and build districts to complete their city. Players draft characters each round, looking for those who provide the desired special abilities to further develop their cities—or hinder their opponents' efforts. Hire the elusive Thief and pick one of your rival’s pockets, or commission the Artist to beautify your districts and increase their value. Plot, scheme, and deceive your way to the top as you attempt to predict your opponents’ actions and foil their plans. Only the best city will earn its steward the title of Master Builder.

Eight types of creepy critters are depicted on the Cockroach Poker cards, your job isn't to win, simply to make sure that you don't lose! Players take it in turns to pass a card, face down to one of their opponents and say out load what's on the card. They might bluff, or they might be telling the truth... is it a rat? or is it really a stink bug? The recipient can either accept the card, saying if they think the player is telling the truth or bluffing... or they can peek at the card and pass it on... Cockroach Poker is a funny bluff game with creatures that no one likes! The player on whom four cards of a kind are palmed off will lose this amusing bluff game. One player offers a card to another player stating what creature is pictured on it - correctly or incorrectly. The player who misjudges the other ends up with the card. "This is a stink bug!” You can peek at the card and pass it on: "Oh no, it‘s a spider!” True or false - who knows? Are you a good bluffer?

Use resources to build a village of critters and constructions in this woodland game. From Everfrost to Bellsong, many a peaceful year have passed in Everdell — but the time has come for new territories to be settled and new cities to be established. You will be the leader of a group of critters intent on just such a task. There are buildings to construct, lively characters to meet, events to host— you will have a busy year ahead of you! Will the sun shine brightest on your city before the winter moon rises?

Exploriana is an exciting game of exploration and discovery set towards the end of the 19th century. The players control the destiny of intrepid explorers setting out on expeditions to far off regions of the world. Fantastic animals, beautiful orchids, glittering treasures, lost explorers, maps and more all await discovery. However, fame and fortune will only come to those brave enough to trek into the untamed wilds. Exploriana is played over several rounds, each split into a number of phases. Each round, players recruit explorers, ranging from photographers and detectives to scholars, medics and more. They then decide which of three far flung regions of the world they wish to send their explorers; South America, Africa or The Far East. Those explorers then lead expeditions into the deep jungles, endless savannah and mist swathed mountains of these strange new lands. Exploration is a dangerous pursuit, perils lurk around every corner waiting to doom an expedition to failure! Explorers rely on their skills and wit to get them through, but if their expedition runs into too much trouble they could become lost, perhaps never to be seen again! The players must decide just how far to push their luck and see if fortune really does favour the bold!