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No Context

November 30, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher Leave a Comment

The holidays are coming up quickly, so rather than feature a Hot Spot this week, we are featuring a Hot Gift Idea of the week! No Context is a fun and family-friendly game made by awesome local Portland game designer Kory McDow. Trust me when I say that someone you know will be delighted to find it under the tree or near the menorah or kinara!

No Context is really easy to play. In the basic game form, teams of two compete to show that they know each other better than their competitors. Drawing cards that present two ‘no context’ choices, both teammates must guess each other’s answers correctly in order to get the point. The lack of context often presents some very surprising results! For example, ‘Gas or Electric’ in a recent game of ours was taken in three completely different ways by different team members. Are we talking about cooking? Types of cars? No Context!

One of my favorite things about the game is that often complete strangers will do better at it than a team who has known each other for years. There are always many shouts of, “You thought I’d say WHAAAATT???” Plus, you get to learn things about your friends or family that you may have never before thought to ask. Does your mom prefer ‘Whales or Dolphins’? Would your friend pick ‘Public or Private’? There are surprises in every game.

No Context is a particularly perfect gift for this holiday season, as it can easily be played while social distancing or even over Zoom, Facetime, or Skype. Check it out here.

What fun games or gifts will you be giving this season? Let us know in the comments!

Board Games

April 20, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher 2 Comments

Social distancing doesn’t have to be boring, and it also doesn’t have to involve only screen time! Board games are a fantastic way to while away a few enjoyable hours with your family or friends and can be done in person with your household or over the internet. Board gaming has become a pretty prominent hobby in recent years, so go ahead and pitch your battered copy of Monopoly and pick up one of these (much more interesting) gems.

Family Fun

Dixit

A beautifully illustrated guessing game, similar to Apples to Apples but with surreal dream-like imagery.

Kingdomino

Draft domino-style tiles of different landscapes to build the most well-planned and valuable kingdom.

The Grimm Forest

Compete to build 3 houses of straw, wood, or brick with the help of your favorite fairy tale friends. Get it here.

Gizmos

Build gizmos and gadgets using energy marbles and building schematics. Layer the effects to be the science fair winner!

Good for Two

Code Names Duet

Try and get your partner to guess a variety of cards with a single word for a clue. Be careful to avoid the assassins!

Multiuniversum

Who can use the scientific tools at their disposal to close the most portals before aliens from a slew of weird dimensions take over the planet?!?!

7 Wonders Duel

Build the best civilization by carefully developing your science, military, culture, and commerce.

Cooperative Games

Unlock! Adventures

Basically an escape room in a box, you have an hour to solve a bunch of fun puzzles within different narrative themes. Rated 1-3 padlocks for difficulty.

Mysterium

Mysterium is like Clue, if Clue had psychics who were receiving surreal dream image communications from the ghost of the muder victim.

Forbidden Island

Try to reclaim the sacred treasures from a beautiful and mysterious island before the whole thing sinks into the ocean with you along for the ride.

Over the Interweb

Jackbox

Jackbox has a ton of different party packs with different styles of games. You all connect to one party room and then use your own mobile device to participate. Check it out here.

Just One

Help the guesser figure out a secret word by writing just one related word for them to see. Don’t be too obvious though, as any overlaps are erased!

Tabletopia

Play hundreds of different board games with friends using this very cool tabletop board game simulator on Steam. Check it out here.

There are so so so many amazing board games out there right now, and these are just a few. We definitely recommend that you support your local game store or the developers of these games directly when purchasing. A few of my favorite Portland game shops that are doing curbside pick-up right now are Guardian Games and Rainy Day Games, and you can order many of these great games from Powell’s as well!

Did we miss your favorite board game? Let us know in the comments!

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