3 Board Games You Shouldn't Overlook

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I recommend three hidden gem board games which you might have overlooked.
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🛒SHOP:
1️⃣Fantasy Realms - geni.us/fantas...
2️⃣My Farm Shop - geni.us/myfarm...
3️⃣Fairy Tale Inn - geni.us/fairyt...
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[@jurekro]

Thanks for not having an IKEA shelf with boardgames in your background. 😂

[@Zilong09]

Seriously. It is so tiring to see so much visual terrorism of collections.

[@branboom3342]

Why the heck does that matter? What a dumb thing to comment on.

[@AquaticAbomination]

​@@branboom3342 Because every single board game channel does that. It's a valid criticism.

[@wellesradio]

@@branboom3342Because style matters.

[@jordanspikes9575]

I purchased Fantasy Realms based on this video, and tested it out solo with a dummy hand before taking it to my game night last night. We played it four times, with everyone asking to play it again immediately after the previous game ended. Thank you for cluing me into this gem!

[@thomasfrench615]

Did not expect D Day Monopoly to be real

[@kchorst5037]

Everyone in my house agreed that My Farm House looks like a phone app.

[@lenaforsgren]

I showed it to my husband and asked what kind of impression he got. He couldn’t think of something in particular. Then I showed him the part in this video where the art is mentioned and my husband said that he had actually assumed it WAS an image from an app 😀😂😅 Seems like such a fun game, though, would love to play. 😊👍

[@Leron...]

Jon, your description of the dinner party scenario brought back some anxiety-inducing flashbacks about planning the table seating for my wedding... It was like anti-tetris, instead of fitting matching things together you wanted to make sure that the coworker with green hair and facial piercings was as far away from the racist grandma as possible.

[@joelface]

HAHA! so true.

[@Wanted797]

John is adding this to his list of analogy’s for future videos.

[@docneale7534]

Just discovered this channel, and it's wonderful! Superb writing, wry and funny. 'It's not bad artwork, I've just evolved to distrust it'. Subscribed.

[@guandjs]

My friends and I love Fantasy Realms. At the end we always have to make up a story using the cards in our hands. Sometimes they are flat but often they are hilarious. Thinking about the story in addition to points elevates the game another notch for us!

[@denycast]

Oh yeah that is a great way to enhance the game. For ecxample The king that got so many lands, but just wanted a queen😀

[@gerardcristofol5425]

Bought Fantasy Realms on my local board game store recommendation, I now carry it around all the time. The companion scoring app is extremely well done and I highly recommend it

[@JSkante]

I love your sense of humor.

[@jksgameshelf3378]

I've loved Fantasy Realms for years, but just bought a copy of the new printing last week. Already want to order the expansion, too. Great game.

[@AhJong0]

Jon, absolute quality lately. Love the new studio set up! The Joey/Rachel and the app appearance of Farm Shop were bang on. Loving the recent 3 game structure. Keep being brilliant 👍

[@marcuswilliams8762]

Ordered ‘My Farm Shop’ today, thanks for bringing this hidden gem to my attention, this seems perfect for the family and the more casual gamers in our gaming group.

[@nedeljkodukic7279]

The analogy master right here. You crack me up in each of your videos :). Keep up the good work! I can feel that this is truly your passion.

[@faye13l]

I always love your more obscure recommendations! Bought a lot of games off your videos, thank you!

[@viniciussquilace3711]

"Better to be ugly and fun then pretty and boring" That's Castles of Burgundy right there.

[@funnerbutter7423]

The 3 fingers he held up were in sign language. I bet no one else noticed that lol

[@IslanKleinknecht]

oh my god i thought D-Day MONOPOLY WAS A JOKE!

[@DanielThomasHutton]

I can't believe how much my farm shop looks like an app store thumbnail.

[@andrewwalsh531]

Fantasy Realms is already in the collection & My Farm Shop is on preorder....which leaves Fairy Tale Inn, where I'm not exactly sure :s and btw even my father's ghost finds your channel a worthwhile watch!

[@actualol]

Don't get all three, I can't be right 100% of the time! And tell your father's ghost to like and subscribe 👍

[@ryanbartlett672]

Love Fantasy Realms, including what to me, is some of the best art and theme in gaming. So much depth in a small deck of cards, and the scoring is actually fun -- we go around one card at a time and it is like telling a story. Thanks for the other two recommendations - juat put them in my cart. Your writing and delivery is top notch - humorous analogies abound!

[@JoeyjojoShabadoo7]

“If you want to scream into stretch goal purgatory.” 😂👌

[@gamefreakgeek]

I desperately want that dinner party game. Please Jon, make games. 🖤

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

I think Belle of the Ball did something like that.

[@branboom3342]

My passed-over game that I eventually tried and loved is Lords of Waterdeep. So fun, simple yet providing some decent strategy and decisions. I absolutely love it but ignored it forever because the community said it had been outdone by other worker placementa.

[@bigg3110]

Bought Fairy Tale Inn and like it, I don't even mind the Jack tile as it proves useful for winning rooms if played at the right time and is often free as noone else wants it. A really well balanced game. My main criticism is it's a bit overpriced. Good to see you again 👍

[@TehEeveeGeneral]

I was so nervous for that hourglass.

[@actualol]

It will die one day, we have to just accept that.

[@Bleuchz]

""""Life is what happens when you're busy making plans" - Henry Cook" - John Lennon" - Jon Perkis" Nice plants, nice video! Been on the fence with Fantasy Realms think you may have pushed me over :)

[@AdaminWales]

This is so true - my wife has picked out “My Farm Shop” on the game shop shelf a couple of times now & I’ve always been put off by the artwork. Which is nuts, because I love Dream Home, which has a very similar style. I think I’ll have to pick this one up! Glad you tried Fantasy Realms - I adore that one. Totally agree on the theme too. And the Fairy Tale game looks fab too. Thanks!

[@actualol]

Yeah I really like Dream Home but I think that one manages to look a bit nicer, a bit less mobile game, despite having a very similar look.

[@rown2k4]

Slowed down in buying games since last year but My Farm Shop makes it to my buylist anyway. Got curious with the Paolo Mori bit in the Fairy Tale Inn segment. Good recommendations all around!

[@NCTarheel55]

I was nervous about Farm Shop but may have to give it a try.

[@christianbank393]

Those last two are lighter than I tend to prefer, but I've been to tempted to buy them because I love Dorn and Mori games....dang you for reminding me!

[@actualol]

Dorn and Mori sounds like a great duo.

[@passthedice6552]

Yay another video! Keep being you, doing what you love, and being such a light to others! 💕

[@SoLove]

Great video!! But you got the Sunflower rule wrong in My Farm Shop. It doesn't double the effectiveness of a space but adds one for each sunflower. So if you had a card that produced a wool & an egg and had a sunflower you could then take a 2nd token of either resource.

[@actualol]

You're right. I was trying to simplify the concept to explain quicker and was thinking only of cards that produce one thing, which it does effectively double. I have been playing it right, just explained it wrong. Apologies!

[@ekconley6429]

Thankfully you only covered 3 games! However, your comments on Farm Shop left me wanting for a 3rd die expansion for Catan... I'd go back to using dice for that!

[@actualol]

Does that mean you play it with cards? Is that an official variant or just a house rule?

[@ekconley6429]

@@actualol yeah, we use the event cards from Traders and Barbarians. It's a deck of cards with numbers and events, but we just use them for the numbers, ignoring the events. That way, you know the dice roll values have the expected distributed through the deck, it's just the order they come out is random.

[@RadishTheFool]

None of these games are new to me. But you take the time and thought to notice what makes them good, and then even more time and thought to convey that information to us. So now I see them for more than the bland dime a dozen games they seem in other reviews. Thank you very much.

[@actualol]

Thank you, that's exactly what I hope to achieve, and it's nice to see it recognised.

[@RadishTheFool]

@@actualol It's very clear to me that you choose to focus on fewer games so you can give them more love and attention. And that it takes a lot of time and thought to produce such clear and concise videos with such unique takes. I'm really impressed, and appreciate it a lot.

[@foyoGames]

I haven't gotten the whole Fantasy Realms rundown from the 10+ Red Rising reviews I've watched. So succinct & nice

[@alexanderammerl2404]

Fantasy Realms is such a great game. We always play 6-8 rounds in a row, because the gameplay is so addictive! Also the fantasy setting is actually a plus for me😂

[@leakedzebra]

Fantasy realms is basically Rummy.

[@enriquevivar27]

The best selling of a Rudiger Dorn game. buying it immediately!

[@cwb95k]

I love these smaller box recommendations. I tend to play the bigger box games but these are great when I need something quick to play with the family. I am curious if you've played Turin Market, Chakra, or Nanga Parbat?

[@actualol]

I'm afraid I haven't tried any of those, sorry!

[@WuschelofDespair]

Fences against Kickstarter and Miniatures :D i kinda get that, I do like Minis, however their usability vs shelf space ratio is pretty Bad, so I‘m very selective about games with minis. Fantasy can be a really nice theme imho, I used to love it and nowadays I prefer other themes but a little fantasy here and there is fine. I wasn‘t overly impressed with Fantasy Realms, I‘ve played it 3 times and for me personally it doesn‘t live up to the hype but it‘s fun nontheless. Nice Studio Setup! Much better than that in front of a kallax look from most channels. A few points of (hopefully constructive) criticism: the edge of your table is not perfectly horizontal but slightly crooked, might look cleaner straight. We all love that smooth creamy background, but due to the nature of physics and how lenses work, bokeh isn’t just in the front, but also in the back and when you showed my inn tales, the game components where out of focus, so maybe close the aperture a little for those; ) Awesome content as always!

[@actualol]

Thanks for the advice. The little mistakes such as crooked table and blur are things I miss because I can't watch myself when filming. I hope to one day get help with filming to fix these things.

[@WuschelofDespair]

@@actualol I can imagine. The blurry game components would totally have happened to me as well and refilming is just a pain in the butt. Just double check the frame before filming. Those are just small things anyways, with that setup you're already miles ahead of almost any other board game channel.

[@MartinWeilmann]

I ADORE "My farm shop" and feel like I've been telling people about it for years. But they see the front of the box and dismiss it. Sadly 😅

[@Shkrabov]

Love fantasy realms. Recently bought red rising, pretty close but a bit different

[@OurFamilyPlaysGames]

Very cool video and yes there are sooooo many games overlooked! 😁❤❤

[@MultiZelda13]

I would never even think to pick up fairy tale inn but I'm really excited to try it out now, though all of these look pretty fun. Maybe there's hope in the future of these games getting 2nd editions or being reincorporated into something flashier!

[@estrada263]

I’m with you! For some reason I just don’t find the fantasy themes appealing. But I definitely want to try fantasy realms

[@shapeoffour2319]

I actually have been gifted Fantasy Realms Just a couple weeks ago. Coming back to this video, I love It so much! I agree on everything that was said, It's an Amazing game. I love the theme too!

[@headovmetal]

Finally just found Fantasy Realms available again in the U.S. and got it. Already played it half a dozen times. Wonderful.

[@styfen]

Fantasy Realms has sadly been impossible to buy due to it selling out almost immediately when in stock for what feels like forever, sadly the alternate "version" 'Red Rising' lost all of the charm and elegance of the original, so there's not even an alternative out there. Fairy Tale Inn looks super interesting and unique though!

[@jendubay3782]

What made it lose the charm?

[@AnimatronicBadgerlord]

So Fantasy Realms is... Rummy Advanced? Sounds great! My Farm: "Give me three dice or I walk" Roll Player: "Hold my Dice Bag." Let's be real, Disney Connect 4 probably exists somewhere. Sadly none of these are solo, but they all look really interesting. I really liked My Farm in particular, I'll have to see if my friend has that one and ask them to bring it next time they visit.

[@sporknaut]

Your opening description of My Farm Shop is exactly what my first impression was too! I'm glad it's not as bad as I assumed. Sidenote: this video was a lot funnier than I thought it would be. You should be a comedy writer or something. 😉 Thanks for sharing Jon!

[@actualol]

😁 Thanks Adam! Might try that one day but too busy talking about board games 😂

[@mattspeer3516]

I am waiting for My Farm Shop to deliver on this side of the pond.

[@eswift8318]

I feel like you need to have Fairy Tale Inn if you've got family kids that have that sad closet with boxes of Connect 4, Monopoly, and Sorry! stacked up and unused on the top. You could say, "It's like Disney Connect 4!" and you've got them hooked. Ironically, I was at Disneyworld a few weeks ago. They have Disney versions of all those crappy games, but they don't have Villainous, which seems to be at least a good game. So while my family spent money at the gift shops, I went around steering people away from them and mentioning Villainous, Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and No Thanks.

[@SamClemensRIGL]

"My fantasy bodyguard is Ser Jorah Mormont." Simpatico.

[@bestatstartrek6695]

Fairy tale in. Is genius design and good fun. We like it👍

[@BlubberyChimp]

Keep up the good work. I’ll have to check these out for sure.

[@notsecure6855]

Yay Actualol!

[@snarfdk]

Once again great video. And absolutely three games I have overlooked, but now i will look at them head on :)

[@oroborus1822]

Fantasy Realms is unbelievably good. Cant stop playing game after game sometimes

[@joelface]

All three choices were perfect -- I saw the box and the first look at the components and thought --- meh. But after you explained the mechanics, each time I thought "I have to try that out!" I keep meaning to buy machi koro, but My Farm Shop actually looks like even more fun.

[@eswift8318]

This might be a year late, but figured I'd leave it for others. I think Machi Koro has some issues. There seems to be multiple strategies to win, but if you play enough games, you start to realize there are like 2 or 3 and it comes down to who gets the right cards first.

[@darbyl3872]

Correction: Machi Koro lets you use three dice once you pay for that ability.

[@Sourcelighteer]

Better to be ugly and fun than pretty and boring. Amen brother.

[@adammeney8841]

Love the studio Jon. Looks really good. Thanks for the game tips.

[@actualol]

Cheers Adam!

[@wrany72]

I'm sold on "My Farm Shop" after this video. I'll pass on the other 2 for now.

[@rolandoa.valenzuela2756]

Better that Space Base!?!?! Ok, I'll try it.

[@MostlyMajestic]

Awesome. I love Fantasy Realms.

[@adriang6259]

Nice couple of ideas there.

[@zmollon]

Buy new ones even with unplayed games on the shelf That's what I do at least

[@coppershark1973]

There’s nothing wrong with fantasy. Sometimes it is nice to leave reality behind.

[@tomJackilarious]

Are there any other fantasy games that you do like? My wife loves fantasy worlds so I'm hoping we can find a good one but most of the commonly recommended fantasy games are from genres we don't tend to enjoy--skirmish, dungeon crawl, dueling etc.

[@actualol]

Kings Dilemma is a narrative driven, negotiation game set in a fantasy world that I love. A War of Whispers is an interesting light area control game that has a fantasy theme. Those are the only two coming to mind I'm afraid.

[@bigg3110]

Hero Realms is a 2 player Deckbuilder with a Fantasy theme. Magic Maze is sort of Fantasy themed but also set in a mall 😂

[@jendubay3782]

The art from century: golem would probably hit well

[@angelpelch]

Grat theme for a video, hoping this continues.

[@philippenachtergal6077]

5:30 Oh. A Rüdiger Dorn. Indeed, gotta try it or at least read the rules then. I'm a fan of Goa and Louis XIV (one of the rare games I bought in German even though I can't speak a word of that language)

[@berandomisme]

My house in Catan 11and 3 are common

[@Lexicondiablo]

Unfortunately from where I'm sitting, in the war of gameplay vs art, art (with it's allies, OTT bling and minis), is definitely winning the commercial battle. Gameplay is weak, unbalanced and at best vanilla. The worrying thing is that the masses seem to like it that way.

[@actualol]

Yeah you're right, sadly.

[@DerekEskens]

Would be curious to know what you think of Red Rising which is Fantasy Realms kicked up a notch

[@actualol]

I didn't like it, it over complicates and lengthens the idea, diluting the fun for me.

[@chocklad9]

Make more videos like that

[@burrliese3810]

There goes my vow to not buy another board game for at least six months after watching your "10 Mistakes Most Board Gamers Make" video. Although to be fair, it is pretty rude to tell someone not to buy lots of board games only to go and suggest they not overlook a bunch of them xD

[@talkingtaco12]

Oh no.. you werent on my feed and I was wondering why!? I got unsubscribed?. Back now though.. love your videos.

[@actualol]

Oh no! Glad to have you back 🥳

[@Mitra131]

I'm pretty new to board gaming. Why avoid fantasy games?

[@Jorge_Pronto]

Is it me, or is the KZbin compression getting more aggressive at your background? Lots of distortion happening that is not present in previous videos.

[@actualol]

Yeah I noticed that, apologies. I've got a theory about what might have caused it, will try and fix it for the next video.

[@Jorge_Pronto]

@@actualol Not a problem, I think the compression algorithm just really hates darker patches. Anywways, what am I even blabbing about, great video as always!

[@caragreenberg2734]

Would you recommend playing with all the modules first or is the base game really good too?

[@actualol]

For My Farm Shop? Base game first, definitely. It's great on its own.

[@trickynumber7]

There has to be one miniature game you like.

[@actualol]

Zombicide Black Plague was one I enjoyed but don't own anymore cos it was too much setup and too long. There are some games with miniatures I like, such as Spartacus and New Angeles but don't think they are miniature games as such.

[@fmoros]

I can get My farm shop at a deal price of just 20e. The reviews are very good,,one of Rhado's favorites of this year...The graphs are good to me as I play with my family....but it is not a bit repeatitive?

[@dapamico1]

Great video, thanks!

[@mathieuboucaut364]

Fantasy realm is somehow similar to Red rising by Stegmaier games

[@KindredBrujah]

So wait, is your issue with the fantasy _setting_ or just any game that actually has the word 'fantasy' in it? If the former, that's a weird choice of fantasy bodyguard if you're not into fantasy.

[@MattWGAllan]

I'm supposed to ignore games? Crap, this explains a lot...

[@tonybowers9490]

Dang it. I have more games to purchase. Thanks. 😀

[@kosterix123]

Cool I had dismissed farm shop

[@trolololoolable]

No freaking way D-Day monopoly is real

[@eddyquik]

Red Rising is largely inspired by Fantasy Realms

[@tsthemaster4084]

"Better to be ugly and fun than pretty and boring" is what I tell myself everyday lol Not gonna lie, that My Farm Shop sounds legit and yes, I 1,000% would not consider the game because of it's mobile farmville game look.

[@BoxedMeeples]

Does My Farm cone from the same publisher as Dream Home, they look similar?

[@actualol]

No, different publisher, designer and artist. But I agree there's strong inspiration there. I think Dream Home was quite successful seller so that might be why.

[@yyt8519]

whats wrong with fantasy tho… i love fantasy

[@rpriske]

So... why don't you like Fantasy games? Or miniatures?

[@rpriske]

Wait, you think a Fantasy game would more marketable if it was about making dinner party? Uh, probably not.

[@arekkrolak6320]

Starts at 0:45

[@gee3161]

Cheers Jon

[@franciscohuerta-constantin3177]

Hidden gem: Dragonwood, seven dragons and Dragonrealms

[@snakenation7765]

great content!

[@shaolinmanny]

Good stuff !

[@ScottnCarol4JC]

Fantasy Realms is ugly and Red Rising is beautiful, so I will always go for the attractive game over the non one when they have similar mechanics.