The Purple Meeples

Most Played Games: June ’22

Time to start our game recaps with a monthly recap. June is an interesting month normally, and this was the same. June includes Origins, so I got to try some different games while there. Not many pictures but maybe in the future I’ll recap all I play there in future years. It is also right after the school year ends, which does typically slow down how many games I get to play. On these recaps I’ll just briefly dive in/give thoughts on each game-but not full reviews. However, let’s dive in to the games I got to play the most!

Cover images of the top 9 games I played in June, including Battlestar Galactica, Ark Nova, Canvas, Catch the Moon, TIME Stories: Under the Mask, Alma Mater, Blood on the Clocktower, Lost Ruins of Arnak, and Old London Bridge.
Top 9 played games of the month-sort of.

Battlestar Galactica – Spoilers for when/if I release my list (but if you know me know know this) but BSG is my all-time favorite board game. I’ve actually played it seven times this year, which included twice in June. (June was a very light month for total plays of all games for me.) One of the games of BSG was one of the craziest and most fun plays I’ve ever had-probably my second favorite ever. Needless to say-I loved playing this both times.

One of the best plays of Battlestar Galactica ever!
One of the best plays of Battlestar Galactica ever!

Ark Nova – This was my most wanted game. We picked it up in May and I’ve played five times-twice in May, twice in June, and once so far in July. While trying to avoid recency bias this game will almost definitely land in my top 10 somewhere. Great game where you are building a zoo. Takes some of the great parts from so many games I like and puts them in one cohesive game with an awesome theme.

Canvas – A friend suggested we sign up for the Canvas event at Origins. This was the first year we dove very much into events, but we decided to do several this year. I enjoy painting (currently working on a concept for a new painting either Jennifer or I will do for our living room) and with this painting game-decided to give it a try. I absolutely loved it and bought it. Not at Origins-it wasn’t there and, as it turns out, is still fulfilling to backers (the expansion at least.) I bought it (and the expansion) straight from the company-and have already received my copy and played it. I also taught it to another group.

Three paintings from my first play of Canvas at Origins.
Three paintings from my first play of Canvas at Origins.

Catch the Moon – Normally what happens at Origins is we sit down, find a game, and decide to give it a try and like it. This is similar but also very different. I saw this mess of a game from a distance and said “that looks like something I would hate! Let’s go see what it is!” And, after we played-both a friend and I had purchased a copy.

A picture of a play of the game Catch the Moon. This isn't from the Origins play but rather a later one.
A picture of a play of the game Catch the Moon. This isn’t from the Origins play but rather a later one.

The rest more quickly:

T.I.M.E. Stories: Under the Mask – Several of us started playing T.I.M.E. Stories several years ago. We want to finish playing, so dove in replaying the last one 3 of us played to hopefully eventually finish the game.

Alma Mater – Because of the theme this worker placement game was, at the time, near the top of my list. And when we got a chance to play it at Origins it was a serviceable worker placement game but… SOMETHING doesn’t work about it. I almost bought it to figure out WHY it doesn’t work, what is wrong…but decided I have enough other games that I needed to not do that.

Blood on the Clocktower – Another event we signed up for at Origins. This is a social deduction game which I USED to love, but outside of BSG don’t play as much anymore. I won’t lie-something about this game intrigues me-not to play a ton, but just a lot of the mechanics. Jennifer and I have started watching the No Rolls Barred plays Blood on the Clocktower videos and this game does have something special. I now want to get it to use for some trainings and such this year. I have played once in July also. I got a much more intriguing role in the July play…

My role from my July play, not my June play. I was the Imp.
My role from my July play, not my June play. I was the Imp.

Lost Ruins of Arnak – I had already played this and knew I love the game, but a friend hadn’t. So at Origins we sat down to play it and had two others join us for a slightly shorter demo game. She bought the game, I bought the expansion (which I haven’t played yet.)

Old London Bridge – New game by Queen Games I thought looked intriguing and really wanted to try. We played at two players. I think at full player count (4) this could be a really good game. At 2 players, it didn’t work as well as it should. There was a way to manipulate the game to always get what I wanted that really wasn’t fair for the other player and that wouldn’t happen at higher player counts.

I should mention-I say this is sort of my top played games, as several I only played once and there were 11 other 1-play games that I just didn’t list, most at Origins.

Quickly at the end: speaking of games I haven’t played yet-here is what I currently own I haven’t played:

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