[toggle Gaming] proudly presents our semi-regular event, THE FEATURED GAME OF THE WEEK. The Featured Game of the Week program is designed to provide an easy way for players to get into a game, to offer a learning experience for people who want to try a new game, and to highlight games in our library.
Upcoming Featured Game of the Week
The Networks
Donated by Formal Ferret Games
Taught by Michael Inkmann
In The Networks, you and your opponents are new television networks, and you need new programming. For this, you’ll need Shows, Stars, and Ads. Shows need Stars and Ads. Stars give you bonus viewers (points), and Ads give you extra money. You’ll need everything you can get; you’ll have a small amount of resources and time, and you must grab the latest hot show before your opponents. The player with the most viewers after five seasons wins!
About the Featured Game of the Week
How is the Game of the Week selected?
Sometimes, it is selected by a member who decides they want to host/teach the game. Other times, it is selected by our Game of the Week coordinator to call attention to a donation made by a game company, shop, or individual. If you have a game to suggest or would like to volunteer to help teach one, contact us.
What kinds of game make good Game of the Week entries?
Ideally, the Game of the Week would be short enough that we can get two or three games in over the course of a Tabletop Tuesday. Where possible, we like to have two copies available to allow everyone who wants to try the game to do so.
Previous Games of the Week
Flapjacks and Sasquatches
Featured 3 December 2019
Donated by Prolific Games
Taught by Alan G.
Take off to the Great White North where you will use your axe and your wits to get ahead of fellow lumberjacks. You may get a boost from some Flapjacks or be slowed by Blisters – but always be wary of the dreaded Sasquatch!
Flapjacks and Sasquatches is an easy, “take that” style card game in which you want to chop down the tree card in front of you.
Rise of Tribes
Featured 26 November 2019
Donated by Breaking Games
Taught by Dan F.
In Rise of Tribes, players control a tribal faction in prehistoric times looking to GROW, MOVE, GATHER, and LEAD their people. The board is modular, composed of hexes in various terrain types. Each hex has a population limit. Players manage the number of tribe members they place on any one hex to either trigger or avoid conflict.
Expancity
Featured 19 November 2019
Donated by Breaking Games
Taught by Brendan R.
Expancity Work with other players to build a city! Lay down residential and commercial tiles, then claim them with your stackable building blocks to break ground on towers that will rise high above the playing field. Score extra points by building near common city buildings like banks, schools, and parks. You can also get a leg up on the opposition by working on secretly-held contract cards that offer players unique and challenging tasks to complete for bonus points. Cities expand both horizontally and vertically as the game progresses, and no two cities will ever be alike!
Expancity on 19 Nov 2019 Expancity on 19 Nov 2019
Everdell
Featured 5 November 2019
The animals of the forest need your help building their towns!
Donated by Starling Games
Taught by Paul L.
Within the charming valley of Everdell, beneath the boughs of towering trees, among meandering streams and mossy hollows, a civilization of forest critters is thriving and expanding. From Everfrost to Bellsong, many a year have come and gone, but the time has come for new territories to be settled and new cities 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 have a busy year ahead of yourself. Will the sun shine brightest on your city before the winter moon rises?
Everdell, 5 Nov 2019 Everdell, 5 Nov 2019 Everdell, 5 Nov 2019
Q.E. (Quantitative Easing)
Featured 22 October 2019
Donated by Boardgametables.com
Taught by Brendan R.
Financial crisis has occurred. Sixteen “too big to fail” companies from four countries need bailing out. The central banks have unlimited financial resources, so lots of money is going to be printed, but the central banks also face disaster — print too much money and the country they represent goes bust. In Q.E., a term that stands for “quantitative easing”, you play the role of a central bank. You bid on different size companies to accumulate various levels of victory points. The amount you bid is unlimited since you are the central bank and you own the printing press! After the initial “open” bid by the lead player, the other players bid in secret. After the sixteen companies have been “bailed out”, bonus victory points are awarded for company sets of nationalization, monopolization, and diversification.
New York Slice
Featured 8 October 2019
Donated by Bezier Games
Taught by Paul I.
The Featured Game of the Week begs the questions – Is it ever okay to fold a slice of pizza in half? That’s right, New York Slice! In this game, each player slices pizzas into portions, giving their opponents first choice, while they take the leftovers. There are a dozen kinds of pizza to work with, from veggie to hawaiian to meat lover’s, and each player decides if they want to eat or keep some of the slices, building the best collection of pizzas possible!
Periodic: A Game of the Elements
Featured 1 October 2019
Donated by Genius Games
Taught by Alan G.
In Periodic: A Game of the Elements, players collect sets of elements and advance their research by moving through the periodic table. Players use energy to activate periodic trends and move in the corresponding directions. The conservation of energy forces players to spend carefully and play efficiently. The game ends when someone completes the research track or when a stack of goal cards is depleted. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game wins!
Dinosaur Island
Featured 24 September 2019
Donated by Pandasaurus Games
Taught by Kristen S.
In Dinosaur Island, players will have to collect DNA, research the DNA sequences of extinct dinosaur species, and then combine the ancient DNA in the correct sequence to bring these prehistoric creatures back to life. Dino cooking! All players will compete to build the most thrilling park each season, and then work to attract (and keep alive!) the most visitors each season that the park opens. Hold on to your butts!
Racoon Tycoon
Featured 17 September 2019
Donated by Forbidden Games
Taught by Ray and Elizabeth S.
Astoria is a land bustling with productivity and growth! New towns, factories, and railroads are springing up across the land. A few savvy business tycoons (you and your opponents) are determined to make your fortunes on the crest of this wave. These tycoons start out as the producers of the key commodities: wheat to feed the growing towns and factories, wood and iron to build them, coal to fuel the trains and factories, and manufactured goods and luxuries to fill the insatiable demand of the animals of Astoria. Cornering the market for the most valuable commodities can create small fortunes that can be invested in the new businesses, turning them into huge fortunes. The sky is the limit during this Gilded Age!
RACCOON TYCOON, Featured Game of the Week, 17 September 2019 RACOON TYCOON gets lots of play!
Terror Below
Featured 10 September 2019
Donated by Renegade Game Studios
Taught by Paul L.
Terror Below is a game of government experiments gone wild in the Nevada desert. The faster you move, the more vibrations you make, attracting the attention of the vicious worms underground. Navigate the difficult terrain to collect valuable worm eggs and deliver them to locations around town to claim bounties. If you’re feeling lucky, collect items and weapons to go hunt ’em.
Legendary: James Bond 007
Featured 3 September 2019
Donated by Upper Deck
Taught by Nykole Z.
“In this game 1-5 players can play four classic Bond movies: Goldfinger, The Man With The Golden Gun, GoldenEye, or Casino Royale. Can you foil Operation: Grand Slam and end Goldfinger’s plot to contaminate the gold supply of the United States? Do you have the steely nerve to best Le Chiffre in the high-stakes poker tournament at Casino Royale? In this game the players are in control. The fate of the world is up to you. You can fight against the forces of evil by yourself or gather a cadre of up to four friends. Defeat the evil Masterminds as they lead powerful Villains in an attempt to complete their Schemes to gain power and world dominance!”
Thunderbirds
Featured 9 July 2019
Donated by Terry (Terence B. McCormick).
Taught by Terry M. and Alan G.
“Set in the year 2065, Thunderbirds follows the exploits of International Rescue: a secret organization committed to saving human life, secretly founded and funded by the millionaire Tracy family, with the motto: ‘Never give in, at any cost!’. This game based on the 1960s cult TV classic is designed by Matt Leacock (Pandemic, Forbidden Island, etc…) and is a heavily themed cooperative game with a play time of around 2 hours. Highly immersive.“
Crypt
Featured 17 December 2018
Donated by [toggle] game fund supporters
Taught by Jeffrey C. and Andrew N.
The king is dead! Deploy your servants to collect treasure in this fast-paced grave robbing game. Send your servants into the crypt chambers to pilfer the best treasure. While your servants will unquestioningly do your bidding, grave robbing is exhausting work! Crypt is a light set collection game with a unique dice placement mechanic for 1 to 4 players with easy-to-learn rules and exciting strategic gameplay, all in 20 minutes.
Additional Featured Game of the week entries can be found in our archive.