Our recent game night was a full-on expedition! 🗺️ From domesticating the friendliest pups in Fox Experiment 🦊 to charting new routes in Wayfinders ✈️ and rebuilding the ancient forest in Emberleaf 🌳. We kept our energy up with some homemade Lime Pie Bars—the perfect zesty fuel for a night of nature and navigation. 🍋

At a Glance…

Lime Pie Bars

Minimalist Baker does it again! I had leftover limes from the energy balls I recently made, and it was going to be a warm spring day, so something lime was on the menu! I put out a few options to the group, and these lime bars were voted in by the majority. Since they required several hours of chill time, this was an early morning baking session. (Probably should’ve been a night before baking session, but who’s counting?). The cashews happily soaked in their hot water, which was an essential step for me and my Ninja. If you have a higher powered blender than I, it would probably get those cashews even smoother and creamier, but honestly I was pleasantly surprised by how well my Ninja did today with all the almonds, pecans, oats, and cashews it blended. (Check out all the awesome Ninja products here!) Jon was awesome and zested aaalllll those little limes. Then after juicing them, Lomi took care of the rest! Thanks little buddy! The rest was a piece of cake. Or rather pie. If I’d had more limes leftover I would’ve topped the bars with some for aesthetic purposes, but as it was, none of my friends care too much what they look like and are too busy devouring them, haha.

The Play

Wayfinders is what I would call a hidden gem. It’s so bright and colorful and breezy and intriguing to play, yet I rarely see people talking about it! In it, you are out exploring different islands with your little planes, building airstrips and networks to score points in various ways based on the tile you built your strip on. You do this by paying the cost of the island, either to the bank if you’re the first person to build there or to the person who first built there. To get the resources, you place your little workers in different spots of the hangers, and when you’re ready, remove all your workers and take the resources in your spots. The fascinating things are not only the paying each other (which we always try to avoid lol), but also the timing of recalling your workers so you get the resources you need. Even though your worker may be second in line, if you recall before the first person, you get the first resource. I don’t think I’ve seen any other game do quite what Wayfinders does mechanically. If you don’t overthink it too much and have a plan for your resources, turns are quick and satisfying as you fly your little plane around.

The Fox Experiment has a funny story history with us. Jon’s sister first got it for us for Jon’s birthday a couple years ago. We played it and loved it. Shortly after that, they launched a kickstarter where you could get the deluxe wooden bits AND the 5-6 player expansion. It’s a fairly simultaneous game that we thought would be perfect for medium sized game nights, so we decided to back it. It was supposed to fulfill fairly soon, and we knew Jon’s sister would also like it, so… we regifted it to her for her birthday 🫣. We didn’t tell her that’s what happened until she came to our house one time, saw that it was on our 10×10 and not getting played (because the kickstarter was late to deliver) and asked about it. We had to fess up and admit that we had gifted her the one she gave us and we were awaiting the new version lol.

All that to say, it’s a great game (so good we wanted it twice lol). It’s a very unique theme about scientists in Russia trying to domesticate foxes. Obviously there are some implications to that process that I in no way condone. (I also don’t condone war or fighting, but still occasionally play games about it). I do appreciate it for its historical theme and the adorable foxes. Plus you get to name them! In the game, you are rolling dice to get the best domestication traits (floppy ears, spots, bushy tails, etc.) and get the best pups. But then those pups are used in future generations (rounds) to parent more pups. You might get your pups back, or you might not. This is from the same designer as Wingspan by the way, Elizabeth Hargrave, who did another fantastic job!

Emberleaf is our newest acquisition, and boy is it delightful! We played it once on Board Game Arena, and then shortly after saw someone selling it second hand locally. I was super excited and jumped on that, since it isn’t widely available at the moment.

In the game, you are adorable little woodland creatures out and about building up different structures in the forest. The unique twist mechanically is that you have a grid of cards, and on your turn, you either play and card and do its action, or slide your cards and do any actions that are triggered from sliding or falling off your board. You can do things like gathering food or wood, building structures with those resources, fighting baddies, and walking around the forest. You’re also trying to get trophies and banners and fulfill goals. There are several other ways to score points, like grouping your buildings together, and it can be a lot to think about and plan for with the goals and timing of your cards. It’s a fantastic combination of cute and crunchy that I love!

Want to buy these games? Check out your friendly local game store (FLGS), Amazon [here], or get a first-order discount at Board Game bliss [here].

Or get Fox Experiment on Amazon.