Last week Jon and I took some time off on Canada Day to play some games just the two of us, so we thought it appropriate to play something from a Canadian company. If I’d had the forethought, I would’ve made Nanaimo Bars for a snack, but instead needed to whip something up in about five minutes. Maybe next year Nanaimo bars!

At a Glance…

Molten Lava Cake

I was going to make these Molten Lava Cakes for Two by Banana Diaries while Jon was walking Gromit, but turns out they are so fast to make I didn’t need to! I wanted them super fresh and gooey, so I literally made them in like five minutes, threw them in the oven while we ate dinner, and then ate them while we played! You literally just mix a few ingredients for batter, pour some into your dishes, add some nice chocolate chunks, add the rest of the batter, and bake! I was a little unclear what size ramekin to use, and probably could have gone smaller, but this way we had plenty of room for ice cream! 😂This was wise thinking on my part, since these cakes are rich and fudge-y! You definitely need something like ice cream to balance out that richness, haha. These are delightful and will definitely be a great option for those nights when we I get a sweet craving.

Chai

This game has gone through quite the saga. We backed it on kickstarter literally five years ago. There’s been a lot of delays (obviously), and a lot could be said about the communication of the campaign, but nevertheless, it’s here now! We sat down to play it with a cup of 4 o’clock tea (another Canadian company!) and our cakes, and it was a lovely way to spend Canada Day.

In the game, you are trying to fulfill tea orders with adorable little tea tokens. The first player will choose which of those tokens each of you get, and a combination of movement and more tokens. The movement is related to your player board, where the tea must age to its appropriate amount for its type. Then you take turns placing your dice that you rolled in various spots. Single dice are good for things like taking first player, getting cards to help with movement, moving or swapping those cards, getting other ways to score points, etc. Doubles are to get lots of movement, and runs are to get ships with the orders on them. The cards are super cool because they have tea types on them that let you age that color when you play the card, but also when you move tokens onto the spot you slotted the card along the side of your board. This can really be a gamechanger, getting your cards timed card and pairing your cards well with your orders. Overall it’s a very chill game that has some great thoughtfulness, and has aged well in the five years of its fulfillment.

We finished the evening with a quick game of Tides of Time. This is kinda an oldie but goodie for us. It’s a super straightforward two player card game where you’re trying to build card combos. It’s played in three rounds, and each round you’re drafting five cards. The cards have symbols on them, and then ways to score- that of course never match their symbols. For example, score 3 points for each of this symbol you have, or majority of that symbol. At the end of each round, you score, keep one card, permanently discard one card, and then draw back up to five and do it again. It can super frustrating if you don’t get the combos you want, or if your partner snakes that one card you needed to complete a set or get a majority, but it’s such a great travel game or coffee shop game, and has beautiful art work, so it stays!

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].