For this past Thursday’s Pray & Play game night, we kept it simple for the snacks with a bunch of muffins. For the games, there were enough of us that we needed two very full tables, one of them with one of my favorite games! We had two very different vibes going at the two tables, haha. Read on to find out what that means…

At a Glance…

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

These Lemon Poppyseed Muffins from My Darling Vegan were simple, forgiving, and delicious! I used some ridiculously old poppyseeds, used gf flour, used maple syrup for one batch instead of sugar, and did weird guestimating of separating the batches, and they were still delicious and well received! The lemon glaze was delightful, but even without that they were very tasty. They did indeed remind me of the Costco muffins of my childhood, but without all the preservatives. This recipe is definitely a keeper and I now have motivation to buy more poppyseeds haha.

Creature Comforts

Creature Comforts is one of my favorites. It just makes me so happy. We managed to get a steal of a deal on the second hand market and got the kickstarter deluxe version of it a few years ago.

It is all about woodland critters (raccoons, foxes, bunnies, porcupines, & squirrels) trying to get the things they need to be the most comfortable in the coming winter. The critters and cards are adorable, with things like quilts, soup, bread, games, snowshoes, mandolins, and more.

The game play is also super interesting and unique! Each round, you have two family dice that you roll. With that limited information, you then place your workers around the board in (friendly) worker placement spots to gather the resources you need to craft your comforts. THEN you roll the other four village dice and hope that between the six dice you have the things you need to succeed in your quest. You’ll need things like doubles, straights, runs, highs, lows, etc. depending on each spot. You also have a monthly visitor who does fun things for you. These visitors are adorable Canadian creatures (moose, lynx, beaver, etc.) who are all wearing distinguished clothing.

All in all, between the theme, art, gameplay, and Canadian connections (it’s a Canadian company!), it is a pretty near perfect game for me. (I’m currently kicking myself and regretting not backing their latest two Kickstarters, Pack & Paddle & River Market, and hope I can get my hands on them in the future.) If you’re in the mood for cozy creatures, choose this one!

Colt Express

Colt Express, meanwhile, is not cozy at all, haha. You are all rival train robbers who have made the silly decision to rob the same train at the same time. Therefore, you end up shooting and punching each other in an effort to get to the gems, bags, and suitcases before everyone else does.

You’re doing this through programming of a sorts. You take turns playing cards, and then at the end of the round you do all the things. This makes it a kinda memory game too, trying to remember after several cards have been played where everyone is at a given time when you want to punch someone. At the end of the game, whoever has the most money wins! If you’re in the mood for chaos and violence, choose this one!

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].