Last Thursday for game night, I knew it was going to be a small group, so I was able to make a single batch of this delightful treat, and we got to play one of our new games that a publisher gifted us for the cafe!

At a Glance…

Pecan Pie Bars

I’ve made a different version of pecan pie bars before, but those involved a lot more butter and sugar! This version, from Vegan Richa, is a lot…cleaner, so to speak, and is made gooey and delicious through the power of date caramel! You first make an easy (gf) crust, bake that, and while it’s baking make up the caramel. Once the crust is baked, pile on the date caramel, top with sugary pecans, and bake some more! I was able to whip this up real quick while Jon was walking the dog, and it baked while we were eating dinner. This timed it so that it was ready just as the guests were getting there for game night. Perfect! They were super delicious, and so easy to keep spooning little nibbles off of. We all had seconds and there was just enough for the four of us. This one is definitely a keeper!

Tenby

Tenby is so charming! I would definitely compare it to the not-talked-about-enough game of Walking in Burano. In both games you’re building out a cute, colorful little seaside town. While Burano has currency you must get and spend to build the cards, and only five houses with five ways to score, Tenby has no currency, but basically every card scores. It’s played over 10 rounds, and each round you’re choosing the next round’s turn around, ala Kingdomino. The actions will give you various cards, like buildings, ports, landmarks, etc. that let you score in different ways. They could also give you life preservers which can be used to get even more cards, or do other things like move cards around. In Tenby, you can have one giant street, as long as you want, or as many small streets as you want, but you’ll probably want to finish some streets eventually, because that’ll score you more points. I am a huge fan of all the silly puns on the buildings, (zoom in on the pictures to see what I mean), and I love that you can always take a lesser card if you don’t like your card options. It’s pretty streamlined and easy to teach, and has a lot of fun satisfying things to puzzle out. Honestly, if you like Walking in Burano or Tenby, you should definitely check out, and probably own, the other lol. I find them both delightful in their own ways!

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].