If you time it right, just $90 or less will let you play just about any retro video game ROM you can throw onto a MicroSD card. I’m not exaggerating. The Anbernic RG350 supports Mame, NeoGeo, Ps1, NES, SNES, PC, GB, GBA, GBC, Genesis, DOS, FBA and Wonderswan.

I can’t stop you from loading every game under the sun… but you should only download and play ROMs for games that you legally own in another form. Thankfully, I own a thousands of physical NES, SNES, TG-16, N64 and other cartridge based games that I’m addicted to collecting.

This little handheld retro gaming wonder ticks all my fanboy boxes. The Anbernic RG350 utilizes a dual 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, a 3.5-inch 60Hz IPS LCD, 16GB of onboard storage, and a MicroSD card slot for up to 128GB of additional storage. It’s powered by a 2500 MAh Lithium Ion rechargeable battery, has a 3.5mm headphone jack, and even includes a mini-HDMI output.

Actual gameplay is nothing short of spectacular. Every ROM I’ve leaded and every game I’ve experienced plays as expected (only having issues if the ROM itself has noted issues.) I noticed a few games that played noticeably better on the RG350 than on my RetroPi Arcade setup.

The Anbernic RG350 package includes an RG350 Console, Type-C Charging cable, a 32 gb MicroSD Card, and a user manual. Yeah, it’s gonna take a while to get here from overseas, but the sooner you order, the sooner you get to gaming.

Advent Calendars are one of those special treats saved just for the holiday season, specifically the 24 days in December that lead up to Christmas. Whether they are paper, wood, felt or cardboard filled with sweets, toys, or notes, they were a tradition long before that elf ever sat on your shelf. 

Brands like LEGO, Nintendo, and Funko Pop! have made sure that the lead-up to your Christmas day can be a bigger joy than the day itself. We’re impressed year after year at what these toy brands deliver each December, always helping to build our holiday anticipation. Not only are Advent calendars a perfect tradition to start and continue, they often make spectacular gifts for collectors. 

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Each year we buy a LEGO calendar for our girls with the understanding that it’s part of their Christmas- an early gift. We started with just one that they took turns opening each day, eventually pooling together all the revealed LEGO mini-sets into their collecting. Parents can imagine how well that went down…. so now we purchase one for each kid. 

The great thing we found with the LEGO calendars is that they come with special pieces only available in the calendars, usually special minifigures (which is a big deal to collectors.) We have done the City, Friends, and Harry Potter LEGO themed sets, and there have been some really inventive and fun mini-sets. From Santa figures and chalet snow scenes, to Harry Potter Christmas sweaters and micro trains, they never fail to delight. 

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When it comes to purchasing these, especially the LEGO Advent calendars, you either have to think ahead to guarantee availability or wait until the last two weeks of November and buy whatever is left when it’s on sale. Due to the popularity and the rare pieces, collectors and fans buy some themes up quickly, so be sure to inspect details in each set beyond your desired themes.

For 2021, LEGO Friends and the Funko Pop! Pokemon, The Office, and Harry Potter themes went very fast, now selling on third-party marketplaces for as much as three times MSRP. While the Funko sellouts aren’t a huge shock given their collector base, the LEGO Friends Advent calendar has never been the top seller in a given year. A quick inspection of the LEGO Friends set and the reason is clear. LEGO has included five “child-sized” micro minifigures of the five LEGO Friends characters.

The good news is that while the LEGO Friends Advent set got a lot of focus from collectors and resellers, many of the usual sell-outs are both available and discounted in mid-November. At the time of writing, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Marvel, and LEGO City Advent calendars are all 20% off their typical price at both Walmart and Amazon. What’s more, each has their share of collectible pieces and clever mini-models to build.

Fans of Harry Potter will love adding six minifigures to their collections, including a new Gringotts Goblin! This Harry Potter Advent calendar theme also includes the most unique and elegant Christmas tree mini-build we’ve ever seen. The LEGO Star Wars Advent calendar may only include four minifigs, but one is a unique Tuskan Raider. Dial your eyes in a little more to find a fifth figure, Baby Yoda as a tiny micro minifigure. Several super fun starship builds are hidden behind the Star Wars calendar’s doors- X-wing, TIE Fighter, The Razor Crest, and several more. As always, the LEGO City Advent calendar comes with ole’ St. Nick himself, Santa in minifig form. He’ll arrive particularly when he means to, and well after the other five minifigures included in this box. Finally, and much to our surprise, the new LEGO Marvel Superheroes Advent calendar is still in stock and on sale! Packing six of our favorite superhero minifigures, a handful of Infinity Gems, and several inventive mini-builds, the newest addition to LEGO’s Advent lineup is not to be missed for Marvel Cinematic Universe fans.

Regardless of which Advent calendar (calendars in our case, you’ll remember) you wind up with, you really can’t go wrong this year. Don’t lament missing anything sold out, and pick a theme that’s available on sale. You and/or your kids are going to be delighted with any of these joy-filled Advent calendars.

Machi Koro is a strategy card game with coins that has a bit of a Monopoly feel to it. As a newly appointed mayor, you must buy establishments to earn an increasing amount of money in order to build the landmarks your citizens demand. It’s easy to learn, yet presents a challenge each game due to the wide variety of strategies available to you and your opponents coupled with the luck of die rolls.

You wouldn’t think a seven-year-old could figure out the subtle (and sometimes diabolical) ways of building a city empire, but you would be wrong. A couple of years ago we played with another gaming family, warning them of her ability to dominate opponents, but they didn’t really take us seriously. That was until she beat everyone game after game… including all of the adults. She was eight years old. 

Knowing that her birthday was coming, we all understood our obligation to fall victim to her city building skills once again. Machi Koro would be on the table soon after the cake was removed. The only question was which version? The original is great, and the 5th Anniversary Edition of the original is even better with plastic coins instead of cardboard, or would it be the expanded (and now out of print) version of Machi Koro: Bright Lights Big City.

We were all pulling for the classic version. She was given Bright Lights Big City last year, thanks to a very doting uncle and aunt, and our first playthrough became an epic two-day affair. The original Machi Koro already has plenty going on: lots of card stacks and grids on the table, coins scattered everywhere– and Bright Lights Big City has even more. It was honestly a little overwhelming, especially scattered across our kitchen table for two days. We were all grateful that she picked the original 5th Anniversary Edition to play this year. 

Machi Koro is, like I said earlier, a city-building card game. Each player has four landmark cards to complete by paying off their construction costs. The first player to flip all four wins. In addition to edging a player closer to winning the game, each landmark grants special abilities such as re-rolling a die, rolling multiple dice, etc.

Players earn money by utilizing the stacks of Establishment cards that are available for purchase each turn. Numbered from 1-12, each Establishment card corresponds with a possible one or two dice roll each turn. All players start with just one die at their disposal, then have the opportunity to roll a pair of dice after flipping their least expensive landmark card.

Establishment cards are all color-coordinated as well. Red cards pay out on an opponent’s roll, blue on anyone’s, and green cards pay out on your roll only. Some cards work with other cards to multiply profits, and each player can only choose one purple Major Establishment card, so choose wisely. 

I mentioned it was easy to learn, right. Roll the dice, earn money, and buy establishments that payout enough coin to flip your four landmark cards before anyone else. 

Your individual strategy is where Machi Koro gets as fun and complicated as you like. Some players may not worry about buying early Establishment cards, going straight for a landmark card construction. Others might play the long game, amassing so many establishments that no turn seems to pass without everyone at the table handing over all the coin they have.    

Whatever strategy you choose, heed this small bit of advice: take each player, no matter their age, as a serious threat, because once again, on her birthday, our youngest dominated us all at a game of Machi Koro. We’re probably going to regret buying her a copy of Machi Koro Legacy.

Apparently, we are late to the Sequence game. It’s always a popular game when on sale and we have had a cat version for well over a year sitting just on our game shelf, a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law for her cat-loving granddaughter. As a family, we had discussed breaking it out several times, but always had so many other games that have commanded our attention instead. 

Finally, looking for a new lunchtime game, we broke it out. I have to admit, the simple one-page instructions and easy setup were a massive relief. For far too long our family has played in-depth, complicated board games with small novels for instructions. The last few games we have tried, although absolutely beautiful in design, have resulted in frustration when reading the instructions and ended with the kids wandering off, and usually my husband and I boxing the game back up. We have even resorted to looking at multiple YouTube videos for instructions on play- Everdell, I am looking at you. It was with great relief and little disbelief when I was able to read through the instructions and understand Sequence in less than five minutes. 

The play is simple, think Memory meets Bingo. Each player is dealt a hand, depending on the number of players, and given marker chips. In this version, each card has a different cat breed on it with the name. The board has corresponding images of each breed with two purr (sorry, I couldn’t help it) breed randomly divided on each side of the board. On each turn, a player must lay down one card and place a token on one of the two images on the board matching their card. The first player, or team, to get five marker discs in a row to make a sequence twice wins.

The game has a few catveats (I promise, it’s the last one). There are two Meow cards and two Purr cards in the deck. A Meow card allows you to remove an opponent’s marker unless it is in an already completed sequence. A Purr card provides you the benefit of placing a chip anywhere you want. If you play a card and both cats are already taken on the board then you discard the card, draw another, and continue with your turn. 

One point that put us off at first was that there were only three bags of discs. Since we are a family of four, this seemed to be an issue, however, you can play with up to three individuals or you can play on teams. Playing either way creates different challenges. When playing as a team you kinda have to follow your partner’s lead, but playing three individual players puts a lot of discs on the board and your options dwindle quickly as turns progress. 

Some players have found it difficult to tell some of the breeds apart when trying to decide where to place a marker. We found the same issue, but once you have played it a few times you get a feel for where most of them are. Plus, our daughters have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of reading the different breed names and trying to figure out which one our older, adopted pile of fluff might be descended from. Compared to the original version of Sequence, which uses the suites of a deck of cards as the board tiles, you also lose wild “Jack” spaces when playing the cat version. It’s really up to you which one you want to go with, there are several different versions.

We love that Sequence is such a simple game. The gameplay is easy and quick to explain to new players, and kids can especially pick it up quickly. The box suggests players ages 7 and up, but I think the manufacturer underestimates younger kids. These kids are playing games on tablets at younger ages, so to expect a little one under 7 to pick up on Sequence is no stretch of the imeowgination. (sorry, not sorry)

At least that’s how St. Pat’s always used to be.

Having kids tends to change how you celebrate holidays, and St. Patrick’s Day is certainly no exception. Sure, you can still do parades, they just might be a different kind of St. Patrick’s Day parade. Meals at the bar or pub are put on hold until the kids are at least out of highchairs… and are often enjoyed earlier and less recklessly. Heck, Lucky Charms become your main St. Patrick’s Day meal. Thankfully, you can always enjoy a proper Guinness and some tabletop gaming with friends and family regardless of where you celebrate. 

Not that you need a holiday to enjoy a drink and gaming, but throw in a pandemic and you really have a different kind of St. Patrick’s Day. COVID forcing everyone to be home in our household has definitely opened up our hobby gaming repertoire. We play quick games over lunch, usually cards, and have expanded to countless new ones. We were a big gaming family before but now we have fine-tuned our preferences. 

So as a little St. Patrick’s Day celebration we’re delighted to share two games that we enjoy with an Irish theme. First is Tara, “Ireland’s Royal Board Game,” an award-winning puzzle game with four different games in one. The second is Battle Sheep, a simple and fun game that kids to adults will enjoy playing. I mean, who can’t think of Ireland without thinking of sheep?

This area-control board game is super cute and fun– kids love the simplicity and style of it. Our youngest daughter enjoys Battle Sheep so much that she took it to school for game day in second grade and taught her classmates how to play. They especially enjoy the artwork of each token and can’t help but giggle at all the silly sheep.

Battle Sheep’s game board is made up of hexagonal pasture pieces that interlock to your preference. This makes for a quick and easy setup that changes the game board each time you play. You can leave holes between tilesets if you like but these will become advanced obstacles for the sheep. Up to four players each select a color and take all corresponding sheep tokens.

Taking turns, each player selects the perfect start for their entire stack of sheep on one hex around the board edge. Place all of your sheep on that space creating a tall tower of sheep. On each move, you must divide and move a portion of your herd in a straight line as far as possible. This might mean that you can go to the other side of the board or that you hit a blank spot in the board or even another sheep. With each move, you leave a minimum of one sheep behind on your current location. You can instead leave more than one, even the whole stack minus one moving sheep if you prefer. These decisions will make or break your sheepish domination.

Players quickly find there is more strategy to this game than it appears. It is easy for other players to block off your paths, especially when playing with four players. If you leave too many sheep behind with a plan of spreading your wool in an area, another player may block that same area, stranding all your sheep. 

Turns continue as long as there is a legal move to be played, skipping any poor shepherds who no longer have available land for their herd. The winner is the player with the most sheep spaced out singularly across the board. Sometimes more than one player may have the same amount left. For example, two players spread all their sheep and have no stacks left. In this case, the player with the largest herd in one area is the better shepherd and wooly winner. 

Simple, fast, and fun. Battle Sheep is a great game to turn a few kids loose on and a good starting foundation to teach them how to plan out a strategy and then change direction when needed.

Interested in another great game to play with younger kids that won’t drive adults to the brink of absolute madness? Be sure to check out our delicious review of Go Nuts for Donuts!

The Tara version available today actually contains four different games, each with its own name and rules, that can be played on the same board. Tara is a two-player game that recommends ages 8 and up, with a 20-30 minute playtime. In my experience, an 8-year-old would have to be fairly experienced with puzzle or strategy games. Expect at least 30 minutes to play a typical game with younger kids.  

We prefer the Stone of Destiny version (a little Irish and Scottish history here for those interested), a Tara variant that is considered the quick-start game and comes labeled as a “free” fourth game in the box. Stone of Destiny is played in two parts. In the first, each player alternates places rings and kings. The second alternates linking and unlinking rings in turn. This reminds me of Chess in that each player must think ahead to set the stage for late-game strategy. At least that’s what I believe is a generally good strategy in chess… I don’t win a lot at chess. 

I do, however, win at Tara. When placing your ring forts in the first stage, your goal is to plan ahead so that you will have the fewest interlocking kingdoms when linked during the second stage, fewer kingdoms being larger and more powerful. You then place your king in your forts to claim your turf. 

The second phase is the battle phase… and where you find out if you royally screwed up in the first phase. Generally, you will interlock your forts with bridges. But that would be too easy to plan and without an element of surprise and sabotage. Each player also starts the second phase with five of their opponent’s bridges. You may move up to five of your opponent’s bridges throughout the round, but doing so will require you to “pay” your opponent with one of the five bridge pieces you hold. This allows them to place this additional bridge where they like. Many games of Stone of Destiny are won or lost in decisions made moving (or not moving) opponent bridges. I’ve won games of Tara simply because an opponent was all-too-willing to move my bridges and pay… dearly. 

The game ends when there is no legal move left. Again, not planning for this can be your downfall since players must take every legal move possible. After play has ended, you count up “kingdoms,” or any fully interlocking collection of ringforts and bridges. Any of your tiles not touching or connecting via a bridge becomes a new kingdom. The player with the fewest kingdoms wins. Often me.

I’m going to mention again that I often win games of Tara. Our family regularly endures my husband winning most games, and it’s always a special pleasure when one of us bests him.

Tara is simply a great puzzle game that’s super versatile, one that appears simple on the surface, yet requires some strategic planning. The setup is not difficult, and the gameplay is easy to grasp, but the instructions for four games can seem daunting. We really enjoy the unique three-dimensional and multi-layered aspects of Tara. As a fan of Celtic history, I especially enjoy the story behind the gameplay and the artwork that went into the board. My final advice: Tara is best enjoyed with a good friend, conversation, and a Guinness. 

Interested in another great strategy game with Irish roots? Check out our review of Battle Sheep, a family-friendly strategy game about expanding your flock of sheep to consume as much land as possible.

Another gaming family introduced us to this little treat a couple of years ago. Despite how much we all enjoyed it (and despite one of our daughters constantly asking to play it), Go Nuts for Donuts! didn’t rise to the top of our game purchase list until this past Christmas.

Available at most big box retailers like Amazon and Walmart, Go Nuts for Donuts! regularly sells out because of its popularity and low retail price. At around $15, it’ll only set you back the cost of an actual box of assorted donuts.

The game is so simple and quick that it has earned a spot at our dining table during weekday lunch breaks. You can play with 2-6 players, and we find it’s more challenging the more people you have. The box says ages 8+, but I think a six year old could definitely get the hang of it. 

Setup takes seconds as drawn donut cards are set out before everyone to choose from, each assigned to a numbered marker. Every player gets numbered cards that correspond with the donut numbers, 1~5 for a four-player game. Being careful to keep number cards hidden, players visually peruse the selection of donuts offered up each round. Each delicacy has its advantages and disadvantages. Some are worth straight points, some require a set to amass points, others subtract points but offer you an advantage or special action. Milk and coffee cards can even combat other cards or conditions. 

Once you’ve decided on the donut you want, you secretly choose the number from your hand that corresponds with the donut of your choice. All players place their number card face down and reveal at the same time. Any donut that was chosen by more than one player is discarded. If you were lucky enough to be the only player opting for your particular donut– congratulations, you just bought yourself a donut. All other unselected donuts remain on the table unless discarded by a special card action.

The game ends when you no longer have enough cards in the stockpile to fully replenish the donut selection. Players add up (or sometimes subtract) their points, and the most points wins. Easy-peasy, even for young children.

Go Nuts for Donuts! really is a simple, fun and quick game. Great for little ones playing by themselves or as a family over lunch. Our family saw similarities to Sushi GO, another family-favorite. Go Nuts for Donuts! doesn’t seem to need quite the same level of strategy that Sushi GO does, making it better for younger players. 

The only problem we have found with Go Nuts for Donuts! is that we all crave real donuts when we play!

No, I do not. This is Monopoly Deal.

Playing Monopoly Deal over lunch has become a pandemic tradition in our house. The kids have been home since schools shut down in March and my husband has worked mostly from home since March as well. As a family, we love to play card games and strategy board games. On the weekends or during holidays, lunchtime became our go to card-playing time. We can play many rounds quickly with card games, unlike most of our strategy board games that take two hours to play– or TWO DAYS in the case of Machi Koro Bright Lights, Big City! Typically had for less than $5 (Amazon, Walmart), Monopoly Deal deserves a small space in your family game collections.

Often when we want something fast, a game of UNO or Scrabble Go are easy choices. Old school classics like Rook or Poker are good fun, but can be slow paced and boring at times. When we want a little more we turn to something like Sushi Go or Trash Pandas. We came upon the Monopoly Deal on a recommendation from a friend who swore we would love it. We were timid because we have several versions of Monopoly the board game, and frankly, it evokes the same groan as LIFE when someone wants to play it in our home. It’s too long, too boring, and does anyone really ever win? 

We had already purchased Monopoly Deal (it was on sale last Black Friday… a Monopoly Deal deal, so to speak), so we thought we might as well try it. We discovered an easy-to-play game for most ages that is surprisingly fast paced and requires a decent amount of quick-thinking and strategy. Monopoly Deal is not like tabletop games like Kingdom Builder where you have to lock in your strategy early, and you know half way through if you chose correctly or if you are destined to fail. When playing Monopoly Deal you may start with one plan only to quickly lose everything and have to reset or go in a different direction. It’s forever changing gameplay makes it delightfully fun and challenging.

Monopoly Deal also introduced our family to the art of double-cross calculation. Alliances are made and broken within a turn. Teams are formed and never upheld. One moment we are all going against dad, then the next our nine year old is stealing all my properties. By far the most dastardly and disruptive moves often come from a player who’s given up hope in winning, often doing everything they can to sabotage a single player, laying fines upon their meager bank holdings, and even choosing to hand beneficial cards over to other players. 

As devious as this all may sound, Monopoly Deal has brought our family together over lunch, and has given us some glimmer of normalcy during these strange times. It gives us something to bond over, whether it’s lamenting how awful dad was to everyone, how our youngest stole everyone’s cards, or how strategic alliances were formed and dissolved in a single round. Me? I have no problem taking your Boardwalk set and then making you pay double the rent on it, all within my three turns.