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Game number 1: Jaipur:
Jaipur and a cup of chai, anyone? Oh, everyone is in? Ok, Ok, lets go!
I am all(!!!!) for any game that transports you to another beautiful part of the world (speaking of which, White Castle, set in Japan, is a must-try) (especially when travel money has been spent on concerts and now a sausage dog/studio flat fund). The makers of Jaipur definitely understood that assignment! Jaipur is a game set in India that I fell in love with during COVID lockdowns/personal burnout ‘bed eras’, when I played it online with a friend from a local LGBTQIA+ group. Finally I got to play it in-person and I really liked it (insert smiling emoj here and also a complex-concept emoj of the earth with bandages and crystals and incense swirling around and on it to symbolise both physical and emotional healing of the planet earth post-lockdowns). TOUCH WOOD!! (Side note: I work in a hospital so I have dark humour as coping mechanism).
It is one of those games (like Century and Mancala) that involves a routine of moves that feel quite instinctive, natural and equally both satisfying and soothing. Appealing to all my fellow aesthetic gamers (yes we love pretty games and we ourselves are pretty), it features a technicolour spectrum including silver, gold, and royal shades of purple and green coins and cards. Depending on which edition you can get your hands on, the box insert is either flamingo pink or sunflower yellow, both adding a beautiful inviting touch to the game and adding a sense of high product quality.
Appealing to fellow random, niche-concept-seeking humans, it features lots of CAMELS. They need a name! Maybe CAMELIA number 1, CAMELIA number 2… and CAMELO? Ok, CAMELS. That is all else I need to say.
Game number 2: Fungi:
If you are like me and tend to jump, run, catapult yourself right into basically EVERY popular trend, you will probablyyy also have an interest in red and white toadstools (no, not just the mario ones, but the real things).
Fungi is another easily-portable card game, giving it all the ticks for practicality. Moving on to box contents, it is certainly not often that you unbox a game to find a GLOSSARY OF MUSHROOMS enclosed! Here you can learn about the likely- to- go- extinct- one- day Chanterelle mushrooms and find out which mushrooms are known as ‘Hen of the Woods’. Players collect beautifully detailed mushroom cards in order to cook them (extra bonuses if they are cooked in butter and ‘Cidre’, too). Even I, who had developed a temporary ‘mushroom ick’ at the time (for eating, OF COURSE not the interest of mushrooms, NEVER EVER EVER- ok swiftie reference here- don’t hate me), got tempted to tuck into some pasta with a garLICKY chestnut mushroom crème fraiche sauce after playing this game.
Like the rules say, the play flows, like it does in Jaipur and other faves, where cards start at the ‘forest in front of your feet), up to the end of the forest and the ‘decay pile’ In Fungi, The rules are made engaging and mindful by beautifully embellishments: forest butterflies, insects and FROGS, not forgetting the basketfuls of mushrooms, reflecting the basket card element of the game, that increases the hand limit by 2 cards.
Overall, this is a game that is simple, very gorgeous to look at and very sweet and gentle, perfect for some therapy on days off work or at the end a sad day, week or month. And if you liked the fantastic forest theme of Fungi, you must, of course, as ALWAYS, play another (or your first ever!) game of Everdell, ideally with the Newleaf and Bellfaire expansions if you can get your hands on them. Others to look out for are Ecosystem, and EXIT: The Enchanted Forest (which is brought to us earthside by the same company as Lost Cities, so must be good!).
