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Who doesn’t love a savoury doughnut? That’s what bagels are, really. Soft, chewy rounds of carb greatness that predominantly eschews glaze for gruyere. I have gladly chosen all carbs over Marbs every single year and I will absolutely continue to do so. Plain, poppy, sesame, multi, even pizza…….However you like them, they hit the spot. And 15 January is the day we all say bravo to bagels.
But, rather surprisingly, they rarely feature in board games. Fear not, however, as we can still channel their greatness by celebrating games that focus on New York. Why? Well, as well as having a cart of carb-fection on every street corner, it’s the place where the International Beigel Baker’s Union was founded way back in 1907 to protect the 300 bagel makers making the gold standard 3oz NY bagel and promote innovation in the industry. So settle down with your smoke salmon and cream cheese on plain, or banana and chocolate spread on cinnamon, and play some great games in honour of Bagel Day!
New York Slice
Pizza bagels are a thing and boy they are good. Well, the hole is a missed opportunity, but get a fat enough one and it’s practically non-existent. And whilst there aren’t any pizza bagels in New York Slice, the focus on New York and delicious carbs is good enough for me.
An I-slice-you-choose, set collection game, players will be carving up a pizza pie into sections and offering them up to the other players. Tempting your opponents to take a section you are happy to give away is key – and it could take some tasty bonus scoring “specials” to make it happen. You’ll gain points for having the most pizza pieces of specific values/types by the end of the game, but you can instead choose to eat pieces of pepperoni pizza at the end of a round to bank early points. And, just like real life, nobody wants to be left with stinky anchovies!
Get on Board New York and London
We love roll/flip and write games for their efficiency in giving a full game feeling. But sometimes, their composition can be a little sparse. In Get on Board, however, we get the best of both worlds. It’s a fun flip and write game play combined with a board and tokens that you can pick up and move! And not just one board but two; one based on London and the other, bagel city! Okay, New York City but we all know it’s all about the bagels.
Your job is to drive your bus around the city collecting different passengers and dropping them off at certain locations. Where your bus can go depends on the shape you get to draw that round. With additional bonus points for completing your own personal route, and multipliers available to boost tourists, students, officer workers and more, you’ll earn your bagel break in this game!
Ticket To Ride New York
Ticket to Ride was one of our first and favourite modern board gaming experiences, and the clever designer has distilled the feeling of the big game into a range of city based smaller variants. New York has a smaller but iconic map, fewer destinations, and no trains. Wait. What? No trains? Fear not. Transport is still the theme, but here we are using iconic NY Taxi cabs!
Build your network by collecting cards and using them to claim routes, but don’t overreach or you could end up with unfinished journeys. Oh and don’t forget those bonus scoring landmarks! If you love Ticket to Ride and want the same fun play in a shorter time, this is for you. Conversely, if you have never played the OG, TTR New York will give you a flavour of the carbo-load that is Ticket To Ride USA!
On Tour Paris and New York
Road trip! Bagels are a perfect travel snack, especially if you are touring around New York with your band! On Tour is a roll and flip and write where it’s all about the numbers. A sequel to the original On Tour, this version has players deciding where to allocate the numbers created by two dice around a map with the goal of having the longest chain of jazz club locations. They don’t have to be consecutive, but they must always go higher, and they must be in the appropriate borough/arrondissement.
With some extras added (Seine riverboats and Staten Island ferries as well as Solo instrument icons), this is one of the tightest roll and writes we own. Every turn throws you a curve ball in the form of a number that is going to wreck your best laid plans. And at the end of the game, when you track your tour, you’ll see all of the lost opportunities. It’s pen snapping fun, and it’s a game we always have to play again immediately afterwards!
King of New York/King of New York Duel
King Kong has a huge appetite and could down many bagels! Sadly, however, the asymmetric creatures in these games have a hunger to destroy their rivals for ultimate monster-iety! Based on the original King of Tokyo, this is still a dice rolling (and re-rolling and re-rolling!) battler. In the game you’ll be hoovering up VPs, hitting each other’s health, recovering, and levelling up by buying power cards. But in NYC, you’re also hungry for notoriety. What you collect on your turn is down to which dice icons you keep. And everyone is trying to shine in Manhattan. It might seem sensible to smash and destroy whenever you can but the military response will be serious!
In the new Duel version, it doesn’t matter where you are – the fight is coming to you! Still seeking fame for being the most monstery and the desire to cause the most damage, this is the ultimate tug of war between you and your fiendish opponent!
We hope these games have helped you work up an appetite for you to play some great games on Bagel Day - tell us your favourite game by heading over to our Instagram!