Top 10 games I played for the first time in 2023

Top 10 games I played for the first time in 2023

Hello, friends! You’ve made it to the end of 2023. Pat yourselves on the back for surviving the year! I feel so lucky for all that happened this past year, including going back to the Philippines and attending several gaming conventions! And of course lots of gaming in between. Here are the top 10 games …

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Votes for Women: Campaigning to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment

Votes for Women: Campaigning to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment

This review of Votes for Women is featured on Episode 134 of The Five By. Check out the rest of the episode, which also features HerStory, Detective Rummy, Steam Up and Don’t Talk to Strangers. There are very few board games where I can imagine myself in. Did I, as a young Filipina lady growing …

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SDHist Con 2023: Molly House, Shores of Tripoli, Fire and Stone: Siege of Vienna, Ahoy

SDHist Con 2023: Molly House, Shores of Tripoli, Fire and Stone: Siege of Vienna, Ahoy

On Nov. 2, 2023, I made the trek from Phoenix to San Diego for SDHist Con, an annual historical board game convention that was founded by game designer Harold Buchanan. This year it was held on Nov. 3-5, 2023. It’s my second time attending the convention in person, and after last year’s convention, I knew …

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Consimworld 2023: People Power, Land and Freedom

Consimworld 2023: People Power, Land and Freedom

This year, I was only able to make it for a few days at Consimworld, the annual wargaming convention in Tempe, Arizona. I got sick the week prior (derailing a bunch of other plans), which, of course, left me super bummed, but I made the most of the time there — and got some great …

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Starry Night Sky: Twinkling stars and exploring the constellations

Starry Night Sky: Twinkling stars and exploring the constellations

Arizona is a great place for stargazing — it is even home to 19 dark-sky communities! There’s something so magical about looking up at the sky and imagining far-away stars and galaxies. Exploring the cosmos will probably not be something us non-millionaires can do in our lifetime, but on a game table, Starry Night Sky …

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RinCon 2023: Back better than ever in Tucson!

RinCon 2023: Back better than ever in Tucson!

What a difference nearly a year makes! After holding last fall’s convention in tandem with Tucson Comic- Con, RinCon held its annual board-game convention on its own again — and in a new location at the Casino Del Sol Resort and Casino in June.  Having the option to stay at the hotel (which I did) …

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Friendship Con 2023: Ark Nova, BSG and multiple Chudyk games

Friendship Con 2023: Ark Nova, BSG and multiple Chudyk games

Hello, friends! It’s been a busy few months (I feel like all of adulthood is saying this phrase over and over again but I digress). In between multiple trips and family coming to visit, I managed to get some gaming in. Most notably, last month I saw my friends in Atlanta where we met up …

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We went to the Philippines and played some games! 

We went to the Philippines and played some games! 

In February, my husband and I went to the Philippines and had an amazing time with family in the Manila area. We even visited two other islands! For those unfamiliar, the Philippines has over 7,500 islands, with Luzon the biggest and most populous island and it’s where the nation’s capital Manila is located. It has …

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War Room: Where Axis and Allies meets Diplomacy

War Room: Where Axis and Allies meets Diplomacy

I recently got a chance to play another all-day game of the global WWII game War Room. And by all day, the game continued on for about 8 hours before folks decided to wrap it up because it seemed inevitable that the Axis were going to win in one to two turns. After 8 hours, …

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