Miner Recs Newsletters & Podcasts

Miner Recs Episode 93: Board Games

On this episode, Angelo, Amy, Annie, and Quinn discuss board games, with an emphasis on games that can be checked out here at the Des Plaines Public Library. Listen to their conversation in the player below:

Check out some of the board games in the DPPL collection:

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Abducktion: A Weirdly Strategic Duck Kidnapping Game

Meet Abducktion, a 15-minute light strategy game for grown-ups (and smart kids) featuring ducks, a UFO, and shape-making logic! Grab adorable miniature ducks from the included 3D UFO and use your Action Cards to rearrange them into specific formations faster than your opponents.

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Arkham Horror: The Card Game

In the sleepy town of Arkham, Massachusetts, a small band of intrepid investigators seeks to uncover the nature of a sinister menace that threatens humanity. But beware! The arcane realm holds countless terrors, and the investigators must take care to maintain a tenuous grip on their very sanity, and survive.

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Betrayal At House On The Hill

It's the house of your nightmares. The House on the Hill still sits abandoned, its windows staring blankly out at the world. No one can remember who lived there, or what happened to them. Now, a fearless group of explorers has been drawn to the house, for different reasons. Some received mysterious invitations, while others are investigating unexplained disappearances. A few have simply come to check out a cheap fixer-upper. Playing as those explorers, you will be challenged to face the horrors of the house. Circumstances will place you in any of 50 chilling haunts, created for this third edition, which will terrify even the strongest among you. But beware, for one explorer will betray the others, leading to a life-and-death struggle for survival. The house will see and hear it all. They say that the House on the Hill always wins. It's up to you to prove them wrong.

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Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game

'Dead of winter' is an experience that can only be accomplished through the medium of tabletop games. It is a story-centric game about surviving through a harsh winter in an apocalyptic world. The survivors are all dealing with their own psychological imperatives but must still find a way to work together to fight off outside threats, resolve crises, find food and supplies, and keep the colony's morale up.

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Gloomhaven: Jaws Of The Lion

You are a member of "Jaws of the Lion", one of the most infamous mercenary groups in this run-down backwater city of Gloomhaven. When a sinister cabal starts disappearing the less fortunate of the city, it somehow falls to you to get to the bottom of it....so long as you get paid for your trouble.

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Pandemic

In this game, players collaborate as members of a disease-fighting team combating four deadly diseases. The team travels around the world to stop the infection and develop resources for the cures. Players win by discovering cures for the four diseases, but lose if they do cannot do so fast enough or if they fail to effectively keep the number of infections in check.

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Robo Rally

If you thought that factory robots took the weekend off like you do (well, most of you), then you haven't seen a robo rally yet. When the supervisors are gone and the cameras have been angled to watch the ceiling, the robots take charge and participate in exciting and deadly race-battles. Robo Rally is a competitive racing game full of robotic chaos! Program your robot to tag checkpoints, attach powerful upgrades, and turn this dreary old warehouse into a fabulous fast and frenzied fun factory!

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Settlers of Catan

Your adventurous settlers seek to tame the remote but rich isle of Catan. Start by revealing Catan's many harbors and regions: pastures, fields, mountains, hills, forests, and desert. The random mix creates a different board virtually every game. No two games are the same! Embark on a quest to settle the isle of Catan! Guide your settlers to victory by clever trading and cunning development. Use resource combinations- grain, wool, ore, brick, and lumber- to buy handy development cards and build roads, settlements, and cities. Acquire your resources through trades, cards, or lucky dice (even outside your turn). But beware! Someone might cut off your road or buy a monopoly. And you never know when the wily robber might steal some of your precious gains!

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Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases

A cooperative game where the players, members of the Baker Street Irregulars, try to solve mysterious cases by walking the streets in search of clues. Players attempt to unravel the string of intrigues, answer a series of questions and compare their detective skills to those of the master sleuth himself, Sherlock Holmes.

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Tenzi

Tenzi is the world's fastest game! Players race to be the first to roll matching values on all ten of their dice and shout Tenzi! Includes variant rules for eight other ways to play.

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Ticket To Ride: The Cross-Country Train Adventure Game!

Players attempt to gain the most points through claiming routes and completing paths of routes through North America.