Board games: our 10 favorite games from the start of the year

> To play with family: Harmonies

Presented at the end of February during the last Cannes International Games Festival, Libellud’s latest is as beautiful as it is fun. Family-friendly and accessible, the game is easy to learn. Its principle: each player must create a landscape in order to attract as many animals as possible, using a mechanism quite similar to that of Azul, the famous mosaic game. Concretely, players must each turn collect the tokens and place them on their board in such a way as to form, through combinations, shelters for the animals. All this while not forgetting to build the largest mountain range or the tallest trees, in order to collect as many points as possible. A real favorite !

Harmonies, distributed by Libellud, for 1 to 4 players, from 10 years old. Recommended price: €32

> For a crazy evening: Sync or Swim

Sync or Swim is the craziest game of the summer. You must, in cooperation with the other players, come up with the best possible synchronized swimming choreography. During a routine (there are 15), all players have cards in their hand that they must play simultaneously in a very, very limited time, respecting the constraints common to all swimmers. The game will make you go through all the emotions. A fun nugget not to be missed!

Sync or Swim, published by Iello, for 3 to 6 players, from 14 years old. Recommended price: €22.50.

> To solve mysteries: Kronologic

In this game at the crossroads between the classic investigation game Cluedo and the escape game Unlock! you will have to carry out the investigation in the prestigious Paris Opera, in 1920. Six characters move in six different rooms… during six different times. It’s up to you to find out who is guilty and when. You will need to activate your brain! If you like investigation games, we also recommend the immersive investigation Detective Box.

Kronologic, Super Meeple and Origames, for 1 to 4 players, ages 10 and up. Recommended price: €24.

> To fly away for two: SkyTeam

Released at the end of last year, SkyTeam quickly sold out. And for good reason: in this two-player cooperative game, you play a team of pilots at the controls of an airliner who are trying to land their aircraft in the best possible conditions. Each game takes you on an emotional elevator, where the two of you must continually adjust 7 to 9 parameters by negotiating a plan A, B and sometimes C before each start of a round, because afterwards it’s silence in the cabin. Compact (the box can travel with you), with twenty-minute games, an original concept and enormous replayability, Sky Team is one of the best releases of the season.

Sky Team, published by the Masked Scorpion, for 2 players aged 14 and over. Recommended price: €27.

> To lead the investigation in a paranormal world: Flashback Lucy

In Flashback Lucy, you are an investigator, embarked on four chapters of 45 minutes each, with Lucy Strange, 15 years old in the mysteries of an old family home. This teenager has a unique gift, she awakens the past by simply touching objects, revealing enigmatic visions. Each card lets you take a character’s point of view or shows the scene through an object. It’s up to you to decipher these clues to answer four or five simple questions at the end of the chapter. A perfect introduction to cooperative investigation gaming for teens and young adults.

Flashback Lucy, published by the Masked Scorpion, for 1 to 4 players, from 8 years old. Recommended price: €25

> To refine your geographical knowledge: Countries

Which, between Madagascar* or Venezuela*, has the largest number of inhabitants? And which of these two countries is located further north? These are the types of questions you will need to answer if you start a game of Countries, a geography game. Its principle is simple: in turn, each player must place one of the cards in their hand on the table while trying to “classify” them according to several categories: area, population, average age, highest peak, latitude, longitude. If the next player does not agree, it is up to him to stop the game and check the established order using the data noted on the back of each card. Very simple to set up, Countries consists of around 150 cards and can be played almost anywhere, from the house to the beach. A delight!

Countries, the game, published by Génépi Éditions, for 2 to 12 players, from 14 years old. Recommended price: €19.90.

> To collect monsters: The Vale of Eternity

Card collectors of supercharged little dragons (who’s talking about Pokémon?), this game is for you. And the others ? Also ! In The Vale of Eternity each player becomes a master of arenas full of mythical beasts in search of eternal glory. For a few coins, they pledge allegiance to you and offer you their powers. If you are two or three moves ahead or if you are a pragmatic opportunist, you will be able to combine these effects to obtain an infallible sequence to garner victory points and grill your opponents at the post. The game takes place over 10 rounds, 40 minutes in total, with victory promised to whoever reaches 60 victory points, the top of the mountain. Since its release at the end of December, the game has been out of stock.

The Vale of Eternity, published by Blackrock Games, for 1 to 4 players, ages 10 and up. Recommended price: €27.

> To test your patience: Nékojima

A game of skill, strategy and infinite patience, Nékojima defies the laws of balance in three dimensions. On Nékojima, the island of cats, you will have to connect four districts of this tiny territory with overhead power lines on which cats perform acrobats. After rolling the dice, you will have to try to stack different wooden Denchuu (poles) to connect the different districts. But be careful to find the balance! This addictive game offers games lasting around twenty minutes, and is available in cooperative mode, or in battle between players.

Nékojima, published by Unfriendly Games, for 1 to 5 players, from 7 years old, Recommended price: €35.

> For beginners and experienced players: Mixed Forest

Mixed Forest is a card game in which you build a forest by placing trees in front of you and, around them, animals, plants or insects. Each player has cards face down in their hand and plants their forest by placing trees face up in front of them. Then, as the game progresses, animals, plants or insects can be placed on the four sides of the tree. These cards provide points in the form of acorns. The different combinations offer several possibilities. The game, clever, with fairly simple rules but infinite replayability, is beautifully illustrated and will appeal to strategy enthusiasts and board game neophytes alike. It is also a fun way to discover the fauna and flora that inhabit our European forests.

Mixed forest, a game for 2 to 5 players, from 10 years old. Recommended price: €25.90.

> To get everyone to agree: Trio

With Trio, you can’t go wrong. The game, which won the hotly contested Golden Ace game at the Cannes International Games Festival, mixes memory, cards and luck. The concept is very simple: players have cards in their hands, and the others are placed, face down, in the center of the table. The objective is to find trios of identical cards, by turning over the middle cards or by asking a player (himself included), to reveal the smallest, or largest, of his cards from his teammates. To win, you must either win three trios or win the trio of 7 cards.

Trio, published by Cocktail Games, for 3 to 6 players, from 7 years old. Recommended price: €12