Episode 414 – Top Games of 2025

This week, we examine our Amazon Affiliate statistics. What games are the most popular buys among our listeners? Then, we compare our own lists of favorite games of the year. 0:00:00 Fact for 414 The 414s – a group of teenage computer hackers from Milwaukee (the 414 area code) in the early 1980s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_414s Sponsor Message To schedule a time to talk to First Move about other ways to take control of your finances, head over to firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers (https://firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers) to set up a free initial 15 minute call. 0:05:30 What We’ve Been Playing Animal Rescue Team 3 Chapters Shadow Ninjas (w/4 players) Cabanga! (our review (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/cabanga/) – still great) Guildlands That’s Not a Hat Metro X (our review (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/metro-x/) – still great) Cozy Stickerville demo Paleo Verdant Arizona Logic & Lore 0:32:00 Monthly and Yearly Reports In December, Andrew played 15 unique games 23 times. H-index: 2. Most played: Leaders, Jungo. In December, Anitra played 18 unique games 46 times. H-index: 4. Most played: Leaders, Tag Team, Lands of Amazement, Jungo. Nearly all of our games were played at home, and at just two players. In 2025, Andrew played 111 unique games, 299 times. H-index: 8. 16 games played 5+ times, 4 games played 10+ times. Trio is his most played, followed by My City, Floristry, and Lorcana. In 2025, Anitra played 162 unique games, 507 times. H-index: 10. More and more of her games are played with Andrew – this year, she played with Andrew far more than with any other person. 0:38:00 The Family Gamers Community Welcome to our newest members (https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/posts/4273212566301534/) ! You can join the community on Facebook. #Backtalk We asked about what game was the highlight of your holidays. You responded on the Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/posts/4254385648184226/) and on the #backtalk channel (https://discord.com/channels/1157003438425653379/1239323617368604672) of the Discord. 0:46:30 Our Top Ten Amazon Links These games were ordered the most through our affiliate links this year. Links are to reviews/recommendations we wrote for each game. 1. My First Castle Panic (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/my-first-castle-panic/) 2. Outfoxed (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/outfoxed-game/) 3. Monza (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/monza-race-ahead-with-sequencing/) 4. Dragon’s Breath (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/dragons-breath/) 5. Doomlings (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/doomlings/) 6. Green Team Wins (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/green-team-wins/) 7. Dragomino (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/snap-review-dragomino-my-first-kingdomino/) 8. Zombie Kidz Evolution 9. Happy Salmon (tied) 10. Sushi Go (tied) 1:01:00 Our Top Five? Ten? Thirteen? of 2025 We each picked the seven games we enjoyed the most this year. We thought we would overlap to about ten games total. We were wrong. (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/floristry/) Our top game of 2025: Floristry 1. Floristry (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/floristry/) (the only game we both chose!) 2. Leaders (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/leaders/) 3. Creature Comforts 4. Chit Chat (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/chit-chat/) 5. Duel for Cardia (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/duel-for-cardia/) 6. Odin (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/odin/) 7. Ink (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/ink/) 8. Person Do Thing (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/person-do-thing/) 9. Logic & Lore 10. Obelus (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/obelus/) 11. Flower Fields (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/flower-fields/) 12. Lorcana Gateway (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/lorcana-gateway/) 13. Paint the Roses 1:20:20 New Backtalk Question Do you have a New Year’s Resolution that is board game related? Tell us on the #backtalk channel (https://discord.com/channels/1157003438425653379/1239323617368604672) ...