Level Up Lemonade

10/15/2026

Koi by
Had an opportunity play this guy The Dice Tower East this year. It was an instant pick up for us after the convention. An absolutely gorgeous 3D tile layer with solid components and a very satisfying feeling of getting your pond put together. One of favorite types of tile layers are always multi level tile layers. Stacking things on things just feels so good. If you're looking to build a pond on game night this is one of our go tos! If you haven't checked out Bonsai which is another banger by the same publisher.

Highly Recommend! 5/5 🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲

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In Koi, you build an authentic 3D koi pond, so the challenge is to bring your reservoir to life and make the most of the actions at your disposal to create something truly magnificent.
From the creators of Bonsai comes a brand-new, serene, strategic journey through nature.

The Japanese term “Koi” means multicolored carp, known as “swimming flowers”, considered living jewels, and a symbol of perseverance and virtue. Now you can welcome them into your pond and contemplate them to achieve luck and success!

Inspired by the peaceful elegance of Japanese gardens, Koi invites players to build stunning habitats, populate them with koi, and compete for harmony, beauty, and victory points.

Each turn unfolds with two core actions:
- Meditate: draw cards, earn coins, and acquire koi from the market.
- Work: use your Sensei’s abilities to shape your pond by placing your tiles.

With a highly customizable, multi-layer tile placement system and beautiful 3D elements like bridges and lanterns, no two games are ever the same. Complete dynamic goals, unlock new features, and gaze at your own stunning creation while it comes to life!
--From BGG

10/14/2026

10/14/2026

Let's unbox Lodge by PickPocket Games
Watch as we r***e through the components, rule book and tiles.

10/14/2026

Manatee Sanctuary by Warped Reality Games
What a fun tile layer we got to try out at Dice Tower East this year! This was a game I hadn't seen or heard of before the convention. It had split cards that offered 2 actions depending on which side you chose, along with an incredible “I split, you choose” mechanic for selecting your hand. You either choose actions to gain manatees and food or choose to expand your sanctuary with the bottom half of the card. A fun way to shake up the tile laying formula! On top of that, you are making sure you have enough food to keep all your manatees in the sanctuary fed in between each turn. It's a good time, love the manatee meeples too.
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Hungry Manatees, Playful Manatees, Common Manatees, attract them all to your ever growing habitat to create the best Manatee Sanctuary and win the game!
Manatee Sanctuary is a family weight game in which players will draft cards using an "I split you choose" method over the course of 3 rounds. Once the draft is complete players will decide whether to use their cards for their top action, thereby attracting manatees and producing food, or grow their sanctuary by tucking the top portion of the card under their ever expanding board creating more room for manatees and increasing their food production. There are many different types of manatees in the sea each with their own effects and after each player has finished using their cards everyone must feed all their hungry manatees! Once all manatees have been fed players will score points based on the number of manatees they have, their type, and the round they are in. At the end of 3 rounds whoever has the most points wins!

Manatee Sanctuary comes with multiple modules and play option for family's and hobby board gamers alike!

—description from the publisher

10/13/2026

Last pack magic baby! It's October 13th, which is clearly open the last pack of the 30th bundle box Day so we are out here celebrating 🎉🎇 the right way. Opening the last pack of our bundle box. Let's see some last pack magic!!

10/12/2026

We got a wonderful chance to meet the one and only Dr. Finn's Games this year Dice Tower East . Some of our favorite games were designed and published by him. He was one of the first designers we fell in love with back in 2015/16 when we first really got into modern gaming. He was absolutely incredible enough to autograph about 20 of our games of his we've collected over the years. It's a stack, but we could'nt help ourselves. We really appreciate your time in talking to us and letting us geek out for a few minutes. We've been big fans of his games for many years and an opportunity to meet and chat for a few minutes was everything we wanted. 😂😂. Thanks for an incredible experience!

🎲🎲🎲

10/12/2026

Dangerous curves ahead!! ⚠️🚧
At least the cookies and lemonade are safe.

People underestimate the real dangers of the market. Being clumsy as hell. Sorry about your sign AJ. 😂.

10/12/2026

Time for another boring unboxing. We got.. Lodge in the building. Say it right!
This was a Kickstarter we backed by PickPocket Games . A little promo tossed in for Tiny Towns as well, that's amazing. 🤩

10/11/2026

Picked up our Archeops promo with a special Excavator Pikachu stamp.
Let's gooo!!

10/11/2026

Spoiler incoming. We're unboxing something. It'll be a bit boring.

Ayyye, welcome back! Today we're unboxing a Kickstarter we backed a while ago featuring an absolute gem of a title: Aqua Garden, Sky Garden and Dino Garden by

We've yet to play Sky Garden and Dino Garden, but Aqua Garden is one of our favorite games. Super fun, great table presence, and it features one of my favorite mechanics, the rondel! The player furthest back on the rondel goes next, which creates some really interesting decisions. It's actually packed with a double rondel, with your own personal rondel on your player board determining where you place your pickups from the main board. It's absolutely delightful if I do say so myself. The components are incredible and have wonderful table presence and now we even have DUAL-LAYER BOARDS!! IYKYK. Such a great QoL addition for this game.

We're excited to see how these other two games play! From what we've heard at The Dice Tower East 26 this year, the trilogy builds on the same core system while each game adds its own twists and strategic layers. Kind of reminds us of the Wingspan trilogy or Azul, where each game builds on the main mechanics but add small tweaks and changes to really differentiate gameplay between the games. Wonder which will be our favorite? Similarly, I heard they have more of a light medium and heavy feel to them as well.

Highly recommend checking out these titles and giving them a go.

5/5 🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟

Oh, and they have shiny creatures too!