Shan 🦕 | Board Games 🎲 & Puzzles 🧩

I've changed my name! I have been mulling a change over for some time and I figured it's best to just get it sorted sooner rather than later! I wanted a name that reflected my page more but not something solely board game related because I still want to post about my puzzles too! So... I settled on tabletop_shananigans because I still love a pun 💁‍♀️ To explain my previous name shanana.in.pyjamas it was based off of the kids show bananas in pyjamas, I have since realised that not everyone knew what that was 😆 I do still love being in my pyjamas though!

It's been a busy week so I haven't played many games but I did play Purrramid one last time before sending it on so this will be my #gameoftheweek hosted by @tubbsplaysgames Purrramid @luckyduckgames 📐 Reiner Knizia 🎨 Inês Toczyska 2-4 Players | 30 Mins | Ages 8+ | 2026 🎲 Complexity: Light ⚙️ Main Mechanisms: Push Your Luck 🎯 Aim: Roll your 5 dice and place any number of them onto a space where the values match. Once you have places your die you can push your luck by rolling again to see if you can get another match with an adjacent value or stop there and place out your cat tiles. Be the first to have all of your tiles out on the board to win, the winning player will score positive points for each extra yellow tile they have been able to play and everyone else will score negative points for the amount of tiles left in their hand. 📖 How easy is it to learn? Super easy, the concepts are simple and can be taught in less than 5 minutes. ☝️👇 Set up/tear down: ~3 minutes ⏰ Accurate play time? Yes, turns are snappy so there is low down time 👯‍♀️ 2 players? With 2 the first two rows are pre-filled with tiles but other than that it plays the same so it's gets a thumbs up from me 👍 🎁 Components/Box: LOVE the cat tiles, they are so cute and tactile, if you love a good clack you'll enjoy these. There are 2 sides to the board to add a bit of variety to layout which I like. There is a lot of empty space in the box, it could easily be half the size, which I would prefer for a lighter game like this. There is an insert though which I appreciate. 💭 My thoughts: If you like push your luck games, I think this one is well worth trying. I had a lot of fun with it and the theme is right up my alley! It's just adorable 😍 One thing that some people may not like is that you will play until the full pyramid is full, so even when there is already a winner you will be playing to get your final score. I didn't mind it too much as we were never too far from the end when someone won, at least in our 2 players games anyway, I don't know what this would be like with 3/4. Overall I would love to play this again some time, I do wish the box was smaller though!

🐢 🐅 Azure 🐉🦅 @bitewinggames [Gifted] 🎯 Place out stones to invoke the power of 4 auspicious beats. Playing stones will gain you Boons in the form of Qi (cards) and/or Wisdom (points). You will pay cards matching the territory type for each boon pictured on the square, however discounts apply for each of your stones in the same row/column that aren't blocked by mountain spaces. (The coloured blocks the beast start upon). Fulfilling the conditions for each beast will invoke their individual power e.g. the Azure Dragon will grant you 3 wisdom points if you have 2+ stones in that beast's row and/or column. However if your opponent then places out more stones than you in the beast's row/column they will take the dragon from you and gain 3 points whilst you will lose those 3 points. This applies to all beast's abilities making it a tense tug of war passing back and forth between you. The first person to reach 25 points wins the game or if you're opponent is unable to place out a new stone 💭 I have been enjoying this so much! I've played it a bunch the last few weeks and also on BGA when I haven't been able to play physically. I love that it's so quick to play and set up, so it's fab for a weekday evening. It has a nice level of strategy without being too brain burny. It has variable set up with the different configurations of the board sections to mix things up game to game. There's also a module with powerful one-time abilities. The production quality is really good, the stones look good enough to eat 😋 and I think the art is wonderful. It's all about striking a balance between collecting cards and earning points as fast as you can as it is essentially a race to 25 points. If you are unable to place a stone out on your turn you lose. It is a little underwhelming when it ends this way as there's usually only 1 turn in it and in almost all of our games that have ended this way, it is the person who has gained the aid of the turtle as it requires an extra stone being placed on the board. Overall though, this is a very streamlined, light abstract game with tight scoring that I recommend giving a go if you often play at 2 players! #gameoftheweek @tubbsplaysgames

It's #safarisaturday hosted by @short.stuff.gaming & @nerdygirlgaming and today's theme is Pollinators suggested by @water.meeple When we think of pollinators I think most of us will initially think of bees (and it is what I have chosen today 😅) but there are so many pollinators in the animal kingdom even ones you may not initially think of like mosquitoes! 🦟 Mosquitos are specialised pollinators that are vital for some wetland and bog plants. Some of them rely on them entirely for their species survival. 🦎 Particularly on islands where other pollinators might be scarce, lizards play a big role by visiting flowers for nectar and inadvertently transferring pollen. 🦇 Bats are incredibly important for pollination of fruit trees in tropical and desert environments 🪲 Beetles have been pollinators for millions of years, way before bees and have likely helped ancient plant species like magnolias and water lilies survive to this day. The bee meeple or beeple is from Funga Flora from @cheatwellgames

🐸🤖 Gachapon Trick 🤖🐸 @playte_games [Gifted] 🎯 What do you do with a pocket full of coins in a Gachapon parlour? Well you spend them all of course! This is a must follow trick taking game, unless you have none of the starting suit in which case you can play anything, the remaining players can then choose which of the suits already played to follow (similar to Seas of Strife). The highest number in the majority suit wins. The interesting twist in this game is you don't just get the cards if you win a trick, you earn the opportunity to take them by paying their cost using the coins in your supply. You can choose which cards you want to buy so you don't have to take them all but you must purchase at least one. Your purchased cards will form sets of the same type to earn points. At the end of each round, count up your points from sets and remaining cards and then start a new round. After 3 rounds the game ends and the player with the most points wins. 💭 I'm no expert in trick taking, I have played a few but no where near as many as some people, but I think this one is pretty unique! I think this may be a new favourite trick taker for me. I really enjoy the extra level of set collection and managing your coins, it just adds that extra layer of strategy that I love and sometimes find lacking in others in the genre especially at 2 player. I would really like to play this at 4 player (and I hope to soon!) as I think this would be the optimal experience but I would definitely play again at 2. I love the art by Sai Beppu which is no surprise since Sai is one of my favourite board game artists. It's colourful and bright and matches the fun vibe perfectly, not to mention the box has an actual coin slot?! It doesn't serve any actual purpose but it's a fun and thematic gimmick 😄. In summary: 🤖 Quick to learn/teach 🤖 Very fun theme with a great set collection twist 🤖 Layers of strategy 🤖 Cool coin slot in the box! 🤖 Good 2 player variant A belated #firstimpressionsfriday post hosted by @nerdygirlgaming #ukge #ukge2026 #playte #ukgamesexpo2026

I previously made a post about what I'm excited about but this one is for the games I think you should consider being excited about 👀 These are all games I have played and think are great! They are definitely worth checking out Flip Pick Towers & Threaded from @ospreygames Otter, Capybara Crush & Doom Cat from @charming.games Easy Peasy, Zenith, Bella Vista, Mozaik & Kingdom Crossing from @hachetteboardgamesuk Gruntz & Twinkle Twinkle from @allplayhq Medievallons, L'Oaf & Goblin Laundromat from @wulfhorngames available at @revelationgamesltd Orapa Mine, Gachapon Trick, Digit Code, Can't Stop & Meow Meow Dice from @playte_games Whispering Woods & Tally Up from @zatutrade Flippin' Dinos, Escape from Tibbles Towers Tower & Shiny Things expansion from @heartbornstudios Twittens from @bedsitgames Cat Earth from @cheatwellgames Under the Leaves from @grandgamersguild Behind the Lens from @insideupgames Cozy Stickerville from @asmodeeuk Before the Rain from @molinarius_games Peranakan: Tiles and Tactics from @geniegames.co Wispwood from @czech_games_edition Borealis: Arctic Expedition from @luckyduckgames Flamecraft Duals from @cbalchemy Feel free to ask me any questions about these! Disclaimer - some of these titles have been previously gifted for review purposes however all opinions are my own and has not affected my decision to include them here! #ukgamesexpo2026 #ukge #ukgamesexpo2026cc #ukgamesexpo

Just 2 weeks until my favourite weekend of the year 🥳🥳 This will be my 4th year attending and I'm so excited!! Make sure you've got your tickets booked if you're planning on attending Stay tuned for more UKGE content in the lead up to the big event including my top tips for getting the most out of your weekend! If you want to see some of the games I'm excited to check out, find my recent post! 😄 I would love to know what you're most excited to see/do whilst there, let me know in the comments! So will I see you there? 🤗 #ukgamesexpo2026 #ukgamesexpo #ukge2026 #ukgamesexpo2026cc

I have played and reviewed a number of Playte games (more reviews to come too!) but I wanted to share my all time top 5. I am a big Playte fan so it was hard to narrow it down to just 5 but these are games I have played a bunch in the past year or so. With the exception of Gachapon Trick as this was a newer arrival but it adds such a fun twist to trick taking! Orapa Mine and Digit Code would have made it onto my top games of 2025 list, if I had made a list 😆. Playte will have their own stand at UKGE this year (stand 3A-602) and they will have their amazing selection boxes on offer. You can fill them up with as many of their games that will fit for a set price 🤩. You can see 2 boxes in the last slide to give you an idea of what could fit! They have a pre-order promotion for £5 off too The links for the pre-order and a cool selection planner is below, the planner lets you visualise what could fit in the selection box so you can plan ahead 😄 UKGE Pre-order site https://tally.so/r/RGYGlv Selection Planner https://selection-box.vercel.app/ What games would you choose? Disclaimer* These games have been gifted in the past but all opinions are my own. #playte #ukge2026 #ukgamesexpo #ukgamesexpo2026 #ukgamesexpo2026cc

UKGE is fast approaching (but not fast enough!) and here are a few of the games I am excited to check out! In no particular order. Do we have any in common? I may do a part 2 because there's more that I'm hoping to check out as well! I'll be doing a number of UKGE posts in the lead up to the big weekend so keep an eye out for more! This will be my 4th year attending so if you have any questions please feel free to comment or reach out ☺️ #ukge #ukge2026 #ukgamesexpo #ukgamesexpo2026 #ukgamesexpo2026CC

Monday has rolled around again much too soon but it does mean it's #mysterymonday🎲 ! Today's theme is 'Scallywags and Scoundrels' suggested by @thegamecupboard I am imagining these guys as D&D characters, I would describe an assassin rogue as a bit of a Scoundrel and a jester bard as quite the scallywag, I think these guys would get up to many an antic in the same adventuring party 😄 This game has some of my favourite artwork in a board game but I feel it's still pretty underrated so I am wondering how many will guess this one... Make you guess in the comments below! 👇 P.s. if you don't like strong language, please avoid the song, it's my favourite d&d themed song so I just had to on this occasion. I will resume the usual PG song choices/content momentarily 😌 __________________________________________________ Last week's theme was 'Career' and I chose Fit to Print from @flatoutgames @alderaceg . In this game you are working at your local newspaper running around trying to find the best stories and create the best layout for the weekend's upcoming issues!

🧵 Threaded 🪡 @ospreygames [Gifted] 🎯 In Threaded, you are running your own needlecraft studio, creating beautiful tapestries for your customers. You will be sending out your assistant to complete tasks for you such as buying more thread, gaining new tools and collecting new patterns. The early bird gets the worm as the assistants first in the queue gets first dibs. The boards are labelled A to F and you will visit each board in order. Manage the threads on your needle and in your basket carefully so you can complete commission cards, the are the only way you will gain points at the end of the game! Once a player has completed 5 tapestries, the end of the game is triggered and everyone counts up their points. 💭 As a lover of all things crafty, this theme caught my eye immediately. The box design is so eye catching and the components are all lovely. There's a tower that spits out threads for the bargain bin which is very fun! Stickers are included for all of the cubes to help with distinguishing colours, they take some time to stick them all but aren't necessary if you don't want to. There are quite a lot of boards to manage but you can arrange them however you like to best for your space. One of the extra cool components is the ability to make your own 1st player marker with an included Bargello kit! I want to preface the next bit, I really enjoy this game now I have played it at 3 and it's my #gameoftheweek but I was originally playing this at 2 players and I won't lie I was a bit disappointed. It seemed a bit too easy, the game ended quickly and was a bit anticlimactic. Thankfully we were able to play a 3 player game and it was so much better 😍. After comparing how it played at each count, I think the issue lies in there being 3 open spaces for 2/3 players in the final section which is where you gain and complete your patterns meaning with 2 players, 1 player could do this 2x each round whereas with 3 it is likely that each player would only go there 1x each round, this made the most difference imo. Knowing this now I'm not going to write off 2 player but I will make some tweaks going forward, my suggestions are in the Carousel! Cont. ⬇️

🐌 🐸 Symbiosis 🐸🐌 @subvertigames @hachetteboardgamesuk [Gifted] 🎯 This is a fast playing card game where you will be taking it in turns to exchange a card from your pond and swap it with a card from the centre. At the beginning of the game, all of your cards will be face down, after 8 rounds all of your cards will be revealed. The twist in this game is that you will be trying to achieve ✨symbiosis✨ between your pond and your fellow players. The 2 cards in your left column will score based on the cards in your left neighbours pond and the same goes for those in your right column with the neighbour on your right. The 4 cards in the middle will score based on your pond. In a 2 player game the central draft where you exchange cards from will act as the third pond to score against. 💭 This is a cool little puzzle! Everyone can see what everyone else has so you can try to play cards based on what you think your neighbours will be going for in their ponds but also swap cards in your pond that your neighbours might score a lot of points from. I really like how everything works together, the name of the game is very fitting! Of course, it does mean you have to keep an eye on what your neighbours are doing so if that's not something you enjoy then this may not be for you but it's a such a quick playing game it doesn't use you that much mental load. I've only played at 2 so far and think the communal pond variant works great! It in a very small box but does take up a good chunk of table space thanks to the lovely large cards but may not be the most travel friendly for playing at coffee shops, trains etc! Oh and another cool thing about this game is that is was made with eco-friendly materials, even the inks! This is my contribution to #safarisaturday for today's theme 'Animals with Shells' suggested by @ahboardgames , I love the snail cards in this game! 🐌 🐌 Pond snails act as natural cleaners, enhancing water quality and balancing the ecosystem by feeding on algae, dead plants and excess water. 🐌 Some species called Trapdoor are gill-breathers and contribute to the overall oxygen balance. Very helpful guys! # hosted by @short.stuff.boardgames & @nerdygirlgaming