It's sum-sum-summer-time! Here are our hot staff picks for this month!

What would be your top pick this month?

Josh's Pick

Kanban - Hand Management, Worker Placement, Variable Phase Order, Economic, Kickstarter, Strategy Game

You will be overseeing the production of these vehicles in Kanban EV, with "kanban" (看板) being the name for a scheduling system that supports an efficient assembly line, just-in-time production, and a smooth workflow process. Over the course of the game, players take on the role of rookie employees who are trying to secure their career. You need to manage suppliers and supplies, improve and innovate automobile parts, and get your hands greasy on the assembly line in order to boost production and impress the factory manager.   

-description from the publisher  

Kyndra's Pick

Flamecraft - Hand Management, Worker Placement, Contract Fulfillment, Fantasy, Family, Strategy Game

Jeff's Pick

Bananagrams - Race, Real-Time, Letter/Word, Family Game

Bananagrams is a fast and fun word game that requires no pencil, paper or board, and the tiles come in a fabric banana-shaped carrying pouch. One hand can be played in as little as five minutes. Much like Pick Two!, but without the letter values.

Using a selection of 144 plastic letter tiles in the English edition, each player works independently to create their own 'crossword' faster than one's opponents. When a player uses up all their letters, all players take a new tile from the pool. The object of the game is to be the first to complete a word grid after the "bunch" of tiles has been depleted.

Soby's Pick

Village Green - Hand Management, Solo Option, Tile Placement, Variable Set-up, Strategy Game

It's the first day of spring, and there's only one thing on everyone's mind — the Village Green of the Year competition! In just a few months, the judges of this prestigious contest will be visiting, and the village council have finally put you in charge of the preparations. With your newfound authority, you can show those snobs from Lower Aynesmore just what a properly orchestrated floral arrangement looks like!

In Village Green, you are rival gardeners, tasked by your respective communities with arranging flowers, planting trees, commissioning statues, and building ponds. You must place each element carefully as time is tight and the stakes couldn't be higher! Split your days between acquiring and installing new features for your green and nominating it for one of the competition's many awards. Will your village green become the local laughing stock, or make the neighboring villages green with envy?

Aidan's Pick

War of the Ring TCG - Campaign/Battle Driven, Hand Management, Team-Based, Fantasy, Card Game

Inspired by the best-selling and award-winning War of the Ring board game, War of the Ring: The Card Game allows players to journey to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and create their own version of the dramatic conflict between the Dark Lord, Sauron, and the Free Peoples of Middle-earth.

In War of the Ring: The Card Game, up to 4 players compete in two teams, the Shadow against the Free Peoples, each player using a specific and different card deck representing the strengths and weaknesses of the different factions involved in the war.
The Free Peoples desperately try to complete their quest to destroy the One Ring, while at the same time defending their homelands from the encroaching hordes of Sauron and from his evil allies.

The Shadow players must strike quickly and decisively, before the Ring-bearers can complete their quest; or try to slowly corrupt Frodo, burdening him with wounds, toil, and the sorrow for the loss of his Companions.

-description from the publisher

Wes' Pick

Rhino Hero - Stacking/Balancing, Hand Management, Children's, Card Game

Super Rhino! presents players with an incredibly heroic – and regrettably heavy – rhinoceros who is eager to climb a tall building and leap other tall buildings in a single bound. First, though, you need to construct that building.

Players each start the game with five roof cards, and they take turns adding walls and roofs to a single building. On a turn, you first place walls on the highest floor, then you choose a roof card in your hand and place it on the wall. Each roof card bears markings that indicate where the next player must place walls on the card. In addition, some roof cards force a player to perform special actions, such as placing a second roof, changing the direction of play, or moving Super Rhino to a new location on the tower. Keep your hands steady!

Sophi's Pick

Kariba - Hand Management, Rock-Paper-Scissors, Children's, Card Game

All animals are thirsty after an adventurous day in the savannah, so they've all trekked to the drinking grounds. Every animal wants to be the first to drink, but watch out! The elephant scares the rhino, the rhino scares the ostrich, and the ostrich scares the zebra. Anything can happen... The mice might even scare the elephant! The player who scares away the most animals wins.

Brendan's Pick

Boss Monster - Hand Management, Take That, Player Elimination, Video Game Themed, Card Game

Inspired by a love of classic video games, Boss Monster: The Dungeon Building Card Game pits 2-4 players in a competition to build the ultimate side-scrolling dungeon. Players compete to lure and destroy hapless adventurers, racing to outbid one another to see who can build the most enticing, treasure-filled dungeon. The goal of Boss Monster is to be the first Boss to amass ten Souls, which are gained when a Hero is lured and defeated — but a player can lose if his Boss takes five Wounds from Heroes who survive his dungeon.

Jordan's Pick

Archduke - Bluffing, Memory, Speed Matching, Take That, Party, Card Game

In Archduke, players have a set of cards (starting with four) placed face-down in front of them: some that they know, and some that they don’t. Each card has a point value, ranging from -3 to 13, shown in the corners of the card. The goal is to have the lowest sum of points at the end of each round, accomplished by swapping, stealing, and getting rid of cards. Points are scored after each round, with the game continuing to an agreed mark when the player with the lowest score wins.

-description from the publisher