You know what Space-Biff! has always been about? Family. Okay, it’s more often about board games. So consider today a synthesis. These are the past year’s best board games that I played with my extended family or nine-year-old. They’re light, they’re fluffy, and there’s a good chance they contain anthropomorphic animals in some degree of peril.

#6. Fugitive (Second Edition)

Designed by Tim Fowers. Published by Fowers Games.

I feel like I’ve fallen for this one before. Oh, that’s right — the first edition of Fugitive was included in Best Week 2017. This year’s sole repeat, Fugitive captured my heart all over again thanks to a second edition that incorporated the SHIFT System from Mind MGMT, a mouthful of capital letters that can be summed up as “light legacy elements.” It’s a hidden movement game played only with cards, and it’s light enough that it introduced my kid to her first turn as both fugitive and pursuer.

Review: Running Shoes Unlocked

#5. Beacon Patrol

Designed by Torben Ratzlaff. Published by Pandasaurus.

It would be easy to describe Beacon Patrol as cooperative Carcassonne, which is exactly why I’ve described it as cooperative Carcassonne. The light hues of Torben Ratzlaff’s illustrations imbue it with a chilly atmosphere, like that first winter bite that sees everybody admiring their expelled steam. This is a score-chaser at heart. That means there’s no such thing as “losing,” only degrees of success. Perfect for a stressed kid who needs to unwind after a tough day of fourth grade.

Review: Carcassonne-by-the-Sea

#4. Fit to Print

Designed by Peter McPherson. Published by AEG & Flatout Games.

Speaking of unwinding, here’s a game that’s terrible for that. Fit to Print riffs on the timed segment of Vlaada Chvátil’s Galaxy Trucker, which makes it one stressful experience indeed. But it’s a good stress, a frantic playfulness that produces a messy front page filled with, yes, woodland creatures in various states of distress. This is one of those rare games that gets better when things go wrong. Especially when things have gone wrong because Geoff forgot to include any advertisements on his front page and will soon be furloughed.

Review: Gazette Trucker

#3. Race to the Raft

Designed by Frank West. Published by The City of Games.

Oh no! Those kittens are stuck in the middle of an island wildfire! Again! For the third time today! There are more scenarios in Race to the Raft that any one person could tackle in a year, which suits my daughter’s scattershot approach just fine. Rather than proceeding in a stately order from one challenge to the next, our rescue efforts bounced between difficulty levels and concepts. I’m glad for that, if only because such an approach introduced the white kitten far earlier than we would have otherwise. This is a tile-laying puzzle with multiple layers, all of them perfect for a kid who already pretends to rescue animals.

Review: Those Darn Kittens

#2. Spots

Designed by Jon Perry, Alex Hague, and Justin Vickers. Published by CMYK.

The simplicity of Spots belies the merciless probabilities running under the hood. I could write an essay about the game’s diegetic use of dice, but that would detract from the uncomplicated delight of rolling the things. Add the teensiest dash of resource management and action selection, and you have one of the most charming and approachable press-your-luck games ever designed.

Review: See Spots Roll

#1. Lacuna

Designed by Mark Gerrits. Published by CMYK.

Lacuna is the first board game my nine-year-old insisted on introducing to her grandpa, complete with her own explanation of the rules and a quick primer on strategy. As with many of today’s titles, it’s simple at heart. To collect flowers, you place a pawn in between two matching colors. When the game ends, any leftovers are awarded based on proximity to the pawns you played over the previous five minutes. But there’s also an essential need to think ahead, to consider what the board will look like in the future as further pawns are added and flowers are subtracted. Either way, Lacuna is a delight, both art piece and spatial conundrum alike.

Review: Lacuna Matata

What were your favorite family games of the year?

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