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We are already 2 months into 2025 which means we are heading headfirst into chocolate and cupid country! Valentine’s Day is on 14th , and so tradition dictates that everything is now pinky hued! Fuchsia hearts and rose pink flowers will be purchased voraciously, but the best way to show your significant other how much you adore them is surely to invite them to the table. Not to eat a sumptuous meal. Not to stare lovingly into their eyes. But to crush them under the weight of your winning strategy of course! Okay, so you could also work together…..I guess…….but in our household love means annihilation of the cardboard kind! We respect each other enough to bring our A game. Every game. Every time. Haha
So to get you in the mood, here at Zatu, we have come up with 5 top game suggestions from David and me that put pink at the heart of the games you play in February.
Arboretum: Favouritefoe
Arboretum with its pretty pink cherry blossoms looks pretty but plays pretty mean. We call it “rage trees” and we love it! There’s no slamming or slapping. The anger simmers and then boils over within as you realise your opponent is going to ruin all your efforts!
Simple to learn, Arboretum is a set collecting, hand management game where you are trying to make paths beginning and ending with the same species of tree The rest of the cards forming the path don’t have to match but your paths need to grow orthogonally in ascending numerical order. It sounds calm and peaceful, and so you could be forgiven for thinking our anger is misplaced. But it will hit hard when you realise that your path will only score only if you are also holding the highest total value of the species of trees that started and ended your paths in your hand at end game!
The trade-off between what you need to lay down to extend your path, what you need to keep in your hand, and what you have to discard is wonderfully intense. Luck of the draw can flip reverse your tactics, and pleasurably painful AP tingles my brain whenever I play, but it all comes together to fire up my heart in this month of romantic endeavours!
Smash Up: Marvel: David Ireland
Smash up is such a fantastic board game series. A game that sees 2-4 players combine (smash) 2 types of faction together to create a unique playing combination to pit against your opposition. Smash up was originally created in 2012 and many of the expansions that followed alluded to popular characters from the world of fiction. In 2021, AEG acquired therights to use the branded characters and I am so pleased they did as they made Smash Up Marvel. And pink is a huge colour theme in Smash Up. It’s a bold and vibrant game with many factions of pink hues. It is a constant presence in this set, not least because of the box art.
This set contains 8 factions, The Avengers, The Ultimates, Hydra, SHIELD, Kree, Masters of Evil, Sinister Six and the Spider Verse. As noted, players smash 2 of these together to create a deck (20 cards per faction making a deck of 40 cards), so you could find Spider Man teaming up with his enemies in the Sinister Six. Can you imagine? It happens! The objective is to be the first player to earn 15 victory points. And points are earned by playing characters on bases and breaking them. Each base has a breakpoint printed on it as well as the VPs available for players based upon how much power they have. Gameplay is relatively easy. Players draw 5 cards each at the start. On their turn they can play an action and play a character. That’s it. Players check to see if bases have been broken, and if they have, they score the points, then draw two cards and play goes on. The magic of this game is in the detail printed on each card. They are all unique and the creators have done a fantastic job with a deck of 20 cards in capturing the essence of each faction. For simple rules, there are enormous differences, and the game is so well balanced. I love this set of the game and I truly hope they bring another edition of Marvel Smash Up to the marketplace with more marvel themed factions to integrate to the series.
Dorfromantik Sakura: Favouritefoe
Tile laying games are something my husband and I love to play together. But when I say together, it’s usually against each other. He has a habit of alpha gaming me in co-operative games because he is very good at thinking ahead. Watching me trying to catch up with his planning is therefore excruciating for him. So he now cuts that out by simply telling me what we are going to do. And in most games that’s a surefire way to increase our chance of success. But in Dorfromantik, unusually, we are on a more even keel.
Deciding how to build out our village to achieve scoring objectives (tasks) and unlock new challenges takes two, baby! I don’t know why, but in this game he relies on me as much I depend on him. Perhaps because it is meant to be a chilled experience rather than one where we are fleeing beasties or battling baddies. And Dorfromantik Sakura is a new edition of the OG with beautiful pink blossoms growing everywhere! With more features to build and new challenges to unlock in a campaign, legacy style gameplay, this would be a beautiful way to game in February!
Dobble Pixar: David Ireland
Dobble is a beautifully simple game that provides a lot of joy to young gamers, and the Pixar edition is no exception. A really simple set of rules that are so engaging for young people. I only learned about Dobble recently, but I am so pleased to have discovered it. And this month’s colour runs right through the game with a pink silhouette of Miguel from Coco on the back of the card.
For 2 to 6 players, the game is a deck of disc shaped cards with 6 characters/pictures printed on. The dealer draws 2 cards and the first person to call out a pair earns the pair as a score to count towards the end of the game. The player with the most pairs wins. In the event of a tie, you are probably best to find a fair way to decide who picks up the trick – another game is highly recommended and never refused!
Dobble is just a wonderfully colourful game much like the world of Pixar. It’s all about reaction time and quick thinking; who can interpret the images the fastest, reacting quick enough and calling out the right characters. Everyone leans in during play because they want to pick out that pair first and get the best look of what’s on offer. This will be a regular holiday game for our family going forward and I can highly recommend this if you have young gamers in your home.
French Quarter: Favouritefoe
Pink is a party colour. And in French Quarter, it’s one of the colours key to the New Orleans street party scene. The latest in a series of “strategic roll and writes, it comes hot on the heels of Motor City, Three Sisters, and Fleet The Dice Game.
In the game, you are travelling around The Big Easy as part of a large street party. The buildings you can visit are determined by the paired dice and cards you select each turn. And every place you pass can produce points whenever a bubble-gum pink social phase is triggered by a player. To do well, you need to focus on combo-actions that will trigger a cascade of bonuses. Luckily, French Quarter is generous in the bonuses it rewards, but you need to be smart to optimise placement each turn to unlock the potential. If your significant other isn’t a gamer, there’s also a solo mode featuring the Mayor that works brilliantly. Their rules and regulations will definitely break your heart if you don’t pay attention!
So that’s it for the rose-tinted month of 2025. A whole month of fresh and exciting gaming opportunities for you to enjoy! We hope these recommendations get your hearts pumping and your eye-lashes fluttering as you continue your brilliant year of playing new and well-loved titles!
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