What’s in the box: A board games delivery

I love it when a box of board games shows up on my doorstep when I’m completely not expecting it. The contents of this particular box from Captsone Games were preordered several months ago, so this was even more exciting.

New York Zoo Board Game

The first board game is New York Zoo. I preordered a copy of this game from somewhere (they shall remain nameless) and it was ultimately cancelled due to lack of supply. Some games you just need to own, and for me, New York Zoo is one of them. I haven’t even played it yet, but I just know. Uwe. Rosenberg.

Uwe Rosenberg’s Agricola is the very game that opened my eyes to the world of modern board gaming. I grew up loving board games, but Agricola is something special. My family has played countless games and it easily remains our most played game of all time. When I first saw how cute New York Zoo appeared, I was shocked it was a Rosenberg. It didn’t quite have the dry euro feel that many of his games tend to have (this is not a knock, I love dry euros). I suspect the colorful meeples probably help with this perception.

The Quick Facts for New York Zoo

• Ages: 10+
• Players: 1-5
• Playtime 30- 60 minutes

Dare I say this has all the signs of being an instant favorite for our family. Can be played solo. Younger gamers should have no problem with the complexity of this game. Doesn’t take forever to play. Check, check, and check.

Capstone was kind enough to include the painted elephant meeple promo in the box. Yeah!

Curious Cargo Board Game

Next out of the box is Curious Cargo. This game I’m particularly curious about (you see what I did there!). I’ve watched several reviews for this board game, and even the most serious of gamers seemed to be perplexed by this one. It’s frequently described as difficult and thinky. I like difficult games. I really like the look of this game. Building all the lines in the factory seems very puzzly and I can’t wait to try it out for myself.

Curious Cargo was really a bonus find. I was trying to preorder New York Zoo directly from Capstone Games when I stumbled upon it. The only drawback to the order is that both New York Zoo and Curious Cargo were preorders for upcoming printings of the game. If I ordered both together, I got a discount, but that also means I had to wait for both games to come into stock before they shipped. I went for it. New York Zoo was the first to be reprinted, and it was maybe another month before Curious Cargo finished its latest printing!

Curious about Curious Cargo? Check out this video from the publisher Capstone Games:

Another added bonus: Capstone Game included a tote bag with my order!