Games of 2021 Christmas and New Year's

 In the "Before Times" I wrote lengthy summaries of the games which were played in our house over the Christmas + New Year's vacation.  I don't think I can go back to the old style, with photos and links to every game, but I would like to commemorate this past year's games, especially considering we had to limit ourselves somewhat during the lockdown Christmas of 2020.

Game playing is one of the major activities for that time of year.  Sherry and I are typically in the middle of a console RPG, so it gets played extensively during the pre-Christmas week, when we've finished our daily holiday preparations, and after all the Christmas festivities, but before the New Year's gatherings begin.  In 2021, the RPG was Ghost of Sushima on PlayStation 4.  It's our second play-through, and I can't recommend this game highly enough.  It's beautiful (except for the the grisly dead bodies left behind by the invading Mongols) and the mix of fighting, stealth, exploration and level-advancement through questing is excellent.

The largest number of games are played in the "New Year's Eve" days.  Typically, these start about December 29, though it was December 30 this year.  We typically play our last games on December 31, but this year we extended into January 1, since that was a Saturday.  However, in addition to those days, we had a couple of gatherings (a couple not at our house) before Christmas and between the holidays for a few of us to play a couple of games.  And, this year we have three grandchildren aged 5 and up, so there were opportunities to play more kid-centric games.  Hence, the 2021 list is quite long!  

Board/Card/Dice Games - Competitive - Non-Kids

• Sagrada - new from Sherry
• Azul 
• Memoir ‘44 
• Roll for It
• Bear Stare Down
• Codenames
• Splendor Marvel
• Skip-Bo (Sherry and Mike won, for the record, defeating Paul and me) 
• Hanabi (I think I have this classified correctly - I did not learn or play it)
• Dragon Realm (I think I have this classified correctly - I saw it played and it appears to be a more advanced version of Dragon Wood, using a board in addition to cards.)
  

Cooperative Games - Non-Kids

• Flashpoint
• Time Bomb Evolution 
• Horrified 
• Castle Panic 
• Fuse 
• Mysterium Park
• Ghost Stories
• Big Book of Magic
• Atlantis Rising
• Codenames Harry Potter  
• Chameleon
• 5-Minute Dungeon  
• Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle
• Mountains of Madness 
  

Kid-Friendly Games

• War (Classic card game)
  
• Pirate Cove 
•  Headbandz Disney
• Raya's Journey
• The Floor is Lava (boxed game)
• Dinosaur Escape
• Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
• The Volcanic Island
• Shadows in the Forest
  

Role-Playing Game(s)

• Sentinel Comics

Party Games

• Catch Phrase
• Cartooned
• Once Upon a Time
• Just One (not sure this got played)
  

Console Games

• Donkey Kong Country
• Ghost of Tsushima