Great review Jon! I feel like you covered every aspect, and fairly represented the positives and possible negatives. Also, I very much appreciate the references to comparable games; that's something I wish other reviewers did consistently. It helps those of us who are trying to make the best purchasing choices for our game group/family. One last note- your general youtube layout/viewing interface is wonderful. I always appreciate the chapter bookmarks, and in this video particularly- the small insert video of the setup while you discussed that aspect was very slick.

Congrats Jon!! Another great review...and totally I agree with all the pluses and minuses.

A bit late to the party, but we've picked this up in Essen last weekend. Thanks again for a good review, Jon.

3D Printed Insert really helped me with the tear down and setup. It organized each of the pieces for their sections.

Hey Jon, I wanted to say that I'm really impressed with how organized your reviews are and the layout of the positives, neutrals, and negatives. I also like how your neutrals and negatives seem to come from a pretty objective position whereas is some other reviews I've seen the reviewer struggle in this area. I've also noticed that your opinion of the games don't seem to just follow popular opinion and it's nice to see reviews that contrast with other reviewers (your Tzolk'In review). I really appreciate your reviews and hope to see a lot more.

Great review!

I think I enjoyed this more than Cottage Garden as well from my one play. And I appreciate that it doesn't go too long

I love Patchwork, but always hated that it was just 2-player. I was excited when Cottage Garden was released, but didn't think the theme would appeal to all my family - especially my son :). This, however, looks like a perfect fit!! Thanks for the great review! Also, as a custom game insert fan, I think that a custom insert could help dramatically with setup.

A well-balanced review that touches on the compelling features of Barenpark. It's addictive for sure. No fussy mechanics or rule memorization. Setup/teardown is much easier than Tiny Towns, in comparison, but more time consuming than many other games. We have it down to 2-3 minutes just by bagging pieces (presorted for our usual 2 players) in Orange, White, Green, score chits, Achievements, and don't bother with the dividers. Great game for 2 players.

I agree with Jon's neutral #2 about the theme being arbitrary. I wish I could take Barenpark and paste on the cottage garden theme instead. Cottage garden is so adorable and the artwork/theme is beautiful but the game play is not as good as Barenpark!

For setup I use some dollar store hair elastics and I bundle the tiles of one type together. When putting away the game I just organize the 1-7 tiles in order and rubber band them so setup is really easy next time.

Do you recommend it more than Patchwork?

Thanks Jon for the review. I'm with you on everything you said. As for setup and teardown time, when thinking about how much it would get to the table (a lot!) and SetupVsPlay time, it's the first game I really saw the need to try and do my first custom insert. It really helps! Here's a link to the photo if anyone is interested.

this really grizzles my bears.

Too bad this game is impossible to find right now. Sold out everywhere.

Jon's voice always sounds like he speeds up his videos just a little bit.