It’s about time we got a Viva Pinata board game

Viva Pinata is a 2006 video game about managing a garden populated by living pinata - and I love it. Developed by Rare - the beloved British developer behind the original Donkey Kong Country series, Banjo Kazooie and, more recently, Sea of Thieves – Viva Pinata is probably one of the company’s lesser-known series, which doesn’t speak for its quality. Though the concept behind the original Viva Pinata and its 2008 sequel, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, is difficult to explain, it’s easy to understand its appeal once you start playing it. Both mainline entries in the series are stuffed full of that iconic Rare charm that has made the studio a household name, from the pun-names of each pinata that combine animals with sweet treats – like custaceans, swanana and newtgats - to the houses they live in, like how the mousemellows inhabit a giant grandfather clock. The gameplay loop itself is also hugely addictive, with the game doling out experience points and unlocking new content regularly enough to make it difficult to step away. Read more