Board Game Barrage

We're back with the terrible acronym and the branding nightmare that is BGBDOG - I don't even know what it stands for to be honest, but this week we're turning the spotlight on an incredible force in the industry, Vlaada Chvátil, touring his incredible games all the way through to the true modern classic that is Codenames. Before we check in on our favourite Czech, we talk about Wyrmspan, 3 Ring Circus, and La Famiglia: The Great Mafia War.

02:01 - Wyrmspan 12:29 - 3 Ring Circus 23:29 - La Famiglia: The Great Mafia War 39:39 - Vlaada Chvátil 42:32 - Arena: Morituri te salutant 47:47 - Prophecy 50:09 - Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization 52:58 - Galaxy Trucker 54:44 - Mage Knight 56:13 - Codenames 57:26 - Space Alert 58:03 - Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game

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We're in the thick of 2024 now, but there's still plenty more to come - and with that vast undiscovered country (as my father called it) ahead of us, we have loads of games to look forward to. But not all hype is made equally, so here are the ones we're most excited about. Before we mark our calendars, we talk about Savage Bowl: Trick Taking Game, Rear Window, and Cuba.

01:44 - Savage Bowl: Trick Taking Game  10:19 - Rear Window 17:42 - Cuba 27:48 - Most Anticipated Games of 2024 28:42 - Cities 32:41 - The Same Game 38:00 - We're Sinking! 40:50 - Keyside 42:45 - Arcs 45:00 - Mordred 47:34 - Civolution 48:55 - Undaunted 2200: Callisto 49:48 - Spectral 50:26 - Cysmic 50:58 - Red Dust Rebellion 51:22 - A Gest of Robin Hood 51:48 - Congress of Vienna 52:09 - Cthulhu: Dark Providence 52:47 - Slay the Spire: The Board Game 54:14 - RoboMon 54:58 - Cascadero

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Three hundredth episode! But no time to celebrate, we're deep in the new year now, which means it's back to your regularly scheduled podcast, and it's time to reflect on the year past, and contemplate what lays ahead for us in a post-300 world. That's right, we're paying for the crimes of last year's resolutions. Before we look a little back, but mostly forward, we talk about Orichalcum, Mino Dice, and Last Light.

01:46 - Orichalcum 12:42 - Mino Dice 20:08 - Last Light 34:34 - Revisiting Mark's 2023 Resolutions 39:24 - Revisiting Neilan's 2023 Resolutions 42:11 - Revisiting Kellen's 2023 Resolutions 45:59 - Mark's 2024 Resolutions 48:50 - Neilan's 2024 Resolutions 42:20 - Kellen's 2024 Resolutions 56:32 - BGB in 2024?

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We made it! We've arrived at last at the final ten(-ish) games, in fact, our TOP TEN (or so?) favourite games of all time. Thanks for joining us again on this yearly pilgrimage, as always it's the journey that's the important thing - but that's not to say that there isn't some exciting moving and shaking to happen at the destination. That said, it's time to pass out on the couch.

01:34 - Neilan #10 - The Resistance 05:00 - Mark #11 - Caylus 1303 05:51 - Mark #10 - Arboretum 07:39 - Kellen #10 - Dominion 11:11 - Neilan #9 - The Oracle of Delphi 12:35 - Mark #9 - Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020 16:33 - Kellen #9 - Telestrations 18:38 - Neilan #8 - The Search for Planet X 20:40 - Mark #8 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 23:14 - Kellen #8 - Inis 24:37 - Neilan #7 - Pictomania 26:17 - Mark #7 - Time's Up! 27:33 - Kellen #7 - El Grande 30:06 - Neilan #6 - Alchemists 32:42 - Mark #6 - Fresh Fish 35:07 - Kellen #6 - Wizard 39:14 - Neilan #5 - Time's Up!  40:11 - Kellen #5 - Time's Up! 41:39 - Mark #5 - Brass: Lancashire 43:30 - Neilan #4 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 48:34 - Mark #4 - Bus 50:55 - Kellen #4 - Archipelago 54:52 - Neilan #3 - Blood on the Clocktower 57:04 - Mark #3 - The Estates 1:00:02 - Kellen #3 - Dune 1:03:50 - Neilan #2 - A Feast for Odin 1:05:55 - Mark #2 - Agricola 1:08:52 - Kellen #2 - Cthulhu Wars 1:11:50 - Neilan #1 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 1:14:57 - Mark #1 - Biblios 1:16:03 - Kellen #1 - Innovation

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We're almost bursting at the seams, but there's room for a little more. It's the penultimate episode of our five part series, the Top 50 games of all-time! We're moving on to our 20th to 11th favourite games, which means it's time for some big risers and dramatic falls. Make yourself a coffee (sugar's over there in the corner), it's not time to sleep just yet.

03:45 - Kellen #20 - Cosmic Encounter 06:25 - Neilan #20 - Ra 08:09 - Mark #20 - Stationfall 11:25 - Kellen #19 - Lords of Vegas 13:18 - Neilan #19 - Patchwork 15:51 - Mark #19 - Glen More II: Chronicles 19:16 - Kellen #18 - Omen: A Reign of War 21:45 - Neilan #18 - Stationfall 24:05 - Mark #18 - Tigris & Euphrates 26:10 - Kellen #17 - Insider 29:45 - Neilan #17 - Taj Mahal 31:45 - Mark #17 - El Grande 33:33 - Kellen #16 - Fuji Flush 35:01 - Neilan #16 - Guards of Atlantis II 36:26 - Mark #16 - Chicago Express 38:13 - Kellen #15 - Maskmen 40:39 - Neilan #15 - Exit: The Game 42:31 - Mark #15 - Imperial 2030 44:22 - Kellen #14 - Babylonia 46:22 - Neilan #14 - Blue Lagoon 47:57 - Mark #14 - Lancaster 50:14 - Kellen #13 - The Resistance: Avalon 51:01 - Neilan #13 - Cthulhu Wars 51:46 - Mark #13 - Ra 53:06 - Kellen #12 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 55:50 - Neilan #12 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 57:54 - Mark #12 - Age of Steam 59:52 - Kellen #11 - Troyes 1:03:06 - Neilan #11 - Brass: Birmingham 1:05:58 - Mark #11 - Race for the Galaxy

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It's a new year which is an awkward time to be right in the middle of something, but we're doing a thing here. It's part three of our Top 50 games of all-time! This week it's our 30th to 21st favourite games, and this is where things start to get spicy. This is like five chilis next to the menu item hotness we're talking. Grab a bib and join us for another course!

03:45 - Mark #30 - Cuba Libre 04:08 - Kellen #30 - Coloretto 05:58 - Neilan #30 - Watson & Holmes 07:28 - Mark #29 - Stephenson's Rocket 09:06 - Kellen #29 - So Clover! 10:22 - Neilan #29 - Undaunted: Stalingrad 12:18 - Mark #28 - 1830: Railways & Robber Barons 13:59 - Kellen #28 - Keyflower 15:34 - Neilan #28 - Gaia Project 16:55 - Mark #27 - Tramways 18:47 - Kellen #27 - Hansa Teutonica 20:06 - Neilan #27 - War of the Ring: Second Edition 22:09 - Mark #26 - Modern Art 23:38 - Kellen #26 - SCOUT 25:06 - Neilan #26 - Yellow & Yangtze 26:09 - Mark #25 - Hansa Teutonica 28:01 - Kellen #25 - Glory to Rome 29:39 - Neilan #25 - Scythe 31:39 - Mark #24 - Container 32:50 - Kellen #24 - American Bookshop 34:34 - Neilan #24 - Decrypto 35:54 - Mark #23 - La Granja 37:36 - Kellen #23 - I'm the Boss! 39:32 - Neilan #23 - The Quest for El Dorado 40:26 - Mark #22 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 43:09 - Kellen #22 - Diplomacy 44:17 - Neilan #22 - Gloomhaven 45:43 - Mark #21 - Pictomania 47:39 - Kellen #21 - Decrypto 49:30 - Neilan #21 - Hansa Teutonica

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It's the second leg of the grand tour that is the top fifty. This week, we're doing our 40th to 31st favourite games ... of all time! It's almost like Christmas just keeps going! Grab a glass of sherry and join us by the fire, we're not about to stop any time soon.

01:21 - Neilan #40 - Bus 03:52 - Mark #40 - Panic on Wall Street! 05:38 - Kellen #40 - Pax Porfiriana 08:56 - Neilan #39 - In the Year of the Dragon 10:33 - Mark #39 - Ark Nova 12:04 - Kellen #39 - Seas of Strife 14:55 - Neilan #38 - Inis 16:29 - Mark #38 - Hanabi 18:19 - Kellen #38 - Codenames 19:59 - Neilan #37 - Iberian Gauge 21:43 - Mark #37 - Anomia 24:26 - Kellen #37 - Food Chain Magnate 26:33 - Neilan #36 - Codenames 27:32 - Mark #36  - Lords of Vegas 28:53 - Kellen #36 - Rumble Nation 30:26 - Neilan #35 - Azul 31:19 - Mark #35 - Dungeon Fighter 33:35 - Kellen #35 - Wind the Film! / Photograph 35:47 - Neilan #34 - Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy 38:01 - Mark #34 - Tycoon: India 1981 40:39 - Kellen #34 - Square on Sale 42:26 - Neilan #33 - Werewords 44:06 - Mark #33 - Genoa 45:29 - Kellen #33 - Imperial 2030 47:19 - Neilan #32 - Twice as Clever! 48:35 - Mark #32 - Merkator 50:55 - Kellen #32 - Cockroach Poker 52:33 - Neilan #31 - Kemet 53:29 - Mark #31 - Blue Lagoon 54:56 - Kellen #31 - Bruges

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It's tiiiiiiime! It's the top fifty! That's right, the much anticipated, much celebrated, much imitated (we definitely did it first) event of the season is here. We're counting down each of our favourite fifty games of all time! Or at least, for right now! It's a beautiful, beautiful thing, and we'd love if you pulled up a chair and joined us for it.

06:36 - Kellen #50 - Santiago 07:59 - Neilan #50 - Jaipur 09:30 - Mark #50 - Findorff 11:22 - Kellen #49 - Genoa 12:37 - Neilan #49 - The Great Zimbabwe 14:32 - Mark #49 - Jump Drive 16:02 - Kellen #48 - 6 nimmt! 17:31 - Neilan #48 - Fun Facts 19:09 - Mark #48 - Cthulhu Wars 20:43 - Kellen #47 - Balderdash 22:24 - Neilan #47 - Splendor & Splendor Duel 24:38 - Mark #47 - Dominant Species 26:35 - Kellen #46 - Race for the Galaxy 27:45 - Neilan #46 - Cuzco 29:43 - Mark #46 - Ricochet Robots 31:57 - Kellen #45 - Feed the Kraken 33:57 - Neilan #45 - Mille Fiori 35:24 - Mark #45 - Splendor 37:38 - Kellen #44 - Root 39:22 - Neilan #44 - Challengers! 42:03 - Mark #44 - German Railways 43:24 - Kellen #43 - Acquire 45:11 - Neilan #43 - Anachrony 46:54 - Mark #43 - Signorie 48:33 - Kellen #42 - Brass: Lancashire 50:23 - Neilan #42 - Innovation 51:44 - Mark #42 - Smartphone Inc. 53:13 - Kellen #41 - Startups 54:48 - Neilan #41 - Ark Nova 56:00 - Mark #41 - Dune: Imperium

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PAX Unplugged was a blast, and we played so much stuff that we're dying to tell you about - many of them with our beloved listeners. We braved the cold and the rain of Philadelphia, on the other side of the country, to bring you this episode jam-packed with games - so there's no room for any dilly dallying. Hits include Forest Shuffle, Arcs, Findorff ... and loads more!

02:14 - 5 Towers 06:57 - Nigoichi 11:01 - Cabanga! 15:00 - Age of Steam 17:33 - Falling 20:36 - Infiltraitors 24:38 - Tangram City 28:19 - The Great Zimbabwe 30:40 - Schadenfreude 35:57 - Forest Shuffle 40:35 - Arcs 48:36 - Findorff

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In what could be our most grandiose episode yet, we attempt to tame the wild history of all of board games. We traverse the timeline, unpacking what we consider to be the great epochs of the hobby, in an attempt to explain how modern game design evolved into its present form. Before we unpack the deep lore, we talk about General Orders: World War II, Oak, and Big Boss.

Timecodes:

02:36 - General Orders: World War II 11:47 - Oak 20:24 - Big Boss 31:20 - The great epochs of board games 31:45 - The First Epoch 33:17 - The Royal Game of Ur 34:37 - Senet 43:23 - The Second Epoch 44:50 - Monopoly 48:11 - Risk 50:29 - Operation 56:23 - The Third Epoch 57:22 - Catan 1:02:33 - Dominion 1:20:19 - The Fourth Epoch

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Uh oh, is that thunder? That must mean it's time for a lightning round - we're scooping up all the lovely questions and suggestions that just aren't big enough for the main event, and stuffing them in the blender. This week, it's public spaces, warning labels, gaming tips, and PAX Unplugged. Before we put fingers on buzzers, we talk about Gift of Tulips, Five Three Five, and Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods.

Timecodes:

01:36 - Gift of Tulips 10:20 - Five Three Five 16:52 - Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods 32:08 - How American society affects board gaming 39:54 - What are we excited to play at PAX 40:26 - Stationfall 40:56 - Blood on the Clocktower 41:30 - The Great Zimbabwe 41:50 - Pax Porfiriana 43:40 - Roads & Boats 44:49 - Warning stickers on games 48:22 - Hot gaming tips

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Drafts are back, baby. And not just any old draft, no, but to celebrate the return of the greatest game, we're drafting none other than the best of the only true and living doctor, Reiner Knizia. Who ends up with the best list? Vote for your favourite, you could win a $50 gift voucher! Before we doc it up, we talk about Empire's End, My Favourite Things, and Four Horsemen.

Timecodes:

02:33 - Empire's End 12:15 - My Favourite Things 21:15 - Four Horsemen 27:48 - Drafting Reiner Knizia games 33:44 - Tigris & Euphrates 34:49 - Zoo Vadis 36:32 - Ra 37:47 - Modern Art 39:19 - The Quest for El Dorado 41:03 - Blue Lagoon 42:03 - Lost Cities 45:29 - Medici 46:39 - Stephenson's Rocket 47:44 - My City 49:13 - Taj Mahal 52:09 - Babylonia 53:29 - Mille Fiori 55:14 - Yellow & Yangtze 58:04 - High Society

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Are board games stuck? Not to be dramatic or anything, but it does seem like we keep circling the same ideas over and over again, right? We speculate on where we think the hobby is headed, and whether or not it needs a shake up. Before we plateau, we talk about Orchard, Hadrian's Wall, Terracotta Army, and Santiago.

Timecodes:

03:09 - Orchard: A 9 card solitaire game 06:49 - Hadrian's Wall 13:45 - Terracotta Army 24:34 - Santiago 35:45 - Board game stagnation 38:17 - Return to Dark Tower 41:55 - Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020 43:55 - Turing Machine 44:09 - Cryptid 45:59 - Dead Reckoning 50:37 - Stationfall

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It's almost time for Essen SPIEL 2023, the great German Mecca of our people - and while we're not going ourselves, that's not going to stop us yearning. We're hear to tell you about all the amazing games available at the show this year that you ought to be excited about. Before we gaze longingly across the Atlantic, we talk about Asara, Skytear Horde, and Dwellings of Eldervale.

Timecodes:

02:31 - Asara 10:15 - Skytear Horde 14:04 - Dwellings of Eldervale 28:11 - Essen SPIEL 2023 Preview 30:04 - The Same Game 32:52 - Among Cultists: A Social Deduction Thriller 32:40 - Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West 34:11 - Civolution 35:25 - World Wonders 36:42 - Dying Message 38:27 - Kutná Hora: The City of Silver 40:24 - Tiny Mini Golf 42:19 - Arabella 43:38 - ArcheOlogic 45:41 - Terra Pyramides  46:51 - Sunrise Lane 48:25 - Evacuation 49:54 - TwinStar Valley 51:04 - Planta Nubo

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A little prune, a little embellish, a nip, a tuck, and a flourish, and we can get this thing just how we like it. We're looking at all the little things that we'd like to see more of, all the things we'd like to see less of in the world of board games. Before we giveth and taketh away, we talk about First in Flight, Tramways, and Wandering Towers.

Timecodes:

02:39 - First in Flight 11:57 - Tramways 23:32 - Wandering Towers 31:50 - What we want more and less of in games 33:13 - More middleweight 35:18 - More emergence 36:50 - Stationfall  37:13 - Troyes 37:13 - Glory to Rome 37:13 - Innovation 38:13 - Archipelago 39:03 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 40:02 - More rough edges 41:57 - Cosmic Frog 44:11 - More Saga 44:11 - Dead Reckoning 46:24 - Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile 46:36 - More community conventions 47:49 - More games with less rules 49:09 - Less trick takers 51:05 - Less board games 53:35 - Less dour color palettes 54:54 - Eschaton 55:13 - 3 Ring Circus 56:02 - The Guild of Merchant Explorers 56:27 - Less generic themes 57:37 - Less individual player boards 58:44 - Less multiplayer solitare 1:00:23 - Less content creators working for publishers

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Timing is everything, which is why it's so important that this episode came out when it did. Had we made it too early, it would have felt dated, and any later, you wouldn't have been ready for it. Before it's about time, we talk about Planet etuC, Undaunted: Stalingrad, Undaunted: Battle of Britain, and Tycoon: India 1981.

Timecodes:

01:47 - Planet etuC 07:43 - Undaunted: Stalingrad 10:35 - Undaunted: Battle of Britain 14:01 - Tycoon: India 1981 30:36 - Can mechanics be dated? 39:42 - Ankh: Gods of Egypt 40:16 - That's Not a Hat 40:48 - Thunder Road: Vendetta 41:38 - Cthulhu Wars 42:11 - Disney Lorcana

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I leave for one episode and these idiots are talking about eating board games. Hard hitting questions for hard hitting board game journalists, Kellen & Mark are on the scene reporting in. Before we claw our way back from this, we talk about Power & Weakness, Haggis, and Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game.

Timecodes:

02:40 - Power & Weakness 16:28 - Haggis 24:28 - Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game 36:31 - What gets you excited about two player games? 46:04 - Azul 46:30 - What is the most edible looking board game? 47:10 - Through the Desert 47:54 - Azul: Master Chocalatier 48:25 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 49:04 - Juicy Fruits 49:54 - Wingspan 50:33 - Zendo

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A solid end game trigger can be such an overlooked part of the design of a game. The conventional wisdom for most things is to start strong and finish strong, so we look at some of our favourite ways that games can end. Before we reach the end of the road, we talk about Robot Quest Arena, Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020, and Expeditions.

Timecodes:

02:07 - Robot Quest Arena 08:52 - Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020 30:11 - Expeditions 47:33 - Inis 48:09 - Azul 51:35 - Ethnos 51:52 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 52:31 - I'm the Boss! 53:12 - Archipelago 54:22 - War of the Ring: Second Edition 55:16 - Innovation 55:31 - Pax Porfiriana 55:41 - John Company: Second Edition 56:16 - Dune 56:51 - Stationfall 57:25 - 7 Wonders Duel 58:34 - The Quest for El Dorado 1:00:04 - Scythe 1:00:45 - Blood Rage

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It's convention season, and the big one is almost upon us, as board gamers across America prepare to descend on Indiana. Gen Con! We won't be there this year, but that won't stop us anticipating what we could be playing at the show. Before we want what we can't have, we talk about Fancy Feathers, Beast, Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020, and Mercator.

Timecodes:

02:43 - Fancy Feathers 08:31 - Beast 16:55 - Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020 22:43 - Merkator 29:53 - Aurum 31:12 - Age of Innovation 35:06 - Ahau: Rulers of Yucatán 37:03 - Inheritors 40:11 - City of the Great Machine 42:41 - The Fox Experiment 44:01 - SpellBook 46:13 - Tesseract 48:15 - Wild Tiled West 50:14 - Kutná Hora: The City of Silver 52:38 - General Orders: World War II  54:13 - 3 Ring Circus 56:21 - Wandering Towers 1:00:32 - The Search for Lost Species 1:01:02 - Legacies

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Not all are as blessed as we are by the gift of truly original thought, and so many turn to others for inspiration. Whether it's Newton standing on the shoulders of giants, or stealing from our rich neighbour Xerox, many great ideas are born from what has come before. Before we make the inspired choice, we talk about Masters of Renaissance: Lorenzo il Magnifico – The Card Game, Innovation Ultimate, and Dawn of Ulos.

Timecodes:

01:59 - Masters of Renaissance: Lorenzo il Magnifico – The Card Game 11:18 - Innovation Ultimate 21:45 - Dawn of Ulos 32:45 - Game Design Inspirations 34:41 - Apples to Apples 37:03 - Magic: The Gathering 40:53 - Final Girl 40:53 - Hostage Negotiator 42:26 - Acquire 42:49 - Witchstone 42:49 - Ingenious 44:19 - Blood on the Clocktower 44:44 - The Resistance 48:10 - Dark Moon 49:16 - Cthulhu Wars 49:16 - Chaos in the Old World 50:13 - Nova Luna 50:13 - Habitats 50:52 - Lowlands 51:25 - El Grande 52:04 - Red Rising 52:04 - Fantasy Realms

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After much consternation at his exclusion from our Mount Rushmore of games, we've decided to honour legendary designer Sid Sackson elsewhere - a BGB Designer Spotlight! I think these used to be called BGB DOGs but even Mark forgot about that bit of branding. Oh well. Before we make amends, we talk about Magicalligraphy, Hamlet: The Village Building Game, and Tournament at Camelot.

Timecodes:

01:33 - Schedule update 03:11 - Magicalligraphy 09:30 - Hamlet: The Village Building Game 19:48 - Tournament at Camelot 27:56 - Sid Sackson 30:14 - Piggly Wiggly 32:16 - High Spirits with Calvin and the Colonel 35:54 - Bazaar 39:28 - Focus/Domination 40:20 - I'm the Boss! 41:18 - Can't Stop 42:48 - Acquire The Sid Sackson Portal: https://sacksonportal.museumofplay.org

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We've reached the end of our fantasy draft series, the last in this increasingly dire list of games from which we pluck five gems each, and then get you to vote on your favourites. There's a (potential) $50 gift card in it for you! Before the last dance, we talk about Seas of Havoc, Whale to Look, and Dorfromantik: The Board Game.

Timecodes:

03:12 - Seas of Havoc 10:42 - Whale to Look 19:50 - Dorfromantik: The Board Game 29:10 - Drafting BGG's #901-1000 32:17 - Caylus 1303 33:43 - Ready Set Bet 36:03 - Mosaic: A Story of Civilization 37:12 - Clever Cubed 38:51 - Condottiere 40:20 - Adrenaline 42:54 - Meeple Circus 45:13 - Automobiles 47:54 - Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume Two 49:12 - Lowlands 50:04 - Genoa 52:46 - Santa Monica 54:41 - Feed the Kraken 58:02 - Homesteaders 1:01:25 - First Rat

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We're veering into the dark roads of board game classification, but this time with a goal in mind - how to best highlight games that feature strong interaction. Shouldn't BoardGameGeek have a scale for that somewhere? And while we're at it, BGG ... Before we put our thoughts in the suggestion box, we talk about Guatemala Café, and Ride the Rails.

Timecodes:

01:56 - Guatemala Café 12:43 - Ride the Rails 23:09 - Quantifying interactivity 25:43 - A Feast for Odin 32:13 - Yucatan 34:31 - What else should be on a BGG page? 37:15 - Stationfall 44:20 - Biblios

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Are we living in a golden age of board games? It's a simple question, but there's a lot to unpack - what even qualifies as a golden age, have we already had one, and if we are living in one, when does it end? Before we go for gold, we talk about That's Not a Hat, Pulsar 2849, and Barrage.

Timecodes:

01:39 - That's Not a Hat 02:19 - Cockroach Poker 10:52 - Pulsar 2849 19:58 - Barrage 33:30 - Are we in a golden age? 48:32 - Scythe 57:31 - Ark Nova

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We're lucky to have covered wide swathes of the board game world, but there was a time when some of those things were aspirational. Like achievements to cross off on the great board game check list ... or like that Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson movie. You know they invented that phrase? Wild. Before we make our list, we talk about Municipium, and Yucatan.

Timecodes:

02:27 - Municipium 12:47 - Yucatan 29:38 - Board game checklist/bucket list 31:17 - Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition 35:15 - Diplomacy 35:57 - Playing landmark games 38:39 - Blood on the Clocktower 41:05 - Board game conventions 45:24 - Board game meetups 48:10 - You don't need everything for a game 48:29 - Dominion 49:52 - Guards of Atlantis II 50:38 - Two player and abstract games 52:26 - Designing a board game

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It's just two of us, so we turn our attention to the burning questions that you've been asking us, in a feature we're calling Topic Talk Back. This is not to be confused with the format we've used before, mailbags are old news now, and we'd appreciate it if you'd stop bringing it up. Before we do anything but rustle in the cloth sack, we talk about By Stealth and Sea, and Undaunted: Stalingrad.

Timecodes:

02:38 - By Stealth and Sea 12:11 - Undaunted: Stalingrad 25:41 - Topic Talk Back 26:37 - Favorite Campaign Games 27:20 - Gloomhaven 27:44 - Frosthaven 30:56 - Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon 33:31 - Games that are too short? 34:03 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 34:17 - Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan 35:38 - Woodcraft 37:47 - Designer Mount Rushmore

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It's the penultimate draft of the BGG Top 1000 series, and all of these games are garbage ... but it's up to us to sift through that garbage, and each find a collection of five games that's worthy of you. Vote for your favourite, and you could win a $50 gift voucher! Before we find diamonds in the rough, we also talk about Paperback Adventures, and Woodcraft.

Timecodes:

02:31 - Paperback Adventures 13:29 - Woodcraft 23:51 - Drafting BGG's #801-900 26:27 - Babylonia 28:37 - Blue Lagoon 30:57 - A War of Whispers 32:22 - Signorie 33:19 - The Mind 34:52 - Pictomania 36:04 - Brian Boru: High King of Ireland 36:57 - Santiago 38:45 - Werewords 39:49 - Battle for Rokugan 41:19 - Vasco da Gama 43:20 - Cerebria: The Inside World 44:21 - Bullet♥︎ 46:10 - Incan Gold 49:00 - Railroad Ink Challenge: Lush Green Edition

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Any creative work is built on a lot of conventions - things that we take as granted, the unspoken rules that must be followed. We get a lot of really great games by following design conventions, but some times, in order to innovate we have to break them. Before we try to find the balance between convention and innovation, we talk about Darwin's Journey, Aleph Null, and Rome in a Day.

Timecodes:

02:00 - Darwin's Journey 13:44 - Aleph Null 21:07 - Rome in a Day 30:09 - Innovation vs. Convention 33:14 - Root 36:02 - Teotihuacan: City of Gods 36:02 - Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun 36:17 - Tiletum 38:17 - Tower of Babel 42:04 - Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile 42:31 - Horseless Carriage 42:49 - Atiwa 44:04 - Inis 45:14 - The Castles of Burgundy

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We can all agree the Golden Geeks peaked last year, but I suppose we can continue the facade if we must. Nominees are out for BoardGameGeek's annual awards, and as the presiding champions of taste, we're declaring our favourites. Before we prognosticate, we talk about Big City, Spots, and Horseless Carriage.

Timecodes:

02:10 - Big City 09:33 - Spots 16:02 - Horseless Carriage 28:53 - Golden Geek 2022 Predictions 29:29 - Best 2-Player Game 30:33 - Wingspan Asia 31:20 - Beer & Bread 32:01 - Mindbug: First Contact 33:16 - Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! 33:30 - Splendor: Duel 33:37 - Undaunted: Stalingrad 34:02 - Marvel Dice Throne 34:18 - Best Artwork and Presentation 35:11 - CoraQuest 35:31 - Blood on the Clocktower 36:05 - Best Cooperative Game 36:26 - Kites 37:20 - Dorfromantik: The Board Game 38:17 - Best Board Game Expansion 38:58 - Most Innovative Board Games 39:36 - Heat: Pedal to the Medal 39:54 - Turing Machine 40:07 - Deal with the Devil 40:25 - My Father's Work 40:57 - Light Game of the Year 42:14 - Long Shot: The Dice Game 43:27 - Medium Game of the Year 46:01 - Heavy Game of the Year 46:58 - Carnegie 47:13 - John Company: Second Edition 48:19 - Best Party Game 48:39 - Penguin Airlines 50:31 - Best Solo Game 52:04 - Best Thematic Game 52:33 - Nemesis: Lockdown 52:51 - Dead Reckoning 54:00 - Wonderland's War 54:51 - Best Wargame 55:38 - Best Podcast (which we already won) 58:53 - Best Board Game App

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Board games are a social medium, which is a big part of their appeal for us. It's not just about being heads down solving a puzzle, they facilitate conversation. Some games are better at this than others, so we put BGBBOB on the case to find our favourites! Before we natter away, we talk about Big Top, Autobahn, and Pollen.

Timecodes:

03:04 - Big Top 12:21 - Autobahn 23:25 - Pollen 34:51 - Dealt! / Krass Kariert 37:02 - Boast or Nothing 39:37 - Codenames 40:30 - Twice as Clever! 42:47 - Concept 43:45 - Biblios 45:25 - Dixit 46:07 - Coloretto 48:43 - Sushi Go! 51:46 - The Mind 54:25 - Qwirkle 57:09 - Dominion

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Good storytelling isn't easy, and board games seem to struggle with it especially - which makes the ones that do pull it off, all the more memorable. We delve into the ways that games can engage us and create lasting experiences through stories. Before we spin a yarn, we talk about Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Artisans of Splendent Vale.

Timecodes:

01:36 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars 18:13 - Artisans of Splendent Vale 29:51 - Storytelling in games 30:40 - Gloomhaven 34:44 - The King's Dilemma 36:59 - Mansions of Madness: Second Edition 37:40 - Eldritch Horror 37:49 - Dead of Winter 38:44 - Phantom Leader 40:31 - Undaunted: Normandy 41:00 - Freedom: The Underground Railroad 43:34 - This War of Mine: The Board Game 47:23 - Return to Dark Tower 47:34 - Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective 47:59 - Sleeping Gods

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I mean, I don't know. Before we do whatever, we talk about Circle the Wagons, El Gaucho, Roller Coaster Rush, and Applejack.

Timecodes:

01:48 - Circle the Wagons 07:49 - El Gaucho 14:58 - Roller Coaster Rush 19:05 - Applejack 25:34 - What do I do with old campaign games? 25:48 - Frosthaven 25:48 - Gloomhaven 27:47 - What board game product would improve my gaming? 30:50 - What are good miniature games for people who don't like miniature games?  31:53 - For What Remains 33:12 - Are there modern classics of the war game genre that you would recommend? 34:48 - What are some good, one shot TTRPGs? 37:05 - What do you have to do to get heavier games played? 39:50 - Which games would be perfect for us that we've never mentioned? 41:02 - The big question

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Board games are great! Mostly. But as great as they are, we've probably all had a moment where, through no fault of the game itself, things got uncomfortable. Whether it's because of an awkward play, or just particulars of the group dynamic, we look back at some of our most uncomfortable moments. Before we enter the discomfort zone, we talk about Dog Tag Trick, Deal with the Devil, and Yokai Septet.

Timecodes:

01:46 - Dog Tag Trick 10:01 - Deal with the Devil 19:44 - Yokai Septet 27:53 - When games make you uncomfortable 33:48 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 39:34 - Pictionary 40:42 - Fauna 41:27 - Inhuman Conditions 43:11 - Praise

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BGBBOB's back, and he's rollin' (rollin') rollin' on a river of amazing games, all of which feature some incredible dice play. As is our sacred duty, we won't rest until we've arranged them in some sort of numerical order, a ranked list, if you will. Before we rattle the bones, we talk about The Lord of the Rings Adventure Book Game, The South: Terminus, Beyond Baker Street, and The Defence of Procyon III.

Timecodes:

04:59 - The Lord of the Rings Adventure Book Game 12:05 - The South: Terminus 13:52 - Beyond Baker Street 19:54 - The Defence of Procyon III 27:56 - 701-800 Draft Results 29:30 - BGBBOB: Best Dice Rolling 30:53 - Tumblin' Dice 32:10 - Cthulhu Wars 34:49 - Space Base 35:17 - Cube Quest 39:00 - Dice Forge 39:51 - Lords of Vegas 41:38 - Dungeon Fighter 42:41 - Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy 44:17 - Formula D 45:24 - Las Vegas 47:28 - Martian Dice 49:01 - Can't Stop 51:08 - FUSE 51:57 - Gang of Dice 54:03 - Quarriors!

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We (well some of us) made it back from Vegas, and what happened there didn't stay there - we're reporting in from Dice Tower West 2023, a fun week of friends, casinos, and all you can eat sushi. To everyone we met, thank you for saying hey! We also played a lot of hot games, including Heat: Pedal to the Metal, and Stationfall.

Timecodes:

02:52 - Return to Dark Tower 08:47 - Magic Mountain 10:46 - Tower of Babel 11:58 - In the Year of the Dragon 15:06 - No Mercy 15:22 - Trick Raiders 16:20 - Pups 16:30 - Scharfe Schoten 19:19 - The Estates 20:23 - Coyote 22:26 - Time's Up! 24:08 - Heat: Pedal to the Metal 32:28 - Yokai Septet 33:35 - Ninja Master 35:30 - I Made You a Mix Tape 40:52 - Time of Empires 43:23 - Stationfall

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I always love this one. It's the time of the year where we look at what your favourite games are, and discover whether there are any exciting movers and shakers in what you've been playing! It's the BGB Listener Top 20! Before we check in with all of you, we talk about Tower of Babel, Great Western Trail: Argentina, and Jump Drive.

Timecodes:

02:01 - Tower of Babel ...or why the eighth wonder was never built 11:16 - Great Western Trail: Argentina 18:26 - Jump Drive 29:21 - Listener Top 20 33:44 - Terraforming Mars 34:19 - Food Chain Magnate 34:19 - Cosmic Encounter 36:14 - Wingspan 37:32 - Inis 38:03 - Ark Nova 39:45 - Dune: Imperium 42:32 - Scythe 43:35 - Agricola 44:48 - Great Western Trail 46:12 - Race for the Galaxy 46:52 - Innovation 47:28 - A Feast for Odin 48:08 - The Castles of Burgundy 48:30 - Concordia 49:13 - Gloomhaven 50:05 - Root 50:53 - Hansa Teutonica 52:33 - Spirit Island 53:06 - Brass: Birmingham

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Bruna Cathala is the focus of this episode's BGB DOG, the unfortunately acronymed series where we showcase a designer whom we love, and talk through the history of their career and designs. Before we pay tribute to the two player king, we talk about Smart Four Connected, Skytear Horde, and Endless Winter: Paleoamericans.

Timecodes:

02:56 - Smart Four Connected  06:30 - Skytear Horde 12:51 - Endless Winter: Paleoamericans 21:42 - Designer Spotlight: Bruno Cathala 23:26 - Fief 30:17 - Mr. Jack 32:00 - Five Tribes 32:51 - 7 Wonders Duel 34:00 - Kingdomino 39:43 - Zany Penguins

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The draft is back, and while the lists are getting really thin at this point, that's not going to stop us doing our damndest to pick out a killer selection of five games each. Whose is the best? That's up to you - and if you vote, you stand a chance to win a gift voucher for $50! Before we put our fate in your hands, we talk about Shake That City, Clank!: Catacombs, and Galactic Renaissance.

Timecodes:

04:29 - Shake That City 12:39 - Clank!: Catacombs 19:27 - Galactic Renaissance 35:50 - Drafting BGG's #701-800 39:22 - The Estates 40:27 - Dogs of War 42:36 - City of the Big Shoulders 44:03 - Deep Sea Adventure 45:00 - Regicide 46:29 - Galaxy Trucker (Second Edition) 47:07 - Can't Stop 49:06 - Pax Renaissance: 2nd Edition 50:19 - Project: ELITE 52:17 - The Great Wall 54:01 - Black Angel 55:51 - Not Alone 57:22 - New York Zoo 1:01:29 - Menara 1:03:33 - Shipyard

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We've done deep dives into games before, but really when you get down to it, games are just the medium. The substrate. What it's always been about is people. We hope to pick at the minds of some of the hobby's best with this format - and until then, we have Kellen. Before we unpack the man, the myth, the legend, we talk about Cuba Libre, Gang of Dice, and Time of Empires.

Timecodes:

03:44 - Cuba Libre 13:00 - Gang of Dice 19:28 - Time of Empires 32:49 - Q1: Where are we playing? 39:25 - Q2: What's the table like? 41:35 - Q3: How many people? 43:23 - Q4: What are you eating? 48:03 - Q5: What is the theme of the game? 48:59 - Q6: What is the game like? 50:15 - Q7: What makes it memorable? Submit your lists for the Listener Top 20 at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/top20

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If there's one thing I can say for sure about 2023, it's that it will certainly be a period of time. We're casting our eyes forward to the year ahead, and getting excited about some of the board games that (we hope) will actually be coming. Before we look ahead, always ahead, we talk about Make the Difference, German Railways, and Tiletum.

Timecodes:

02:39 - Make the Difference 07:38 - German Railways 13:00 - Tiletum 24:40 - Most Anticipated Games of 2023  27:22 - Mission Control: Critical Orbit 29:12 - Beyond the Sun: Leaders of the New Dawn 30:50 - Watch Hockey, Get Drunk 31:50 - Skyrise 32:59 - Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies 34:45 - That's Not a Hat 36:32 - Darwin's Journey 37:50 - Seas of Havoc 39:56 - El Burro: A La Granja Game 42:05 - Red Dust Rebellion 42:59 - Unconscious Minds 45:45 - Yucatan 47:09 - Last Light 49:09 - Galactic Renaissance Submit your lists for the Listener Top 20 at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/top20

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Where would we be without the mailbag? We get such lovely questions from you lot, that we rarely get the chance to answer, so when the opportunity comes, one has to strike. Time to hear what's on your minds, kids. Before we rustle in the cloth, we talk about Dinosaur Gauge, and Starship Captains.

Timecodes:

01:39 - Dinosaur Gauge 10:18 - Starship Captains 21:24 - Holiday games? 21:51 - Fire in the Hole 25:10 - Weather Machine 26:12 - Surprise Top 50 games? 29:56 - Has how you play games changed?

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You know how at the start of the year you make a lot of promises to yourself that you have no chance of holding yourself to? Yeah, this isn't like that, we absolutely, definitely will not see out 2023 without following through on all of these whims. Before we hold ourselves accountable, we talk about Challengers!, Eleven: Football Manager Board Game, nana, and Zoo Vadis.

Timecodes:

04:49 - Challengers! 12:24 - Eleven: Football Manager Board Game 21:49 - nana 29:40 - Zoo Vadis 39:46 - Mark's Resolution(s) 47:09 - Neilan's Resolution 48:37 - Kellen's Resolution 53:19 - Christina's Resolution Check out our playthrough of Zoo Vadis with Before You Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTRQO2q7bhw

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Here it is, the one we've all been waiting for, the Board Game Barrage top ten games of all time! It's been a long road and we'll wrap it up by seeing some old favourites ... and maybe a few new faces? Old or new, these are the thirty games we enjoy the most (at least, right now.)  We loved sharing these lists with you and hope you've enjoyed listening to them!

Timecodes:

01:25 - Neilan #10 - Brass: Birmingham 02:46 - Mark #10 - Hansa Teutonica 04:19 - Kellen #10 - Cosmic Encounter 06:44 - Neilan #9 - Gloomhaven 08:46 - Mark #9 - The Estates 11:28 - Kellen #9 - Decrypto 13:47 - Neilan#8 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 15:50 - Mark #8 - Arboretum 18:11 - Kellen #8 - Diplomacy 22:36 - Neilan #7 - Guards of Atlantis II 25:04 - Mark #7 - Time's Up! 25:58 - Kellen #7 - Dune 29:11 - Neilan #6 - Pictomania 31:40 - Mark #6 - Race for the Galaxy 35:21 - Kellen #6 - Glory to Rome 38:39 - Neilan #5 - The Resistance 40:48 - Mark #5 - Brass: Lancashire 42:54 - Kellen #5 - Troyes 46:22 - Neilan #4 - Time's Up! 48:43 - Mark #4 - Fresh Fish 51:26 - Kellen #4 - I'm the Boss! 52:47 - Neilan #3 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 55:32 - Mark #3 - Bus 58:46 - Kellen #3 - Cthulhu Wars 1:00:44 - Neilan #2 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 1:03:09 - Mark #2 - Agricola 1:07:40 - Kellen #2 - Archipelago 1:10:06 - Neilan #1 - A Feast for Odin 1:15:14 - Mark #1 - Biblios 1:18:25 - Kellen #1 - Innovation

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We've reached the penultimate part of our five part series, the great series that is sometimes called our top fifty greatest games of all time! We're barreling close to the end now, but not without a lot of moving and shaking first. Here's another fine selection of thirty amazing games we love.

01:37 - Kellen #20 - So Clover! 02:50 - Neilan #20 - Blue Lagoon 04:14 - Mark #20 - Blood Rage 06:32 - Kellen #19 - El Grande 08:19 - Neilan #19 - The Oracle of Delphi 09:15 - Mark #19 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 11:01 - Kellen #18 - Time's Up! 13:33 - Neilan #18 - Blood on the Clocktower 16:12 - Mark #18 - Ra 17:57 - Kellen #17 - 6 nimmt! 19:47 - Neilan #17 - Scythe 21:03 - Mark #17 - Imperial 2030 23:18 - Kellen #16 - Telestrations 25:06 - Neilan #16 - Watson & Holmes 27:03 - Mark #16 - City of the Big Shoulders 28:06 - Kellen #15 - The Resistance: Avalon 29:54 - Neilan #15 - Hansa Teutonica 33:02 - Mark #15 - Container 35:54 - Kellen #14 - Omen: A Reign of War 37:47 - Neilan #14 - Taj Mahal 39:45 - Mark #14 - Tigris & Euphrates 41:15 - Kellen #13 - Inis 42:59 - Neilan #13 - Alchemists 44:21 - Mark #13 - 1830: Railways & Robber Barons 46:11 - Kellen #12 - Photograph 48:37 - Neilan #12 - Cthulhu Wars 49:57 - Mark #12 - Age of Steam 52:00 - Kellen #11 - Coloretto 53:45 - Neilan #11 - Exit: The Game 55:04 - Mark #11 - Caylus 1303

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It's a new year, but the list must go on. The list, that is, of our top fifty greatest games of all time! It's part three, which everyone knows is the dark middle chapter of every pentalogy, so expect some swoops, some turns, some revelations. Brace yourself for another thirty incredible games that we can't wait to tell you all about.

02:03 - Mark #30 - Genoa 03:17 - Kellen #30 - Splendor 04:50 - Neilan #30 - Azul 06:06 - Mark #29 - Modern Art 07:44 - Kellen #29 - Taj Mahal 09:06 - Neilan #29 - Gaia Project 10:43 - Mark #28 - Blue Lagoon 12:30 - Kellen #28 - Boast or Nothing 14:33 - Neilan #28 - Kemet 17:06 - Mark #27 - Pictomania 18:31 - Kellen #27 - Krass Kariert/Dealt! 19:41 - Neilan #27 - Werewords 21:31 - Mark #26 - The Gallerist 22:34 - Kellen #26 - Hansa Teutonica 24:33 - Neilan #26 - Patchwork 26:29 - Mark #25 - Glen More II: Chronicles 28:16 - Kellen #25 - Startups 29:53 - Neilan #25 - Codenames 31:21 - Mark #24 - Lords of Vegas 32:49 - Kellen #24 - Keyflower 34:36 - Neilan #24 - Ra 36:37 - Mark #23 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 38:39 - Kellen #23 - Fuji Flush 40:32 - Neilan #23 - The Search for Planet X 42:20 - Mark #22 - Lancaster 44:59 - Kellen #22 - Babylonia 46:47 - Neilan #22 - The Quest for El Dorado 49:18 - Mark #21 - El Grande 51:25 - Kellen #21 - Rumble Nation 53:14 - Neilan #21 - Decrypto

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I hope you all had a good holiday break, but it's time to get back to business. The very serious business that is the top fifty greatest games of all time. We return to our heroes in what the enthusiasts call phase two, and boy are things heating up! Thirty more incredible games that we absolutely love are coming right at you.

00:58 - Neilan #40 - In the Year of the Dragon 03:14 - Mark #40 - Splendor 05:09 - Kellen #40 - Zendo 07:45 - Neilan #39 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 10:04 - Mark #39 - Iwari 13:24 - Kellen #39 - Stephenson's Rocket 15:19 - Neilan #38 - Iberian Gauge 17:11 - Mark #38 - A Feast for Odin 20:12 - Kellen #38 - Codenames 23:04 - Neilan #37 - Inis 24:47 - Mark #37 - Imperium: The Contention 26:55 - Kellen #37 - Azul 28:53 - Neilan #36 - Ark Nova 30:52 - Mark #36 - True Colors 33:07 - Kellen #36 - American Bookshop 35:02 - Neilan #35 - Rising Sun 36:23 - Mark #35 - Anomia 39:53 - Kellen #35 - Genoa 42:15 - Neilan #34 - Spirit Island 44:23 - Mark #34 - Ricochet Robots 47:37 - Kellen #34 - Agricola 49:25 - Neilan #33 - Yellow & Yangtze 51:22 - Mark #33 - Dominant Species 54:24 - Kellen #33 - Wizard 55:54 - Neilan #32 - Twice as Clever! 57:16 - Mark #32 - Cthulhu Wars 59:02 - Kellen #32 - Race for the Galaxy 1:01:40 - Neilan #31 - War of the Ring: Second Edition 1:03:52 - Mark #31 - Archipelago 1:05:30 - Kellen #31 - Pax Porfiriana

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It's top fifty season! That's right, it's the time to reflect on every single game we've ever played, and see how we feel about them in the year of our lord, 2022. We sort through the chaff, and from it we weave a beautiful golden strand we call our top fifty greatest games of all time. Grab a glass, and join us.

10:18 - Kellen #50 - Smartphone Inc. 12:01 - Neilan #50 - Archipelago 13:22 - Mark #50 - Chicago Express 14:56 - Kellen #49 - Dominion 16:25 - Neilan #49 - Bus 17:50 - Mark #49 - Hanabi 19:36 - Kellen #48 - Root 20:52 - Neilan #48 - Imperium: The Contention 22:22 - Mark #48 - Cuba Libre 24:28 - Kellen #47 - Throne and the Grail 26:08 - Neilan #47 - Agricola 27:31 - Mark #47 - Stephenson's Rocket 28:55 - Kellen #46 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 31:46 - Neilan #46 - Bear Raid 33:08 - Mark #46 - 1846: The Race for the Midwest 35:35 - Kellen #45 - Lords of Vegas 37:21 - Neilan #45 - Undaunted: Normandy 39:12 - Mark #45 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 42:01 - Kellen #44 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 43:46 - Neilan #44 - Dead Reckoning 45:57 - Mark #44 - Panic on Wall Street! 48:23 - Kellen #43 - Ingenious 49:38 - Neilan #43 - Innovation 51:41 - Mark #43 - Dungeon Fighter 54:10 - Kellen #42 - Bruges 56:18 - Neilan #42 - Anachrony 59:15 - Mark #42 - Lisboa 1:01:59 - Kellen #41 - Nusfjord 1:03:27 - Neilan #41 - Mille Fiori 1:06:00 - Mark #41 - Smartphone Inc.

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Kellen won't stop rubbing in that he went to PAX Unplugged without us, but at least he came back with a lot of cool games to talk about. Join us as he regales us with the latest from Philadelphia. Before we eat our Philly, we talk about Sea Salt & Paper, and Chicago Express.

03:49 - Sea Salt & Paper 10:19 - Chicago Express 21:57 - Dicke Dämonen 26:00 - John Company: Second Edition 34:46 - The Green Fivura 35:15 - Dois 35:55 - Nine Lives 38:37 - BANANINE

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One of the greatest things about taking part in this hobby, is seeing new and novel ideas bubble to the surface. We're looking at some our favourite recent innovations - stuff that makes us think, "Huh, why haven't we seen that before?" Before we do anything but imitate and iterate, we talk about Paint the Roses, and ISS Vanguard.

02:01 - Paint the Roses 12:33 - ISS Vanguard 29:29 - Mystic Vale 30:52 - Dead Reckoning 31:52 - Dive 32:37 - Maglev Metro 33:05 - Loony Quest 33:52 - Kitchen Rush 33:52 - Rush M.D. 34:06 - Pendulum 34:41 - Magic Maze 35:03 - Kites 36:06 - MicroMacro: Crime City 37:42 - Exit: The Game – Advent Calendar 38:37 - Brian Boru: High King of Ireland 39:24 - Kabuto Sumo 40:02 - Awkward Guests 40:26 - Turing Machine 42:04 - Mansions of Madness: Second Edition 42:21 - Destinies

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How do you all keep falling for this? The Ghost Turkey moves in mysterious ways, and this year he's moving us to 2019, to atone for our sins. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

04:48 - ICECOOL 06:24 - Meeple Circus 06:49 - Root 07:57 - Sheriff of Nottingham 08:48 - Piepmatz 09:29 - Fauna 10:13 - Evolution: Flight 11:03 - Zany Penguins 12:26 - Gulo Gulo 13:16 - Funky Chicken 14:02 - Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn 14:58 - Rook 16:01 - Scythe 17:09 - Biblios

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We all saw this coming. The inevitable digital future has come, and suddenly Mark is a book store owner who just discovered Kindles. It'd be sad if it weren't so inevitable. We discuss the rise of digital gaming, and how it can, at least in some ways, replace parts of the hobby. Before we go down to Electric Avenue, we talk about Wormholes, Mogul, and Orichalcum.

02:07 - Wormholes 09:58 - Mogul 19:23 - Orichalcum 30:39 - Kellen's phone number 31:08 - Digital replacing physical games 43:15 - Garden Nation 43:41 - Living Forest 44:22 - Next Station: London 44:33 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 45:49 - Gaia Project 47:15 - 7 Wonders Duel 48:32 - Race for the Galaxy 49:13 - Riftforce 50:30 - The Great Zimbabwe

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Look, I wasn't there, but my understanding is that Kellen got very mad about certain board game words and decided to change the course of the episode midstream. Which, you know, would be one thing, but I once had to hear about how mad Kellen was about the word "apricot", so it's just like every day with this guy. Before we get etymological, we talk about Splendor Duel, and Seize the Bean.

02:19 - Splendor Duel 11:13 - Seize the Bean 23:13 - Feature topic Mark thought we were doing 23:33 - Feature topic we actually did: Board Gaming Jargon

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Two hundred and fifty episodes. That's ... a lot of episodes. That's a lot of time! And, boy, things have changed around here. Well some things. We look at what's different in the hobby since we started doing this whole thing. Before we cast our minds back, we talk about Stone Age, Blood on the Clocktower, Hansa Teutonica, and Aegean Sea.

01:58 - Stone Age 12:41 - Blood on the Clocktower 16:56 - Hansa Teutonica 18:53 - Aegean Sea 26:33 - What's changed since we started 43:49 - Gloomhaven 45:36 - Caylus 46:55 - Wiz-War

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Games are getting bigger and more lavish, especially in the age of crowdfunding, but how far is too far? How many luxury bits, giant boxes of minis, and silk-screened wooden meeples until it's all gone a bit far? Before we dress for excess, we talk about Habitats, Blood on the Clocktower, Twilight Inscription, and It's a Wonderful Kingdom.

01:59 - Habitats 13:07 - Blood on the Clocktower 18:44 - Twilight Inscription 21:40 - It's a Wonderful Kingdom 32:46 - Excess in games 33:28 - ISS Vanguard 35:40 - Too Many Bones 37:04 - Anachrony 37:55 - Everdell 38:19 - Millennium Blades 38:57 - Council of 4 41:37 - Puzzle Strike 2 Check out our game of Twilight Inscription with Brain in a Jar and friends at: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1632447670

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The topic of theme has come up intermittently over the course of the podcast, but how important is it? Is it something that makes or breaks a game? Or would we be mostly okay if games were mostly non-thematic? Before we burst at the theme, we talk about Mamma Mia!, Football Highlights 2052, Kanban, and Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood.

01:46 - Mamma Mia! 08:20 - Football Highlights 2052 18:50 - Kanban  20:59 - Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood 34:25 - The importance of theme 34:50 - Tigris & Euphrates 38:08 - Catherine: The Cities of the Tsarina 38:42 - Point Salad 40:04 - Abandon All Artichokes 43:29 - Glüx 47:25 - Décorum 49:08 - Deal with the Devil

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What good would going to a convention be if we didn't play a lot of games? We're back from our trip, and it was filled to the brim of fine games played with fine people, and we're here to tell you about all of them, the good, the bad, and perfunctory. Before we return to Vancouver, we talk about Village Rails, The Guild of Merchant Explorers, and Puzzle Strike 2.

01:51 - Village Rails 12:43 - The Guild of Merchant Explorers 20:59 - Puzzle Strike 2 34:14 - Ghost Turkey! 34:41 - Games we played at SHUX 34:58 - Master Word 40:05 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 42:12 - Leaf 43:32 - Fit to Print 45:11 - Bumúntú 48:38 - Nitro Glyxerol 51:14 - Bridge City Poker 54:16 - Cubitos 57:54 - Blood Rage 1:01:27 - Photograph 1:02:20 - Arboretum

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We're at SHUX! Well, we were, and while we were there, we tricked Tom Brewster of Shut Up & Sit Down to take time away from his busy schedule to join us on stage. This episode was recorded live, and we talk about games that are in some ways, a little bit weird. Before things get odd, we talk about Dungeons, Dice & Danger, Fun Facts, Turncoats, and Flick Fleck.

03:52 - Dungeons, Dice & Danger 09:07 - Fun Facts 15:03 - Turncoats 20:58 - Flick Fleck 27:39 - Weird games 28:36 - Mord im Arosa 31:03 - Nyctophobia 31:26 - Tajuto 34:21 - The Field of the Cloth of Gold 36:01 - Cosmic Frog 36:58 - Turing Machine 40:45 - Chaosmos 42:50 - XCOM: The Board Game 43:52 - Now Boarding 44:39 - Flowerfall 45:30 - Who Soiled the Toilet?

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It's convention season, which means we're on the way to one convention, while talking about another. Every year a lot of new games get showed off at Essen SPIEL in Germany, and these are the ones we're most excited to hear more about! Before we start messin' with Essen, we talk about Plutocracy and Finca.

01:56 - Plutocracy 09:54 - Finca 19:09 - Essen SPIEL 2022 Preview 19:39 - The Great Split 21:57 - Time Capsules 23:45 - Heat: Pedal to the Metal 25:45 - La Famiglia: The Great Mafia War 27:49 - Applejack 29:22 - Rise & Fall 31:13 - Sauscharf 33:29 - Oros 35:08 - Tribes of the Wind 36:23 - Shark 38:34 - Tindaya 41:07 - Lacrimosa 42:43 - Virtù 46:38 - Revive 48:51 - Pilgrim

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We're in and out quick and breezy, with a h-h-hot question about player counts. All things equally considered, how many people do you want at the table? Before we boot people from the game, we talk about Bitoku, San Francisco, and Caesar's Empire.

01:28 - Bitoku 12:21 - San Francisco 20:11 - Caesar's Empire 28:46 - Favorite Player Counts 36:08 - Star Trek: Ascendancy 37:04 - Churchill

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The best thing about being part of a team is even when things go wrong, your team is there for you. And boy, did things go wrong this week ... but I'm getting ahead of myself. This week we're talking about team games! Twice! Before we make the dream work, we talk about Art Decko, Feed The Kraken, and War of the Ring: The Card Game.

02:47 - Art Decko 09:03 - Feed The Kraken 20:08 - War of the Ring: The Card Game 32:51 - Team games 35:26 - Guards of Atlantis II 39:20 - Ingenious 40:10 - Tichu 43:32 - Concordia Venus 47:43 - Shadow Hunters 49:33 - Inkognito 51:27 - Between Two Cities 52:06 - Ladies & Gentlemen 53:16 - Space Cadets: Dice Duel 53:16 - Captain Sonar

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Not every game makes the best first impression, but some stick in your mind enough to warrant a second try. So fittingly, the first and second best hosts are here to tell you about the games that they think deserve a revisit. Before we repeat stuff, repeat stuff, we talk about Mille Fiori, Rise of the Metro, and Turing Machine.

02:05 - Mille Fiori 05:57 - Rise of the Metro 12:48 - Turing Machine 22:29 - Games that need a second chance 24:01 - Gaia Project 26:39 - Space Station Phoenix 28:34 - Twilight Imperium: Third Edition 31:01 - Root 33:15 - Ankh: Gods of Egypt 35:16 - An Infamous Traffic 35:16 - Panamax 35:16 - Maria 37:09 - Dune: Betrayal 38:10 - Beyond the Sun 40:06 - XCOM: The Board Game 41:56 - Quantum

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Okay, this end of the BGG top list starts to get weird. Regardless, we must draft. Who's going to end up with the best selection of five games from this chunk of one hundred? That's up to you - vote and you could win a $50 gift voucher! Before we pick a peck of paper products, we talk about Town 66, Akropolis, and Pampero.

02:09 - Town 66 08:24 - Akropolis 16:51 - Pampero 27:38 - Drafting BGG's #601-700 29:40 - Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation 31:11 - So Clover! 32:49 - 6 nimmt! 34:19 - Bus 35:56 - The Oracle of Delphi 37:11 - The Estates 38:50 - Long Shot: The Dice Game 40:44 - Yellow & Yangtze 42:06 - Undaunted: North Africa 43:05 - Between Two Cities 44:02 - City of the Big Shoulders 47:05 - Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road 48:05 - QE 49:47 - Civilization: A New Dawn 52:18 - Fort

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The pillars of board gaming are games that are so influential, so ubiquitous, that they're practically the shoulders on which many other board games stand. We talk about what are commonly considered the classic pillars, and try to make a more modern list. Before we get into Greek architecture, we talk about Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, Trailblazers, Photograph, and Ys.

02:34 - Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon 04:01 - Trailblazers 11:38 - Wind the Film! / Photograph 18:22 - Ys 28:01 - Modern pillars of board gaming 32:33 - Codenames 36:09 - Splendor 39:01 - 7 Wonders 41:48 - The Resistance: Avalon 43:59 - Concordia 47:21 - Qwixx 51:38 - Scythe

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Well, we've returned, and some of us are a little worse for wear, but if a week off doesn't get us back into gear, nothing will. Gen Con is behind us, and Mark, who sadly couldn't make the con, quizzes us about our highlights of the show. Before we cast our minds back to Indiana, we talk about Cat in the Box, Formosa Tea, and Twilight Inscription.

02:14 - Cat in the Box 08:31 - Formosa Tea 15:32 - Twilight Inscription 26:26 - Games we played at Gen Con 26:50 - Splendor Duel 33:38 - Green Team Wins 35:06 - Empire's End 38:23 - Kites 39:34 - Good Puppers 42:57 - War of the Ring: The Card Game 43:52 - Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods 46:28 - Freezer pants forever

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Given that we hyped up all those games last week, it's only fair that we prepare ourselves for the aftermath. We look back at some of the most famous and infamous games of yesteryear that were very highly anticipated, and wonder what became of them. Before we relive the comedown, we talk about Master Word, Living Forest, and Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef.

02:00 - Master Word 06:27 - Living Forest 13:29 - Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef 25:04 - Anticipated games of years past 26:56 - Founding Fathers 27:35 - Vinhos 28:32 - Wok Star 29:50 - 51st State 30:27 - CO₂ 31:11 - Rex: Final Days of an Empire 33:01 - Glory to Rome 36:12 - Xia: Legends of a Drift System 36:50 - Cthulhu Wars 37:48 - Myth 38:43 - Conan 39:40 - Viceroy 40:32 - Mysterium 41:57 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 45:10 - SeaFall 47:57 - Cry Havoc 49:02 - Founders of Gloomhaven

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Gen Con is a week away! We're headed to Indianapolis (hope to see you there!) but before we do, we're looking down the preview list to get ourselves hyped. These are our five games we're each most excited to see at the show! Before we go Indy, we talk about Vabanque, Orongo, and Blood on the Clocktower.

02:06 - Vabanque 07:25 - Orongo 15:12 - Blood on the Clocktower 23:49 - Our most anticipated Gen Con 2022 games 25:50 - San Francisco 27:07 - Diamond Dig 28:28 - Turing Machine 29:55 - Weirdwood Manor 31:02 - Deal with the Devil 33:00 - Last Light 34:30 - Starship Captains 35:22 - Framework 36:49 - ??? 37:04 - Time of Empires 38:38 - Green Team Wins 40:58 - Catherine: The Cities of the Tsarina 41:53 - The Shadow Planet: The Board Game 43:30 - Cat in the Box 45:30 - Autobahn

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There's a phenomenon called twin films, where competing studios release very similar movies at the same time. We imagine the same idea in board game land, and highlight some of the biggest board game grudge matches - and judge which game we think came out on top. Before there can be only one, we talk about Viking See-Saw, Dandelions, Codex Naturalis, and Luna.

02:38 - Viking See-Saw 05:32 - Dandelions 13:09 - Codex Naturalis 17:52 - Luna 28:30 - Twin game matchups 30:46 - Azul 30:46 - Sagrada 31:35 - Century: Spice Road 31:35 - Splendor 32:28 - Race for the Galaxy 33:28 - Roll for the Galaxy 33:45 - Dune: Imperium 33:45 - Lost Ruins of Arnak 35:08 - Cascadia 35:08 - Wingspan 36:29 - Eclipse 36:29 - Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition 37:29 - Codenames 37:29 - Decrypto 37:47 - Ark Nova 37:47 - Terraforming Mars 38:19 - Azul vs. Sagrada  40:13 - Century: Spice Road vs. Splendor  42:48 - Race for the Galaxy vs. Roll for the Galaxy 45:43 - Dune: Imperium vs. Lost Ruins of Arnak 48:22 - Cascadia vs. Wingspan 51:22 - Eclipse vs. Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition 51:52 - Codenames vs. Decrypto 54:13 - Ark Nova vs. Terraforming Mars

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Ambie Valdés, from the excellent podcast Board Game Blitz, joins us to talk about family games, and possibly also the Fast and the Furious franchise. Ambie actually has kids, so might know a little more about this than the rest of us. Kids love Vin Diesel. Before we edutain, we talk about Savannah Park, Cryptid, and Stroganov.

04:43 - Savannah Park 11:26 - Cryptid 17:51 - Stroganov 27:11 - Family games 29:55 - Tidy Up! 33:01 - Wingspan 38:03 - Ticket to Ride 40:04 - Flash Point: Fire Rescue 41:39 - Let's Catch the Lion! 43:05 - Qwirkle 43:29 - Gulo Gulo

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Well, we can't play everything, and that was probably more true ten years ago than it is now. So we thought we'd look back at the decade past, and highlight some games that we feel like we missed out on. Before we prolong our backlogs, we talk about Loot of Lima, Yosemite, and Planted: A Game of Nature & Nurture.

02:13 - Loot of Lima 09:17 - Yosemite 14:56 - Planted: A Game of Nature & Nurture 23:01 - Games from last decade we want to play 24:14 - Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game 25:53 - Black Friday 27:12 - Haggis 28:07 - Sentinels of the Multiverse 30:09 - Kolejka 31:30 - Eclipse 33:02 - Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery 34:20 - Copycat 35:31 - Caverna: The Cave Farmers 38:06 - Duel of Ages II 40:24 - Kanban 42:07 - Wir sind das Volk! 43:21 - Kingdom Death: Monster 45:18 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 47:23 - Mombasa 48:59 - Arkham Horror: The Card Game 50:14 - Arkwright 51:03 - Adrenaline 52:18 - This War of Mine: The Board Game 53:14 - Gaia Project 54:36 - Calimala 55:51 - Obsession 57:50 - Mage Knight Board Game 58:34 - Gùgōng 59:39 - Barrage 1:00:53 - Crusader Kings

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We're spread across the world and time, so we do the thing we should never do; we put the questions to you. Yes, you! It's a mailbag episode, we're answering a trio, a trilogy, a trichopteran of your questions. Before we put in our hand and pull out a letter, we talk about Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes!, Symphony No.9, and Arrakis: Dawn of the Fremen.

03:46 - Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! 11:36 - Symphony No.9 19:10 - Arrakis: Dawn of the Fremen 37:48 - Do you create game specific ambience? 43:45 - What games have you been returning to? 44:22 - The Great Zimbabwe 45:16 - Tigris & Euphrates 46:37 - Great Western Trail 47:49 - Cascadia 50:03 - Imperium: The Contention 50:24 - Mind MGMT: The Psychic Espionage "Game." 50:54 - What's a one sentence description of your tastes?

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Yes, you could make the argument that every game is a negotiation game if you try hard enough, but for a lot of games it's more integral to the design. We look at games that we think integrate negotiation mechanics especially well, and ask how much is too much (or too little) when it comes to negotiation. Before we compromise, we talk about Septima, and Kremlin.

02:12 - Septima 18:09 - Kremlin 34:26 - Negotiation as a mechanic 35:51 - Catan 38:01 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 43:23 - Inis 45:45 - Rising Sun 47:31 - Between Two Cities 49:22 - Dune 50:28 - Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery 52:48 - Diplomacy

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While we tend to enjoy games across the whole spectrum, there's something particular about sinking your teeth into a really heavy game. But it's not always an easy prospect; conditions have to be just right. So what makes a heavy game worth it? Before things get heavy, we talk about Barony, Bausack, Whitehall Mystery, and Dead Reckoning.

02:14 - Barony 13:17 - Bausack 18:07 - Whitehall Mystery 22:59 - Dead Reckoning 32:23 - Diplomacy 34:43 - War of the Ring: Second Edition 35:15 - A Feast for Odin 38:45 - Shipyard 40:03 - Vindication 41:21 - Mage Knight Board Game 42:35 - Forbidden Stars 46:59 - Food Chain Magnate 54:09 - The Great Zimbabwe

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There's a lot of discourse lately about the pros and cons of negative board game coverage, and so of course we thought we ought to weigh in. Is there value in negative criticism versus positive, or should there be a balance between the two? Before we take the good with the bad, we talk about Homeworlds, Ave Caesar, and Founders of Teotihuacan.

01:42 - Homeworlds 12:39 - Ave Caesar 18:03 - Founders of Teotihuacan 30:31 - Negative criticism 56:06 - Quest

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It's easy to get lost in mechanical discussions of games, and forget to appreciate them as physical creations. There can be beauty in games, and we're here to get to the heart of it the only way we know, the one on one fight to the death that we call BGBBOB. Before we get skin deep, we talk about First Empires, Mille Fiori, and Foundations of Rome.

01:44 - First Empires 08:25 - Mille Fiori 16:41 - Foundations of Rome 32:51 - BGBBOB: Beautiful games 34:18 - Photosynthesis 35:23 - Root 39:12 - Brass: Lancashire 40:34 - Rising Sun 43:26 - Spirit Island 44:36 - The Gallerist 46:28 - Yamataï 48:00 - Azul 49:51 - Agricola 51:17 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 53:26 - Wingspan 54:23 - Inis 56:41 - Foundations of Rome 57:33 - Startups 1:00:19 - Ark Nova

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It doesn't happen as much as it does in other industries, but every so often the people at the top demand serialization. We're talking about sequels in board games, when they work, when they (super) don't, and what we'd like to see get the treatment. Before we get franchised, we talk about Next Station: London, Dawn of the Zeds (Third Edition), and Azul: Queen's Garden.

01:23 - Next Station: London 09:29 - Dawn of the Zeds (Third Edition) 21:44 - Azul: Queen's Garden 39:51 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 40:42 - Uwe Rosenberg Puzzle Trilogy 43:15 - Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan 45:13 - Brass: Birmingham 47:11 - Glen More II: Chronicles 48:21 - Empires of the Void II 48:36 - The Resistance: Avalon 49:44 - 7 Wonders Duel 50:10 - 7 Wonders: Architects 50:42 - Alchemists 52:05 - Lignum 52:27 - Francis Drake

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Metagaming is all about the game that exists within (and without) the game - it's everything that's not written in the rules. Whether that's something that emerges at your table, or in the community at large, it can be a big part of the social experience, and we're all for it. Before we get meta, we talk about Rum & Pirates, Box One, Shamans, and Crescent Moon.

05:00 - Rum & Pirates 11:24 - Box One 14:58 - Shamans 22:11 - Crescent Moon  38:55 - Metagaming 44:01 - Hanabi 44:40 - The Resistance 48:04 - Root 56:35 - Blood Rage 59:02 - Keyflower

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With the middle of the year rapidly approaching, we've acquired our fair share of games that we're really itching to play. We talk about what's recently made its way into our collections that we just can't wait to get to the table. Before we break out the back scratchers, we talk about Ivanhoe, Freshwater Fly, Vindication, and Cryptid: Urban Legends.

02:23 - Ivanhoe 09:13 - Freshwater Fly 17:11 - Vindication 24:22 - Cryptid: Urban Legends 37:36 - Games we're itching to play 38:40 - Dead Reckoning 41:04 - Gloomholdin' 44:18 - Mille Fiori 46:29 - Foundations of Rome 49:57 - Innovation 51:31 - A Feast for Odin 52:17 - Biblios

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The Golden Geek results are in for 2021, and to avoid burying the lede ... we won! We're over the moon, naturally, but we couldn't have done it without you. We celebrate by giving our takes on the rest of the awards, how we voted, and what we think about the other categories. Before we bathe in our glory, we talk about Aristocracy, Senators, and Ark Nova.

06:08 - Aristocracy 15:51 - Senators 23:58 - Ark Nova 42:15 - Golden Geek Awards 43:29 - That Time You Killed Me 43:58 - Summoner Wars (Second Edition) 44:17 - Radlands 45:30 - Sleeping Gods 46:16 - Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile 47:52 - The Crew: Mission Deep Sea 49:19 - PARKS: Nightfall 49:56 - The Adventures of Robin Hood 51:03 - 7 Wonders: Architects 52:00 - Cascadia 54:07 - Ankh: Gods of Egypt 57:12 - Gloomholdin' 1:02:31 - Red Flag Over Paris 1:03:07 - Podcast of the Year Check out the results here: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2859849/16th-annual-golden-geek-winners-2021

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It's easy to get caught up in the cult of the new, but there are so many amazing games that came out before we were even in the hobby. Mark Bigney of So Very Wrong About Games joins us to look at the games we love from yesteryear, and other older games we really ought to play. And stick around for even more special appearances after the show! Before we go back in time, we talk about Sobek: 2 Players, Phantom Leader Deluxe, and Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition.

04:30 - Sobek: 2 Players 11:59 - Phantom Leader Deluxe 27:56 - Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition 37:07 - Acquire 41:45 - Bus 45:29 - Dream Factory 49:49 - Civilization 53:15 - Advanced Civilization 1:00:52 - Quo Vadis? 1:01:43 - Ikusa 1:03:20 - Antike II 1:03:52 - Die Macher 1:05:41 - Victory in the Pacific 1:10:18 - Subbuteo Please vote for us in the Golden Geek awards! https://boardgamebarrage.com/vote

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There are many ways that we can accidentally contribute to gatekeeping in the hobby - pushing those who want to embrace it away. Whether it's to those outside, or even, bizarrely, to those already in, we break down the subtle (and unsubtle) ways we do it, whether or not we mean to. Before we find the keymaster, we talk about San Marco, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, and Ghosts of Christmas.

02:28 - San Marco 10:57 - Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion 20:34 - Ghosts of Christmas 32:03 - Exploding Kittens 32:18 - Catan 33:17 - Wingspan 43:02 - Codenames Please vote for us in the Golden Geek awards! https://boardgamebarrage.com/vote

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It doesn't quite work the same, but what do you expect when Neilan's not present? Speaking of presents, it's Mark's birthday so the rest of the crew celebrate with a parade of (don't call them hot) questions, where they invent expansions, and save the planet. Before we get older, we talk about Time Barons, and The Key: Sabotage at Lucky Llama Land.

03:57 - Time Barons 13:37 - Hanabi Deluxe II 15:34 - The Key: Sabotage at Lucky Llama Land 28:06 - Beyond the Sun 30:57 - The Quest for El Dorado 32:38 - Biblios 33:32 - Pax Renaissance 36:54 - The Castles of Burgundy

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It's been a little while, but we're back with the next hundred games on BoadGameGeek, and we're drafting a five game collection from them. Who ended up with the best picks? Vote and you could win a $50 gift voucher! Before things get drafty, we talk about Imperium: The Contention, Wonderland's War, and Gentes.

02:19 - Imperium: The Contention 07:20 - Wonderland's War 19:23 - Gentes 33:32 - Quantum 35:31 - Kemet: Blood and Sand 37:51 - Through the Desert 39:28 - Pax Renaissance 40:45 - Blitzkrieg!: World War Two in 20 Minutes 42:45 - Pax Porfiriana 43:27 - Coloretto 45:02 - Camel Up 46:14 - Cuba Libre 47:02 - Nova Luna 48:57 - Furnace 49:59 - Imperium: Classics 51:56 - Fort 54:09 - Space Empires 4X 57:47 - Carson City

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Does the perfect game exist? Probably not, but is that even the point? This week we discuss the elusive 10/10 rating, whether it makes sense to apply it, and what that means for rating games in general. Before we realize pobody's nerfect, we talk about Mind MGMT: The Psychic Espionage “Game.”, Manila, and Picture Perfect.

02:11 - Mind MGMT: The Psychic Espionage "Game." 12:14 - Manila 16:55 - Camel Up 18:50 - Picture Perfect 31:05 - Tigris & Euphrates 37:58 - Ark Nova 40:17 - Wingspan

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Wow, hundreds of you sent in your favourite games, and it was absolute chaos. But we got all the data together, cleaned up the typos, and crunched the numbers via a super secret algorithm, and here we are, your favourite games of all-time! For this year, at least. Before you take the stage, we talk about Schotten Totten 2, For Science!, and The Bridges of Shangri-La.

02:17 - Schotten Totten 2 13:13 - For Science! 23:17 - The Bridges of Shangri-La 33:59 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 35:07 - Inis 36:34 - El Grande 37:43 - Dominion 39:14 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 39:45 - Scythe 40:29 - Terraforming Mars 41:11 - Terra Mystica 42:53 - A Feast for Odin 43:18 - Agricola 44:20 - Race for the Galaxy 44:41 - The Castles of Burgundy 45:47 - Innovation 46:55 - Gloomhaven 47:36 - Great Western Trail 48:21 - Concordia 49:58 - Root 51:07 - Hansa Teutonica 52:21 - Brass: Birmingham 53:19 - Spirit Island

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There is a joy as equal in receiving a game, as moving it onto another person to enjoy. Especially, if you're Mark, when there's cash involved. We reflect on the many games that got left behind recently. Before we purge, we talk about Imperial Steam, Circus Flohcati, and Dogs of War.

02:33 - Circus Flohcati 09:37 - Imperial Steam 21:22 - Dogs of War 29:33 - Camel Up: Off Season 31:01 - Ciub 31:53 - Ten 33:18 - Visitor in Blackwood Grove 33:35 - Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden 33:52 - Bosk 34:08 - Castell 35:38 - Ninja Catfoot and the Covert Action 37:07 - In a Grove 37:07 - Dokojong 40:16 - Yokohama 40:59 - Castles of Burgundy 41:20 - Oath 41:46 - Feudum 42:23 - Lords of Vegas 42:32 - Chinatown 44:20 - Scape Goat 44:42 - Bequest 45:08 - Kardashev Scale 45:38 - Beez 45:56 - Llamaland 46:51 - Kobayakawa 47:07 - Lost Cities: Roll and Write 47:15 - Rebel Knox 47:36 - Tutto! 48:02 - Time Bomb Evolution 48:28 - My City 48:28 - The King's Dilemma 49:00 - Seikatsu 49:35 - Dinner in Paris 49:43 - Ruination 50:05 -  Radlands 50:38 - Whirling Witchcraft 50:53 - Hadara 51:09 - Power Failure 51:28 - Mystic Paths 51:43 - Bazaar 55:07 - Blokus

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Waiting your turn is so 2021.  Simultaneous play is where it's at now. Fortunately, we got a chance to try A BUNCH of games featuring the mechanism at Dice Tower West! So, before we all hold hands and dive in all at once, we'll chat about Bear Raid, Loco!, Imperium: The Contention, and Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest.

04:30 - Bear Raid 12:18 - Loco! 18:09 - Imperium: The Contention 30:37 - Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest 47:20 - Guards of Atlantis 48:49 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant

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We're on the way to Dice Tower West, so we're keeping this one easy breezy with just a hot question. How many games on your shelf do you think you could teach without looking at the rulebook? Before we turn up the heat, we talk about Yokohama, Final Girl, and Mystic Paths.

03:04 - Yokohama 11:35 - Final Girl 20:27 - Mystic Paths

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Return of the Bob! If you don't know what a BGBBOB, boy you've missed out. Twelve games enter, and, well, they all exit, but only once they've been arranged in the appropriate order via a series of one on one fights. And fights are doubly appropriate this week, because we're battling it out in search of the best combat systems. Before we wish for peace, we talk about 7 Wonders: Architects, Kokopelli, and Canopy.

03:18 - 7 Wonders: Architects 10:46 - Kokopelli 19:22 - Canopy 31:42 - Diplomacy 33:26 - Rising Sun 35:52 - Mage Knight Board Game 37:44 - Arcadia Quest 41:10 - Chaos in the Old World 42:18 - Eclipse 45:49 - Blood Rage 48:20 - Kemet 53:03 - Neuroshima Hex 57:11 - King of Tokyo 1:01:55 - Dune 1:05:17 - Inis

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Approachability and accessibility are incredibly important to a wide swathe of gamers, but for those experienced in the hobby, it can often get overlooked. We investigate how games can aid those both in and especially outside the hobby to be more immediately appealing. Before we have a beer with him, we talk about Shinkansen: Zero Kei, Project L, and Boonlake.

01:32 - Shinkansen: Zero Kei 11:30 - Project L 21:13 - Boonlake 37:34 - Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion 38:13 - Wavelength 39:14 - Splendor 39:45 - Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation 40:54 - Race for the Galaxy 42:07 - Scythe 43:22 - Troyes 49:27 - The Siege of Runedar 51:14 - Kitchen Rush 52:45 - Enchanted Plumes

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It's the triumphant return of the terrific trio - you know exactly who we mean - to talk about games where one of us would have to be left out. That's right, it's two players only at this table, and we're talking about our favourite games that fit the bill, and why we love them. Before we one-three-nine-take-two, we talk about Undaunted: Normandy, Fields of Arle, and That Time You Killed Me.

02:12 - Undaunted: Normandy 11:07 - Fields of Arle 17:27 - That Time You Killed Me 28:19 - Two player games 29:47 - Azul 30:56 - The Field of the Cloth of Gold 34:35 - Innovation 35:52 - Cthulhu Wars: Duel 36:25 - Cosmic Encounter Duel 38:40 - BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia 39:42 - Magic: The Gathering 41:10 - Race for the Galaxy 43:53 - Ginkgopolis

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New year, new games, and we're really in it now. We look ahead to the year ahead, and all the games that we're most excited to get our hands on ... but we couldn't do it without just a little bit of help from our friends. Before we consult our many crystal balls, we talk about American Bookshop, War of the Ring: Second Edition, and Coffee Traders.

01:56 - American Bookshop 06:42 - War of the Ring: Second Edition 22:21 - Coffee Traders 34:16 - Aegean Sea 34:35 - Hamburg 36:01 - The Guild of Merchant Explorers 37:26 - Eleven: Football Manager Board Game 39:12 - The Shivers 40:53 - Root: The Marauder Expansion 42:33 - Dungeons, Dice & Danger 42:52 - Hamburg 43:49 - Bear Raid 45:24 - Federation 47:32 - Dice Realms 48:37 - Vagrantsong 50:14 - Return to Dark Tower 51:16 - Weather Machine 53:10 - Crescent Moon 55:06 - Stationfall 57:36 - Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory 59:39 - Ra 1:00:53 - Distilled 1:02:40 - Endless Winter: Paleoamericans

Please check out all of our guests' amazing work:

Paula Deming - https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulaDeming Brain in A Jar - https://linktr.ee/brain_in_a_jar Decision Space - https://decisionspace.podbean.com Foster the Meeple - https://www.youtube.com/c/fosterthemeeple Jason / Shelf Stories - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnaZ7055IWOdm8XCJfFRDcw 1 Minute Board Games - https://www.1minuteboardgames.com Ruel - http://ruelgaviola.com Board Game Hot Takes - https://boardgamehottakes.com Mike Dilisio - https://sporadicallyboard.libsyn.com

Few things feel better than those moments in board games that make you feel powerful. Whether it's playing the perfect card, pulling off a perfectly executed turn, or splashing down that giant mini, we look at some of our favourite power plays in board games. Before we corrupt absolutely, we talk about Biblios: Quill and Parchment, Cryo, and Origins: First Builders.

03:00 - Biblios: Quill and Parchment 12:43 - Cryo 22:24 - Origins: First Builders 28:57 - Games that make you feel powerful 29:21 - Russian Railroads 30:22 - Le Havre 31:01 - A Feast for Odin 32:01 - Dominion 32:43 - Automobiles 33:49 - Cosmic Encounter 34:17 - I'm the Boss! 35:06 - Magic: The Gathering 36:35 - La Granja 38:45 - Cthulhu Wars 40:05 - Nothing Personal 41:32 - The Downfall of Pompeii 43:12 - Spirit Island 44:53 - Dominant Species 46:49 - Furnace 48:07 - Innovation

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And we're back! The holiday extravaganza is over, and it's back to business as usual around here. And what better way to get back into the swing of things than with some h-h-hot questions! Before that, we catch up on our holidays apart, with tales about the games that we played with our loved ones, including The Siege of Runedar, Snakesss, and Time Bomb Evolution.

02:18 - The Siege of Runedar 08:02 - Snakesss 14:49 - Time Bomb Evolution 19:04 - Sacred Rites 24:09 - Hearts of AttrAction 30:03 - Wits & Wagers Vegas 32:18 - Colorful 35:14 - Paperback 37:33 - Ten plays of one game, or one play of ten? 40:17 - The Great Zimbabwe 44:47 - Abandoning games halfway through? 48:56 - Time's Up! 51:36 - Blood Rage 52:10 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea

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It's the grand finale of the event of events that is the BGB Top 50 Games of All-time! These are our ten absolute favourite games, and, fittingly, it's a bumper episode with more than one surprise. Joining us in the peanut gallery this week, it's none other than the manic imp of Shut Up & Sit Down himself, the absolute mad genius that is Tom Brewster. Buckle in, it's going to get weird.

02:36 - Kellen #10 - El Grande 04:08 - Mark #10 - 1830: Railways & Robber Barons 07:44 - Neilan #10 - Exit: The Game 11:08 - Christina #10 - I'm the Boss! 14:53 - Kellen #9 - Inis 18:05 - Mark #9 - The Estates 20:13 - Neilan #9 - Guards of Atlantis II 23:20 - Christina #9 - Lost Cities 28:28 - Kellen #8 - Diplomacy 31:18 - Mark #8 - Hansa Teutonica 34:02 - Neilan #8 - Pictomania 37:20 - Christina #8 - Twice as Clever! 41:07 - Kellen #7 - Dune 43:43 - Mark #7 - Time's Up! Title Recall! 45:33 - Neilan #7 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 48:14 - Christina #7 - Blood Rage 53:03 - Kellen #6 - Cosmic Encounter 55:03 - Mark #6 - Brass: Lancashire 56:56 - Neilan #6 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 1:00:06 - Christina #6 - Babylonia 1:05:31 - Kellen #5 - Troyes 1:05:31 - Christina #5 - Troyes 1:10:06 - Mark #5 - Arboretum 1:12:11 - Neilan #5 - Time's Up! Title Recall! 1:14:15 - Kellen #4 - I'm the Boss! 1:16:57 - Mark #4 - Fresh Fish 1:19:56 - Neilan #4 - Gloomhaven 1:22:25 - Christina #4 - El Grande 1:25:26 - Kellen #3 - Cthulhu Wars 1:25:26 - Christina #3 - Cthulhu Wars 1:29:37 - Mark #3 - Caylus 1303 1:31:38 - Neilan #3 - The Resistance 1:35:24 - Kellen #2 - Archipelago 1:38:02 - Mark #2 - Race for the Galaxy 1:41:12 - Neilan #2 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 1:45:45 - Christina #2 - Time's Up! Title Recall! 1:51:46 - Christina #1 - Innovation 1:51:46 - Kellen #1 - Innovation 1:57:28 - Mark #1 - Biblios 1:59:34 - Neilan #1 - A Feast for Odin

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The penultimate episode of the grand series is here, it’s the BGB Top 50! As the journey approaches its end, we’re venturing into our 20th to 11th favourite games, with some support from the peanut gallery. And with thirty more board games to blitz through, who better to help us than Ambie Valdés of Board Game Blitz!

01:27 - Mark #20 - Imperial 2030 03:02 - Neilan #20 - Decrypto 04:11 - Kellen #20 - The Resistance 06:19 - Mark #19 - Ra 07:35 - Neilan #19 - Patchwork 09:15 - Kellen #19 - Ingenious 11:32 - Mark #18 - Barrage 13:41 - Neilan #18 - Rising Sun 15:24 - Kellen #18 - Time’s Up! 18:01 - Mark #17 - Pax Renaissance 19:32 - Neilan #17 - Taj Mahal 20:34 - Kellen #17 - 6 nimmt! 22:55 - Mark #16 - Archipelago 26:03 - Neilan #16 - Brass: Birmingham 28:00 - Kellen #16 - Telestrations 30:20 - Mark #15 - 1846: The Race for the Midwest 32:07 - Neilan #15 - Watson & Holmes 33:44 - Kellen #15 - Decrypto 35:53 - Mark #14 - Bus 38:01 - Neilan #14 - Codenames 39:05 - Kellen #14 - Omen: A Reign of War 41:29 - Mark #13 - Tigris & Euphrates 42:59 - Neilan #13 - Alchemists 45:00 - Kellen #13 - Glory to Rome 47:52 - Mark #12 - El Grande 50:05 - Neilan #12 - Scythe 51:41 - Kellen #12 - Hansa Teutonica 54:31 - Mark #11 - Age of Steam 56:53 - Neilan #11 - Cthulhu Wars 58:29 - Kellen #11 - Coloretto

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What better way to send off the year than part three of the party to end all parties, the BGB Top 50! We're adding thirty more incredible games to the list, with our 30th to 21st favourite picks. This week, we have the Black Tank, Mike Walker of So Very Wrong About Games tearing apart our choices from the peanut gallery!

01:57 - Kellen #30 - Taj Mahal 03:32 - Mark #30 - Modern Art 05:48 - Neilan #30 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 09:11 - Kellen #29 - Race for the Galaxy 11:27 - Mark #29 - Francis Drake 13:02 - Neilan #29 - Gaia Project 16:33 - Kellen #28 - Krass Kariert / Dealt! / SCOUT 18:33 - Mark #28 - The Gallerist 20:37 - Neilan #28 - Twice as Clever! 22:33 - Kellen #27 - Rumble Nation 25:12 - Mark #27 - Panic on Wall Street! 27:30 - Neilan #27 - Azul 30:00 - Kellen #26 - Startups 32:49 - Mark #26 - A Question of Scruples 34:34 - Neilan #26 - Werewords 37:44 - Kellen #25 - Keyflower 40:09 - Mark #25 - Lancaster 43:23 - Neilan #25 - Spirit Island 46:33 - Kellen #24 - Smartphone Inc. 48:42 - Mark #24 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 50:41 - Neilan #24 - The Quest for El Dorado 53:01 - Kellen #23 - Codenames 55:34 - Mark #23 - Container 57:13 - Neilan #23 - Blue Lagoon 59:24 - Kellen #22 - Babylonia 1:01:52 - Mark #22 - Pictomania 1:03:05 - Neilan #22 - Inis 1:06:11 - Kellen #21 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 1:07:57 - Mark #21 - City of the Big Shoulders 1:09:51 - Neilan #21 - The Oracle of Delphi

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We're back for the second part of the year's greatest celebration, it's the top fifty! We've got thirty more incredible games to talk about this week, as we get into our games ranked 40th to 31st. This week in the peanut gallery, critiquing our picks, we're thrilled to have Monique (the Lavender tank herself) and Naveen of Before You Play!

01:29 - Neilan #40 - Coloretto 03:15 - Kellen #40 - Zendo 05:28 - Mark #40 - Ginkgopolis 07:46 - Neilan #39 - Aeon's End 10:06 - Kellen #39 - Stephenson's Rocket 12:47 - Mark #39 - Reef Encounter 16:09 - Neilan #38 - Dominion 17:49 - Kellen #38 - Genoa 19:46 - Mark #38 - Smartphone Inc. 23:22 - Neilan #37 - Archipelago 25:08 - Kellen #37 - Beyond the Sun 27:21 - Mark #37 - Maracaibo 29:54 - Neilan #36 - Innovation 32:33 - Kellen #36 - Dogs of War 34:45 - Mark #36 - Blue Lagoon 38:05 - Neilan #35 - Hansa Teutonica 39:58 - Kellen #35 - Pax Porfiriana 42:37 - Mark #35 - Genoa 44:57 - Neilan #34 - In the Year of the Dragon 47:10 - Kellen #34 - Agricola 49:42 - Mark #34 - True Colors 54:50 - Neilan #33 - The Search for Planet X 57:48 - Kellen #33 - Wizard 59:37 - Mark #33 - Glen More II: Chronicles 1:04:10 - Neilan #32 - Kemet 1:06:01 - Kellen #32 - Imperial 2030 1:08:07 - Mark #32 - Cthulhu Wars 1:11:03 - Neilan #31 - Yellow & Yangtze 1:13:41 - Kellen #31 - Fuji Flush 1:15:33 - Mark #31 - Dominant Species Check out Before You Play: https://www.youtube.com/c/BeforeYouPlay

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It's time. The event of the year is upon us, as we begin counting down our FIFTY. FAVOURITE. GAMES. OF. ALL. TIME. We're kicking it off where you kick off all good top 50s, with our games ranked 50th to 41st favourite games. And we've also invited Mr Delicious himself, Mike DiLisio of The Dice Tower, to pick apart our choices from his lofty perch in the peanut gallery. Let's go!

03:15 - Kellen #50 - So Clover! 07:10 - Neilan #50 - Taluva 10:18 - Mark #50 - Glory to Rome 14:30 - Kellen #49 - Throne and the Grail 16:43 - Neilan #49 - Sagani 19:07 - Mark #49 - Stephenson's Rocket 22:13 - Kellen #48 - Root 25:23 - Neilan #48 - Troyes 27:35 - Mark #48 - Marvel Champions 31:14 - Kellen #47 - Splendor 33:25 - Neilan #47 - Letter Jam 35:44 - Mark #47 - Dungeon Fighter 39:05 - Kellen #46 - Brass: Lancashire 41:38 - Neilan #46 - Gùgōng 43:33 - Mark #46 - Babylonia 46:47 - Kellen #45 - Nusfjord 49:34 - Neilan #45 - Pipeline 50:49 - Mark #45 - Ricochet Robots 54:46 - Kellen #44 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 56:51 - Neilan #44 - The Great Zimbabwe 58:52 - Mark #44 - Lisboa 1:02:12 - Kellen #43 - The Game 1:04:31 - Neilan #43 - So Clover! 1:05:36 - Mark #43 - Cuba Libre 1:08:34 - Kellen #42 - Bruges 1:11:16 - Neilan #42 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 1:13:31 - Mark #42 - Rising Sun 1:16:22 - Kellen #41 - Lords of Vegas 1:18:52 - Neilan #41 - Orléans 1:20:36 - Mark #41 - Innovation

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It'd be great if we could only ever play our favourites. But sometimes, perhaps more often than not, we have to put up with playing games not because we want to, but because it's the polite or kind thing to do depending on the company. This week, we're talking about games that we don't necessarily love, but for whatever reason we end up playing a lot of. Before we're held against our will, we talk about Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden, Sacred Rites, and Great Plains.

02:09 - Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden 11:53 - Sprawlopolis 14:01 - Sacred Rites 20:34 - Great Plains 25:46 - PAX Unplugged! 28:02 - Games we don't love but play a lot 29:13 - Zombicide 30:34 - Betrayal at House on the Hill 31:45 - 7 Wonders Duel 32:48 - Railroad Ink 33:24 - Karuba 34:22 - Hive 35:59 - The Mind 36:48 - Wavelength 37:44 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf 38:20 - The Quacks of Quedlinburg 41:51 - Space Base 42:57 - Crokinole

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Looking back on the past made us all reflective. For instance, remember 166 episodes ago when we promised to play all those games on our shelves of shame? I thought you might. We're revisiting our crimes of yesteryear, and checking in on how guilty we are. Before we audit our past selves, we talk about Warp's Edge, Carolus Magnus, and Unfathomable.

02:32 - Warp's Edge 08:09 - Carolus Magnus 16:20 - Unfathomable 27:00 - A Look Back at Our Unfulfilled Potential 27:18 - Fog of Love 28:56 - Spirit Island 30:10 - Dungeon Petz 31:55 - Mini Rails 33:19 - Pax Porfiriana 35:45 - Keyflower 36:41 - Dogs of War 37:13 - Clockwork Wars 38:38 - Anachrony 39:40 - Lisboa 40:19 - Three Kingdoms Redux 41:59 - Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game 42:51 - The Gallerist 43:40 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 44:35 - Diplomacy 45:40 - For-Ex 46:35 - Project: ELITE 47:31 - War of the Ring 49:50 - Roads & Boats 51:15 - Tammany Hall 51:28 - Fury of Dracula 51:50 - 1880: China 52:19 - Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery 52:45 - Arkham Horror: The Card Game 53:07 - Crokinole 53:48 - An Infamous Traffic 54:15 - Chaos in the Old World 55:07 - Great Western Trail 55:52 - Dune 56:48 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1

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Gobble gobble, gotcha again. What better way to follow up one of our biggest episodes yet, than with one of our stupidest? Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

02:35 - Cursed Court: Pokémon Edition 04:30 - Unfathomable 05:36 - Wings of War: Deluxe Set 06:22 - Gods Loves Dinosaurs 07:12 - Wings of Glory 08:16 - Seikatsu 12:59 - Bandada 14:22 - Concordia

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We did it! Two hundred episodes later and we're still here. We're so grateful to every single listener, so we wanted to turn the mics back on all of you for your favourite voicemail memories from the show. Here's to another two hundred. Before we celebrate good times, we talk about Llamaland, Mansions of Madness: Second Edition, and Clash of Cultures: Monumental Edition.

02:59 - Llamaland 12:03 - Mansions of Madness: Second Edition 18:26 - Cthulhu: Death May Die 19:36 - Clash of Cultures: Monumental Edition 34:05 - BGB and SUSD at PAX Unplugged! 34:32 - Voicemail Memory Lane 34:44 - Jordan: Kingmaking 34:44 - Rising Sun 41:41 - Zeth4: The iconic duo 42:07 - Food Chain Magnate 44:26 - Donnie: Lacerda games 48:04 - Alex: Kinder Kellen 51:29 - Kevin & Camden: 139 55:00 - Sahara: Killing Concordia 55:00 - Concordia 55:47 - Curtis: Tank love 1:00:55 - Saroule: Mark's grand entrance 1:04:39 - Brent & Kirsten: Booty 1:04:39 - Don't Get Got! 1:13:26 - Nate: Summing it up

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The split between Eurogame and Ameritrash gamers is as old as it it is silly, but in the last ten years it's also become a lot more nebulous. It's less clear than ever which side of the fence games fall on, so why still use these archaic labels at all? Maybe it's time for a change. Before we heal the divide, we talk about Hostage Negotiator, Juicy Fruits, Sleeping Gods, and Witchstone.

04:25 - Hostage Negotiator 12:38 - Juicy Fruits 17:34 - Sleeping Gods 28:38 - Witchstone 35:10 - Ingenious 39:57 - PAX Unplugged & BGB Official Math Trade 40:37 - Eurogames and Ameritrash labels 45:33 - Forbidden Stars 46:35 - Kemet 46:35 - Scythe 47:44 - Eclipse 48:05 - Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition 49:15 - Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire 49:40 - Blood Rage 50:17 - Gloomhaven 54:30 - El Grande 1:00:28 - Dune Send us a voicemail for Episode 200: https://boardgamebarrage.com/voicemail The PAX Unplugged & BGB official math trade: https://boardgamebarrage.com/paxtrade

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If you've ever been a board game host, then you know it's not always just about playing games, it's about creating lasting memories for everyone playing. We'd never leave that to chance though, so of course we're often going out of our way to make a board game experience memorable. Before we do the unforgettable, we talk about Khôra: Rise of an Empire, Dune: Betrayal, and Santa Maria.

02:08 - Khôra: Rise of an Empire 13:02 - Dune: Betrayal 21:17 - Santa Maria 29:17 - Official PAX Unplugged Math Trade by BGB! 31:17 - Making board game memories 32:30 - Dune 37:36 - Divinity Derby 38:10 - Ra: The Dice Game 38:39 - Warhammer 40,000: Fireteam 39:16 - Cthulhu Wars 39:37 - Coyote 41:19 - For Sale 42:20 - Codenames 43:26 - Gloomhaven 49:50 - The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 The PAX Unplugged & BGB official math trade: https://boardgamebarrage.com/paxtrade

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It's part five of our venerable draft series, a series so loved that it's now in syndication! We're moving on to the tail end of the BGB Top 500, but the format stays the same: draft five games to build a standalone collection that's better than the others. Vote for your favourite, and you can win $50! Before we collect royalties, we talk about PARKS, Fairy Trails, Abandon All Artichokes, and So Clover!

03:39 - PARKS 11:04 - Tokaido 12:40 - Fairy Trails 16:37 - Abandon All Artichokes 20:48 - So Clover! 26:36 - BGB and SUSD at AwShux 26:58 - PAX Unplugged Math Trade 28:53 - Drafting BGG's #401-500 31:18 - Smartphone Inc. 32:09 - Pipeline 33:32 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 34:23 - Archipelago 35:37 - Time's Up! Title Recall! 36:21 - Pax Porfiriana 38:18 - Libertalia 40:29 - 1846: The Race for the Midwest 41:22 - Wavelength 42:30 - The King's Dilemma 43:50 - Hanabi 45:33 - No Thanks! 47:18 - Ingenious 48:12 - Chess 49:49 - Taj Mahal

Check out our draft with Shut Up & Sit Down at AwSHUX: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1185759979?t=04h09m50s

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We love all of the emails we get from you, our lovely listeners, but without a regular mail segment, we can't often give them the attention they deserve. Well that ends right now, as we delve into the long neglected pile of mail, and answer some choice questions that have been waiting patiently for answers. Before we rustle in the mailbag, we talk about Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done, and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

01:42 - Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done 12:44 - World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King 22:48 - Ghost Turkey 2021 23:45 - Boards Alive Podcast 26:15 - Thoughts on some Gen Con Games? 26:34 - Furnace 28:23 - The Loop 29:14 - Witchstone 30:05 - Oltréé 30:39 - Origins: First Builders 31:55 - Overhyped games? 32:26 - Terraforming Mars 33:45 - Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition 34:15 - Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective 35:05 - Lorenzo il Magnifico 36:54 - Great Western Trail 38:25 - Race for the Galaxy 40:41 - Convention plans? 41:01 - AwSHUX: BGB & Shut Up & Sit Down draft! 45:47 - Mark's Vegas gaming? 46:30 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 51:44 - Squid Game?

Check out Neilan on the Boards Alive podcast: https://boardsalivepodcast.com/2021/10/17

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We're always excited for a new Eric Lang game, which makes him an obvious candidate for the absolutely-not-called BGB DOG - our series where we deep dive into a designer's .... designography. He's made a lot of our favourite area control games, and had his hand in some games we might not have even realized. Before we bang on about this Lang mang, we talk about What's Missing?, Polynesia, and TEN.

02:41 - What's Missing? 07:50 - Polynesia 17:47 - Ten 25:10 - PAX Unplugged 25:45 - Ghost Turkey 2021 28:45 - Eric Lang 31:30 - Mystick 32:05 - Dragon Ball Z: Majin Buu Saga 33:04 - Midgard 34:54 - Chaos in the Old World 39:58 - Quarriors! 41:48 - Dice Masters 42:20 - Blood Rage 45:47 - XCOM: The Board Game 48:13 - Duelyst 49:40 - Rising Sun 50:39 - Cthulhu: Death May Die 52:19 - Ankh: Gods of Egypt 54:32 - Marvel United

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Convention season in the new world continues, and this time it's Germany's turn, with Essen SPIEL just days away from kicking off. But tanks, you say, I don't sprechen Deutsch. We've got you. We're going to highlight all the games that we think you ought to be paying attention to, no German necessary. Before we spend our Euros, we talk about Praga Caput Regni, Skulk Hollow, and Beez.

01:40 - Praga Caput Regni 11:51 - Skulk Hollow 18:17 - Beez 25:51 - Fantasy Draft Winner! 27:58 - Essen SPIEL 2021 Preview 28:32 - Dreadful Circus 30:17 - Star Fighters: Rapid Fire 32:16 - 1923 Cotton Club 34:52 - Catapult Kingdoms 36:21 - The Siege of Runedar 37:57 - Magellan: Elcano 39:59 - Squaring Circleville 41:37 - Bitoku 43:33 - What's Missing: Purple Version 47:00 - Imperial Steam 48:38 - Heuschrecken Poker 52:02 - Eriantys 53:20 - Hippocrates 54:46 - Mobile Markets: A Smartphone Inc. Game

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There is one unenviable truth of board game ownership that we're forced to contend with - they occupy space. We've each had to wrestle with this reality in different ways recently, so we offer our thoughts on the awkwardness of sharing a physical world with our board games. Before we merely exist, we talk about Riftforce, Kabuto Sumo, and Whirling Witchcraft.

02:23 - Riftforce 11:38 - Kabuto Sumo 19:41 - Whirling Witchcraft 23:25 - Bullet♥︎ 23:45 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 29:37 - So Very Wrong About Games charity fundraiser 30:05 - Ghost Turkey 2021 31:49 - Board games occupying space 45:28 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 48:06 - Inis 48:47 - Scythe 49:06 - Splendor

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A new list of a hundred games to draft, and it only gets harder and harder. We're each picking a standalone collection of five games in a snake draft format. And the best part is you could win $50 just by voting on your favourite collection! Before we get to clubbing, we talk about Regicide, Dice Miner, and Let's Make a Bus Route, and SCOUT!

02:06 - Regicide 08:34 - Dice Miner 16:55 - Let's Make a Bus Route 16:55 - Get on Board: New York & London 18:56 - SCOUT! 22:42 - Drafting BGG's #301-400 25:18 - Biblios 26:56 - Innovation 28:18 - Monikers 29:20 - The Great Zimbabwe 30:42 - Ginkgopolis 33:34 - For Sale 35:24 - Nusfjord 37:45 - Bunny Kingdom 39:18 - Chinatown 39:38 - Twice as Clever! 41:17 - Macao 43:03 - Lancaster 45:05 - Obsession 48:23 - Lost Cities 50:36 - Gùgōng See Badgers from Mars' statement on TGG Games: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2723017/badgers-mars-and-tgg-games Check out Mark playing Dice Miner on GameNight! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CouxIvYzh-s

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While one of the appeals of following a specific game designer is the comforting familiarity of what they do best, it’s also really fun to see them go off the garden path. We’re looking at games and mechanics where one of our beloved designers zigged, when they easily could’ve zagged. Before we go our own way, we talk about Biosphere, The Ratcatcher: The Solo Adventure Game, and Stephenson’s Rocket.

Timecodes:

01:46 – Biosphere 10:58 – The Ratcatcher: The Solo Adventure Game 19:10 – Stephenson’s Rocket 30:51 – Neilan’s at Gen Con! 31:42 – Designers “Zigging” 33:03 – Codenames 33:07 – Pictomania 35:25 – El Grande 35:36 – 6 nimmt! 37:25 – Blood of the Northmen 37:54 – Strasbourg 38:25 – FlowerFall 40:37 – Kitchen Rush 42:19 – Mercado de Lisboa 43:02 – Age of Steam Expansion: Portugal 46:51 – XCOM: The Board Game

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One of the things we love to do, especially if we're playing a game for the first time, is analyse it while we're playing. We're sure this totally isn't annoying for those around us. In particular, we love picking apart little mechanical choices, imagining what the designer's thought process was, and wondering "why is that like that?" Before we get to speculating, we talk about Divinity Derby, Mexica, and Strasbourg.

03:28 - Divinity Derby 11:54 - Hab & Gut 13:22 - Mexica 19:06 - Strasbourg 24:35 - Taj Mahal 30:38 - Why is that mechanic like that? 33:28 - Risk 33:39 - Kemet 34:58 - Scythe 38:57 - Circadians: Chaos Order 39:57 - Tinner's Trail 41:22 - Ankh: Gods of Egypt 42:58 - Rocketmen 45:09 - The Oracle of Delphi

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We love Uwe Rosenberg around these parts, whether it's because of our infatuation with polyominoes, the need to keep workers fed, or the strange mechanisms of animal breeding. Join us down the (cottage) garden path of his designography, and make sure to plant some vegetables along the way. Before we get agricultural, we talk about Bosk, Spies & Lies: A Stratego Story, and Glen More II: Chronicles.

00:58 - Bosk 07:57 - Spies & Lies: A Stratego Story 12:37 - Love Letter 15:21 - Glen More II: Chronicles 24:52 - BGG 201-300 Fantasy Draft Winner 27:49 - Strategicon 29:01 - Uwe Rosenberg 29:56 - Bohnanza 33:58 - Agricola 37:19 - Le Havre 39:34 - At the Gates of Loyang 40:58 - A Feast for Odin 41:20 - Patchwork 46:45 - Caverna: The Cave Farmers 47:34 - Nova Luna 49:36 - Hallertau 53:59 - Mamma Mia! 54:28 - Nusfjord

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Sometimes, if you want a game bad enough, you're willing to go to absurd lengths to acquire it. Whether it's because it's out of print, or just hard to come by, we've all put more effort than we should've into finding or playing specific games. We tell our stories of just how far we've gone. Before we secure the bag, we talk about Tinner's Trail, and The Night Cage.

01:10 - Tinner's Trail 08:13 - The Night Cage 17:31 - Games you've gone out of your way for 18:39 - Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective 23:36 - World of Warcraft: The Boardgame 27:06 - Discworld: Ankh-Morpork 27:57 - Dead of Winter 29:16 - Ugg-Tect 32:26 - HeroQuest 33:55 - Warhammer 35:38 - Watch the Skies

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We're back with another fantasy draft, as we keep on moving down the BoardGameGeek top games list. If you're not familiar, we're each picking a standalone collection of five games before our picks get stolen out from under us. Want to win a $50 gift card? You've got to vote on whose collection is best! Before we get the knives out, we talk about Raiders of Scythia, and Ankh: Gods of Egypt.

02:01 - Raiders of Scythia 02:18 - Raiders of the North Sea 08:56 - Ankh: Gods of Egypt 29:09 - Drafting BGG's #201-300 32:58 - 1830: Railways & Robber Barons 34:52 - Flamme Rouge 36:51 - Beyond the Sun 37:59 - Cthulhu Wars 39:14 - Modern Art 39:27 - Glory to Rome 41:35 - Dune 42:49 - Imperial 2030 43:36 - The Resistance 44:35 - Arboretum 45:47 - Hive 46:47 - Glen More II: Chronicles 48:20 - Dwellings of Eldervale 49:35 - Dixit 51:23 - Burgle Bros

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We all have types of games that, for whatever reason, we steer clear of. Often all that we've been missing is a more suitable introduction to the genre, or a game that's just enough of an outlier. This week, we try to tempt you toward genres that you might have written off, with the games that may just sway you. Before we change your minds, we talk about Pocket Galapagos, Cascadia, and Bites.

01:36 - Pocket Galapagos 08:57 - Cascadia 12:53 - Bites 18:34 - Games that'll turn you around 20:19 - Battle for Rokugan 23:54 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 26:54 - Smartphone Inc. 30:53 - Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends 33:23 - Santorini 35:13 - Snakesss 38:49 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne

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It's board games for dinner, but we're not just throwing whatever we could find on your plate. No, we've got menus. We lay out our ideas for a four course board game meal, complete with appetizer, amuse-bouche, entrée and dessert, in a fun little exercise suggested by a listener. Before we meal plan, we talk about Sequoia, The Mind Extreme, and MicroMacro: Crime City.

04:31 - Sequoia 10:07 - The Mind Extreme 13:36 - MicroMacro: Crime City 21:59 - Draft winner! 23:43 - Four course board game meals 24:12 - Christina's menu 25:26 - Happy Salmon 27:57 - Deep Sea Adventure 29:41 - The Quest for El Dorado 31:54 - True Colors 33:01 - Mark's menu 34:11 - Biblios 35:43 - The Estates 38:12 - Rising Sun 30:42 - A Fake Artist Goes to New York 41:35 - Neilan's menu 42:02 - Paku Paku 43:58 - Kitchen Rush 45:05 - A Feast for Odin 47:11 - Avenue 48:23 - Kellen's menu 48:55 - Auf Teufel komm raus 50:29 - Keyflower 51:57 - 6 nimmt!

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Board game science is a delicate process, but thankfully BOB's here to help, in another BGB Battle of Board (Games)! This week, we're pitting our favourite science fiction themed games against each other. That's fifteen sci fi games, which we'll put in a fact based ordered list, ready to submit to the journal of your choice. Before we pollute space, we talk about Riverboat, Bug Council of Backyardia, and Rocketmen.

04:02 - Riverboat 10:05 - Bug Council of Backyardia 16:37 - Rocketmen 23:17 - BGBBOB: Science fiction games 24:57 - Eclipse 26:02 - Anachrony 28:18 - Quantum 29:19 - Forbidden Stars 32:03 - Beyond the Sun 32:48 - Imperial 2030 36:09 - Sol: Last Days of a Star 36:59 - Space Alert 38:55 - Dune 40:20 - Nemesis 42:34 - Gaia Project 43:35 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 45:30 - Race for the Galaxy 46:26 - Android: Netrunner 49:03 - Cosmic Encounter 1:04:28 - The final list

Keep an eye on Bug Council of Backyardia's Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/engrogames/bug-council-of-backyardia

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Martin Wallace, titan of industry, man of steam and brass. He's made a lot of games, often involving trains, but sometimes also Cthulhu. We do a deep dive into the prolific designer's catalogue, in the next in the series that Mark (and nobody else) is calling BGB DOG. Before we put him in our pocket, we talk about Throne and the Grail, Race for the Galaxy, Dinogenics, and On Mars.

02:21 - Throne and the Grail 05:56 - Race for the Galaxy 09:19 - Lost Ruins of Arnak 11:19 - DinoGenics 18:19 - On Mars 26:44 - Martin Wallace 32:17 - Brass: Lancashire 34:29 - Brass: Birmingham 37:44 - Railways of the World 42:15 - Via Nebula 44:15 - Wildlands 45:58 - Age of Industry 46:51 - Nanty Narking 46:51 - Discworld: Ankh-Morpork 51:36 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 53:43 - Hit Z Road 54:55 - Anno 1800 56:10 - Liberté

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If you thought the Euro 2020 final was tense, wait until you listen to this episode. The next match in the world's most anticipated series is now here, as we continue down the BoardGameGeek top games list, drafting a collection of five games. Whose do you think is best? Vote to stand a chance to win a $50 gift card! Before we make like snakes, we talk about Chinatown, Curious Cargo, and Mercado de Lisboa.

02:14 - Chinatown 10:00 - Curious Cargo 16:44 - Mercado de Lisboa 24:45 - Drafting BGG's #101-200 28:32 - Hansa Teutonica 30:34 - Inis 31:56 - Cosmic Encounter 32:30 - Splendor 34:41 - Pandemic 37:20 - Kemet 39:37 - Ra 41:36 - Age of Steam 44:59 - Chaos in the Old World 46:15 - Dominion 47:24 - Res Arcana 50:01 - Yokohama 51:12 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 53:44 - Vinhos Deluxe Edition 57:02 - The Resistance: Avalon

Vote for your favorite draft at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/draft

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Look, we know, we don't exactly help matters, but this hobby can be expensive. So, to make up for fueling your FOMO, we're gonna lay out some of the ways that we consciously try to curb our board game spending, while still keeping up with the zeitgeist. Before we balance our budget, we talk about Summer Camp, Wildlands, and Rome & Roll.

05:11 - Summer Camp 09:55 - The Quest for El Dorado 11:06 - Dominion 12:38 - Wildlands 21:12 - Rome & Roll 33:51 - Curbing board game spending 42:00 - Carnegie 43:03 - Gizmos 49:11 - Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile 49:49 - Stationfall

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We often talk about the burden of rules, and how in some of our favourite games, they just get out of the way. But when is that burden worthwhile; what makes the price of a heavy rules overhead worth paying? Before we maximize our returns, we talk about Crash Octopus, Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition, Imperium: Classics, and Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile.

02:54 - Crash Octopus 08:33 - Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition 18:47 - Imperium: Classics 30:41 - Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile 40:44 - Return on rules investment 43:15 - Dune 44:17 - Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game 44:50 - Gloomhaven 45:29 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 48:15 - Pax Renaissance 49:50 - Roads & Boats

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Sometimes it's best not to know, right? You've just played a game, and you liked it a lot, but you're not quite sure whether that faction is quite balanced, or the designers accounted for that winning strategy. Should you find out? Or is it better just to enjoy the game on its own merits? Before we disobey our thirst for knowledge, we talk about Genoa, Durian, The Search for Planet X, and Pavlov's House.

02:04 - Genoa 05:50 - Durian 10:52 - The Search for Planet X 20:57 - Pavlov's House 27:35 - Draft winners 31:30 - Pre/post-game research 33:17 - Splendor 35:30 - Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun 39:00 - Cthulhu Wars: Duel 39:46 - Chaos in the Old World 40:12 - Root 45:33 - Hallertau 46:39 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization

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Because making board games is hard, it's not enough just to have some solid mechanics - the best games have a production that coheres with the design. We look at some examples of games where production considerations (or lack thereof) have helped or hurt how they play. Before we executively produce, we talk about The King is Dead: Second Edition, Equinox, and Enchanted Plumes.

01:48 - The King is Dead: Second Edition 10:15 - Colossal Arena 10:15 - Equinox 22:06 - Enchanted Plumes 32:40 - Production and design 34:33 - Bunny Kingdom 35:35 - Smartphone Inc. 36:40 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 37:50 - Railroad Ink 42:30 - Nidavellir 44:45 - Mountain Goats 46:26 - Red Rising 47:58 - Scythe

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Mark's trying to get us all into something he calls "sports", so as a compromise, we're doing a fantasy board game draft! We're going to pick games from the BoardGameGeek Top 100, until we each have five. Then YOU get to vote on whose draft is best, for a chance to win $50! Before we play to the crowds, we talk about Azul: Summer Pavilion, Roads & Boats, Ruthless, and Cthulhu: Death May Die.

02:09 - Azul: Summer Pavilion 11:33 - Roads & Boats 22:33 - Ruthless 29:53 - Cthulhu: Death May Die 32:46 - Drafting the BGG Top 100 34:58 - Brass: Birmingham 37:03 - Gloomhaven 39:20 - Spirit Island 40:20 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 41:22 - Scythe 43:11 - Root 43:47 - Codenames 44:56 - Concordia 46:55 - Wingspan 47:20 - El Grande 49:05 - Gaia Project 51:40 - Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition 52:28 - Arkham Horror: The Card Game 55:14 - Clank! 56:53 - A Feast for Odin Check out the campaign for Ruthless: https://www.ruthless-game.com

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We've got a couple of quick questions from listeners that we thought made for some fun talking points. We're trying to figure out what the board game equivalent of black licorice is, and  Before rustle in the mailbag, we talk about Trekking the World, Inkling, My City, and Ruination.

01:37 - Trekking the World 11:26 - Inkling 20:08 - My City 22:31 - Ruination 33:52 - Kemet 38:55 - Black licorice games 40:42 - Archipelago 41:12 - Safranito 42:23 - Millennium Blades 43:00 - True Colors 43:38 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 44:25 - Light summer games 45:16 - Splendor 46:13 - The Quest for El Dorado 47:23 - Race for the Galaxy 48:28 - Santa Monica 48:43 - Mountain Goats 49:40 - The Resistance 50:17 - Fuji Flush

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As longstanding experts on being cute, we thought we'd finally bring both of our fields of expertise to bear on one topic. It's a return to the classic top five list, and we're counting down the cutest goshdarn board games we can think of. Before things get kawaii, we talk about Nations, Mountain Goats, and Brew.

02:34 - Nations 11:54 - Mountain Goats 17:11 - Brew 29:01 - Top 5 cutest games 30:31 - Calico 32:41 - Seasons 34:50 - Battle Sheep 36:01 - Takenoko 37:06 - Camel Up 37:49 - Mountain Goats 38:24 - Patchwork 40:04 - Walk the Dogs 41:36 - Startups 43:15 - Echidna Shuffle 45:08 - Sushi Go! 46:59 - Yura Yura Penguin 49:02 - New York Zoo 50:15 - Poseidon’s Kingdom 52:07 - Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small

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We played a double feature of legacy games for Cinco de Ocho Dos, which got us thinking about how our thoughts on legacy mechanics might have changed since the heady days of young Board Game Barrage. Before we open that box, we talk about Bonfire, Nidavellir, and The King's Dilemma.

02:07 - Bonfire 10:02 - Nidavellir 18:58 - The King's Dilemma 33:34 - Legacy games 34:03 - Risk Legacy 34:50 - Charterstone 40:19 - My City 47:30 - Gloomhaven 51:42 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 52:48 - Scythe: The Rise of Fenris 54:10 - Bunker, Battlefield, or Blown Away 54:38 - Zoned Out 55:00 - Bronze Age 55:29 - Santorini 55:45 - Mini Express Check out our new wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki

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We talk about so many good games on this podcast, that it might seem like there aren't enough bad games to balance it out. There's a good reason we don't often play or talk about them, but maybe every so often we ought to. Before we break bad, we talk about Scape Goat, Bunny Kingdom, Bullet♥, and Four Gardens.

02:12 - Scape Goat 08:29 - Bunny Kingdom 11:13 - Bullet♥ 13:53 - Four Gardens 20:49 - Bad games 22:01 - Trivial Pursuit 29:00 - Spicy 29:50 - Cards Against Humanity 30:55 - True Colors 32:37 - Betrayal at House on the Hill 35:11 - Money Bags 37:11 - Pucket 37:54 - Connect 4 Launchers 38:27 - Mord im Arosa 39:00 - Magical Athlete 40:34 - Panic Station 41:21 - Mascarade 41:41 - Bunker, Battlefield, or Blown Away! 42:36 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 43:46 - Solo 44:06 - Renegade 44:42 - Horrified Check out our new wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki

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After last week's love-fest made us all uncomfortable, we had to get back to what do best, spirited in-fighting. To that end, we've devised three debates around the same core: is that often criticized mechanic a design problem, or a player problem? Before we pit designers against players, we talk about Red Rising, Via Magica, and Alma Mater.

00:48 - Golden Geek Awards 04:36 - Red Rising 14:21 - Rise of Augustus 14:53 - Via Magica 20:17 - Alma Mater 29:36 - Board Game Barrage Wiki! 32:26 - Design problem or player problem? 33:11 - Player elimination 36:47 - Skull 37:55 - Secret Hitler 38:29 - Food Chain Magnate 40:33 - Diplomacy 43:40 - Alpha gamers 46:34 - Spirit Island 47:00 - Pandemic 51:31 - Kingmaking 55:50 - Rising Sun 57:04 - Cthulhu Wars 57:42 - Inis Check out our new wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki

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We had so many fun ideas for this week that we couldn't settle on just one! It's always great getting topic suggestions from our listeners, but not all of them can make a full episode, so we figured we'd work through some of them here. Keep sending them in! Before we spice our lives with variety, we talk about Jekyll vs. Hyde, Seikatsu, and Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road.

01:28 - Golden Geek Awards 03:55  - AwSHUX 05:57 - Jekyll vs. Hyde 14:32 - Seikatsu 21:37  - Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road 29:54 - The first game we'll play together 31:06 - Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy 33:36 - My City 35:23 - The King's Dilemma 37:22  - Ruination 41:07 - Board games we appreciate but hate 41:25 - The Estates 43:28 - Captain Sonar 45:05 - Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective 47:20 - Cosmic Encounter 49:39 - Why we love gaming with each other

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We love Friedemann Friese, so much so that we're devoting a whole episode to the green-haired designer - a comprehensive look back at his contribution to the hobby, and how we've gotten on with his games over the years. If you've never played one of his games, let us help correct that. Before we give the fantastic fellow our full focus, we talk about Kubb, Pictures, and The Field of the Cloth of Gold.

03:20 - Kubb 08:20 - Pictures 16:12 - The Field of the Cloth of Gold 23:39 - Golden Geek Awards 25:24 - Board Game Barrage vs. Shut Up & Sit Down! 27:44 - Friedemann Friese 29:17 - Power Grid 36:21 - Copycat 37:11 - 504 38:43 - Fearsome Floors 39:43 - Fauna 41:22 - Friday 42:03 - Fabled Fruit 43:41 - Fast Sloths 44:27 - Fresh Fish 45:46 - Finished! 46:20 - Funny Friends

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We're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and with the exciting possibility of actually being able to play games together again, we cast our minds forward to all the wonderful games yet to arrive in 2021. Did I mention it's a BGBBOB? Before we look ahead (never back), we talk about Clever Cubed, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, and Keyper.

02:29 - Clever Cubed 10:22 - Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon 19:16 - Keyper 26:40 - 300 by 4/11! 28:39 - Golden Geek Award Nominations 29:31 - Most Anticipated Games of 2021 31:02 - Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles 32:03 - Furnace 35:13 - Weather Machine 36:07 - Coffee Traders 38:54 - Brazil: Imperial 40:24 - Arkwright: The Card Game 42:18 - LAMA Dice 43:11 - Oathsworn: Into the Deep Wood 45:22 - Kabuto Sumo 46:31 - Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile 49:35 - Darwin's Journey 50:24 - Skyrise 53:19 - Guards of Atlantis II 53:59 - Ankh: Gods of Egypt 56:54 - Dokojong

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Dan Hughes from Sporadically Board joins us to flip the podcast on its head. Now that we've spent a hundred and sixty seven episodes raving about board games, it's only fair that we discuss all the reasons they suck. Before we turn heel, we talk about Blackout: Hong Kong, Royal Visit, Marvel Champions: The Card Game, and Deckscape: Test Time.

03:34 - Introducing the Pigeon Blood Tank! 05:38 - Blackout: Hong Kong 10:56 - Royal Visit 14:51 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 22:03 - Deckscape: Test Time 27:25 - Why Board Games Suck 28:50 - Gandhi: The Decolonization of British India, 1917 – 1947 30:38 - Lisboa 31:54 - A Feast for Odin 36:03 - CoraQuest 37:04 - Trial by Trolley 50:00 - Mythic Battles: Pantheon 1:02:33 - Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Check out Dan's board game CoraQuest: https://www.coraquest.com

Check out Dan's podcast Sporadically Board: https://www.dicetower.com/game-podcast/sporadically-board

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As important as it is to talk about that which we have received, so must we mark the loss of the games whose time has passed. Board games leave our collections for many reasons, so we're going to revisit the ones that found better homes in the past year. Before we press F, we talk about Long Shot: The Dice Game, Hallertau, and Welcome to New Las Vegas.

02:43 - Long Shot: The Dice Game 09:30 - Hallertau 20:04 - Welcome to New Las Vegas 28:43 - Games We've Recently Let Go 29:34 - Res Arcana 30:20 - Seasons 31:58 - War Chest 33:04 - Oaxaca: Crafts of a Culture 33:35 - Kingdom Builder 35:11 - Pendulum 37:44 - Nētā-Tanka 38:00 - Nevada City 38:33 - The Magnificent 41:05 - Ethnos 41:24 - Crokinole 42:49 - El Grande 45:00 - Imperial Struggle 45:53 - Iwari 48:41 - Through the Desert 49:25 - Lords of Hellas 50:27 - Troyes 51:11 - Watergate

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Design often builds heavily on what has come before, but some designers, have made an art of iteration, taking their own beloved designs, and frequently reinventing them in new ways. We dig into this practice of extremely iterative design, and how it fits into an industry hungry for fresh ideas. Before we do it again, we talk about Dirge: The Rust Wars, Electropolis, Vinhos Deluxe Edition, Architects of the West Kingdom, and Sagani.

01:34 - Dirge: The Rust Wars 09:23 - Electropolis 10:28 - Vinhos Deluxe Edition 12:15 - Architects of the West Kingdom 21:39 - Sagani 24:55 - Nova Luna 33:06 - Iterative Games 34:44 - Azul 37:11 - The Game 41:43 - Indian Summer 42:46 - Zombicide 43:52 - Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan 44:33 - Babylonia 45:50 - Yellow & Yangtze 47:04 - Caylus 1303 48:18 - Brass: Birmingham 52:07 - Strat-O-Matic Baseball 53:20 - Guards of Atlantis

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There are two good ways to create engagement in a board game: One is to let the player feel like they're achieving something constantly, the other is to keep them feeling like any wrong move could tank their game. We're dubbing this the "thriving to barely surviving" spectrum, but first, we need to figure out where some of our favourite games fit on it. Before we surthrive, we talk about Carnegie, Divvy Dice, and Underwater Cities.

03:56 - Carnegie 13:11 - Divvy Dice 20:56 - Underwater Cities 24:26 - Terraforming Mars 32:23 - The "Thriving to Barely Surviving" Spectrum 33:10 - Agricola 33:43 - A Feast for Odin 37:34 - Troyes 42:12 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 43:03 - Scythe 43:55 - Tapestry 45:20 - In the Year of the Dragon 45:52 - Macao 46:43 - The Castles of Burgundy 47:41 - Bruges 48:02 - The Oracle of Delphi 49:00 - Splendor 49:55 - Root 51:36 - Food Chain Magnate 55:12 - The Estates 56:00 - Biblios

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It's getting a bit too comfortable around here. Time to put stones in our shoes, tighten our belts, and get out of our comfort zones. We talk about the times that we've found ourselves in unfamiliar or uncomfortable gaming situations, and what we learned about ourselves in the process. Before we unfluff our pillows, we talk about Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, Reavers of Midgard, and Paleo.

02:01 - Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation 13:50 - War of the Ring: Second Edition 15:20 - Reavers of Midgard 23:37 - Paleo 31:13 - Friday 34:23 - Leaving Our Comfort Zones 35:05 - Thornwatch 37:55 - Blood Rage 41:22 - Megagames 50:33 - Twilight Struggle 54:16 - Under Falling Skies 56:17 - Fiasco 1:00:50 - War Games

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Wow! We asked for your top twenty lists, and boy did you deliver. We've crunched the numbers on the hundreds of submissions, and created what we think is the definitive list of BGB listeners' favourite board games. Now let us tell you how we think you did. Before we outsource our work, we talk about Santa Monica, Steam Works, and Cthulhu: Death May Die.

02:09 - Santa Monica 08:05 - Steam Works 15:25 - Cthulhu: Death May Die 24:06 - BGB Listener Top 20 27:18 - Viticulture 29:34 - Everdell 31:17 - Orléans 32:09 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 33:20 - A Feast for Odin 34:24 - Terra Mystica 36:00 - Race for the Galaxy 37:13 - Food Chain Magnate 38:36 - Codenames 39:35 - Cosmic Encounter 40:48 - Inis 41:36 - Terraforming Mars 42:54 - Innovation 44:12 - Root 45:20 - Gloomhaven 46:30 - Great Western Trail 47:40 - Spirit Island 48:33 - Brass: Birmingham 49:19 - The Castles of Burgundy 50:25 - Concordia Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

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We're seeing a lot more versions of games that are X: The Dice Game or Y: The Card Game. These are (usually) simplified takes on beloved classics, but often end up changing the feel of the game dramatically. We discuss when we think this formula works, and when it really doesn't. Before we cast the die, we talk about Gods Love Dinosaurs, Nanga Parbat, and Ra: The Dice Game.

03:37 - Gods Love Dinosaurs 09:50 - Nanga Parbat 18:22 - Ra: The Dice Game 23:17 - Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun 24:33 - Ra 27:13 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf 28:30 - Dice and card game spinoffs 32:46 - Troyes 32:46 - Tournay 33:17 - Troyes Dice 35:44 - Biblios Dice 36:46 - Zooloretto: The Dice Game 39:10 - Camel Up Cards 41:55 - Istanbul: The Dice Game 42:54 - Roll for the Galaxy 45:55 - Azul 46:41 - Gùgōng 48:40 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 49:33 - No Thanks 50:01 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

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Sometimes all it takes is a good designer (and the right game) to take what would otherwise be a mechanic we don't like, and utilize it in a way that feels right. We take a look at some mechanics that we usually don't love, and the games that turned us around on them. Before we see things in a new light, we talk about CloudAge, Mariposas, and Faiyum.

03:04 - CloudAge 12:37 - Mariposas 18:01 - Faiyum 28:27 - Games that rescued a mechanism 28:40 - Performative Clues 29:05 - Time's Up 31:29 - On a Scale of One to T-Rex 32:19 - Action Points 32:52 - Flash Point: Fire Rescue 34:00 - Blood Rage 37:18 - Hidden Movement 37:18 - Nuns on the Run 37:45 - Specter Ops 38:35 - Scotland Yard 42:16 - Card Drafting 42:25 - Agricola 42:46 - 7 Wonders 43:53 - Paper Tales 44:25 - Inis 47:22 - Player Elimination 47:22 - Werewolf 47:40 - Shadow Hunters 48:09 - Secret Hitler 49:15 - Blood on the Clocktower 50:50 - "The Dice Game" 52:00 - For the King (and Me) 52:41 - Ra: The Dice Game Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

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Look, when we made those resolutions in episode 105, how were we to know? The world exploded, and here we are, one year later, sheepishly looking back on the goals we set. But we're not beaten yet, we cast our minds forward (always forward, never back) and set our sights on our resolutions for 2021. Before we make promises we definitely will keep, we talk about Sprawlopolis, Bandada, and Terramara.

02:15 - Sprawlopolis 09:06 - Bandada 13:53 - Terramara 23:51 - Revisiting 2020's Resolutions 27:09 - 2021 Resolutions 31:05 - Cthulhu Wars 36:14 - Anachrony: Infinity Box 37:29 - Import/Export 38:31 - Carnegie 40:05 - Rising Sun 40:52 - Tainted Grail 44:44 - Board Game Barrage Facebook Group! 45:44 - War of the Ring: Second Edition 46:42 - Red Rising Visit our new Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store Check out the Kickstarter for Bandada: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bandada/bandada Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

We've been doing it a lot lately, so we thought we'd reflect on the ways that we evaluate our favourite games. How do you even begin to compare extremely dissimilar games, some party, some strategy? The process of making and ordering our lists is a fun challenge every year, and one we'd recommend you try too! Before we make hard choices, we talk about Medici: The Dice Game, The Gallerist, and Iberian Gauge.

02:20 - Medici: The Dice Game 09:08 - The Gallerist 14:55 - Iberian Gauge 22:26 - How We Choose Favourites 26:02 - Tigris & Euphrates 28:04 - Power Grid 28:04 - Fresh Fish 32:53 - Telestrations 34:52 - Crokinole 36:28 - The Resistance 37:58 - Nanty Narking 39:22 - The King's Dilemma 40:04 - Beyond the Sun 41:33 - Eclipse 42:18 - CoraQuest 43:52 - CloudAge 44:21 - Board Game Barrage T-Shirts! 45:22 - Listener Top 20 Submissions! Submit your top 20 games at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/top20 Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store Check out the Kickstarter for CoraQuest: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cabbagedan/coraquest Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

It's the big one! We've come at last to the grand finale of the Board Game Barrage Top 50 Games of All Time ... Top. Ten. Baby. These are our absolute favourite games, forty (thirty?) all together, that we'd just about never turn down a game of. Thanks for joining us on this ride, it's been wild.

09:36 - Christina #10 - I'm the Boss! 12:34 - Kellen #10 - Cosmic Encounter 15:18 - Mark #10 - El Grande 15:36 - Neilan #10 - Codenames 18:09 - Christina #9 - Twice as Clever! 20:48 - Kellen #9 - Coloretto 23:56 - Mark #9 - Time's Up! Title Recall! 24:20 - Neilan #9 - Pictomania 28:46 - Christina #8 - Blood Rage 33:38 - Kellen #8 - The Resistance 33:50 - Mark #8 - 1830: Railways & Robber Barons 35:58 - Neilan #8 - Guards of Atlantis 39:14 - Christina #7 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 42:28 - Kellen #7 - Inis 50:25 - Mark #7 - Brass: Lancashire 53:44 - Neilan #7 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 55:36 - Christina #6 - Troyes 55:45 - Kellen #6 - El Grande 55:57 - Mark #6 - The Estates 59:51 - Neilan #6 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 01:05:38 - Christina #5 - Archipelago 01:06:10 - Kellen #5 - Time's Up! Title Recall! 01:06:19 - Mark #5 - Fresh Fish 01:10:24 - Neilan #5 - Time's Up! Title Recall! 01:10:36 - Christina #4 - El Grande 01:16:56 - Kellen #4 - Troyes 01:21:56 - Mark #4 - Hansa Teutonica 01:24:49 - Neilan #4 - Gloomhaven 01:29:37 - Christina #3 - Cthulhu Wars 01:29:37 - Kellen #3 - Cthulhu Wars 01:35:10 - Mark #3 - Caylus 1303 01:38:56 - Neilan #3 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 01:44:00 - Christina #2 - Time's Up! Title Recall! 01:47:55 - Kellen #2 - Archipelago 01:53:31 - Mark #2 - Arboretum 01:56:22 - Neilan #2 - The Resistance 02:03:01 - Christina #1 - Innovation 02:03:01 - Kellen #1 - Innovation 02:10:20 - Mark #1 - Biblios 02:12:54 - Neilan #1 - A Feast for Odin

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We're moving into the terrible teens of the Board Game Barrage Top 50 Games of All Time. I learned all I know about American teenagers from TV, so I assume this is where all the sex and drugs come in. Let's get to it then, forty (roughly) more games that we simply adore. As the list goes on, they only get better and better. That is, after all, the premise.

01:46 - Kellen #29 (Correction) - A Fake Artist Goes to New York 05:01 - Kellen #20 - Ingenious 08:06 - Mark #20 - Cthulhu Wars 11:27 - Neilan #20 - Blue Lagoon 15:01 - Christina #20 - Food Chain Magnate 18:47 - Kellen #19 - Genoa 23:26 - Mark #19 - Archipelago 25:53 - Neilan #19 - Dominion 28:51 - Christina #19 - Taj Mahal 32:32  - Kellen #18 - I'm the Boss! 36:33 - Mark #18 - Tigris & Euphrates 28:55  - Neilan #18 - Taj Mahal 39:44 - Christina #18 - Mezo 45:23 - Kellen #17 - The Game 47:16 - Mark #17 - Dominant Species 49:48 - Neilan #17 - Alchemists 52:31 - Christina #17 - Babylonia 56:50 - Kellen #16 - Telestrations 59:08 - Mark #16 - 1846: The Race for the Midwest 01:00:56 - Neilan #16 - Rising Sun 01:04:59 - Christina #16 - Castles of Burgundy 01:08:30  - Kellen #15 - Decrypto 01:11:43 - Mark #15 - Barrage 01:14:26 - Neilan #15 - Exit: The Game 01:16:30 - Christina #15 - The Quest for El Dorado 01:18:05 - Kellen #14 - Omen: A Reign of War 01:20:07 - Mark #14 - Lancaster 01:21:53 - Neilan #14 - Inis 01:25:31 - Christina #14 - Hanabi 01:27:10 - Kellen #13 - Glory to Rome 01:29:43 - Mark #13 - True Colors 01:31:26 - Neilan #13 - Watson & Holmes 01:33:19 - Christina #13 - SiXeS 01:35:12 - Kellen #12 - Hansa Teutonica 01:36:33 - Mark #12 - Francis Drake 01:38:23 - Neilan #12 - Cthulhu Wars 01:39:36 - Christina #12 - Telestrations 01:39:57 - Kellen #11 - Diplomacy 01:42:19 - Mark #11 - Bus 01:43:54 - Neilan #11 - Scythe 01:45:37 - Christina #11 - Kemet

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It's the dark middle chapter of the Board Game Barrage Top 50 Games of All Time. Time to call in a new director, change things up, and get subversive. Well, if there were any directors who'd still work with us. This week, we're barreling through our twenties in what we like to call reverse numerical order. Here's forty (odd) more games that we absolutely adore, and hope you will too.

02:45 - Mark #30 - Container 05:38 - Neilan #30 - Azul 05:46 - Christina #30 - Azul 08:54 - Kellen #30 - Zendo 11:42 - Mark #29 - Age of Steam 13:37 - Neilan #29 - Coloretto 15:12 - Christina #29 - Beyond the Sun 20:03 - Kellen #29 - Hanabi 22:52 - Mark #28 - Pax Renaissance 25:20 - Neilan #28 - Archipelago 28:03 - Christina #28 - Hansa Teutonica 30:02 - Kellen #28 - Krass Kariert/Dealt 32:50 - Mark #27 - Maracaibo 35:46 - Neilan #27 - Twice as Clever! 39:05 - Christina #27 - Glory to Rome 41:41 - Kellen #27 - Taj Mahal 44:49 - Mark #26 - City of the Big Shoulders 47:25 - Neilan #26 - Werewords 49:22 - Christina #26 - Modern Art 51:02 - Kellen #26 - Startups 53:19 - Mark #25 - The Great Zimbabwe 55:06 - Neilan #25 - Aeon’s End 56:21 - Christina #25 - Chaos in the Old World 59:23 - Kellen #25 - Keyflower 01:01:57 - Mark #24 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 01:03:38 - Neilan #24 - Spirit Island 01:05:30 - Christina #24 - Rumble Nation 01:07:33 - Kellen #24 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 01:09:22 - Mark #23 - Glory to Rome 01:09:58 - Neilan #23 - The Quest for El Dorado 01:13:18 - Christina #23 - The Crew 01:14:40 - Kellen #23 - Codenames 01:15:58 - Mark #22 - Modern Art 01:16:58 - Neilan #22 - Patchwork 01:18:44 - Christina #22 - Coloretto 01:19:54 - Kellen #22 - Insider 01:20:43 - Mark #21 - Imperial 2030 01:22:58 - Neilan #21 - Decrypto 01:24:29 - Christina #21 - Lost Cities 01:29:08 - Kellen #21 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

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Now we're getting into the thick of it, in fact some are calling it the most ambitious Part II released in any medium. It's the Board Game Barrage Top 50 Games of All Time! We're in our thirties (even if we wish we weren't) and it's full speed ahead. That's forty(ish) more games, and ten spots closer to the grand finale. Now that we've got this train going, there's no stopping it.

01:06 - Neilan #40 - In the Year of the Dragon 03:19 - Christina #40 - Fuji Flush 05:39 - Kellen #40 - Rumble Nation 06:55 - Mark #40 - Pipeline 09:00 - Neilan #39 - Orléans 11:04 - Christina #39 - Cheating Moth 13:28 - Kellen #39 - Eye My Favorite Things 15:28 - Mark #39 - A Question of Scruples 17:26 - Neilan #38 - Hansa Teutonica 18:52 - Christina #38 - Carnival of Monsters 21:16 - Kellen #38 - Maskmen 22:22 - Mark #38 - Genoa 24:27 - Neilan #37 - Agricola 25:48 - Christina #37 - Ohanami 27:10 - Kellen #37 - Throne and the Grail 29:20 - Mark #37 - Ricochet Robots 31:59 - Neilan #36 - Yellow & Yangtze 34:15 - Christina #36 - Splendor 35:15 - Kellen #36 - Dogs of War 37:28 - Mark #36 - Great Western Trail 39:20 - Neilan #35 - Android: Netrunner 40:47 - Christina #35 - Dune 40:47 - Kellen #35 - Dune 43:57 - Mark #35 - Sol: Last Days of a Star 45:27 - Neilan #34 - Kemet 47:43 - Christina #34 - Startups 49:55 - Kellen #34 - Agricola 51:59 - Mark #34 - Rising Sun 54:36 - Neilan #33 - Brass: Birmingham 56:33 - Christina #33 - Anomia 59:13 - Kellen #33 - Hanabi 1:00:37 - Mark #33 - Ra 1:02:34 - Neilan #32 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 1:04:14 - Christina #32 - Fafnir 1:05:52 - Kellen #32 - Imperial 2030 1:07:48 - Mark #32 - Troyes 1:09:07 - Neilan #31 - Gaia Project 1:10:41 - Christina #31 - Biblios 1:15:04 - Kellen #31 - Fuji Flush 1:07:17 - Mark #31 - The Voyages of Marco Polo

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It's here at last, the big event! Yes, it's the first episode of the yearly ritual we inventively call the Board Game Barrage Top 50 Games of All Time. And this year, for the first time, the Blue Tank, Christina is weighing in too. That's forty incredible games to kick us off! Join us in the weeks ahead as we sing the praises of our absolute favourite board games, because we're just getting started.

03:20 - Happy Salmon 04:20 - Piñata/Balloon Cup 04:56 - Bruges 05:32 - Air, Land, & Sea 06:55 - Christina #50 - Clank! 08:36 - Kellen #50 - Root 11:14 - Mark #50 - Innovation 12:58 - Neilan #50 - Modern Art 14:36 - Christina #49 - Fresh Fish 15:51 - Kellen #49 - Cursed Court 18:19 - Mark #49 - Blue Lagoon 21:02 - Neilan #49 - Sol: Last Days of a Star 22:53 - Christina #48 - Diamant/Incan Gold 25:24 - Kellen #48 - Wizard 26:49 - Mark #48 - Chaos in the Old World 28:07 - Neilan #48 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 30:06 - Christina #47 - Decrypto 32:10 - Kellen #47 - Blood Rage 33:54 - Mark #47 - Pictomania 36:56 - Neilan #47 - Nova Luna 38:56 - Christina #46 - True Colors 41:10 - Kellen #46 - Detective Club 42:48 - Mark #46/Christina #45 - Fast Sloths 45:15 - Neilan #46 - Innovation 48:18 - Kellen #45 - Nusfjord 49:30 - Mark #45 - Anomia 51:39 - Neilan #45 - Gùgōng 53:03 - Christina #44 - Krass Kariert/Dealt 54:46 - Kellen #44 - Smartphone Inc. 56:29 - Mark #44 - Dungeon Fighter 59:44 - Neilan #44 - Letter Jam 1:01:47 - Christina #43 - Battlestar Galactica 1:04:35 - Kellen #43 - Lords of Vegas 1:05:46 - Mark #43 - Cuba Libre 1:07:28 - Neilan #43 - Panic on Wall Street! 1:09:22 - Christina #42 - Ethnos 1:10:52 - Kellen #42 - Bruges 1:12:19 - Mark #42 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 1:14:33 - Neilan #42 - The Oracle of Delphi 1:16:12 - Christina #41 - Air, Land, & Sea 1:19:00 - Kellen #41 - Splendor 1:20:15 - Mark #41 - Wyatt Earp 1:21:36 - Neilan #41 - Pipeline

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Heads set firmly forward, we reflect on what's been a completely wild year. Despite our complete inability to play a lot of them, board games did happen, so we take a bit of time to talk about the biggest surprises and disappointments. Finally, we cast our mind ahead to the games we're looking forward to playing in 2021. Before we try to forget, we talk about Paris, The Fox in the Forest, and Cthulhu Wars: Duel.

02:27 - Paris 12:12 - The Fox in the Forest 16:58 - Cthulhu Wars: Duel 29:14 - Reflections on 2020 36:02 - 2020's Best Surprises 36:54 - Beyond the Sun 39:47 - The Red Cathedral 41:02 - Nova Luna 43:22 - 2020's Biggest Disappointments 44:16 - Tang Garden 44:45 - Troyes Dice 45:13 - Crystal Palace 46:41 - Sanctum 48:55 - Games to Play in 2021 49:21 - My City 49:56 - Dwellings of Eldervale 51:26 - Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road 51:42 - Dominant Species: Marine 52:20 - Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy 53:39 - Ankh: Gods of Egypt Check out Kellen's review of Cthulhu Wars: Duel here: https://boardgamebarrage.com/2020/12/10/cthulhu-wars-duel-a-sandy-petersen-game-review

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'Tis the season, and if you're me, your first thought around this time of year is, "How many people can I just buy board games for?" But not all board game gifts are created equal! No, no, no, we need to find the best. So, of course, we put BGBBOB on the case. Before we start stocking stuffings, we talk about Pandemic: Fall of Rome, and Rajas of the Ganges: The Dice Charmers.

06:07 - Pandemic: Fall of Rome 13:31 - Rajas of the Ganges: The Dice Charmers 18:18 - Rajas of the Ganges 20:23 - BGBBOB: Board Game Gifts 21:39 - SHH 23:11 - Codenames 26:38 - Just One 27:00 - The Quest for El Dorado 29:31 - Modern Art 30:21 - Werewords 33:38 - Insider 35:38 - Unmatched 38:44 - Biblios 41:19 - Illusion 46:33 - Azul 48:40 - Fast Sloths

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There's so much going on in board game land all of the time that it can be hard to know where to focus your attention. So, this week, we each give an example of people, publishers, and sites that we've been keeping an eye on, that we think you might want to as well. Before we turn your gaze, we talk about New York Zoo, Targi, Throne and the Grail, and The Red Cathedral.

02:07 - New York Zoo 02:40 - Bärenpark 10:36 - Targi 14:36 - Throne and the Grail 18:47 - Imperial Struggle 20:33 - The Red Cathedral 28:13 - Things to pay attention to 28:32 - Dire Wolf Digital and Paul Dennen 33:06 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 35:11 - New Release Lists 45:00 - Kramer & Kiesling 45:52 - Riverboat 53:40 - Paris

Check out Steph Hodge's blog: https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/3802/all-meeples-rainbow

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Gobble gobble, you got got! We wouldn't leave you hanging when there's important work to be done. Happy Thanksgiving!

02:54 - Marco Pollo: Sultry Poultry Edition 04:01 - Startups 05:33 - New York Zoo 06:49 - Hang on Harvey 09:27 - Fast Sloths 11:43 - ICECOOL 13:47 - Root: The Underworld Expansion 15:21 - Mariposas 16:25 - Fafnir 17:52 - Pokémon Trading Card Game 20:19 - Loopin' Louie 21:55 - Biblios

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Boy, what a year it's been for accumulating games that we can't play. The shelf of shame, the collection of games we own that are yet to see a single play, has been steadily growing, and it's about time we pruned it. We check in on the games most deserving of that first play. Before we take a walk of shame, we talk about Sonora, Troyes Dice, Macao, Quantum, and Rurik: Dawn of Kiev.

01:49 - Sonora 04:17 - Troyes Dice 07:14 - Macao 08:22 - The Castles of Burgundy 09:41 - Quantum 16:30 - Rurik: Dawn of Kiev 30:55 - Shelf of Shame update 40:12 - Star Wars: Rebellion 40:59 - Maracaibo 42:04 - Stock hold'em 45:25 - Bioshock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia 47:10 - Antike II

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Put on your thick socks, wrap yourself in a blanket, and get comfortable with us in front of the fire. We're using our patent pending formula (aka BGBBOB) to find the best heart warming comfort games. Twelve board games enter, and ... twelve leave, but arranged in the scientifically correct order. Before we get comfortable, we talk about The Castles of Tuscany, Cooper Island, and SCOUT!

02:41 - The Castles of Tuscany 12:32 - Cooper Island 20:02 - SCOUT! 31:02 - Dominion 32:12 - Lost Cities 36:16 - Patchwork 36:42 - Telestrations 38:50 - Wizard 40:06 - The Game 43:09 - Coloretto 44:05 - San Juan 45:43 - Scrabble 47:52 - Sushi Go! 52:25 - Biblios 55:11 - Splendor

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At least in some things, you've got to give a little to get a little, but what would you give to get what you want? We're coming up with our big board game compromises, the things we'd happily trade away to fix some of our biggest frustrations.  Before we deal with the devil, we talk about Lost Ruins of Arnak, Ohanami, and Beyond the Sun.

01:49 - Lost Ruins of Arnak 02:39 - Dune: Imperium 13:47 - Ohanami 13:47 - The Game 21:53 - Beyond the Sun 22:42 - Innovation 27:52 - Through the Ages 38:38 - Board Game Compromises 39:22 - Cthulhu Wars (aka Squares vs. Circles vs. Triangles) 42:49 - Kemet 46:14 - A Feast for Odin 48:14 - Brass: Lancashire 48:14 - Brass: Birmingham 48:47 - Nemesis 49:20 - Biblios

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Essen SPIEL is the latest of the conventions in 2020 to go digital, which is convenient for us, because we weren't about to fly to Germany any time soon. We perused the upcoming games that were showcased as part of the event, and picked our favourites to talk about. It's a top 5! Before we virtually convene, we talk about Babylonia, Veiled Fate, and Dune: Imperium.

02:29 - Babylonia 15:09 - Veiled Fate 25:37 - Dune: Imperium 35:35 - Essen SPIEL 2020 Preview 37:58 - Paris 40:05 - Paleo 41:32 - Beez 43:06 - Venice 45:11 - Clever hoch Drei 46:44 - Coyote 48:33 - The Red Cathedral 50:05 - Master Word 51:56 - Troyes Dice 53:05 - Faiyum 54:32 - CloudAge 55:55 - Krazy Pix 57:34 - Anno 1800 59:52 - Polynesia 01:01:10 - Beyond the Sun

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We weren't going to let Kellen have the last word on what makes the perfect $100 collection, so the 139 squad is here to finish it out. Forgot the premise? You've lost all your board games, and only have $100 to rebuild it; what do you buy first? Before we make every penny count, we talk about Cosmic Encounter Duel, Hundreds of Horses, Billionaire Banshee, and Floor Plan.

03:45 - Cosmic Encounter Duel 11:53 - Hundreds of Horses 14:21 - Billionaire Banshee 17:50 - Floor Plan 23:08 - Mark's $100 Collection 23:53 - Biblios 24:40 - Arboretum 25:49 - The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine 26:34 - Race for the Galaxy 27:31 - The Estates 28:30 - Are You A Robot? 30:37 - Christina's $100 Collection 31:14 - Innovation 32:28 - Coloretto 33:24 - SiXeS 34:31 - Hanabi 36:00 - Troyes 39:54 - Neilan's $100 Collection 40:35 - Blue Lagoon 41:59 - Twice as Clever! 43:17 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 44:43 - The Resistance: Avalon

Check out our $100 Collection Geeklist, and add your own: https://bit.ly/37vKztK

Mark & Kellen playing Hundreds of Horses at AwSHUX: https://bit.ly/3ocjeCS

Christina & Neilan playing Billionaire Banshee at AwSHUX: https://bit.ly/3klA002

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It's an awful notion, but bear with me. What if you lost your entire board game collection, and had to rebuild it from scratch? Here's the catch, you only have one hundred dollars. We try to predict what the Red Tank would do, before he talks us through what makes the cut, and why. Before we rebuild, we talk about 5211, Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan, and Cóatl.

03:10 - 5211 10:35 - Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan 10:35 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 21:13 - Cóatl 26:15 - Sagrada 26:47 - Reef 29:37 - Ghost Turkey Registration 30:43 - Board Game Barrage Merch! 31:33 - Zero to One Hundred: Red Edition 36:16 - Azul 36:16 - Splendor 37:02 - Codenames 38:58 - Innovation 41:06 - Dune 44:32 - Hansa Teutonica: Big Box 46:17 - Telestrations 47:50 - Oink Games

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Slow and steady might win the race, but it doesn't make for an exciting board game. Pacing is a vital component of most entertainment mediums that doesn't often get applied to board games, so we're going to climb and climb and climb and climb ... and then rapidly descend down the roller-coaster of emotion that makes for some of our favourite games. Before we set the pace, we talk about Bus, The Game: Quick & Easy, and Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun.

02:27 - Bus 21:40 - The Game: Quick & Easy 28:34 - Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun 41:50 - Teotihuacan 45:45 - Pacing in Board Games 50:53 - Fast Sloths 52:20 - The Estates 53:39 - Taj Mahal 54:03 - Kemet 54:29 - Rising Sun 55:22 - Food Chain Magnate 55:46 - Archipelago 57:47 - Escape Plan 58:39 - Troyes 1:01:28 - Splendor 1:01:58 - Dogs of War 1:01:58 - Cursed Court 1:03:07 - Time's Up 1:04:08 - The Voyages of Marco Polo

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Blessed are the forgetful, because they don't have to play memory games? After all, games with a strong memory component often get a bad rap in the hobby. We look at some of the reasons why very few games want to test your memory, and just to be otherwise, we discuss some of our favourite games that do. Before we walk our mind palaces, we talk about Fort, Under Falling Skies, and Tellstones: King's Gambit.

01:47 - Fort 10:15 - Under Falling Skies 17:56 - Tellstones: King's Gambit 29:37 - Ghost Turkey 2020 32:52 - Memory as a Game Mechanic 38:43 - Carnival of Monsters 39:38 - Inis 42:01 - El Grande 45:51 - Modern Art 47:50 - Tigris & Euphrates 48:43 - Time's Up! 51:09 - Cthulhu Wars 53:08 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea 56:03 - Aeon's End 57:24 - Dune Check out Optimal Play's Tellstones playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3x7oZRfCs0

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

We often build up the idea of what a game will be before we play it, whether for bad or good, and the reality of the game itself might deliver something we weren't expecting. We take a look at what often leads to our expectations being shattered, and mention some of the games that most defied them. Before we expect the unexpected, we talk about SHŌBU, Pan Am, and Planet Unknown.

02:35 - SHŌBU 08:55 - Pan Am 17:58 - Planet Unknown 25:46 - BGB Perpetual Math Trade 27:02 - Board Game Expectations 27:37 - Terra Mystica 28:14 - Brass: Birmingham 32:56 - Macao 36:02 - Railroad Rivals 36:26 - Ragusa 37:02 - Sanctum 38:33 - Unmatched 40:38 - The 7th Continent 47:07 - Stamps 47:41 - Square on Sale 48:33 - Glory to Rome

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

We return to our much loved feature from 2018, all about our favourite mechanics. This week, a mere two years later: auctions! We look at the good and bad sides of auction mechanics, and discuss our favourite games that feature them. Before we inflate the bid, we talk about Fleet: The Dice Game, Iwari, and Modern Art.

04:57 - Fleet: The Dice Game 11:02 - Welcome to Dino World 13:47 - Iwari 21:53 - Modern Art 33:10 - Auction Board Games 36:25 - Archipelago 38:18 - Biblios 39:03 - Watson & Holmes 39:51 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 40:35 - Power Grid 42:06 - Santiago 43:26 - Genoa 44:23 - Square on Sale 45:49 - Taj Mahal 51:29 - The Estates 51:29 - Container 53:05 - No Thanks! 54:32 - Bausack 55:06 - Fresh Fish

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

It's an unprecedented trio of hosts, but we're no less heated about our biggest board game bugbears. In fact, we're so upset about these little annoyances, that we couldn't help but order them in a list for your amusement ... BGBBOB style. Before we get bugged by bears, we talk about Calico, Telestrations: Upside Drawn, and Pendulum.

01:42 - Calico 09:05 - Telestrations: Upside Drawn 13:14 - Pendulum 25:17 - BGBBOB: Board Game Bugbears 28:54 - Merchants & Marauders 32:03 - Archipelago 32:53 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea 40:26 - Broom Service 42:50 - Race for the Galaxy 46:19 - Power Grid 49:25 - Decrypto

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

It would be hard for us to be as invested in this hobby as we are, if we didn't think there was something important underlying it. We share some of the lessons we have learned from board gaming, and some of the ways in which it has genuinely changed our lives. We also talk about Tyrants of the Underdark, The Quest for El Dorado: The Golden Temples, and Nemo's War.

02:28 - Tyrants of the Underdark 08:00 - The Quest for El Dorado: The Golden Temples 14:48 - Nemo's War (Second Edition)

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Some games are built to last, and no, we're not just talking about the ... R-word. For others, the high highs of early games must give way to the dawning realization that all is not well. We look at reasons we might end up moving past games we once held in high regard. Before we overstay our welcome, we talk about Sandstone, Ctrl, The Fox in the Forest Duet, and Unmatched.

02:41 - Sandstone 11:09 - Ctrl 14:12 - The Fox in the Forest Duet 18:42 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 19:54 - Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume One 24:16 - Dice Throne 32:27 - Games Getting Worse with Time 38:50 - Innovation 39:47 - Mysterium 40:20 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 41:18 - Camel Up 43:05 - Shadow Hunters 43:38 - Container 45:52 - Five Tribes 47:32 - Mark's Menagerie Mixup 48:20 - Dungeon Fighter 48:20 - Tumblin-Dice 48:20 - Coconuts

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Hot days call for hot questions! To counter the California heat wave, we get breezy with a round of hot questions. We take a long hard look at games we love, but don't play, and give our takes on the theme to end all themes. Before we get heated, we talk about Ctrl, New York Zoo, and Renature. 01:40 - Ctrl 07:06 - New York Zoo 15:24 - Renature 18:23 - Blue Lagoon 26:11 - OLWLG Math Trade 28:01 - Hot Questions! 28:17 - Can you have a favourite game you don't play anymore? 30:14 - The Resistance 32:36 - Cosmic Encounter 37:19 - What's the theme to end all themes? 39:52 - Sabotage Thanks to Guanye for sending us the Jixia Academy pronunciation clip. Watch us play New York Zoo and Renature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4qab78TtUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihutcOJmCwc Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

It's a Social Deduction BGBBOB! For those that don't know what that means, it's a Board Game Barrage Battle of (the) Board...games, where we pit all of the best social deduction games against each other in a fight to the DEATH! Or at least, a fight to be on our definitive ranked list. Before we release our social butterflies, we talk about Gemblo, and Quest. 02:54 - Gemblo 07:16 - Quest 15:46 - Camp Capstone 17:33 - BGBBOB: Social Deduction Games 20:11 - The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 22:06 - Timebomb/Don't Mess with Cthulhu 26:48 - Two Rooms and a Boom 28:02 - Detective Club 30:27 - A Fake Artist Goes to New York 32:01 - Insider/Werewords 35:01 - The Resistance/Avalon 35:35 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 39:05 - Spyfall 43:26 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf 45:33 - Shadow Hunters 48:26 - Saboteur 1:01:12 - The Final List Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Some board games (and board game podcasts) thrive on chaos, which absolutely isn't the same thing as randomness. All of this has happened for a reason, it's just ... hard to tell what those reasons are exactly. Before we blame the butterfly, we talk about Path of Light and Shadow, Jixia Academy, and Chaos in the Old World. 00:47 - Chaos in board games 03:44 - Innovation 05:54 - Guards of Atlantis 07:21 - 6 nimmt! 11:06 - Path of Light and Shadow 21:30 - Chaotic board games 21:42 - Broom Service 23:05 - Wiz-War 26:33 - Space Alert 28:49 - Jixia Academy/Hanamikoji 34:34 - Chaos closing thoughts 35:05 - Cosmic Encounter 35:52 - Mission: Red Planet 37:12 - Colt Express 38:02 - Libertalia 40:26 - Scythe 41:59 - Chaos in the Old World 43:50 - Cthulhu Wars Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Things got a bit heavy last week, so let's take things down a notch by exploring the other end of the scale. Light games are just as important for a board game collection, after all. We discuss what light games offer that heavier games don't, and mention some of our recent favourites. Before we lighten the mood, we talk about Reef, Clans of Caledonia, and Tutankhamun.

02:34 - Reef 09:18 - Clans of Caledonia 15:00 - Tutankhamun 22:01 - Light Games 23:48 - Werewolf 25:37 - Vast: The Crystal Caverns 26:28 - Ingenious 27:21 - The Quest for El Dorado 30:40 - Twice As Clever 33:24 - Dice Fishing: Roll and Catch 36:11 - Cacti 37:35 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 38:04 - Deep Sea Adventure 38:49 - Flamme Rouge "Complexity bias in BGG" by Dinesh Vatvani: https://dvatvani.github.io/BGG-Analysis-Part-2.html

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Monique from Before You Play is with us to get heavy. We're discussing the allure of heavy games, and who better to talk us through them than a Vital Lacerda fan who loves to not just play them, but teach them? We dig into why we enjoy the occasional heavy game, and why you should too! Before we play, we talk about DURIAN, Animal Kingdoms, and Brass: Birmingham.

02:01 - Introducing the Lavender Tank! 10:03 - DURIAN 16:25 - Animal Kingdoms 23:40 - Brass: Birmingham 31:45 - Heavy Board Games 42:13 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 43:46 - A Feast for Odin 46:02 - 18XX 47:42 - On Mars 52:07 - Escape Plan 54:49 - Lisboa 55:32 - Vinhos Deluxe Edition 56:38 - Archipelago 1:04:04 - Scythe

Check out Before You Play at: https://www.youtube.com/BeforeYouPlay

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Even if the price is right, it might not be right for you. We all have different thresholds where a board game we're interested in crosses from, "maybe I'll wait for a sale" into "sure why not" territory, but where is that magical line? Has what we're willing to pay for games changed over time? Before we get sticker shock, we talk about Twin Tin Bots, Ticket to Ride: New York, Whale Riders, and Dead Reckoning.

02:20 - Twin Tin Bots 07:37 - Ticket to Ride: New York 14:36 - Whale Riders 22:55 - Dead Reckoning 39:30 - Teotihuacan: City of Gods 41:38 - Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan 45:30 - Food Chain Magnate 48:15 - An Infamous Traffic 48:57 - This Guilty Land 49:33 - Oink Games 50:17 - DURIAN

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

It's award season when we say it is, so we're looking back at the Golden Geek Awards, The Dice Tower Awards, and the Spiel des Jahres nominees. We offer our thoughts on their picks, and how wrong they are. I mean, Wingspan winning "Best Four-Wheel Drive SUV" just seems a bit much. We also talk about Battlestar Galactica, Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small, Paladins of the West Kingdom, and The Boss.

01:56 - Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game 08:09 - Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small 12:45 - Nusfjord 14:01 - Paladins of the West Kingdom 19:48 - The Boss 25:03 - Board Game Awards 2019 25:13 - Golden Geek Awards 26:10 - Through The Ages: New Leaders and Wonders 27:35 - Dune 28:35 - Wingspan 29:40 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 30:55 - The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine 33:01 - PARKS 34:30 - Tapestry 35:08 - Spiel des Jahres Nominees 36:16 - Plumber Pants 38:30 - The King's Dilemma 40:10 - My City 40:38 - Pictures 41:27 - The Dice Tower Awards 42:30 - Detective: City of Angels 43:37 - Slide Quest 47:22 - Letter Jam Check out Kellen playing Battlestar Galactica over at Optimal Play: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/662734157

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BGBBOB, party edition! For those not keeping up, that's BGB Best of Board Games, which is definitely not the final name (but also maybe is) for our recurring feature where we duel rank games into an incontestable ordered list. This week we confer, fight, and bargain our way to the best fifteen party games. Before we spike the punch, we also talk about Twice As Clever, Wavelength, and 6 nimmt!

01:38 - Twice As Clever 05:17 - Wavelength 05:58 - 6 nimmt! 10:43 - BGBBOB: Party Games 12:28 - True Colors 13:17 - Anomia 16:27 - The Resistance 17:13 - Scruples 20:52 - Balderdash 22:10 - Krazy Wordz 24:38 - Happy Salmon 25:53 - Telestrations 28:17 - Pictomania 28:52 - Codenames 30:33 - Time's Up! 32:30 - Wavelength 35:06 - SiXeS 36:03 - Panic on Wall Street! 38:48 - Detective Club 1:00:48 - The Final List

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

We're joined by Richard Simpson of We're Not Wizards, who is definitely not a magician, Victorian or otherwise, to talk about the line between game design and production. Should production values be an integral part of the discussion of a game's merits, or should we learn to separate the two? Before we get productive, we talk about Doughnut Dash, Cities, Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra, and L.L.A.M.A.

07:25 - Doughnut Dash 17:10 - Cities 21:37 - Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra 31:01 - L.L.A.M.A 35:25 - The Power of Production 35:34 - The Quacks of Quedlinburg 41:35 - The Last of Us Part II 47:15 - GKR: Heavy Hitters 49:24 - Cthulhu Wars 53:33 - Warhammer 40k 55:03 - Castles of Burgundy 55:29 - Container 56:10 - Tang Garden 58:09 - Krazy Wordz 59:23 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant Check out We're Not Wizards at: https://werenotwizards.podbean.com

Check out Kellen on We're Not Wizards Here: https://werenotwizards.podbean.com/e/boardgamebarrage/

Check out Neilan on We're Not Wizards Here: https://werenotwizards.podbean.com/e/neilan/

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

We asked for your questions, and you provided! Some of you used Instagram, some of you used voicemail, but however you reached out, your voice was heard. We chose only a few to answer (quality notwithstanding), but we'd love to keep doing this, so keep sending them in! Before we corral your correspondence, we talk about Gloomhaven, Terra Mystica, Bloom Town, and Starlink.

03:25 - Gloomhaven 06:44 - Terra Mystica 09:03 - Bloom Town 18:16 - Starlink 27:20 - Listener Questions! 33:35 - Cyclades, Inis & Kemet 41:28 - Hive

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I know this is going to come as a shock, but sometimes we get things wrong. As we've worked our way through the hobby, we've discovered that some positions we once held, aren't ones we still do. So it's time to revisit our past transgressions and come clean. Before we admit our mistakes, we talk about Tang Garden, Fast Forward: FORTRESS, and Race for the Galaxy.

02:45 - Tang Garden 14:12 - Fast Forward: FORTRESS 21:04 - Race for the Galaxy 30:51 - Board Game Barrage Math Trade: Part II! 34:15 - When We Were So Very Wrong About Games 51:06 - The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31

A big tip of the cap to our friends at So Very Wrong About Games.  Listen to their podcast if you aren't already!!

Special thanks goes to What Does It Eat? for hopefully not being upset that we borrowed a snippet of their most excellent song F.O.S. before our theme.  You can find them at whatdoesiteat.com.

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Once loved board games will often circle back into the limelight with reprints, but we're also starting to see a lot more get remasters and remakes too. We take a look at this trend, and discuss some re-imaginings our favourite board games, whether it's a full on new version, or just a new coat of paint. Before we re-re-re-repeat, we talk about Cities: Skylines, Colorful, and Maharaja.

03:29 - Cities: Skylines 08:25 - Colorful 15:36 - Maharaja 25:36 - REmasters, REemakes and REimaginings 29:13 - Brass: Lancashire and Brass: Birmingham 31:04 - Kemet 32:53 - Caylus and Caylus 1303 34:31 - Terra Mystica and Gaia Project 36:22 - Through the Ages and Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 37:22 - Dune 40:30 - The REsistance

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While all games have some restrictions, some games are more willing than others to let you go off the rails. For instance, some leave the economy entirely in the hands of the players, free to tank it if they please. We look at how games do (or don't) use player constraints to deliver unique experiences. Before we rein ourselves in, we talk about Tournay, Bullet♥︎, Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons, and Container.

01:46 - Tournay 01:57 - Troyes 07:10 - Bullet♥︎ 10:44 - Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons 17:15 - Container 28:30 - Games with and without constraints 28:51 - Food Chain Magnate 31:14 - Sidereal Confluence : Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 39:24 - Power Grid 40:01 - Flamme Rouge 42:25 - Startups and Zogen 43:02 - Diamant 43:28 - Crokinole 45:56 - Tigris and Euphrates 49:15 - The Estates

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Sometimes you have a little gap of time between larger, heavier games, and what you need is a palate cleanser, which brings us to the realm of games we lovingly call "fillers". We kick off the very first Ranked Duel Battle of the Boards (definitely not the final title) by ranking our favourite filler games! Before we pass the time, we talk about Aerion, Ingenious, The One Hundred Torii, and Taluva.

04:49 - Aerion 09:54 - Ingenious 10:56 - The One Hundred Torii 14:07 - Taluva 22:02 - Call for voicemail! 22:50 - Ranking our favourite fillers 30:08 - Coloretto 30:24 - Istanbul 31:11 - Shards of Infinity 31:45 - Arboretum 32:14 - Biblios 32:14 - No Thanks! 33:14 - Splendor 33:24 - For Sale 35:08 - Startups 35:30 - Blue Lagoon 37:33 - Zany Penguins 37:45 - The Game 39:09 - 6 nimmt! 39:38 - Twice As Clever 40:49 - Karuba

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When you're playing a game for the first time, and barely know what you're even doing, how do you even begin to strategize? That's what we're asking ourselves this week, as we explore some of our approaches to first plays, how we evaluate the game space, and well, win. Before we push levers, we talk about Orléans: Invasion, Zoned Out, Santorini, and Mini Express.

02:03 - Orléans: Invasion 09:48 - Zoned Out 16:42 - Bronze Age 17:54 - Santorini 23:28 - Mini Express 32:40 - How We Approach First Games 37:53 - Troyes 38:47 - 7 Wonders 45:26 - Kemet 48:06 - Barrage 50:05 - No Thanks! 51:13 - Ra

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Mike Walker from So Very Wrong About Games joins us to talk about games that we add to our collection, not for ourselves, but (gasp) for others. Sometimes you do what you have to placate your so-called friends, and their awful taste. Before we begrudgingly acquire games, we talk about The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, Solo, Renegade, and Horrified.

00:15 - A New Tank Appears! 03:53 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 06:15 - Innovation 07:54 - Nemesis 12:21 - Castles of Burgundy 12:50 - Trieste 14:03 - Watergate 15:20 - Watergate Retheme? (Patent Pending, TM, etc...) 17:51 - Solo 20:47 - Renegade 26:48 - Horrified 34:55 - Catering Games to Your Game Group 40:17 - Ankh

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We all need something to look forward to, so this episode we're eagerly anticipating all the good things in the world of board gaming that are yet to come in 2020. Some of it might be a ways off, but where's the harm in getting the hype train rolling early? Before we cast our eyes ahead, we talk about Splendor, Qwirkle, Bronze Age, and Guards of Atlantis II.

02:40 - Lost Cities 02:53 - Coloretto 03:39 - Splendor 05:03 - Bugs in the Kitchen 06:29 - Qwirkle 10:47 - Bronze Age 14:24 - Guards of Atlantis II: Tabletop MOBA 25:40 - Things We're Excited for in 2020 31:52 - Ankh

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Look, digital gaming is great and all, but there are some games that either don't lend themselves well to the format, or aren't available. Whatever the reason, there are lots of games that we're itching to play once the world returns to normal. It's a top five countdown! Before our heart grows fonder, we talk about Exit: The Game - Sunken Treasure, Pandemic: Rapid Response, and Stockpile.

05:27 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 06:45 - Exit: The Game - Sunken Treasure 08:39 - Roll for Adventure 10:18 - Pandemic: Rapid Response 14:01 - Stockpile 22:59 - Games We're Itching to Play 25:00 - Awkward Guests 26:25 - Nusfjord 28:22 - Flotilla 29:32 - Kemet 31:13 - Insider: Black 33:16 - 1889 34:35 - Maracaibo 35:39 - Pipeline 37:00 - Brass: Birmingham 37:58 - Mansions of Madness: Second Edition 40:07 - Special Tank Appearance! 44:01 - Dune 45:09 - Cooper Island 46:21 - Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy 48:08 - Square on Sale 48:58- The Crew

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

What could be a more important topic than importance itself? This week, we're talking about the most important board games of the last decade, and what it even means for a board game to be worthy of the label. To us, at least. Before being earnest, we talk about Prêt-à-Porter, Riff Raff, Adventure Games: The Dungeon, and Innovation: Echoes of the Past.

03:09 - Prêt-à-Porter 09:59 - Riff Raff 16:20 - Scythe 19:16 - Adventure Games: The Dungeon 28:13 - Innovation: Echoes of the Past 30:46 - Important Games of the Last Decade 36:40 - Pandemic Legacy 40:13 - Kemet 41:35 - Chaos in the Old World 43:20 - Zombicide 45:02 - Codenames 47:45 - Splendor 50:31 - Scythe 53:57 - TIME Stories and Escape Room Games

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It's time for another "What we love, what we hate", and this time we're looking at deck builders! Its been twelve years since Dominion blew things up, and since then you don't have to look very far to see a game that uses the mechanic. We look at the highs and lows of deck building as a mechanic, and discuss some of our favourite games that use it. We also talk about Bruxelles 1897, Elysium, and Can't Stop.

01:07 - Golden Geek Award Nominations 03:46 - Bruxelles 1897 11:31 - Elysium 18:16 - Coffee Roaster 18:55 - Adventure Games: The Dungeon 19:23 - Hansa Teutonica  25:22 - Can't Stop 31:00 - What I Love, What I Hate about Deck Building 33:07 - Star Realms 34:32 - Clank! 35:05 - Dominion 35:50 - Sorcerer City 38:36 - Vikings Gone Wild 41:41 - Great Western Trail 42:20 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 47:04 - The Quest for El Dorado 47:29 - Aeon's End 48:54 - Automobiles 49:58 - The North 50:15 - SPQF/Fort 51:33 - Friday

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To make it through quarantine, we take another look at digital games in a time when it might just be our only option. We've got to get our board game fill somehow! We investigate how our relationship to the electronic side of the hobby has changed, and give our recommendations for the many options. Before we plug in, we talk about Remember Our Trip, Castell, and Caylus 1303.

01:58 - Remember Our Trip 08:16 - Castell 14:45 - Pipeline 15:44 - Caylus 1303 18:40 - Caylus 26:18 - Voicemail from Isla 28:57 - Digital games in quarantine 37:30 - Cthulhu Wars 38:12 - Bärenpark 42:29 - BGB Digital Game Night!

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

There's only so much space on our shelves, so games don't always stick around forever, but that doesn't always mean that we don't like them. There are many reasons that a good game might get the boot, so let's talk about them. We count down our top five favourite games we got rid of! Before we pay our respects, we talk about Through the Desert, Lords of Hellas, Troyes, and Watergate.

01:48 - Through the Desert 07:51 - Lords of Hellas 13:13 - Troyes 20:45 - Black Angel 22:01 - Watergate 29:12 - The best games we got rid of 29:45 - Yamataï 31:07 - Power Grid 32:37 - Indian Summer 34:23 - CrossTalk 35:20 - Agricola 36:27 - The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 38:22 - Dominion 39:50 - Terraforming Mars 40:47 - Forbidden Stars 43:10 - Glorantha: The Gods War (A Sandy Petersen Game!) 44:23 - Spirit Island 46:00 - Mage Knight 47:35 - Arcadia Quest 49:34 - Gloomhaven 51:03 - Terra Mystica

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Some games put their best foot forward on the first play, eager to have most players feel good right out of the box. Other games are content to take their time. This episode we're focusing on the latter, games that we've only come to appreciate as we've given them more time and more plays. Before we grow together, we talk about Ginkgopolis, Time Chase, and Food Chain Magnate.

01:31 - Ginkgopolis 08:46 - Time Chase 15:22 - Food Chain Magnate 26:58 - Games that grow on you 30:35 - Brass: Lancashire 31:28 - Agricola 32:24 - Biblios 33:57 - Wits & Wagers 35:13 - Bohnanza 36:35 - Tigris & Euphrates 37:07 - Yellow & Yangtze 38:08 - Nova Luna 41:17 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 41:53 - 18xx 43:31 - Just One Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Area control is the first subject of our new recurring feature, "What we love, what we hate", where we deep dive into a single mechanic and describe ... well, exactly that! We tend to enjoy games that have you fighting over territory, but what is it that specifically gets us excited about them? And what are the downsides? Before we assume direct control, we talk about The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, Stay Cool, and Mezo.

02:00 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine09:03 - Hanabi 11:55 - Trickerion 13:55 - Stay Cool19:39 - Linkee 22:10 - Mezo34:24 - Rising Sun 36:30 - Scythe 39:30 - Inis 40:45 - Mezo 42:24 - Cthulhu Wars ... sorry Mr. Cthulhu45:10 - Dominant Species 45:30 - Tigris & Euphrates 45:40 - Twilight Struggle 46:00 - Pax Pamir (Second Edition) 46:30 - Risk 46:56 - Inis 48:38 - Diplomacy

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Let me set the scene: It's a late night at a hotel in Nevada, we're sprawled on the floor around a microphone, and we're flexing our tired hands after three days spent playing so many board games. Coming at you from Dice Tower West, we report on what we've been up to, and all the games we played. Before we're leaving Las Vegas, we talk about Don't Get Got!, Kemet, Master of Respect, and Nova Luna.

03:54 - Don't Get Got! 19:44 - Kemet 25:23 - Master of Respect 30:50 - Rumble Nation 35:07 - A War of Whispers 36:05 - Hearts of AttrAction 42:10 - Nova Luna

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We've learned a thing or two about game nights and conventions over the years. The hobby has changed, and we've had to change with it! This episode, we talk about what's different with how we approach large meetings of board gamers in 2020, and offer what advice we can. Before we pack our game bags, we talk about Fast Sloths, Birdie Fight, Sorcerer City, Electropolis, and Isle of Cats.

01:44 - Fast Sloths 10:05 - Birdie Fight/Songbirds 11:03 - Sorcerer City 11:44 - Electropolis 18:07 - Isle of Cats 20:04 - Terraforming Mars 26:12 - Game Night and Convention Lessons 39:20 - Don't Get Got! 40:43 - Antike II 41:11 - 1920 Wall Street 42:08 - TOKYO TSUKIJI MARKET

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Sometimes a game is hitting all the right notes, and you want to recommend it wholeheartedly ... but there's just one tiny blemish you can't overlook. It's not enough to make a great game bad, but, man, just imagine if it someone had fixed that. This week we're looking at games that almost nail it. Before we smooth the last crease, we talk about Chaosmos, Subtext, On a Scale of One to T-Rex, and Empyreal: Spells & Steam.

01:26 - Krass Kariert 03:22 - Chaosmos 11:40 - On a Scale of One to T-Rex 16:52 - Subtext 20:58 - Empyreal: Spells & Steam 29:46 - Games with One Small Issue 31:44 - Kemet 36:06 - Root 37:28 - Cthulhu Wars 39:39 - Gloomhaven 42:14 - Decrypto 43:35 - Azul 44:53 - Point Salad 45:32 - Concordia

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

We're gluttons for punishment this week, because we're talking about harshness in board games. These are the sort of games where big moves or bad mistakes can be hard to recover from. Harsh games aren't for everyone, so when and why do we find them appealing? Before we grit our teeth, we talk about Wavelength, Genoa, Krass Kariert, and Oceans.

01:02 - Wavelength 05:39 - Genoa 07:30 - Krass Kariert 14:55 - Oceans 23:48 - Harshness in Games 24:24 - Biblios 24:48 - Arboretum 25:52 - Seasons 27:36 - The Estates 28:54 - Troyes 30:02 - Agricola 31:32 - A Feast For Odin 33:23 - Tigris and Euphrates 33:43 - Yellow and Yangtze 36:10 - Diplomacy 39:53 - Medici

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We're reflecting on the past this episode, looking back at the things we said - never wise, by the way. The games of 2019 had a lot of promise, but how young and dumb they seem to our aged eyes. Where are they now? Join us as we cast our minds back to last decade, to reflect on the games we were excited for so many months ago.

02:11 - XCOM: The Board Game 06:41 - Living Planet 13:55 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 14:47 - Heaven & Ale 18:06 - Mystic Market 19:49 - Essen 2019 Look Back 21:11 - The Magnificent 21:52 - Trismegistus: The Ultimate Formula 23:47 - Welkin 24:08 - Rush M.D. 24:22 - Terramara 24:36 - Deep Blue 25:08 - Rome & Roll 25:21 - Paranormal Detectives 25:59 - Offshore 26:13 - Maracaibo 27:19 - Glen More II: Chronicles 27:40 - Kakerlaken Sushi 27:52 - Perserverance: Castaway Chronicles 29:24 - Crystal Palace 29:38 - Babylonia 30:08 - Gen Con 2019 Look Back 30:28 - Conflicting Legends 31:12 - Watergate 31:28 - Welcome to Dino World 32:47 - Tonari 34:21 - Time Chase 34:47 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 36:01 - SHOBU 36:46 - Barrage 37:12 - In the Hall of the Mountain King 37:45 - Seasons of Inis 38:19 - Pipeline 38:42 - Sanctum 39:45 - Black Angel 40:52 - City of the Big Shoulders 41:31 - MegaCity: Oceania 42:22 - Most Anticipated Games of 2019 Look Back 42:40 - TOKYO TSUKIJI MARKET 43:34 - Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy 44:33 - Glorantha: The Gods War (A Sandy Petersen Game!) 46:17 - Pipeline 46:25 - Sabotage 47:39 - Living Planet 48:10 - Barrage 48:22 - Escape Plan 49:08 - Res Arcana 50:11 - On Mars 50:37 - ELO Darkness 51:26 - Black Angel 51:36 - City of the Big Shoulders 51:53 - Warpgate 52:37 - Mezo 53:41 - Best and Worst Guesses of 2019

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You only get one chance to play a game for the first time, but sometimes events conspire to make that debut ... less than ideal. We look at some first plays that could've gone better, examine what contributed to them not delivering, and offer advice on how to make sure your brand new game doesn't stumble out the gate. 02:34 - Rumble Nation 10:16 - Neuroshima Hex 12:07 - Macao 14:05 - In the Year of the Dragon 21:24 - It's a Wonderful World 23:46 - Carnival of Monsters 25:51 - 7 Wonders 26:12 - Terraforming Mars 30:28 - Better First Plays 31:00 - Brass: Birmingham 35:18 - Dominion 37:01 - Race for the Galaxy 38:21 - Empyreal: Spells & Steam 42:53 - Endeavor 46:31 - Dixit 49:12 - Awkward Guests Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Mike DiLisio (of The Dice Tower, and Sporadically Board) makes his BGB podcast debut as the Fandango Tank! Mike's trying to sell us on popcorn games. These are games that may or may not be ... critically sound, but nevertheless provide fun experiences that we find ourselves returning to. But why wouldn't we just play something more substantive instead? We investigate. 00:16 - Mike DiLisio, the Fandango Tank! 07:10 - Fresh Fish 14:23 - Sanctum 23:59 - In the Hall of the Mountain King 31:44 - Popcorn Games 35:42 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea 37:15 - Dragoon 40:24 - Cthulhu Wars 47:40 - Zombicide: Black Plague 51:39 - Meeple Circus 52:45 - The Quacks of Quedlinburg 53:16 - XCOM: The Board Game 53:56 - Magical Athlete 54:19 - Nanty Narking 55:02 - Wiz-War 56:55 - Mission: Red Planet 57:16 - Arcadia Quest Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

We're in a post top-fifty world, and it's about time we take this whole 2020 thing seriously. No more looking back, we've got to start looking to the year ahead, and what better way than making promises to ourselves that we're totally going to keep. It's board game resolutions time!

01:33 - Deep Sea Adventure 05:13 - Point Salad 08:48 - Sushi Go! 10:37 - Atelier: The Painter's Studio 14:52 - We're Doomed! 15:22 - The Menace Among Us 16:04 - Wavelength 23:25 - Board Game Resolutions for 2020 24:36 - Neilan's Resolution 26:45 - Fury of Dracula 31:46 - Mark's Resolution 36:17 - Kellen's Resolution 41:48 - The Contest 2020 46:11 - Sanctum 46:40 - BGB Meetups

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Here it is, the episode you've all been waiting for, the grand finale, the culmination of five weeks of episodes. These are our top ten favourite board games of all-time, games that we absolutely adore, and would happily play at a moment's notice. Heck, we'd even play the games on each others' lists ... on, you know, birthdays and special occasions. That's how good they are.

08:41 – Mark #10 – The Estates 11:29 – Neilan #10 – Pictomania 13:46 – Kellen #10 – Coloretto 15:23 – Mark #9 – The Voyages of Marco Polo 17:39 – Neilan #9 – Guards of Atlantis 22:26 – Kellen #9 – Inis 25:26 – Mark #8 – Time's Up! 26:33 – Neilan #8 – Scythe 30:04 – Kellen #8 – The Resistance 32:17 – Mark #7 – Brass: Birmingham 34:24 – Neilan #7 – Times Up! 35:54 – Kellen #7 – Troyes 37:59 – Mark #6 & Kellen #6 – El Grande 40:28 – Neilan #6 – Through The Ages: A New Story of Civilization 44:25 – Mark #5 – 1830: Railways & Robber Barons 46:34 – Neilan #5 – Codenames 49:44 – Kellen #5 – Time's Up! 51:17 – Mark #4 – Francis Drake 53:39 – Neilan #4 – Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 57:20 – Kellen #4 – Cosmic Encounter 1:00:50 – Mark #3 – Hansa Teutonica 1:04:00 – Neilan #3 – A Feast for Odin: The Norwegians 1:06:43 – Kellen #3 – Cthulhu Wars 1:09:18 – Mark #2 – Arboretum 1:11:31 – Neilan #2 – Gloomhaven 1:15:16 – Kellen #2 – Archipelago 1:18:31 – Mark #1 – Biblios 1:21:39 – Neilan #1 – The Resistance 1:23:29 – Kellen #1 – Innovation

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A new year, a new decade, a new podcast, and a new batch of games that we love talking about. It's the fourth in our five part series of our 50 favourite board games of all-time, and appropriately, we're kicking off 2020 by breaking into the top twenty. Synergy.

01:01 - Neilan #20 - Blue Lagoon 03:14 - Kellen #20 - Startups 04:33 - Mark #20 - Imperial 2030 06:00 - Neilan #19 - Taj Mahal 07:41 - Kellen #19 - Genoa 09:09 - Mark #19 - Dominant Species 11:31 - Neilan #18 - Alchemists 13:28 - Kellen #18 - I'm The Boss 15:06 - Mark #18 - 1846: The Race for the Midwest 16:53 - Neilan #17 - Exit: The Game 19:20 - Kellen #17 - Zendo 21:42 - Mark #17 - Cuba Libre 23:51 - Neilan #16 - Watson & Holmes 26:46 - Kellen #16 - Telestrations 28:29 - Mark #16 - Pax Renaissance 30:13 - Neilan #15 - Rising Sun 33:32 - Kellen #15 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 35:23 - Mark #15 - Cthulhu Wars 38:34 - Neilan #14 - Dominion 40:19 - Kellen #14 - Omen: A Reign of War 42:11 - Mark #14 - Caylus 45:01 - Neilan #13 - Inis 47:15 - Kellen #13 - Glory to Rome 50:04 - Mark #13 - True Colors 52:36 - Neilan #12 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 54:49 - Kellen #12 - Codenames 56:01 - Mark #12 - Tigris & Euphrates 59:53 - Neilan #11 - Cthulhu Wars 1:01:30 - Kellen #11 - Diplomacy 1:03:47 - Mark #11 - Archipelago

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It's the season of giving, so our gift to you is more of our favourite board games of all-time! We're only just halfway, so get comfortable in front of the fire, grab an eggnog, and join us for thirty more incredible games. Oh, you got us something too? Ah. Socks. Thanks.

01:45 - Kellen #30 - Splendor 04:38 - Mark #30 - Sol: Last Days of a Star 07:22 - Neilan #30 - Azul 08:54 - Kellen #29 - A Fake Artist Goes to New York 11:06 - Mark #29 - Great Western Trail 12:47 - Neilan #29 - The Quest for El Dorado 14:29 - Kellen #28 - Cockroach Poker 15:50 - Mark #28 - Genoa 17:27 - Neilan #28 - Coloretto 18:36 - Kellen #27 - Hanabi 20:07 - Mark #27 - Le Havre 22:57 - Neilan #27 - El Grande 24:24 - Kellen #26 - Dogs of War 25:40 - Mark #26 - Ra 27:43 - Neilan #26 - Android: Netrunner 30:12 - Kellen #25 - Keyflower 32:16 - Mark #25 - Pictomania 33:53 - Neilan #25 - Decrypto 36:01 - Kellen #24 - A Study in Emerald (second edition) 38:15 - Mark #24 - Rising Sun 40:15 - Neilan #24 - Spirit Island 42:12 - Kellen #23 - Hansa Teutonica 43:46 - Mark #23 - Modern Art 46:32 - Neilan #23 - Patchwork 47:27 - Kellen #22 - Insider 49:15 - Mark #22 - Glory to Rome 50:46 - Neilan #22 - Archipelago 52:47 - Kellen #21 - Decrypto 54:23 - Mark #21 - Lancaster 57:19 - Neilan #21 - Aeon's End

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We're shifting up a gear, the stakes are higher, it's all to play for, and a whole host of other cliches, in the second of our five part series on the top fifty games of all time. Thirty(ish) more incredible board games coming at you, and we're not even halfway done yet.

03:36 - Mark #40 - Blue Lagoon 05:58 - Neilan #40 - Panic on Wall Street! 07:01 - Kellen #40 - Dune 08:36 - Mark #39 - Shipyard 10:30 - Neilan #39 - Kemet 11:37 - Kellen #39 - For Sale 13:21 - Mark #38 - Pipeline 14:19 - Neilan #38 - The Estates 16:04 - Kellen #38 - Crokinole 17:32 - Mark #37 - Bruges 18:41 - Neilan #37 - Alhambra 20:53 - Kellen #37 - Lords of Vegas 22:41 - Mark #36 - Zany Penguins 24:25 - Neilan #36 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 26:06 - Kellen #36 - Blood Rage 27:52 - Mark #35 - Scruples 31:06 - Neilan #35 - Pipeline 32:47 - Kellen #35 - Sixes 35:05 - Mark #34 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 36:24 - Neilan #34 - Agricola 36:41 - Kellen #34 - Agricola 39:22 - Mark #33 - The Great Zimbabwe 42:30 - Neilan #33 - Orléans 43:47 - Kellen #33 - Taj Mahal 47:09 - Mark #32 - Age of Steam 48:42 - Neilan #32 - Werewords 52:08 - Kellen #32 - Imperial 2030 54:05 - Mark #31 - Mansions of Madness: Second Edition 56:13 - Neilan #31 - Gaia Project 57:39 - Kellen #31 - Fuji Flush

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We made it! The big one-oh-oh. That's a thing people say, right? We're starting a five episodes series, working our way down each of our top fifty games of all time. We'll discuss what might make a game move up or down our list, celebrate the highs that the hobby has to offer, and talk about a heck of a lot of amazing board games. Buckle up! 08:17 – Neilan #50 – Twice As Clever 09:32 – Kellen #50 – Maskmen 11:28 – Mark #50 – Codenames 12:56 – Neilan #49 – Air, Land & Sea 16:03 – Kellen #49 – Wizard 17:50 – Mark #49 – Carson City 18:59 – Neilan #48 – Innovation 20:27 – Kellen #48 – Ingenious 21:07 – Mark #48 – Wyatt Earp 23:52 – Neilan #47 – The Oracle of Delphi 24:56 – Kellen #47 – Detective Club 27:13 – Mark #47 – City of the Big Shoulders 29:46 – Neilan #46 – Anomia 31:13 – Kellen #46 – Cursed Court 34:24 – Mark #46 – Kemet 35:50 – Neilan #45 – In the Year of the Dragon 37:19 – Kellen #45 – The Game 39:11 – Mark #45 – Panic on Wall Street! 40:51 – Neilan #44 – Dead of the Winter: The Long Night 42:24 – Kellen #44 – No Thanks! 44:42 – Mark #44 – Pax Pamir (Second Edition) 47:19 – Neilan #43 – Grand Austria Hotel 48:57 – Kellen #43 – Diamant/Incan Gold 50:52 – Mark #43 – Innovation 52:58 – Neilan #42 – Letter Jam 55:26 – Kellen #42 – Bruges 56:10 – Mark #42 – Concordia 58:03 – Neilan #41 – Sol: Last Days of a Star 1:01:01 – Kellen #41 – Piñata/Balloon Cup 1:02:19 – Mark #41 – Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant Join the discussion at https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

It's getting close now, can you feel it? Or are you just feeling sore from the game you just lost? We're talking sore losers and sore winners: people who are hard to be around when they lose or win a game. What can you do to avoid being that person, and what games bring out the worst in us? Before we fight our feelings, we talk about Paris: New Eden, Glory to Rome, and No Swap No Pay.

03:35 - Pipeline 06:29 - Paris: New Eden 14:54 - Glory to Rome 20:36 - Mottainai 22:48 - Innovation 24:14 - No Swap No Pay 32:09 - Sore Winners and Losers 37:00 - The Resistance 41:50 - Cthulhu Wars 42:54 - Cosmic Encounter 45:46 - Detective Club 46:13 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 48:16 - Archipelago

Join the discussion at https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We're showing our thanks with a surprise podcast about ... well, maybe we'll just let the episode speak for itself. Gobble gobble.

03:23 - ICECOOL 04:46 - Meeple Circus 06:11 - Root 06:42 - Sheriff of Nottingham 07:47 - Fauna 08:22 - Piepmatz 09:07 - Evolution: Flight 09:56 - Gulo Gulo 11:29 - Zany Penguins 12:07 - Funky Chicken 13:56 - Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn 14:51 - Rook 16:19 - Chess 17:36 - Biblios 19:53 - Scythe

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We've all got them, whether we'll care to admit it or not, quirks and and biases that might be irrational, but nevertheless affect our judgement of the games we play. This week we're looking at a few of the little things that might weigh a game in or out of our favour, even if they don't necessarily make much sense. Before we exercise extreme prejudice, we talk about Flamme Rouge, The North, and Ragusa.

02:03 - Cursed Court 02:39 - Flamme Rouge 09:28 - The North 15:43 - Ragusa 24:08 - Board Game Biases 25:51 - Vindication 26:08 - Suburbia: Collector's Edition 30:39 - Anachrony 32:15 - Scythe 33:26 - Magical Athlete 36:16 - Pipeline 41:02 - Adrenaline 41:28 - Fog of Love 43:23 - The Battle at Kemble's Cascade 45:05 - Pandemic

Join the discussion at https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

Uh oh, you're not enjoying the game you're playing. Now what? Is it okay to excuse yourself? Maybe it's better that you just call it rather than continue to have a bad time. This week we're talking about scenarios where some or all of the players of a game might decide it's better to bounce than to wallow in misery. Before we make an early exit, we talk about SEAL Team Flix, Paranormal Detectives, and I'm the Boss. 01:21 - SEAL Team Flix 10:32 - Paranormal Detectives 18:53 - Mysterium 21:37 - Crokinole 22:12 - Cursed Court 23:27 - I'm the Boss! 31:50 - Bouncing off Games 33:49 - Menara 36:37 - Cosmic Encounter 38:45 - The Great Zimbabwe 39:40 - Megacity: Oceania 40:25 - Founders of Gloomhaven 43:52 - Diplomacy 45:22 - Swinging Jivecat Voodoo Lounge 46:08 - Merlin 47:00 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea 48:54 - LLAMA 49:33 - Nemesis

Where has the year gone?! It's almost time to start packing our bags for various family gatherings, and inevitably the most important question becomes ... what games are we taking? Whether it's specific games for specific people, or games that work in large inexperienced groups, we're here to make your holidays merry and bright. Before we head on home, we talk about Ethnos, Street Masters, Templari, and Carnival of Monsters. 03:02 - Ethnos 08:12 - Street Masters 11:39 - Sentinels of the Multiverse 14:08 - Templari 17:14 - Carnival of Monsters 25:21 - Top Five Games for the Holidays 29:16 - Werewords 30:20 - Letter Jam 30:20 - SHH 31:21 - Ingenious 32:53 - Sushi Go! 34:39 - Fast Forward: FORTRESS 36:01 - Cartographers 37:14 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 38:14 - Cryptid 39:36 - Cursed Court 40:43 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf 42:16 - Coloretto 43:54 - Hanabi Deluxe II 44:56 - Just One 46:46 - Air, Land & Sea 47:51 - Res Arcana 49:13 - Codenames 51:05 - WINK 52:16 - Medium

It took us almost a hundred episodes, but we finally reveal how to have fun with your friends even when you're losing. Specifically, we're talking about games and mechanisms that help us enjoy our losses, because let's face it, we can't all be winners. Before we celebrate our setbacks, we talk about Sierra West, Mansions of Madness: Second Edition, and Black Angel.

01:37 - Sierra West 11:17 - Mansions of Madness: Second Edition 20:17 - Black Angel 24:02 - Troyes 27:18 - Solenia 35:30 - Q.E. 35:43 - Ponzi Scheme 35:59 - Biblios 38:52 - Aeon's End: War Eternal 40:59 - Ghost Stories 43:56 - Agricola 44:37 - Terraforming Mars 46:31 - Lords of Vegas 47:00 - Diamant/Incan Gold 48:20 - Twice as Clever

Blue Tank's back to talk take-backs, so take that to the bank. It's bound to happen, someone makes a mistake on their turn and desperately wants a do-over - but how do you handle it? It's a delicate balance of making sure everyone at the table is having a good time, and not slowing the game down. So what's fair? Before we undo, we talk about Air, Land & Sea, Menara, and Seasons of Inis. 02:57 - Air, Land & Sea 03:03 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea 08:43 - Hanamikoji 10:59 - Menara 22:09 - Riff Raff 23:08 - Inis 23:08 - Seasons of Inis 53:31 - Dominant Species

We're joined by the Blue Tank for a quick look back at SHUX, before we dive into a discussion on games that are better than their mechanics suggest. These are games that we might describe as not very good, but somehow still give us incredible experiences that we find distinct and unique. But that makes them good, right? Before we lose all credibility, we talk about Kingdomino Duel, Panic on Wall Street!, and Blood on the Clocktower. 02:22 - SHUX 06:27 - Kingdomino Duel 11:29 - Panic on Wall Street! 18:52 - Blood on the Clocktower 23:48 - The Resistance: Avalon 36:57 - Experiences that transcend mechanics 38:02 - Fuji Flush 38:58 - Happy Salmon 39:40 - True Colors 39:40 - A Question of Scruples 40:32 - Zombicide: Black Plague 41:26 - Hundreds of Horses 49:30 - Loopin' Louie

Shut Up & Sit Down's very own Quintin Smith joins us live on stage at SHUX 2019! We play a rousing game of Hundreds of Horses, discuss some games from the convention, and lay out the unspoken truths of board games - opinions about the hobby we vehemently hold, even if everyone else is too afraid to say it. Before we speak truth to power, we talk about Deep Blue, Curios, Obscurio, and Vast: The Mysterious Manor.

02:51 - Hundreds of Horses 08:05 - Deep Blue 11:44 - Curios 16:03 - Obscurio 20:55 - Vast: The Mysterious Manor 28:07 - Unspoken Truths of Board Games 29:05 - Neilan: Theme and storytelling 32:22 - Flamme Rouge 33:40 - Too Many Bones 34:16 - Kellen: The decline of interactivity 36:40 - Troyes 37:47 - Hansa Teutonica 38:26 - Agricola 38:26 - A Feast for Odin 39:10 - Mark: Playing to win 41:48 - Inis 45:20 - Twilight Imperium 47:55 - Quinns: Reading flavor text 50:03 - Pax Pamir (Second Edition) 50:58 - Scythe

Mark Rosewater, head designer for Magic: The Gathering, defined three player archetypes back in 2002, and we figured it'd be fun to see how we can apply them to, not just board games, but your three beloved hosts. We look into what makes a Timmy, Tammy, Johnny, Jenny, or Spike tick, and try to find some board games each might like. Before we profile ourselves, we talk about FlickFleet, Québec, and Ra.

02:13 - FlickFleet06:19 - Québec09:10 - El Grande10:29 - Tapestry15:00 - Ra21:56 - Magic: the Gathering Player Archetypes31:08 - Gùgōng40:27 - The Voyages of Marco Polo40:55 - Rising Sun41:19 - Crokinole41:47 - Dominion42:47 - Terraforming Mars43:15 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar43:50 - Cosmic Encounter44:47 - Dune45:31 - Glory to Rome

Inspired by BoardGameGeek's new system for classifying board game mechanisms, we give our thoughts on the changes, as well as talk about classification in general. Somehow it always leads to heated discussions, whether it's arguing what a Civilization game even is, or why we need classification at all. I'm sure we'll all agree in the end. Before we taxi into taxonomy, we talk about Piepmatz, Era: Medieval Age, and Cursed Court. 02:45 - Piepmatz 05:05 - Arboretum 08:42 - Irish Gauge 10:38 - Era: Medieval Age 19:00 - Cursed Court 29:43 - Board Game Classification 36:53 - Codenames 51:35 - Tapestry 52:12 - Civilization 53:10 - Scythe 56:55 - Great Western Trail 58:30 - 18Lilliput

Hello, again, Germany! Well, we don't actually ever go to Essen, but boy do we wish we could. There are always so many games that debut at Essen SPIEL that we wish we could play or buy ... and this year is no exception! We're counting down the games we would most anticipate getting our hands on if it weren't so goshdarn far. Before we cross the Atlantic, we also talk about Irish Gauge, Heroes of Terrinoth, and Tapestry. 01:00 - Irish Gauge 08:33 - Heroes of Terrinoth 16:21 - Tapestry 37:50 - The games we want from Essen SPIEL 2019 38:15 - Trismegistus: The Ultimate Formula 39:27 - The Magnificent 40:22 - Welkin 41:46 - Terramara 43:10 - Rush M.D. 44:09 - Deep Blue 44:54 - Paranormal Detectives 46:04 - Rome & Roll 47:07 - Offshore 48:42 - Glen More II: Chronicles 49:38 - Maracaibo 50:33 - Kakerlaken Sushi 51:52 - Crystal Palace 53:29 - Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles 55:12 - Babylonia

No, not that game. We're talking about the life cycles of games, how we acquire them, how we end up moving on from them. Where do we generally get our games from, and how do we typically get rid of them? Things get a little bit existential before the end. Before we, blinking, step into the sun, we also talk about Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne, 18Lilliput, and Tonari. 01:38 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 10:06 - 18Lilliput 15:25 - City of the Big Shoulders 19:56 - Tonari 28:11 - The life cycle of games 29:05 - Exit: The Game 29:30 - Charterstone 35:06 - Piepmatz 35:50 - Nyctophobia 40:40 - Rising Sun 42:52 - Irish Gauge 44:17 - The Resistance: Avalon 45:07 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1

Look, there's only so much time in the day, so we don't get to play every game we ought to. But some of those missed games hurt more than others, in fact, some of them are downright shameful. This week we're counting down the top five games we're ashamed that we haven't played. Before we atone, we also talk about Kobayakawa, Taj Mahal, and Twilight Imperium (Fourth Edition). 02:07 - Nine Tiles Panic 03:36 - Kobayakawa 07:38 - Taj Mahal 17:47 - Twilight Imperium (Fourth Edition) 33:53 - Games we're ashamed we haven't played 34:29 - Modern Art 36:18 - Kremlin 37:44 - Nothing Personal 38:12 - Ra 39:32 - Caverna: The Cave Farmers 40:50 - Macao 41:57 - Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game 43:37 - Terraforming Mars 45:04 - Indonesia 46:26 - Dungeon Lords 46:26 - Dungeon Petz 47:43 - Seafarers of Catan 47:43 - Catan: Cities & Knights 49:16 - Antike II 49:51 - Trickerion: Masters of Illusion 51:48 - Cyclades 53:37 - Amun Re

Kellen's back, which some might say is too many hosts - apt, because we're an episode of extremes today. We're talking about games that are too simple, too complicated, too short, or too long, that might otherwise have been among our favourites. Before we venture outside the Goldilocks zone, we talk about Q.E., Cartographers, and City of the Big Shoulders. 02:58 - Q.E. 11:52 - Cartographers 19:36 - City of the Big Shoulders 37:25 - Games that are too long 38:36 - Citadels 38:51 - Alien Frontiers 39:04 - Cubist 40:41 - Dead of Winter 41:18 - Robo Rally 41:52 - Skull 43:19 - Mage Knight 43:52 - Forbidden Stars 45:17 - Twilight Imperium 45:51 - Las Vegas 46:17 - Time's Up! Title Recall! 46:55 - Games that are too short 46:59 - Above and Below 47:53 - Clank! 48:15 - Oink Games 49:37 - Agricola 50:15 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 51:05 - Games that are too complicated 51:19 - Burano 53:12 - Keyflower 53:39 - Nemesis 54:03 - Altiplano 54:37 - Escape Plan 55:07 - Skull King 56:36 - Games that are too simple 56:42 - Kingdomino 58:00 - Ethnos 1:02:41 - Bärenpark 1:03:30 - Betrayal at House on the Hill 1:04:56 - 3 Wishes 1:05:30 - Mint Works

Kellen graces us with his absence, which means it's time for Mark and Neilan to start talking numbers. Specifically, player numbers. We're talking about optimal player counts for games, whether games ever mean what they recommend on the box, and how well they scale. Before we count to ten, we talk about Vindication, Royal Palace, Throw Throw Burrito, and Pipeline. 05:40 – Vindication 12:05 – Royal Palace 17:28 – Throw Throw Burrito 21:37 – Pipeline  29:48 – Optimal Player Counts 31:51 – Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 32:50 – Caverna: The Cave Farmers 33:13 – Alien Frontiers 34:19 – Dead of Winter 37:13 – Throw Throw Burrito 38:20 – The Resistance 39:17 – Inis 39:45 – Rising Sun 40:09 – Maria 43:48 – Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant

We're running components through our fingers this week, because we're ranking our favourite games that require dexterity. Whether it's flicking, stacking, or balancing, dexterity games tend to offer a respite from brain burning crunchiness, and a chance to exercise actual muscles. Before our hands tremble, we talk about The Wizard Always Wins, Genoa, and Paku Paku.

01:29 - The Wizard Always Wins 06:36 - Genoa 13:55 - Paku Paku 17:53 - Listener Mail 21:59 - Our Favourite Dexterity Games 22:53 - Riff Raff 25:14 - Flick 'em Up!: Dead of Winter 27:25 - Bugs in the Kitchen 29:31 - Junk Art 31:46 - KLASK 35:44 - Hamsterrolle 37:28 - Animal Upon Animal 38:56 - Meeple Circus 42:18 - Drop It 44:57 - PitchCar 46:42 - Safranito 51:47 - Puzzle Dungeon Fighter 56:08 - Crokinole

We just flew in from Indianapolis, and boy are our arms tired! From carrying all these games. But, more than the games, it's the people you meet that make the memories, so we're recovering from a very long weekend at Gen Con by telling some of our favourite little stories from the floor. Before we revisit our weekend, we talk about Tuki, God of War: The Card Game, and Wits & Wagers Vegas. 01:03 - Tuki 05:41 - God of War: The Card Game 16:34 - Wits & Wagers Vegas 24:08 - Letter Jam 25:09 - Catch the Moon 27:17 - Wooly Whammoth 31:02 - Click Clack Lumberjack 32:14 - Foodies 42:26 - Seasons of Inis 42:48 - City of the Big Shoulders 43:20 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne

Our trilogy of Gen Con podcasts concludes with one final foray between the sheets! Join us on the floor of room [redacted] for the last time, with our thoughts from day three. We talk about Sanctum, Potemkin Empire, MegaCity: Oceania, and Aegean Sea.

Day two is over, but we're just getting started, because it's all about those Gen Con nights. We're up way too late, yet again, to give you the scoops from the floor. We talk about Finger Guns at High Noon, In Front of the Elevators, Realm of Sand, City of the Big Shoulders, and Medium.

Gen Con! It's time yet again for freezer pants, gourmet coffee and going between the sheets. Join us for our quick day one impressions from the floor, and I mean that quite literally. We talk about Gravity Superstar, Wakanda Forever, Mechanica, Mister Face, Nine Tiles Panic, Visitor in Blackwood Grove, and Letter Jam.

Gimmicks are elements of a game that are the fundamental selling point, the core attention grabbing mechanic or experience that the game is built around. This episode, we're breaking down gimmicks in board games, figuring out if they're good or bad for the hobby, and talking about some of the most notable. Before we cave to flashy marketing, we also talk about Are You A Robot?, Jaws, and FUSE. 01:17 - Bärenpark 03:12 - Keyforge: Age of Ascension 05:25 - Are You A Robot? 09:46 - Wingspan 10:37 - Jaws 13:55 - FUSE 18:34 - I don't even know 20:23 - Games with Gimmicks 22:27 - The Adventurers 23:22 - Niagara 24:31 - Shogun 24:31 - Wallenstein 24:59 - Amerigo 25:41 - Mord im Arosa 28:14 - Camel Up 29:18 - Sheriff of Nottingham 30:34 - Via Appia 31:33 - Dice Forge 32:39 - Alchemists 33:13 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 34:38 - Council of 4 35:11 - Mouse Trap 36:13 - Star Trek: The Next Generation - Interactive VCR Board Game - A Klingon Challenge 38:23 - The VCR Quarterback Game 42:01 - Hanabi 42:39 - Planet

This week we're talking about hidden trackable information. That is, information about the game state that could be remembered or recorded, but the game design (usually) assumes that players haven't. Is it okay to memorize or divulge this information? Before we take notes, we also talk about Papà Paolo, Oceanos, and Pax Pamir (Second Edition). 02:10 - Papà Paolo 07:25 - Oceanos 13:32 - Pax Pamir (Second Edition) 26:06 - Bonus episode! 26:30 - Hidden Trackable Information 42:13 - The Resistance 43:59 - Tigris & Euphrates 47:38 - El Grande 48:11 - I'm The Boss! 50:01 - Through the Ages 54:44 - Guards of Atlantis 56:20 - Survive: Escape from Atlantis!

Gen Con 2019 is mere weeks away, and I bet you don't even know what games are going to be there. Fear not, we've got you covered! We're counting down our most anticipated games of the show, having meticulously studied BGG's preview list, and looked at all the pretty pictures. Before we plan our trip, we talk about Cryptid, Two Rooms and a Boom, and Planet. 03:25 - Cryptid 09:05 - Tobago 10:04 - Psychiatrist 11:59 - Two Rooms and a Boom 16:50 - Planet 24:35 - Gen Con 2019 Preview 26:46 - Watergate 28:27 - Welcome to Dino World 30:01 - Conflicting Legends 31:11 - Time Chase 31:53 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 33:14 - Tonari 34:52 - Barrage 36:25 - In the Hall of the Mountain King 38:05 - SHŌBU 39:30 - Pipeline 40:35 - Sanctum 41:31 - Seasons of Inis 43:10 - City of the Big Shoulders 43:56 - MegaCity: Oceania 45:59 - Black Angel

So, you're coming in last. You could sigh, lean back, mutter to yourself about all the things you should've done better ... or you could get back in there, soldier! Back on your feet! This week on the show, we discuss what's worth fighting for in a board game, when you're clearly not going to win. Before we lose with dignity, we talk about Murder on the Cosmic Express, TAMSK, and Diplomacy. 02:52 - Patreon! 10:33 - Murder on the Cosmic Express 18:22 - TAMSK 23:09 - Diplomacy 40:04 - What to do when you're losing 41:22 - El Grande 49:54 - Archipelago

Special guest Paula Deming joins us this week to tell board game stories! We think back to especially funny times we had playing a board game, that were only made possible by the game itself. Before we spin yarns, we talk about Evolution: Climate, Terrible Monster, Sweet Nose, and Dice Throne: Season One.

00:15 - Paula Deming, the Orchid Tank! 07:35 - Claustrophobia 1643 09:10 - Evolution: Climate 13:38 - Terrible Monster 17:21 - Sweet Nose 22:21 - Dice Throne: Season One 29:10 - Paula's Story 29:22 - Modern Art 36:01 - Mark's Story 37:05 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf 41:15 - Kellen's Story 41:40 - Lifeboat 46:44 - Neilan's Story 46:57 - Dark Moon