Boardgames To Go

Play along and predict the winners at https://challonge.com/MarkMadness2025
Predictions must be submitted by March 12 to be in the contest

Mark Johnson

@MarkEJohnson

eryn roston

@baditude

Once again, the month of March give me a chance to bring back "Mark Madness," my podcast-hosted voting contest. Like its namesake sports tournament, Mark Madness is where 64 games are pitted against each other in successive rounds of single-elimination votes. As before, I took the winner of llast year's contest, Eryn Roston, and asked him to co-host this year's contest. Furthermore, Eryn has helped define the special nature of the contest this year. It's still about boardgames, of course, but it's about boardgame art . Specifically, we're voting on the best boardgame cover art .

Eryn picked four groupings, each with 16 titles apiece. Those groupings are called Divisions, and this year there are ones for Fantasy, Historical/Real-World, Nature-themed, and Science Fiction boardgame covers. You will see some you know, and some others you don't. Just by looking at the images alone you can decide which ones to vote for, but you'll have more fun if you also listen to Eryn describe why he picked these particular game covers for Mark Madness. You see, Eryn works professionally in the world of art, went to school for it, and knows more than your average bear about artwork. If you're like me, you'll learn something along the way and appreciate game art (& artists) even more.

Follow Eryn's own art creator account on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chickenscratch.er/

Play along! I hope we get a good number of folks who submit their own official predictions at challonge.com , which is free. Some have already done it. You've until March 12 to submit your brackets, so you need to move quickly. Then the voting rounds will start via Geeklist polling. As you can see from the chart above, the successive rounds of this voting will start happening every three days: On March 15 we'll have the results of the first round, when 64 teams are winnowed down to 32 survivors. Then it proceeds to the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and Championship. Who will be the winner?

We expect to do "micro-episode" podcasts throughout the month to talk about each round. They'll show up in your regular feed, and I can link them here, too.

-Mark

Fantasy Division geeklist

Historical/Real-World Division geeklist

Nature Division geeklist

Sci Fi Division geeklist

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

David Arnott

@Arnott

When did you start listening to podcasts? Do you remember your first ones? For me it was the first one ever about boardgames and the first about movies. That was Geekspeak and Reel Reviews. Even though I'm not so into wine, Grape Radio was another super early one for me. The medium was new, the tech was unfamiliar, and I loved the chance to listen to interesting audio on my commute, about unique subjects. Although those earliest shows seemed to use a lot of fancy, expensive equipment, I wondered if a more basic podcast could be produced with simple gear. On March 3, 2005, I threw my hat in the ring with Boardgames To Go, a new audio version of my blog of the same name. The response was quick & positive, so I kept at it. Two decades later, I'm still here.

Twenty years is an important milestone for me. I never really saw myself doing the podcast this long. I've averaged about 18 episodes per year over that time, including some early bursts of productivity and a few longer gaps. After the pandemic I renewed my commitment to the podcast and have stuck with a first-of-the-month schedule ever since, plus some bonus episodes along the way. My audience grew, then plateaued, then settled into a longstanding core of listeners. It's no exaggeration to say that you folks are the reason I've kept at it. I appreciate [your appreciation & encouragement, and I've enjoyed meeting some of you in-person.

This month you'll have to indulge me talking podcast history, motivation, and a little future planning. I can't help it. Longtime friend Dave Arnott talks through it with me, and we may not refer to a single game title! Don't worry--there will be more game titles than you can shake a stick at soon (hint: Mark Madness).

One of the only photos I have of me recording the podcast. This was from way back in 2006, when Dave & I recorded an episode about Vinci . We were at SoCal Games Day at the time, upstairs at the Burbank Moose Lodge. You may be able to see that I just have my laptop nearby, with a "Y-cable" audio splitter allowing us both to have headset mics piped into it. That's as fancy as I ever was for this podcast.

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Scott Alden

@Aldie

Opener: Everyone knows Aldie, right? Feels like we do. Scott Alden, the man behind BoardGameGeek, is one creative entrepreneur, let me tell ya. Anyone could've thought to make a central website where boardgamers come for information and community, but it takes more than a good idea for something to be reality. For 25 years Aldie has been adding features, listening to comments, growing the hobby, and doing way more than most to enhance boardgaming around the world. I can't believe it's been so long since I've had him on the podcast. I'll be sure to do it again soon.

Here Scott joins me to talk about the BGG Hall of Fame , where 25 famous titles were inducted into an inaugural collection. Jennifer Schlickbernd headed up the project with Aldie's blessing, and Candice Harris was responsible producing & editing the awesome videos that accompanied this launch. I was pleased to be invited to be the initial jury that came up with the games, and also pleased with the end result. We each had our own experiences & different appreciations for various titles, but it was a group effort--including much group deliberation--that resulted in the final list.

Schacht The Monkey con
After the interview, I go on to talk about most of the games I played at a recent, regional convention: EsCon. The games all have one thing in common--they were all designed by Michael Schacht. As long as my friends are onboard, I really have fun focusing on something at events like these. Sometimes it's SdJ winners, or trick-taking games, or pre-2000 boardgames. This time it was focused on a single designer. As EsCon host Steve Paap likes to label these things, we called it our Schacht The Monkey con.

Closer: The following month's episode will be this podcast's own 20th anniversary. Can you believe it? Dave Arnott will be on to interview me and I can tell stories (some old, some new) about the past two decades behind a laptop and inexpensive microphone. If you've got questions or otherwise want to me to talk about something, send in your feedback now. Thanks.

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

I've been doing this podcast for twenty years! I never would've guessed this in the beginning. The actual "birthday" for the podcast is March 3rd, so focus on the anniversary then. But for now, this is the start of Season 21. Blackjack!

Despite my teasing of Davebo during the Davecember episodes about putting too much stock in games-played data...I actually keep track of it myself. I'm not 100% accurate about it, but I'm probably 95% in recent years. (Earlier years weren't as detailed or accurate.) These days I'm using te BG Stats app, sync'd online to BGG. I don't record scores or game durations, but I DO record gaming locations, and that's permitted me to conclusively look at my data with & without online plays. For my own purposes, I've always included online plays in my totals, but I get why others may not.

MJ's Games Played in 2024 with . . . and without online plays

In this episode I look back at 2024, mostly the games I played the most, but also events like conventions and games days. I was surprised to learn how many more games I played last year: more titles, more locations, more people, more new games, more everything. Now that I think about...more podcast episodes, too (thank to Mark Madness and Davecember :-) ). Along the way, the stats make me consider the nature of my boardgaming, how I play lots of favorites over & over online, while I try more new games in-person. Will it always be that way? Is that ideal?

Last of all, I stumbled across a "shelfie" of my boardgame collection from 21 years ago, just about the same time I started this podcast. (And yes, those are my then-young kids' bikes in the bottom of the photo, and a toy rocking horse on the top shelf). Looking through it, I saw that my collection then was around 100 titles. It's double or triple that now. More significantly, I can see that I later sold three-quarters of this collection! Even accounting for the handful I re-acquired eventually, I can safely say that I turn over two-thirds of my collection. Put another way, that large fraction are not eternal keepers. I was disappointed to realize that, but perhaps it's ok? Perhaps many of our games are meant to be enjoyed just a handful of times, then passed on?

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

David Arnott

@Arnott

Bringing our Davecember to a fitting close, I welcome back Dave Arnott. He was the guy on my podcast earlier this fall when the idea of Davecember was born. He's been on plenty of my episodes before, but now we get to talk more about him.

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Dave OConnor

@daveo1234

We're winding down now. DaveO is one of the remaining Davids that's still local to me. Local enough. He's near San Diego, I'm near LA, but that's close enough to have seen each other off & on over the years. We met around 20 years ago at a SoCal Games Day, I think. Now he's my roommate at Dice Tower West game convention, and a co-conspirator to bring old favorites to the table at a convention.

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

David Reed

@deacondavid

David Reed claims to be our oldest Dave in the collection, but we're all reasonably close. Something about the audience for this podcast, I guess. Happy to have this generation.

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

David

@loofish

The next David comes to us from a different part of North Carolina, and explains how the recent hurricane robbed them of power...but gave them a chance to play more analog games with kids.

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

David Harding

@huffa2

Another designer joins us, and he's in the game publishing world, too. David Harding of Elevenses, One Zero One, Matcha and Grail Games .

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

David Corbin joins us next, doubling our count of North Carolina based Davids...but he's not our last. He comes offering David's Aphorism, as well as David's Dictum. Heady stuff...

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

David Thompson

@Skirmish_Tactics

Next is David Thompson, best known as the co-designer of the Undaunted series, War Chest, Resist, Sniper Elite, and as the sole designer for his Valiant Defense series (e.g. Pavlov's House) plus others.

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

David G.

@davebo

First up is David Gullett, aka Davebo. He's got a thing for data, whether it's good or not.

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

@Gregarius

As he's done many times, my friend Greg Pettit joins me for a mega-episode discussing all the games we played at BGGcon. Greg's an every-timer to BGGcon, while I went to the first one (2005), then a decade until my next in 2014 (first year I was an empty-nester), and sort of every-other-year since then. Looking back, I see I also went in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, and now 2024. I enjoy myself every time I go, but it's difficult to swing it every year.

When you listen to this episode, you may find it helpful to follow along with our geeklist . That way you can track what games we've talked about, which are coming next, and what are 5-star ratings are. I've also inserted the game boxes here in the order discussed, which will also appear in the shownotes.

The "Newest of the New" Games

A Bunch of Two-Player Games

Mostly Trick-Taking Games, or at least Card Games...but not always even that!

The "Leftovers" I Couldn't Otherwise Categorize

Old Favorites

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Openers :

Mark : Fishing
Steve : Trick Taking Game Conventions (here's one , and here's another )

Closers :
Mark : What do I think is an OG game? I can tell what it ain't!
Steve : What would new boardgamers think is an OG game?

Nonsense Junkie

@elschmear

My friend Steve Paap returns to his set of interview questions for me. A year and a half ago, back on episode 214 , Steve turned the microphone around on me. Now he's back with more questions for yours truly.

First, though, he tries to rile me up by having me defend my "favorite boardgame" Entdecker from a variety of BGG comments from folks who didn't like it. They rate it a 4, 3, or 2, and explain why. Does it get under my skin? Not really. He says I'm too nice for that, Maybe that's it, but the truth is that no game is really for everybody, and I'm well aware that Entdecker is less-than-average for many gamers. There are some comments I find just inaccurate and wrong, though--that's true.

-Mark

Opener : Noli

Closer : Just a few games that caught my eye or attention in other ways coming at Essen. Galileo Galilei, In the Footsteps of Marie Curie, Port Arthur, Amazonia Park, and Flatiron

My call for feedback earlier this year sparked both halves of this podcast. First, there was a request for me to explain my history with the best, most famous, and original CCG, Magic The Gathering. Though I dabble a tiny bit even now, there were a few years in the beginning when I dove in with both feet. It was, as we now say, a lifestyle game. I still think it's incredible, clearly one of my all-time favorites, but it's not easy to keep up with Magic and other games. Therefore it's mostly part of my gaming past, but I have such fond memories and will definitely play a game here or there in the future. Such as on M:tG Arena, the fantastic free-to-play digital version of the game.

When Settlers of Catan (and Air Baron! another of my early favorites) showed up, eurogames essentially displaced Magic for me. Though we called them German Games at the time. I was hooked, and now it's been nearly thirty years. That sounds like a a long time--and it is!--but I have a hobby gaming history before Catan and Magic. I've told parts of that history on this podcast before, but when someone who listens to the show was surprised to hear I'd once worked for Steve Jackson Games, I realized it's been about 18 years since I told that story! So you'll forgive the repetition, if by some chance you remember my tale the first time. After talking about Magic, I go back to the beginning of my hobby gaming with a variety of stops along the way. There were years of wargames (both science fiction and some historical) and lots of roleplaying games. Like Magic, my RPG days are something I'll always remember fondly, but I'm not sure if I'll ever play those again.

-Mark

Opener: Wayfarers of the South Tigris

David Arnott

@Arnott

Mike Mayer

@Mike Mayer

If you're like me, you've been supplementing your in-person boardgaming with the ability to play online. I've been doing that for over 20 years, way before the covid pandemic struck. However, that worldwide event opened up the joys of online boardgaming to many more gamers, especially as they worked to keep connections going with friends they couldn't see across the table for many months. Add in the explosion of titles and popularity of BoardgameArena, coupled with the widespread use of Discord, Zoom, or other voice/video communication tools, and gamers today have more ability to stay in touch than ever before.

My two guests have taken that, stuck with it, and done more than I've ever managed to do with all of my online play: make a regular game group out of it. Three years on, no longer with the pandemic as the reason, Dave and Mike continue to get together almost every week to play games together. One's in California, the other in Virginia, but they meet more regularly than most in-person game groups. Sometimes they widen the circle to include some other friends like me, but primarily this is a 2-person game group, another interesting aspect.

Like me, these guys have been around a long time, have favorites going back decades, yet in this online group they're really espousing the Cult of the New. Why is that? Why are they always learning new games, why do they enjoy online roll & writes so much, and what the heck is Tulpenfieber?! Listen and find out.

Closer: The sort of old school games I don't like

-Mark

Openers :

Mark : First in Flight
Tim : Arcs

Closers :
Tim : Changing enjoyment (and ratings) of games
Mark : Is it possible to go to too many game events?

Tim

@Denga

If you've followed me for any time, especially on our Discord server, you've heard me talk about a couple things: my appreciation for the "new" podcast Board Game Hot Takes , and my observations of how the energy of our hobby has shifted from when I joined it. I get to combine both of those topics into one episode by inviting one of the three BGHT hosts, Tim, to join me on the mic and use him as a representative of the "next generation" of boardgame hobbyists. He chuckles at that characterization, pointing out he's not that much younger than me, and has been playing boardgames for a few years. But that still makes him the New Kid on the Block compared to an old fart like me, and I think it shows in the types of games he & I both love.

That's what we talk about, how the bulk of the hobby may be broadening and unchanging (think about Ticket To Ride, Catan, and Azul at Target stores and on Amazon), but the energetic, active hobbyist part of the hobby appears to be compelled by crowdfunding, plastic figures, and the BGG Top/Hot games lists. I'm not trying to say that's a problem , but I am certain that's it's a difference . At the same time, there are some nice advantages for old-timers like me, whether it's improved game distribution, production enhancements (e.g. double-layer boards), and the most robust online multiplayer options we've ever seen.

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Openers: Voyages

Closers: Virtual Flea Markets (VFMs) at game conventions and other events

It'll be no surprise to any listener that I care about the Spiel des Jahres. In addition to its decades-long strong & beneficial effect on our boardgaming hobby, these awards are a better predictor for me than any other. Predictor of what? Of the games I'll actually continue to own and play with family & friends. True, they skew more toward lighter games, but that's ok with family. And truthfully, that's the preference of myself and several of my longtime gaming friends, too.

If you only know the SdJ from recent years when it homed-in on the lightest games, more about parties than strategy, then I'd forgive your feeling that these aren't an award process that means much to a hobbyist. I'm thinking of recent winners like Just One , Pictures , MicroMacro Crime City , and even Dorfromantik . However, while you may long for the days when the award was bestowed on more gamer-ish titles like Tikal , Torres , and El Grande , my own personal highlights are the titles in between those two groupings. I'm thinking of Catan , Thurn und Taxis , Carcassonne , Dominion , Hanabi , Dominion , Ticket to Ride , or Alhambra .

Not only the winners, too--I've learned to pay attention to the other nominees and recommended list of games, too. Just last weekend my friends Davebo and Jeff were visiting. Along with some other local gamers we played a lot of great titles, but guess what was on the table, pulled from my collection: Luxor and Imhotep , two fantastic nominees that were merely overshadowed by the steamroller winners those years (Azul and Codenames , respectively).

The titles nominated for Spiel des Jahres are Captain Flip , In the Footsteps of Darwin , and Sky Team . In addition to these nominations, the SdJ jury recommended the following six titles: Harmonies , Passt nicht! , Phantom Ink , Schätz it if you can , Trekking Through History , and Trio .

Then for the Kenners the nominees went to Daybreak , The Guild of Merchant Explorers , and Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West . Plus the recommended list: Bier Pioniere , Botanicus , Forest Shuffle , and Ritual .

I think it's July 21 when we'll hear which games are the ultimate winners, but do take a look at the other nominees and recommended games. There's a good chance you'll enjoy those games, too, maybe even more than the winner.

-Mark

Openers: Knarr , Faraway

Closers: Ordering games nominated for the IGA and SdJ awards

Mark Johnson

@MarkEJohnson

Mark Jackson

@akapastorguy

Recently I asked my listeners for more feedback about this old podcast. What I heard back was very encouraging--thanks for that. Most of you just tell me to keep doing what I like & want. Good, I will! Some other comments called back to the All About… episodes I used to do, deep dives into individual games. Others remembered the 100 Great Games series fondly, a collaboration I did with Mark Jackson and Stephen Glenn. More ideas came up, too.

I’ve mulled those over and devised something that should be fun for me and worthwhile for the listeners. I’ve invited an old friend to join me in discussions about the Spiel des Jahres winner from a particular year. That makes it kind of a deeper dive into that title, but we also talk about the other nominees from that year. Not only that, but the longer list of recommended games, too. Along the way, we briefly mention the winners of the Kennerspiel, Deutscher Spielepreis, and the À La Carte, all notable awards in Germany where the Spiel des Jahres is still the preeminent award for our hobby.

When this podcast is released, we’ll be only a week away from hearing the list of nominees and recommended games for this award year, 2024. I’ll be very interested in that, however this new, occasional podcast series is about the SdJ in prior years. The award itself goes back to 1979--and I may cover those oldies someday--but for this episode I’m starting with something much closer to our present time. Five years ago seems like a good place to start--recent enough that the games are familiar, but distant enough that most gamers will have had plenty of opportunity to play them, if desired. Future episodes may jump around to other years that interest me, like a goofy time machine.

My co-host for this episode is Mark Jackson, a well-known writer about boardgames. He’s had multiple websites, is active on social media, is part of the Opinionated Gamers editorial board, a member of the International Gamers Awards panel, and has been on my podcast several times. I’m happy to call him my friend, too. Really, the only downside to this guy is the confusion we generate with our similar identities.

Mark & I have similar histories, but not always the same taste in games. Nonetheless, I know I can count on him to appreciate the kind of family strategy boardgames I focus on in this podcast--it’s in the opening to every episode! That’s what the Spiel des Jahres awards and selection jury are all about, too. It’s a great fit.

By setting our Spiel des Jahres Wayback Machine to 2019, Sherman & Peabody Mark & Mark will be going back to when Just One took home the prize over fellow nominees Werewords and L.L.A.M.A. Do you know all of those? How about the list of recommended titles, Belratti, Dizzle, Krass Kacke/Who Did It?, Reef, and Sherlock? We do our best to talk about all of those, while also mentioning that Wingspan won the Kennerspiel & DSP, while Belratti won the À La Carte.

Let us know what you think about these games, and the SdJ Wayback Machine itself. Is there a particular year you want us to visit next? With 44 more years to choose from, we’re not going hit them all or go in any order. Future episodes will be occasionally interspersed with the “regular” episodes of Boardgames To Go. Very soon we’ll have this year’s nominees to discuss on our Discord server or elsewhere. I’m looking forward to all of it.

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

In my last episode's Closer I asked for feedback. Really, all podcasters ask for feedback in every episode. I'm no different. Well, I'm only different in that I've been podcasting forever, and many of my listeners have given me feedback over the years. Other than comments on Discord, however, it had been some time since I received much feedback, which is why I asked for it specifically. And if you'll indulge me, this episode's second half is all about that feedback, and my responses to it.

Before I get to that, however, I talk about a bunch of games played recently. I used to do this, what I called my "Session Report (SR) & Feedback" episodes. However, it's been a while since I published that kind of episode. How long? A decade! By my records, the last time was exactly 10 years ago, in episode 146 from the May 2014. Seems ok to do another.

Closer: If it's been 10 years since my last "SR & Feedback" episode, what other old features of this podcast do you recall? Are there any I've forgotten?

-Mark

Opener : The final winners for Mark Madness! Castles of Burgundy and

eryn roston

@baditude

Closer : A specific call for feedback to the podcast. Tell me what you like me to do more of, or do less. Session Report & Feedback episodes, like the old days? All About shows (more old days)? Something else?

Over the years I've been to many game conventions, both big & small. However, it wasn't until this past month that I attended a Dice Tower event. The Dice Tower West annual game convention is held in the west, in Las Vegas, which means it's a pretty easy drive for me - four hours across the southwest. Though I'm not really a Vegas kind of guy, this is still a big geek convention of boardgamers, right? Right. In that, it felt very familiar to the multiple times I've visited BGGcon in Dallas...just in a different city, hosted by a different organization. I knew some of my buddies had attended in prior years, and many months I started asking them if they'd attend in 2024. I think most of us were on the fence, but hearing other friends may attend helped collectively push most of us into signing up. A couple had to back out due to unexpected life commitments, but enough of my gang went that we were able to fill game tables the whole time.

In this episode, I talk about ALL of the games I played during this Wednesday-Sunday major event. Half of that discussion is about old games, or OG games, or whatever you want to call them. How old? We decided the cutoff should be a quarter-century. Focusing one of our convention days on titles at least 25 years old meant we had a full Friday of pre-2000 games. Games from the last century...the last millennium! Practically speaking, we played games from the 1990s, which is when many of our group got into modern boardgaming, including yours truly.

If you appreciate retro gaming like we do, you'll love the first half of the episode. If not, skip ahead to the interlude music break near the 55-minute mark, and then I transition into some newer titles. That represented the other half of what I played at the convention. Including lots of card games, which are having their moment in the sun right now. Wonderful! (Even though I didn't love all of the card games I played, as you'll hear, I love that we're playing so many of them again.)

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Play along and predict the winners at https://challonge.com/3abpsej6
Predictions must be submitted by March 12 to be in the contest

Mark Johnson

@MarkEJohnson

Patrick Pence

@Farsol

Last year I ran my first "March Madness" style, 64-game, single-elimination vote, with a contest to submit predictions for the entire bracket. If you've got a pool for the famous college basketball tournament in your office, or with your friends, then you know what this is. Actually, these days many other copycat tournament prediction contests exists--there's a big one on BoardGameGeek, my favorite movie podcast (Filmspotting) does one for films, and so on.

My version is similar, but it lists a bunch of games to be voted on against each other. Listeners suggested I call it Mark Madness, and that's what we did. Last year I picked all 64 games that we voted on, pulling from recent award winners in different categories. Listener Patrick Pence ended up the winner of the contest, and for that reason he's my co-host this month for the 2024 Mark Madness. Not only that, more listeners on our Discord channel suggested that the contest be more specific to me, asking me to populate the bracket with games that mean something to me. I did about half of those, and asked Patrick to do the same. Then I combined our lists, added a few "people's choice" titles to round it out, and then set up the bracket.

Play along! I hope we get a good number of folks who submit their own official predictions at challonge.com , which is free. Some have already done it. You've until March 12 to submit your brackets, so you need to move quickly. Then the voting rounds will start via Geeklist polling. As you can see from the chart above, the successive rounds of this voting will start happening every three days: On March 15 we'll have the results of the first round, when 64 teams are winnowed down to 32 survivors. Then it proceeds to the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and Championship. Who will be the winner?

We expect to do "micro-episode" podcasts throughout the month to talk about each round. They'll show up in your regular feed, and I can link them here, too.

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Opener: Daybreak

Last year was a great year of boardgaming for me. Apparently I played more games than ever, whether you include online plays or not. In this episode I go over the ones I played the most, the ones I liked the most, and some topics other than titles themselves. Like...gaming events I attended, others I'm aiming for in 2024, my excitement for the growing library of "history games," and how I'm still unsatisfied that boardgames haven't built as much connection to travel or place as they could.

Closer: Mark Madness is coming back for 2024, and last year's champion Patrick Pence is helping me! We want your suggestions for divisions & games to go up against each other.

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Opener: Welcome to Season 20 (!!!) of this little podcast

I didn't make it to BGGcon last November, but several of my buddies did. Two of them, Greg Pettit and Dave O'Connor, join me on the podcast to talk about their experience there. For almost half the time we talk about about everything BUT the games (the venue, the crowd, the bazaar, the puzzle hunt, etc)...and then we get into a lot of games. We talk about Heat, Anunnaki, Wandering Towers, Bristol 1350, 1902 Melies, Blood on the Clocktower, Oak, Tricky Badger, Match of the Century, That’s Not A Hat, Rebel Princess, Rollet, Armadillo, At The Office, Voodoo Prince, Gang of Dice, Babylonia, Havalandi, Pax Pamir, Turncoats, Cosmoctopus, Nemesis, Cosmic Frog, and The Thing! Whew!

Closer: Playing games with family (especially party games) using whatever "rules" and "scoring" are most fun

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Opener: Sea Salt & Paper

eryn roston

@baditude

Darryl Boone

@booned

I'm a pretty positive guy, and I hope that normally comes through on my podcast. While I have distinct preferences for the kinds of games I play, I try to be willing to play most things. Or at least, when I turn something down I try to be kind about it. It helps to have been around long enough, wearing those preferences on my sleeve. My friends know the kind of big, plastic-filled, multi-hour fantasy fighting games that aren't for me.

However, it IS true that I have an inner monologue, and it can be frustrated with the aspects of our hobby that I don't like. Even worse, I think those aspects are detrimental to its wide enjoyment and acceptance with many people. You know how I open every episode by saying my podcast is about "family strategy boardgames"? Because that's what I like best, and it's what's most important. They're most important to me, and I'd say the wider success through mass market channels (Target, Amazon), plus increased role of our hobby on the culture...well, those things emphasize that family strategy games are generating the most joy for players and the most success for the industry.

Especially on the Discord server, sometimes I'd be more open with those frustrations. Sometimes I just needed to vent a bit. At one point we made a separate discussion channel within that server just for #curmudgeon grumblings. Guess what? It has ended up being some of those most active discussions! Along the way it was suggested that one podcast episode be devoted to the same venting, and here we have it: The Curmudgeon Show. Two volunteers from Discord agreed to help me on this project, and the result is the final episode for this year, season 19.

Take it in the spirit it was intended, and I always look forward to comments.

Closer: I worked at making 2023 a better year for my hobby, and am so pleased that it worked! [That's not very curmudgeonly! -ed]

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Openers:
• Mark: Basketboss
• Dave: Istanbul

David Arnott

@Arnott

After hearing Ken Tidwell in last month’s podcast, both Dave Arnott and I were impressed with his enthusiastic, optimistic, and forward-looking perspective on the boardgame hobby…despite being an old timer like us. Even older, I think! While neither of us can fully match that, it was inspiring and I asked Dave to consider the topic with me in an open discussion for THIS episode.

We recorded it on an iPhone in a church choir room at our SoCal Games Day venue. The audio is ok, but you can tell it’s not my normal setup. Also unusual was the lack of a show outline. It means that I struggle a bit to stay focused on the goal. Too often I flip it around and revert to talking about how new hobbyists can/should appreciate the old classics. While that’s true, I tried to remember that I want to focus on how the OLD hobbyists can appreciate the new aspects of boardgaming.

What are those new aspects? They can be the newest titles, designers, and publishers themselves. They could be Kickstarter and other new ways of marketing & funding. Perhaps it’s the prevalence of online play, or solo options. The rise of YouTube videos for rules explanations. Lots of things. What am I missing?

The games I brought to my work event, full of hope. Partially fulfilled!

Closers:
• Dave: Is there a best way to lose a game?
• Mark: Gaming success with nongamer coworkers

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Opener: Hammer of the Scots

Ken Tidwell

@Ken Tidwell

If you entered the hobby as I did pre-2000, you didn't have BGG, podcasts, YouTube, or even a good way to buy games online. You often didn't have English rules in the box for what games you had in your small collection. But what you did have is The Game Cabinet. This was probably the very first boardgame website that ever existed. It was created by Silicon Valley boardgamer Ken Tidwell, who was at the leading edge of the hobby and the Internet. Thanks to Ken's website we had our first access to game reviews, letters columns, information about where to buy games, and online versions of Mike Siggins' famous boardgame zine, Sumo (fullname Sumo's Karaoke Club). I cannot properly convey how important and influential this website was to those of us getting started. Although it was a website, it was presented as an online magazine with numerous "issues" as it was periodically updated with a batch of fresh content. Its last issue was published in 2000. But it's still online! Go visit it at gamecabinet.com .

As an oldtimer myself, I've wanted to get Ken on my podcast for many years. Finally I managed to do it. I was delighted and surprised to have Ken tell the story of The Game Cabinet...but it turned out not to be a story stuck in the past. We definitely spend a good chunk of time talking about those early days, but when Ken disappeared online over two decades ago he didn't stop playing games. Not only that, he maintained his fascination with the leading edge of creativity in game design. In a nutshell, he's no curmudgeon like me! He's still got an enormous collection, goes to conventions, plays lots of games, is fascinated with the innovations of the Tokyo Game Market...and even Kickstarter. He's on a number of Discord servers and stays plugged in. He's even up on the indie RPG world that I keep hearing about, too.

Closer: Considering what's most important to me in this hobby for 2024...and practicing it in the last quarter of 2023

-Mark

Patrick Pence

@Farsol

Eric Brosius

@Eric Brosius

Joe Huber

@huber

Opener: Britannia

Once again, I've been fortunate to gather a panel of smart gamers from my Discord server to chat on this episode. Patrick, Eric, and Joe joined me to discuss game conventions. We talk about large ones, small ones, and how I think "invitationals" and games days are something slightly different. Certainly related, but I wanted to talk more about the kind of events anyone listening might decide to attend next year. There are local conventions, as well as national (even international) ones that require getting on an airplane. Why would you go to all of that trouble & expense, when you can just play games at home with friends. Well, we have our reasons. Do they match yours?

Towards the end we share some of our better game convention experiences, as well as plans to attend this or that in the year to-come. For example, if you're planning to attend SDHistCon this November, or else Dice Tower West in Las Vegas next March, let me know!

Closer: History-grounded eurogames that inspire me when traveling

-Mark

Joe Berger

@arnodestang

Adam Brocker

@abrocker

@Gregarius

Opener: Stockpile
Closer: Ennui about the SdJ, which is surprising/disappointing

Solo boardgaming is big, and getting bigger. At least, that’s my impression. It’s not something I know a bunch about myself. I’ve dabbled in solo boardgames for many years, and I’ve done solo wargames extensively, but there are euro boardgamers who play a lot of solo boardgames. There’s a whole community for this slice of the hobby, and publishers are serving them. There are games exclusively designed for solo play, and lots of “regular” multiplayer games that have a solo option.

On our Discord server I posted some of my explorations and questions with solo boardgames, it got some response, and soon we had a separate discussion channel to continue to conversation. From there I found a few gamers happy to join me on this episode of the podcast to talk about solo boardgaming. In true BGTG style, we name-drop a number of titles, but most of the episode is a higher level meta-discussion about solo boardgaming as a hobby-within-a-hobby. What types of solo boardgames are there, why do you play solo boardgames, and what is the community of solo boardgamers.

1 Player Guild
Solitaire Games On Your Table (most recent monthly compilation)
2022 People's Choice Top 200 Solo Games

-Mark

David G.

@davebo

Openers:
• Mark: Maquis and Canopy
• Dave: Earth

My friend Davebo has been on the podcast many times, but not for a while. During the time he's been away he decided to sell his California home and relocate to North Carolina, both to be by his oldest kid, now married, as well as to start a new chapter in life. In the podcast he talks a little about those reasons, and what it's like to be a boardgamer who uprooted himself from local groups and friend networks to be in a new place, finding & meeting new people. Of course, gamers do this all the time, but I'm more familiar with it happening earlier in life, when you go off to college, get your first professional job somewhere else, maybe move again to buy a home & start a family. Or like me, maybe you had a career move at some point, like when I moved 300 miles from Norcal to SoCal, leaving behind MY local game group.

At that time, I wasn't much more than thirty years old, and finding new gamer friends was something I needed to do...but I don't recall feeling especially challenged by it. Now, though, I can anticipate another move when I eventually retire, and finding new friends when I'm in my sixties feels different. Perhaps it shouldn't, but I'm a little daunted just thinking about it. Dave's not in his sixties, but he's not in his thirties, either. He's now done what I will need to do eventually. Of course, it matters what sort of community you find yourself in, how expansive your hobby is, and other factors. Online gaming was always around, but really took off during the pandemic. That's an interesting way to meet new people AND stay in touch with the gamers "back home."

Closers:
• Dave: "High five" games
• Mark: Can we get more boardgames that tie in to landmarks, places to visit, and a sense of history?

-Mark

Opener: Ark Nova...on BoardgameArena

I feel like most of this year--really everything since BGGcon last November--has been about me embracing the fullness of this hobby in a post-pandemic way. Along with the realization that no one can really embrace ALL of it. There's just too much. I've simultaneously been maximizing my hobby and realizing the unavoidable limitations involved.

This episode certainly fits that overall "story arc." In May I managed to play a lot of games with various friends in all sorts of settings: my local game group, on a business trip, at a Games Day, during a lunch hour at work, online in several ways, and more. Plus there's the extra parts of our hobby, like podcasts and magazines. Looking back, I feel like I did a LOT. Even so, I'm aware of the things I didn't do, because there's just so much time in a month. At least several of those opportunities were with a wider range of gaming friends, something that wasn't possible a year or two ago.

Closer: Spiel des Jahres nominations and recommendations

Opener: Votes for Women

What is "normal" in our hobby? For a while I've realized that what I felt most comfortable & familiar with in boardgaming is a little but stuck in the past, not coincidentally the times when I was first diving in deep with it. This is about the 10-year period from 1996-2006, give or take. The hobby today feels different. It IS different. Not better or worse (I try to convince myself), just different. But different in what ways?

In this solo episode I consider this. Before I tackle the present day I think aloud about how the hobby started, how it progressed, and how it got to when I first played Settlers, Medici, or Bohnanza. I think a lot about the perspective of someone working at Origins or Gencon, perhaps at a game distributor's booth, going to those events from the 1970s to the present day. I actually think there are some that span those fifty years(!) in our hobby, if not always behind a booth then at least participating in it. From that vantage point, you'd definitely see things change over time, and I think with some hindsight you could identify some "waves" or "generations" within the hobby. Characteristics more of one time than another. Trends that come & go.

Even within euro-style hobby boardgaming, I think you could subdivide my earlier era to today and note some important differences. That's what I'm thinking about, and I welcome input from listeners, too. Am I all wet here? Or am I onto something? Does it even matter in any way?

I think it may matter in the sense that I'm trying to stay true to the types of boardgaming I most enjoy, while simultaneously NOT becoming a fossilized dinosaur. Can it be done? Of course. Thinking about these kinds of things is how I go about it.

Closer: Mark Madness 2023 tournament! Congrats to winner Patrick Pence!

-Mark

Nonsense Junkie

@elschmear

Opener:
• Mark: Caesar's Empire
• Steve: Trendy

My friend Steve Paap joins me again, but this time he turns the tables, interviewing ME on my own podcast. We talk about the history of the podcast, what I think about wargaming, and some of my curmudgeonly tendencies in boardgaming. It was fun to talk about with him, and he claims we only got through half of his questions! Perhaps in another year or so we can try again.

Closers:
• Steve: Competitive tournaments at a game convention
• Mark: Finding other boardgamers at my work

-Mark

We're just about finished now. Azul emerged victorious from the SdJ division voting, Terraforming Mars from the Kenners, The Crew Mission Deep Sea from the A La Cartes, and Brass Birmingham from the Golden Geeks. Now that I step back and look at those, they seem like wonderful, fantastic, even inevitable champions from each of their respective divisions...not that I was smart enough to predict them all for my bracket. These four champions now face each other, though you'll hear not quite the way I'd originally intended. It all works, though, and before long we'll have the top two vote-getters in the Mark Madness Championship for 2023.

This micro-episode shares some overview of the Rounds 1 & 2 voting, such as blowout wins and close calls. I get to share the Sweet 16 and imagine which of the four games in each of the four divisions will emerge victorious to battle against the others. Hint: don't bet against The Crew (any version!)

Please remember to keep voting. Each round of voting is open for a few days, and I keep adding to the same geeklist to do it. Scroll down to find it.

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/312399/mark-madness-2023-bgtgs-battle-award-winners?itemid=9636466#9636466

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Openers:
Mark - BGTG Madness!
Greg - LLAMA on BGA

@Gregarius

Longtime friend of the podcast Greg Pettit returns to talk about thrifting boardgames. What is that? It's a hobby-within-a-hobby about finding used games at thrift shops, garage sales, and other sources of secondhand titles. To get good results you should be dedicated to doing this, checking locations regularly because on any given day there's likely to be nothing good. However, from time to time you may be fortunate enough to find a game you'd love to add to your own collection, or else one that you could use for parts. If you're like me when I used to do this, you're happy to sell the game on ebay, BGG Geekmarket, Facebook Marketplace, or some other venue...and then use the proceeds to buy other games. :-)

Greg tells about the thrifters guild here on BGG , TheThriftyGamer.net website/utility , and the vicarious thrill and congratulations that go on regularly through the Thrift Finds of the Week .

For some serious thrifters, they acquire more games than they can really utilize, so what they like to do is give them away to good homes. Isn't that cool? Related to that concept is the notion of the Thrifty Secret Santa annual gift exchange . Greg stepped in to run this over a decade ago, and has been doing it ever since with the assistance of some helper "elves." It's a wonderful tradition where games are exchanged for the holidays, but no one buys anything. In particular, no one send a gift just by clicking an order button online from a wishlist. Instead, used games are being exchanged from the heart, often accompanied with a lot of personal craftsmanship and care in the gift-giving. I have yet to participate myself, being content to watch from the sidelines as people enjoy the sending and receiving . But with some encouragement and demystification from Greg, perhaps podcast listeners and I may want to be a part of it next year.

Closers:
Greg - Tigris & Euphrates tournament for the Old-School German Style Games Guild
Mark - Mandala and "upgrading" a game's components to play outside

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Openers: Ark Nova , Zoo Vadis

Nonsense Junkie

@elschmear

In between big, national cons like GenCon or BGGcon and your local Games Days are regional conventions. Some folks think these can be the best of all, focused on just playing games in a group all weekend long. EsCon is one of those in my area, held twice a year in EsCon dido, California (get it?). Kind of like my own Santa Clarita is north of Los Angeles, Escondido is north of San Diego. I've been a few times, including just last month, and I hope to keep going. The guy behind EsCon, Steve Paap, joins me on this podcast while I pepper him with questions about what it takes to put on events like these.

Besides being a great host who runs a great event, Steve is a gamer-buddy of mine who nicely turns the table on me and asks me about my convention-going preferences and experiences.

Closers: Steve talks about positivity and how to overcome your own curmudgeon-ness, then I share how I've managed to play some card games over lunch hours at work...and the big boss is cool about it. Because she knows that games are good for our enjoyment together, and for sparking our brains individually.

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

Mike Siggins

@sumo

Welcome to 2023, which happens to be the 19th season of my little podcast, Boardgames To Go. I'm as surprised as anyone to still be around, still with listeners. I do enjoy this, and greatly appreciate my small & loyal following. I'm thrilled to start the new season with a wonderful guest, Mike Siggins talking about his Sumo picks.

The Sumos 2022
Yokozuna

Ark Nova

Ozeki

Akropolis | Brian Boru | Shinkansen | Vienna Connection

Sekiwake

1923: Cotton Club | Magnate | Railroad Revolution | Rise | War of the Ring: Card Game

Tainted Sumos

Etherfields (Sekiwake) | ISS Vanguard (Yokozuna)

Wargame Sumos

Dawn's Early Light (Yokozuna)

Bayonets & Tomahawks | Fire & Stone | Plains Indian Wars | The Shores of Tripoli | Two Minutes to Midnight

Probably everyone who listens to my podcast already knows about Siggins. He was even on my show four times before, but the last was a full 15 years ago! As you'll hear us say, we suspected it was longer ago than we'd like to remember.

However, my interest in Mike Siggins goes back further than that, way before this podcast. My entry into this hobby is closely tied to Siggins, thanks to his Sumo magazine that was transcribed onto the internet by Ken Tidwell (which reminds me...I've always wanted to interview Ken for the podcast. Perhaps in 2023?). Siggins wrote about games with a critic's analysis and writer's flair, whetting my appetite for games I'd never seen or heard of. And then there was this amazing thing called Essen that he wrote about. I was doing all of this reading in the late mid/late 90s, and Mike was writing in the early 90s. Possibly even 1989. Amazing!

He's seen & played so many games. At one point he nearly burned out, and there's the story of his famous collection-purge from hundreds or thousands of games down to just 50. He's still playing lots of games, including lots of new ones. Every year he names ten or so of them as his own personal top picks of the year: the Sumos. For the year just passed, 2022, I get the honor to host him talking about them and sharing the list with you. Near the end of the program I also share my own list of notable games in 2022, though some were published earlier.

Mark's noteworthy games of 2022

Boardgame: Cascadia

Card game: Targi & Scout

Party game: Just One

Wargame: Cuba The Splendid Little War

Online game: Memoir '44 / Azul / Wingspan

It was a fun conversation and I hope you like it. I don't intend to let another 15 years pass before I get Siggins back on the podcast. A request has been made to discuss euro-wargame hybrids again, which I may just morph a little bit into a discussion of a new style of easier, introductory history games that are taking off on both sides of the Atlantic.

-Mark

Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

One more episode about BGGcon! Can you tell I was excited to return? During the con itself I recorded several daily mini-episodes with Greg Pettit (by the end they weren't so mini!). In those we talked about several of the games we played, though not all. If you want to see ALL of the games I played, they're posted on their own geeklist .

Everyone knows I prefer lighter/shorter board & card games. Not exclusively, but that's my kind of game. It shows in my lists of games played. That's part of the reason I invited two other gamer-buddies onto this episode, since they are more willing to go after meatier euros. Though they, too, will play some older classics and/or lighter games. We played some of these together, but many were titles I didn't see...or actively avoided. You can sort of follow along with the discussion by flipping back & forth between their two geeklists with 5-star ratings for the games they played at BGGcon.

Brian Murray's list | Rick Byrens' list | (and Mark's list )

-Mark

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Opener: 7Seas (Or Scopa , if you want to learn the original)

Remember when I used to do "Essen Anticipation" episodes? I know I did several in the past, but it's been a while. This year, Essen sort of snuck up on me. I went through the preview tool on BGG , but never managed to completely make it through. The tool is easier to use than ever, and now includes all of the things I need in a preview (designer, publisher, photo, brief description, and link to more). And yet...it's just too much. Is it too much in an absolute sense? Too much for anybody? Too much for a healthy hobby and industry?

I don't know about all of that. I just know that it's now too much for me . Which isn't too say I'm no longer enthusiastic about Essen--I merely let it kind of wash over me, not trying to keep up. I'll certainly hear about the consensus picks for the best new titles, and I may also find out about some more obscure ones for oddball reasons--perhaps my thematic interest, a friend stumbled across it, a weird speculative purchase on Amazon.de... whatever!

This year my "Essen episode" starts with mentioning how close I was, on a business trip to Germany and the Netherlands just a few days before Essen. But I didn't make it to Spiel. I bought some games from Europe...but I "cheated" by ordering from Amazon.de instead of packing from local shops into my luggage to bring home.

(The Essen coffee mug is my favorite and lasting purchase from Spiel when I last went in 2016. I may not even own any of the games I purchased then, but I always enjoy this mug!)

At any rate, when I went through most of the enormous Essen preview list, only this handful of oddball titles were the ones most interesting to me. Several are demos, most are oddly personal thematic choices that may not prove to be good games (they rarely do!), but they're my personal choices. Not recommended for everyone!

For a more universal, reliable recommendation list of new titles from Essen, you should look to the Fairplay Scoutaktion report. These are the annual feedback collections that Fairplay magazines collects at their Essen booth from any gamer who stops by to share their rating. On the one hand, lots of games are barely demonstrated at Essen, so the ratings may not be based on informed plays. On the other hand, they've been doing these Scoutaktion reports for decades, and they've proven to be reasonably good barometers for the hits of Essen. A long while back, I tried to do some analysis of their track record, and as I recall it just made some errors of omission sometimes.

So take a look at the final list of top-rated games from this report. I also recommend Ben Bruckhart's article about this list at Opinionated Gamers . This remains one of the better websites/blogs about our hobby. Ben also takes a retrospective look back at the list from the previous year, something I appreciate.

Finally, another great thing about Fairplay magazine is their annual ranking of the best card games. This is called their A La Carte prize , and I've repeatedly found nice surprises on these top ten lists. Especially since small card games may not be made in English language editions, and can go undiscovered even in 2022.

Closer: At a management retreat for my job I brought a bunch of games. One person had requested them, but really this represented hope that I might get a group of coworkers to enjoy them with me. These days I'm a lot smarter about what to suggest in those settings, and after the recording I was successful! We played Just One and it was an enormous hit.

-Mark

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Opener: Taverns of Tiefenthal . Plus someone finally got Wingspan online multiplayer right, and it was the BGA team.

I've gone through a few waves of downsizing my game collection. The latest was just a month ago, inspired by a friend's visit to organize my collection. In the process, I felt the ability to let several games go. They haven't been sold off yet, but they're stacked up elsewhere in a for-sale pile, letting me consolidate the games I'm sticking with into fewer shelves.

When I stepped back, I saw that several of the games on the shelf were ones that anyone might have in their collection, while others were more personal choices, oddballs for one reason or another. At least they are less popular, I think. I've collected ten of those titles to talk about in this episode. (That includes one of the games that comes from my spillover collection in a credenza at work.)

I've been thinking about a new top ten of more recent games, but I'm not ready with that. Perhaps that will be in a future show, because there ARE plenty of modern titles that I really enjoy. It would be fun to talk about them, in part to contrast them against the "hotness" on BGG and Kickstarter that I often can't connect with. Again...that's a future show.

In THIS episode I thought my original top ten was worth discussing all over. In some cases they are games I love just as much as ever. Others are more sentimental favorites, not really making it to the table any longer. In a few cases I think the games represented of a type of game that I still enjoy, and there are newer examples.

Closer: The outcome of our Discord polling about “evergreen” games. In contrast, I almost completely forgot about the “Essen anticipation” shows I used to do!

-Mark

Opener: Royals

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For boardgame publishers, I believe there's such as thing as "convention season." Of course game conventions happen all over the world, all across the calendar, but for the industry there's a special significance to Gencon in the US, and Spiel in Europe. Add in Origins, UK Games Expo, the Nuremberg Int'l Toy Fair, events in France or Japan...the list goes on & on. Especially for the domestic North American market, however, the summer season of Gencon and Origins means something for sales & product launches. Both events are located in the middle of the US.

Designer (and friend!) David Thompson is also located in the middle of the US. I had the great fortune to stay with him for a weekend recently, and besides playing a bunch of games together, we also recorded a podcast. He'd recently been to Gencon & Origins, as well as Ohio's own Buckeye Game Fest. We sat on his back porch during a summer evening and recorded this podcast together.

I hope you enjoy the discussion.

https://discord.io/BoardgamesToGo

Closers: I sat next to a guy on the plane who played a lot of Catan ...but only on the app on his smartphone. He told me how the original game has too much luck, how certain Seafarers maps turn it into more of a game of "pure strategy." I showed him Azul on BGA, Iberian Gauge in a photo, and A Few Acres of Snow on Yucata. It's like we were speaking the same language, but different dialects that could barely understand each other!

-Mark

Openers: Root , My Gold Mine , and LAMA Dice

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The Spiel des Jahres and Kennerspiel des Jahres awards were announced last month. Congratulations to the designers and publishers of Cascadia and Living Forest . These are still the awards with the most worldwide influence and importance, despite coming from just one corner of it--Germany.

However, in this episode I’m not talking very much about those recent winners. Instead, my friend and frequent podcast guest Greg Pettit joins me on the mic to talk about the previous ten years of winners. If these awards are as big of a deal as I say, then shouldn’t the winners from the previous decade still be popular & relevant? Still on the table in our game groups? Let’s talk about that.

The yardstick to compare them against is Catan. Actually, you can add [thing=9209]Ticket to Ride[/ticket], too. Both of those games won the Spiel des Jahres many years ago. We’ll be coming to the 30th anniversary of Catan in just a few more years, and Ticket To Ride is approaching its 20th anniversary. In a hobby that bemoans the short shelf life of new titles, these two continue to be everywhere. If you run into a new person at school or work that has played “our games,” there’s a good chance they’ve played Catan and Ticket To Ride. THAT’S influence & importance.

Do any of the latest decade's Spiel des Jahres winners have that kind of impact? I’m not sure if any of them do, though a few may have some staying power. Greg & I talk about that, combining our own opinions & observations with “data” from BGG Rankings and what’s on mass market retail shelves at Target or Barnes & Noble. In the US (and maybe Canada?) those are a good litmus test of staying power with the larger public of game-players.

The Kennerspiel winners are a little different. Whether these are more for “gamers” or not is up for debate. Here the BGG ranking is probably a better measure. Interestingly enough, the SdJ’s have a more constant “decay” in their popularity and ranking, while the Kenners have more highs & lows: titles that have done a better job sticking around, and others that are dropping off. The nature of this award has been shifting, too.

I hope you enjoy the discussion.

https://discord.io/BoardgamesToGo

Closers: Greg says games need to be introduced & taught more than simply given as gifts. Then Mark mentions the enduring power of Dungeons & Dragons. Somehow they both talk about giving games away.

-Mark

June 1, 2022

Please join my Discord server https://discord.io/BoardgamesToGo There you can find other BGTG (and WargamesToGo) listeners, introduce yourself, share some current gaming thoughts, find online opponents, and maybe even meet someone who lives within driving distance of you in the real world. It's happened!

Opener: Lisbon Tram 28

Year in, year out, I care about the Spiel des Jahres...even though gamers here on BGG grumble about these awards. These are simpler games meant as ambassadors from our hobby to the general population. They're a significant part of the growth of boardgaming that we enjoy & appreciate. Then when those newbies want to take the next step in boardgaming, the Kenners are good for that. All in all, I think it's a great system. I'm not concerned about the heavy gamers--they can look to the DSP, the Golden Geeks, or other awards.

While the SdJs are meant to be lighter, more family-targeted games, the very best ones are capable of being played in two modes: friendly and shark-y. Or family-style and gamer-style. I think Carcassonne, Settlers, and Ticket to Ride are great examples of that, and there are others.

The nominations and recommendations for the Spiel des Jahres and Kennerspiel des Jahres awards were announced last week...but not before I recorded an episode! Every year some number of other hobbyists who care about the SdJs make their guesses about what games will be on those lists. I like to follow along on those, sometimes making my own guesses. There was some speculation about these games on the BGTG Discord server , too (come join us! ).

So this episode is kind of foolish, but I did it anyway. I recorded my rundown and commentary about the games people thought MIGHT be nominated for the SdJ and Kenner awards. Then I went back and recorded a shorter addendum since the actual nominees and other recommended titles had been announced after my first recording. You'll hear that the guesses managed to include all of the final nominees, though there were several other contenders that weren't named by the jury.

Closer: Games should accelerate to the end. Or, at the very least, they shouldn't slow down!

-Mark

May 1, 2022

Please join my Discord server https://discord.io/BoardgamesToGo There you can find other BGTG (and WargamesToGo) listeners, introduce yourself, share some current gaming thoughts, find online opponents, and maybe even meet someone who lives within driving distance of you in the real world. It's happened!

Opener: Playing games with the "correct" player count (e.g. Disney Villainous )

The last two episodes have been a look back. Back at my entire time in the hobby, and also back at the first Top Ten list of favorite games I ever made. It was fun for me to reflect on those titles, finding how many of them I still enjoy. But admittedly, it featured a lot of old games. I think the NEWEST game on that list was twenty years old!

Now I wanted to make more of an effort to talk about some recent games I enjoy. Because the truth is that I play new games all the time. I'm not a Cult of the New guy, but between my own purchases and those of my buddies, we still fill most game nights with one or more titles that are new to us. I've long maintained that encountering a new game is a significant aspect to the hobby--especially among the most avid hobbyists. I'm not so different. In theory I'd also like to be part of "the conversation" about whatever is topical in our hobby, but in practice I'm usually behind that curve.

When I set out to make a list of these recent games I like, I first thought in terms of the past decade. Or just take it back to 2010, to use a round number. Fortunately, everyone around me laughed me out of the room, saying that a dozen years ago isn't anyone's idea of "recent." So I tried harder, limiting myself to games released in the past five years. So that's 2017. It's the best I could do. Then I heard the recommendation to include another gamer friend who's much more focused on the latest releases. Brian Murray has been on my podcast before, but it's been a while. Now I was super glad to have him onhand to share his top five recent games, and he went MUCH more contemporary than I did.



We wrapped up by sharing our honorable mentions. Brian mentioned Lost Ruins of Arnak , Cataclysm , Res Arcana , Faiyum, and Viscounts of the West Kingdom , while I also included Just One , War Chest , The Mind , Belratti , Little Town , and The Adventures of Robin Hood .

Closer: Not relocating, and vaccines are working, so I'm looking forward to some gaming events.

-Mark

Opener: Please join my Discord server https://discord.io/BoardgamesToGo ! There you can find other BGTG listeners, introduce yourself, share some current gaming thoughts, find online opponents, and maybe even meet someone who lives within driving distance of you in the real world.

I almost can't believe I've made it to episode 200! Even though my boardgame podcast has been around a long time (the longest!), contemporaries like The Dice Tower and Garrett's Games and Geekiness are closer to a thousand episodes. "Newcomes" like Shut Up & Sit Down will be passing me very quickly in terms of episodes...they all passed me in terms of audience long ago. But that's ok--I remind myself that I do this podcast largely to make a contribution to the hobby and get my voice out there. That a loyal handful of you listen & enjoy it is icing on the cake.

I should've asked my wife to take a photo of Dave Arnott and I recording this episode. There's a photo of us recording one long ago, perhaps the earlier retrospective we did about the hobby. That was episode 75, back in 2007, now 15 years ago! At that time we were reflecting on how things were different, mostly better, than when we both entered the hobby after Settlers and Siggins. We were looking back on a decade or so, feeling that we were "old men" in the hobby. Now we can look back on a quarter-century of boardgaming, and we're REALLY the old men now.

A lot has already been written about how the hobby is different now than it was in the past. Everything from Kickstarter to under-represented folks to co-op games to social media to "mainstreaming" our games with distribution in Target or Barnes & Noble. Dave & I touch on some of that, but we don't try to analyze the industry or the hobby so much as our changing experience. To some degree, I think all of us go through an "arc" in this hobby: discovery, enthusiasm, purchasing, missing old favorites, downsizing, and a "settling in" for years of enjoyment with old friends. Is that right? What do you suppose is next for me?

Whatever you think about that, thank you for helping me get to 200 episodes, no matter how long it took. I still think about games all the time, play them almost as much as ever, am interested in new trends as well as old favorites...and feel compelled to share my opinions. It's how I came up in this hobby--hearing others' opinions. Boardgames are inherently social and communal. Perhaps it only makes sense that talking about them is a related activity.

-Mark

Opener: 7 Wonders: Architects , France's Game of the Year winner (the As D'Or)

Do you have a Top 100 list? How about just a Top Ten, and do you update it every year? I have a sort of list, but it's the same one I've had for over twenty years. In fact, I ran through it very quickly on the first episode of this podcast back in 2005! (No need to dig up that old fossil, but my show had to start somewhere. )

I've been thinking about a new top ten of more recent games, but I'm not ready with that. Perhaps that will be in a future show, because there ARE plenty of modern titles that I really enjoy. It would be fun to talk about them, in part to contrast them against the "hotness" on BGG and Kickstarter that I often can't connect with. Again...that's a future show.

In THIS episode I thought my original top ten was worth discussing all over. In some cases they are games I love just as much as ever. Others are more sentimental favorites, not really making it to the table any longer. In a few cases I think the games represented of a type of game that I still enjoy, and there are newer examples.



Closer: Fragility in boardgame mechanics

-Mark

February 1, 2022

Let me see about keeping this going. It's been a long while since I had anything approaching a regular posting schedule. No promises, but for my own sake I'd like to (re)start boardgaming and podcasting a little more often...

Opener: Five Games For Doomsday podcast

As I explained in the previous episode, I'm not yet living in a post-pandemic world. None of us are. Things have not gone back to normal. Not even "the new normal." At least, I hope not--I hope things can get a bit better, more stable, and more social than they are for me at the moment.

My boardgaming hobby is therefore in a hybrid state. Sort of like how we talk about "hybrid meetings" at my work where some people are in the office, but most are at home on their screens--my boardgaming is a mix. Much of it is still with friends (and some random people) on sites like BoardgameArena, Yucata.de, and Brettspielwelt. Other times just two or three of us manage to meet in-person for a real game night over a table, with drinks & snacks. I want the latter to take over my hobby again, but we aren't quite there yet.

Consequently, the games I discuss are a blend of ones played with friends across a table, and others played with friends on a screen. As always, I have thoughts, opinions, and questions about the games regardless of the medium.

My main thoughts are about The Adventures of Robin Hood , the Spiel des Jahres nominee from last year (in the podcast I mistakenly say Kennerspiel nominee). The story of Robin Hood is ok, I suppose, but what impresses me is the physical gameplay design of this one. I'm sure there are many great examples of this concept, but I struggled to find a good description or list anywhere. I don't just mean the bits, and I definitely don't mean sculpted miniatures (thankfully, this game doesn't have those). No, I mean gameplay that relates to the physical act of manipulating the boardgame as an object. Dexterity games do this, but they're in a different category. I mean strategy games that do this. I'd love to find more examples.

Images by Tobias Franke & Henk Rolleman

Surprising to me, thoughts about this game leaked over into thoughts about solo boardgaming in general--why I don't like it, even though I love solo wargaming. Next I play pop psychologist on myself to connect this feeling about solo boardgames to my waning interest in fiction...if I'm consuming it alone. Nonfiction is my solo experience, while I want to enjoy fictional stories/shows/games with friends & family.

Other games discussed are Isle of Cats , Bosk , So Clover! , and LaCorsa .

Closer: The game design of Wordle

-Mark

December 30, 2021

There were enough good feelings about the previous episode (both my own directly, plus your feedback) that I felt compelled to squeeze in one more episode before the year is out. So this podcast "season" can claim multiple episodes!

It's just me this time, rambling on about the year that's just passed. It's not exactly a recap of my games played, though there's some of that. Nor is it about the pandemic we're still living through, though there's some of that, too. It's just what my own 2021 was like for boardgaming. A lot of online gaming before the vaccinations meant we could game together, in-person again...but then some disappointment that we still aren't gaming across a real table as often as before. Perhaps 2022 will be better yet. We shall see.

Nonetheless, between online and in-person plays again, I really did get in some good totals this year. My quick numbers are 80 different titles a total of 126 times...and that's only counting in-person plays. I used to include online plays, which would bump that up to 135 & 291, very similar to the 100/300 numbers I would typically get in the years before the pandemic. So while it feels to me like I did less gaming in 2021 than I'd like, the numbers say that I'm doing as well as ever.

-Mark

A small, solo episode for me to talk about the boardgaming I'm doing during the coronavirus safe-at-home quarantine that so many of us are under. Mostly that means online gaming of one form another, whether a dedicated website or via videochat. My face-to-face gaming has been extremely limited, almost non-existent. I really miss it, as I miss hanging out with my friends.

Fortunately we have this technology to keep us in connection and camaraderie, even during this difficult times.

I didn't do an opener & closure in this small episode, but I did wrap up with some anticipation for the upcoming Spiel des Jahres nominations, especially the curve-ball surprises we sometimes get. The announcement comes later this month in May. Looking forward to it! There's a great geeklist where you can read everyone's guesses for games that could be nominated, adding your own ideas or giving thumbs/comments to ones you agree with.

Online boardgaming sites
BoardgameArena
Yucata.de
Boardgames Online
MabiWeb
SpielByWeb

-Mark

P.S. Just played JackBox (Drawful2) with my kids long-distance!

2019 "Best of" Geeklist

Martin G

(qwertymartin )

Patron Badge for 2009 through 2019

Martin returns to the podcast after five years to talk with me again about the year just passed. This episode we spend less time talking about the raw statistics for our games played, instead having more fun discussing a bunch of "best of" categories for the past year. Best artwork, party game, component, 2-player game, and so on. Fun to reflect on the past year in that way, and there's a special follow-along/participation geeklist for you all to use, as well.

-Mark

Opener: Skipped this part since all we're doing is talking about (mostly new) games played!

Closers: Skipped this, too, but you can think that my suggestion that listeners subscribe & participate in the Boardgames To Go guild as my unofficial closer

Geeklist: Post-BGGcon 2019 (with Greg Pettit)

(Gregarius )

[/floatright]Another year that I didn't make it to BGGcon, but of course Greg Pettit did...he's an "every timer"! Since 2010 (a decade, hmm...) Greg and I have been recording this episode after the event, whether I was able to join him or not. Greg tells us about the event, its new location, and then about a whole lot of games played. Even oldtimers like Greg & I find ourselves playing new games as well as some old favorites at an event like this. Since these are often first plays of a new game, I like to solicit "1-5 star ratings" instead of BGG ratings. What's the difference? Maybe nothing, but in my mind, stars are more of a gut feel after an early play that measures excitement to play again, as well as (or maybe more than) an analysis of a game's long-term evaluation. As Greg says, it's easier to give 5 stars to a game you just had fun with than to say it's a 10.

-Mark

Opener: Bukiet (Bloom)

Closer: BGG's new look

This isn't the first time I've attended the Origins Game Fair, one of the United States' larger national game conventions. But my previous times were once in the 1990s...and once in the 1980s! As far as we're concerned, that's a completely different era. It was before the current wave of boardgames, even before CCGs had their wave. Now in 2019 the event was dominated by our style of boardgaming, with a subset of CCGs, RPGs, and wargaming around the edges.

Those other times I attended Origins was back when it moved around--different cities in different years. I went when it was local to me, and I only went for a day or two. Now, of course, the event has its permanent home at the Columbus, Ohio convention center. To get there I had to fly cross-country, staying with friends in a rented apartment for an extended weekend. In fact, these were friends I barely knew before Origins. I knew David already, and his other two buddies I met over Skype. It's another example of what's so great about this hobby, the good people.

Partway through our time at Origins, these newfound friends & I gathered around my iPad to record our thoughts. The audio is good enough, I think. Like I always enjoy, we had some meta conversation about the convention itself, the venue, people, and overall experience. Then we dive into the games themselves. The funny thing is that we played a bunch of older games, not all new stuff. I swear I'm not responsible for this (not entirely)! These guys were as excited to play some older titles as the new hotness. We had some of both, as you'll hear (or see below).

Wednesday (travel day): Red7 , Wildlands , Blood Red Skies , El Grande , Imhotep , The King is Dead , Railroad Ink , The Mind , No Thanks

Thursday : Tigris & Euphrates , Silver & Gold , Ringmaster , Museum , Exit (Catacombs of Horror) , Cockroach Poker , LAMA

Friday : War Chest , Keltis Way of the Stones , Musketeers , Piepmatz , Wingspan

Saturday : Gnomopolis , Undaunted: Normandy , unpublished prototype, Shifty Eyed Spies

-Mark

I'll be attending Origins Game Fair this year (June 2019) in Columbus. I've been there before, but only in the 80s & 90s, so I'm sure it's substantially different now. I'll be there Thursday-Sunday, including participating on a panel of wargame podcasters/YouTubers/bloggers Sunday morning. That's listed in the program as shown below. I think it's free, and although it's about wargaming you may want to stop by anyway. The topic is the current "golden age" of the hobby, and part of what I have to say is how there are more euro-wargame crossover titles now. Some good aspects of euro design & production have made their way into wargames. I'm thinking of titles like Memoir '44 , Twilight Struggle , Academy Games' 1754/1775/1812 series , A Few Acres of Snow , and so on.

Whether you attend the panel or not, I'm happy to hand out my little BoardgamesToGo and WargamesToGo buttons to listeners. Just track me down and I should have some onhand to give away. I'll mostly be doing open gaming, I think. Drop me a note on Twitter or geekmail if you like.

Armchair Dragoons Presents Wargaming Media: State of Play
This panel featuring wargaming media personalities will discuss the current “Golden Age” of board wargaming and what can be done to ensure its survival.
Location: GCCC - Apods - A210
Date: Sunday 6/16/2019 10am (2 hours)

Opener: Silver & Gold

Closer: SdJ jury comments
• Dale Yu's 2009 interview with Tom Werneck at Opinionated Gamers
• Harald Schrapers and other jury members

It's Spiel des Jahres season. That means the speculation has happened, the actual nominees & recommended titles have been announced, and now we're just waiting on the final prizewinning selection. This doesn't matter to many people--in fact many gamers don't think it's a big deal. But it's a big deal to me and here's why: I'm a hobby gamer from way, way back. Like four decades. If you think hobby gaming is niche now, you have no recollection of what an odd corner it was in back then. Stereotyped as being full of nerdy boys and grumpy old men, that was kind of true. Game shops did not smell good. Mature romances and stable careers were hard to find.

Now, those people are still around--and they deserve their hobby, too--but I find it FAR better today that we have more diverse game groups filled with everyday people doing everyday jobs. Interesting games are on sale in bookstores, at Target, and of course online. Not everything has to have an orc in it. I don't know if the hobby IS bigger & broader, but it sure feels that way.

True, these improvements may have come around on their own. After all, formerly geeky entertainments like Game of Thrones and Marvel comics now dominate our cultural landscape. Perhaps hobby games would've developed on their own. I don't think so, however. Or, at least, it all happened much faster (and--importantly--across a broader audience) because a group of game reviewers in Germany took artistic criticism of gaming as an artform seriously. They drove their publishers to do better, and in turn the publishers were rewarded with increased business. It was a positive cycle, and we are some of its lucky recipients.

There are a lot of awards thought up & given out by all sorts of organizations. There have been some in America for decades. Yet they didn't have this impact. In fact, there were other awards in Germany, too. The Spiel des Jahres has worked like no others because it has been cultivated & maintained by a dedicated, revolving collection of game critics. Even if the lighter, more family-focused games aren't your favorites, you still benefit from their polishing of the games business. For someone like me, it's even better because I honestly love many of the titles that have won the Spiel des Jahres.

I don't love ALL of them, though. Not even close. As you'll hear, I'd say I love about a third, like another third, and don't like the final third. Close to that. This episode is a ranking of all 40 of the SdJ winners, and (briefly) what I think of them.

-Mark

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Openers: KeyForge and Lost Cities Rivals

Closers: "It's light but and I liked it" / Fillers fill me up; Do gaming statistics add or subtract from your enjoyment?

Over the many years on this podcast I've interviewed plenty of gamers, and a few designers. Apparently I'd missed talking to a publisher, however. I first encountered David Harding as an online gamer-friend, whether through Yucata.de, Twitter, or just email. We played some games together and traded messages. Somewhere along the way he became a game designer, and then a game publisher. David designed & produced Elevenses , One Zero One , and Matcha , then broadened into publishing other designers' titles. Most notably, he has produced new editions and new games from Reiner Knizia himself. Besides the well-known Medici , David and Grail Games brought us Knizia's most substantial new game in many years, Yellow & Yangtze . In fact, Grail Game has published quite a number of amazing Knizia titles.



Have you ever been dissatisfied in your day job and fantasized about being a game designer or publisher? David's story will resonate with you. Clearly it isn't easy, and it doesn't make you rich. In fact, you probably still need to stick with that day job. But there's a joy & pride in bringing thee games to the public, too, and you can hear that in David's voice and story.

Towards the end, David describes the current state of the hobby in a way that will resonate with anyone who takes a longer view. Although he's super careful to allow any gamer their own way of enjoying the hobby, personally he's the sort that appreciates repeated plays and games we can all stick with. Or even just games that he likes personally.

"Like the games you like." Good advice for all of us.

-Mark

P.S. You can tell from this podcast that David is unique, fun, and self-deprecating personality. If you want to see & hear more of his charming quirkiness, check out his Grail Games channel on YouTube .

I pushed back an interview show I have coming next* in order to open the 15th year(!) of this podcast with a solo episode. In it, I reflect a little on the podcast and (re)tell some stories about it. Then I launch into a LONG list of games I've managed to play at three recent events: EsCon 2019, SoCal Games Day #76, and an extended weekend boardgame cruise with some buddies. In those events I played a mix of old favorites, some new-to-me superfillers like I prefer, a few longer games, and some that have some hype/hotness about them. See? Even I play those trendy titles sometimes, kickstarted or not. As you'll hear, I sometimes like them!

Opener: Stories about the podcast

Closer: I always say, "Thanks for listening," and today I mean that more than ever. I wouldn't keep doing the podcast if not for the positive feedback I receive from my audience. You all make it worth the labor of love.

-Mark

* Spoiler alert! It's with David Harding , the designer/publisher behind Grail Games .

Openers:
• Orbital
• Pikoko

Chris Marling

(hairyarsenal )

Game designer, blogger, and real-life journalist Chris Marling joins me once again to talk about Essen. As he did two years ago, he had a new game launching at Spiel, so we get to hear about that. But he's also an enthusiastic game hobbyist like the rest of us, and he also talks about the event itself from that point of view. Chris loves the game fair, and has been going for quite a number of years. From that perspective, he's able to notice some shifts & changes in the hobby that affect the world's largest boardgame event itself. We talk about those, too.

Chris was there, in part, to help launch his new game, Witless Wizards . If you were there, perhaps you saw him, played a demo with him, or got your copy signed. He came home with a lot of new games, as always, and by now he's had a chance to play most of them. (Remember, Essen itself is more of a game buying event than one with lots of opportunities for actually playing your purchases.) Chris gathered up ten titles he wanted to talk about for one reason or another. Sometimes because they're great games, sometimes for other reasons. Besides the two games mentioned in our Openers (above), Chris discusses Underwater Cities , Trapwords , Narabi , Orbis , Fool , Discover: Lands Unknown , Crown of Emara , Showtime , Gnomopolis , and The Color Monster .



Closers:
• Downsizing a collection...mission accomplished!
• How does journalism tackle the current game saturation situation?

-Mark

No Openers or Closers this time, as we have so many games from the event to discuss!

Games discussed: Spring Meadow, Bärenpark, Gingerbread House, Trade on the Tigris, Age of Civilization, PitchCar, Weird Things Humans Search For, The Brady Bunch Party Game, Onitama, Sakura, Indigo, Blue Lagoon, The Arabian Pots, LYNGK, Yellow & Yangtze, Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra, Treasure Island, Northern Pacific, Micropolis, Voodoo Prince, Ticket to Ride: New York, Pantone: The Game, Tower of Madness, Dune, KeyForge, Poker, Exxtra, Passing Through Petra, Carpe Diem, Streaming, The Quacks of Quedlinburg, Trendy, The Mind, First Contact, Star Trek Panic, 1st & Roll

Geeklist: Post-BGGcon 2018

(Gregarius )

Ryan Wheeler

(Ryan Wheeler )

Just about every year, my friend & frequent podcast guest Greg Pettit joins me to talk about BGGcon. In recent years I've enjoyed the event with him, but I missed 2018. However, another friend, Ryan Wheeler, does that job this year. Greg, Ryan, and I met around 15 years ago when we all lived nearby and played regularly in our little group, the Santa Clarita Boardgamers. Of those three, I'm the only one still in Santa Clarita, California. Greg's in Texas, and Ryan's in South Dakota. While it's too bad I couldn't join them this year, I'm so happy that BGGcon is around to draw old gamer friends together like a magnet.

Greg & Ryan gave me their combined list of games played at BGGcon, and then gave each game a 1-5 star rating. That's sort of like half of a BGG rating, but really it's a measure of the eagerness for playing the games again, as well as a reflection of the experience at the time. Know what I mean? It's enthusiasm, as much as it's a measure of artistic/entertainment merit according to some "standardized" scale. Think of it this way--it's easier to enthusiastically give a game 5 stars and be excited to play again, even if you're not yet sure the game is a "10."

Whatever the stars are, the real value in the podcast is listening to these guys describe the games and their experiences with them. They played most of them together, though you'll also hear when they split up & tried different things. Along the way you'll also hear about some happenings at BGGcon that aren't strictly boardgaming--stuff like the puzzle hunt, virtual flea market, and bazaar. (No BBQ commentary this time, but I trust they enjoyed Texas' contribution to fine dining. I know I would've.)

-Mark

Openers: Root and Krass Kariert

Closers: Playing boardgames solo; Stephen Glenn's tweet about Phase 1 & 2 in our hobby:

[/floatright]

Doug Adams

(dougadamsau )

Doug and I have "known" each other via the internet for over twenty years. He, Joe Huber, and I were the three that started emailing each other to form the Desert Island Gamers (DIGers) mailing list that was a main source of boardgaming information before sites like BGG were around. Heck, we go back far enough that we knew each other from IRC chat sessions. Although the distance between California (me) and Australia (Doug) has prevented us from meeting in-person, we've kept up an irregular correspondence for all of those years. Doug was on my wargames podcast a couple years ago, and at that time I knew I had to get him on Boardgames To Go, too. He maintains his wargaming days are mostly behind him, and he's almost exclusively a eurogamer now.

When he dove into his own private, Knizia boardgaming marathon challenge, I knew straight away that this was the topic we'd discuss. Being gamers from way back, I knew he'd be exploring lots of classic Knizia titles from the 1990s. He didn't stop there, though. He played every kind of Knizia game he could, from those early titles that impressed so many of us, through some recent years when Knizia was less visible, all the way up to the present day's "Reinerssance."

Though this challenge was big enough to begin with, Doug kept adding to it as the year went on. Then he managed to actually complete this gargantuan challenge by the end of September. Amazing! I invited him on the podcast to talk about that entire experience, both the Knizia games he enjoyed, and the very nature of personal boardgaming challenges. With the new year coming soon, I bet some other gamers will be inspired to try their own challenges. More power to you.

Be sure to also check out Doug's excellent blog here on BGG, full of great photos and tidbits about the games he plays. It's called Reducing Doug's To Play List , which gives some sense of its general purpose. He posted monthly recaps of his progress through his "Great Knizia Challenge ."

A fitting reward for Doug from Dr. Knizia

-Mark

Opener: Reef

Closers: Games with Heidelberg, such as Thurn & Taxis , Web of Power , or Wallenstein (what did I forget?)





The famous Spiel game fair in Essen, Germany starts later this week. I won't be there, but that's nothing new. Like most of us, I window-shop this gathering from afar, and participate vicariously via blogs, videos, and (maybe most of all) getting excited for its arrival. Just over a week ago I commented on Twitter that I hadn't looked at the list of games at all. That was echoed by some who thought I might be "over" the buzz and hype of Essen.

I'm not. Not really.

True, I don't get quite as deep into the research and anticipation of the many games coming out. But that's mostly because it's impossible to sort through that much information about so many new games. The dynamic listing here on BGG tops a thousand titles in the database for Essen 2018. I used everyone else's anticipating (i.e. thumbs) as a guide to look through over a hundred games myself, whittling that down to about 25 that catch my eye in some way. Those are the games depicted above, and the ones I discuss in the podcast.

-Mark

Openers: Ethnos and Ganz Schön Clever (app)

Game designer David Thompson joins me to talk about most of the big game conventions in our hobby, and what they mean when you're testing or pitching designs. Of course, most of us will encounter those conventions as a player, and David talks about that experience, too. We talk about Essen (Spiel), UK Games Expo, Nuremberg, Origins, and Gencon.

Have you been to any of these? Some may be on the other side of the world from you, and would be an incredible expense (and adventure). Others could be within driving range, or at least a reasonably priced plane ticket. Maybe you want to go just to experience one of these events. Perhaps you're a real Cult of the New junkie, and you want to buy games when they are first available. Do you just want to play a bunch of boardgames? Some of these are better for that than others.

Or, heck, maybe you're an aspiring game designer, and you want to pitch some games like David does. That makes some of these working events, even business trips for you. There are some interesting differences between them for that purpose, too.

David mentions several other big cons that he hasn't attended yet: Dice Tower Con, BGGcon, WBC, PAX Unplugged (and GAMA Trade Show). Of course I've talked about BGGcon a number of times, but I'm not going to make it this year. WBC is on my list for a convention I want to attend, too.

And then...he goes on to say that his favorite convention was a regional con, Tennessee Game Days . Sounds great!

Closers: Moving to a new place (as a gamer & designer) and Freedom:The Underground Railroad and Uwe Eickert interview on Harold On Games podcast #10

-Mark

Opener: Nothing specific, since I discuss so many titles during the episode

Closer: Check out the Gravity Assist podcast that includes an interview with the project scientist for "my" spacecraft heading for Mars right now.

Perhaps foolishly, I'm posting my thoughts about the Spiel des Jahres nominees just a few hours before the actual winner in announced in Germany. Well, no matter. You may have already heard some of my thoughts about these games (as well as the Kennerspiel nominees) on a recent episode of the video series Game Night! here on BGG. On my own podcast I get to say a bit more about all of them.

I've always liked retrospective analysis of games, and here I do a little near the end, looking back five years to the Spiel and Kenner nominees for 2013. Do you remember what those were? What do you think of those picks now?

David G.

(davebo )

Greg Wilzbach

(gawilz )

Mike Mayer

(Mike Mayer )

You haven't heard from me lately (unless you subscribe to my wargames podcast), but I'm still here, still gaming. However, there HAS been a transformation in my engagement with the hobby. For the past half-year I've firmly been in the mode of downsizing my collection. Why, and why now? Well, that's some of what this podcast is about. I'm joined by three of my local gaming buddies, Dave, Greg, and Mike. Dave isn't exactly downsizing, but he's disciplined about NOT letting his collection grow. So as he gets new games, he sells off others. I'm actually shrinking my collection. The other two guys are in a different frame of mind. Greg is running out of storage space, but still wants all of his games (and more). Mike thinks anyone who wants to get rid of games is crazy. It all adds up to a variety of interesting opinions about downsizing a collection.

Bigger & better than a couple years ago, a bunch of my BGGcon buddies joined me around the microphone at an outdoor brewery table. We'd been to the Hard 8 bbq place frequented by gamers, then headed over to the Grapevine Craft Brewery. There we relaxed with a few beers and recorded some thoughts about games we'd been playing. (We even played a few games of Insider.)

You'll hear Zak, Brian, Steve #1, Steve #2, Marcin, DaveO, Eryn, Travis, Greg, Rick, Ryan, and me talk about Magic Maze, Civilization: A New Dawn, Heaven & Ale, Majesty:For The Realm, TransAtlantic, Santa Maria, Calimala, Nusfjord, Merlin, Istanbul Dice Game, Mountains of Madness, and Azul.

-Mark

Opener: Welcome to Season 14 of my podcast! (Also family gathering gaming with Take Your Pick , Raj , and Codenames )

Closers: Pimping out Wits & Wagers with the Vegas Mat ; "Mansplaining" boardgames

Geeklist: Post-BGGcon 2017

Back in November I returned to BGGcon, played a ton of games, and recorded TWO podcasts. Then the holidays, work, and family events took over. Now I'm finally getting the first one out, and I won't make you wait as long for the next one, either. This is a LOOONNNNGGGG episode, too. Not my normal approach, but this time there were lots of games to discuss with Greg. Be sure to check out the accompanying geeklist .

There's dad in summer 2016, grinning as he watches his family play a game together

-Mark

Opener: Startups

Closers: Wargames To Go (French & Indian War)

Geeklist: Essen Anticipation 2017



It's mid-October, which means it's time for my annual "Essen Anticipation" episode. I may have missed a year or two along the way, but mostly I've been doing these since I started the podcast in 2005. Along the way I think I've learned more about my own preferences, and have gotten better at homing in on just those games that will end up being some of my favorites or keepers for the year. But I'm not THAT good. I still get excited and list a lot more games than will end up being my hits of the year. Even more than I will get a chance to play soon. That's ok--this is part of the fun of the hobby, at least for me: getting excited about new games, new ideas, new (and old!) designers/publishers.

-Mark

Openers: Innovation Deluxe and Ethnos

Closers: Can a designer be their own developer? and How to leave feedback for this podcast.

One Year Purge (blog)

Regular guest of the podcast, Greg Pettit, set out to reduce his collection size. Just about all boardgamers can relate--running out of storage space, and not getting your old favorites to the table. Unlike most of us, though, he put this downsizing under a microscope, writing about it each month for a blog/geeklists that tracked his progress. More than that, they contemplated the progress. In this way, did he "murder his hope," or did he refocus on the joy this hobby can bring? That's what we talk about.

-Mark

Opener: Pack O Game (especially BOO and DIG from Set #2)

Closer: Tabletopia

As you might have seen, I was lucky enough to participate in a few recent episodes of Game Night! when the gang discussed the recent game awards: Spiel des Jahres, Kinderspiel des Jahres, and Kennerspiel des Jahres. Although I was able to share some of my opinions & experiences with the games on those videos, I have more to say on my own podcast...and here it is.



Kennerspiel des Jahres
Raiders of the North Sea nominee
Exit: The Game winner!
Terraforming Mars nominee (and my favorite)

Kinderspiel des Jahres
Captain Silver nominee
Ice Cool winner!
The Mysterious Forest nominee (and my favorite)

Spiel des Jahres
Magic Maze nominee
The Quest for El Dorado nominee
Kingdomino winner! (and my favorite)

-Mark

Opener: Aton

I'm back in California now, since my work in France is done. All told, we were there about nine months. That's a little shorter than the year originally planned, but clearly we enjoyed a wonderful experience. I was there for my job, and the job changed a bit (for the better), which is why we came home "early." All of that time was spent in Paris. It was the move to Toulouse that didn't happen. As my wife Candy says, we'll just have to go there on vacation some day.

Before we left France, however, we recorded a podcast with our good friends Melissa & Olivier. They were the first people who responded to my invitation for a Light/Short group. Not only did they become our most reliable boardgamers in the group, they also became our best friends in France. It was difficult to say goodbye, but I'm confident we'll see them again. As you'll hear, they're new to the hobby, very enthusiastic, and are starting to attend big events in the hobby. They'll return to the UK Games Expo at the end of this week, may go to Essen later, and will no doubt start attending the game events in France. If their careers bring them back to New York, then I expect we'll see them at the American game events, too.

I enjoy hearing how my friends got into the hobby, and this interview has the added benefit of Olivier's international perspective. Anyone who wishes their spouse played more boardgames will be green with envy when you hear how these two enjoy the hobby together. Wow!

Other mentions:
New York 1901 with its artwork like bande dessinée
London
Notre Dame
Risk (which originated as the French game, La Conquête du Monde )
Ticket to Ride: USA , Europe , and UK
Paris Connection
TransEuropa (Polish edition)
First Class: All Aboard the Orient Express!

French game groups & meeting places:
English Speaking Boardgamers of Paris
Cafe Meisia
Anticafé Beaubourg
Joueurs Anonymes

Say hi to Melissa & Olivier if you see them at the UK Games Expo

Closer: Our international hobby

-Mark

Opener: A light wargame! Miracle on the Loire: Joan of Arc

My buddy DaveO has been on the podcast before, talking about euro gaming at Essen, or if any games are good for five players. Like most of us, he's played an overwhelming number of strategy boardgames over the years. The didn't include wargames, though he was kind of curious about them. In 2016 he was "tricked" into going to GMT Games' Warehouse at the Weekend, and found himself first horrified by and later part of the wargaming going on there. This makes him a good ambassador to regular boardgamers who don't think in terms of hexagons, Combat Results Tables, and lines of supply. He still remembers watching "pipe-smoking history professors" stick their noses in rulebooks while little happened on their gameboards, an activity that didn't look fun at all. That's not exactly the kind of wargaming he's doing now, but DaveO definitely HAS become a wargamer. Are you wondering what all the fuss is about Falling Sky , Churchill , or W1815 ?

Whether you are looking to dive into the deep end of wargaming, or just want to see what a smaller/shorter wargame can be like, I hope this conversation between DaveO and I can give you some answers. Definitely also look at Jim Cote's excellent blog post, Wargames: Barriers to Entry . I agree with all but two points of it. Which two points? Let's discuss in the comments.

Closer: Heading back to California

Opener: Paris Connection

A quick, solo show to catch up on some things. If you've been following my (sort of) weekly session report geeklists, or on social media (twitter, facebook), you'll know that I've been boardgaming with a group I created for Monday nights in Paris. It focuses on light/short games, and has an ulterior motive--it's a good outing for couples. My mostly non-gamer wife even goes with me to these! We're having a good time, and meeting good people. Besides that, I also want to share some of my other observations about being a gamer in France, now that I'm at or past the half-way point of my time over here.

Links
English-Speaking Boardgamers of Paris (Meetup , Facebook )
Okkazeo (French used boardgame marketplace)
TricTrac
Festival International des Jeux-Cannes

Closer: (Finally) figuring out the right kind of games for the players you've got

-Mark

David Thompson

(Skirmish_Tactics )

Chris Marling

(hairyarsenal )

Opener: Mansions of Madness (2nd edition), TIME Stories, Terraforming Mars, Great Western Trail

This is really a double-episode. In the second half we talk about more Essen titles, and the experience of my two guests who attended from England. However, these aren't just any two guests--they are collaborative game designers. Their big release at Essen 2016 was Armageddon , and they tell about the experiences designing, pitching, and launching the game. Along the way there are other stories about the collaborative design process, and how those designer-publisher pitch meetings go behind-the-scenes at Essen. It's a fascinating discussion.

Then I asked them to share just a handful of particular titles they acquired and enjoyed from the event. More good stuff.


Closer: The pitfalls of looking at BGG ratings without context; the Splendor app...and its achievement system; does a game become classic when people forget the rules?

-Mark

Opener: skipped this time, because we cover so many games in the main show

My last episode of 2016 is going to (pretty much!) wrap up my coverage of BGGcon. Two more SoCal friends join me across many miles & timezones to share their experiences at the convention. It's a very game-specific episode, with many titles discussed. They're pictured below, but you really should follow along with their geeklists (linked below).

This brings another year and season of Boardgames To Go to a close. I'll definitely be back in January to kick off the next season. When I moved to France for my job mid-year, I really wasn't sure what would happen with the podcast. I knew I WANTED to keep it going, but could I? Yes! It may even be possible that I've put out more episodes than I would've at home (especially if you include Wargames To Go, which is on a roll.) Thanks to all of my listeners who stuck with me another year.

Brian's Geeklist of the following games & star ratings

Dave's Geeklist of the following games & star ratings









Closer: skipped this, too, because we talk about "meta" stuff throughout the episode

-Mark

(Gregarius )

Opener: skipped this time, because we cover so many games in the main show

As before 2014, I was not able to attend BGGcon myself, so lived vicariously through my friends there. Greg is an "every timer" at BGGcon, and many of those years we've talked over Skype afterward about the games he played there. I know Greg--he keeps a pocket notebook with him to at least record the titles he plays, and maybe a thought or two about them. Later that helps him construct a geeklist with all of those games, and a simple, first-impression 5-star rating for how he felt about the play. You can follow along to that geeklist while listening, or refer to it later if you need it.





Closer: Improving AI in boardgame apps, and the BGGcon Puzzle Hunt

-Mark

Opener: Saint Malo

The gig in France that allowed me to go to Essen last month has a downside--I had to cancel my plans to attend BGGcon. I'd attended the big event in Dallas last two years and was eager to make a third year in a row. Instead, I had to skip it this time, and follow remotely like so many others in the hobby.

(Gregarius )

Dave OConnor

(daveo1234 )

Ryan Wheeler

(Ryan Wheeler )

Spielgeek.com

(elschmear )

Rick Byrens

(civplayer )

Luckily, my buddies were willing to take a break from their fun to record a long-distance podcast with me. While they were being night owls at BGGcon's Saturday night, I woke up early in France to dial in. Several of them gathered around an iPhone and told me about their time at the event. Greg Pettit always does this with me (and that's still an upcoming episode), and he took the reins to direct a meta-conversation about BGGcon itself. Later we wrapped up with some specific game recommendations.



Closer: Light/Short/Couples Game Group in Paris , combined with Joueurs Anonymes at the Anticafé Beaubourg

-Mark

Opener: Bohnanza Das Duell

A solo episode where I get to tell stories about Essen 2016 and reflect on my own experiences there. If you followed my Twitter feed during or after the event (on my blog ), you may already know what I'm going to say.

If you've listened to my podcast for a while, you know that I like taking the long view of our hobby, looking back a decade or more to gain more context about what's happening now. In this case, I have my own personal long view to take, since I was at Essen once before, back in 2003. That was before I had a podcast, yet I still reflected on my experience in an online magazine article. I've recently re-posted that article on my blog here at BGG.

I don't think it's the best aspect of our hobby, but it's undeniable that "show us the loot" photos and lists are part of the Essen experience. There's more buying than playing at this event, as far as I can tell. Ok, here are mine:

Land in Zicht! (Dutch version of Entdecker) , Saint Malo , Mont Saint Michel , Airborne Commander , Evolution The Beginning , Hanabi promo , Happy Salmon , Astronuts , Visby , Fünf Gurken , Romans Go Home! , misc game bits, Port Royal Unterwegs! , Jolly & Roger , Camel Up Cards , Las Vegas Card Game , X Nimmt! , Bohnanza Das Duell , Futschikato , Twins , Honshu , HMS Dolores , and my Spiel coffee mug!

Closer: Light/Short/Couples Game Group in Paris

-Mark

Against my own expectations, I ended up recording a podcast WHILE I was at Spiel 2016 in Essen. My buddies DaveO and Steve joined me just outside the Messe convention hall for an open-air recording this afternoon. Now I'm editing it and posting it while on on wifi with the train back "home" to Paris. This is a seat-of-the-pants episode, just giving you a feel for what the impressions are DURING the actual event, when general impressions and incomplete information are the name of the game!

(Shoot, I forgot about my opener/closer framework AGAIN! This was MY idea! I'll get better at that.)

By the way, I also recorded a segment with Doug Garrett for HIS longstanding podcast, Garrett's Games & Geekiness. I'm just one of a few people he talks to for that upcoming episode. Check it out.





Games mentioned: Papà Paolo , Key to the City - London , Great Western Trail , Railroad Revolution , Qwixx Das Duel, Life is Life , Take That,Kuhhandel Das Brettspiel , GLÜX , World Monuments , Checkpoint Charlie , 13 Clues , HMS Dolores , Camel Up Cards , X Nimmt! , Bohnanza Das Duell ,Twins , Port Royal Unterwegs! , Fuji Flush , 23 , Mea Culpa , Area 51: Top Secret

-Mark

P.S. Maybe later I'll upload some of the photos I sent out over social media while I was there. In them meantime, you can see them all here.

http://twitter.com/BoardgamesToGo

Opener: I should've made it more clear in the audio, but the obvious opener is that I will be going Essen this year, and you can find me on Saturday afternoon at the NorthStarGames booth, Hall 3 P-103. It’s near a corner by a restaurant, and the same hall where Amigo, Z-Man, Pegasus, Stronghold, and others are. Please stop by and tell me if you listen to the podcast. I'll also be around on Saturday morning and all of Sunday, just taking it all in myself. I'm not wearing a BGTG shirt or anything, so just try to keep a lookout for this guy.

Woo-hoo! After work on Friday I hop a train to Essen! I'll arrive after Spiel closes for the evening, but hope to see some folks that evening. Then on Saturday & Sunday I get to take it all in. I'm buying a few things, but mostly I just want to experience the spectacle of it all. I was last there (my only other time) for a single day in 2003. I wrote an article about that experience for an online magazine of the time, The Games Journal. It's still there, with a photo of a younger me.

Now it's over a dozen years later, and I have the opportunity to go back. What am I excited to see? Everything, really, but for podcast purposes I made a list of a "baker's dozen" games that most pique my interest. These lists are typically personal--lists by others feature different games, and you may find some of my choices curious. You can just listen along, of course, but I've also recorded these in a geeklist . Check it out. Here's what I wrote on that list about my "process" for picking games.

Quote:

By now we know the drill... Look through BGG's Spiel (and Gencon) Previews, and flag too many titles that catch my attention. How do they grab me? Theme/setting matters, but hints about the gameplay/mechanisms (especially playing time) matter more. So does the designer and publisher.

Anything that has its roots in Kickstarter makes me instantly wary. It's not an automatic NO, but I'm so skeptical of that platform as a development tool (as opposed to merely funding), that I'll let others take the plunge first. Wait & see.

Expansions rarely grab my attention. I'm just not an expansion guy, expect for a few rare favorites (e.g. Port Royal). Similarly with abstracts--not my thing, but there are rare exceptions.

In general, my ranking of factors is

1. Publisher (which goes to development process & production quality)
2. Gameplay/mechanisms (looking for the types of games I know I like, though sometimes something unique & new. I steer clear of games rated at over 60 minutes--wait & see only, for those)
3. Designer (I'll let someone else take a flyer on a new, unproven designer...in most cases)
4. Theme/setting (I have distinct preferences toward real-world, historic subjects, and away from zombies/elves/spaceships. But I've learned from long experience that this is the least reliable indicator of whether a game will be a hit with me, alas)

Full list including many more Honorable Mentions, and some additional comments on my geeklist.

Closer: It's too long to call my honorable mentions the closer, so I guess that means it's the part where I talk about how Mars games aren't automatically on my list. Almost the opposite, really. Does it work that way for you? Is your day job uninteresting as a game subject? I think it's because we know too much about our own jobs, and any game about them falls short...but if they include all of that detail, it's too much! (Plus, it becomes work again.)

-Mark

Opener: Whoops! I recorded this little episode so quickly that I completely forgot about my new Opener/Closer framework! Ok, let's say that the opener was my intro en français. Vive la France!

The shortest episode I've done in a while, this is to "clear the decks" of boardgame session reporting before I do my traditional Essen Anticipation episode in a week or so. This year I'm going to the event, at least for the most crowded part of the weekend, and I'll be doing both Pre-Essen and Post-Essen episodes. That's the plan.

In the meantime, what have I been playing lately? Not as much in France as I'd hoped, but a special opportunity let me try one new game. Add to that the games I played at my last visit home to California for a long while.

Closer: Actually, I kind of had a closer, I just forgot to set it aside as such. At the end I mention how new Essen titles can sometimes show up in online versions, contemporary or soon after the Spiel event itself. Are there any of these for 2016? I haven't noticed, but should look harder.

-Mark

Opener: Geeklists for the podcast Season 12, my Extra appearances, and Session Reports

Just a solo show this time, something like the old "Session Report & Feedback" episodes I used to do. I wanted to get something out relatively quickly, before I make my move to France. This fit the bill, and it also let me get a show out with better sound quality. (My switch to a Mac has presented me with some challenges to the multi-person shows, whether over Skype or in the same room. I'll figure it out.)

It didn't take too much thought to come up with a unifying idea for this episode: changes. Of course my big change is the temporary relocation to France, which will have unknown impacts to my hobby. The other changes are to this podcast, which happened already--new shows are posted to the same old audio feed, but on the web they're at a slightly different location, in my Season 12 geeklist. You should subscribe to that. Also my "Extras" geeklist, which is where you'll find my guest spots on other podcasts and video shows. Finally, if you like this session report episode, then you really should be subscribing to my (mostly) weekly session reports that I post in geeklist form on BGG. Got all of that? Good!

The other changes I note are to the hobby itself. While those things can be a consternation to old farts like me, who still think in terms of email lists and 1990s German Games, these are clearly changes for the better. We sure seem to have more people playing games than ever. If Kickstarter products and mini-filled "thematic" games aren't my favorite things, I can at least agree that this rising tide is lifting all of our boats. I think so, anyway. Kickstarter produced a nice Medici reprint, and you can get more 1990s German than that! My local Barnes & Noble already had a decent game section, and now hosts a monthly public game night. The other day I went to Target to buy a game for my brother's family, and while there I was amazed at that the second-largest retailer in the US has Hanabi, Magic Labyrinth, Rolling America, Ticket to Ride, Spyfall, Qwixx, Codenames, Evolution, Catan, Machi Koro, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Forbidden Island, Dixit, Sheriff of Nottingham, King of Tokyo, and Pandemic. Probably even a few more of "our games" that I missed. Wow!

Closer: The mainstreaming of our hobby at places like Target and Barnes & Noble.

-Mark

Openers: Evolution , Bruges /The Last Spike /Treasure Hunter (also EsCon )

I know this is a subject that resonates with many gamers--having too many games. How many is too many? It differs for everyone. Even the reason to think about "too many" games differs for many people. In my case, it's a physical limitation of storage space. For other folks, it's about saving money (or using proceeds from game sales to buy new stuff). For still others, they want to focus on playing old favorites more & more, less focus on the latest new thing. I guess for most of us, it's a combination. Greg adds to his "degree of difficulty" for this effort by wanting to have an attractive visual library of games.

Greg Wilzbach

(gawilz )

I've got a medium-sized collection (a few hundred)...but I've run out of room. Greg's got a pretty enormous collection (a few thousand)...and he's also out of room. How do we decide what to downsize? Greg approaches it in terms of series, versions, or expansions, finding clusters of games he wants to keep, and how that allows him to (theoretically) release a bunch of similar series, versions, or expansions.

Closers: Getting active in the hobby community, Finding gamers after a (temporary) relocation

-Mark

Openers: Trambahn , Animals on Board

As long as I've been in the hobby, I've never taken a liking to long games. Even though I'll play for hours & hours on a Saturday, I always want that time to be spent playing many different games. Why is that?

The truth is, I've been asked that question many times and have never been able to answer it. I know what I like, sure, but on my podcast I try to analyze my own opinions & preferences. That's what I'm doing here, with the help of Eric Brosius. Eric's an interesting guy who's been gaming even longer than I have. He likes short games like I do...but he also appreciates long games. I sought Eric out to work through this topic. He told me he thought of this topic through his own life experience in the hobby, encountering different games (long & short) over the decades. His story matches my recollection that the history of the hobby had a lot of long games before Catan came along. There are long games after Catan (and some short games before it), but 1995 was a landmark year when our hobby changed.

By the second half, I have a few different ideas about why I avoid long games. Some of it is complexity or length for its own sake, without a corresponding increase in narrative depth or strategic interest. I hate that, and those games feel like a waste to me. I get more fun out of 2-4 shorter games that play in the same time. Another consideration is the mental reset that happens between games, which is nice. Still another is the "arc" of a game, with its own beginning, middle, and end. I inherently have more interest in multiple games that will have multiple strategic milestones in them.

Closers: Game design efficiency , Packing games for a family weekend

-Mark

I'm back! I'd said that my time off (the "sabbatical") was only temporary, and that I planned to return to the microphone to continue Boardgames To Go. And that's just what happened. During the year that I've been away from this podcast, I've still been playing plenty of games, which you can read about. I've been doing more wargaming, which you can hear about. And perhaps you've seen or heard me at BGGcon or on other podcasts & videocasts. Which means I was never really gone. Nonetheless, those things are different from producing my own boardgame podcast, and I'm happy to be doing that again.

To kick off my return, I'm featuring a roundtable discussion with a bunch of friends after we played a full day of Star Wars-themed boardgames. You may recall that I once grumbled about boardgame themes that were for kids (including kids that never grew up), not grown-ups. I have to admit I still feel that way about most games involving goblins, zombies, or spaceships. BUT...you're all welcome to call me a hypocrite when it comes to Star Wars. Here is where I cave. I was in 5th grade when A New Hope was released, and it may not be an exaggeration to say it changed my life. I'd decided to be a "spacecraft architect" the year before, and that's sort of what really happened in my life, but Star Wars probably sealed the deal. I remember talking with a college classmate who had a similar experience, and she grew up in Singapore. What an influence!

Back in 1977 I was everything Star Wars. My brother & I saw the film many times in the theater. I had the LED watch, the belt buckle (this was the 70s), the t-shirt, the action figures, the X-wing, the LP records... When the prequels came around my kids were the perfect age to enjoy them with me. Now that the new movies are upon us, I'm loving the fact that they're December releases, so even though they're away to college (& beyond), we can still enjoy them as a family over the holidays. Star Wars has always been an important part of my life.

What about Star Wars games? Well, yes, kind of. It took a long while for some really good games about these favorite movies to arrive on the table. I had the vintage Escape from the Death Star game, but it's not good. We played some Star Wars RPG when it came out in the 1980s, and a couple of the associated wargames. (Star Warriors was tedious, but Assault on Hoth was good.) Though I'm only a casual computer and videogamer, in the 2000s I definitely had wonderful times playing Rebel Assault , Rogue Squadron , Battlefront and others with my son. Anything we could play co-op was our favorite.

More recent years have produced quite a few family strategy games with a Star Wars subject. Oddly enough, the prequels have some of the best games, probably because that's just when Craig Van Ness and Rob Daviau at Hasbro were doing incredible things with the production capability of that mainstream publisher. Other publishers, too, however. Now we're seeing a resurgence in Star Wars boardgames, like an awakening in the Force...

I invited some friends over to play several of these titles for a Star Wars-themed game day, and then flipped on the recorder to have a roundtable discussion of them. Enjoy!

-Mark

P.S. AFTER the Star Wars game day we learned about the Black Series (aka deluxe) edition of the Risk game. It addresses most of our grumbling about the production shortcuts in the mass market edition we played...but not all of them. I'm not sure if it's worth the extra money. And I've already bought a couple MicroMachines to get figs for the Falcon and Executor in my game.

Am I back from my break? Not entirely, but I DO plan to post daily mini-podcasts from BGG.con 2015, where I'm headed tomorrow. This podcast is the first in that series, sort of a test of my new, minimalist podcasting process that I'll attempt throughout the convention. / / I also talk about two recent games, The Grizzled and Brass (the new app for iOS/Android). / / Comments on BGG are always encouraged, and look for me on Twitter & Facebook, too. If you're also attending BGG.con, please say hi if you see me & get a show button. / / -Mark (@BoardgamesToGo)

Ok, now I'm finally on my break from the podcast. I wanted this one last, odd episode as a chance to reflect on the 10 years I've been doing the show. (And as longtime listeners remember, I never really think of it as a "show." I like to think of it more as an "audioblog.")

To answer the question that keeps coming up, my break/hiatus/sabbatical won't last forever. I'm not quitting, I'm just taking a year off. Maybe it won't be that long, but the point is to take a significant break while I recharge my batteries and think about some other things. Also, I'll still be boardgaming the whole time I'm on this break, and I'll keep posting to BGG. I've enjoyed posting my Recent Gaming geeklists , and hope some of my listeners read & respond to those. I've also been having fun talking with the boardgame community on Twitter ( @BoardgamesToGo ). Come join us! You may even spy on the occasional episode of Game Night!

On this episode you'll hear me talk about envying the way other podcasts and videocasts have taken the idea of "seasons" from television and used it to frame their broadcasts. That never occurred to me in the old days, but I wish it had. Well, I've decided to retroactively apply annual seasons to all of my episodes, and put them all up on BGG in a series of geeklists. I'm really happy with how it all came out. Whether new listeners discover my old episodes, or you go back and re-listen to part of one you remember, it should now be easier. They were always on the podcast feed, but now they've got an easy place to find on the web. Also, the geeklist format has proved useful and robust for so many purposes. They're easier to subscribe to, and they're a good place for comments. I even cut & pasted my accompanying blog entries for those old episodes, putting them in the geeklist entries. I may even look into porting over some of the notable comments/discussion from those old episodes.

Yes, this may mean that the focus for writing & feedback shifts to these geeklists instead of this blog. That's ok. Blogs on BGG are nice, but they're just not as convenient for everyone as geeklists. I think this will work better for everyone.

As I've said many times, my original impetus for creating Boardgames To Go was demonstrating how do-able an amateur podcast could be. I hoped there would be more boardgame podcasts available for me to listen to on my drive, run, or whatever. It worked! Well, I know for a fact that these podcasts would've come along anyway. But if I did my small part to create some to arrive a few months earlier than they otherwise would've, then I take some small pride in that. Geekspeak/Boardgamespeak was first (Aldie is always on the leading edge!), but I'm pleased to be the Avis of boardgame podcasts. Although Aldie let Boardgamespeak lapse as he moved on to other projects, there are other podcasts besides mine that have been chugging along for years & years. Tom Vasel & Doug Garrett have each racked up over 400 hundred episodes, and Dave & Stephen have recorded over one million hours. Congrats to all! I'm happy to be in this club.

-Mark

P.S. When you listen to the end of the show, mentally replace my answer of " Pergamon " with " Tigris & Euphrates ." Much better choice.

Just as we did a couple years ago, Dave & I recorded a podcast on the way back during our boardgame road trip to play with friends in Fresno. Recorded on a smartphone in the car, there's more background noise in this one, but listeners were ok with it back in 2013, so here we go again. We talk about some of the games played, but also some behind-the-scenes stories from GameNight!, as well as Dave's work on a couple word game apps, Noodle Doodle and Tuklu.

-Mark

Like a lot of you, I keep track of the games I play, mostly to look back on and contemplate. The end of the year is the perfect time to do that, and I've been doing it since 1996 . I don't track wins or much else--mere reflecting on the games played last year (total plays & unique titles) is what I enjoy. Even though I'd like to focus on my favorites, there are just so many new, interesting games that make their way to the table. You know I'm not a Cult of the New guy, but that's not true of all of my friends.

However, this year I'm joined by someone who really DOES rack up a lot of plays of his favorites. Martin Griffiths, better known here on BGG by his username qwertymartin, plays a LOT of short card games and quite a few of his meatier favorites, too. In fact, he flat-out plays a TON of games. Unlike me, he's not including online plays, either--these are all face-to-face plays (like Davebo will respect!).

That's not the only reason I asked Martin to join me, though. He thinks deeply about games, and writes in-depth analyses of them. Besides the conversations he & his insightful buddies have on their GameChat League , Martin keeps a blog you should be reading, QWERTYUIOP , and has recently re-launched his contest for the best written game reviews, Voice of Experience . If that's not enough, check out the Cult of the Critical guild , where I believe he's a charter member.

It comes through in his writing, and Martin's own user profile has several key elements that resonate with me. Knizian elegance, Chicago Express over Le Havre, and shorter card games? Sign me up! When you get to his mini-editorial about his dissatisfaction with recent 'mainstream' euros, I feel I've found a kindred spirit! Too bad he lives halfway around the world from me.

ANOTHER episode related to BGG.con?! Well...yeah. But really, this is about a bunch of new games. In fact, this is as close as I get to joining the Cult of the New! Listeners know that's not really my style or preference, yet every year after Essen I would interview Greg Pettit about the new titles he played at BGG.con. This time, of course, I get to contribute to the conversation, too. (Actually I always do--we've been doing these shows for years--this year I just to say more .)

With both of us having plenty to say, this is a longer episode. Lots of very topical games to discuss. At the very end, though, we also do one of my favorite segments, a "where are they now?" look back at the games discussed 12 months ago. Are we still excited about them? Are you?

-Mark

I'm glad I've received good feedback about all of these BGG.con episodes, because I have TWO more. There's this one with Davebo, a look back on the con after I'd been home for a while (which also serves as a look forward to next year--I hope to return). Then a little later I'll record my traditional post-BGG.con episode with Greg Pettit where we talk about the new Essen titles we played. We kind of did that already in the daily episodes during the con, but we've each had more time to play other titles, refine our opinions, and also look back a year to consider what happened to the 2013 titles.

In this one, Dave & I reflect on what we enjoyed, what we want to do again next year, and what we would wish to do differently. Some of those I have a clear idea about, and others I'm still not sure about. In particular, I can't quite figure out what I want to do about meeting new, random people and playing new games with them. Perhaps old games with new people can be a good combo (like the Entdecker-with-BGTG-listeners idea), and new games with old friends (who can do the teaching) can also be good. I'm not sure I'll do new games with new people again. Maybe.

Hey! I'm really asking for feedback this time. Dave & I asked several questions, and we want your feedback. I'm giving away podcast buttons as little prizes. If you win, you get a Boardgames To Go button, a Wargames To Go button, or both if you want!

Button contests!!
1. Best answer: What game SHOULD I have played (geeklist )
2. Best answer: Suggestions for the upcoming (March!) BGTG 10-year anniversary (geeklist )
3. Randomly chosen: A commenter on this blog (below)
4. Randomly chosen: A commenter on Facebook (facebook.com/BoardgamesToGo )
5. Randomly chosen: A commenter on Twitter (@BoardgamesToGo )

Plus a couple more for Dave's questions:
a. Best answer: How did you make the convention shuttle work for you? (comment below)
b. Randomly chosen: When did you listen to the daily episodes? Right away or later? (geekmail to Dave )