The end of the year draws nigh, so of course we have to do a year-end countdown. All five of us - even the near-mythical Jayson - have prepared a list of our five favorite games from The Year That Was - enjoy! We argue about what a game's name means because of a (missing?) apostrophe Frank teaches Jayson the lore of the Mothman All of Frank's choic…

Happy post-Halloween! Now that everyone's hopped up on sugar (and/or in a sugar crash coma), let's finish our discussion of party games! Come along as we discuss: Mike's greatest weakness - a limited knowledge of Campbell's Soup varieties! What game company was founded because of a flooded salmon boat? "They're Belgian, but that's French enough." (…

Hi folks! We're back this month to talk about party games, though the last week or so hasn't been as much fun as we'd like. Between scheduling issues and hurricane-induced power outages, this episode was a bit rushed; as a result, it's ended up a bit on the short side, so we hope you'll forgive us. Also, instead of begging for an iTunes review this…

Remember way back in Episode 33, when we talked about two-player games but excluded fighting and war games because there were too many? Now is when we finally talk about the fighty ones! Join us as: Brian's tongue stops working. We talk about chess - good chess channels on YouTube, weird chess games on forums, and absolutely bonkers chess games on …

It's time for another deep dive - this time into the collected works of Czech game guru Vlaada Chvátil (whose name we hope we pronounced mostly right most of the time, but no promises). Join us as: We examine some of the...questionable design choices of Vlaada's first board game. We talk about the metallic composition of these famously flimsy early…

Hello all! We have a lot of games to get through this month, so everybody please take your turn promptly. But how do we know whose turn it is? Listen and find out! Mike happily admits that he would rather watch crappy anime than good movies and TV. Brian explains the original rules to History of the World about four times, and eventually gets them …

Welcome back! This month, we're concluding our deep dive into Kingdom Death: Monster. This episode focuses more on who should consider KD:M (and who shouldn't), the logistics of getting it to the table, and what impacts it's had on the board game industry. Start playing KD:M so you can look forward to building things like this! If you prefer miniat…

Buckle in - we decided to try something a little different this month (and next month, because as usual we can't shut up once we get started). We're doing a deep dive on a single game, and we're starting with the legendary Kingdom Death: Monster. If you're interested in the game, you can look forward to two episodes full of discussion and commentar…

Let's talk about not talking! This month, we discuss games in which you have to use things other than words to communicate with your teammates. Highlights include: Charades may be older than we thought, but maybe not as old as BGG says it is. Frank's favorite part of Inkognito We delve into the historical era of...2009?...as Frank breaks the rules …

We're back with more adorable animals (and some that you may not think of as adorable, but that's just, like, your opinion, man). This month's selection includes: Scythe With Wolves, or, The Dangers of Peer Pressure A lovely, solid game that just feels a little...icky Mike gets to make a picture panorama! The fox experiment that inspired The Fox Ex…

Wildlife games! They're full of adorable meeples, heartwarming themes, and...interesting mechanics (which lead to some differences of opinion between us and the mainstream). Come join us as we talk about: Big chonky animeeples! We stump Frank on a Phil Eklund game, which turns out to not belong in this episode at all. Possibly the most useless inse…

Happy New Year, everybody! To kick things off right, here's an episode looking at all the cool games we're hoping to play in 2024. It's full of plenty of laughter, largely because of the maniacal giggling of Curtis, our newest cohost! Among the things we're laughing at: This map from The Stifling Dark amuses Joe. There is much wailing and gnashing …

Happy December, everybody! It's time to conclude our year-end wrap-up episode, during which we each count down our top 5 games or game-related things from the year that was, from #5 to #1. We covered our #4 and #5 entries last month, so here are our top 3 from 2023, including several unexpected entries. You'll also hear: Frank continues to assure u…

Welcome, everybody! It's time once again for our year-end wrap-up episode, during which we each count down our top 5 games or game-related things from the year that was, from #5 to #1. ...or rather, from #5 to #4 this episode, with the rest coming next month, because BOY, do we like to talk about games. Highlights (and/or lowlights) include: Use Th…

Happy spooky season, everybody! It's October, which means it's time for a horror game playthrough. This time, Frank brings us Hotel Lovecraft, an audio-powered paragraph-style game from Story Master's Tales. We've trimmed the game down to make for a reasonable episode length - and we got a few rules wrong along the way, to be honest - but hopefully…

It's time for another game designer interview! Kyle Rowan is the lead game designer at Wyrd Games and the main brain behind last year's smash hit Vagrantsong. In addition to talking about how Vagrantsong came to be and the exciting pair of expansions coming up on Kickstarter, we discuss: The game's esoteric set of inspirations, including the works …

We're back with even more SCIENCE! The nerdery continues as we discuss more recent science-themed board games, and offer such tidbits as: "BoardGameGeek - full of lies." - Joe Streeky, 2023 A brief digression on the interior starship lighting design of Picard season 3. The cards in Space Race mix English and iconography, but for why? The overarchin…

SCIENCE! It's certainly closer to our areas of expertise than sports. In fact, Mike (a science teacher) says a lot of impressive-sounding science words when discussing various games, which some of you may understand. In addition: Smog plumes! Didja ever notice that most "evolution" boardgames are actually "intelligent design" boardgames? The most t…

WARNING: This episode is cursed. We had to record it (or parts of it) no less than three times, and we still had Frank drop out unexpectedly for a few minutes. (Don't worry, he didn't say anything important.) But it's here now, and it's full of sports games! Rotisserie Baseball! Electric Football!! SO MUCH GOLF!!! Tipp-Kick, still going strong afte…

More paragraphs! More stories! More smart-assery! More great quotes like: "Yay for Finns!" "Like Tales of the Arabian Nights, but much better." (!!!) "The story is a lot more...wordful." "I'm not the final boss..." "Frank gets a point for Arc Knight Miniatures, which I don't know if we even talked about on the episode." Welcome to all of our new li…

To listen to our new episode, read paragraph 234. To listen to our original paragraph games episode, read paragraph 191. 234: You listen to a podcast in which: Jayson scores 3 points with a single game. Joe's discussion of Awaken Realms games becomes a meditation on time and aging Germany (and KOSMOS, specifically) steal Frank's and Brian's childho…

If this is the expansion to our first expansions episode, does that make it an Expansionception? We find Joe's definition of Hell. Mike and Joe dislike the Venus Next expansion for several reasons, but mostly because they're 12 years old. Frank introduces us to The Death Book, an essential expansion which has no effect on the rules or play of the g…

Hi folks! Are you enjoying our podcast? Do you want even MORE of our podcast? Good, because here's the first part of our Expansion episode, wherein we talk about the first, worst, and best game expansions in our experience. Discussions include: What was the first expansion? This thread on the Geek suggests that Frank's choice (and thus ours) may be…

Happy New Year! Last month, we took a look back at our favorite gaming things from 2022; this month, we're talking about some of the games we're looking forward to in 2023. Contents include, but are not limited to: Jayson sounds very, very sad post-sinus surgery (but he's doing fine now, promise). Donations of giant mecha or plastic miniatures shou…

50 episodes? Who'da thunk it??? Regardless, thank you for your support, whether you've been with us since the beginning or are just joining us for the first time. We wouldn't keep doing this without you! This month, we take a look back at our favorite gaming things from 2022 - mostly, but not exclusively, board games. Among them: Jayson says, "I do…

Happy day-after-Halloween! First off, next month will be EPISODE 50, and we'd love to hear about anything you'd like us to cover in that momentous episode. Whether it's a game or a topic you've always wanted us to cover, or something we're all terribly wrong about, email us and let us know! Or, if you like, record a question or comment, send it to …

It's a blast from the past with an eye towards the future, as we look back at the new developments in computer-assisted and app-enabled board games since way back in Episode 3. In this episode: Frank risks death...possibly by crossbow. Space. What is the minimum that a board game needs to qualify as "app enabled"? (Joe says "a timer with music, but…

More rolling! More moving! More Sandi! Less Careers! It's part two of Roll-and-Move Games, wherein you can hear about: "Ice cream and pizza are OP, plz nerf." Frank calls this the best roll-and-move ever made. This picture may help you understand Nizza. "German games have to be based on a city" Spreadsheet wars! Art books! One of Mike's former favo…

We've threatened it long enough, so we hope you're prepared for this - it's the Roll-and-Move episode! (Well, the first half of it, anyway...we have a lot to say.) Sandi fills in for the absent Joe as we discuss: Careers Careers for Girls ("Most Condescending Game Ever") Careers for World War II British Military RPG Characters Careers for Dinosaurs…

Hello again! A lot of what's going on in the world right now is Not Fun, but we're going to soldier on and return to our our look at deck-building games and what's happened in the genre since our first episode ever. This one may, at times, sound like the Renegade Games episode, but we promise we're not sponsored by them. (Not that we'd turn down so…

Hi folks! It's time to jump in the Wayback Machine, revisit our very first episode, and see what's changed in the world of deckbuilders since 2018! Don't worry, we still have plenty of ideas for new episodes, but we're going to look back at older episodes occasionally to see what we missed the first time around and what new hotness has been release…

And now, the thrilling conclusion of our Boss Battlers episode. Featuring: Even more games that we've talked about a lot before...but also some new ones! What dramatic moment did The Little Mermaid (the Disney movie) borrow from "The Call of Cthulhu" (the Lovecraft story)? A not-Diablo, a not-Shadow of the Colossus, a not-Zelda, and a game that's A…

Happy April! No fooling from us, just the first half of a loooong episode about Boss Battlers. Featuring: Frank telling us about an obscure game that's long out of print...or is it? Brian revealing his woeful ignorance of anime, which amuses Jayson no end Joe spending the entire episode trolling Frank (with an assist from Jayson) The proud history …

Hi folks! We're here again to deliver unto you a podcast episode about pick-up-and-deliver games! In addition to the insightful (?) game information you've come to expect from us, this episode includes: Continued arguments about train games! Mike being woefully uninformed about the transportation standards of the tin industry! Ye Olde Clairol Dwarf…

Welcome to February! In honor of the shortest month, we've created a "lightning round" on the topic of our favorite word games. We hope you find some new favorites, and/or tell us about some of your current ones! Referenced in this episode: Vincent Price (yes, that Vincent Price) does a commercial for a boxed version of Hangman (yes, that Hangman).…

As promised, here's a little bit of bonus content from our 2021 wrap-up episode, with a little commentary on the games we DIDN'T discuss in that episode, as well as a look ahead games we're especially looking forward to in 2022. Included in this mini-sode: We discuss Jayson's latest obsession, which is now becoming a board game, plus another game h…

Happy New Year! We mean it this time...no, really...please? This month we're taking a look back at the good times in 2021 - yes, there were some - as we discuss our favorite games from the past year. We also have some additional material on the games we DIDN'T discuss, as well as a look ahead to 2022, but Your Humble Editor is tired enough that tha…

Happy winter holiday(s) of your choice! If you're having trouble fitting everything you need to do this month into your calendar, listening to our discussion of spatial arrangement games...well, probably won't help, but hopefully it'll at least be entertaining, and might even provide some last-minute gift ideas. We ask and answer many questions in …

Hi folks! We're back to talk about the cumbersomely-named "simultaneous selection games," which covers everything from Rock-Paper-Scissors (and its ancient antecedents) to Gloomhaven. Your Humble Editor had a pretty rough month, so the audio on this one may likewise be a bit rougher than usual, but hopefully it's not too bad. Thanks for understandi…

For a lot of us, the past year and a half has been kind of a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey blur. To celebrate (?) that, here's an episode on some games that use time travel as a mechanic, not just a theme. Sadly, Jayson was not able to join us for recording in this particular timeline, but we talk about him anyway. Learn what game Frank thought was so…

Hey, you know how we mostly talk about games we like on this show? Well, here's a change of pace for you! That's right, here's an entire episode on games we think you shouldn't play - either because they're unplayable as written, wracked by production errors, or just really, really bad. Don't give up hope, though - we do have recommendations for be…

Hi! It's us again! (Well, "us" minus Mike but plus Sandi.) This month we're talking about tech trees and skill trees, two similar sets of mechanics that Frank has been a little obsessed with lately. There are lots of 4X games and lots of dungeon-crawling campaign games, plus a few others we snuck in here and there. Plus more opinions, sass, and sto…

It's been a long time, but this episode was recorded with us all live in the same room! In other words, we were all WORKING in the same PLACE, which may give you a hint as to the topic of this episode (if you haven't, you know, read the title already). We learned fun things like what game Sandi would rather bleed from the eyes than play, what game …

We're playing board games again! In the same physical space as each other! Vaccinations - another win for science! In this episode, we discuss the games that we're most looking forward to playing - on a real physical table in someone's house! Also, we ask timeless questions like: What game does Frank describe as "Wheel of Fortune, the legacy board …

We recorded this back on Valentine's Day, but it's taken us this long to release it, so...well, enjoy some two-player games for Cinco de Mayo, maybe? In this episode: Sandi has a crossbow! Frank tells us about a game that made him bleed. (This is not related to Sandi having a crossbow...yet.) Mike single-handedly revolutionizes the history of agric…

Roll and Write games! Yet another surprisingly contentious topic, but we went ahead anyway. This definitely wasn't planned as an April Fool's episode, but I have to admit we get a little foolish at a couple points here. (Also, apologies for Mike's audio, as he was fighting with an uncooperative dishwasher.) Mike reveals the depth of his Avengers lo…

We're back to talk some more about some of our favorite tie-in games (and slightly less about Jodorowsky's Dune). We continue our tradition of not knowing what the heck we're talking about, as an off-mic Sandi corrects Frank's gross misunderstanding of the Witcher's fundamental nature. This episode also encompasses virtually all of Jayson's childho…

It turns out we REALLY like talking about the universes and stories that we love. So much so that this episode on book/TV/movie tie-in games has grown to expand into two episodes, mostly because we won't shut up. Hopefully this experiment doesn't drive you too crazy. It also turns out that, while we like these things, we don't know as much about th…

Happy New Year! Congratulations on surviving 2020 with enough mental fortitude to listen to a podcast about board games! To celebrate the (hopefully positive) change in the calendar, we're talking about games where the board changes as you play. You'll hear us say things like: "Sometimes you just wanna go punch your friends in the face." "In 2003, …

2020 - what a year, huh? After everything else it's thrown at us, it managed to give us a last-minute technical glitch that made this episode several days late. We're sorry - thanks for bearing with us! Amazingly, we were still able to come up with an hour's worth of discussion about good things that happened in 2020, as well as a glimpse at what w…