Boardgames To Go

Micro-episode for the next round of voting. Vote here! https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/328714/boardgames-go-season-20-2024?itemid=10561730&commentid=12070025#comment12070025

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

The third micro-episode of the podcast talks about the predictions that are now locked-in and the voting that we're all just starting. Follow the link below and subscribe to that geeklist where it happens. https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/312399/boardgames-go-madness-2023-battle-award-winners Quick LinksGet Embed PlayerDownload Audio File

The SECOND micro-episode of the podcast that spreads the news and encourages folks to enter predictions & make votes in a 64-title, single-elimination contest between award-winning boardgames. https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/312399/boardgames-go-madness-2023-battle-award-winners

The first micro-episode of the podcast that spreads the news and encourages folks to enter predictions & make votes in a 64-title, single-elimination contest between award-winning boardgames. https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/312399/boardgames-go-madness-2023-battle-award-winners

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 EsCondido, 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

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

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

We all know last year's event was cancelled due to covid, but late in 2021 BGGcon was back on! I ended up having to cancel my own plans to attend, but "every-timer" Greg Pettit was there. And he's back on my podcast to discuss. What a good reason to finally issue another episode!

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 ============================================================ ============================================================ ============================================================

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?