- 58 minutes 33 seconds#367: One vs. Many
We play a lot of games. Which is great, because a lot of games get made, and we get to play them ... but it does come at the cost of always having to learn (and teach) something new, grappling with rules, and gets in the way of enjoying the game. Would it be better if we just devoted ourselves to one game? Before we join a Mahjong club, we talk about Wingspan Pocket, Greylune, and Marrakesh.
01:53 - Wingspan Pocket 09:16 - Greylune 19:11 - Marrakesh 36:53 - Sticking with one game
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13 August 2026, 10:07 am - 1 hour 9 minutes#366: Collaborative Draft: Games of 2017
We're back to collaborate (and listen) to figure out together what the best games of 2017 were. Are? It's a collaborative draft, and if you haven't heard one of these before, get ready for an honest to goodness mess. Before we draw up treaties, we talk about Prosciutto and Melon Game, and Steel Driver.
03:00 - Prosciutto and Melon Game 12:24 - Steel Driver 22:26 - Best games of 2017 25:35 - Calimala 30:48 - Ethnos 34:15 - The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 39:37 - Nusfjord 42:39 - Sidereal Confluence 46:35 - Startups 48:44 - Codenames: Duet 51:12 - Heaven & Ale 52:51 - The Quest for El Dorado 56:15 - Rumble Nation 58:09 - Azul 1:03:03 - Iberian Gauge 1:04:21 - Cursed Court
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30 July 2026, 9:23 am - 59 minutes 54 seconds#365: Gen Con 2026 Preview
Gen Con is Gen Coming, so we're looking in our wizard's glasses to tell you what's what. Whether you're going or not, you're gonna want to know what the hot games are, and we've got you covered. Before we Indianapolize, we talk about Koinobori, Compania, and Mood Swings.
02:32 - Koinobori 09:50 - Compania 19:52 - Mood Swings 25:39 - Gen Con preview 24:57 - Prague Unseen 28:27 - Triangulation 30:24 - All Mine! 32:25 - Hell of a Deal 34:51 - Night at the Zoo 36:22 - Stonk Market 39:45 - Bullseye 41:57 - Jibber Jabble 44:38 - The Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict 46:05 - Revenant 48:11 - FaeKin 49:32 - Mythologies 50:18 - World Order 52:28 - Greylune 57:22 - Corps of Discovery Duo
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16 July 2026, 12:33 pm - 1 hour 10 minutes#364: Mechanism Matchup
There are two board game mechanisms you just can't escape, they're on everyone's mind, flooding the discourse. That's combat, and card draw mitigation. Everyone won't stop talking about them. So we had to weigh in too, not just with what we feel are the best examples of games that have done them best, but some other quirky takes on them too. Before we mitigate our card draws, we talk about Rolling Deep, Eureka!, dnup, and Grinivil.
03:59 - Rolling Deep 15:12 - Eureka! 16:48 - dnup 24:48 - Grinivil 40:10 - Combat mechanisms 41:07 - Kemet 45:00 - Dune 48:40 - Shogun 52:42 - Forbidden Stars 53:51 - Dead Reckoning 54:48 - Gloomhaven 55:12 - Card draw mitigation 56:09 - Dark Pact 57:19 - La Granja 58:26 - Glory to Rome 59:58 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 1:02:07 - Race for the Galaxy 1:02:57 - 7 Wonders Duel 1:06:28 - The Vale of Eternity
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2 July 2026, 9:49 am - 1 hour 34 seconds#363: The Dark Depths of Mailbag
It's been a while since we've plumbed the depths of the bottomless chasm we call "fanmail", so this week we're reaching our hands as far as we can and pulling out some questions that have yet to see the light of say. Before we dig too greedily and too deep, we talk about Politrickers, Marvel Champions: The Card Game, and Banana Governance.
02:19 - Politrickers 10:47 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 19:13 - Banana Governance 30:33 - Minimum expectations with new players? 40:59 - "Late to the Party" games? 47:19 - Stuff that we're looking forward to! 47:45 - The Danes 56:57 - Purple Haze
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18 June 2026, 8:32 am - 57 minutes 58 seconds#362: Hot Takes About Board Games
The people demand takes, so get 'em while they're hot. We're weighing in on some possibly bad, certainly edgy opinions, and deciding where we land (spoiler: we're always right). Before we get heated, we talk about Diplomacy: The Golden Blade, and Cozy Stickerville.
01:46 - Diplomacy: The Golden Blade 12:33 - Cozy Stickerville 25:41 - Hot takes! 26:11 - Co-op games are just single player games with an audience 32:01 - Catch Up mechanics ruin competitive integrity 37:39 - Legacy games are a predatory waste of money 41:22 - If a game takes more than 30 minutes to teach, it's a bad design 45:56 - Player elimination is actually a good mechanism 47:36 - Hidden victory points are a cowardly design choice 51:38 - Gateway games Like Catan or Monopoly should be actively avoided 52:44 - House ruling a game means you bought the wrong game 53:10 - Theme is a myth 54:13 - Kickstarter deluxe editions are actively ruining the hobby
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4 June 2026, 11:11 am - 1 hour 7 minutes#361: Collaborative Draft: Games of 2016
We had such fun collaboratively coming up with our definitive Top 50 list back in December, that we've decided to do it again. In the spirit of award season, we're celebrating the games of yesteryear, or yester-ten-years to be precise. It's the definitive best games of 2016, as decided cooperatively by us! Before we come together, we talk about Shady Lady, In the Shadows: Resistance in France 1943 - 1944, and Duel for Cardia.
03:02 - Shady Lady 09:58 - In the Shadows: Resistance in France 1943 - 1944 20:25 - Duel for Cardia 27:12 - Games of 2016 32:28 - Krazy Wordz 35:00 - New Angeles 37:20 - The Oracle of Delphi 39:50 - Great Western Trail 42:06 - Scythe 44:40 - Fuji Flush 46:38 - A Feast for Odin 51:42 - Insider 53:48 - Inis 55:57 - SiXeS
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21 May 2026, 12:11 pm - 59 minutes 15 seconds#360: Guessing Golden Geeks Galore
It's long been said that we're the foremost experts in knowing which way the awards winds blow, so we're putting our talents to use guessing, nay, predicting, nay, deciding who the winners in the Golden Geeks are going to be. Before we geek out, we talk about Chronicles of Crime: 2400, Quarto, and Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon.
04:07 - Chronicles of Crime: 2400 12:00 - Quarto 16:13 - Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon 30:16 - Golden Geeks 2025
Travel Games UK: https://www.travel-games.co.uk/
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7 May 2026, 10:03 am - 59 minutes 7 seconds#359: Top Brass
There are big spiky moments that happen in the meta that is the board game hobby, and the Brass: Pittsburgh crowdfunding campaign feels like one of them. It is after all, a successor to the #1 ranked game on BGG. That's something! Enough so that it sent Mark into a bit of an existential spiral, and we're here to talk him down. Before we catch a falling Wallace, we talk about Hummingbirds, Fendo, and Soothsayers.
06:59 - Hummingbirds 14:44 - Fendo 18:53 - Soothsayers 29:23 - Brass: Pittsburgh crowdfunding
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23 April 2026, 8:52 am - 1 hour 1 minute#358: Our Listeners' Top 20 Board Games of All-Time 2026
Oh man, oh man, it's time that we ask you (yes, you) to tell us (yes, us) what your favourite games are, because for one time a year, it doesn't matter what we think about games, but you better be ready to tell us what you think about games. A lot of you did, so here it is, the listener top 20! Before we ask you to do all the work, we talk about Emberheart, Gods & Mortals, and Feya's Swamp.
01:30 - Emberheart 14:11 - Gods & Mortals 23:46 - Feya's Swamp 37:14 - A Feast for Odin 37:55 - Agricola 38:32 - Terraforming Mars 39:17 - Guards of Atlantis II 40:09 - Concordia 42:05 - Tigris & Euphrates 43:16 - Blood on the Clocktower 44:00 - El Grande 44:47 - The Castles of Burgundy 46:12 - Inis 47:38 - Race for the Galaxy 48:06 - Arcs 49:08 - Ark Nova 49:30 - Root 50:06 - Innovation 51:11 - Spirit Island 52:05 - Ra 52:51 - Brass: Birmingham 53:26 - Dune: Imperium 54:04 - Hansa Teutonica
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9 April 2026, 11:43 am - 1 hour 8 minutes#357: We Played a Mass of Games!
We made it back in one piece, and all told I think we did pretty well! We got through a heck of a lot of what we wanted to play, and we're here to tell you all about it - including Dark Pact, Totally Human, and Banana Governance, and more!
02:36 - Totally Human 14:04 - Dark Pact 20:56 - Gold Country 28:21 - Staked! 32:58 - Secret Tribe 41:34 - Habemus Papam 50:11 - 3 Chapters 55:22 - Banana Governance 01:02:29 - Hellapagos Submit your games for the Listener Top 20 at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/top20
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