It’s the big one! We’ve come at last to the grand finale of the Board Game Barrage Top 50 Games of All Time … Top. Ten. Baby. These are our absolute favourite games, forty (thirty?) all together, that we’d just about never turn down a game of. If you’ve made it all the way here, thanks for joining us on this ride, it’s been wild.
Hot days call for hot questions! To counter the California heat wave, we get breezy with a round of hot questions. We take a long hard look at games we love, but don’t play, and give our takes on the theme to end all themes. Before we get heated, we talk about Ctrl, New York Zoo, and Renature.
Some board games (and board game podcasts) thrive on chaos, which absolutely isn’t the same thing as randomness. All of this has happened for a reason, it’s just … hard to tell what those reasons are exactly. Before we blame the butterfly, we talk about Path of Light and Shadow, Jixia Academy, and Chaos in the Old World.
Once loved board games will often circle back into the limelight with reprints, but we’re also starting to see a lot more get remasters and remakes too. We take a look at this trend, and discuss some re-imaginings our favourite board games, whether it’s a full on new version, or just a new coat of paint. Before we re-re-re-repeat, we talk about Cities: Skylines, Colorful, and Maharaja.
Here it is, the episode you’ve all been waiting for, the grand finale, the culmination of five weeks of episodes. These are our top ten favourite board games of all-time, games that we absolutely adore, and would happily play at a moment’s notice. Heck, we’d even play the games on each others’ lists … on, you know, birthdays and special occasions. That’s how good they are.
It’s getting close now, can you feel it? Or are you just feeling sore from the game you just lost? We’re talking sore losers and sore winners: people who are hard to be around when they lose or win a game. What can you do to avoid being that person, and what games bring out the worst in us? Before we fight our feelings, we talk about Paris: New Eden, Glory to Rome, and No Swap No Pay.
Uh oh, you’re not enjoying the game you’re playing. Now what? Is it okay to excuse yourself? Maybe it’s better that you just call it rather than continue to have a bad time. This week we’re talking about scenarios where some or all of the players of a game might decide it’s better to bounce than to wallow in misery. Before we make an early exit, we talk about SEAL Team Flix, Paranormal Detectives, and I’m the Boss.
Mark Rosewater, head designer for Magic: The Gathering, defined three player archetypes back in 2002, and we figured it’d be fun to see how we can apply them to, not just board games, but your three beloved hosts. We look into what makes a Timmy, Tammy, Johnny, Jenny, or Spike tick, and try to find some board games each might like. Before we profile ourselves, we talk about FlickFleet, Québec, and Ra.
Letters! You love writing them, and we love reading them! This week, we look at portable and licensed games, why reviewers love social games, and give advice for your first board game convention. Before we break out the letter opener, we also talk about Fool!, Aerion, and Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar.
It’s all well and good playing the newest, hottest games, but that doesn’t stop us wanting to go back to some of the old goodies. We’re counting down our top five games we want to revisit, to enjoy once more as we did in our youth. Relatively speaking. Before we get all wistful, we also talk about Eye My Favourite Things, On Tour, and Dune.