It’s the grand finale of the event of events that is the BGB Top 50 Games of All-time! These are our ten absolute favourite games, and, fittingly, it’s a bumper episode with more than one surprise. Joining us in the peanut gallery this week, it’s none other than the manic imp of Shut Up & Sit Down himself, the absolute mad genius that is Tom Brewster. Buckle in, it’s going to get weird.
The split between Eurogame and Ameritrash gamers is as old as it it is silly, but in the last ten years it’s also become a lot more nebulous. It’s less clear than ever which side of the fence games fall on, so why still use these archaic labels at all? Maybe it’s time for a change. Before we heal the divide, we talk about Hostage Negotiator, Juicy Fruits, Sleeping Gods, and Witchstone.
If you’ve ever been a board game host, then you know it’s not always just about playing games, it’s about creating lasting memories for everyone playing. We’d never leave that to chance though, so of course we’re often going out of our way to make a board game experience memorable. Before we do the unforgettable, we talk about Khôra: Rise of an Empire, Dune: Betrayal, and Santa Maria.
We often talk about the burden of rules, and how in some of our favourite games, they just get out of the way. But when is that burden worthwhile; what makes the price of a heavy rules overhead worth paying? Before we maximize our returns, we talk about Crash Octopus, Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition, Imperium: Classics, and Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile.
Mark’s trying to get us all into something he calls “sports”, so as a compromise, we’re doing a fantasy board game draft! We’re going to pick games from the BoardGameGeek Top 100, until we each have five. Then YOU get to vote on whose draft is best, for a chance to win $50! Before we play to the crowds, we talk about Azul: Summer Pavilion, Roads & Boats, Ruthless, and Cthulhu: Death May Die.
We played a double feature of legacy games for Cinco de Ocho Dos, which got us thinking about how our thoughts on legacy mechanics might have changed since the heady days of young Board Game Barrage. Before we open that box, we talk about Bonfire, Nidavellir, and The King’s Dilemma.
Wow! We asked for your top twenty lists, and boy did you deliver. We’ve crunched the numbers on the hundreds of submissions, and created what we think is the definitive list of BGB listeners’ favourite board games. Now let us tell you how we think you did. Before we outsource our work, we talk about Santa Monica, Steam Works, and Cthulhu: Death May Die.
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.
We asked for your questions, and you provided! Some of you used Instagram, some of you used voicemail, but however you reached out, your voice was heard. We chose only a few to answer (quality notwithstanding), but we’d love to keep doing this, so keep sending them in! Before we corral your correspondence, we talk about Gloomhaven, Terra Mystica, Bloom Town, and Starlink.
There’s only so much space on our shelves, so games don’t always stick around forever, but that doesn’t always mean that we don’t like them. There are many reasons that a good game might get the boot, so let’s talk about them. We count down our top five favourite games we got rid of! Before we pay our respects, we talk about Through the Desert, Lords of Hellas, Troyes, and Watergate.