There are two good ways to create engagement in a board game: One is to let the player feel like they’re achieving something constantly, the other is to keep them feeling like any wrong move could tank their game. We’re dubbing this the “thriving to barely surviving” spectrum, but first, we need to figure out where some of our favourite games fit on it. Before we surthrive, we talk about Carnegie, Divvy Dice, and Underwater Cities.
Now we’re getting into the thick of it, in fact some are calling it the most ambitious Part II released in any medium. It’s the Board Game Barrage Top 50 Games of All Time! We’re in our thirties (even if we wish we weren’t) and it’s full speed ahead. That’s forty(ish) more games, and ten spots closer to the grand finale. Now that we’ve got this train going, there’s no stopping it.
It’s here at last, the big event! Yes, it’s the first episode of the yearly ritual we inventively call the Board Game Barrage Top 50 Games of All Time. And this year, for the first time, the Blue Tank, Christina is weighing in too. That’s forty incredible games to kick us off! Join us in the weeks ahead as we sing the praises of our absolute favourite board games, because we’re just getting started.
Put on your thick socks, wrap yourself in a blanket, and get comfortable with us in front of the fire. We’re using our patent pending formula (aka BGBBOB) to find the best heart warming comfort games. Twelve board games enter, and … twelve leave, but arranged in the scientifically correct order. Before we get comfortable, we talk about The Castles of Tuscany, Cooper Island, and SCOUT!
It’s an awful notion, but bear with me. What if you lost your entire board game collection, and had to rebuild it from scratch? Here’s the catch, you only have one hundred dollars. We try to predict what the Red Tank would do, before he talks us through what makes the cut, and why. Before we rebuild, we talk about 5211, Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan, and Cóatl.
Slow and steady might win the race, but it doesn’t make for an exciting board game. Pacing is a vital component of most entertainment mediums that doesn’t often get applied to board games, so we’re going to climb and climb and climb and climb … and then rapidly descend down the roller-coaster of emotion that makes for some of our favourite games. Before we set the pace, we talk about Bus, The Game: Quick & Easy, and Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun.
Sometimes you have a little gap of time between larger, heavier games, and what you need is a palate cleanser, which brings us to the realm of games we lovingly call “fillers”. We kick off the very first Ranked Duel Battle of the Boards (definitely not the final title) by ranking our favourite filler games! Before we pass the time, we talk about Aerion, Ingenious, The One Hundred Torii, and Taluva.
We all need something to look forward to, so this episode we’re eagerly anticipating all the good things in the world of board gaming that are yet to come in 2020. Some of it might be a ways off, but where’s the harm in getting the hype train rolling early? Before we cast our eyes ahead, we talk about Splendor, Qwirkle, Bronze Age, and Guards of Atlantis II.
What could be a more important topic than importance itself? This week, we’re talking about the most important board games of the last decade, and what it even means for a board game to be worthy of the label. To us, at least. Before being earnest, we talk about Prêt-à-Porter, Riff Raff, Adventure Games: The Dungeon, and Innovation: Echoes of the Past.
It’s the season of giving, so our gift to you is more of our favourite board games of all-time! We’re only just halfway, so get comfortable in front of the fire, grab an eggnog, and join us for thirty more incredible games. Oh, you got us something too? Ah. Socks. Thanks.