Mike is in the host seat this week and he's all befuddled...
This Game is Broken is a comedy board game panel show with Matthew Jude, Dave Luza, Paula Deming, Nick Murphy and Mike Murphy. We play a lot of nonsense games full of role playing and trivia as well as other fun stuff which can be found at the links below.
Before Dr. Reiner Knizia invented areas, everyone and everything was simultaneously co-located and yet distant all at the same time. It was primordial chaos. Movement was effectively impossible, as Xeno demonstrated; then Knizia did don his Bow-Tie of Delineation of Time and Space and constrained and liberated us all at once with his invention of areas.
While Mark is perhaps disappointed at the typical tragic dearth of questions related to Macross and Terry Bogard, and Walker secretly yearns to be granted naming rights to a listener's offspring (protip: don't let him), SVWAG answers all* of your questions!
We’ve got a fresh lineup of reviews in this episode, plus a few handy home repair tips sprinkled in. While board games are our bread and butter, we love showing off our other skills too—because this podcast is about more than meeples and dice.
First up is Covenant, a new strategic euro game from Devir. The premise is straightforward: rebuild the dwarves’ ancestral mountain of Karrak-sur-Kazar. The mechanics are easy to grasp, but the real joy comes from chaining together clever combos that feel deeply satisfying when they click.
Beasts shifts gears into cooperative card play. Here, players manipulate a shared three-digit number by playing suits, each move pushing the total higher. The tension spikes when Beast cards appear, blocking suits and forcing quick adaptation. With communication restricted, every rising number adds to the suspense and challenge.
Then there’s Enthrone, a two-player abstract deduction game brimming with intrigue. Each player secretly commands one of eight fantasy pawns—King, Priestess, Knight, Assassin, and more—while trying to uncover their opponent’s identity. Victory can come through elimination, political maneuvering, or seizing the throne. At 20–30 minutes, it’s a sharp contest of hidden roles and bold strategies.
Finally, Dungeons & Dragons: Edge of the Realms takes us to Faerûn, where players explore magical terrain and landmarks through tile-laying. Everyone plays simultaneously, keeping the pace lively and accessible, though interaction between players remains light. It’s a breezy way to capture the spirit of D&D exploration in board game form.
Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to drop by our Discord server to share your thoughts on these games—or just to hang out with the community.
Nick is in the chair this week as he has spouts haikus, ponders tag-lines and has the gang reinvent some games.
This Game is Broken is a comedy board game panel show with Matthew Jude, Dave Luza, Paula Deming, Nick Murphy and Mike Murphy. We play a lot of nonsense games full of role playing and trivia as well as other fun stuff which can be found at the links below.
Some people were saying that this episode was not showing for them in their feeds so we've reuploaded it for those that didn't get a chance to hear it the first time round.
In our effort to answer all of your Omnibus Questions, sadly we cannot enlist the assistance of notable Canadian Keanu Reeves. In an interview with Stephen Colbert--as a joke after Keanu said something profound--he was asked, "What do you think happens when we die, Keanu Reeves?" After a pause, and the audience's laughter, Keanu said, "I know that that the ones who love us will miss us."
I SAY DAYUM, KEANU
Games Played Last Week:
01:07 -Dogs of War Second Edition (Paolo Mori, Play to Z, 2026)
11:30 -Ostia (Totsuca Chuo, uchibacoya, 2022)
21:14 -SCOUT (Kei Kajino, Oink Games, 2019)
23:12 -Valheim: The Board Game (Ole Steiness, MOOD Publishing, 2025)
30:18 -Lunar Skyline (Charlie McCarron, Dead Alive Games, 2025)
38:57 -Thebai (Dávid Turczi, Bioard&Dice, 2025)
45:58 -Wilmot's Warehouse (Ricky Haggett, Richard Hogg, and David King, CMYK, 2024)
49:04 -Fairy Tale (Satoshi Nakamura, What's Your Game?, 2008)
News (and why it doesn't matter):
53:37 Render unto us your questions! Ask us anything for Omnibus Questions
54:10 Tigris & Euphrates to be reprinted by 25th Century games, art by Ian O'Toole
55:57 Mage Knight: Apocalypse Dragon expansion; cards will not match, changed font
We deliver this episode despite the officially mandated period of public mourning due to Toronto's setbacks in basesball. In Canada, public mourning is characterized by donning black jean jackets and swapping our Tragically Hip for the more down-tempo Blue Rodeo, to say nothing of abstaining from boardgaming.
Please don't turn us in for violating federal law. We might get banned from Tim Horton's.
01:44 AYURIS: An Age Contrived (Chris Matthew, Bellows Intent, 2024)
Games Played Last Week:
04:56 -X-ODUS: Rise of the Corruption (Second Edition) (Francisco Velasco E., Szilágyi L. Gábor, Yann Hilaire, Romain Lesiuk, & Bernardo Rippe, Bored Game Ink, 2026)
Another year and another BooBQ is in the books. It was a great time and we had the opportunity to play a bunch of group games, eat a ton of food, and test our Halloween knowledge through Wits and Wagers, what a classic. We even got the chance to do a local constructed deck Star Wars Unlimited tournament that sucked in a bunch of new players. So, in a way, we were like a bunch of vampires and brought them into the fold
Magical Athlete is a riotous racing game where fantasy characters with wildly asymmetric powers compete in unpredictable sprints. It’s light, fast, dice rolling game that will have hilarious moments throughout the game—perfect for groups who love a bit of chaos. Dirt & Dust, by contrast, is a deck builder that leans into the solitaire play with players trying to solve their own challenges while not really being impacted by others. Then there’s Railroad Tiles, a spatial puzzle that rewards clever planning and route optimization. It’s a satisfying blend of tactical tile placement and long-term strategy, ideal for fans of games like Carcassonne or Metro.
Finally, Umami brings a unique twist to the table: a culinary-themed game that’s all about balancing flavors and crafting harmonious dishes. With elegant mechanics and a soothing aesthetic, it’s a game that feels like a warm bowl of ramen on a rainy day. Together, these four titles form a kind of tasting menu for board gamers—each one distinct, memorable, and worth savoring. Whether you’re in the mood for laughter, clever puzzles, or thematic immersion, this quartet offers a delicious spread of experiences. Just like the buffet table at BooBQ.
"'Frederick Chopin was a Polish composer in the Romantic style who wrote primarily for the piano.'
I guess this is sort of interesting, as most facts are. But history has shown us that *facts are not what most humans believe.* They are not that which motivates most men and women to love to or to crime.
Now COMPARE this statement:
'Frederick Chopin was a Polish composer in the Romantic style who was obsessed with ladybugs, often letting dozens of them gallop over his neck, arms, and long, tapering fingers while playing the piano.'
Obviously the lie is so much more compelling. It also explains how Chopin finally got rid of his aphid problem."
-John Hodgman, "The Areas of My Expertise"
Games Played Last Week:
01:28 -Phoenix New Horizon (Jorge J. Barroso, Devir, 2024)
Marty and Vanessa love the Arkham Horror universe. They play boardgames, card games and read the Arkham Horror novels from Aconyte Books.
In this bonus episode, they get the chance to interview one of their favorite authors, Rosemary Jones. She discusses how she got into writing Arkham Horror novels, the process and talks about her latest book, The Arcane Gamble of Harvey Walters.
As ever, we do not acknowledge one of the most pernicious false dichotomies in the rulebook space; whether rules should be strictly permissive (you can only do what the rules say you can) or strictly restrictive (you can do anything unless the rules say otherwise). I have never seen a rulebook forbid me from choking an opponent, nor have I see a rulebook give me permission to breathe. I will thus reject both models as being rather too simplistic.
Halloween is creeping ever closer, ushering in a surge of spooky décor, costume scheming, and sugar-fueled anticipation. Soon, neighborhoods will flicker with jack-o’-lantern grins and haunted house setups, casting eerie shadows perfect for mischief, mayhem, and board games. And yes—Marty’s legendary BooBQ is just around the corner.
Before the festivities kick off, we squeezed in a few two-player gems that pack a punch without hogging the table. Everdell Duo reimagines the beloved woodland world for two, offering competitive, cooperative, and campaign modes that layer strategy with charm. Cookie Run: Braverse transforms the digital Cookie Run universe into a physical trading card game, introducing a clever twist on health tracking that adds surprise and tension to every skirmish. Punica: Rome vs Carthage throws players into the heat of the Punic Wars, where asymmetric tactics and area control drive a brisk, brainy clash—can you succeed where Hannibal failed and bring Rome to its knees?
We also tried a fresh tile-laying release from OP Games. True to form, the components are stellar, but it’s the rondel-style drafting that stole the spotlight, injecting strategic depth and just enough “take that” to keep things spicy.
Dave hosts this week in a Lucha Libre themed show... for some reason.
This Game is Broken is a comedy board game panel show with Matthew Jude, Dave Luza, Paula Deming, Nick Murphy and Mike Murphy. We play a lot of nonsense games full of role playing and trivia as well as other fun stuff which can be found at the links below.
"Wiarton Willie is the name given to a Canadian groundhog who lives in the community of Wiarton in Bruce County, Ontario. Every February 2, on Groundhog Day, Willie takes part in the local Wiarton Willie Festival. His role is to predict whether there will be an early spring. Although the original Wiarton Willie died in 1999, the Wiarton Groundhog Day celebrations continue each year with a successor of the original Willie (except in 1999 and 2021 where, due to the previous Willies' deaths, no groundhog was used), and each successor is also referred to as Wiarton Willie.
Groundhog Day, featuring Wiarton Willie, is a popular annual festival in Wiarton and is similar to events in other locations in North America. A midwinter celebration involving an animal with predictive powers was an element of Celtic culture. The link between weather prediction and the day is said to have been inspired by an old Scottish couplet: "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear/ There'll be two winters in the year.""
Rest assured that every topic we address here at SVWAG will be utterly comprehensive and final, unless and until we decide to address it again. Thus, when we discuss tile-laying games, we perforce will cover all of them, each and and every one, and failure to specifically mention any title means it does not exist and must be scrubbed from all records as a revisionist lie.
01:41 AYURIS: Kutná Hora: The City of Silver (Ondřej Bystroň, Petr Čáslava, and Pavel Jarosch, Czech Games Edition, 2023)
Games Played Last Week:
04:55 -Caper: Europe (Unai Rubio, Keymaster Games, 2022)
As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp, fall arrives with its pumpkin spice, lawn maintenance, and Halloween decorations. The season invites cozy gatherings, a time when board games find their way to kitchen tables and living rooms, bringing people together in shared strategy and laughter. It’s the perfect backdrop for diving into rich, immersive games that stretch the imagination and challenge the mind.
This fall, three standout titles offer distinct flavors of strategic depth. Aeterna spans eras, asking players to draft cards and manage resources across shifting historical landscapes, testing tactical foresight. Tianxia, set in China’s Warring States period, blends politics, trade, and tower defense as players vie for prestige while fending off nomadic invaders. It’s a Euro-style game with layered mechanics and historical nuance. Meanwhile, Wroth provides the challenge of area control and alliances that can suddenly turn cold just like the air outside. Together, these games reflect the season’s introspective mood, where complexity and strategy take center stage.
This year’s National Toy Hall of Fame finalists celebrate both nostalgia and innovation for us. From timeless tabletop classics like Catan, Battleship, and Trivial Pursuit. Or for those toys that make us scratch our head and say really — thus soft balls of Snow. Iconic toys like Furby and Tickle Me Elmo bring a wave of 90s tech nostalgia for your kids, while Spirograph and Connect Four remind us of our childhoods.
Thanks for listening and be sure to head over to our Discord channel and discuss not board games, but who do you think should be in the Toy Hall of Fame.
This Game is Broken is a comedy board game panel show with Matthew Jude, Dave Luza, Paula Deming, Nick Murphy and Mike Murphy. We play a lot of nonsense games full of role playing and trivia as well as other fun stuff which can be found at the links below.
"A quipu usually consists of cotton or camelid fiber cords, and contains categorized information based on dimensions like color, order and number. The Inca, in particular, used knots tied in a decimal positional system to store numbers and other values in quipu cords. Depending on its use and the amount of information it stored, a given quipu may have anywhere from a few to several thousand cords. [...]
Inca administration used quipus extensively for a variety of uses: monitoring tax obligations, collecting census records, keeping calendrical information, military organization, and potentially for recording simple and stereotyped historical "annales"."
Anmelden
