Opener: Thief's Market Closer: 3D printing and game aids/enhancements During the summer I always get in plenty of gaming…but not always with my normal game group. Often I'm away on vacation, or at a game convention. Or they are. Regardless, it means I get together with those local friends a little less often, and I miss it. Of course I enjoy going on my own vacations, but it'll also be nice when things get back to normal. This shouldn't shock anyone…I'm very much a "back to normal" kind of guy. This episode is normal in the sense that it's just me, talking about stuff that interests me…possibly more than it interests others! Between last time & this the Spiel des Jahres and other prizes were announced: Jinxo, Rebirth, and Mookie Island. All great games. This year I watched the awards ceremony live on YouTube, which was "simulcast" in AI-translated English voiceover. At least I think that's how that worked. BGG was the host for the English broadcast, and I think there were other options, e.g. in Portuguese. Very cool. Also, as much as I feel I already know about the SdJ organization and its awards, I still learned a lot from listening to the audio versions of Oliver Kinne's outstanding game journalism on the subject. These are short and easy to take in. Highly recommended for anyone who is avid about our hobby. I think it's required reading/listening for anyone who has a podcast or blog or video show about boardgaming. https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/06/09/spiel-des-jahres-th...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYYEXheFKkA Similarly useful were Ben Maddox's outstanding interviews of the nominated designers. He did this on his excellent 5 Games for Doomsday podcast, which is also available on YouTube (the way of podcasts, these days… sigh). If you listen to one, listen to the Donald X Vaccarino interview. If you listen to two, add the Reiner Knizia one. But go ahead and listen to all of them. Really worthwhile. Kudos to these other game journalists, Ben & Oliver! After that I talk about what makes "a Mark Johnson game," because I sometimes hear that folks are surprised I play any long, complicated games at all. I do, and I also play new games. This goes to explain some of why I do, and which ones I enjoy. -Mark
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
Hey Now, Cabalists! In Episode 120 of The Secret Cabal Express, Chris, Don, and Jamie dive into a topic suggested by a listener: the etiquette of rating board games on BoardGameGeek. We talk about the rating system, how we personally rate games, how we use the collection system, and mess that is the comments section. From there, we move on to the many forms of board game media and how we use them to inform our opinions and decisions when buying new games. We also get into our crowdfunding habits and how that fits into the way we discover and acquire games. Enjoy!
This week Paula has a tricky episode of components, competitors and communal outrage.
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.
This time, we're poised for Gen Con 2026 and making plans. Where will we be? What games do we want? What games do others want? Who is good at thumbs? All will be answered along with a sprinkling of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.
00:48 - Busiest Time of the Year
02:01 - Where Can We Be Found? - Booth 249
04:09 - New at Cephalofair - Buttons and Bugs Expansion
06:07 - Getting Steps In
07:19 - Game Bag Giveaway
07:55 - The Dice Tower Awards
09:11 - The Dwarves of Aquilon
10:23 - Meet the Final Girls - Julie on Friday Morning
10:47 - Eric's Gen Con Releases: Gudnak Means War, Mountain Goats Legacy
11:50 - Julie's Releases: Tales of Myth and Legend, Coloring Book
13:02 - BGG Preview List and the Nature of Thumbs
13:58 - Entropy
14:53 - Jason and the Argonauts
16:01 - Container
16:33 - Enchanted Ivy
17:18 - Mountain Goats Legacy
18:30 - Hercules and the 12 Labors
18:43 - Jibber Jabble
19:25 - High Society and 3 Witches
19:56 - Gruntz
20:12 - Torchlit
20:29 - French Toast
21:37 - Piñatas
22:06 - Kokeshi
23:08 - Book Club
24:28 - Fiction: Banned Books
25:07 - Golden Goal
25:24 - Under the Leaves
26:06 - Movie Night
26:17 - Stonk Market
26:26 - Triangulation
27:04 - Phantom Ink and Wordsy
27:21 - Endangered Australia
27:37 - The Game Makers
28:58 - Night at the Zoo
29:54 - Lairs
30:17 - Drillers and Lost Ruins of Arnak: Surprise Shipment
31:47 - Holliday Hijinks Friday Fright and More
32:12 - Orloj: The Prague Astronomical Clock
32:32 - Cascadia Alpine Lakes
33:02 - Nippon
33:49 - Wingspan Pocket
34:30 - The Old King's Crown
34:37 - Railway Boom
36:00 - Glasgow Train Robbery
36:16 - Tag Team: Arthur's Legacy
37:25 - Three Sisters Harvest Edition
37:53 - Forage
39:12 - SETI: Space Agencies, Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains, and Rock Hard 1977: Ear Candy
39:42 - Kingdom Crossing
40:19 - Shackleton Base: Below. Within. Above. and Fliptoons Season 2
40:54 - Moytura
41:01 - Tenby
41:20 - Jisogi: Anime Studio Tycoon
42:02 - Faraway: Under Starry Skies and Castle Combo: Out of the Oubliette
42:10 - Gold Country
42:52 - Mythologies
43:11 - Scythe: Duel of Meloch
44:13 - Friendly Fishing
45:50 - Codenames: Critical Role Adventures
46:25 - Trick to the Future
46:45 - Chris Couch Games: Garden Clubs
47:23 - Crime Scene Tamperer
47:52 - Games Played in the Booth
49:31 - Container (Eric)
53:33 - Cthulhu: Death May Die (Julie)
57:55 - Falling (Tom and Julie)
1:02:17 - Stuff to Watch if You Can't Come to Gen Con
Welcome back to the podcast blog, tabletop fans! Today, we’re diving into a lineup that spans high-flying dogfights, historical blitzkriegs, and economic struggles. If you love razor-thin margins and tactical positioning, you’ll want to look at Dogfight 1917 and Guerre Éclair. Dogfight 1917 drops you straight into the skies over the Western Front, where every maneuver card forces you to anticipate your rival’s path to line up that perfect shot. Meanwhile, Yasushi Nakaguro’s Guerre Éclair condenses the 1940 Fall of France into a tense, card-driven duel of deception and momentum. The German player pushes armored breakthroughs with hidden operational plans while the Allies scramble to hold fragile defenses, delivering deep strategic tension in a crisp 45 minutes.
For players who prefer fighting over profit margins, Container delivers incredible table presence. Container remains the undisputed king of closed-economy board games, where players produce goods, set dockside prices, and operate shipping vessels. Because every price, purchase, and subsidy is entirely player-driven, a single miscalculated shipment can trigger a hilarious, full-blown economic recession at your table. On the lighter side when just need to roll dice, Moonrollers brings the sleek sci-fi universe of Moonrakers into a fast-paced push-your-luck dice chucker. Captains roll dice to fulfill crew contracts, juggling hazardous bonus points against the very real danger of busting and walking away with nothing. This game provides the necessary dice manipulation that we expect in our push-your-luck games.
Thanks for listening, we really do appreciate the support.
Welcome to episode 366 of the Board Game BBQ Podcast
Back by popular and not so popular demand respectfully, Jules and Conor return to the podcasting chair as they catch up over the games they've been playing since Play Con.
The two Sydney Siders talk about playing Kabuto Sumo and Spicy, Jules Sizzles the new Flip and Scratch/Stamp/Write in Tend and Conor begins an epic journey with his campaign buddy as they start Elder Scrolls Betrayal of the Second Era.
Don't forget to answer this weeks question of the Pod too; 'What game are you worst at and why?'
Head to our Facebook Community, Instagram or Discord to let us know!
Reviews of VNTYPL85, Carnuta, Excalibur, Here Lies and so much more. Pegs share their top picks for GenCon and all the pegs deep dive Recall. Game discussion starts at {00:07:21}.
Thank you to our sponsors: Grand Gamers Guild and Eagle Gryphon Games
Clef and Tim have a lot of disc golf to get through as we both had big weekends. We also talk big board games with our recent plays of Magnastorm, Power Grid, Salton Sea, Acquire, Age of Industry, and Square on Sale. We also talk about how board gaming builds community and how it has affected us personally.
Board games start at 27:13.
Join the discord at discord.gg/s8hYtWkMS3 to jump into the discussion!
AnmeldenRolling Dice and Taking Names
