We all have types of games that, for whatever reason, we steer clear of. Often all that we've been missing is a more suitable introduction to the genre, or a game that's just enough of an outlier. This week, we try to tempt you toward genres that you might have written off, with the games that may just sway you. Before we change your minds, we talk about Pocket Galapagos, Cascadia, and Bites.

01:36 - Pocket Galapagos 08:57 - Cascadia 12:53 - Bites 18:34 - Games that'll turn you around 20:19 - Battle for Rokugan 23:54 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 26:54 - Smartphone Inc. 30:53 - Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends 33:23 - Santorini 35:13 - Snakesss 38:49 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne

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It's board games for dinner, but we're not just throwing whatever we could find on your plate. No, we've got menus. We lay out our ideas for a four course board game meal, complete with appetizer, amuse-bouche, entrée and dessert, in a fun little exercise suggested by a listener. Before we meal plan, we talk about Sequoia, The Mind Extreme, and MicroMacro: Crime City.

04:31 - Sequoia 10:07 - The Mind Extreme 13:36 - MicroMacro: Crime City 21:59 - Draft winner! 23:43 - Four course board game meals 24:12 - Christina's menu 25:26 - Happy Salmon 27:57 - Deep Sea Adventure 29:41 - The Quest for El Dorado 31:54 - True Colors 33:01 - Mark's menu 34:11 - Biblios 35:43 - The Estates 38:12 - Rising Sun 30:42 - A Fake Artist Goes to New York 41:35 - Neilan's menu 42:02 - Paku Paku 43:58 - Kitchen Rush 45:05 - A Feast for Odin 47:11 - Avenue 48:23 - Kellen's menu 48:55 - Auf Teufel komm raus 50:29 - Keyflower 51:57 - 6 nimmt!

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Board game science is a delicate process, but thankfully BOB's here to help, in another BGB Battle of Board (Games)! This week, we're pitting our favourite science fiction themed games against each other. That's fifteen sci fi games, which we'll put in a fact based ordered list, ready to submit to the journal of your choice. Before we pollute space, we talk about Riverboat, Bug Council of Backyardia, and Rocketmen.

04:02 - Riverboat 10:05 - Bug Council of Backyardia 16:37 - Rocketmen 23:17 - BGBBOB: Science fiction games 24:57 - Eclipse 26:02 - Anachrony 28:18 - Quantum 29:19 - Forbidden Stars 32:03 - Beyond the Sun 32:48 - Imperial 2030 36:09 - Sol: Last Days of a Star 36:59 - Space Alert 38:55 - Dune 40:20 - Nemesis 42:34 - Gaia Project 43:35 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 45:30 - Race for the Galaxy 46:26 - Android: Netrunner 49:03 - Cosmic Encounter 1:04:28 - The final list

Keep an eye on Bug Council of Backyardia's Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/engrogames/bug-council-of-backyardia

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Martin Wallace, titan of industry, man of steam and brass. He's made a lot of games, often involving trains, but sometimes also Cthulhu. We do a deep dive into the prolific designer's catalogue, in the next in the series that Mark (and nobody else) is calling BGB DOG. Before we put him in our pocket, we talk about Throne and the Grail, Race for the Galaxy, Dinogenics, and On Mars.

02:21 - Throne and the Grail 05:56 - Race for the Galaxy 09:19 - Lost Ruins of Arnak 11:19 - DinoGenics 18:19 - On Mars 26:44 - Martin Wallace 32:17 - Brass: Lancashire 34:29 - Brass: Birmingham 37:44 - Railways of the World 42:15 - Via Nebula 44:15 - Wildlands 45:58 - Age of Industry 46:51 - Nanty Narking 46:51 - Discworld: Ankh-Morpork 51:36 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 53:43 - Hit Z Road 54:55 - Anno 1800 56:10 - Liberté

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If you thought the Euro 2020 final was tense, wait until you listen to this episode. The next match in the world's most anticipated series is now here, as we continue down the BoardGameGeek top games list, drafting a collection of five games. Whose do you think is best? Vote to stand a chance to win a $50 gift card! Before we make like snakes, we talk about Chinatown, Curious Cargo, and Mercado de Lisboa.

02:14 - Chinatown 10:00 - Curious Cargo 16:44 - Mercado de Lisboa 24:45 - Drafting BGG's #101-200 28:32 - Hansa Teutonica 30:34 - Inis 31:56 - Cosmic Encounter 32:30 - Splendor 34:41 - Pandemic 37:20 - Kemet 39:37 - Ra 41:36 - Age of Steam 44:59 - Chaos in the Old World 46:15 - Dominion 47:24 - Res Arcana 50:01 - Yokohama 51:12 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 53:44 - Vinhos Deluxe Edition 57:02 - The Resistance: Avalon

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Look, we know, we don't exactly help matters, but this hobby can be expensive. So, to make up for fueling your FOMO, we're gonna lay out some of the ways that we consciously try to curb our board game spending, while still keeping up with the zeitgeist. Before we balance our budget, we talk about Summer Camp, Wildlands, and Rome & Roll.

05:11 - Summer Camp 09:55 - The Quest for El Dorado 11:06 - Dominion 12:38 - Wildlands 21:12 - Rome & Roll 33:51 - Curbing board game spending 42:00 - Carnegie 43:03 - Gizmos 49:11 - Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile 49:49 - Stationfall

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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.

02:54 - Crash Octopus 08:33 - Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition 18:47 - Imperium: Classics 30:41 - Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile 40:44 - Return on rules investment 43:15 - Dune 44:17 - Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game 44:50 - Gloomhaven 45:29 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 48:15 - Pax Renaissance 49:50 - Roads & Boats

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Sometimes it's best not to know, right? You've just played a game, and you liked it a lot, but you're not quite sure whether that faction is quite balanced, or the designers accounted for that winning strategy. Should you find out? Or is it better just to enjoy the game on its own merits? Before we disobey our thirst for knowledge, we talk about Genoa, Durian, The Search for Planet X, and Pavlov's House.

02:04 - Genoa 05:50 - Durian 10:52 - The Search for Planet X 20:57 - Pavlov's House 27:35 - Draft winners 31:30 - Pre/post-game research 33:17 - Splendor 35:30 - Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun 39:00 - Cthulhu Wars: Duel 39:46 - Chaos in the Old World 40:12 - Root 45:33 - Hallertau 46:39 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization

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Because making board games is hard, it's not enough just to have some solid mechanics - the best games have a production that coheres with the design. We look at some examples of games where production considerations (or lack thereof) have helped or hurt how they play. Before we executively produce, we talk about The King is Dead: Second Edition, Equinox, and Enchanted Plumes.

01:48 - The King is Dead: Second Edition 10:15 - Colossal Arena 10:15 - Equinox 22:06 - Enchanted Plumes 32:40 - Production and design 34:33 - Bunny Kingdom 35:35 - Smartphone Inc. 36:40 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 37:50 - Railroad Ink 42:30 - Nidavellir 44:45 - Mountain Goats 46:26 - Red Rising 47:58 - Scythe

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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.

02:09 - Azul: Summer Pavilion 11:33 - Roads & Boats 22:33 - Ruthless 29:53 - Cthulhu: Death May Die 32:46 - Drafting the BGG Top 100 34:58 - Brass: Birmingham 37:03 - Gloomhaven 39:20 - Spirit Island 40:20 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 41:22 - Scythe 43:11 - Root 43:47 - Codenames 44:56 - Concordia 46:55 - Wingspan 47:20 - El Grande 49:05 - Gaia Project 51:40 - Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition 52:28 - Arkham Horror: The Card Game 55:14 - Clank! 56:53 - A Feast for Odin Check out the campaign for Ruthless: https://www.ruthless-game.com

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We've got a couple of quick questions from listeners that we thought made for some fun talking points. We're trying to figure out what the board game equivalent of black licorice is, and Before rustle in the mailbag, we talk about Trekking the World, Inkling, My City, and Ruination.

01:37 - Trekking the World 11:26 - Inkling 20:08 - My City 22:31 - Ruination 33:52 - Kemet 38:55 - Black licorice games 40:42 - Archipelago 41:12 - Safranito 42:23 - Millennium Blades 43:00 - True Colors 43:38 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 44:25 - Light summer games 45:16 - Splendor 46:13 - The Quest for El Dorado 47:23 - Race for the Galaxy 48:28 - Santa Monica 48:43 - Mountain Goats 49:40 - The Resistance 50:17 - Fuji Flush

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As longstanding experts on being cute, we thought we'd finally bring both of our fields of expertise to bear on one topic. It's a return to the classic top five list, and we're counting down the cutest goshdarn board games we can think of. Before things get kawaii, we talk about Nations, Mountain Goats, and Brew.

02:34 - Nations 11:54 - Mountain Goats 17:11 - Brew 29:01 - Top 5 cutest games 30:31 - Calico 32:41 - Seasons 34:50 - Battle Sheep 36:01 - Takenoko 37:06 - Camel Up 37:49 - Mountain Goats 38:24 - Patchwork 40:04 - Walk the Dogs 41:36 - Startups 43:15 - Echidna Shuffle 45:08 - Sushi Go! 46:59 - Yura Yura Penguin 49:02 - New York Zoo 50:15 - Poseidon's Kingdom 52:07 - Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small

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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.

02:07 - Bonfire 10:02 - Nidavellir 18:58 - The King's Dilemma 33:34 - Legacy games 34:03 - Risk Legacy 34:50 - Charterstone 40:19 - My City 47:30 - Gloomhaven 51:42 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 52:48 - Scythe: The Rise of Fenris 54:10 - Bunker, Battlefield, or Blown Away 54:38 - Zoned Out 55:00 - Bronze Age 55:29 - Santorini 55:45 - Mini Express Check out our new wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki

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We talk about so many good games on this podcast, that it might seem like there aren't enough bad games to balance it out. There's a good reason we don't often play or talk about them, but maybe every so often we ought to. Before we break bad, we talk about Scape Goat, Bunny Kingdom, Bullet♥, and Four Gardens.

02:12 - Scape Goat 08:29 - Bunny Kingdom 11:13 - Bullet♥ 13:53 - Four Gardens 20:49 - Bad games 22:01 - Trivial Pursuit 29:00 - Spicy 29:50 - Cards Against Humanity 30:55 - True Colors 32:37 - Betrayal at House on the Hill 35:11 - Money Bags 37:11 - Pucket 37:54 - Connect 4 Launchers 38:27 - Mord im Arosa 39:00 - Magical Athlete 40:34 - Panic Station 41:21 - Mascarade 41:41 - Bunker, Battlefield, or Blown Away! 42:36 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 43:46 - Solo 44:06 - Renegade 44:42 - Horrified Check out our new wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki

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After last week's love-fest made us all uncomfortable, we had to get back to what do best, spirited in-fighting. To that end, we've devised three debates around the same core: is that often criticized mechanic a design problem, or a player problem? Before we pit designers against players, we talk about Red Rising, Via Magica, and Alma Mater.

00:48 - Golden Geek Awards 04:36 - Red Rising 14:21 - Rise of Augustus 14:53 - Via Magica 20:17 - Alma Mater 29:36 - Board Game Barrage Wiki! 32:26 - Design problem or player problem? 33:11 - Player elimination 36:47 - Skull 37:55 - Secret Hitler 38:29 - Food Chain Magnate 40:33 - Diplomacy 43:40 - Alpha gamers 46:34 - Spirit Island 47:00 - Pandemic 51:31 - Kingmaking 55:50 - Rising Sun 57:04 - Cthulhu Wars 57:42 - Inis Check out our new wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki

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We had so many fun ideas for this week that we couldn't settle on just one! It's always great getting topic suggestions from our listeners, but not all of them can make a full episode, so we figured we'd work through some of them here. Keep sending them in! Before we spice our lives with variety, we talk about Jekyll vs. Hyde, Seikatsu, and Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road.

01:28 - Golden Geek Awards 03:55 - AwSHUX 05:57 - Jekyll vs. Hyde 14:32 - Seikatsu 21:37 - Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road 29:54 - The first game we'll play together 31:06 - Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy 33:36 - My City 35:23 - The King's Dilemma 37:22 - Ruination 41:07 - Board games we appreciate but hate 41:25 - The Estates 43:28 - Captain Sonar 45:05 - Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective 47:20 - Cosmic Encounter 49:39 - Why we love gaming with each other

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We love Friedemann Friese, so much so that we're devoting a whole episode to the green-haired designer - a comprehensive look back at his contribution to the hobby, and how we've gotten on with his games over the years. If you've never played one of his games, let us help correct that. Before we give the fantastic fellow our full focus, we talk about Kubb, Pictures, and The Field of the Cloth of Gold.

03:20 - Kubb 08:20 - Pictures 16:12 - The Field of the Cloth of Gold 23:39 - Golden Geek Awards 25:24 - Board Game Barrage vs. Shut Up & Sit Down! 27:44 - Friedemann Friese 29:17 - Power Grid 36:21 - Copycat 37:11 - 504 38:43 - Fearsome Floors 39:43 - Fauna 41:22 - Friday 42:03 - Fabled Fruit 43:41 - Fast Sloths 44:27 - Fresh Fish 45:46 - Finished! 46:20 - Funny Friends

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We're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and with the exciting possibility of actually being able to play games together again, we cast our minds forward to all the wonderful games yet to arrive in 2021. Did I mention it's a BGBBOB? Before we look ahead (never back), we talk about Clever Cubed, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, and Keyper.

02:29 - Clever Cubed 10:22 - Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon 19:16 - Keyper 26:40 - 300 by 4/11! 28:39 - Golden Geek Award Nominations 29:31 - Most Anticipated Games of 2021 31:02 - Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles 32:03 - Furnace 35:13 - Weather Machine 36:07 - Coffee Traders 38:54 - Brazil: Imperial 40:24 - Arkwright: The Card Game 42:18 - LAMA Dice 43:11 - Oathsworn: Into the Deep Wood 45:22 - Kabuto Sumo 46:31 - Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile 49:35 - Darwin's Journey 50:24 - Skyrise 53:19 - Guards of Atlantis II 53:59 - Ankh: Gods of Egypt 56:54 - Dokojong

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Dan Hughes from Sporadically Board joins us to flip the podcast on its head. Now that we've spent a hundred and sixty seven episodes raving about board games, it's only fair that we discuss all the reasons they suck. Before we turn heel, we talk about Blackout: Hong Kong, Royal Visit, Marvel Champions: The Card Game, and Deckscape: Test Time.

03:34 - Introducing the Pigeon Blood Tank! 05:38 - Blackout: Hong Kong 10:56 - Royal Visit 14:51 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 22:03 - Deckscape: Test Time 27:25 - Why Board Games Suck 28:50 - Gandhi: The Decolonization of British India, 1917 – 1947 30:38 - Lisboa 31:54 - A Feast for Odin 36:03 - CoraQuest 37:04 - Trial by Trolley 50:00 - Mythic Battles: Pantheon 1:02:33 - Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Check out Dan's board game CoraQuest: https://www.coraquest.com

Check out Dan's podcast Sporadically Board: https://www.dicetower.com/game-podcast/sporadically-board

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As important as it is to talk about that which we have received, so must we mark the loss of the games whose time has passed. Board games leave our collections for many reasons, so we're going to revisit the ones that found better homes in the past year. Before we press F, we talk about Long Shot: The Dice Game, Hallertau, and Welcome to New Las Vegas.

02:43 - Long Shot: The Dice Game 09:30 - Hallertau 20:04 - Welcome to New Las Vegas 28:43 - Games We've Recently Let Go 29:34 - Res Arcana 30:20 - Seasons 31:58 - War Chest 33:04 - Oaxaca: Crafts of a Culture 33:35 - Kingdom Builder 35:11 - Pendulum 37:44 - Nētā-Tanka 38:00 - Nevada City 38:33 - The Magnificent 41:05 - Ethnos 41:24 - Crokinole 42:49 - El Grande 45:00 - Imperial Struggle 45:53 - Iwari 48:41 - Through the Desert 49:25 - Lords of Hellas 50:27 - Troyes 51:11 - Watergate

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