I hope you all had a good holiday break, but it's time to get back to business. The very serious business that is the top fifty greatest games of all time. We return to our heroes in what the enthusiasts call phase two, and boy are things heating up! Thirty more incredible games that we absolutely love are coming right at you.

00:58 - Neilan #40 - In the Year of the Dragon 03:14 - Mark #40 - Splendor 05:09 - Kellen #40 - Zendo 07:45 - Neilan #39 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 10:04 - Mark #39 - Iwari 13:24 - Kellen #39 - Stephenson's Rocket 15:19 - Neilan #38 - Iberian Gauge 17:11 - Mark #38 - A Feast for Odin 20:12 - Kellen #38 - Codenames 23:04 - Neilan #37 - Inis 24:47 - Mark #37 - Imperium: The Contention 26:55 - Kellen #37 - Azul 28:53 - Neilan #36 - Ark Nova 30:52 - Mark #36 - True Colors 33:07 - Kellen #36 - American Bookshop 35:02 - Neilan #35 - Rising Sun 36:23 - Mark #35 - Anomia 39:53 - Kellen #35 - Genoa 42:15 - Neilan #34 - Spirit Island 44:23 - Mark #34 - Ricochet Robots 47:37 - Kellen #34 - Agricola 49:25 - Neilan #33 - Yellow & Yangtze 51:22 - Mark #33 - Dominant Species 54:24 - Kellen #33 - Wizard 55:54 - Neilan #32 - Twice as Clever! 57:16 - Mark #32 - Cthulhu Wars 59:02 - Kellen #32 - Race for the Galaxy 1:01:40 - Neilan #31 - War of the Ring: Second Edition 1:03:52 - Mark #31 - Archipelago 1:05:30 - Kellen #31 - Pax Porfiriana

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It's top fifty season! That's right, it's the time to reflect on every single game we've ever played, and see how we feel about them in the year of our lord, 2022. We sort through the chaff, and from it we weave a beautiful golden strand we call our top fifty greatest games of all time. Grab a glass, and join us.

10:18 - Kellen #50 - Smartphone Inc. 12:01 - Neilan #50 - Archipelago 13:22 - Mark #50 - Chicago Express 14:56 - Kellen #49 - Dominion 16:25 - Neilan #49 - Bus 17:50 - Mark #49 - Hanabi 19:36 - Kellen #48 - Root 20:52 - Neilan #48 - Imperium: The Contention 22:22 - Mark #48 - Cuba Libre 24:28 - Kellen #47 - Throne and the Grail 26:08 - Neilan #47 - Agricola 27:31 - Mark #47 - Stephenson's Rocket 28:55 - Kellen #46 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 31:46 - Neilan #46 - Bear Raid 33:08 - Mark #46 - 1846: The Race for the Midwest 35:35 - Kellen #45 - Lords of Vegas 37:21 - Neilan #45 - Undaunted: Normandy 39:12 - Mark #45 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 42:01 - Kellen #44 - A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) 43:46 - Neilan #44 - Dead Reckoning 45:57 - Mark #44 - Panic on Wall Street! 48:23 - Kellen #43 - Ingenious 49:38 - Neilan #43 - Innovation 51:41 - Mark #43 - Dungeon Fighter 54:10 - Kellen #42 - Bruges 56:18 - Neilan #42 - Anachrony 59:15 - Mark #42 - Lisboa 1:01:59 - Kellen #41 - Nusfjord 1:03:27 - Neilan #41 - Mille Fiori 1:06:00 - Mark #41 - Smartphone Inc.

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Kellen won't stop rubbing in that he went to PAX Unplugged without us, but at least he came back with a lot of cool games to talk about. Join us as he regales us with the latest from Philadelphia. Before we eat our Philly, we talk about Sea Salt & Paper, and Chicago Express.

03:49 - Sea Salt & Paper 10:19 - Chicago Express 21:57 - Dicke Dämonen 26:00 - John Company: Second Edition 34:46 - The Green Fivura 35:15 - Dois 35:55 - Nine Lives 38:37 - BANANINE

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One of the greatest things about taking part in this hobby, is seeing new and novel ideas bubble to the surface. We're looking at some our favourite recent innovations - stuff that makes us think, "Huh, why haven't we seen that before?" Before we do anything but imitate and iterate, we talk about Paint the Roses, and ISS Vanguard.

02:01 - Paint the Roses 12:33 - ISS Vanguard 29:29 - Mystic Vale 30:52 - Dead Reckoning 31:52 - Dive 32:37 - Maglev Metro 33:05 - Loony Quest 33:52 - Kitchen Rush 33:52 - Rush M.D. 34:06 - Pendulum 34:41 - Magic Maze 35:03 - Kites 36:06 - MicroMacro: Crime City 37:42 - Exit: The Game – Advent Calendar 38:37 - Brian Boru: High King of Ireland 39:24 - Kabuto Sumo 40:02 - Awkward Guests 40:26 - Turing Machine 42:04 - Mansions of Madness: Second Edition 42:21 - Destinies

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How do you all keep falling for this? The Ghost Turkey moves in mysterious ways, and this year he's moving us to 2019, to atone for our sins. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

04:48 - ICECOOL 06:24 - Meeple Circus 06:49 - Root 07:57 - Sheriff of Nottingham 08:48 - Piepmatz 09:29 - Fauna 10:13 - Evolution: Flight 11:03 - Zany Penguins 12:26 - Gulo Gulo 13:16 - Funky Chicken 14:02 - Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn 14:58 - Rook 16:01 - Scythe 17:09 - Biblios

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We all saw this coming. The inevitable digital future has come, and suddenly Mark is a book store owner who just discovered Kindles. It'd be sad if it weren't so inevitable. We discuss the rise of digital gaming, and how it can, at least in some ways, replace parts of the hobby. Before we go down to Electric Avenue, we talk about Wormholes, Mogul, and Orichalcum.

02:07 - Wormholes 09:58 - Mogul 19:23 - Orichalcum 30:39 - Kellen's phone number 31:08 - Digital replacing physical games 43:15 - Garden Nation 43:41 - Living Forest 44:22 - Next Station: London 44:33 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 45:49 - Gaia Project 47:15 - 7 Wonders Duel 48:32 - Race for the Galaxy 49:13 - Riftforce 50:30 - The Great Zimbabwe

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Look, I wasn't there, but my understanding is that Kellen got very mad about certain board game words and decided to change the course of the episode midstream. Which, you know, would be one thing, but I once had to hear about how mad Kellen was about the word "apricot", so it's just like every day with this guy. Before we get etymological, we talk about Splendor Duel, and Seize the Bean.

02:19 - Splendor Duel 11:13 - Seize the Bean 23:13 - Feature topic Mark thought we were doing 23:33 - Feature topic we actually did: Board Gaming Jargon

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Two hundred and fifty episodes. That's ... a lot of episodes. That's a lot of time! And, boy, things have changed around here. Well some things. We look at what's different in the hobby since we started doing this whole thing. Before we cast our minds back, we talk about Stone Age, Blood on the Clocktower, Hansa Teutonica, and Aegean Sea.

01:58 - Stone Age 12:41 - Blood on the Clocktower 16:56 - Hansa Teutonica 18:53 - Aegean Sea 26:33 - What's changed since we started 43:49 - Gloomhaven 45:36 - Caylus 46:55 - Wiz-War

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Games are getting bigger and more lavish, especially in the age of crowdfunding, but how far is too far? How many luxury bits, giant boxes of minis, and silk-screened wooden meeples until it's all gone a bit far? Before we dress for excess, we talk about Habitats, Blood on the Clocktower, Twilight Inscription, and It's a Wonderful Kingdom.

01:59 - Habitats 13:07 - Blood on the Clocktower 18:44 - Twilight Inscription 21:40 - It's a Wonderful Kingdom 32:46 - Excess in games 33:28 - ISS Vanguard 35:40 - Too Many Bones 37:04 - Anachrony 37:55 - Everdell 38:19 - Millennium Blades 38:57 - Council of 4 41:37 - Puzzle Strike 2 Check out our game of Twilight Inscription with Brain in a Jar and friends at: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1632447670

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The topic of theme has come up intermittently over the course of the podcast, but how important is it? Is it something that makes or breaks a game? Or would we be mostly okay if games were mostly non-thematic? Before we burst at the theme, we talk about Mamma Mia!, Football Highlights 2052, Kanban, and Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood.

01:46 - Mamma Mia! 08:20 - Football Highlights 2052 18:50 - Kanban 20:59 - Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood 34:25 - The importance of theme 34:50 - Tigris & Euphrates 38:08 - Catherine: The Cities of the Tsarina 38:42 - Point Salad 40:04 - Abandon All Artichokes 43:29 - Glüx 47:25 - Décorum 49:08 - Deal with the Devil

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What good would going to a convention be if we didn't play a lot of games? We're back from our trip, and it was filled to the brim of fine games played with fine people, and we're here to tell you about all of them, the good, the bad, and perfunctory. Before we return to Vancouver, we talk about Village Rails, The Guild of Merchant Explorers, and Puzzle Strike 2.

01:51 - Village Rails 12:43 - The Guild of Merchant Explorers 20:59 - Puzzle Strike 2 34:14 - Ghost Turkey! 34:41 - Games we played at SHUX 34:58 - Master Word 40:05 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 42:12 - Leaf 43:32 - Fit to Print 45:11 - Bumúntú 48:38 - Nitro Glyxerol 51:14 - Bridge City Poker 54:16 - Cubitos 57:54 - Blood Rage 1:01:27 - Photograph 1:02:20 - Arboretum

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We're at SHUX! Well, we were, and while we were there, we tricked Tom Brewster of Shut Up & Sit Down to take time away from his busy schedule to join us on stage. This episode was recorded live, and we talk about games that are in some ways, a little bit weird. Before things get odd, we talk about Dungeons, Dice & Danger, Fun Facts, Turncoats, and Flick Fleck.

03:52 - Dungeons, Dice & Danger 09:07 - Fun Facts 15:03 - Turncoats 20:58 - Flick Fleck 27:39 - Weird games 28:36 - Mord im Arosa 31:03 - Nyctophobia 31:26 - Tajuto 34:21 - The Field of the Cloth of Gold 36:01 - Cosmic Frog 36:58 - Turing Machine 40:45 - Chaosmos 42:50 - XCOM: The Board Game 43:52 - Now Boarding 44:39 - Flowerfall 45:30 - Who Soiled the Toilet?

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It's convention season, which means we're on the way to one convention, while talking about another. Every year a lot of new games get showed off at Essen SPIEL in Germany, and these are the ones we're most excited to hear more about! Before we start messin' with Essen, we talk about Plutocracy and Finca.

01:56 - Plutocracy 09:54 - Finca 19:09 - Essen SPIEL 2022 Preview 19:39 - The Great Split 21:57 - Time Capsules 23:45 - Heat: Pedal to the Metal 25:45 - La Famiglia: The Great Mafia War 27:49 - Applejack 29:22 - Rise & Fall 31:13 - Sauscharf 33:29 - Oros 35:08 - Tribes of the Wind 36:23 - Shark 38:34 - Tindaya 41:07 - Lacrimosa 42:43 - Virtù 46:38 - Revive 48:51 - Pilgrim

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We're in and out quick and breezy, with a h-h-hot question about player counts. All things equally considered, how many people do you want at the table? Before we boot people from the game, we talk about Bitoku, San Francisco, and Caesar's Empire.

01:28 - Bitoku 12:21 - San Francisco 20:11 - Caesar's Empire 28:46 - Favorite Player Counts 36:08 - Star Trek: Ascendancy 37:04 - Churchill

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The best thing about being part of a team is even when things go wrong, your team is there for you. And boy, did things go wrong this week ... but I'm getting ahead of myself. This week we're talking about team games! Twice! Before we make the dream work, we talk about Art Decko, Feed The Kraken, and War of the Ring: The Card Game.

02:47 - Art Decko 09:03 - Feed The Kraken 20:08 - War of the Ring: The Card Game 32:51 - Team games 35:26 - Guards of Atlantis II 39:20 - Ingenious 40:10 - Tichu 43:32 - Concordia Venus 47:43 - Shadow Hunters 49:33 - Inkognito 51:27 - Between Two Cities 52:06 - Ladies & Gentlemen 53:16 - Space Cadets: Dice Duel 53:16 - Captain Sonar

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Not every game makes the best first impression, but some stick in your mind enough to warrant a second try. So fittingly, the first and second best hosts are here to tell you about the games that they think deserve a revisit. Before we repeat stuff, repeat stuff, we talk about Mille Fiori, Rise of the Metro, and Turing Machine.

02:05 - Mille Fiori 05:57 - Rise of the Metro 12:48 - Turing Machine 22:29 - Games that need a second chance 24:01 - Gaia Project 26:39 - Space Station Phoenix 28:34 - Twilight Imperium: Third Edition 31:01 - Root 33:15 - Ankh: Gods of Egypt 35:16 - An Infamous Traffic 35:16 - Panamax 35:16 - Maria 37:09 - Dune: Betrayal 38:10 - Beyond the Sun 40:06 - XCOM: The Board Game 41:56 - Quantum

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Okay, this end of the BGG top list starts to get weird. Regardless, we must draft. Who's going to end up with the best selection of five games from this chunk of one hundred? That's up to you - vote and you could win a $50 gift voucher! Before we pick a peck of paper products, we talk about Town 66, Akropolis, and Pampero.

02:09 - Town 66 08:24 - Akropolis 16:51 - Pampero 27:38 - Drafting BGG's #601-700 29:40 - Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation 31:11 - So Clover! 32:49 - 6 nimmt! 34:19 - Bus 35:56 - The Oracle of Delphi 37:11 - The Estates 38:50 - Long Shot: The Dice Game 40:44 - Yellow & Yangtze 42:06 - Undaunted: North Africa 43:05 - Between Two Cities 44:02 - City of the Big Shoulders 47:05 - Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road 48:05 - QE 49:47 - Civilization: A New Dawn 52:18 - Fort

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The pillars of board gaming are games that are so influential, so ubiquitous, that they're practically the shoulders on which many other board games stand. We talk about what are commonly considered the classic pillars, and try to make a more modern list. Before we get into Greek architecture, we talk about Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, Trailblazers, Photograph, and Ys.

02:34 - Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon 04:01 - Trailblazers 11:38 - Wind the Film! / Photograph 18:22 - Ys 28:01 - Modern pillars of board gaming 32:33 - Codenames 36:09 - Splendor 39:01 - 7 Wonders 41:48 - The Resistance: Avalon 43:59 - Concordia 47:21 - Qwixx 51:38 - Scythe

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Well, we've returned, and some of us are a little worse for wear, but if a week off doesn't get us back into gear, nothing will. Gen Con is behind us, and Mark, who sadly couldn't make the con, quizzes us about our highlights of the show. Before we cast our minds back to Indiana, we talk about Cat in the Box, Formosa Tea, and Twilight Inscription.

02:14 - Cat in the Box 08:31 - Formosa Tea 15:32 - Twilight Inscription 26:26 - Games we played at Gen Con 26:50 - Splendor Duel 33:38 - Green Team Wins 35:06 - Empire's End 38:23 - Kites 39:34 - Good Puppers 42:57 - War of the Ring: The Card Game 43:52 - Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods 46:28 - Freezer pants forever

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Given that we hyped up all those games last week, it's only fair that we prepare ourselves for the aftermath. We look back at some of the most famous and infamous games of yesteryear that were very highly anticipated, and wonder what became of them. Before we relive the comedown, we talk about Master Word, Living Forest, and Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef.

02:00 - Master Word 06:27 - Living Forest 13:29 - Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef 25:04 - Anticipated games of years past 26:56 - Founding Fathers 27:35 - Vinhos 28:32 - Wok Star 29:50 - 51st State 30:27 - CO₂ 31:11 - Rex: Final Days of an Empire 33:01 - Glory to Rome 36:12 - Xia: Legends of a Drift System 36:50 - Cthulhu Wars 37:48 - Myth 38:43 - Conan 39:40 - Viceroy 40:32 - Mysterium 41:57 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 45:10 - SeaFall 47:57 - Cry Havoc 49:02 - Founders of Gloomhaven

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