The calendar says March so that means it's time for "Mark Madness" again, my podcast-hosted voting contest. Like its namesake sports tournament, Mark Madness is where 64 games are pitted against each other in successive rounds of single-elimination votes. As before, I took the winner of llast year's contest, Adam Brocker, and asked him to co-host this year's contest. Adam told me he's interested in the designers behind our games, specifically when famous designers partner with others or create other games on their own. Just thinking about boardgame designer partnerships makes me immediately think of Wolfgang Kramer & Michael Kiesling, though there many others. Kramer himself has done many games on his own, other famous ones with Kiesling, still more with Ulrich, and that's not all. Before long, we realized that we could have a 16-game subset "Division" of Kramer games, which happen to feature German designers. Alan R. Moon is another famous designer who's worked alone or with others. Sure enough, that American designer primarily (but not exclusively) has worked with other Americans on their collaborations. Same for Bruno Cathala with the French designers (or French-speakers from nearby Belgium). With those three divisions established, we just needed one more to fill out the contest. Turning to Italy, some of the hottest games and designers come from that country & community. A little bit unique from the divisions previously devised, the Italians appear to work together in small groups that overlap and change from game-to-game. That itself is fascinating. Play along! I hope we get a good number of folks who submit their own official predictions at challonge.com, which is free. Some have already done it. You've until March 13 to submit your guesses, so you need to move quickly. Then the voting rounds will start via Geeklist polling. As you can see from the chart above, the successive rounds of this voting will start happening every three days: On March 15 we'll have the results of the first round, when 64 teams are winnowed down to 32 survivors. Then it proceeds to the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and Championship. Who will be the winner? We expect to do "micro-episode" podcasts throughout the month to talk about each round. They'll show up in your regular feed, and I will link them here, too. -Mark
In this episode, we’re heading to the Prohibition era as we give our full review of Vital Lacerda’s newest heavy-hitter, Speakeasy. We also catch up on what’s been hitting our tables recently and wrap things up with a draft of our favorite titles from the legendary board game year of 2016
On this absolutely soaked episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are getting drenched in two positively sopping releases.First up, our intrepid explorers plunge into the depths of Thesauros! It’s got scubas, it’s got sharks, it’s got sunken treasures! All wrapped up in a slate-grey layer of project management and fund allocation.
And following the adventurous land of ‘The Ocean(s)’, our lads point at a few seagulls, bins, and plant pots in the cosy Welsh town and game: Tenby! Who will have the most porches?! Who will find the most relevant landmarks? It’s all to play for in the quaintest Tenby-builder on the market today.
Ambie and Crystal discuss a couple games they played recently, including Cozy Stickerville, Unlock! Short Adventures, and Dungeons & Dragons: Builders of Baldur's Gate. Then we talk about some of our good memories from our childhood and what games we played then.
Clef and Tim talk a bunch of disc golf, baseball, food, and even a musical before diving into board games. We talk recent plays of Trinket Trove, Spectaculum, No Loose Ends, Prophecy, and Space Empires 4X. We also discuss the difference between turning friends into board gamers and board gamers into friends.
Board games start at 36:31!
Join the discord at discord.gg/s8hYtWkMS3 and visit punchboardparadise.com for more info on PPCon 2026!
In Episode 340, Chris, Don, and Jamie tell stories about their time at TotalCon in Massachusetts including Chris' sleep eating, all the Mikes, and watching themselves poop. Then the gang gets into the games they've been playing including Nemesis Retaliation, Steam Power, Wizards of the Grimoire, Aces and Armor, The Druids of Edora with Dan King the Game Boy Geek, and a feature review of Here Lies from Jasper Beatrix, Jakob Maier, and Bobby West and published by DVC Games. Then after Tony T delivers the Pokemon armed robbery headlines he delivers justice in the Cabalists Court! Nemesis: Retaliation: 00:09:34, Steam Power: 00:22:41, Wizards of the Grimoire: 00:30:02, Aces and Armor: 00:41:44, The Druids of Edora: 00:49:53, Here Lies Review: 01:07:20, News with Tony T: 01:41:30, The Cabalists Court: 02:32:31. Check out our sponsors Restoration Games at https://restorationgames.com/ and Game Toppers at https://www.gametoppersllc.com/. Dan King the Game Boy Geek's Season 14 Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gameboygeek/game-boy-geek-season-14-2026
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.
Opener: 7 Wonders Dice Closer: Mark Madness 2026 (with Adam Brocker) preview - Register for free and make your predictions at https://challonge.com/MarkMadness2026! I've recently come back from a vacation in Germany. Once upon a time in this hobby, that really meant something significant. Germany was the worldwide headquarters and creative generator for boardgaming. Gamers in other countries hung on scraps of information, imported products, and had to learn a little of the German language to really be an active part of strategy boardgaming. In a way, that extra effort was also part of the fun, a level of commitment & dedication that went way beyond what it took to be a videogamer or cinephile. But, it's also true that it was a barrier to wider growth of the hobby. I'm talking about 20-30 years ago. Now, in 2026, it's notably different. I don't think we even speak "Gamer German" any longer! 😀 Also, a boardgamer's trip to Germany doesn't have to include much about boardgames. That was the case with me. I can now acquire & play just about everything I'd want from the ease of my American home with internet access. At the same time...I've still got those 1990s roots in "German boardgaming," as we use to call our hobby, that I looked around and made some observations on this trip. That's what I share in this podcast. -Mark
This week Shelley and I travel a circular board to pick up and deliver items to specific fantasy shops in
Leylines by Daryl Andrews and Wolfgang Kramer from Arcane Wonders
Then we head into the land of trick taking once again for a new twist in
Pinatas by Reiner Knizia from Allplay
Remember to SUBSCRIBE and check out our YouTube channel for videos on each of these titles.
You can support the podcast and our video series directly at www.patreon.com/garrettsgames OR check out our extensive list of games that no longer fit on our shelves, but belong on your table:
I think it's fair to say that we crushed this last year (although some of us better than others), so it's only correct and right that we should return to do it again. What are the best games of 2026 going to be? Well, only we know, but we're willing to part with that information. Get your fat stacks ready. Before we set ourselves up for failure, we talk about Alibis, Mosaic: A Story of Civilization, and Cyclades: Legendary Edition.
03:02 - Alibis 09:18 - Mosaic: A Story of Civilization 23:25 - Cyclades: Legendary Edition 36:27 - Anticipation Auction 2026 41:18 - The Game Makers 44:25 - Cozy Stickerville 46:39 - Brass: Pittsburgh 50:35 - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Trick-taking Game 54:04 - Revenant 56:21 - World Order 59:31 - Dark Pact 1:02:28 - The Great Library 1:03:56 - Spirited 1:05:25 - Realm of Reckoning 1:08:55 - Avalon: The Riven Veil 1:12:57 - La Pâtisserie Rococo 1:14:24 - Nippon: Zaibatsu 1:17:24 - Rewild: South America 1:18:44 - Movers & Shakers Submit your games for the Listener Top 20 at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/top20
In Volume 1 of The Best of The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast, we’re cracking open the vault and revisiting some of the wildest, weirdest, and most unforgettable moments from the show’s history. We’re talking chicken wing sauce on the cards, Catwoman miniatures, Turkey Man, the Wood Booger, anal beads, Chris playing with a pig, Steve Dice Clay, Tony’s bathroom habits and night terrors, and almost getting kicked out of Origins Game Fair. It's wild, crazy, bananas, boombastic, brilliant, magnificent, monumental and meshugenah - it's The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast.
Hang on a minute, where's Davey? Well he's moving house so Dan has moved up his run a little earlier than expected but in this episode he invites a load of guests onto the show, well guests being workers or characters in board games where we have to guess what game they're a part of. Does it make sense? If not don't worry just listen and play along.
FIRST PLAYER: Dan OTHER PLAYERS: JP, Becky & Rob
In this episode you'll learn: - how Dan has been returning to the moon in Shackleton Base by Sorry We're French - Rob has played the latest Stonemaier Games game of Vantage and lets us know what he thinks - that Becky has been going through the Flatout Games care package with the latest game Nocturne - that JP's all in pledge of Ashes Ascendancy has arrived and tells us all about it - which "guests" have joined us on this episode in the guise of board game workers that we all have to guess, so join in at home
Julie's out this time, so Tom and Eric spend time looking back at Epic Game Events that they've been involved with at conventions over the years. What worked well, and what did not? Plus, a question from the mailbag about digital vs. in-person gaming, and Tom and Eric each present a full set of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.
Anmelden
