This time, we are recording in person at Dice Tower West (with some new mics!). We talk specifics about our new-ish venue for DTW, and then get more general with a chat about our convention strategies and planning. The Tale of Boardgaming Horror is one for the ages, and we close the show with some Roses, Thorns, Hula Hoops, and Crossovers.
Happy Oceania month! This week, Adrian and Lauren are joined by Jay Bendixen, designer of Surfs up and fellow Aussie as we talk about his design philosophy and upcoming games. Jay also gives his tips and insights into pitching games to publishers and going from prototype to published for small or even first time designers. We also chat about some of his upcoming designs and he plants some seeds of sweet excitement for some games about succulents and bees.
New Question of the Pod: What's a unique board game mechanism that you've experienced and why did you like it?
Timestamps:
Interview with Jay [2:23]
Games we've been playing [42:14]
Flip 7 [57:50]
Timber Town[1:08:02]
Question of the Pod: [1:19:28]
Fired Up: [1:36:40]
Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Advent Games. Advent Games (http://www.adventgames.com.au/) are an Australian online board game store based in Sydney, NSW. Their core values are integrity, customer satisfaction, and providing a wide range of products including those hard-to-find board games.
More Than Meeples is an Australian retail and online game store based in Brisbane, QLD. They have been strong supporters of, not only our Brisbane Game Days, but the broader Brisbane community. https://morethanmeeples.com.au/
PATREON
Hey there, BBQ fans! Guess what? We’ve got a Patreon! By joining, you’ll unlock exclusive content, gain access to a members-only section of our Discord where you can help shape the show, and so much more. Plus, your support will help us grow and bring some awesome new projects to life in 2024.
At the Board Game BBQ Podcast, we’re passionate about what we do and promise to keep the fun and shenanigans rolling. We’re so grateful for your support! Joining our Patreon is totally optional, and we ask that you don’t contribute if it’ll cause financial stress. But if you’d like to chip in from just USD$5 a month, click the link to check out our Patreon page.
Thanks a million for being amazing! We’re committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive community, and you all make it special. See you at the BBQ!! https://www.patreon.com/BoardGameBBQ
As is readily apparent from the show's subject matter and our general presentation, we here at SVWAG are stone-cold jocks who excel at the sports and are thoroughly ripped. We trust the launcher and never ever skip leg day.
On this very special episode of On Board Games, Erik, Bruce, and Steve get together to give their lists of the top 10 games of all time. Come and listen and let us know what we should have had or why what we picked is not right. :)
You can get a discount on Zencastr.com using this link.
On this far-flung episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are getting eaten by minotaurs in Corps of Discovery: A Game Set In The World of Manifest Destiny, as well as bending metals in Mistborn: A Game Set In The World of ‘Mistborn’. They also talk about Fromage: A Game Set In The World of Brie, and Triqueta: A Game Set In The World of ‘Three Goats and a Wolf or Two’.
Thanks for listening everyone! Have a great weekend!
Timestamps:
02:00 - Corps of Discovery: A Game Set In The World of Manifest Destiny
Good morning and happy Friday Cabalists! Sorry the episodes late but Jamie has been sick as a dog all week long but the show is finally here. Today we dive into a bunch of games we've been playing including Chaosmos, QE, Box One, Revive, Tower Up presented by Dan King the Game Boy Geek and feature Evertstone Discovering Ignis from Sam McDavitt. Then after Tony T's world renown new segment we host another Short Topic Extravaganza with questions including how long is too long? How much does theme matter? And how the hell do you use BoardGameGeek? Chaosmos: 00:05:08, QE: 00:14:52, Box One: 00:22:52, Revive: 00:27:28, Tower Up with Dan King the Game Boy Geek: 00:40:42, Everstone Discovering Ignis: 00:55:31, News with Tony T: 01:27:05, Short Topic Extravaganza: 02:31:43, Check out our sponsors Restoration Games at https://restorationgames.com/. Game Toppers at https://www.gametoppersllc.com/. And CGE at https://czechgames.com/ and don't forget to use the promo code SECRETSETI at checkout. And please support our great friend Dan King the Game Boy Geek on Kickstarter today! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gameboygeek/game-boy-geek-season-13-2025
Ambie and Crystal discuss a couple games they played recently, including Slay the Spire: The Board Game and Flip 7. Then, we talk about our preparations (or lack thereof) for Dice Tower West and board game conventions in general.
0:00-Intro
0:42-Announcements
1:55-Recent Games - Slay the Spire: The Board Game
9:31-Flip 7
15:04-DTW and Conventions
28:13-Outro
29:16-Bloopers
I'm not sure why you'd make a hall of fame that's not also a sidewalk, but that's exactly what BoardGameGeek have gone and done - they've curated 25 games into their hall of fame, and we're here to judge them for their choices. It's weird that they didn't come to us first, honestly. Before we deck the halls, we talk about Arborea, Beyond the Horizon, and Taiwan Night Market.
02:49 - Arborea 10:32 - Beyond the Horizon 20:43 - Taiwan Night Market 32:00 - BGG Hall of Fame 38:57 - Diplomacy 40:35 - Acquire 41:55 - Cosmic Encounter 43:25 - Civilization 45:05 - 1830: Railways & Robber Barons 45:46 - Magic: The Gathering 48:02 - Catan 49:03 - El Grande 49:58 - Tigris & Euphrates 51:04 - Ra 52:07 - Carcassonne 53:29 - Power Grid 53:49 - Ticket to Ride 54:16 - Caylus 55:26 - Twilight Struggle 56:26 - Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization 58:17 - Agricola 59:35 - Brass 1:00:25 - Race for the Galaxy 1:01:53 - Dominion 1:02:38 - Pandemic 1:03:39 - 7 Wonders 1:04:51 - The Castles of Burgundy 1:05:14 - Terra Mystica 1:06:54 - Concordia
This week Paula hosts a head to head to head of would-be board game experts.
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.
We head to the silver screen in this episode to explore board gaming tied to all things films and TV. Are there any good film / tv related games or are they a cash in, check out our thoughts.
FIRST PLAYER: Tambo OTHER PLAYERS: Kerley, Dan & Chris P
In this episode you'll learn: - that Tambo has ventured the upside down in Stranger Things: The Board Game by CMON Games - how Chris P stays frosty during Aliens: Another Glorious Day In The Corps by Gale Force Nine - Kerley is enjoying his dungeons that comes from a bag in Bag of Dungeon 2 by Gunpowder Studios - Dan is getting Bioshock vibes from Skyrise by Roxley Games - all about games which tie into film & TV, whether we enjoy them or whether we don't
LINKS REFERENCED IN THE SHOW N/A
EPISODE CHAPTERS
0:00 - TURN 1 - Player Count
2:44 - Dan - Skyrise
4:43 - Chris P - Aliens: Another glorious day in the corps
8:01 - Tambo - Stranger Things
11:11 - Kerley - Bag of Dungeon 2
15:00 - TURN 3 - Main Event: Lights...Cardboard...Action
18:18 - War of the Ring
22:24 - Star Wars: Outer Rim & Star Wars: Rebellion
Despite the welcome relative absence of anthropomorphic animals this week--aside from some sundry ducks in Lorcana--we see a lot of animals and various critters this week. We eschew sacrifices to a dodgy snake in Imperium, we fling sheep with abandon, we throw down with some wrestling bugs, and that's on top of comparatively mundane animal husbandry in Keyflower. Mark offered some unflattering comparisons between Walker and various animals during Crokinole, but that doesn't quite count.
Games Played Last Week:
02:22 -Space Alert (Vlaada Chvátil, Czech Games Edition, 2008)
Once again, the month of March give me a chance to bring back "Mark Madness," 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, Eryn Roston, and asked him to co-host this year's contest. Furthermore, Eryn has helped define the special nature of the contest this year. It's still about boardgames, of course, but it's about boardgame art. Specifically, we're voting on the best boardgame cover art. Eryn picked four groupings, each with 16 titles apiece. Those groupings are called Divisions, and this year there are ones for Fantasy, Historical/Real-World, Nature-themed, and Science Fiction boardgame covers. You will see some you know, and some others you don't. Just by looking at the images alone you can decide which ones to vote for, but you'll have more fun if you also listen to Eryn describe why he picked these particular game covers for Mark Madness. You see, Eryn works professionally in the world of art, went to school for it, and knows more than your average bear about artwork. If you're like me, you'll learn something along the way and appreciate game art (& artists) even more.
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 12 to submit your brackets, 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 can link them here, too. -MarkFantasy Division geeklist
My guest this week is the designer of Ahoy, Greg Loring-Albright. We discuss the impact of gaming in a social context, how they express themselves as art forms and weighty topics like the correct way to make coffee...but which games did he choose?
When did you start listening to podcasts? Do you remember your first ones? For me it was the first one ever about boardgames and the first about movies. That was Geekspeak and Reel Reviews. Even though I'm not so into wine, Grape Radio was another super early one for me. The medium was new, the tech was unfamiliar, and I loved the chance to listen to interesting audio on my commute, about unique subjects. Although those earliest shows seemed to use a lot of fancy, expensive equipment, I wondered if a more basic podcast could be produced with simple gear. On March 3, 2005, I threw my hat in the ring with Boardgames To Go, a new audio version of my blog of the same name. The response was quick & positive, so I kept at it. Two decades later, I'm still here. Twenty years is an important milestone for me. I never really saw myself doing the podcast this long. I've averaged about 18 episodes per year over that time, including some early bursts of productivity and a few longer gaps. After the pandemic I renewed my commitment to the podcast and have stuck with a first-of-the-month schedule ever since, plus some bonus episodes along the way. My audience grew, then plateaued, then settled into a longstanding core of listeners. It's no exaggeration to say that you folks are the reason I've kept at it. I appreciate [your appreciation & encouragement, and I've enjoyed meeting some of you in-person. This month you'll have to indulge me talking podcast history, motivation, and a little future planning. I can't help it. Longtime friend Dave Arnott talks through it with me, and we may not refer to a single game title! Don't worry--there will be more game titles than you can shake a stick at soon (hint: Mark Madness).
One of the only photos I have of me recording the podcast. This was from way back in 2006, when Dave & I recorded an episode about Vinci. We were at SoCal Games Day at the time, upstairs at the Burbank Moose Lodge. You may be able to see that I just have my laptop nearby, with a "Y-cable" audio splitter allowing us both to have headset mics piped into it. That's as fancy as I ever was for this podcast.
Board games are getting more expensive! Don, Chris, and Jamie get together to talk about the value of the hobby they've chosen. The group talks about gauging perceived value, the psychology of board game pricing, luxury and upgraded board games, crowdfunding, the fear of missing out, and what really matters to get the most out of your dollar.