So Very Wrong About Games

So Very Wrong About Games

A podcast about all manner of hobby games by Mike Walker and Mark Bigney. Bad games don't go easy on you, so we don't go easy on them. Thorough analysis via reviews, news, and discussion of topics in gaming. We take context seriously, we value your time, and we're not into hype. Just because games are fun doesn't mean we can't take them seriously, and just because we take them seriously doesn't mean we can't have fun.

Episodes

July 1, 2025 70 mins

Apparently the American custom of the "push present" can trace its roots to the Anglo-Indian tradition of the "baby bauble", although in the latter case jewellery is the more standard gift (instead of, say, boardgames). Can we acknowledge that baby bauble is a much less crude term? Let's try to be classy here, people. There is already enough about childbirth that is fraught.


Games Played Last Week:

2:07 -Galac...

Mark as Played

Walker's approach to parenting eschews what he sees as the coddling endemic in other families. He believes in competition above all else, where newbs must be pwned and even babies must git gud. "L2P" is his family motto. Some appalled anthropologists tried making a documentary about the Walker household, but they were forced to tone it down and release it as Squid Game.


01:21 AYURIS: Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia...

Mark as Played
June 17, 2025 70 mins

"Because of the long-standing mutual enmity between Meany and Brown, Meany was named among the suspects in The Case Of Encyclopedia Brown’s Mangled Corpse. Meany denied the allegations.


'It’s true that Detective Brown and I didn’t see eye to eye, but I would never do something so downright dirty rotten as murder him,' Meany said. 'Besides, it’s a matter of public record that, at the time the crime was committed, ...

Mark as Played
June 10, 2025 73 mins

We generally frown on ad hominem here at SVWAG, ensconced as we are in our glass houses. In the case of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (known affectionately as "Ja-Jay" by no one), though, who wrote extensively about proper methods of childhood education, we shall report that he confessed to rather callously sandbagging his lover into abandoning their children (Rousseau claimed there were five of them, though records are tricky). Wa...

Mark as Played
June 3, 2025 66 mins

I've read several different accounts of the battle of Sekigahara, and I swear there's no mention of Kevin Bacon or anyone bleaching their hair. How am I to know if Pony Boy stayed golden? 


Games Played Last Week:

01:42 -MicroMacro: Kids--Crazy City Park (Johannes Sich, Edition Spielwiese, 2025)

04:20 -Good Puppers (Chris Cieslik, Asmadi Games, 2021)

07:38 -23 Knives (Tyler J. Brown, Play to Z, 2025)

15:13 -TEAM3 GREEN (Alex ...

Mark as Played

Walker and Mark almost come to blows over Flip 7 this week. Their disagreements over the merits of the product (Game? Experience? Way of Life? Sub "Roll a 6, Win a Cookie" distraction?) have long simmered, but the fundamental schism can no longer be ignored or papered over. They finally have it out. 


02:27 AYURIS: Knarr (Thomas Dupont, Bombyx, 2023)


Games Played Last Week:

03:36 -Autobahn (Fabio Lopiano and Nestore Man...

Mark as Played
May 20, 2025 72 mins

"Observers brought attention to [Gritty's] appearance, which could be construed as frightening, while The Guardian described him as an "acid trip of a mascot." Response to Gritty's introduction was immediate and sharply mixed, with many fans on social media expressing bewilderment and some fright at his appearance. Public perception of Gritty became increasingly positive as Gritty's antics, which subverted t...

Mark as Played
May 13, 2025 72 mins

"gibber--intransitive verb

:to speak rapidly, inarticulately, and often foolishly"

-Merriam-Webster


"gibberer--noun

:the hosts of SVWAG"


Games Played Last Week:

01:17 -Sausage Sizzle (Inka and Marcus Brand, 25th Century Games, 2012)

05:22 -Landmarks (Rodrigo Rego & Danilo Valente, Floodgate Games, 2024)

09:11 -Skara Brae (Shem Phillips, Garphill Games, 2025)

14:20 -Moving Company (Guo Jiahui & Wu Ying, Whales...

Mark as Played
May 6, 2025 58 mins

Chaka Khan, let me rock you

Let me rock you, Chaka Khan

Let me rock you, that's all I wanna do

Chaka Khan, let me rock you

Let me rock you, Chaka Khan

Let me rock you, 'cause I feel for you


-Chaka Khan, "I Feel for You"


01:26 AYURIS: Barcelona (Dani Garcia, Board&Dice, 2023)


Games Played Last Week:

03:10 -Snap Ships Tactics: Swarm Box (Josh Derksen, Snap Ships, 2025) 

10:13 -Battle of Mekaverse (Reiner Knizia,...

Mark as Played
April 29, 2025 70 mins

While we pride ourselves in playing more games in a week than many play in a month, when we take a week away from the SVWAG studio we often face a truly herculean backlog of games to discuss. This two-week period is no exception. Rest assured, we would never leave our dear listeners in the lurch, so we will keep you updated so you need not miss a thing.


01:00 AYURIS: Race to the Raft (Frank West, The City of Games, 2023)


Game...

Mark as Played
April 15, 2025 69 mins

Tiebreakers are arguably a kind of endgame scoring. I respect the fact that they are invariably necessary (I mean, if for no other reason than if they're omitted some smartass like me will complain). That said, clearly if the scoreboard goes to 200+ I don't imagine we'll be hauling out the second tiebreaker condition all that much. Frequently the endgame conversion of resources to points already serves as a tiebreaker a...

Mark as Played
April 8, 2025 73 mins

When is a thing like another thing? Is Albedo like Core Worlds? Is Cat Blues like Rummy? Is Through the Desert like Go? Is a nudge as good as a wink to blind bat? Are all Roll & Writes inferior to Roll a 6, Win a Cookie? Is Christophe Boelinger France's Vlaada Chvátil? Probably, because it's all just like Mage Knight in the end. 


Games Played Last Week:

04:46 -Street Masters: Tide of the Dragon (Scott McFall, Adam Sad...

Mark as Played
April 1, 2025 76 mins

People have favourably described our physical appearances as "borderline tolerable" and "just short of hideous", and that was just our mothers. In light of this, we put ourselves forward as candidates for all manner of game show. Mark is quite fond of Rice-a-Roni and thus would be more than happy to just have a consolation prize, and Walker just wants to spin something as hard as he can. Better reinforce your props.

...

Mark as Played
March 25, 2025 58 mins

In logic, conditionals are always true if the antecedent is false. You can't falsify the conditional if the conditions aren't met. For example, if Mark can bench 500 pounds, then vinegar tastes like cotton candy. Rest assured that I ain't benching that much, so don't worry about it; the conditional is true. Similarly, I can invite pretty much whoever I want to SVWAGCon. Fareed Zakaria, Olivia Rodrigo, and Jordan Mec...

Mark as Played
March 18, 2025 75 mins

I was donating blood while wearing my Transformers Converse shoes, and two different phlebotomists commented positively about them. "We have won the cultural argument," I said, deliberately burying the lede that demographic destiny is probably the chief cause. I suspect that the same forces explain increased societal acceptance of toys, and board games are not immune. Thank goodness!


Games Played Last Week:

01:22 -Guards ...

Mark as Played
March 10, 2025 69 mins

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.


00:57 AYURIS: Expeditions (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2023)


Games Played Last Week:

03:04 -Coloretto (Michael Schacht, ABACUSSPIELE, 2003)

07:16 -Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game (Emerson Matsuuc...

Mark as Played
March 4, 2025 59 mins

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 var...

Mark as Played
February 25, 2025 65 mins

While we hate to confirm your most reductive of preconceived notions, snow removal in Canadian cities is no joke. The fleet of vehicles required to allow for daily life in even a small Canadian city after major snowfall is impressive. The balletic dance of some of their formations while in operation calls to mind the precise of mid-air refuelling.  


01:03 AYURIS: Ra (Reiner Knizia, alea, 1999)


Games Played Last Week:

04:07 -Mi...

Mark as Played
February 11, 2025 64 mins

Colour nouns are essentially arbitrary; how one decides to chop up the visible spectrum of light is a matter of contingent taxonomy. Some languages have one noun for both blue and green, for example. English has a word for light red (pink) where other languages don't. Russian similarly has a word for light blue. And then there's magenta, which we can all agree is a scene and a half. 


Games Played Last Week:

02:35 -Fruit F...

Mark as Played
February 4, 2025 65 mins

Our upcoming convention, July 25th-27th 2025, is in its planning stages! We have a venue but nothing much else yet. Not even a name! Suggestions welcome. Mark quite likes So Very Wrong About Games Fun Times Good Vibes Only Trans Rights Are Human Rights Boardgame Jamboree, but he worries that it might be too pithy. Few things are off the table! Special guests? Maybe! Fabulous prizes? Well, prizes, definitely. More like obligatory pr...

Mark as Played

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