Board Game Barrage

There are big spiky moments that happen in the meta that is the board game hobby, and the Brass: Pittsburgh crowdfunding campaign feels like one of them. It is after all, a successor to the #1 ranked game on BGG. That's something! Enough so that it sent Mark into a bit of an existential spiral, and we're here to talk him down. Before we catch a falling Wallace, we talk about Hummingbirds, Fendo, and Soothsayers.

06:59 - Hummingbird...

Oh man, oh man, it's time that we ask you (yes, you) to tell us (yes, us) what your favourite games are, because for one time a year, it doesn't matter what we think about games, but you better be ready to tell us what you think about games. A lot of you did, so here it is, the listener top 20! Before we ask you to do all the work, we talk about Emberheart, Gods & Mortals, and Feya's Swamp.

01:30 - Emberheart
14:11 - Gods & Mortals
...

We made it back in one piece, and all told I think we did pretty well! We got through a heck of a lot of what we wanted to play, and we're here to tell you all about it - including Dark Pact, Totally Human, and Banana Governance, and more!

02:36 - Totally Human
14:04 - Dark Pact
20:56 - Gold Country
28:21 - Staked!
32:58 - Secret Tribe
41:34 - Habemus Papam
50:11 - 3 Chapters
55:22 - Banana Governance
01:02:29 - Hellapagos

Submit ...

By the time you're listening to this, we're probably already in Vegas for Dice Tower West! We're going to hang about all day playing games - which naturally leads to the question of what we're going to play? These are the games we came up with! Before we bite off more than we can chew, we talk about Ghost Lift, Cities, and I, Napoleon.

02:31 - Ghost Lift
08:13 - Cities
14:06 - I, Napoleon
24:40 - Dice Tower West anticipated games
2...

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.

All of this has happened before and will happen again. Everything comes back around, including games you could swear you've played before. Whether they're remakes, reimplimentations, or rejuvenations, we're tackling the world of board game revivals. Before what's old is new, we talk about Agent Avenue, 7 Empires, and Stellar Ventures.

02:24 - Agent Avenue
07:25 - 7 Empires
18:26 - Stellar Ventures
33:52 - Remakes
39:01 - Blood on t...

Sometimes you know the type of game you want to play, just not exactly which game quite fits the bill. Is that heavy Euro too heavy? That deck builder not builder-y enough? Before we sit down with Goldilocks, we talk about Rise and Fall, and JOYRIDE: Survival of the Fastest.

01:09 - Rise and Fall
12:53 - JOYRIDE: Survival of the Fastest
25:08 - Games that are Just Right
29:30 - Hanabi
29:57 - Wilmot's Warehouse
30:13 - Bomb Busters
...

Well, we started this thing, so I guess we ought to finish it, as ill-advised as that might be. This is where all the chickens come home to roost, where we learn how badly we've set ourselves up to fail - but you never know, it might just all work out! It's the top ten greatest board games ... of all-time!

06:29 - #10 - Codenames
13:56 - #9 - The Resistance
18:15 - #8 - Age of Steam
23:09 - #7 - Troyes
27:52 - #6 - Hansa Teutonica
...

Happy new year! We're back to continue the very peaceful, collaborative, kind endeavour that is coming together to harmoniously assemble our top 50 games. It's been nothing but chill, friendly vibes, and we expect that to continue into 2026. It's the next twenty games on our definitive top 50 board games... of all-time!

01:20 - #30 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar
06:43 - #29 - Dominion
09:36 - #28 - Fuji Flush
11:13 - #27 - Innovati...

Okay, things are a bit different this year. In honour of our 350th episode (a very important milestone), we're going to combine forces, like ... Voltron. I'm the head, and my left and right feet are here with me to collaboratively (yes, you heard right) compile Board Game Barrage's definitive (definitely definitive) top 50 board games... of all-time!

06:27 - #50 - Zoo Vadis
08:32 - #49 - Splendor
11:45 - #48 - Azul
14:51 - #47 - Im...

Remember way back at the beginning of the year when we took some bets on what we thought the games of the year were gonna be? Well, all those good and bad decisions are back to help or haunt us, as we tally up where things stand with the end of the year results. Before we find a winner, we talk about Wriggle Roulette, Whale Street, and Scales of Fate.

04:45 - Wriggle Roulette
11:32 - Whale Street
19:12 - Scales of Fate
29:45 - Anti...

Somehow Ghost Turkey returned. And you never saw it coming! That might be because we forgot to remind people that it's Thanksgiving, but never mind that, the important thing is you're fools. Not us though, we're back with yet another juicy, cranberry soaked list of bird gaming goodness. Gobble gobble!

00:00 - ???

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BGBBOB is back, and it's been long enough that you might need a reminder. Ten game designers enter the ring, and through the arduous process of one vs one battles, we arrive at our (and not just our, but the) definitive ranked list of ... these particular designers. It's science. Before we fight it out, we talk about Iliad, The Old King's Crown, and Franchise.

03:29 - Iliad
13:56 - The Old King's Crown
34:01 - Franchise
42:04 - BGB...

This episode is not about Bananagrams (at least, I don't think so), but it is about the price of things (though not Bananagrams specifically, shut up about Bananagrams). In a world where everything costs more, we're talking about the value of games, and how far a game has to go to justify its price. Before we decide if the price is right, we talk about The Presence, and River of Gold.

02:08 - The Presence
17:32 - River of Gold
27:0...

Not perturbed by Kellen's trip to Germany, we're all daydreaming about the motherlode of board game conventions, Essen SPIEL. There's a lot of games coming to the show, and because we're not going, and presumably you aren't either, we'll just tell you what's going to be there instead! The good stuff, anyway. Before we Germinate, we talk about Calimala, Tír na nÓg, and Typewriter.

02:42 - Calimala
09:42 - Tír na nÓg
16:15 - Typewrit...

Dreaded continuity! We're following up Episode 41 from seven years ago about the games that started our love for board games! After those first loves, what really got our hearts aflutter with the joy that the hobby had to offer? Before we yearn, we talk about Der Fliegende Holländer, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

02:52 - Der Fliegende Holländer
16:03 - The Hobbit: There and Back Again
27:14 - The games that made us
29:11 - ...

The draft's back! This time it's card games, and we're picking the bestof what ought to be a staple of any good collection. We love card games, we love drafting games, and you love winning money, so be sure to vote for whoever you think drafted the best set, and you could win a $100 gift card! Before deal everyone in, we talk about Money!, Venture, and Fishing.

03:02 - Money!
12:43 - Venture
20:27 - Fishing
28:39 - Card Games Draf...

There's any number of subtle innuendoes we could've gone with, but this is what we're doing I guess. If you haven't got there yet, we're talking about games that aren't just slow rides, but instead leave you gasping for more right as they climax. Before we finish, we talk about No Loose Ends, Eselsbrücke, and The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship.

01:24 - No Loose Ends
09:08 - Eselsbrücke
19:33 - The Lord of the Rings: Fat...

One, two, three, four, five, everybody in the car so come on let's ride ... to the mailbag! We're answering your pressing questions - and oh how they press - about all manner of things: Crowdfunding ads! Narrative games! Getting jaded about board games! You wrote in because you had to know what we thought, and who are we to say no. Before we get covered in papercuts, we talk about Wheedle, Dune: War for Arrakis, and Transgalactica.
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