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
August 5, 2025 • 71 mins
"We don’t ask that you stop loving your fantasy world. We ask
you stop paying money for the privilege to dream of it. If
you want to read the [Harry Potter] books or watch the movies, consider
buying second-hand or renting them from a library. Small
changes can make sure you never put your hard-earned
money into JKR’s hands."
-Blacklist CGE zine
Games Played Last Week:
01:01 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 1998)
05:49 ...
Mark as Played
July 29, 2025 • 68 mins
A chief misgiving Mark has about the con is that he is a terrible playtester. He was able to play two unpublished games, and while the designers were gracious he is seldom able to offer anything of much substance. "This game," he might say, "has cards. And other things." Past that, for some reason, when confronted with a prototype his faculties often fail him.
01:48 AYURIS: Arborea (Dani Garcia, Alley Cat Games, 2023)
Games Playe...
Mark as Played
July 22, 2025 • 79 mins
The purest juxtaposition that reveals the absurdity of "take that" effects can be found in many of your heavier games and some consims with cards. You gather the resources, marshal your forces, laboriously haul those troops hither and yon, and then sometimes have to manage some activation tokens or whatnot to finally get it on. And then your opponent plays the "nuh uh" card. Fun!
01:19 AYURIS: Daybreak (Matt Leacock & Matteo Menap...
Mark as Played
July 14, 2025 • 80 mins
"Dear friend, if you wanna feel better
Don't let the devil make you toss this letter
If you've been crossed up by hoodoo voodoo
A wizard or the lizard
You got family trouble, man trouble, woman trouble
No light through the tunnel
If you're lookin' for a true friend, or a true lover
Or if you've been livin' undercover
Well, I'm comin' to your town to break it all down
And help you with all of this
I'm lookin' to help you find bliss ...
Mark as Played
July 7, 2025 • 84 mins
It is remarkable to reflect on how much hobbies can demand of us, and certainly board gaming is no different. Setting aside the administrative, economic, and social burdens; we then have to spend so much time teaching, setting up, and tearing down. Alas! 23-step processes for general set up prior to the 12-step individual player board set up. It was not always thus, but here we are.
01:42 AYURIS: Voidfall (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Tur...
Mark as Played
July 1, 2025 • 73 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 -Galactic Cruise (T.K. King...
Mark as Played
June 24, 2025 • 73 mins
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, KOSMOS, 1998...
Mark as Played
June 17, 2025 • 74 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, I was at the North...
Mark as Played
June 10, 2025 • 75 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). Way to be ...
Mark as Played
June 3, 2025 • 68 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 Cutler...
Mark as Played
May 27, 2025 • 59 mins
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 Mangone, Alley...
Mark as Played
May 20, 2025 • 74 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 the cuddly, family-friend...
Mark as Played
May 13, 2025 • 74 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 Entertainment, 2025)...
Mark as Played
May 6, 2025 • 60 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, Kids Logic, 2024)
...
Mark as Played
April 29, 2025 • 71 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)
Games Pl...
Mark as Played
April 15, 2025 • 73 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 anyway.
01:...
Mark as Played
April 8, 2025 • 76 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 Sadler, Brady Sa...
Mark as Played
April 1, 2025 • 79 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.
01:43 AYURIS: ...
Mark as Played
March 25, 2025 • 59 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 Mechner? Sure, they...
Mark as Played
March 18, 2025 • 77 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 of Atlant...
Mark as Played
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