Tue, 1 July 2025 Boardgames To Go 243 - SdJ & Kennerspiel 2025 Opinions & Predictions Opener: Skara Brae, and again I'm talking about vacation-linked boardgames   Closer: The Dornücopia we've got planned for EsCon in a couple weeks.    I'm always happy to talk about the Spiel des Jahres. The winners, the nominees, the recommended titles, the jury process, and the award's immense, positive impact on our hobby. That goes for the Kennerspiel and Kinderspiel, too...though I'm woefully ignorant about the children's category. This time it's just me talking about the games, severall of which I've played, but some I've missed. I don't think my predictions for what will win are particularly interesting or insightful--I just like talking about the games and sharing what I think of them. For the SdJ, this year the nominees are Bomb Busters, Flip 7, and Krakel Orakel. (Plus the recommended titles are Agent Avenue, Castle Combo, Cities, Foxy, Perfect Words, and The Animals of Baker Street.)    Then for the Kennerspiel (a category that's only gotten more interesting to me as it has drifted into my preferred game "weight") the nominees are Endeavor: Deep Sea, Faraway, and Looot. (The additional recommended titles are The Gang, Kauri, Medical Mysteries: NYC Emergency Room, and Zenith.)    -Mark Direct download: BGTG_243_SdJ__Kennerspiel_2025_Opinions_and_Predictions.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 8:18pm PDT

Sun, 1 June 2025 Boardgames To Go 242 - Spiel des Jahres Wayback Machine for 2005 (with Jonathan Takagi) Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners. Openers: Mark: Space Empires 4X Jonathan: 2005 Flashback & Quiz Closers: Jonathan: My top games of 2005 Mark: Hosting my own (small) event instead of traveling to a con? Mark Johnson @MarkEJohnson Jonathan Takagi @jtakagi The Wayback Machine is back. One more time, a friend joins me to go back in time to an earlier Spiel des Jahres, looking at the winner but also the other nominees and recommended games. In addition, my guest helps me think about the earlier time itself, and how the games, the hobby, and the community may have changed over the years. This time it's my longtime friend & listener from San Diego, Jonathan Takagi. In fact, he's from a bit north, in Escondido, and Jonathan is another one of the people behind my favorite regional con, EsCon. I'll be going back there in a month! Jonathan decided to pick 2005 because it's twenty years ago...which also happens to be when I started the podcast. Niagara was the game that won the SdJ (one of my earliest disappointments with the jury's selection!), and I replayed it just recently to re-examine my opinion about the game. In fact, it can be played online at BGA, which seems odd for a game that relies on its physicality and "toy factor" as much as it does. Still, the actual strategy in the game remains intact in the format, since the unpredictability of the fork in the river may not be so unpredictable after all. What do you think of Niagara?    We don't just talk about the winner, though. Back in those days, the SdJ jury announced four other "nominated" games that could've won the award, and several more "recommended" games. For me, I think the game I'd want as the winner resides in the nominated list, while Jonathan singles out some standouts from the recommended list. Other titles nominated for the SdJ: Verflixxt! (That's Life), Around the World in 80 Days, Jambo, and Himalaya (Lords of Xidit)     Other titles recommended by the SdJ jury: Boomtown, Tanz der Hornochsen (Dance of Ibexes), The Gardens of the Alhambra, Diamant (Incan Gold), Geschenkt! (No Thanks), Piranha Pedro, Typo, and Wie ich die Welt sehe…         We also talk about two other major German game awards, the Deutscher Spielpreis, and the A La Carte. They are both ranked list. The former is (sort of) for heavier, gamer-games, while the latter is for card games (or “board”games done with cards). The timing of these awards is slightly off from the SdJ, so depending on publication dates a game might show up in one year’s list for one award, and the following year for another award. But they’re all close, and with some notable overlap for widely-respected games. DSP 1. Louis XIV 2. Niagara 3. Manila 4. Ubongo 5. Himalaya 6. Around the World in 80 Days 7. Shadows Over Camelot 8. Jambo 9. The Scepter of Zavandor 10. Verflixxt! A La Carte 1. Jambo 2. Geschenkt! 3. Wie ich die Welt sehe… 4. Diamant 5. Boomtown 6. Razzia! 7. Team Work 8. Gelb Gewinnt! Near the end of the episode, Jonathan considers what we can now observe in the hobby when we look back on 2005. Was it the start of a transition from “German Games” to the broader notion of “Euros”? Of course we had some French, Italian, British, and even American titles back then, but they’re hobby still showed its tremendous roots in German culture and its game publishing. At some point, that changed. Was this around the start of that change? -Mark Direct download: BGTG_242_-_Spiel_des_Jahres_Wayback_Machine_for_2005_with_Jonathan_Takagi.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am PDT

Thu, 1 May 2025 Boardgames To Go 241 - Session Report & Feedback Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners. Opener: Join us to play games online together on May 3. We're meeting on the Discord server, as well as the Boardgames To Go Listeners group on BGA       I set out to give myself a break this month, just talking about some recent games and fielding a few questions sent to me. In fact, I've been doing so much gaming lately that I had to whittle my list down to just these six games to share my impressions about. Then the feedback questions ended up being more fun to dive into than I expected. These kinds of shows are fun & easy to do--I won't do them all the time, but every once in a while should be ok. Closer: Message me with any of your questions, and I may use them on a future Session Report & Feedback episode. -Mark Direct download: BGTG_241_-_Session_Report__Feedback.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am PDT

Tue, 1 April 2025 Boardgames To Go 240 - Dice Tower West and the Mark Madness 2025 Champions The annual voting/predicting competition called Mark Madness is now finished. The results are posted with the rest of the updates for episode 239, and here co-host Eryn Roston returns one last time to share the winners. Unconscious Mind was our collective favorite for game cover art, and Adam Brocker is this year's winner. The plan now is for Adam to help me run next year's Mark Madness, in 2026. Next, I share my time at Dice Tower West. This is the second year in a row that I've gone to this national boardgame convention. Is it national? I think so. It's certainly big. Held in Las Vegas every March, that's a destination I can reach by car. I join a bunch of friends there and we play most games together. Besides a number of fresh & new ones, the buddies I got to this con with enjoy focusing one entire day on old games. We define that as games more than 25 years old. Last year that went to 1999, and now we included other titles published in 2000.     -Mark Direct download: BGTG_240_-_Mark_Madness_2025_Champions_with_Eryn_Roston_and_Dice_Tower_West.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 5:30am PDT

Fri, 28 March 2025 Boardgames To Go 239E - Mark Madness 2025 (with Eryn Roston) The Championship is now set!   https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/354557/mark-madness-2025-game-cover-art-with-eryn-roston Direct download: BGTG_239E_-_Mark_Madness_2025.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 11:32am PDT

Sat, 22 March 2025 Boardgames To Go 239D - Mark Madness 2025 (with Eryn Roston) Elite Eight Be sure to go vote at https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/354557/mark-madness-2025-game-cover-art-with-eryn-roston?itemid=11634552#11634552 Direct download: BGTG_239D_Mark_Madness_Elite_Eight.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 6:36pm PDT

Wed, 19 March 2025 Boardgames To Go 239C - Mark Madness 2025 (with Eryn Roston) Sweet 16 The round of 32 is finished, leaving us now voting on the Sweet 16 of game cover artworks. The choices are getting more difficult.   And we have a new leader in our prediction contest. #Davecember celebrity loofish is representing his namesakes with a currently-in-first-place position for his guess...but with others on his tail. Direct download: BGTG_239C_-_Mark_Madness_2025.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 8:46pm PDT

Sun, 16 March 2025 Boardgames To Go 239B - Mark Madness 2025 (with Eryn Roston) Round of 32 Eryn is back to talk with me about the results of the first round voting. Half of our original 64 game cover art entries have now been knocked out of the contest. Now successive voting rounds keep halving the remaining contestants every three days. What have we seen so far? No ties, though a couple matchups were close. A few more were blowouts. Are there common threads? Surprises? Plus...Eryn teaches me how to look at art more critically...by SQUINTING. Achievement unlocked.   -Mark Direct download: BGTG_239B_-_Mark_Madness_2025.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 5:20pm PDT

Thu, 13 March 2025 Boardgames To Go 239 - Reminder for Mark Madness If you're playing along with Mark Madness this year, the time for predictions is over and you'd better start voting. Whether you've done a prediction or not, the link below takes you to the place where you can choose your favorite game cover art as 64 titles square off against each other in one-on-one matchups.    https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/354557/mark-madness-2025-game-cover-art-with-eryn-roston Direct download: BGTG_239-Reminder.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 8:46pm PDT

Mon, 3 March 2025 Boardgames To Go 239A - Mark Madness 2025 Kickoff (with Eryn Roston) Play along and predict the winners at https://challonge.com/MarkMadness2025 Predictions must be submitted by March 12 to be in the contest Mark Johnson @MarkEJohnson eryn roston @baditude 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. Follow Eryn's own art creator account on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chickenscratch.er/ 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. -Mark Fantasy Division geeklist Historical/Real-World Division geeklist Nature Division geeklist Sci Fi Division geeklist Direct download: BGTG_239A_-_Mark_Madness_2025_with_Eryn_Roston.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 9:10pm PDT

Sat, 1 March 2025 Boardgames To Go 238 - Podcast 20th Anniversay (with Dave Arnott) Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners. David Arnott @Arnott 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. -Mark Direct download: BGTG_238_-_Podcast_20th_Anniversary.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am PDT

Sat, 1 February 2025 Boardgames To Go 237 - BGG Hall of Fame (with Scott Alden) plus EsCon report Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.   Scott Alden @Aldie Opener: Everyone knows Aldie, right? Feels like we do. Scott Alden, the man behind BoardGameGeek, is one creative entrepreneur, let me tell ya. Anyone could've thought to make a central website where boardgamers come for information and community, but it takes more than a good idea for something to be reality. For 25 years Aldie has been adding features, listening to comments, growing the hobby, and doing way more than most to enhance boardgaming around the world. I can't believe it's been so long since I've had him on the podcast. I'll be sure to do it again soon.                            Here Scott joins me to talk about the BGG Hall of Fame, where 25 famous titles were inducted into an inaugural collection. Jennifer Schlickbernd headed up the project with Aldie's blessing, and Candice Harris was responsible producing & editing the awesome videos that accompanied this launch. I was pleased to be invited to be the initial jury that came up with the games, and also pleased with the end result. We each had our own experiences & different appreciations for various titles, but it was a group effort--including much group deliberation--that resulted in the final list. Schacht The Monkey con After the interview, I go on to talk about most of the games I played at a recent, regional convention: EsCon. The games all have one thing in common--they were all designed by Michael Schacht. As long as my friends are onboard, I really have fun focusing on something at events like these. Sometimes it's SdJ winners, or trick-taking games, or pre-2000 boardgames. This time it was focused on a single designer. As EsCon host Steve Paap likes to label these things, we called it our Schacht The Monkey con.              Closer: The following month's episode will be this podcast's own 20th anniversary. Can you believe it? Dave Arnott will be on to interview me and I can tell stories (some old, some new) about the past two decades behind a laptop and inexpensive microphone. If you've got questions or otherwise want to me to talk about something, send in your feedback now. Thanks. -Mark Direct download: BGTG_237_-_BGG_Hall_of_Fame_with_Scott_Alden_plus_EsCon_report.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 2:45pm PDT

Wed, 1 January 2025 Boardgames To Go 236 - End of One Year, Beginning of Another Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners. I've been doing this podcast for twenty years! I never would've guessed this in the beginning. The actual "birthday" for the podcast is March 3rd, so focus on the anniversary then. But for now, this is the start of Season 21. Blackjack! Despite my teasing of Davebo during the Davecember episodes about putting too much stock in games-played data...I actually keep track of it myself. I'm not 100% accurate about it, but I'm probably 95% in recent years. (Earlier years weren't as detailed or accurate.) These days I'm using te BG Stats app, sync'd online to BGG. I don't record scores or game durations, but I DO record gaming locations, and that's permitted me to conclusively look at my data with & without online plays. For my own purposes, I've always included online plays in my totals, but I get why others may not. MJ's Games Played in 2024 with . . . and without online plays   In this episode I look back at 2024, mostly the games I played the most, but also events like conventions and games days. I was surprised to learn how many more games I played last year: more titles, more locations, more people, more new games, more everything. Now that I think about...more podcast episodes, too (thank to Mark Madness and Davecember :-) ). Along the way, the stats make me consider the nature of my boardgaming, how I play lots of favorites over & over online, while I try more new games in-person. Will it always be that way? Is that ideal? Last of all, I stumbled across a "shelfie" of my boardgame collection from 21 years ago, just about the same time I started this podcast. (And yes, those are my then-young kids' bikes in the bottom of the photo, and a toy rocking horse on the top shelf). Looking through it, I saw that my collection then was around 100 titles. It's double or triple that now. More significantly, I can see that I later sold three-quarters of this collection! Even accounting for the handful I re-acquired eventually, I can safely say that I turn over two-thirds of my collection. Put another way, that large fraction are not eternal keepers. I was disappointed to realize that, but perhaps it's ok? Perhaps many of our games are meant to be enjoyed just a handful of times, then passed on? -Mark Direct download: BGTG_236_-_End_of_One_Year_Beginning_of_Another.mp3 Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am PDT