Games played in September. It was an unusual month—these are almost all online, inc a bunch played live with friends & audio. Great to play Pergamon and Bohnanza again.

Organized another online game day for listeners of my podcast. Another fun time with some great titles & friends.

A lighter month of August for in-person gaming. I really loved getting to play Die Fugger and Krass Kariert again. Endeavor Deep Sea is another standout. The Hunt just barely kept my wargaming alive.

And here are the games I played online in July. Mostly BGA, of course, but I’m enjoying getting back into BSW for its unique games (Tuscany, Notre Dame, Qwinto). Still some Yucata, too (eg GAH, Maori).

The in-person games I played in July. All but one of these were at EsCon, since summer con season interrupted my regular game group.

Small Fjords by @grailgames.bsky.social is a slick, little package. Quality packaging & components similar to Oink, but a little larger which permits more inside. I just played the solo variant to this 2-player version, but may end up liking it that way the best.

I loved this entire system Leonardi invented. Still do. I’ve owned the WW1 original, the WW2 and jet fighter sequels, and then X-Wing vs TIE. Then the Lost World Series brought it down to a fun, RPG-ish personal scale. And back up to Battlemechs.

I've been enjoying these whippersnappers and their newfangled podcast for a while. Now I was able to join them for a game day. Then was able to talk about a classic boardgame on their show as a guest!

Had a great time at EsCon as always. Good friends, good games, and a “mini event” of our own. This time it was a focus on Rudiger Dorn games. We called it the Dornücopia! Whoever won a game was adorned The Great Dornholio

Who remembers when BGG had an online implementation of Tigris & Euphrates? I’d love to find an archived screenshot.

Wonderful bonus game night where we played all three Kenner noms Looot!, Faraway, and Endeavor Deep Sea. Plus the little trick-taker Prey. A friend joined us who hasn’t been available for many months (new parent!).

You’re going to need a bigger boat.

Mostly online gaming last month, thanks to a dedicated "mini-con" event I hosted, plus a 2-week vacation later. Besides the SdJ & Kenner nominees I get to play this way, my standouts for the month are Space Empires 4X, Thurn und Taxis, Billabong, and Planet Unknown.

Spoke with a retired German couple on our vacation in Norway. They were shocked that I knew where Regensburg was. Then shocked that I knew about the Spiel des Jahres, Catan, and Bohnanza. This never happens when I travel! Their favorite card game is Wizard, inc with anniversary edition expansion.

Another good episode. I agree 100% that El Grande was the designers’ “sideways” (good word) approach at a dudes-on-the-map conquest game. And though the medieval court theme was pasted-on, the result was something that bears a cynical resemblance to real-life conflicts of influence, rather than arms

A great 12-hour day of games onlinewith friends, all while voice chatting over Discord. (A silver lining from our shared pandemic experience in the past.) Had folks from SoCal, Norcal, Texas, Massachusetts, Virginia, and North Carolina. Will do it again someday.

Online Game Day (mini-con) for my podcast listeners is underway. So far we've played Odin, Tigris & Euphrates, Saint Petersburg, and now starting River City Glassworks. Join us on the BGTG Discord server discord.gg/8ahVR9pATh

I'm catching up on some boardgame podcasts, including Cult of the Old, a favorite of mine. Nice to see this dive into classic games as well as hobby favorites. Great to point out how we can overlook how polished this design is, from the tile mix to the board design to the physical productions.

Great weekend of gaming. Even squeezed a couple wargame-ish titles in there.

I came here to make this very point, but designer Matt Leacock beat me to the punch! I am so happy to have re-discovered Chris Farrell's substack, Illuminating Games. His writing & analysis is the sharpest I've enjoyed in the boardgaming hobby for a long, long time. 100% recommended.

Tried this again with recommended house rules from BGG. Wow, the Empire steamrolled us good guys! That Death Star was operational.

On May 3 I’m hosting a day of online gaming (realtime) for any of my podcast listeners. I’ll be online from 9am Pacific on BGA, as well as my Discord server. discord.gg/hQQf2Mh9gf

Great turnout today at Santa Clarita #HandsOff, with lots of sympathetic drivers honking their support for us. I came away inspired and ready to do it again. Some of my favorite signs: This Is The Government Our Founders Warned Us About Embarassed. Ashamed. So Sorry World Congress DO Something

Not sure how these games get sorted in this monthly BGstats report, but it’s a decent sampling of a big month of March for me. Dice Tower West to start the month, and two good local game group sessions to end it.

The podcast episode #240 for April wraps up the game cover art contest, then I discuss my time at Dice Tower West. boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/352...

I know a number of transgender people, one of them my son, and they're all decent, kind, hard working people who contribute to society in many ways. We owe them the decency and respect that everyone deserves.

On this Transgender Day of Visibility, one of the points is showing who “we” are. I’ve got a transgender daughter. If 1% of the population is transgender, that’s small but IMPORTANT. They deserve kindness, respect, and rights. Their parents should support & band together. You probably know someone.

The winner of our Game Cover Art voting contest was Unconscious Mind, by artists Andrew Bosley and Vincent Dutrait. Also @omnomgmr.bsky.social won the prediction contest, and will be my podcast co-host when we do Mark Madness again in 2026. Thanks to Eryn Roston for co-hosting this year. Super fun!

The voting contest for best Game Cover Art has now reached its championship round. The final two are Capital Lux (by artist Kwanchai Moriya) and Unconscious Mind (by artists Andrew Bosley & Vincent Dutrait). All are welcome to vote for their preferred artwork. boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/354...

The Final Four in my Game Cover Art voting competition are Sleeping Gods - Ryan Laukat Unconscious Mind - Andrew Bosley & Vincent Dutrait Kelp Shark vs Octopus - Weberson Santiago Capital Lux - Kwanchai Moriya boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/354... Go vote!

My GAME COVER ART voting contest is down to the Elite Eight. Go vote for your favorites & listen to our discussion. boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/354...

The Sweet 16 for my podcast’s Madness-style voting contest for game COVER ART is now ready for voting. boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/354...

My podcasts's Game Cover Art voting contest is underway. Already half the original entries have been knocked out. Now the round of 32 titles remaining is open for voting. Go vote for your favorite game cover art. Some matchups are shown below. boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/354...

Time to vote for favorite boardgame cover art. This is the first round, the round of 64. Some matchups shown here boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/354...

Spread the word! There’s one more day to join our voting contest for best game COVER ART. (That’s one more day to make a prediction at challenge.com/MarkMadness2025 . Then everyone can join in voting for their favorites in the cover-vs-cover matchups.) boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/352...

Here are all the games I played at Dice Tower West #DTW. The five I'd like to call out most are Free Ride USA, Carolus Magnus, Mesos, Frank's Zoo, and Lowesherz. You can tell I focused quite a bit on old games (25+years) with my friends, but also tried some new titles.

Rare treasures from the #DTW flea market

Tomorrow it’s back to some more recent titles. Today at #DTW we played Lowenherz, Spekulation, Carolus Magnus, Industrial Waste, and Traumfabrik. Everything at least 25 years old.

New version of an old game about movie production. #DTW

Who knows this economic game? 🏭 🛢️⚙️

This one is a partnership. #DTW Retro Boardgaming.

Next retro game. A bit of a cheat since it isn’t the old version, which they didn’t have in the library.

It’s retro day for my old school boardgame buddies & I at Dice Tower West. I’ll share these pics as a quiz! Hint: all games were published in 2000 or earlier. That is, 25+ years old.

Indie Game Market at Dice Tower West #DTW

More #DTW fun.Today I’ve played Fishing, Free Ride USA, Frank’s Zoo, and now Reef Encounter

First game of #DTW, the new version of Kraftwagen

It's here! After previewing some divisions of boardgame cover art we'll be voting on (and predicting winners), this is the official kickoff for Mark Madness 2025! Sixty-four game covers in Fantasy, Historical/Real-World, Nature, and SF face off until one wins! boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/352...

The third preview for my upcoming Mark Madness single-elim voting contest for the COVER ART for 64 titles. Here’s the Nature division.

Coming soon…my podcast’s “March Madness” style voting competition. Anyone can vote in the one-on-one matchups between boardgame titles. This year it’s all about game ART. Specifically, game COVER. Here’s a taste of the Fantasy-themed division of covers.

Does slow & steady still win the race? I started my boardgame podcast 20 years ago this week. Since then I've posted over 350 recordings, spanning the time from before smartphones existed to today's Bluesky & YouTube influencers. New episode talks all about it. boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/352...