I found this in my “on this day” photo folder. I guess I played a game of Settlers 12 years ago today!

We might be turning into a proper Steam family. The 4yo and I have been playing Big City Little Kitty all week—it’s adorable and just his speed—and I’ve got hooked on Against the Storm. Like I needed another hobby.

Thanks to our gaming weekend, April was a very good month for games! Trio and Heat were new-to-us family games, and they both lived up to the hype. For quick reviews of the heavier games we played at our cabin in the woods, check out the latest podcast episode: www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis....

Today on the podcast, I recap last weekend’s game cabin in the woods experience! We played six very good games, and I share some after-action reports from each of them. SETI, Dune: Imperium, Arcs, and more! www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

Today on the podcast, I recap last weekend’s game cabin in the woods experience! We played six very good games, and I share some after-action reports from each of them. SETI, Dune: Imperium, Arcs, and more! www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

First game of our weekend of games at a cabin in the woods: SETI! Such a great game. It took like 4 hours but so satisfying. Might even play it again this weekend.

Okay, so maybe I found a racing game I like. The 15yo got Heat: Pedal to the Metal for his birthday and we played our first game tonight. The racing mechanics actually made sense to me, and I think we all had fun. Looking forward to trying other tracks and upgrades and such.

Update: The board gaming weekend starts in five days! None of our Colorado friends are coming, but we’ve got a cabin and 6-7 guys for all the games we can play. Very excited! Hoping to play SETI, Arcs, Dune Imperium, and more.

Update: We went with Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip at @levelwithus.bsky.social ‘s suggestion. The boy has just started playing it. 🤞🏻

@levelwithus.bsky.social So our oldest is turning 15. He'd really like to play GTA, but that's a hard pass from us. Do you know of any alternatives that have less objectionable material? Also, 15-year-old boys are impossible to buy for.

"...𝖢𝗈𝗉𝗒, 𝖬𝗈𝗈𝗇 𝗃𝗈𝗒." Today's #WeeklyTshirt wasn't scheduled but I just had to make it for myself. The Orion space capsule is silhouetted against the far side of the moon. danielsolis.threadless.com/designs/copy... (10% artist proceeds go to United World Schools to improve education opportunities)

@connor.alwaysawake.games In Club Spooky can you talk to zero creatures during the socialize part of your turn?

Today on the podcast, we're putting the First Play in First Player Token! We took a spin with Club Spooky by @connor.alwaysawake.games and loved the silly spooky vibe! Listen to our one-play review here: www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis.... Warning: Cute kids on audio!

Today on the podcast, we're putting the First Play in First Player Token! We took a spin with Club Spooky by @connor.alwaysawake.games and loved the silly spooky vibe! Listen to our one-play review here: www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis.... Warning: Cute kids on audio!

I pulled off a win in Challengers (Beach Cup) for the first time in a long while. Props to my MVPs: the three Gingerbread Men I pulled! And a deck full of 4s.

Club Spooky by @connor.alwaysawake.games is adorable! And a darn fine game, at least after a first play. Players bid on ghosts and ghouls to join their clique with VIPs offering different ways to score and randos not doing much. All very speedy and whimsical. Really glad I backed this one.

TIL that there's a Dune Part 3. I was under the impression they had split the book into two movies. I'm really glad I didn't watch Part 2, because it would have been very frustrating to learn at the end of it that they weren't done yet. Sigh.

We played another game of Flipships while visiting our Texas family. This was a lot of fun and I’m kinda surprised it didn’t get more love when it came out in 2017.

Cute kid alert! This month, I take a deep dive into board games for three-year-olds. I talk about Hoot Owl Hoot, Cascadia Junior, Incan Gold, Sushi Go!, and a lot more, with lots of gaming audio featuring my favorite three-year-old. www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

One of the kid’s favorite parts of the board game experience is punching out a new game. Listen to the new podcast to hear about this and some of our favorite games to play with the three-year-old!

February was a light month for gaming as expected given its day count. But I had good range.

Cute kid alert! This month, I take a deep dive into board games for three-year-olds. I talk about Hoot Owl Hoot, Cascadia Junior, Incan Gold, Sushi Go!, and a lot more, with lots of gaming audio featuring my favorite three-year-old. www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

Game night! Everyone made it out in Clank in Space, but in Bristol 1350, no one did! Also, the always thematic Xenon Profiteer!

Did I back Roma XLI from Facade Games the instant I saw the Kickstarter notification? Yes, yes, I did. www.kickstarter.com/projects/fac...

This just in! Keep the Faith, a storytelling game about religion in transition, by @gregisonthego.bsky.social and @cmichpress.bsky.social! I talked with Greg about this game last year on the podcast: www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...

My most played games of 2015! Dead of Winter was the game that got me back into the hobby, after a few years off. Splendor was the game that I could take just about anywhere and play with just about anyone. It was how I introduced others to the hobby. Mysterium worked well for that, too.

This is what the end of a game of Wingspan looks like when your wife plays the chiffchaff as her first bird. 27 tucked cards!

A Wingspan review that focuses on the nods I make to actual bird behaviors.

We saw that and kept expecting them to dance.

I got SETI to the table last night. Figuring out this game is so much fun. I won, but with a score (167) that was a good bit lower than the last time I played, when I came in second place. Very excited to give this one another go and see if I can improve.

We enjoyed our first play of Wingspan Americas! I love the vibe of the hummingbirds flitting back and forth. I was also excited to see the Bat Falcon in the new cards—it was one of a few lifers I picked up during our fall break cruise to Mexico. Also, we ended with a tie, 103-103!

A board game “review” which is really just a how-to-play. Sigh.

Who will be crowned as our favorite Unmatched fighter? Today on the podcast, we report on the second half of our Unmatched tournament, from the quarterfinals to the finals! Listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

Who will be crowned as our favorite Unmatched fighter? Today on the podcast, we report on the second half of our Unmatched tournament, from the quarterfinals to the finals! Listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

It was a very good month in gaming, even with the four day gaming weekend canceled due to snow and ice. Honestly, the weekend wouldn’t have added that many plays, since each of the plays would’ve been three hours long!

Four and a half days without power. Then the power comes on. Then Wingspan Americas shows up! Props to Trenton the FedEx driver for making it happen today.

Thanks to this winter storm, my friends and I have cancelled our long-planned board gaming weekend at a cabin in a state park near here. Sigh. Here in middle Tennessee, we just don't have the infrastructure for snow and ice. And none of us wanted to get trapped at the cabin for days!

Ordered! Very excited to explore this expansion with Emily!

And tonight we finished our 2025 Unmatched tournament, only a few weeks into 2026! 😜 Stay tuned to the podcast to find out who our all-time favorite Unmatched fighter is!

Just two games at game night last night, but two very good ones! I might have shouted “I’m a brave prairie witch!” once twice. Broom Service, which I hadn’t played in _ages_, plus Space Explorers with a few expansion modules and my fun playmat.

SETI! I’m playing through the solo game so I can make sure I know the rules. Later this month, I’m spending a weekend in a cabin with ten friends playing board games. I’ll definitely want to get this game to the table!

Drop some WHEELS

We got the 3yo Cascadia Jr. for Christmas, and he loves it! So do we. We can play it in 20 minutes, which is exactly as long as his attention span.

From Board Game Arena: "In 2025, you played an impressive 325 tables! This places you in the top 10% of all BGA players!" I'm not sure if I'm proud of that or not. 😜

The very first game I gave my nephew, I think back in 2016, was Ticket to Ride. We broke it out yesterday for my first play in a very long time. Naturally, he crushed us. I forgot you could get 67 points on the LA-Miami connection!

And here’s my 2025 year in review. That’s 275 plays, up from 229 the year before, mainly because the 3yo is a regular at the table now! Also, I played with 73 people this year! Board games are about community for me.

Let’s start with December! Twenty different games isn’t half bad!

The nephew loves Kingdomino, so I thought it was time to teach him Middle Ages, which has similar vibes. He loved it. And won his first game against me, naturally. (We played Unmatched right after, where I made sure to keep him humble.)

Just finished a very fun game of Fit to Print with the niblings. I didn’t get a photo, but I did get some audio of our reporting and layout phases. I’m excited to cover this game on the podcast in the new year.

I’ve been having fun looking through my board game photos from the year. Here are nine games that were new to me in 2025. See the alt text for the list.