This isn’t all the games we reviewed on the podcast this year, but it’s a lot of them! How many can you name?

Visiting family and came across this 1964 edition of Sorry. It’s very stylish.

Why they keep letting us land planes is beyond me, but we did it again! Our first “exceptional conditions” landing (one of the yellow ones) and we successfully parked the plane at London Heathrow. #SkyTeam

Still mad at the finale of Veronica Mars.

We’ve played twice more since then. The 3yo now requests the “cat game”! But Calico is a little long for his attention span, even playing it using the family variant. Can y’all recommend similar games that have shorter play times?

Since there’s only so much Hoot Owl Hoot a dad can take, we introduced the 3yo to Calico tonight. He played along with the family variant pretty well! Naturally, the 12yo won. #BoardGames #DadLife

Today on the podcast, I review Imhotep, my favorite @philwh.bsky.social game! Players step into the sandals of the original Imhotep to build pyramids and obelisks and other great monuments. It’s a tight, interactive game, and I can’t get enough of it. Listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

Today on the podcast, I review Imhotep, my favorite @philwh.bsky.social game! Players step into the sandals of the original Imhotep to build pyramids and obelisks and other great monuments. It’s a tight, interactive game, and I can’t get enough of it. Listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

I finally got Trickadee to the table! A little bit of tricktaking and lot of adorable birds made for a fun play.

Imhotep! Getting a play in with friends as a way to prep for my next podcast episode. This game is so good.

Evening soccer practice for the teenager means two-player games with the 12yo! Christmas Patchwork and (her favorite) Royal Visit.

I’m am stuck on deciding what game to cover next in the podcast. Here are my most played games of 2025. Which one that I haven’t covered should I review next?

November was a big month for games! Lots of #Thanksgaming, plus Tennessee Game Days, a regular monthly game nights, and more! My favorite new games were (very different) Duel for Cardia and SETI. I would gladly play either again!

Six-player Fit to Print! The real-time element makes for a lot of fun with cousins. We’ll have to cover this on the podcast soon.

Some post-Thanksgiving Nidavellir! Played twice this weekend. Got a different rule wrong each time. I’m so used to Board Game Arena keeping track of things for me!

We had a Clank in Space rematch and this time I edged out the nephew. He was one space away from safety (and a win on points) when the assassins took him out. As he quickly point out, this was my first win of the weekend.

Played Clank in Space last night with the nephew. To my knowledge, he hasn’t played the game since last December, but that didn’t stop him from cleaning our clocks. 150-0-0. He pulled off a seven-move turn to scoop me on the 30-point artifact. It was a beat down. I have trained him well.

A very satisfying game of Root tonight! Each of us one turn away from winning, but I edged it out with the Woodland Alliance. Gotta love those 11-point turns near the end!

I have really enjoyed Nidavellir on BGA, but I was hesitant to play a physical copy because of all the math. But when I saw a used copy for 20 bucks, I couldn’t pass it up. We played it tonight and it was very smooth! Not computing our scores along the way made the finale more exciting.

“Posts with audio can get more reach.” Only because you set up your dumb algorithms that way, Instagram. Also no one I know uses Instagram with their volume turned on.

Okay, I'm ready to play SETI again. (I have no idea when I'll play SETI again.)

I played SETI last night! And, yes, it’s just as good as everyone says.

New episode! We’re making movies and calling each other communists in Hollywood 1947 from Facade Games! With guest reviewer and future lawyer, the 12yo! Listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

New episode! We’re making movies and calling each other communists in Hollywood 1947 from Facade Games! With guest reviewer and future lawyer, the 12yo! Listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

Well that was a fun 48 hours of gaming! Two trips to Tennessee Game Days and our regular monthly game night made for a nice set of new-to-me and old favorites.

Day 1 of Tennessee Game Days is in the books for me. Secret Origin, the new trick taker from Stonemaier; Galileo Galilei, full of stars and combos; Moon Colony Bloodbath, which I lost 0-1; and (not pictured) Duel for Cardia, my new favorite two-player game. A very good day of gaming!

The year in gaming, however, is going very well. Thanks to the three-year-old (and me cutting back on purchases), I’ve hit an h-index of 7 already this year. I’m usually lucky to hit 7 by the last week of December!

A very slow October in gaming. Just too many things between kid activities and fall fun. But some quality plays at game night, a few games of Shallow Regrets yesterday, and (not pictured) the three-year-old’s first play of Sushi Go!

It’s spooky season! Thanks for the mug, @d20plusmodifier.bsky.social!

I went all in on the new fan-designed bird cards for Wingspan! I’m very excited to try these out with Emily.

The new booster packs of fan-design bird cards for Wingspan are now on sale! Each of the six packs has 25 new bird cards from a region already covered by Wingspan and its expansions. Thanks for making these, @stonemaiergames.com ! store.stonemaiergames.com/collections/...

Trying out Orleans now that it’s on BGA. I can see why it’s an 8.0 on BGG! I’m liking it a lot.

New episode! The teenager and I start our 2025 Unmatched tournament to see which of our 16 most-played characters is our favorite Unmatched hero! It's Beowulf vs. the Winter Soldier! The Genie vs. Little Red! T-Rex vs. Dracula! And more! firstplayertoken.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

New episode! The teenager and I start our 2025 Unmatched tournament to see which of our 16 most-played characters is our favorite Unmatched hero! It's Beowulf vs. the Winter Soldier! The Genie vs. Little Red! T-Rex vs. Dracula! And more! firstplayertoken.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

How it started. How it’s going. #Unmatched

Teaching three friends to play Root tonight. Wish me luck!

Back at it tonight! Too much treasure hunting and not enough ghost fightin’. We lost. :/ But—bonus—this is great practice for the little guy in recognizing letters.

“I’m ready to fight some ghost-es!” We introduced the 3yo to Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters tonight and he loved it! He put the ghost figures on his fingers and everything. And we won!

Emily and I play a lot of Wingspan, so last night we mixed it up with the Duet mode from Wingspan Asia. I really like this two-player variant.

We had a very tense game of Clank in Space last night. At one point it looked like we were all doomed, but everyone at least made it to the cargo bay to score points. The two players who were knocked out there and didn’t get the 20 point escape pods ended up in 1st and 2nd! Score: 75-73-70-65.

Maybe the worst hand in Flip 7 last night?

This just in! I Made You a Mixtape! Time to relive some early 90s glory days. 📼

This month on the podcast, Emily and I review Sky Team. Come for the color commentary, stay for my theory why this pilot and co-pilot can’t talk to each other while landing an airplane. www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis... #BoardGames

If you're still up, then check out the new First Player Token podcast episode. It's all about the two-player co-op game Sky Team. Emily and I talk about why we keep coming back to this game. And I have a little fun with the audio for this episode. www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

Of course Square would be a board gamer! Shape Island S1E4 features a tile-laying, area control game called Stellar Chronicles. Seriously, Square calls it “area control.” More pics here, from the prop designer: josephberryhill.com/stellar-chro...

If you're still up, then check out the new First Player Token podcast episode. It's all about the two-player co-op game Sky Team. Emily and I talk about why we keep coming back to this game. And I have a little fun with the audio for this episode. www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

Playing Parks (1e) tonight. We like to camp in our truck, so my friend Jeff made us custom tokens for use with the Nightfall expansion!

Also, I aim to get a new podcast episode out on the first of every month but that’s not gonna happen this month. 🫠

Well that was a light month! Hard to play a lot of games when moving to a new house.

The Game Changers hits the shelves in paperback today! Do YOU want to hear all about the intertwining histories & modern communities surrounding one of our greatest artforms, games? I flipping hope so, because I'm not good at reading social cues indicating a lack of interest & I like to monologue