The new LEGO game arrived today Just in time for us to play as a family this summer It's a co-op scenario game where you defend your boat and get actual LEGO gear to beat up the enemies better

Benji's soccer team won the Gold Cup at Provincials this morning So proud of my son and his team! They came into the tournament ranked 8th of 8 teams, beat the #1 seed in their first game, and won the cup today in the 10th round of penalty kicks It was quite an amazing week!

This 100% I used to try and shoehorn games in Now I'm much more thoughtful about which games I introduce to which folks

This is almost a preview of our review on the next episode haha

We're trying out Revenant, the new worker placement semi coop game set in the Voidfall world So many icons and so much going on But it's pretty solid so far Sort of has a stock element because you gain influence with different houses that score you points at the end of the game

I always love these articles about professional sports teams using board games to connect Excited to watch Canada hopefully move on to the next round today www.nytimes.com/athletic/739...

We played our first couple hands of Moustache today at lunch It's a new trick taking team game But teams change each hand And a new rule gets added each round too Excited to play more tomorrow

We continue to enjoy playing All In Predictions at lunch Just enough extra stuff to keep everyone in it to the last hand Really great poker variation

Dad brag moment: Benji is the goalkeeper for his select soccer team They get to go to Provincials in July thanks to their win this morning Very proud of all his hard work and the work of the team

Lins is here for Episode 278 We review Flock! by @rosegauntlet.bsky.social & @allplay.bsky.social and dnup Plus we chat about our time with Absolum & Jurassic World Evolution 3 boardsalivepodcast.com/2026/06/14/e...

adults need to read more, especially fiction. it’s how we build empathy and remember how to imagine.

Hey BBQ/Smoker people! We just bought a new pellet smoker and I have NO experience with it. What are your pellet recommendations? Want them purchasable in Canada

We tried out the newish Hisashi Hiyashi card game Giraffe Raffe You are playing sets of cards onto locations that get increasingly tough to play on If you ever can't play on your turn, or pay an apple token, you lose and everyone laughs at you It was pretty meh...

Played our second game Revive tonight We're learning how significant moving up the tracks is Player powers seem to only help compliment your attempt to move up those tracks But we're enjoying it!

We played a couple hands of Rook Requiem at lunch today I didn't take a single trick in the second round, haha

Okay, we played it at 4 players at lunch today and it was definitely better With that extra player, more cards are on the table, or being manipulated by others, or getting bumped back into hands I think the flow of it is better at 4, for sure. Now I want to try it at 5

We're playing Shackleton Base tonight Lots going on with some interesting choices, but also maybe not anything that really stands out I like it, but don't love it Would play again, but wouldn't necessarily ask for it

We tried out dnup at 3 players tonight It feels like if Linko and Scout had a baby But that baby grew up and wasn't as successful as either of their parents

Benji is back for Episode 277 We review Birds on Birds by @rose.bsky.team & @allplay.bsky.social and Baseball Card GM where you use actual baseball cards to play a fun dice rolling game Plus we review Hades 2 by @supergiantgames.bsky.social and MLB The Show '26 boardsalivepodcast.com/2026/05/24/e...

I taught the guys Flock! and Birds on Birds by @rosegauntlet.bsky.social & @allplay.bsky.social today at lunch Birds on Birds went over great! The slightly slippery wood pieces are great for a dexterity game But Flock was a bit of a flop. It feels like it's missing something to make it interesting

Benji pulled out the win in Birds on Birds today after school against Elsie and me This one is definitely a stronger dexterity game than Animal Upon Animal @rosegauntlet.bsky.social @allplay.bsky.social

Really happy with this drafted lineup against Benji today Hall of Famers and MVPs in a lot of spots I also rolled rocks and hit 4 homers I kind of dominated Benji this time, haha

Stefan Feld made a busy looking board for The Druids of Edora Lots going on and everything is points, to no one's surprise Solid so far

Benji and I played our first game of Baseball Card GM You make teams using real baseball cards and then roll dice to play a full 9 inning game It's random and silly, but also a fun way to use existing cards I also pulled out the 3-2 win with a sketchy Edwin Diaz save in the 9th

Episode 276 has arrived! Matt and I review Rook Requiem by @rosegauntlet.bsky.social Luthier by @paverson.bsky.social Unmatched: Stars and Stripes by @restorationgames.bsky.social and Redwood by @sitdowngames.bsky.social Plus our Most Anticipated Games of 2026 boardsalivepodcast.com/2026/05/10/e...

We had a great 2v2 battle of this that we wrapped today at lunch Washington and Rosie got knocked out first Wyatt Earp ran out of cards and had John Henry down to 1 hp when they were knocked out due to card draw damage Such a close one!

We're battling it out inside the White House I mean, it can't be as combative as the real world one, right? These Unmatched characters in this Americana version are cool, but I don't love the whole US vibe in our current state of things @restorationgames.bsky.social

Excited for all these newer, lighter @rosegauntlet.bsky.social games that just arrived as review copies I have been getting lots of card games in recently, so I wanted to try these ones Plus Birds on Birds is a dexterity game in the vein of Animals Upon Animals

It was Quinten's birthday today, so we played a few games including the new Rocky Road expansion for Heat Pedal to the Metal, Eye My Favourite Things, Fruit Fight, and Duos It was lots of silly times

We played more All In at work today, so you can probably guess how we felt about it haha

How better to celebrate 12 years of the podcast than by deciding our Favourite Board Games of 2025 Plus we review All-In: Predictions by @philwh.bsky.social & @nextmoveofficial.bsky.social and Speakeasy by @eaglegryphon.bsky.social boardsalivepodcast.com/2026/04/19/e...

I taught the work lunch group All In: Predictions, the latest @philwh.bsky.social Poker variant where you want a good ranked hand, but you also want to figure out who might have the best hand of the round Both groups that have learned it have really enjoyed it @nextmoveofficial.bsky.social

Finally playing a euro game for the first time in a minute Coimbra does a lot of things I like in medium euros

It's time for Episode 274 with Linsae! We review our family's experience with Cozy Stickerville by @psycorey.bsky.social & @unexpectedgames.bsky.social and my play of Indonesia Then Lins waxes poetically about cozy games like Starsand Island & Fields of Mistria boardsalivepodcast.com/2026/04/05/e...

Just finished recording the last episode we will ever record in this house I'm excited for the new place, but we've done a lot of fun shows in this basement and had a lot of great memories

Hey, did you know that the Ring cards aren't a trump suit in The Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking game series? Because we learned that today...after playing through the whole 1st box and then part of the 2nd... @officedoggames.bsky.social

The family sat down for more Cozy Stickerville this weekend We played Years 6-8 and continue to really enjoy it The simplicity of the process, but the fun growth of the village & storylines that are weaved throughout are so great 2 more sessions before our story ends! @unexpectedgames.bsky.social

Wooooooaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

Q is back for Episode 273 We review Scurry Up and LotR: The Two Towers Trick-taking Game by @officedoggames.bsky.social And Q shares his thoughts on Slay the Spire 2 so far Plus we reveal our favourite video games of 2025 boardsalivepodcast.com/2026/03/15/e...

Well this is @boardgamefeast.bsky.social's fault But the clacks feel so good

We learned Indonesia last night It had some really interesting player interaction Starts sort of mellow but layers things nicely Very intrigued to play again when we all know it better

We finally had a boring game of Scurry Up today at work Really, 4p is not great It needs 5 or 6 to create the chaos And if no one is being cheeky, it can be pretty blah and everyone just gets stuff

The family is really enjoying Cozy Stickerville We played Years 3 & 4 tonight The kids literally begged to play a second game tonight before bed @unexpectedgames.bsky.social @psycorey.bsky.social

Year 2 is done and our village is growing The cute stories and targets keep the pace rolling nicely @unexpectedgames.bsky.social

We finished up the Boards Alive Top 40 Games of All Time list on the latest episode There are some pretty epic blunders in this one Still waiting to hear from the @boardgamebarrage.bsky.social legal team on our use of their idea, haha boardsalivepodcast.com/2026/03/01/e...

Our family played Year 1 of Cozy Stickerville Very cute co-op story game so far Our village is pretty basic so far, though, haha @psycorey.bsky.social @unexpectedgames.bsky.social

The latest @philwh.bsky.social game arrived yesterday A poker-ish hand management foretelling game looks very up my street

Boy, getting a home inspection is a bit disheartening "Hey, buds! You interested in buying this house? Here's a big list of why the whole place sucks!"

I continue to be bad at Azul, but I don't mind at all Q even caused me to fill my entire broken tiles row in the last turn

Speakeasy is like a million things going on and doesn't feel as clean or focused as Lacerda's other games I like the theme but overall it's mostly just fine