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Boardgames To Go 237 - BGG Hall of Fame (with Scott Alden) plus EsCon report

Boardgames To Go

Release Date: 02/01/2025

Boardgames To Go 252E - Mark Madness 2026 (Conclusion) with Adam Brocker show art Boardgames To Go 252E - Mark Madness 2026 (Conclusion) with Adam Brocker

Boardgames To Go

My annual Mark Madness contest is over, and co-host Adam Brocker joins me to wrap it up. Adam won the prediction contest last year, and this was his prize...a side job to work with me! Now we have a new winner, Mark363, who I am working to locate. If he's willing, in 2027 he will join me to run the next version of this contest. In 2026 Adam had suggested we take a closer look at games that were designed by pairs or teams of designers, in contrast with their solo work. With that in mind, we set up four divisions of sixteen game titles apiece. One division was centered around Wolfgang Kramer's...

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Boardgames To Go

For the third year in a row I made it to Dice Tower West. Not only that, I enjoyed that convention with DaveO and other buddies. Not only that, but once again DaveO was my partner-in-crime for insisting we dedicate one day of our convention to focus on older boardgames. By "old" we mean games that are at least 25 years old. When we started this tradition that mean games published in in the last century, last millenium--1999 or earlier. Now, however, we can include games published all the way up to the year...2001 or earlier! That still leaves plenty of old favorites and dim memories we...

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Boardgames To Go

The Sweet 16 is already done and we're on to the Elite Eight. That means just two remaining titles in each of our four divisions, so almost like a mini, division-level championship in each one.  From Germany it's either Azul or 6 Nimmt, then from America it's Diamant or Ticket to Ride. From France we'll either have 7 Wonders Duel or Sea Salt & Paper, and from "Italy" it's either Grand Austria Hotel or Barrage.  

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Boardgames To Go

BGTG 252C - Mark Madness 2026 (2nd Round [of 32])   1st round votes are in, now each successive round moves quickly—just three days. 2nd round voting due March 18 at noon BGG-time in Texas (UTC-5).   How are you voting? For the games you enjoy the most or the ones you predicted to win (based on what you imagined OTHERS would vote for)? I’ve heard the latter is like how a political primary works.   Close calls & Blow-outs • Vikings squeaked by Wandering Towers via a single vote • Same for Nucleum over Anachrony   • Meanwhile, Top & Down only GOT one vote...

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Boardgames To Go

The first round is underway! Go vote at https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/375187/mark-madness-2026-designer-teams

info_outline Boardgames To Go 252A - Mark Madness 2026 (Introduction) with Adam Brocker show art Boardgames To Go 252A - Mark Madness 2026 (Introduction) with Adam Brocker

Boardgames To Go

Please join us on the  where you can chat online with other podcast listeners. Play along and predict the winners at  Predictions must be submitted by March 13 to be in the contest The calendar says March so that means it's time for "Mark Madness" again, 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, Adam Brocker, and asked him to co-host this year's contest. Adam...

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Boardgames To Go

Opener:  Closer: Mark Madness 2026 (with Adam Brocker) preview - Register for free and make your predictions at ! I've recently come back from a vacation in Germany. Once upon a time in this hobby, that really meant something significant. Germany was the worldwide headquarters and creative generator for boardgaming. Gamers in other countries hung on scraps of information, imported products, and had to learn a little of the German language to really be an active part of strategy boardgaming. In a way, that extra effort was also part of the fun, a level of commitment...

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Boardgames To Go

Openers: , Although it’s true that episode #250 is a milestone, this podcast passed that some time ago. Between all of the extra episodes for BGGcons and Mark Madnesses, plus the occasional double-episodes in the old days, I don’t know how many podcasts have actually been released. (My podcast host Libsyn says it’s almost 400.) So this isn’t an anniversary episode, just another “regular” one where I share some thoughts about games & the hobby overall. Although I missed EsCon in January (and Gulf Games last summer) due to illness, I still managed to play a bunch of games...

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Boardgames To Go

Here we are at another season already. The podcast has now reached it's 22nd season, which is a small miracle. We just keep chugging along. If anything, I think it now has a solid core of listeners and participants that feel like they're going to stick with me. :-)   With BGStats, it's now even easier for me to see my final tallies for the games I played last year. Plus, I can separate out the digital ones from the in-person plays. Though as you'll hear in the podcast, a bunch of those digital plays are as real as anything, thanks to live play and voice/video connections. I expect that...

info_outline Boardgames To Go 248 - Two Game Conventions (with Greg Pettit) show art Boardgames To Go 248 - Two Game Conventions (with Greg Pettit)

Boardgames To Go

Please join us on the  where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.   I know I said this episode would be my Feedback (or "mail bag") focused epsiode. And some may remember that previously I'd used the December 1st episode for my grinch-like Curmudgeon Show. In the end, I decided to push the Feedback episode back one month, to start the year with it on January 1st, 2026. You've got some more time to submit any questions or topics for me. While I'm not bringing back the Curmudgeon Show (just enjoy the grumbling on our special Discord channel!),...

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More Episodes
Please join us on the Boardgames To Go discord server where you can chat online with other podcast listeners.

 

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.


no caption Avalon Hill edition 1985 front cover 1968 3M edition front. Eon Edition, 1978 Civilization 1st print front Box Cover How many thousands of cards have been printed with this famous MtG cardback? First Edition / Wood Edition without SdJ mark, blue Kosmos logo - Does anyone know which year this edition was released?  'Spiel des Jahres 1996' - full frame shot of the German edition (Hans im Glück) Cropped view of the Hans im Glück edition Ra--Box Cover Box Front English version box front no caption 2nd edition box cover Twightlight Struggle Delux Edition 2016 (Sixth Printing) This is the cover for the reprint of Through the Ages boxfront for the ENGLISH version made by ZMAN - straightened, corrected color, better crop Box front (better resolution) Race for the Galaxy (Second Edition) Box Front. Rio Grande Games version Pandemic, Z-Man Games, 2013 (image provided by the publisher) 7 Wonders ‐ Repos German 2017 The Castles of Burgundy, Ravensburger, 2012 (image provided by the publisher) Terra Mystica, Feuerland Spiele / Capstone Games, 2020 — front cover (image provided by the publisher) Concordia, PD-Verlag, 2013 (image provided by the publisher) no caption


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.

Coloretto, Rio Grande Games, 2021 — front cover (image provided by the publisher) new version BOX COVER box english box cover Africana, ABACUSSPIELE, 2012 (image provided by the publisher) Mobster and Friends - the linen finish on the box makes it hard to get a clear photograph. Hi-Res Cover Hellweg westfalicus, Spiele aus Timbuktu, 2014 (image provided by the publisher) French version box front Box Front Das Vermächtnis Des Maharaja, ABACUSSPIELE, 2017 — front cover (image provided by the publisher)


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