Boardgames To Go 248 - Two Game Conventions (with Greg Pettit)
Release Date: 12/01/2025
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 253 - Retro Games at Dice Tower West (with DaveO)
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 252D - Mark Madness 2026 (Elite Eight with Adam Brocker)
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 252C - Mark Madness 2026 (2nd Round of 32)
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 252B - Mark Madness 2026 (1st Round of 64)
Boardgames To Go
The first round is underway! Go vote at https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/375187/mark-madness-2026-designer-teams
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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 251 - German Vacation
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 250 - This and That Again
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 249 - Annual Retrospective & Feedback
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...
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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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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!), I did bring back another old-timer who always joins me this time of year to talk about BGGcon. Greg Pettit is an "every-timer" to this wonderful event, and I've always had him back on the podcast to talk about his experiences & games played there. I wasn't able to join this year, but that's because I went to a different game convention the same month: San Diego History Con, or SDHistCon. So...I decided to blend our experiences and discussions into a combined episode about both conventions.
Greg & I both intended to be more concise in this episode...but that didn't really happen. :-) Even after trimming our lists of some games, only talking about an interesting subset of them, we managed to have as much to say as ever. It's another big episode that will keep you going the entire holiday season. Is it a gift buying guide? Not really! We don't approach things that way, a little curmudgeon-ness leaks through sometimes, but we do gush about a few games. So perhaps it inspires some gift-giving, who knows?
When you listen to this episode, you may find it helpful to follow along with our geeklist. That way you can track what games we've talked about, which are coming next, and what are 5-star ratings are. I've also inserted the game boxes here in the order discussed, which will also appear in the shownotes.
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We both had good experiences at our respective cons, and I look forward to next year when I expect we'll get to sit across the same game table together in Dallas. As much as I'd like to go to all the good conventions, I can't. As it is, I'm at a point in my life (empty nester, nearing retirement) when I can go to more than ever before. In a month I'll return to the regional EsCon event, and in the spring I think I'll be back in Las Vegas for Dice Tower West.
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