Well, we started this thing, so I guess we ought to finish it, as ill-advised as that might be. This is where all the chickens come home to roost, where we learn how badly we've set ourselves up to fail - but you never know, it might just all work out! It's the top ten greatest board games ... of all-time! 06:29 - #10 - Codenames 13:56 - #9 - The Resistance 18:15 - #8 - Age of Steam 23:09 - #7 - Troyes 27:52 - #6 - Hansa Teutonica 32:39 - #5 - Cthulhu Wars 33:48 - #4 - Hundreds of Horses 40:27 -...
Jan 15, 2026•57 min
Happy new year! We're back to continue the very peaceful, collaborative, kind endeavour that is coming together to harmoniously assemble our top 50 games. It's been nothing but chill, friendly vibes, and we expect that to continue into 2026. It's the next twenty games on our definitive top 50 board games... of all-time! 01:20 - #30 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar 06:43 - #29 - Dominion 09:36 - #28 - Fuji Flush 11:13 - #27 - Innovation 12:53 - #26 - Blue Lagoon 14:27 - #25 - El Grande 15:11 - #24 ...
Jan 08, 2026•45 min
Okay, things are a bit different this year. In honour of our 350th episode (a very important milestone), we're going to combine forces, like ... Voltron. I'm the head, and my left and right feet are here with me to collaboratively (yes, you heard right) compile Board Game Barrage's definitive (definitely definitive) top 50 board games... of all-time! 06:27 - #50 08:32 - #49 11:45 - #48 14:51 - #47 17:13 - #46 19:15 - #45 25:50 - #44 32:35 - #43 34:20 - #42 39:31 - #41 41:41 - #40 43:33 - #39 47:...
Dec 18, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Remember way back at the beginning of the year when we took some bets on what we thought the games of the year were gonna be? Well, all those good and bad decisions are back to help or haunt us, as we tally up where things stand with the end of the year results. Before we find a winner, we talk about Wriggle Roulette , Whale Street , and Scales of Fate . 04:45 - Wriggle Roulette 11:32 - Whale Street 19:12 - Scales of Fate 29:45 - Anticipation auction results Get added to the BGB community map at...
Dec 11, 2025•51 min
Somehow Ghost Turkey returned. And you never saw it coming! That might be because we forgot to remind people that it's Thanksgiving, but never mind that, the important thing is you're fools . Not us though, we're back with yet another juicy, cranberry soaked list of bird gaming goodness. Gobble gobble! 00:00 - ??? Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/...
Nov 27, 2025•22 min
BGBBOB is back, and it's been long enough that you might need a reminder. Ten game designers enter the ring, and through the arduous process of one vs one battles, we arrive at our (and not just our, but the ) definitive ranked list of ... these particular designers. It's science . Before we fight it out, we talk about Iliad , The Old King's Crown , and Franchise . 03:29 - Iliad 13:56 - The Old King's Crown 34:01 - Franchise 42:04 - BGBBOB: Game designers Get added to the BGB community map at: h...
Nov 13, 2025•1 hr 11 min
This episode is not about Bananagrams (at least, I don't think so), but it is about the price of things (though not Bananagrams specifically, shut up about Bananagrams). In a world where everything costs more, we're talking about the value of games, and how far a game has to go to justify its price. Before we decide if the price is right, we talk about The Presence , and River of Gold . 02:08 - The Presence 17:32 - River of Gold 27:03 - Board Game Pricing 27:59 - Twilight Imperium: Fourth Editio...
Oct 30, 2025•51 min
Not perturbed by Kellen's trip to Germany, we're all daydreaming about the motherlode of board game conventions, Essen SPIEL. There's a lot of games coming to the show, and because we're not going, and presumably you aren't either, we'll just tell you what's going to be there instead! The good stuff, anyway. Before we Germinate, we talk about Calimala , Tír na nÓg , and Typewriter . 02:42 - Calimala 09:42 - Tír na nÓg 16:15 - Typewriter 26:15 - Essen SPIEL 2025 Preview 28:49 - Mission: Red Plane...
Oct 16, 2025•59 min
Dreaded continuity! We're following up Episode 41 from seven years ago about the games that started our love for board games! After those first loves, what really got our hearts aflutter with the joy that the hobby had to offer? Before we yearn, we talk about Der Fliegende Holländer , and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. 02:52 - Der Fliegende Holländer 16:03 - The Hobbit: There and Back Again 27:14 - The games that made us 29:11 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 32:54 - Mage Knight Board Game 36...
Oct 02, 2025•1 hr 2 min
The draft's back! This time it's card games, and we're picking the bestof what ought to be a staple of any good collection. We love card games, we love drafting games, and you love winning money, so be sure to vote for whoever you think drafted the best set, and you could win a $100 gift card! Before deal everyone in, we talk about Money! , Venture , and Fishing . 03:02 - Money! 12:43 - Venture 20:27 - Fishing 28:39 - Card Games Draft 31:15 - Innovation 32:38 - Race for the Galaxy 34:20 - Hanabi...
Sep 18, 2025•50 min
There's any number of subtle innuendoes we could've gone with, but this is what we're doing I guess . If you haven't got there yet, we're talking about games that aren't just slow rides, but instead leave you gasping for more right as they climax. Before we finish, we talk about No Loose Ends , Eselsbrücke, and The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship . 01:24 - No Loose Ends 09:08 - Eselsbrücke 19:33 - The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship 33:52 - Comings and Goings 37:44 - Games th...
Sep 04, 2025•56 min
One, two, three, four, five, everybody in the car so come on let's ride ... to the mailbag! We're answering your pressing questions - and oh how they press - about all manner of things: Crowdfunding ads! Narrative games! Getting jaded about board games! You wrote in because you had to know what we thought, and who are we to say no. Before we get covered in papercuts, we talk about Wheedle , Dune: War for Arrakis , and Transgalactica . 02:05 - Wheedle 09:31 - Dune: War for Arrakis 19:52 - Transga...
Aug 21, 2025•58 min
Are board games best played multiplayer? Who can say, but whether it's because you can't get people together at the appropriate time, or you're just itching to play something on your lonesome, there's a burgeoning scene of solo games out there waiting to be played, and we're going to talk about them. Well, some of us are, anyway. Before we go it alone, we talk about Hunted: Kobayashi Tower , Corps of Discovery , and Senji . 01:56 - Hunted: Kobayashi Tower 12:51 - Corps of Discovery: A Game Set i...
Aug 07, 2025•1 hr 8 min
Sometimes once is enough, you know? Doesn't mean it was bad , but it might just be that you can have too much of a good thing. We're talking about board games that we'd recommend everyone play once, but only once . Before we hit and run, we talk about Kaivai , East India Companies , and Vantage . 01:44 - Kaivai 10:58 - Feya's Swamp 13:15 - East India Companies 21:31 - Vantage 39:41 - Games to play only once 41:22 - War of the Ring: Second Edition 41:47 - Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition 43:44 -...
Jul 24, 2025•55 min
Gen Con! Where all the cool games are, before you even know they're cool. Or hot! We've got you covered, if you want to know what all the best stuff coming out of Indianapolis is going to before before anyone else, then look no further than this episode. Five games each that we're excited to hear more about at the show! Before we face the heat, we talk about Line of Fire: Burnt Moon, and Rise . 02:51 - Line of Fire: Burnt Moon 11:57 - Rise 21:46 - Gen Con Preview 23:53 - Party Panda Pirates 26:0...
Jul 10, 2025•56 min
It's time again to turn the tables and get your take, to feel out the collective tastes of you, the listeners of the show. It's the annual Listener Top 20! You've been sending in all of your lists (thank you!), I've been compiling all of the data (you're welcome!) - and here it is, in a convenient list format. Before we ask the audience, we talk about Flip 7 , Hot Streak , and Kolejka . 02:37 - Flip 7 10:40 - Hot Streak 19:47 - Kolejka 27:42 - Listener Top 20 29:05 - Agricola 29:55 - Gloomhaven ...
Jun 26, 2025•58 min
When playing games it's easy to fall into the trap of over-anaylsing turns, or questioning whether the move we made was the right one, or even allowing people to roll back whole turns - so we're asking if maybe we've been wrong this whole time, and we should just ... embrace it? Are mistakes interesting? Before we have any regrets, we talk about Apiary , Wizards Cup , and Wroth . 02:43 - Apiary 13:43 - Wizards Cup 20:41 - Wroth 31:37 - Mistakes are fun? Vote for the listener Top 20 board games a...
Jun 12, 2025•55 min
A dazzling place you never knew ... until now that is! We're diving deep on beloved designer Cole Wehrle in another designer spotlight. We dig back into his Roots, and explore the many Arcs that led to his Oath to revolutionize thematic board games. Before our traffic gets infamous, we talk about Toy Battle , Subjective , and Wild Tiled West . 03:43 - Toy Battle 13:51 - Subjective 22:11 - Wild Tiled West 30:43 - Designer Spotlight: Cole Wehrle 34:13 - Pax Porfiriana 40:03 - Root 46:21 - Oath 47:...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 8 min
Well, we finally did it. We played CATAN, and it was ... good! And then we started wondering, is there anything that's done quite the same thing that that game is doing? And then that got us wondering how many games there are like that, where it's genuinely hard to say that nothing has done it better since. And then that got us wondering if, instead of all this wondering, we should record a podcast episode. Before we wander, we talk about Box Two , Catan: Cities & Knights , and An Infamous T...
May 15, 2025•52 min
Happy 333! In honour of our three hundred and thirty third episode, BoardGameGeek has decided to host an emergency session of the Golden Geek Awards, and we're here to tell you about all the nominees that satisfy the crucial conditions of being (1) good games (2) we played (3) last year. Before we open our third eye, we also talk about Einfach Genial 3D , Gazebo , and Stalk Exchange . 02:28 - Einfach Genial 3D 11:48 - Gazebo 19:08 - Stalk Exchange 28:43 - 2025 Golden Geek Awards 30:34 - Lord of ...
May 01, 2025•59 min
I would say that, for the most part, there's very little we won't play - but we also know what we like, and especially what we don't like. Every so often a game gets suggested that we have to say "literally anything but" to. Before we pass hard, we talk about TRICKTAKERs , Iquazú , and Hubworld: Aidalon . 02:49 - TRICKTAKERs 11:52 - Iquazú 21:47 - Hubworld: Aidalon 31:03 - Hard pass games 32:11 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 33:29 - Captain Sonar 34:04 - C...
Apr 17, 2025•50 min
We've spent a lot of time over the years singing the praises of the games we love, but they can't be perfect right? Surely there's something, one little thing, that bugs us - a small blemish in our otherwise most beloved games? Before we come clean, we talk about Classified Information , S tarline Hill, Panda Spin , and SHASN: AZADI. 03:13 - Classified Information 11:54 - Starline Hill 13:35 - Panda Spin 25:32 - SHASN: AZADI 41:56 - Things we hate about games we love 42:39 - Through the Ages: A ...
Apr 03, 2025•1 hr 4 min
We just got back from Dice Tower West, so you know what that means ... bunches and bunches of games! Between the convention, and the meetup, and just hanging out at Mark's place, we got a lot of great stuff played, and we're going to give you all the highlights, with such treats as Moon Colony Bloodbath , Out of Sorts , and Feierabend. 04:16 - Corporate America 12:19 - Acquire 18:09 - Inside Job 23:12 - Feierabend / Finishing Time 33:13 - Moon Colony Bloodbath 44:44 - Family Dinner: More or Less...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr 19 min
I'm not sure why you'd make a hall of fame that's not also a sidewalk, but that's exactly what BoardGameGeek have gone and done - they've curated 25 games into their hall of fame, and we're here to judge them for their choices. It's weird that they didn't come to us first, honestly. Before we deck the halls, we talk about Arborea , Beyond the Horizon , and Taiwan Night Market . 02:49 - Arborea 10:32 - Beyond the Horizon 20:43 - Taiwan Night Market 32:00 - BGG Hall of Fame 38:57 - Diplomacy 40:35...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Okay, pay attention, this is gonna be different! We're looking at the rest of 2025, deciding what we think the most well received games of the year are going to be - but then we're going to be bidding on them, auction style. Whoever's slate ends up performing best in their categories at the end of the year gets all the glory ... and if you vote on who you think is going to win, you could get $50! Before we're going, going, gone, we talk about Nyakuza , Hooky , and Altay: Dawn of Civilization . 0...
Feb 20, 2025•1 hr 14 min
It's finally time to cap it all off with the cream of the cream, Mark and Neilan's final set of ten games each! These are the games that we think are the pinnacle of our respective tastes, that we'd never turn down, that any person ought to try at least once. It's the Top 10 Games of All-Time! 01:48 - Mark's #10 - Age of Steam 08:17 - Neilan's #10 - Brass: Birmingham 11:21 - Mark's #9 - Arboretum 17:35 - Neilan's #9 - Time's Up! 20:15 - Mark's #8 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 23:48 - Neilan'...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 32 min
Neilan's back to continue the journey down the lazy river of cardboard that is his top 50 board games of all time. It's games 30 through 11! I just counted, and that's twenty amazing games that I can't wait to tell you all about! 00:59 - #30 - Gloomhaven 02:58 - #29 - War Story: Occupied France 07:35 - #28 - Gaia Project 10:17 - #27 - Ark Nova 12:26 - #26 - Kemet 14:55 - #25 - Yellow & Yangtze 17:09 - #24 - Undaunted: Stalingrad 19:51 - #23 - War of the Ring: Second Edition 22:39 - #22 - Gua...
Jan 30, 2025•53 min
And back to Mark! It's the soggy middle of his top 50, or as he insists on calling it, his numbers 30 through 11. That is twenty more delicious games, and he's here to tell you all about them while we continue to berate and praise him for his choices. 01:20 - #30 - Anomia 05:12 - #29 - Sidereal Confluence 08:47 - #28 - Chicago Express 11:46 - #27 - Rise & Fall 16:34 - #26 - Tigris & Euphrates 19:14 - #25 - Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory 22:29 - #24 - Blue Lagoon 25:37 - #23 - Lanca...
Jan 23, 2025•1 hr 3 min
It's meeeeeeeeeee! So if you care to find my top 50 list, look right here. The first twenty incredible games on the list that early critics are calling "surprisingly tasteful" and "delightfully roomy" is finally yours to consume. It's the greatest board games of all-time, Neilan edition! 01:10 - #50 - Anachrony 03:56 - #49 - The Vale of Eternity 05:47 - #48 - Arcs 09:05 - #47 - Bus 11:26 - #46 - Wilmot's Warehouse 13:03 - #45 - Spectral 15:57 - #44 - Innovation 18:12 - #43 - Codenames 20:12 - #4...
Jan 16, 2025•53 min
It's time! The grand spectacle that is our greatest games of all time is here at last! We're breaking things out a bit differently this year, so Mark's taking center stage while Kellen & Neilan mock his choices. It's the first twenty games from his list, so games 50 through 31. LET'S GOOOO! 01:53 - #50 - Cthulhu Wars 03:23 - #49 - Ricochet Robots 05:21 - #48 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 08:22 - #47 - Zoo Vadis 10:53 - #46 - Wilmot's Warehouse 12:45 - #45 - Tycoon: India 1981 15:17 - #44 - Dog...
Jan 09, 2025•56 min
