#314: Bringing Out the Best in People

I'm in a bit of a quandary here, because Mark told me not to tell you what this episode is even about, but I want this description to be, well, descriptive but he's glaring at me really hard, and making a throat slitting gesture so I daren't risk it. It's about ... board games? Before we get ahead of ourselves, we talk about Binho, Stamp Swap, and First Rat. 03:33 - Binho 07:24 - Stamp Swap 17:04 - First Rat 30:16 - ??? 34:47 - Agricola 34:47 - Bohnanza 36:28 - Patchwork 37:05 - A Feast for Odin 39:02 - Power Grid 39:43 - Friday 40:06 - Fearsome Floors 41:25 - 504 42:40 - Fast Sloths 43:03 - Fresh Fish 44:44 - Ra 45:28 - Tigris & Euphrates 46:45 - Lost Cities 46:52 - Yellow & Yangtze 47:23 - Blue Lagoon 47:43 - The Quest for El Dorado 48:22 - My City 49:13 - Through the Desert 49:28 - Ingenious 50:59 - Schotten Totten 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/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

We may or may not be going to Germany (who can say), but that's where all the good gaming is gonna be, so that's what we're gonna talk about. It's almost Essen SPIEL! That sure is a lot of games debuting there though, so which ones should you care about? Don't worry, we've done the hard work for you. Before you go back to being eine faule socke, we talk about Nekojima, We're Sinking!, Hues and Cues, and Colorful. 02:46 - Nekojima 09:01 - We're Sinking! 15:31 - Hues and Cues 15:31 - Colorful 22:09 - Essen SPIEL 2023 Preview 22:57 - Æterna 25:32 - Babylon 27:17 - Bus & Stop 28:55 - COSCA: Take Over the Mafia 31:54 - Galileo Galilei 33:41 - SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 34:39 - Fishing 37:19 - AI Space Puzzle 38:59 - Zero to Hero 40:51 - The Gang 42:46 - Golden Cup 45:09 - Black Forest 50:02 - Battalion: War of the Ancients 53:01 - Beyond the Horizon 56:10 - Asian Tigers: A Story of Prosperity 58:16 - Skull Queen 58:38 - King of Tokyo: Origins 59:15 - Penguin Airlines 1:00:18 - Dungeon Exit 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/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

It's about people, right? Below all the mechanics, after all the rules explanations, beyond every crushing loss and glorious win, what really matters is people we're playing with. Some games make that more apparent than others, and we're here to celebrate that. Before we realize it's about the friends we made along the way, we talk about Arcs, and Luthier. 03:02 - Arcs 19:26 - Luthier 37:11 - Games that make you feel good about people 41:11 - Codenames 42:05 - Decrypto 43:09 - Time's Up! 43:38 - Telestrations 43:56 - Fuji Flush 44:04 - Mino Dice 46:01 - Word Slam 47:00 - Krazy Wordz 47:43 - Just One 48:16 - Pictures 48:44 - Stationfall 51:12 - The Estates 51:37 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 52:16 - The Resistance 52:16 - Blood on the Clocktower 52:55 - The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 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/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

The only thing worse than coming away from a first game with a really bad impression, is when it takes a really long time to shake. Imagine all the amazing games you're not playing because of one bad first game! Whether we saw the error of our ways or not, we're reflecting on the times that games left a mark that took a long time to fade. Before we make our impression, we talk about Things in Rings, Yedo: Deluxe Master Set, and Harmonies. 01:51 - Things in Rings 10:29 - Yedo: Deluxe Master Set 24:03 - Harmonies 30:05 - Draft winner! 32:48 - Bad first impressions 33:49 - Brass: Birmingham 33:49 - Hansa Teutonica 34:49 - Agricola 37:25 - Race for the Galaxy 37:37 - Tigris & Euphrates 39:04 - The Great Zimbabwe 39:51 - Ark Nova 41:25 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 42:43 - 7 Wonders Duel 45:29 - Ginkgopolis 46:51 - Arcane Academy 49:24 - Century: Spice Road 50:37 - John Company: Second Edition 52:27 - Stationfall 53:58 - Hanabi 56:10 - Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra 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/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

It's awards season, which means that Germany's back to tell us what games are popping off over there. And that also means we're back to tell you what we think about what they think. More than that - we're looking through the annals of Spiel des Jahres history to drafting the winningest games of all the winners! Which means you too can be a winner of $100! Just vote! Before everyone's a winner, we talk about Chess, Vabanque, The Mandalorian: Adventures, and Path of Civilization. 04:06 - Chess 10:27 - Vabanque 14:06 - The Mandalorian: Adventures 20:14 - Path of Civilization 31:00 - Spiel des Jahres 2024 Review 36:19 - Spiel des Jahres Fantasy Draft 38:43 - El Grande 39:33 - Codenames 41:12 - Azul 42:29 - Dominion 43:02 - Wingspan 44:36 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 45:22 - The Quacks of Quedlinburg 45:46 - Hanabi 46:21 - Cascadia 47:26 - Just One 49:52 - Camel Up 50:49 - Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King 51:58 - Sky Team  53:04 - Dixit 53:33 - Challengers! 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/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store Feel Better Walker!!

We've all been travelling about so much recently (some of us may or may not still be) that we often find ourselves asking, "what games should I pack?" Some games are better suited for playing on the go than others, and we're going to get to the heart of what makes a good travel game. Before our arms get tired, we also talk about Regicide, Golem, In the Shadow of Atlas, and DroPolter. 03:56 - Regicide 11:40 - Travel Games 15:47 - Pit 16:13 - Incan Gold 16:24 - For Sale 16:51 - Azul Mini 18:31 - Chess 19:19 - Scrabble Keychain 21:48 - Skull 23:18 - Linkee! 25:32 - Pickomino 32:26 - Marabunta 33:30 - DroPolter 37:38 - In the Shadow of Atlas 42:00 - Golem 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/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store Feel Better Walker!!

Bob's back from his trip to 2014, and oh the wonders he's seen - games that not only were amazing back then, but somehow we're still talking about today! The counterpoint to our draft of games to last a decade, we're arguing about the games from ten years ago that are still relevant - BGBBOB style. Before we yearn for our youth, we talk about Cyberion, The Plum Island Horror, and Marabunta. 02:33 - Cyberion 09:18 - The Plum Island Horror 28:01 - Marabunta 38:17 - BGBBOB: Games from 2014 39:41 - Deep Sea Adventure 41:43 - Orléans 43:43 - Istanbul 44:47 - Star Realms 47:06 - Patchwork 47:38 - Kanban 50:35 - Evolution 51:26 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf 53:49 - Splendor 54:49 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 56:07 - Imperial Settlers 58:10 - Camel Up 59:31 - Alchemists 1:00:23 - La Granja 1:03:09 - Dogs of War 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/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

More isn't always better, but that's sometimes a hard lesson to learn in the world of board games - we dig into an intriguing listener suggestion about how games (and gamers) can often fall into this trap. Also ... I guess we've got to plan some games for our funerals? It's a double hit of listener questions! Before we dress in black, we talk about Keydom's Dragons, Sagrada Artisans, and Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory. 01:49 - Keydom's Dragons 11:30 - Sagrada Artisans 18:51 - Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory 30:57 - Draft winner 33:56 - More isn't always better 35:25 - Rising Sun 39:18 - A Feast for Odin 39:24 - Patchwork 46:02 - Games for funerals 46:38 - Biblios 46:53 - Time's Up! 47:54 - True Colors 48:18 - Fuji Flush 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/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

It's back, and it's spicier, more harrowing, and more lucrative than ever before! It's the Fantasy Draft, and this time we're changing things up by asking you not to vote for favourite games, but for the set that you think will still be relevant ten years from now (AKA the far flung future). Vote to stand a chance to win a gift card for one hundred dollars! Before we say things we'll regret in a decade, we also talk about London (Second Edition), and Spectral. 02:58 - London (Second Edition) 12:51 - Spectral 22:10 - Drafting games to last a decade 26:05 - Ark Nova  28:08 - Dune: Imperium – Uprising 29:34 - Cascadia  30:55 - Blood on the Clocktower 32:18 - Heat: Pedal to the Metal 33:56 - Sea Salt & Paper 35:26 - John Company: Second Edition 35:53 - So Clover! 37:08 - Zoo Vadis 38:39 - Stationfall 39:50 - Age of Innovation 42:16 - Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! 43:11 - The White Castle 44:11 - Guards of Atlantis II 46:52 - Sky Team 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/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

And by guess, I of course mean predict. Okay, you all know whether we're right or not by now, but cast your imagination back to a time where we had only the nominees for the 2023 Golden Geeks, and had to use nothing but our wits to determine the winners. How naïve/prescient we were! Before we divine the future, we talk about Ironwood, Kutná Hora: The City of Silver, and Slay the Spire: The Board Game. 02:41 - Ironwood 10:39 - Kutná Hora: The City of Silver 22:07 - Slay the Spire: The Board Game 37:52 - Golden Geek Awards for 2023 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/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store