Sports are games too, you know. In this episode, Marc, Matt, and Bubba sit down to talk about various sports rules and controversies and analyze

Dan Thurot has been reviewing board games for a number of years now, and for my money he’s the best in the business. I had

Marc and Bubba sit down to discuss two different forms of golf. They’re still games, just on a larger scale. What makes them compelling as

Straight from the mind of Amber, this is an episode where she and Marc discuss games that are “painful”. Marc prefers the word “tense”. Regardless

Amber and Marc are here to talk about perhaps the most prolific board game designer of all time: Reiner Knizia. Going strong since the early

Dan and I chat about game design, his experience as a top-tier chess player, and, of course, tea! Check out Steeped Games and the Chai:

I’m by myself talking about solo games. I got a bit experimental with this one. I hope you enjoy. 0:32 — A note on silence3:43

I was delighted to sit down with one of our most interesting historical and conflict game designers, Cole Wehrle. The discussion starts with talking about

Marc, Orion, and Ben have been playing all sorts of 18xx games over the past year, and they’re here to compare and contrast the five

I sat with Sean Chappell from Ramstar Games to talk about their first release: Hivernation. We discuss the design process for this abstract game as

I sit down with Kimberly, one of the co-organizers of the excellent Granite Game Summit, to talk about how to run a great board game

We’re getting in touch with our feelings with this one. What can board games do to evoke a sense of adventure? Can board games do

This is it, the best of the best! Will Gloomhaven retain its top spot? What new entries have catapulted their way into the top 33?

Marc and Orion are back with the second of three installments discussing Marc’s top 100 games of all time! This episode brings the most contention

WE’RE BACK! After an unplanned hiatus during the chaos times we’re back with a new iteration of the top 100 games of all time! 44

Matt and Marc are back at it with wild speculation about the new Magic set. Since we rambled on forever, making this a very difficult

The world’s gone crazy! Viruses roam the streets, Matt sounds like he’s turning into a robot, and computer gremlins are devouring random bits of podcast.

I sat down with Sean to talk to him about designing board games for two beloved IP’s: Sonic the Hedgehog and Bomberman. How did he

Matt and Marc played a lot of games at PAX East, and you’re going to hear about it! We’ve got a better crop than we

Bruno is one of the most prolific modern game designers. In this podcast we sit down to talk about all kinds of tricky topics and

In this episode I sit down with Patrick Rauland, designer of Fry Thief and creator of the Indie Board Game Designers podcast to talk about

Podcast It’s fundraising week, and that means we’re going all out! Not only will we talk about the ways (including some new ways) to support

I’ve never met anyone at passionate about the transformative power of gaming as Ken Franklin. Matt and I caught up with him at PAX Unplugged

Matt and Marc sit down to discuss the new Magic: The Gathering set, focusing on limited formats (ie the best formats). Which colors looks the

My conversation with Gil quickly flew by, and before we knew it we were nearly 2 hours in and geeking out about sports. Gil is

Five Games for Doomsday quickly established itself as one of the premier board game podcasts. In it, Ben Maddox interviews people from all parts of

I sit down with John Zilch, creator of the Clever Kids Mysteries series of puzzle games, to talk about how he creates puzzles for the

We just finished a game of Trade on the Tigris and decided to sit around a microphone and talk about trading games. Marc, Matt, Lindsay,

Inspired by a conversation over dinner and the success of Geoff and Ryan doing this on the Ludology podcast, Amber and I work through the

It’s a good time for another Q&A podcast! If you have any questions for Marc, Matt, or Orion, submit them below and we’ll select the

For my money Tom Russell is one of the most interesting, thoughtful game designers working. For 90 minutes we go deep into his design process,

This is less an episode about party games than it is about the nature of criticism. Marc, Matt, and Ben sit down (around a single

I am delighted that I got to speak with one of my favorite designers, and a guy whose games I’ve been playing almost as long

Marc, Matt, and Ben are here after a bit of a break to talk about one of our favorite games. In our reviews of all of

Vital Lacerda is one of the most significant eurogame designers of the last decade, delivering consistently high quality complex games others can rarely match. In

Marc and Matt have started playing Magic again, so they’re going to talk about the game itself, its impact in the gaming community, and the

We’ve finally taken the plunge into 18xx train games, and guess what? They’re awesome! Marc and Orion talk about what makes a game an 18xx

I arbitrarily set a deadline for declaring the best games of 2018, and now is that time. I haven’t played all of the games from

Matryoshka is available on Kickstarter right now!  I sit down with Cassie and Dan to talk about Matryoshka, a trading and bluffing card game about those

We’re back talking about books! After navigating schedules, we’ve finally managed to reconvene to talk about the third and final installment of the Three Body

G2S is a great weekend of gaming for those in the New England area. Marc and Orion attended this year and we’re here to tell

We played a whole bunch of new games at PAX East and you’re going to hear about them! Marc, Matt, and a SECOND Marc bring

Orion and Marc talk about some of the 2 player games they’ve been playing recently. There’s a good mix of popular and obscure, good and

Who could have guessed that birds would be an exciting part of early 2019 among gamers? Elizabeth Hargrave might have been able to predict it,

We’ve been playing abstract games all month and we’re here to tell you about it! Marc, Matt, and Orion go in depth about five different

Marc, Orion, and Matt continue their discussion of this incredible sci-fi trilogy. This time they’re talking about the 2nd book, which is probably the most

Marc talks with Peter McPherson, designer of the upcoming Tiny Towns from AEG. What was it like working with a publisher for the first time,

Join Marc, Matt, and Orion as they discuss a truly wonderful sci-fi series: The Three Body Problem. Here they discuss the first of this trilogy,

Marc, Matt, and Orion, three people who typically don’t care very much about the look of the games they’re playing talk about the games that

Marc and Amber sit down to talk about their time at PAX Unplugged. We played some new games, some old games, and some that aren’t

We’re delighted to sit down with game designer Isaac Shalev to talk about a variety of things, from the designs of Ryan Laukat to Isaac’s

Marc and Amber talk about their gaming life, from childhood to the present. A trip down memory lane. 1:22 – Childhood 15:28 – Video games

I’m looking for your feedback–what interesting board game things should I do while in Philadelphia after PAX Unplugged? What monthly themes should I focus on

After a bit of a break, we’re back! Marc, Matt, and Orion talk about area majority games with an emphasis on their recent play of

We’ve got a bonus ‘cast! Marc, Matt, and Orion are joined by Sam Wolkenhauer, who has built a football analytics algorithm to try to predict

Marc and Orion discuss the talk of the boardgaming town these days: Root! But first, we went to the New Hampshire Comicon’s board game room

Marc and Matt are joined by Orion (who is on a train) to talk about randomness. What is randomness? No, really, what is it? What

No particular agenda today. I talk about some new TTG developments, a book series recommendation, and some board game stuff. Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

How’d we get through 36 episodes without doing a deep-dive into the oeuvre of our favorite designer? This oversight has now been fixed, as Marc

Just some meandering thoughts about the Gen Con announcements I’ve heard about so far, and a couple other things. Happy Gen Con! Or GenCan’t. 0:41

Marc, Orion, and Bubba talk about that most peculiarly-named genre of game: Ameritrash. We talk dice rolling, card pulling, combat-focsed narrative games. What makes some of

We’ve got no particular agenda. We’re just going to sit back and chat. Marc and Matt are joined by Orion who is all the way

Marc and Orion talk about elegance in games. Is it a simple matter of rules complexity vs. strategic complexity? Or are there additional elements that

I give the rundown of three digital card games that I’ve enjoyed quite a bit: Monster Slayers, Slay The Spire, and Age of Rivals. All

At long last we’ve reached the conclusion of the 2018 countdown. Marc, Matt, and Orion talk about the best of the best. The cream of

Marc, Orion, and Matt sit down with Eric Reuss, designer of Spirit Island. This is one of our longest podcasts ever, but it might be

Marc’s fighting off a cold but that won’t stop him! Orion and Matt join to count down some truly excellent games and fail to stay

Marc, Matt, and Orion are joined by Trey Chambers, designer of Argent: The Consortium, Harvest, and Empyreal: Spells and Steam (now on kickstarter!). We hit

Special for our list-aficionado fans out there–another list! The middlest of the best games ever, or something like that. Marc, Matt, and Orion talk about

Marc, Orion, and Matt talk about “hindered communication” games, where you’re trying to communicate something to another person with an arbitrary barrier in the way.

We’re creeping down the list to better and better games. Marc, Matt, Orion, and Ben talk through some of Marc’s favorite games ever. This time

Prompted by a discussion in the Thoughtful Gamer discord channel, Marc, Orion, and Matt explore the nature of language, games, and aqueousness as they discuss

The countdown has returned! Marc has expanded the list to 100 games this time, so there’s double the fun. In this installment Marc and Orion

PAX East expanded to 4 days from 3, and that means we got even more games played this year, including an absolute GEM of a

I’ve got a wide assortment of topics today, from rulebook pet peeves to disappointing card games to an exciting livestream announcement. Happy Friday! 0:29 –

Ever feel like you’re just not doing as well as you should at games? Want that secret sauce so you can beat your friends? Marc,

Marc and Orion sit down to talk about all they played at the Granite Games Summit in Nashua, NH. It was a wonderful convention and

I chat with Matt from Mountaintop Games about his first game design: The Primary, which is a light area control game based around the US primary election