PODCAST

Boardgames To Go

Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson"s occasional & opinionated podcast about family strategy boardgames

leisure games

All Episodes

59:22

BGTG 152 - Essen (and BGGcon) Anticipation 2014

Boardgames To Go ·

2014/10/14

I don't even know how long I've been doing this. My window-shopping the Essen lists predates this podcast of nine years. Who else fondly remembers Mik Svellov's Brett'n'Board], Ken Tidwell's Game Cabinet, or all the other places we learned about Essen before, during, and after the fair? Now, of course Eric Martin does an amazing job here at BGG with the annual Essen Preview. It has nearly six hundred items when I finally stopped looking on Friday. Wow! It took me two passes to get through these

01:45:20

BGTG 151 - Mark Hates Games (with Brian Murray &...

Boardgames To Go ·

2014/09/19

"Mark hates games." Is that true? No, but it's a comment I've heard secondhand more than once! Brian Murray is a great gamer I've met at SoCal Games Days, and through our shared friend Davebo. He's the one who hears me critique a game, or just be completely lukewarm on it, or pick it apart, and thinks that I just don't know how to relax and have a good time with boardgames. Or something like that. I'm probably putting words (the wrong words) in his mouth, but that quote above is 100% from Brian. So

01:31:33

BGTG 150 - 100 Great Games, part 7 (with Stephen...

Boardgames To Go ·

2014/09/03

Here are #11-20 on the list, counted down in reverse order as we discuss them on the podcast. I thought we'd have nothing but praise for all of these highly-ranked games...but perhaps I should've known that that the three of us would take turns expressing reservations about even these amazing games. (It's going to make my upcoming "Mark Hates Games" episode all the more relevant.) ;) In my poll associated with the last installment of 100 Great Games, I asked about the theming--or lack thereof--in

53:46

BGTG 149 - Modern Microgames (with Jeff Myers)

Boardgames To Go ·

2014/08/27

Microgames are hot right now. It all "started" with Love Letter, when it burst onto the scene at Essen two years ago. Here was an game that was so inexpensive as to be an impulse-buy, so small it could fit in your pocket, so simple it was easy to teach anyone, and so quick it invited games whenever you had some spare time & friends onhand, like at a restaurant. Suddenly the game was everywhere, re-themes were ubiquitous, and other small games inevitably followed.The problem with that explanation, of

01:37:36

BGTG 148 - 100 Great Games, part 6 (with Stephen...

Boardgames To Go ·

2014/08/15

Here are #21-30 on the list, counted down in reverse order as we discuss them on the podcast.After the previous episode of 100 Great Games, we received some (ahem) feedback regarding the games we didn’t like (I’m looking at you, Taj Majal), or didn’t know much about (such as War of the Ring). I’m pleased to say we don’t have that issue this time. I get to look over the still-secret list going all the way to Number One, and I can safely say that we’re familiar with all of the remaining games. Which

01:28:03

BGTG 147 - A Look Back at 2013 (with David Gullett)

Boardgames To Go ·

2014/07/08

It's a little crazy to finally publish this long-delayed episode, but I'm doing it nonetheless. A look back at 2013 is kind of ridiculous in July of 2014, but I think it's interesting nonetheless because we also talk about broader topics like gaming statistics (personal & community), gaming trends, and looks forward into the "new" year (that's now half-over!).Year-end stats often start with number of plays, and number of games. In my case, those numbers include online plays--which aggravates

45:38

BGTG 146 - SR & Feedback (AbluXXen, Walking Dead Card...

Boardgames To Go ·

2014/05/02

Remember when I used to do "Session Report & Feedback" episodes? Me neither. These are when I'd just talk about some games I've played recently (not part of a meta topic, just a session report), and tack a segment on the end where I read & respond to some listener feedback. In theory these should be a show that's easy for me bang out every once in a while. They also have the [i]potential[/i] of being shorter episodes. At any rate, this time I stitched together some accounts of recent card games I've

01:28:47

BGTG 145 - 100 Great Games, part 5 (with Stephen...

Boardgames To Go ·

2014/01/31

Stephen Glenn and Mark Jackson rejoin me (Mark JOHNson) to continue this series. In 2012, these two guys polled a number of experienced gamers (a few designers, many reviewers, all enthusiasts) for their top games, consolidated their answers, and asked to come on my podcast to count down the results. I was pleased to be part of the poll, and doubly pleased to have them on Boardgames To Go. I really like how Stephen describes this: "a fun list to discuss over coffee & pie." The poll was for our

01:05:39

BGTG 144 - Gaming with Regular People (with David...

Boardgames To Go ·

2014/01/13

Have you ever played Bunco? I'm now in a couples Bunco group, a new thing for me. It goes without saying that this is not the kind of gaming group I normally have, and talk about on the show. These are not hobby gamers. They aren't even party gamers. They're just regular folks, all empty nest-ers (or close to it, like me), who get together to talk, have dinner & drinks. That we play a game or two at the end of the night for a few bucks' stakes is purely a social activity, absolutely not intended to

01:22:32

BGTG 143 - Post BGG.con 2013, part 2 (with Greg Pettit)

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/12/12

Who really believed me when I said I'd get Part 2 of the podcast out this week? I realize my credibility for prompt podcast publication isn't great. :) And yet--here it is! As I said in the first part, this is my now-traditional interview with my friend & BGG.con regular, Greg Pettit. He goes to the convention every year and plays a ton of new Essen releases. I'm quite jealous, and hope to finally make it back there myself in 2014. We pick up the podcast halfway through our discussion about these

01:29:56

BGTG 142 - Post BGG.con 2013, part 1 (with Greg Pettit)

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/12/10

Although I've only made it to one BGG.con so far (the first one, I think), my buddy and frequent BGTG guest Greg Pettit is a regular attendee. For the past several years he's joined me on the podcast after the event to tell us all about it, especially the new Essen games he was able to play. I love hearing about them.Something else that fascinates me is the slippery topic of figuring out which new games are the best ones. Not to get too highfalutin, but this is really the timeless matter of judging

02:02:19

BGTG 141 - 100 Great Games, part 4 (with Stephen...

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/10/28

01:00:49

BGTG 140 - SR & Feedback (Clubs, Qwixx, Via Appia, more)

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/10/14

Session Report and Feedback episode with games I've played recently, as well as my experiences attending out-of-town Meetups.

02:12:35

BGTG 139 - Essen Anticipation 2013 (with Dave Gullett)

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/09/27

Last year I failed to do my annual "Essen Anticipation" podcast. It was just too much. This year, however, I got an earlier jump on it...and I enlisted the help of a friend.

01:02:35

BGTG 138 - Experience Games (with Greg Pettit)

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/07/15

Do you know the term, Experience Game? I thought everyone did, but in prepping for this episode I found that it's used a lot less often than I thought. Not only that, but I learned it's a term that was used more often in the early days of hobby boardgames, by which I mean the 1990s. Well, let's bring it up to 2013. (Actually, it IS still used sometimes.)

01:11:07

BGTG 137 - SR & Feedback (Vinci II, TransAmerica with...

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/05/31

I've been doing this podcast now for more than eight years! I can't quite believe it myself. In the beginning, more than a handful of shows were audio session reports, which I then combined with feedback that I read "on-air." These are simple episodes, inevitably solo shows, and I often used them to go between episodes with a guest about a particular subject. Especially as those shows are getting more and more meta about the hobby itself, a simple "session report & feedback" episode is kind of a

01:39:00

BGTG 136 - 100 Great Games, part 3 (with Stephen...

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/05/24

Stephen Glenn and Mark Jackson join me for part 3 of our 100 game countdown series. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/19524

01:35:01

BGTG 135 - Boardgaming Road Trip (with Dave Arnott)

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/03/13

Have you ever gone a boardgaming road trip? I expect quite a few people might drive a few hundred miles to go to a game convention, but I've never done that. Games Days on Saturdays are local for me, about the same hour's drive I do on my daily commute. Recently, though, my buddy Dave Arnott drove the two of us halfway up California to spend a weekend of games, food, and conversation with other gamer friends. That was different, and a complete blast! This is sort of like a session report

36:53

BGTG 134 - A Look Back at 2012

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/02/24

Every year I like to look back over the previous one in boardgaming, and reflect on what happened. At the most basic level, this means reviewing my statistics, the number of distinct titles played, as well as the overall total of games played. For me that's typically about 100 titles, 300 total plays, but you'll hear how 2012 was a bit higher than normal. I'm not entirely sure why that was, though I have some ideas. I also talk through my "nickels & dimes" list of games played at least five or ten

01:16:03

BGTG 133 - 100 Great Games, part 2 (with Stephen...

Boardgames To Go ·

2013/02/07

The guys join me for part 2 of our 100 game countdown series.

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