PODCAST

Boardgames To Go

Mark Johnson

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

leisure games

All Episodes

Recent games: T&T, Tempus, Vinci, play by web

Boardgames To Go ·

2007/05/28

You might think that if I've got the ability to write a blog post, then I should be able to produce another podcast. Well, you'd be wrong. :-) Wasn't it about last year at this time that I got busy? More than that, it was six years ago that my gaming went on total hiatus for a few months. It just so happens that the main project at work is at the same stage the previous monumental effort was six

51:03

BGTG 69 - Mar 21, 2007 - Adlung Spiele Games

Boardgames To Go ·

2007/03/27

Here's a solo show focusing on a particular publisher, Adlung Spiele. These are the guys (or maybe just one guy with some freelance authors & illustrators) that produce one of my favorites, Verräter, and other small card games. Most of them are only small in format, though--a single deck of cards in a tuckbox. Many of their games play much larger than they appear, feeling like more of a boardgame

My wife's favorite type of boardgame

Boardgames To Go ·

2007/02/19

Wow, when I said my family gaming was starting to work, I wasn't kidding! Last night my wife & I played our new copy of On The Underground.Not only that, but this was a game she requested, or at least she agreed that it sounded interesting after I described it to her the week before. That was after I'd played it for the first time at my local game group, and thought the mechanics and--especially-

25:05

BGTG 68 - Feb 12, 2007 - Looking Back at 2006,...

Boardgames To Go ·

2007/02/16

A quick show with my thoughts on boardgaming over the past year, and what I anticipate for 2007. These retrospectives are a little harder to do without stats . . . but then what would stats tell me, anyway? For me, the real point is to talk about games that have become new favorites, especially ones I think will be keepers for the long haul. To be honest, I'm not sure how many of even the "hits"

Some Essen titles (Yspahan, On the Underground,...

Boardgames To Go ·

2007/02/15

As of this writing, I've actually recorded two podcasts. One of them had to be scrapped for audio quality reasons, and I'm in the process of redoing it. That one is with a special guest, so I really hope I can get it redone sooner rather than later. The other is a more routine solo show, no technical problems, just needs a little more work (editing, test-listen). It's my retrospective on 2006,

52:12

BGTG 67 - Jan 1, 2007 - Pretty, Wooden Abstracts

Boardgames To Go ·

2007/01/02

I've surprised myself by becoming more and more interested in abstract games over the years. However, as I discuss in this show, that's due to discovering a wide range of abstracts that don't make my head hurt. You see, I've never been a fan of chess, go, logic puzzles, or anything else that requires such hard thinking. It's just not fun for me. Even then, it's not the analysis that I find as

01:25:08

BGTG 66 - Dec. 8, 2006 - Thanksgiving Leftovers...

Boardgames To Go ·

2007/01/01

Whew! The show is now posted. You know that getting a podcast out during this part of the year is tricky for me (aren't we all busy with the holidays?), and with the backlog of material it has turned out to be a biggie. Good news, I hope. The last time I had a show larger than one audio CD, almost no one downloaded the split file--everyone downloaded the big sucker like usual. So either you've

End of the year games (part 2)

Boardgames To Go ·

2006/12/31

In addition to the games I've played with gamers to round out the year, I've continued to have more success with friends & family, too. Those are much lighter games, but that never bothered me in the first place, and of course those are much more approachable (and more fun) for people who don't enjoy learning new rules all the time. I had another chance to break out a few light games during some

End of the year games (part 1)

Boardgames To Go ·

2006/12/24

Like I said, no chance to do another podcast this year, but I can fill you in on some recent gaming via the blog. Last night I attended my last Santa Clarita game group session of the year, and we were joined by Greg Parker. He's a long way from home up in Redding, but has family down here so we see him once in a while during holidays. Podcast listeners should be familiar with Greg from his

It's that time of year...

Boardgames To Go ·

2006/12/08

Remember how I said I planned on taking a planned hiatus from mid-November until after New Year's? Well, that was a good idea, because this is just a very busy time for me to work in some podcasting. Just the same, I wanted to catch up on some audio feedback, and my plan is still to put together kind of a "mash-up" show. Somewhere I've still got a recording made last August that was never

I must be doing something right

Boardgames To Go ·

2006/11/17

My best chance for playing games with Molly is when she's bored, having exhausted all other options. That sounds bad, but when that happens she's not reduced to playing a boardgame with dad--she looks forward to it. She just looks forward to it after everything else falls through. :-) Hey, I'll take it. Recently her friends have been busy doing other things, so we've had several days over the

Not at BGG.con

Boardgames To Go ·

2006/11/13

Nope, I didn't make it back to BGG.con this year. I never manage to be a regular attendee of conventions--even though I've been to many of them once. Last year it was BGG.con, the year before was the Gathering, before that was Essen, and before that was Kublacon when Knizia was there. A few years prior I was lucky enough to go to Gulf Games. All of these have been great fun, and hopefully someday