Board Gamers Anonymous

Episode 591 – What If?! Tabletop Twists

What if one moment in tabletop gaming history had gone differently?

This week on Board Gamers Anonymous, Chris and Tim are messing with the timeline. In our Voice of the Gamers feature, we ask the tabletop questions that probably shouldn't be asked: What if a landmark game had never been published? What if a major designer had made a completely different choice? What if an influential publisher never existed? What if a convention never took off—or a game that changed the hobby had completely flopped?

Change one decision, remove one game, alter one moment…and suddenly the tabletop hobby we know today might look very different. We're pulling at the loose threads of gaming history to see what unravels, what takes its place, and whether we'd even recognize the hobby on the other side.

Roll for Preview

Chris checks out Bookwyrm: A Cozy Strategy Game of Beautiful Bookshelves, a cozy strategy game where book-hoarding dragons attempt to organize their overflowing collections, building and scoring bookshelves while inevitably being tempted to acquire even more books. Because apparently dragons and board gamers have exactly the same problem.

Tim previews Electrify, the upcoming engine-building game from AEG designed by John D. Clair and Ian Hutchison. Players develop an evolving energy industry across five revolving sectors, upgrading and chaining actions as they attempt to meet an increasingly power-hungry world's demands.

Roll for Review

Chris heads somewhere considerably less cozy with Enemies of Gotham City, a competitive area-control game that puts Batman's famous rogues—not the Caped Crusader—in the spotlight. Joker, Poison Ivy, Penguin, Two-Face, and the rest battle for control of Gotham while Batman and his allies attempt to ruin everyone's perfectly reasonable plans for criminal domination.

Tim reviews Dewan, a fast-playing competitive game of territory, placement, and hand management from designers Johannes Goupy and Yoann Levet. Players lead their tribes across a resource-scarce landscape, establishing camps, gathering resources, and completing story objectives along the way.

So join us as we review what's coming, what's hitting our tables—and then completely rewrite tabletop history.

Because every great game starts with "What if?" This week, we're asking what happens when the answer changes everything.

If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous, on Bluesky at bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social, and at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.

And if you enjoy the show, support Board Gamers Anonymous on Patreon at www.patreon.com/c/bga.
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Board Game Red Flags: When We Know a Game Isn't for Us

We all have them: those little warning signs that make us look at a board game and immediately start planning our escape from the table.

This week, Chris and Tim break down their biggest board game red flags—the mechanisms, themes, design choices, components, and other telltale signs that can turn “Want to play this?” into a very quick “I’m good.” Maybe it’s a rulebook that looks like it requires continuing education credits. Maybe it’s a game proudly advertising 240 minutes of playtime. Maybe there are 47 different resources, an app requirement, player elimination, roll-and-move, or the dreaded phrase, “It gets really good after your first five plays.”

Of course, one gamer's red flag is another gamer's reason to immediately preorder the deluxe edition. Chris and Tim compare the warning signs that send them running, the ones they're willing to overlook, and those occasions when a game manages to overcome everything they normally hate. How well do we really know our own tastes—and how many great games have we avoided because they checked the wrong box?

Then it's time for Roll for Preview, as Chris and Tim take a look at some games coming to the table.

Chris: Food Chain Magnate: Special Edition takes Splotter's famously unforgiving heavy economic game of hiring employees, marketing burgers and pizza, manipulating demand, and ruthlessly outmaneuvering the competition and gives it the deluxe treatment, with completely redesigned artwork, upgraded components, miniatures, and a new presentation. It's still Food Chain Magnate underneath—just dressed like the CEO finally approved the capital-improvement budget.

Chris also previews Steam & Cheese, Alexander Rein's upcoming expert Euro from Skellig Games, in which steampunk mice operate an increasingly elaborate cheese-making industry. Players use dice as workers, with both their colors and values affecting their actions, while transforming milk into cheese, upgrading machinery, filling orders, and importing spices by zeppelin. Finally, someone had the courage to answer the question: “What if an economic Euro were extremely serious mechanically but populated entirely by mice obsessed with cheese?”

Tim: Catvale: The Board Game with Claws! sends rival cats into a modular, ever-changing world where they explore, gather resources, build, complete quests, and occasionally settle disagreements in the traditional feline manner: conflict. It's a strategic adventure-Euro hybrid built around a variable hex-tile world, dice-driven actions, and more than 100 adventure cards. Basically, cats finally get the sprawling civilization-building experience they always believed they deserved.

Then, in Roll for Review, we find out what Chris and Tim thought after actually getting games to the table.

Chris: Citadels Duel reimagines the classic Citadels specifically for two players. Rather than simply shrinking the original game, designers Guillaume Montiage and Manuel Rozoy rebuild its character powers, deduction, city building, and tactical interference into a dedicated head-to-head experience. Chris finds out whether all that scheming, bluffing, building, and backstabbing works when there's only one other person at the table to blame.

Tim: Nucleum, from Simone Luciani and Dávid Turczi, is a heavyweight Euro set in an alternate-history 19th-century Saxony transformed by nuclear technology. Players develop networks, construct and power buildings, fulfill contracts, unlock asymmetric technologies, and compete to become the dominant industrial force. It's railroads, economics, technology, and uranium—which is either an irresistible Eurogame pitch or several of our red flags from the main topic combined into one box.

Tim also reviews Rauha, a 2–5 player game from Johannes Goupy and Théo Rivière about restoring life to once-sterile worlds. Players draft and place biome cards into their personal grids, create combinations, attract Divine Entities, and carefully position their Avatar to trigger rows and columns of increasingly satisfying effects. It's colorful, peaceful world-building on the surface, with plenty of combo-building decisions underneath.

So pull up a chair—but check the box for warning signs first—and join us as we figure out exactly what makes us say NOPE before the first turn even begins.

If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous, on Bluesky at bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social, and at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.

And if you enjoy the show, support Board Gamers Anonymous on Patreon at www.patreon.com/c/bga.

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Episode 589 – Roll for Initiative…With Strangers!

This week, Chris is joined by our good friend Chris Rodriguez from Board Games for the Better to tackle something almost every gamer has experienced at some point: the anxiety of sitting down at a table with people you don’t know.

Whether you’re walking into a local game night for the first time, looking for a seat at a convention, or trying to find a new gaming group, playing with strangers can be intimidating. Chris and Chris talk about the challenges of putting yourself out there, finding a group where you feel comfortable, recognizing a welcoming table, and getting past that initial awkwardness so you can actually enjoy the reason you showed up in the first place—the games!

And there are plenty of games to talk about this week.

Roll for Preview

Chris previews Everdell Journeys, a new standalone adventure in the world of Everdell that takes the familiar woodland setting in a new direction, and Drillers, a deck-building and resource-management game about piloting mechs deeper and deeper into an abandoned mine in search of valuable minerals—while making sure you can still get back out.

Chris Rodriguez checks out Legendary: A DC Deck-Building Game, which brings DC's superheroes, villains, Masterminds, and Schemes to Upper Deck's Legendary system, including new elements such as Sidekicks and the Hope and Fear Tracker.

Roll for Review

Chris takes a seat at the infernal poker table with Hell of a Deal, a cooperative, Texas Hold'em-inspired game where players take on cheating bosses from Hell, use some questionable tricks of their own, and ultimately hope to beat the Devil himself.

Chris Rodriguez covers three games: Mountain Goats Legacy, which expands the dice-rolling mountain-climbing game into an evolving, fully resettable legacy experience with new powers, hazards, and challenges; Fairy, a tiny push-your-luck prediction game about guessing whether the next card will be higher, lower, the same suit, or a fairy; and Panda Panda, a quick set-collection card game where you're manipulating your hand, watching your opponents, and trying to be the first to yell “Panda Panda!” with the right combination of cards.

Then, Roll for Initiative…With Strangers! How do you get past the anxiety of joining a table full of people you've never met? How do you find the right group for you? And, for those of us already sitting comfortably at the table, what can we do to make it easier for the next person looking for a friendly seat?

If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous, on Bluesky at bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social, and at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.

And if you enjoy the show, support Board Gamers Anonymous on Patreon at www.patreon.com/c/bga.

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Episode 588: 13 Years of BGA — Taking on the BGG Top 100

Board Gamers Anonymous is officially 13 years old! To celebrate, Chris is joined by Tim and Game Master Dave, together on the podcast for the very first time, for a special look at the BoardGameGeek Top 100 games.

All three of us are diving into the list and giving our hot takes: the games that deserve their spots, the ones that should be higher, the ones we can't believe are still there, and the sacred cows we're willing to knock down a few pegs. After 13 years of talking board games, we've accumulated plenty of opinions, and we're not keeping them to ourselves.

Most importantly, a huge thank you to all of the friends who have been part of BGA over the years (especially Anthony) and to every listener who has downloaded an episode, shared the show, sent us a message, argued with one of our lists, or kept coming back week after week. And an extra special thank you to our Patreon backers, whose support helps make BGA possible. We couldn't have made it to 13 years without all of you.

Here's to 13 years of Board Gamers Anonymous, and plenty more games, debates, rankings, and questionable opinions still to come!

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www.boardgamersanonymous.com

Connect with Board Gamers Anonymous:

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Episode 587: The Clue Is…10 Games That Keep You Guessing

The clue is…a great game night! Chris and Tim count down 10 games built around giving clues, deciphering hints, and guessing the right words or numbers. Some clues will lead straight to the answer, while others may leave everyone wondering what their teammates were thinking.

In Roll for Preview, Chris checks out DC Deck-Building Game: Green Lantern Corps, while Tim heads Abroad. Then, in Roll for Review, Chris puts the pedal to the prehistoric metal with Dino Racer, and Tim shares his thoughts on Whistle Mountain, Rebirth, and Hoplomachus: Origins.

If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.boardgamersanonymous.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with us on Facebook (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social), and our website (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.boardgamersanonymous.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠).

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