Ben and Trey go deep into Salton Sea and also share initial impressions of Pax Penning and El Burro.  Plus, the two revisit Heaven & Ale and chat about what they want out of a game store.

Ben and Paul chat about some recent plays, including Salton Sea, and then Ben shamelessly attempts to communicate to Queen Games about his missing Marrakesh expansion.  Afterwards, the two explore the importance of enthusiasm at a game table and the dangers of becoming the dreaded FUN SPONGE.

The 2024 Golden Geek Award nominations have just been revealed, and we're  choosing faves, making endorsements, and offering sweeping predictions on which games will win.  Oh and by the way, thanks to everyone who voted and nabbed us a nom! Don't worry, we're focused on the games, not shameless self-promotion (well, maybe just a little self-promotion).

Plus, Ben, Jordan, and Paul talk about recent plays of Ironwood, Galactic Cruise, Arcs, and Twilight Imperium.

Ben and Jordan talk about recent plays of Inventions, Galactic Cruise, Twilight Imperium, Arcs, and Resist.  Plus, discussion about space games — what does the concept of space bring to a game, and what makes a game a SPACE GAME (as opposed to a game set in space).

Notations to come.

Ben and Paul talk about recent plays of Inventions, Terraforming Mars, and City of the Big Shoulders.  Then they do a deep dive about finger etiquette and games: why does it bother us, how do we address bad behavior, and what are the most common mistakes.  Shots will be fired.  Takes will be hot.

00:00 - Intro

02:33 - Inventions

14:47 - Western Empires / Mega Empires

23:25 - Terraforming Mars

29:37 - 1830

33:07 - City of the Big Shoulders

35:47 - Finger etiquette for board games

Tom, Jordan, and Ben discuss games they had shrugged off but later came to love.  Plus, recent plays of Imperium Horizons, Legacies, and El Grande.

00:00 - Intro
00:06 - Legacies
26:11 - Avalon
29:14 - El Grande
34:14 - Franchise
39:31 - Second Wind Games
41:51 - Modern Art
46:26 - Imperium Horizons
54:37 - Dune Imperium: Uprising
01:02:22 - Android: Netrunner
01:08:42 - Black Angel
01:14:26 - A Feat for Odin
01:17:49 - Gold West
01:19:55 - Boonlake
01:22:06 - Great Western Trail: Argentina
01:30:40 - Skymines
01:39:48 - City of the Big Shoulders

Trey, Ben, and Dmitry review the 2024 release Let's Go To Japan.

• 0:00:00 Introduction
  • Watch What Crappens wins Best Pop Culture Podcast
  • The Traitors
• 0:08:48 Games on the Brain
  • Baseball Highlights 2045 on Gamefound
  • Star Wars: Unlimited
    • Try online at Force Table
  • Netrunner at Nullsignal.games
  • Knarr
  • Marrakesh
  • Cuzco
• 00:51:30 Game Review: Let's Go to Japan
  • Stationfall
  • Santa Monica

-  Find Etamar at kirbooloni.com
-  Game Brain Facebook Group
-  Instagram

Ben, Matt, and Paul sit down to talk about games they're going deep with (Root), and games that are brutalizing them (Cuzco).  And everything in between.

00:08:04 - Traitors & Avalon

00:14:10 - Root

00:39:34 - Franchise

00:50:36 - Netrunner

01:07:10 - Cuzco

01:25:00 - Dinosaur Gauge

01:29:49 - Legacies

01:36:52 - Lunar

01:38:00 - Tournament at Avalon, Mino Dice

01:40:00 - Boon Lake: Artifacts

01:43:45 - Shikoku 1889

Special guest Jennifer Schlickbernd joins Trey to review Thunder Road: Vendetta and discuss starter modes in boardgames.

• 0:00:00 Introduction
• 0:02:35 Recent Plays
  • Merkator
  • Arborea
  • Pirates of Maricaibo
  • 20 Strong
  • kCaloria launches on Kickstarter
• 0:27:10 Game Review: Thunder Road: Vendetta
  • Car Wars (1981)
  • Thunder Road (1986)
  • The White Castle (2023)
• 0:56:45 Discussion - Learning Modes in Games
  • Evacuation
    • ThinkerThemer's review
  • Revive
  • Voidfall

-  Find Etamar at kirbooloni.com
-  Game Brain Facebook Group
-  Instagram

Ben and Paul discuss recent plays of Bloodstones, Bruxelles 1893, and Apiary. Then they try to figure out what's the best way for a group to select a game to play. Is it a democratic process?  A dictatorial one? Or maybe just a roll of the dice.

15:47 - Apiary
19:22 - Horseless Carriage
23:20 - Bruxelles 1893: The Belle Epoque
36:03 - Bloodstones
51:55 - How to choose a game?

Hosts Matt, Tom, Trey, and Ben unite for our list of the best boardgames of 2023!

• 0:00:00 Introduction
• 0:05:10 Contest Results
  • Sol: Last Days of a Star
• 0:18:35 Game Brain's Top Boardgames of 2023
• 0:20:04 T16 Great Western Trail: New Zealand
• 0:25:20 T16 Inferno Guelphs and Ghibellines Vie for Tuscany, 1259-1261
• 0:27:30 T13 Bloodstones
• 0:29:00 T13 Scholars of the South Tigris
• 0:32:00 T13 Thunder Road: Vendetta
• 0:34:35 12 Apiary
• 0:37:10 11 Horseless Carriage
• 0:43:15 10 Rats of Wistar
• 0:46:15 9th Stationfall
• 0:50:08 8th Earthborne Rangers
• 0:54:50 7th White Castle
• 0:59:05 6th Kutná Hora: The City of Silver
• 1:03:10 5th Voidfall
• 1:09:28 4th Nucleum
• 1:16:05 3rd Age of Innovation
• 1:24:45 2nd Evacuation
• 1:33:40 1st Hegemony: Lead your class to victory

-  Find Etamar at kirbooloni.com
-  Game Brain Facebook Group
-  Instagram