Boardgames To Go

David Arnott

@Arnott

When did you start listening to podcasts? Do you remember your first ones? For me it was the first one ever about boardgames and the first about movies. That was Geekspeak and Reel Reviews. Even though I'm not so into wine, Grape Radio was another super early one for me. The medium was new, the tech was unfamiliar, and I loved the chance to listen to interesting audio on my commute, about unique subjects. Although those earliest shows seemed to use a lot of fancy, expensive equipment, I wondered if a more basic podcast could be produced with simple gear. On March 3, 2005, I threw my hat in the ring with Boardgames To Go, a new audio version of my blog of the same name. The response was quick & positive, so I kept at it. Two decades later, I'm still here. Twenty years is an important milestone for me. I never really saw myself doing the podcast this long. I've averaged about 18 episodes per year over that time, including some early bursts of productivity and a few longer gaps. After the pandemic I renewed my commitment to the podcast and have stuck with a first-of-the-month schedule ever since, plus some bonus episodes along the way. My audience grew, then plateaued, then settled into a longstanding core of listeners. It's no exaggeration to say that you folks are the reason I've kept at it. I appreciate [your appreciation & encouragement, and I've enjoyed meeting some of you in-person. This month you'll have to indulge me talking podcast history, motivation, and a little future planning. I can't help it. Longtime friend Dave Arnott talks through it with me, and we may not refer to a single game title! Don't worry--there will be more game titles than you can shake a stick at soon (hint: Mark Madness).

-Mark

Scott Alden

@Aldie

Opener: Everyone knows Aldie, right? Feels like we do. Scott Alden, the man behind BoardGameGeek, is one creative entrepreneur, let me tell ya. Anyone could've thought to make a central website where boardgamers come for information and community, but it takes more than a good idea for something to be reality. For 25 years Aldie has been adding features, listening to comments, growing the hobby, and doing way more than most to enhance boardgaming around the world. I can't believe it's been so long since I've had him on the podcast. I'll be sure to do it again soon.

Here Scott joins me to talk about the BGG Hall of Fame, where 25 famous titles were inducted into an inaugural collection. Jennifer Schlickbernd headed up the project with Aldie's blessing, and Candice Harris was responsible producing & editing the awesome videos that accompanied this launch. I was pleased to be invited to be the initial jury that came up with the games, and also pleased with the end result. We each had our own experiences & different appreciations for various titles, but it was a group effort--including much group deliberation--that resulted in the final list. Schacht The Monkey con After the interview, I go on to talk about most of the games I played at a recent, regional convention: EsCon. The games all have one thing in common--they were all designed by Michael Schacht. As long as my friends are onboard, I really have fun focusing on something at events like these. Sometimes it's SdJ winners, or trick-taking games, or pre-2000 boardgames. This time it was focused on a single designer. As EsCon host Steve Paap likes to label these things, we called it our Schacht The Monkey con.

Closer: The following month's episode will be this podcast's own 20th anniversary. Can you believe it? Dave Arnott will be on to interview me and I can tell stories (some old, some new) about the past two decades behind a laptop and inexpensive microphone. If you've got questions or otherwise want to me to talk about something, send in your feedback now. Thanks. -Mark

I've been doing this podcast for twenty years! I never would've guessed this in the beginning. The actual "birthday" for the podcast is March 3rd, so focus on the anniversary then. But for now, this is the start of Season 21. Blackjack! Despite my teasing of Davebo during the Davecember episodes about putting too much stock in games-played data...I actually keep track of it myself. I'm not 100% accurate about it, but I'm probably 95% in recent years. (Earlier years weren't as detailed or accurate.) These days I'm using te BG Stats app, sync'd online to BGG. I don't record scores or game durations, but I DO record gaming locations, and that's permitted me to conclusively look at my data with & without online plays. For my own purposes, I've always included online plays in my totals, but I get why others may not.

In this episode I look back at 2024, mostly the games I played the most, but also events like conventions and games days. I was surprised to learn how many more games I played last year: more titles, more locations, more people, more new games, more everything. Now that I think about...more podcast episodes, too (thank to Mark Madness and Davecember :-) ). Along the way, the stats make me consider the nature of my boardgaming, how I play lots of favorites over & over online, while I try more new games in-person. Will it always be that way? Is that ideal? Last of all, I stumbled across a "shelfie" of my boardgame collection from 21 years ago, just about the same time I started this podcast. (And yes, those are my then-young kids' bikes in the bottom of the photo, and a toy rocking horse on the top shelf). Looking through it, I saw that my collection then was around 100 titles. It's double or triple that now. More significantly, I can see that I later sold three-quarters of this collection! Even accounting for the handful I re-acquired eventually, I can safely say that I turn over two-thirds of my collection. Put another way, that large fraction are not eternal keepers. I was disappointed to realize that, but perhaps it's ok? Perhaps many of our games are meant to be enjoyed just a handful of times, then passed on?

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

David Arnott

@Arnott

Bringing our Davecember to a fitting close, I welcome back Dave Arnott. He was the guy on my podcast earlier this fall when the idea of Davecember was born. He's been on plenty of my episodes before, but now we get to talk more about him.

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

Dave OConnor

@daveo1234

We're winding down now. DaveO is one of the remaining Davids that's still local to me. Local enough. He's near San Diego, I'm near LA, but that's close enough to have seen each other off & on over the years. We met around 20 years ago at a SoCal Games Day, I think. Now he's my roommate at Dice Tower West game convention, and a co-conspirator to bring old favorites to the table at a convention. -Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

David Reed

@deacondavid

David Reed claims to be our oldest Dave in the collection, but we're all reasonably close. Something about the audience for this podcast, I guess. Happy to have this generation.

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

David

@loofish

The next David comes to us from a different part of North Carolina, and explains how the recent hurricane robbed them of power...but gave them a chance to play more analog games with kids.

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

David Harding

@huffa2

Another designer joins us, and he's in the game publishing world, too. David Harding of Elevenses, One Zero One, Matcha and Grail Games.

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

David Corbin joins us next, doubling our count of North Carolina based Davids...but he's not our last. He comes offering David's Aphorism, as well as David's Dictum. Heady stuff...

-Mark

I know a lot of Daves, and many of them have been on my podcast. With that in mind they're helping me celebrate a new holiday, Davecember, when each of them joins for me a mini-episode sprinkled randomly this month into your feed. I'll ask each of them similar questions, and each David also gets a bit of time to bring up something they want to share with my listeners. Enjoy!

David Thompson

@Skirmish_Tactics

Next is David Thompson, best known as the co-designer of the Undaunted series, War Chest, Resist, Sniper Elite, and as the sole designer for his Valiant Defense series (e.g. Pavlov's House) plus others.

-Mark