Board All The Time

5 Games to Bring Home for the Holiday

Happy Thanksgiving Week BATT Family! We hope that you'll be able to find a bit of relaxation this weekend (at least until Rivalry Week kicks off on Saturday). In the spirit of trying to bring people to the table and give you an alternate to playing Rummikub for the nine billionth time, we're giving you a variety of recommendations for games to bring home for the holidays that will get anybody to play!
 
One final note, we didn't present this list as any kind of ranked list, instead we talked about them in order of release date. 
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This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro 
00:01:43 - Game 1
00:03:07 - Game 2
00:04:36 - Game 3
00:06:33 - Game 4
00:08:29 - Game 5
00:10:06 - Outro
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Five more games to take home for the holidays:
1) Sushi Go! - Gamewright
Originally released in 2013 from designer Phil Walker-Harding and plays 2-5. A light drafting game with great art and a clean set of scoring varieties within the cards themselves. Essentially it's a set collection game where you're trying to score as many points as possible across three rounds based on the cards you've drafted. There was a larger version with more modularity, Sushi Go! Party that supports 2-8 players if you want to play with more people. The components for regular Sushi Go! are included should you want to play that way as well. There were some other implementations as well (Sushi Roll, Sushi Go!: Spin Some for Dim Sum) but I think that SG/SGP are the best ones out there. There is also a brand new 10th Anniversary edition available in very limited quantities, but I have seen it at Barnes and Noble so you might still be able to track that one down.
2) Antidote - Bellwether Games
Also released in 2013 from designer Dennis Hoyle, it supports 3-7 players. Antidote plays in the same way that Clue does - you're trying to find the solution before everybody is down to one card in hand. Antidote is a deduction game where on your turn you'll either have everybody pass one card to the left or right, make a direct trade with another player, or have everybody play a card from their hand to the table. There are other modules and variants with the box and the Lab Alliance expansion that honestly we never play with because the base game is strong enough on it's own. Lab Alliance is worth pick up just to expand the player count up to 9 but that's the only reason to own it I think. This game is also one that you can play as co-operatively or selfishly as you want. There technically is scoring but we never use the points and just play to see if we can survive. This has been a favourite for a very long time.
3) Deception: Murder in Hong Kong - Grey Fox Games
Released in 2014 from designer Tobey Ho, Deception plays 4-12 players and is a team based deduction game. A murder has been committed by one of the players around the table and only the murderer and the Forensic Expert know who did it. The Forensic player has to communicate what they know silently and only using 6 prompts that are randomly drawn. Each player will have an array of cards in front of them and the murderer needs to lead the other players astray as the Forensic player tries and gets the others to identify the correct items/player. Each non-Forensic player has exactly one guess before the end of the game to guess a pair of cards to identify the murderer. If you like social deduction and want to lean into that theme, then Deception is an excellent choice. There are a variety of small promo packs that you honestly don't need (a lot more gaming related nonsense). The Undercover Allies expansion is good but honestly unneeded.
4) Just One - Repos Productions
Just one was released in 2018 and was a reimplementation of a 2017 game that  Ludovic Roudy designed. Just one added Bruno Sautter to that design team and supports 3-7 players though honestly you can play more than 7 without much issue. Just One is a game that feels like such an obvious game that somehow took til the last ten years to be released. One player (the judge essentially) will blindly pick a numbered word off a card they can't see. The rest of the players will then try and come up with a single word that will allow the Judge to guess the word they picked. The trick is that if any player reveals they wrote the same clue then both (or all in some cases) have to erase their clue and the Judge has to guess with what's left over. There's a scoring system in this one too that we frankly never use beyond trying to get more words correct than not. This one also works incredibly well for remote play. The biggest baffling thing with Just One is that there isn't any kind of expansion deck available for it in English. A couple of very small promo packs exist, but that's about it. Still, it's arguably my all time favourite party game.
5) The Crew: Mission Deep Sea - Kosmos
Released in 2022 from Thomas Sing, Mission Deep Sea is the reimplementation of the 2020 game Search for Planet IX. The Crew plays 2-5 players and I really do pick the specific version of Mission Deep Sea. It's more interesting the way the tricks are determined, uses far less fiddly mechanisms by dropping the tokens, and has just as little theme as the original. The Crew is a co-operative trick taking game and that alone will stun most trick taking players in families. Because the mission book is as simple to use as it is, it's easy to define the path of how to play each night. Or you can simply peel off a few random mission cards and just play it that way. Easy to understand, easy to teach, and a great way to introduce new people to trick taking just as much as it's easy to get lost in for experience trick takers. 
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You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for gaming, so definitely check us out on there! https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Board All The Time Episode 12

This week's episode feels like we were just focused on talking about production quality and storage (considering that Freedom Five delivered yesterday, that can only be kismet for how rough that game's storage is). But we had a lot of fun talking about games that we've come to love, how a great game can transcend a bad teach, and how not every game in a genre is going to work for you. 
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This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro 
00:00:47 - What's Been on the Table
00:08:34 - Topic of the Week: Do You Own Too Many Games?
00:14:13 - Why Did I Play That: Last Light
00:24:38 - Table / Shelf / Trade
00:49:08 - Rotating: Visions of the Future
00:57:47 - Contact Info / Sponsors 
00:58:55 - Outro
--- Notes!
1) From 31:32 - 32:56, the furnace in the studio kicked in and we didn't realize that it was going to be that noisy in the background. The joy of home studios I suppose, but I've done my best to reduce it. The game I'm discussing at the time I did end up calling a Table if you don't want to listen to that segment.
2) I realize that we talked about Millenium Blades in Episode 10 as well, but that episode was recorded something like 3 months before Episode 10 was (see that episode's notes as for why). If you want to skip that, the time stamp for it is 50:27 - 52:42.
3) We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for gaming, so definitely check us out on there! https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Board All The Time Episode 11

Ahh, it's nice to be back to a regular episode again. We have an esoteric topic of the week, talk about all the games that we played recently, take a nostalgic dive back into some games that you may not have thought of in some time, and just gush over an area control game that Scott actually really likes. 
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This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro 
00:02:51 - What's Been on the Table
00:08:01 - Topic of the Week: What Is Your Obligation as the Host?
00:21:43 - Why Did I Play That: Wonderland's War
00:33:58 - Table / Shelf / Trade
00:48:13 - Rotating: The Archives
01:00:01 - Contact Info / Sponsors 
01:01:07 - Outro
--- Notes!
 
1) Due to guest availability, we actually recorded this one before we did Episode 9 with James Hudson. We didn't know that we'd have this much Druid City so close together, but seriously Wonderland's War is exceptionally good. 
2) Masque of the Red Death's track through Mark's Top 100 is pretty wild: 2019: #010 | 2020: #011 | 2021: #034 | 2022: #087 | 2023: #087It will most likely stay in the high 80s range until it (if ever) falls out at this point.
3) The third Doctor Lucky game was The Island of Doctor Lucky in 2018.
4) It's been mentioned a bunch of times, but the most recent Top 100 Mark did can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/328088/top-100-games-2023-edition?itemid=10344720
You can expect the new one to be up at the start of January 2025 after we release our Top Ten for 2025.
5) Do you like all the weird little things after the outro sting now? Because we find them hysterical.
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Tend (from IV Studio) Kickstarter Preview

BATT Family! It's been a busy month of super cool Kickstarters coming out and we ALSO got a pretty sick delivery from our friends at IV Studios. We give Tend the full preview/review treatment to help support their campaign that is currently running. Check out the episode and then go ahead and back the campaign! Links are below!
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:10 - Gameplay
00:11:25 - Learning Curve
00:17:44 - Artwork
00:20:19 - Components
00:23:08 - Iconography
00:24:48 - Ease of Recommendation
00:28:45 - Replayability
00:32:10 - Final Thoughts
00:35:00 - Outro
Thanks so much again to IV Studios for supplying us with the protoype copy of the Deluxe Edition of Tend. As one final note, we didn't mention it in this review episode but there is a standard edition that will come with coloured pencils instead of markers as well as a few other components to help lower the cost. We were not aware of the standard edition at time of recording but did want to mention it here. 
Please check out the Kickstarter and the rest of their games:
Kickstarter Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ivstudios/tend-0
IV Studio Website: https://www.iv.studio/
IV Games Website: https://shop.iv.studio/
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You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Reviews: Holiday Hijinks

Hey hey BATT Family! Today we are doing another separate review in support of our friends at Grand Gamers Guild and their new Holiday Hijinks Kickstarter campaign. The Holiday Hijinks themselves are 18 card micro games that are all escape rooms in a box. We talk about the highs and lows of them and wanted to make you aware of them! 
00:00:00 - The Holiday Hijinks
00:16:07 - Ratings
Thanks so much again to Marc at Grand Gamers Guild for supplying us with review copies of each of the Holiday Hijinks. As one final note, we didn't mention it in this review episode but there are print and play options for all of the games in the series available at their website for a reduced price. 
Please check out their newest Kickstarter campaign and the rest of their games:
Kickstarer: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grandgamersguild/holiday-hijinks-collection
Grand Gamers Guild Website: https://grandgamersguild.com/
Holiday Hijinks Website: https://landing.grandgamersguild.com/holidayhijinks/
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Board All The Time Episode 10

Welcome BATT Family to Episode 10 - The Top Ten Thematic Games! This is an odd episode for us at this point, because this was actually recorded fairly early into the production run but we needed to get Jake in to be able to record. So this one actually happened before we upgraded our equipment and had enough mics to support a guest appropriately. There will be some odd table thumps that don't occur anymore and the like, but ultimately none of us would change the picks we made. It was a great conversation and we really hope that you liked having Jake on as well. Let us know what your favourite thematic games are in our Discord or by emailing us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com!
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Heads Up
00:00:54 - Intro / Welcome Jake!
00:02:22 - Criterion for List
00:06:03 - Tens 
00:10:16 - Nines
00:17:21 - Eights 
00:24:17 - Sevens
00:32:43 - Sixes 
00:39:55 - Fives
00:51:05 - Fours
00:54:26 - Threes
01:03:33 - Twos
01:11:29 - Ones
01:22:24 - Wrap Up
01:23:17 - Plugs
01:24:25 - Outro
Some notes! 
1) The games that turned into KH: Perilous Pursuit were Rollers, into Rollers Deluxe, into Fantastic Beasts: Perilous Pursuit. We do all still agree that it took four swings at it to make the game into what it should have been all along and it works best in KH.
2) This was recorded prior to GenCon. That means that we hadn't had the pleasure to meet and discuss Apiary with Connie at this point and didn't realize just HOW MUCH bee knowledge and genetic variance went into basically every aspect of that game. We'd definitely have commented on that if this took place after.
3) In relation to a point Scott very confidently states, he forgot that Apiary does in fact have a(n excellent) solo mode.
4) It's ironic that we said we forgot to release a spooky season set of content and then realizing how much horror is in this one. C'est la vie! That's what happens when you don't re-listen to a 3 month old recording before recording and releasing something that felt timelier. 
 
In the next week or so you'll be able to catch up on some promo content for both Tend from IV Studios and The Holiday Hijinks Series from Grand Gamers Guild!
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Madcala Kickstarter Bonus Episode!

Hey Madcala backers! Thanks so much for joining us for this little bonus episode for the Kickstart campaign. We hope to have you join us for the rest of our content as well. As a reminder, Madcala's campaign will be running from October 22nd to November 8th. Check it out! If you're in the future, then check it out anyway to do a late pledge. If you're WAY in the future, then check the game out anyway!
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If you're a regular listener, this conversation already featured in our Off Week Odds and Ends 2 episode that launched last week. 
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Madcala Kickstarter Page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/druidcitygames/madcala
Druid City's Main Website: https://www.druidcitygames.com
Druid City's Discord: https://discord.gg/CQutpamzff
Druid City's YouTube: www.youtube.com/@realdruidcitygames
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Off Week Odds and Ends 2 - The Druid City Edition

Welcome to the off week odds and ends episode! A variety of topics are being put out today, mostly extra conversation from Episode 9 with James Hudson. In addition to those topics, we've add in our conversation post-GenCon about Madcala and I really hope you enjoy that as much as we did. Finally there will be a small little nugget about Coma Ward - a game that Mark very much wants to get a second edition chance to iron out. Thanks for checking back with us this week and we'll catch you next week for Episode 10 - The Top Ten Thematic Games with another member of the BATT Family!
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro 
00:01:16 - Wonderland's War Expansion Intro
00:01:32 - Wonderland's War Expansion 
00:04:34 - Sorcerer's City Intro
00:05:01 - Sorcerer's City 
00:08:56 - Druid City Themes / The Future of Bloodstone Intro
00:09:23 - Druid City Themes / The Future of Bloodstone 
00:15:37 - Gaming Excitement / Dungeons and Dragons Intro
00:16:18 - Gaming Excitement / Dungeons and Dragons
00:20:21 - Madcala Intro
00:21:05 - Madcala
00:27:46 - Coma Ward Intro
00:28:08 - Coma Ward 
00:29:43 - Outro
Thank you again to James for joining us! Here are the links to what we talked about with him:
Madcala Kickstarter Page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/druidcitygames/madcala
Druid City's Main Website: https://www.druidcitygames.com
Druid City's Discord: https://discord.gg/CQutpamzff
Druid City's YouTube: www.youtube.com/@realdruidcitygames
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Spooky Season (2024 Edition)

It's the best time of the year: Spooky Season! And darn it if Mark and Scott didn't forget to record a segment on this for release in an October episode. The joy of not considering release dates during pre-production. That'll be changing in the future, but until then have a whole singular helping of the topic. Enjoy!
00:00:00 - Intro 
00:01:36 - Honorable Mentions
00:06:37 - Scott Game 1
00:08:49 - Mark Game 1 
00:11:32 - Scott Game 2
00:15:20 - Mark Game 2
00:20:53 - Scott Game 3
00:26:43 - Mark Game 3
00:30:23 - Scott's Bonus Question!
00:32:40 - Plugs / Outro
**Mark would have totally put Nightfall on the list had he remembered it. What an oversight! It would have taken the place of The Few and Cursed most likely. You'll hear about that soon enough probably.
**There was an additional conversation about a game called Coma Ward that was ultimately cut from the episode. It was an attempt at another publisher to come up with a modern version of Betrayal at House on the Hill and it ultimately failed. Mark didn't want to just dunk on it in this episode, so that content may come out in a future Odds and Ends episode.  
**You might be wondering why Neither Mark nor Scott mentioned Horrified (a specific entry or the series) and it's because ultimately neither one likes it enough. Mark feels the first game is by far the best, but gets tired of the pick up and deliver whereas the rest of the series is deeply unbalanced and missing a lot of rules. Scott thinks that while the original Horrified felt very groundbreaking at the time that it was released, the other versions don't bring anything new to the table and there are a lot of games out there that are scarier and (for him) more fun. 
**We did discuss the Night Cage and considered putting it on the list, but the issue is that neither of us feel like it's a very good game. It's an incredible and substantially creepy theme with a really solid production, but in Scott's words: "I love its idea, its just not that great of a game. It ends up being Top Deck: The Game." Mark can't really disagree with that feeling and wants another try from the publisher at it. 
**Both Scott and Jason really enjoy the game Atmosfear. It is possible to find it online for anywhere between $50-$80 normally and all the video content is available on YouTube so you don't have to rely on a VCR. Go wild! Be spooky!
**And as a final side note, Scott thought about pulling a practical joke on Mark and do the Top Five Snoopy Games but he was very tired and forgot the joke until after post recording. 
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Board All The Time Episode 9 (With James Hudson)

This week's episode is one that Mark and Scott had an absolute blast recording and are still pumped that it happened. We have the inimitable James Hudson from Druid City Games on with this today and we got to talk a wide array of things with him. In addition to discussing gaming from an industry perspective, he also gave us a number of heads up on things from Wonderland's War, Tidal Blades, and even the future of Bloodstone! Check it out and let us know your thoughts! Meanwhile, check out next week's off-week episode featuring all the extra conversation including the future of Sorcerer City!
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro / Hi James!
00:02:27 - What's Been on the Table
00:07:45 - Topic of the Week: Why Do "Bigger" Publishers Use Crowdfunding?
00:27:14 - Should Games Get Second Chances? 
00:36:41 - Table / Shelf / Trade
00:56:12 - Rotating Segment: Surprise Party!
01:02:28 - What's Next for Druid City?
01:06:06 - Plugs / Outro
Thank you again to James for joining us today! Here are the links to what we talked about with him:
Madcala Kickstarter Page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/druidcitygames/madcala
Druid City's Main Website: https://www.druidcitygames.com
Druid City's Discord: https://discord.gg/CQutpamzff
Druid City's YouTube: www.youtube.com/@realdruidcitygames
**As a quick note: we've gotten the question of what score ranges would each segment of Table/Shelf/Trade normally relate to? At least for Mark, a Shelf is 8+, Table is 5-7, though a 5 isn't that exciting of a table, and a Trade is 4-.
**When Scott said Telescope in his review of The Search for Planet X, he meant Observatory.
**When talking about Stamp Swap, Mark didn't have any foreknowledge of the game's existence. He was simply expecting an I Cut, You Choose game from the company for a very long time.
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music.