((As is appropriate, Sean gets the final say. Have a safe New Year’s, and here’s to a better 2024.)) The name The Daily Worker Placement is less of a reference to a Communist newspaper and more a joke about Seinfeld. I remember the night I came up with that name and feeling immediately that it was right. It was just that way for me from the start, where I always felt like I was following the right path with this blog. I had been wanting to continue writing and taking pictures of games after leaving my marketing job at a board game cafe where that had been one of my favourite parts of the posi ..read more

((Today it’s Nicole’s turn to say farewell to the DWP. Tomorrow, Sean will wrap things up and turn out the lights–for the moment at least.)) I never imagined I’d write a blog beyond my now-defunct Livejournal – oh, those were the days. Although I’d been enjoying games for years, moving to Toronto really levelled that up. I was playing so many things, discovering new games, and wanting to enthuse about them to a larger audience, but hadn’t felt I had the articulation I needed to contribute to any kind of outlet. Eventually, I set aside my fears and took Sean’s offer to write something for DWP ..read more

((We’re finishing off 2023–and the current incarnation of the DWP–with a trio of valedictory columns. Today, David puts in his final $0.02. Tomorrow we’ll be posting Nicole’s farewell. Sean will have the last word on the 31st.)) My first article for The Daily Worker Placement, a short piece entitled The Desert Island Collection, was posted on January 1, 2015. And now, almost exactly nine years and 284 pieces later, you are reading my final contribution. The DWP has always strived to be more than “content creators”. When I started writing for it, the heart of the operation as I saw it were Sean ..read more

Puzzles and games have always gone hand-in-hand for me–though I respectfully disagree with Amabel Holland’s recent assertion (without explanation or justification) that puzzles are games. I would love to debate that with her someday–heck, I would love to just sit around and talk about anything game-related with her someday. But that is all for another time. Suffice to say, me loves puzzles. And so, I put together our first Non-Denominational Contest five years ago very much in the spirit of GAMES Magazine, whose puzzles, articles, and contests I have loved since 1980. That first contest combin ..read more

So 2023 was…a year. Another year, another orbit around the sun. We haven’t destroyed ourselves yet, but we’re trying darn hard, dagnabit! And there were boardgames! New ones! Reboots! Reissues! Good ones! Bad ones! Interesting ones! You know my feelings, readers: end-of-year best-of lists are shite–totally subjective, context-dependent, and inevitably incomplete. So as usual, I will list a dozen 2023 titles which I think had new things to say and to which I hope to return next year and beyond.  The list is in alphabetical order, because why make things worse for myself by ranking them?? P ..read more

We’ve actually, finally made it. The games of 2023 that I enjoyed, and that I think are worth playing. Thank you for your views and engagements this year, and let’s end this year off with a proper list of fantastic games. 13.) Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game As I talked about with Worldbreakers, two-player card games are tough to get right. This title really strikes a balance between deck building and deck construction, and it nails down asymmetrical play. By having each player be a side in the galaxy, players can only purchase certain cards in the shared market row. But, and what’s really g ..read more

It’s time. We’re all here for it, so let’s break it out: my year-end ranking. From the bottom all the way to the top. All the hits and all the misses in one place. One caveat before we get into this obnoxiously long list: I need to start with another list. I want to make note of some titles that I believe could make a significant placing on my list for the year, were I able to play them. Those titles include: 18 India Age of Innovation Earthborne Rangers Evacuation Kutna Hora: The City of Silver Stationfall Some of these titles, like Earthborne Rangers, Kutna Hora, and Evacuation, are simply ..read more

As the board gaming hobby has matured and developed, so have the publishers. The diversity of titles being put out to the general masses each and every week has reached critical mass, all because publishers of all sizes exist and flourish in our weird little hobby. For now, though, I want to spotlight two different publishers that deserve the extra recognition. Ones whose titles are polished and revered, ones whose actions need to be noticed by the rest of the hobby. These publishers are ones that every gamer should be aware of if they want to see a quick snapshot of what the hobby is up to th ..read more

I have been engrossed in the dark trenches of this hobby for over seven years now. I have seen trends change, I have seen popular Kickstarters blow up, I’ve seen What’s Your Game still not deliver Madeira… and yet, as much as I have nailed down my own taste, I still have feelings for games I know I won’t like. Bizarrely, I feel like 2023 has had a ton of titles that fall under this category for me, so I wanted to take this time to highlight those. Not only because, from an outsider’s view, these titles seem (mostly) worthy of sending up, but also because if I can’t love them for who they are ..read more

Clue: a pretty classic ill-suited for solo play There are a multitude of articles on Daily Worker Placement elaborating on the joys of playing board games with those we love. However, there are times when the hankering for a game hits and you find yourself without 2-4 enthusiastic participants ready to play. This is an experience I have found myself in on more than one occasion, and so today I thought I’d delve into an unusual method of play that perhaps other game nerds share. There are, of course, many ways to enjoy board games without the physical presence of other people, from matching up ..read more