The show is back. Since John D. Clair, local hero SoCal designer of Mystic Vale, Space Base, Dead Reckoning, and the new hit Ready, Set, Bet, joined us as the Guest of Honor at Strategicon‘s Gamex 2023, I recorded a podcast Q&A session with him. John’s a good friend and we talked about his process, his history, and the exceptional games he’s added to the world. I’m now using Soundwise, a new platform, so if you experience issues, please send me an email or comment here. Thank you! https://mysoundwise.com/soundcasts/1685217941119s The post Boardgame Babylon v110 – Q&A with John D. Clai ..read more

Wordsmiths and wordnerds alike are sure to enjoy Paperback Adventures from game designer Tim Fowers and his own Fowers Games. While the recent smashing success of the 10th Anniversary and updated version of this game’s predecessor, Paperback, shows that plenty of people love this game engine, they may not all have found out that Paperback Adventures (available as a board game or on Steam) is a magnificent evolution of what the designer did so well with the original. In this review, I’m going to review both versions of the game since I’ve spent a lot of time playing it in both formats recently ..read more

Disclosure: The makers of Aroma: A Game of Essence provided a review copy of the game for an independent written review. Unique mechanisms in board games are harder to come by these days. So many games feel like Frankenstein’s Monster versions of other good games, which sometimes works. The folks who made Aroma: A Game of Essence may be drawing on some traditional game elements in their four-in-one game box, but the central mechanism is indeed unique: Aroma is all about smelling stuff. Does that sound crass? It’s not – this isn’t a Cards Against Humanity game with disgusting scratch-and-sniff ..read more

Just a quick update to say that I’ve posted a new auction with more than 100 lots of board games and related items. Promos, OOP games, and more – check it out here. Why am selling so many games? Simply, I did read the Marie Kondo book earlier this year, although I haven’t seen her show. I liked the concept of not keeping physical things with sentimental value if they don’t directly offer you joy. The ritual of ‘thanking and saying goodbye’ to board games that may have meant something in the past but don’t get played was positive (no, I didn’t actually say goodbye – but I did think about it). S ..read more

Do you need guidance and assistance with your marketing? We may be the right people to help. Here’s a little bit about how this mini-agency came about: How Did We Begin? Our founder, E.R.(“Eric”) Burgess, has been building and marketing software for ~30 years. He’s been in charge of launching multimillion selling video games for Disney and a building/marketing one of the industry’s best CRMs for financial services. He’s built the rubric for marketing metrics, data science-driven studies on personality, influencer, and content marketing, and has led the branding and rebranding of many com ..read more

Email me at: boardgamebabylon AT gmail or on BGG at Sheylon to confirm a purchase: NIS – New in shrink, LN – Like New, VG – Very Good, (G) $5 each or 3 for $13 * Al Cabohne (VG) * Bomb Squad Academy (NIS) * Brutal Kingdom (VG) * Flickago (G) * Kreus (VG) * Lord of the Fries – Steve Jackson Version (VG) * Monster My Partner (NIS) * Saboteur (VG) $10 each or two for $17 * Andromeda (2015) (LN) * Apollo: A Game Inspired by NASA Moon Missions (NIS) * Einfach Genial: The Card Game (NIS) * Goblins, Inc (VG) * Honshu (VG) * Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama (LN) * Libretto Star Wars – Import (LN) * Monste ..read more

3-D printed hypersleep chamber, where we all started by finding a deceased colleague. As much fun as this has been, I must wrap up. While I’ve loved going through happy memories of playing board games with friends after a year and a half away from conventions, both a collection of short stories and a non-fiction memoir of my tabletop gaming life are deep in development. I need to return to that work after this brief interlude talking in too much detail about games, even though I’ve really enjoyed it and hope you did, too. If you missed previous parts, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 ..read more

Hello again board game fans and thank you for joining me on my memory journey through the Gathering of Friends 2021. I know this has been going on for some time but I’m enjoying writing them so I hope you enjoying the reading. If you missed the previous parts, they’re here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Plus, it appears that I will have six parts to this odyssey because I’m trying to keep the posts short enough to read reasonably in the small amount of time we all have these days. In this part, I want to talk about a couple of prototypes alongside some published board games I got to play alo ..read more

If you’re here, presumably you’re enjoying my long-form GOF 2021 report. Don’t miss Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3. Now, back to the board games… Happenstance at the Gathering will get you into some good games with great people. As I was wandering over to the massive library that the fantastic Rodney Somerstein was kind enough to bring, I was stopped by Jason Schneider of Gamewright. I’ve known Jason via email for many years, especially when I was curating the Strategicon Library and sending me review copies would get them a podcast review and inclusion in our growing board game library. He’s a res ..read more

If you’re taking my GOF journey with me and missed Part 1 and Part 2, well, click those links earlier in this sentence to find them. Onward… I really hate Facebook and only my love of board games keeps me on this horrific privacy nightmare of a platform. Professionally, there’s also a reason why, but I also just loathe what they’ve done to electronic discourse over the years. The only reason I’m still on there is for groups, and there is a private GOF one. There is also a website and I wish it were more frequently used but this year, the FB group made it handy to set up games. One that I jumpe ..read more