I’m way more excited than I have any right to be but I now have a Kallax to hopefully store all the games!! Expect before and after pictures at some point once it’s built.

Congrats again @nealkfrank for your giveaway win! We're all looking forward to hearing how it goes :)

I finally reached 30 points on solo mode in PARKS. It took me 8 solo plays to finally reach that mark.

I finished with 6 parks visited [North Cascades National Park - 4, Grand Canyon National Park - 4, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park - 3, Zion National Park - 4, Channel Islands National Park - 2, Everglades National Park - 4], a personal bonus of two, 6 pictures taken and the first player token.

I am very happy with the game overall and pleased that this was the first Kickstarter project that I backed.

I wasn't sure how much longer I would have to go. What was crazy was my first two solo playthroughs of the game I scored 29 each time. I started off thinking I would get to 30+ pretty fast but alas the game showed me otherwise. I am pretty pleased with scoring 30 on my 8th attempt.

If you have played PARKS solo, have you reached 30+ yet? How many attempts did it take you? Did you feel that you should have reached 30 points quicker than you did?

Do you usually set up your games early? Which ones NEED to be set up in advance? 

• Hit interview #50+--I'm currently at somewhere around #22
• I'd like to get in a solid theme onto the website--a mascot, a shopkeeper for avatar library, forum bot, error page, etc where it will be like a world-building process playing off the idea of Atlas, exploration, maybe even a Kingdom Hearts-like idea of an explorer of different board game universes? As long as it doesn't come off as obnoxious/cliche'd
• Catch up to Board Game Prices level of traffic by mid 2020 (organic traffic is basically the ones where people find you on google). We own BGP, so it's all good, but I'd like to see BGA catch up. BGP's organic numbers are currently about 10x BGA's
• Special events--could be a charity/support program where BGA will donate games to communities, or when our revenue has gone way up, maybe it could even be us purchasing and giving away 100 copies of a game to support a particular designer. Ever since I started my interviews, I've been getting more and more of the desire to promote industry professionals. We could even try something like providing an all-expenses paid trip to have a designer come join me and Trent and spend some time to do a live interview, game playthrough, etc. It'd be nice if we could do something like that with a forum user too

What game(s) have you played, not expecting to enjoy it, but ended up really liking.

For me it the biggest surprise has been power grid. I thought it looked ugly, it does. I thought it looked dry and boring, it isn't. It is a really fun solid game at 4 players or more. I expected a 4 or 5 out of 10 but it is a solid 8. 5 or if 10.

This is something Kirk Dennison (of PieceKeeper Games) started on the Facebooks, and has continued low-key on the Everything Board Games Facebook group as well.

What we do is list the last 5 games you played, ranked in order of most favorite to least favorite. So these may not be your favorite games, but you still gotta rank them in regards to the other games on your list. Here are the last five games I played, ranked by how much I like them:

1. Outer Rim

2. Twice as Clever

3. Treasure Hunter

4. Medieval Academy

5. Incan Gold

What are the last five games you played, and how would you rank them against each other?

There are a lot of games on sale GreyFox Games, Bezier Games, GameWright games, Blue Orange:

Castles of Mad King Ludwig  $27.99

Santorini - Strategy-Based Board Game $11.99

Outfoxed! Game Board Game $11.49

Forbidden Island $9.99

Santorini - Golden Fleece Expansion Pack for Board Game $10.49

Codenames: Pictures  $8.99

Photosynthesis Strategy Board… $20.99 available from Walmart!

Forbidden Desert Board Game  $13.99

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong Board Ga…  $22.99

Planet Board Game  $21.99 2019 Mensa select winner!

Above and Below Game  $26.75

Champions of Midgard Board Game  $27.70 + many expansions on sale

Kingdomino - Blue Orange Games $11.99

Queendomino Strategy Board Game $15.25

Red Raven Games Empires of The Void II  $40.31

Cuzco Board Game  $39.68

ICECOOL Award-Winning Family Board Game - A…  $11.85

and a lot more in indigopotters article:)

Have you changed as a board gamer since you first entered the hobby? Are your tastes still the same or have you discovered new favorites? Have you learned anything about yourself over time?

Hey all, this list inspired me to start the discussion about the best deck-building games. I think it is a crime that Ascension is not on this list but besides that good ranking and rationale.

https://boardgamehalv.com/best-deck-building-games/

Thoughts?

I'm weird about inserts, as in, I want them. Cardboard trenches and baggies do nothing for me. I want to be able to set up a game and play as quick as possible. That said, what do you do for inserts?

I've made foam core ones before, and they're fine, but they just take so long.

On the other hand, buying them online feels like a waste of money because I could just make them myself?

What are y'all's go-tos, if any, for inserts?

With Thanksgiving and then the support drive, I completely forgot to post this!

As usual, if you have any questions you'd like to see answered in our next podcast episode, please leave a comment below (questions about BGA, about us, etc)

Edit: We addressed a few of the questions below in the most recent episode and will make sure to pickup the rest in the next recording. Thanks for the questions!

Wow! This semester has been so busy, visiting the forums and joining the great community conversations here has slipped my mind or gotten pushed off for months!  What have I missed? 

Also, with christmas coming up, I'm looking for a great 2 player board game. (It can support more than 2, but it's gotta work with 2. What's your favorite and why?

Its good to be back!

An earlier post got me thinking... I've noticed in a lot of board game reviews that many reviews have a definite style of game they like and that is is far and above other styles or mechanisms.  It's an interesting thought to me.  I try not to pigeon hole myself so much in gaming but I also have types of games I don't really care for.  I'll add my thoughts to the comments.  I'll be interested to see what ya'll like or don't like.