Board Game Podcasts that we enjoy

In the world where MP3 players abound, we can carry around with us all the music we want. So at the touch of a button we can be listening to whatever we want whenever the mood strikes us – or to help get us in the mood we’d like. Want an energy boost? Crank up the up-beat tunes.

But we’re not limited to just music on our handy little devices. We can carry around with us any audio recording out there. So it’s not surprising to find a tremendous amount of content for us to listen to. And podcasts can be one of those great options. Whatever you may have an interest in, I’m sure you can find a podcast out there about it.

So it shouldn’t be any surprise to those reading this that there are a ton of podcasts about board games, card games, table-top games, euro-games, dice games, role playing games, and so much more. And sure enough, like any good hobby or pastime, we’ve been pulled into the world of board game podcasts. No, we’re not starting a podcast (our board game video reviews are enough), but rather pulled into listening to many of them.

And we’ve also stopped listening to a number of them. Why? Well, because some are just not worth the time. With so many options and limited time, we really need to be discerning listeners. So we’ve crossed off the list a number of board game podcasts that are simply too long and too boring or dull. We don’t want to spend an hour listening to a group of gamers just talking on and on. Sure it’s fun to talk with your friends about the games you’ve played and your inside jokes – but that can be pretty boring to anyone not in your group.

So which board game podcasts do we like best and which would we recommend you take a listen to?

• Myriad Games Presentations
• Game On! With Cody and John
• The Spiel
• Family Night
• The Dice Tower
• Boardgame Babylon

Our favorite of the bunch is Myriad Games: Session Impressions. I know it may sound like this goes against my comment earlier about not liking to listen to others just droll on about their game group, but this one isn’t like that at all. The Myriad Games group has a great time and it translates very well to the listener. Not only that, but they’re very descriptive about all elements of the game their reviewing and their feelings about it come through loud and clear. Great energy boost and they aren’t too long.

The next two on our list both come in a close second. Game On! With Cody and John and The Spiel both have great hosts and their energy is infectious. They’re also very thorough in their descriptions and cover a wide range of topics and games. While the episodes of The Spiel push our boundaries on length, they create them in such a way that you can jump to different segments with ease. So it’s easy to skip around and/or come back to later. And they just added a segment called The Kids Table – to focus on kids games. That’s pretty cool.

And since we’re all about family fun, we really like the insightful discussions they have on the Family Night podcast. These podcasts are easily digestible with a shorter length and are perfect for my commute. Some of the recent topics they’ve covered about family gaming are: Stealth Education, Pressing Your Luck, and Reading People. But some of the older podcasts also covered Teamwork, Geography, Pretending, and Decision Making.

The other two that round out our list are The Dice Tower and Boardgame Babylon. Like The Spiel, The Dice Tower is a compilation of segments that cover a range of topics. It’s also interesting to listen to because they incorporate a number of different individuals from around the world in their podcast. And one of the things we like about Boardgame Babylon are the guests they have on the show in their Q&A podcasts.

There are a couple others that just missed making our top list, but that we do listen to on occasion. So we’ll put them on an honorable mention list: Boardgames To Go and On Board Games.

Of course, this list is just scratching the surface of what’s out there in the world of board game podcasts. These seem to fit our style and interest, but they may not be your cup of tea. So we’d recommend you go explore and see which personalities you might connect with best. In the end it’s all about fun.

So go have fun!