Introducing The Sounds of Board Gaming (TSOBG) Vol. 1

I'm thrilled to finally be rolling with one of my most 'Kickin' It Creative' ideas (to date) – a video/podcast series dedicated to matching songs on a particular album to board games and board gaming experiences. My amazing friend Jay Bernardo (Cardboard East/Bezier Games) joins me on Volume 1 to talk about board games and Daft Punk's hit album Discovery. I already have two more guests queued up for recording more episodes of TSOBG. I hope you'll join me on this new ride and spread the word. I'm really happy with the direction and how our debut episode turned out. You can watch it on YouTube and/or enjoy the audio-only version on podcast platforms. Of course, no worries at all if it's not your thing. I'll still be dropping my "normal" podcast episodes.

Tea & Rum: SPIEL Essen '26 Release

I’ve been fortunate to be connected with wonderful gamers around the world. After attending a gathering Bruno Faidutti hosts in France, we stayed with our friends from Captain Games in Belgium, and I recorded a game overview video with Gwen for Tea & Rum – an awesome, medium-weight, pirate-themed worker placement game that released at SPIEL Essen '26. In the video, Gwen joins me to highlight how it works, and to discuss some of the unique twists it brings to the worker placement genre.

Sekigahara: Historical Highlights & Fun Factors

I love that I get to work on videos for cool companies like GMT Games for my freelance "day job". In this Historical Highlights & Fun Factors video I produced, Matt Calkins shares fascinating insight on why he created Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan – one of the best, and most elegant block wargames. Also, my friend Drew Conley composed original music specifically for this game/video and it's incredible. It really elevates the production. Plus, you'll hear from Jay Bernardo (mentioned above), and David Thompson (designer of War Chest, Undaunted, etc.) on why they love Sekigahara.

FYI - I have an affiliate/coupon code KICKINIT (25% off) with GMT if you're interested in picking up a copy of Sekigahara or any of their other games (not on P500).

The Witches of Willowspur

I tend to gravitate towards unique themes and odd games, which makes me curious to play and explore all games from Devious Weasel Games. In the past, we’ve seen a game (Cosmic Frog) where you play as two-mile tall frogs fighting over terrain which you swallow and then regurgitate into your vault, which is its own mini game of sorts. We’ve seen a 2-player head-to-head game (The Mirroring of Mary King) where one player plays as a mortal woman and the other as the women’s ancestor ghost, fighting to control her body. ...and once again, something different...a co-operative board game where you play as rebellious teenage witches trying to cancel your mothers' curse, which would turn the kid down the street into a frog permanently – The Witches of Willowspur. Check out this video to see what it's all about and my initial impressions.

Lurid Cove

...and for another unique theme, check out this game overview video for Lurid Cove, which was recently funded on Kickstarter. In Lurid Cove, each player takes on the role of a married couple living in the suburbs in the 1960s. It's an adult-themed, medium-weight worker placement game that'll have everyone at the table cracking up.

Sidereal Confluence

One of the perks of moving to San Diego is that it brought us closer to a new friend (Frank!) who LOVES Sidereal Confluence, so we've managed to get it to the table twice recently. If you're not familiar with Sidereal, it's a one-of-a-kind trading and negotiation game for 4-9 players. Each player plays as one of the nine unique and asymmetrical alien races that have come together to form a trade federation in their quadrant. A lot of the game is played simultaneously and it's awesome. Many people play it at higher player counts, but somehow I've only played it with 4 or 5 players. Essentially, each player has a bunch of cards that have resource convertors and you have to trade with other players to get the materials you need to run them and create more resources to build an engine that eventually generates victory points. There are a bunch of different resources and the factions were designed such that you have to wheel-and-deal with other players to be successful. Meanwhile, you have ships you'll use to bid on planets and research teams, which are key to developing technologies. You get victory points for being first to develop technologies, and then you share them with other players. Everything about this game feels satisfying and unlike any other board game. I feel like I'm terrible at it, but I keep wanting to play it more and more after each game. Thanks to Frank's amazing, delightful teach and his passion for running games so efficiently (at all player counts), Sidereal will definitely continue hitting my table regularly.

​BGG Link​