This is exactly true for me, as well. I mentioned it in the Topic of the Week: 1990-2005 thread because Tabletop was directly responsible for introducing me to the modern boardgaming hobby across two different prongs of attack, even.
What wasn’t mentioned was that later that summer I would binge-watch all of the available Tabletop episodes and actually subscribe to the channel (back when I didn’t subscribe to any YouTube channels, because it made it feel like work).
Only when the drizzle of Tabletop content dried up did I seek out other boardgaming media – and that’s how I ended up following SUSD by way of their “webisodes” format on Vimeo. Of course, by then, I think they had already transitioned out of that format, but I binge-watched those to catch up.
Eventually TableTop put a paywall in front of some of its content? Or something? I don’t remember specifics, but I do sort of remember wanting to keep up with the content but not being able to.
Own now
- Small World – it’s fun. I lose
- Settlers of Catan – recently mentioned: I keep it as a conversation starter with people just outside of the hobby boardgame sphere
- Ticket to Ride – we have the 10th Anniversary edition and most of the series
- Dixit – haven’t played it in a long while; but this is the first game shown to me that gave me an a-ha! momment
- Wits and Wagers – it’s okay with the right group
- Pandemic – never going to be my favorite; I’ve played it a few times with a few different groups and we always lose because we’re not willing to live on the edge when it comes to outbreaks
- Star Fluxx – one of the better Fluxxs
- Alhambra – I quite like this one; I should return to it soon. I love the exact change mechanism and the different currencies
- Formula D – the classic beer & pretzel game; who’s winning? Doesn’t matter; roll your die!
- Once Upon a Time – a very flimsy game design; can be fun with the right group, but not fun with people who just want to win
- King of Tokyo – on my outgoing trade pile
- Lords of Waterdeep – a classic and still worth visiting (which I haven’t in a while)
- Betrayal at House on the Hill – flimsy and dated, but pretty thematic if you want to have a spooky chaotic game night
- Takenoko – a fun game that will probably be played a lot soon with my kids as they get a bit older
- Carcassone – it’s fine. We can play a game and have a nice chat. How’s it been going? Yeah, what are the kids up to? Did you watch the latest episode of… what, no, that’s my field.
- Ticket to Ride Europe – see Ticket to Ride above… we now have the 15th Anniversary of this, too, and it’s categorically more interesting to play than TtR’
- Forbidden Desert – one of the first games I actually bought. It’s fine.
- Stone Age – I remember really liking this one but struggling to get others to play it. Probably because of undue amount of yellow and beige in the box art?
- Sheriff of Nottingham – Sheriff has been a bit of a marmite/licorice game in my experience. I think it’s great but there are some degenerate types of group-think that can spoil the game
- Cards Against Humanity – I should probably just throw this away. I’m never going to play it again. An artifact of an earlier time
- Libertalia – I have the new Winds of Galecrest edition with all the seedy pirate theme painted over in pastel anthropomorphic sky pirates
- Love Letter – I have brought this out exactly once and it was not a hit. It’s fine in theory, I guess. Too light in execution
- Coup – It’s surprisingly low-stakes for a “hidden role” game, which makes it worth keeping.
- Sushi Go – one of my favorites. It’s rare to find games that are so elegant; two-ish mechanisms married perfectly.
- Lanterns – I’ve played this one with my partner, but it’s been probably 7 years at this point and I don’t remember much about it
- Champions of Midgard – I remember really enjoying this one. I’ve been meaning to check out the solo modes available on BGG to see if it holds up after not playing it for several years
- Star Realms – Nice, tight game designed by a MtG champion, and it shows.
- Mysterium – perhaps my partner’s favorite game; it’s fun but we play by some seriously modified houserules to make it fully co-op.
- Flash Point – One of the better (if not the best?) “crisis management” games, as I call them. The dog token is removed from the pool and placed on the fire truck. The cat token is removed from the pool and placed in the box top (a well documented best practice for cat naps)
- Codenames – this one hit hard when it was released, just like everywhere else in the hobby. At this point, I might be codenamesed-out, but I would probably still join or even run a game for a group of non-gamers and/or on-the-cusp-gamers.
Own but unplayed
- Say Anything
- Elder Sign
- The Resistance
- Hare and Tortoise
- Lords of Vegas
- Tokaido
- Legendary
- Harbour
- Star Trek Five Year Mission
- Welcome to the Dungeon
- Eldritch Horror
Have played but not owned
- Munchkin – blech
- Forbidden Island – I bought Desert instead. Island may actually be better though?
- Smash Up – thought I would love it. Hated it instead. Too much luck-of-the-draw and not enough tactical horizons
- Tsuro of the Seas – I’ve been looking to pick up a copy of this or the original for a while; bought Indigo because of the similar vibe.
Have never played
- Zombie Dice
- Get Bit
- Tsuro
- Castle Panic
- Gloom
- Last Night on Earth
- Chez Geek
- Star Trek Catan
- Star Wars X-Wing
- Shadows Over Camelot
- Unspeakable Words
- Qwirkle
- 12 Days
- Fortune and Glory
- Catan Junior
- Council of Verona
- Geek Out
- Dead of Winter
- Epic Spell Wars
- Five Tribes
- Concept
- Kingdom Builder
- Roll For It
- Mice & Mystics
- Monarch
- Tiny Epic Galaxies
- Fury of Dracula
- Dragon Farkle
- Steam Park
RPGs
- Fiasco – I’ve eyed this one for a long time. But the episode made me realize that the person who cares the most about the story will “lose”. A fitting fatal flaw.
- Dragon Age – tried to watch the first episode. Something about it felt uncomfortable, so I skipped the rest
- Dread – skipped watching this one
- Fate Core – did this one come out when they were putting some content behind a paywall or whatever? I can’t recall why I never watched this (or maybe I did, and I just can’t remember!?)
- Misspent Youth – definitely wasn’t aware of these episodes