Boardgames To Go 255 - Cult of the New...for an Old Guy

Opener: Another online Games Day for podcast listeners



Closer: Games BGG-weighted over 4 are never for me! (Never say never...)

The folks on Discord gave me several good ideas for an episode. So good, in fact, that I decided to save them for a time when I could to more prep, have a co-host, or both. That meant I needed something else to feature this time. Since I often talk about the old games I play (10+ or even 25+ years old), this time I decided to change it up and highlight several new games I'd played. Because really--I'm always playing new games, usually ones that friends bring over or I find online. Once in a while they're even my own new acquisitions. It's just that so many of the newest, hottest games are in a complicated, overlong euro style that doesn't match my preferred kind of boardgame. "So many"...but not all.

Here are the games & their publication dates that I set out to discuss in the episode. You'll see they're all from 2025-26, though I do include a couple notable ones from 2024. Still new, though, yeah?

7 Wonders Dice (2025)

Hutan Life in the Rainforest (2025)
Biathlon Blast (2025)
Formidable Farm (2025)
Oranges & Lemons (*2024)
Orbit (2025)
Star Wars Battle of Hoth (2025)
Wingspan Americas expansion (2026) - Hummingbirds
RA & Write (2025)
1975 White Christmas (2025)
Tenby (2025)

Piñatas (2025)
3 Witches (2025)
Tango (*2024)

One Round (2025)

Well, after the episode, longtime listener & collaborator Greg Pettit took me to task for a bunch of "new" games that still maintained a connection to the past! Though he generously credits me with this as an intentional bit of creative control, it wasn't! It merely highlights my tendencies.

The title of this episode is very apt. The part after the ellipsis is essential!

I kept thinking, "That's a reprint. That's an expansion. That's just a new setting for C&C. That's another reprint. Where's all the 'New'?" Even some of the new were from old designers.

Then I remembered "...for an Old Guy."

Ahhhh. I get it now.

Touché, Monsieur Pettit. 🤺

-Mark