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This post is the second part of a two-part mini-series looking at how to choose your next board game. In the first article, I looked at different factors to consider that could make a game a better or worse choice for you and your game group. In this article, I'll turn to some resources that you can use to discover new titles and source some of the information that I wrote about previously.
In our connected, digital age, there is a wealth of information out there about our hobby. So much, in fact, that it's not always easy to work out what you should be paying attention to in order to find games you like and the details that you want to know. My aim with this post is to make the information about the hobby a little less obscure and point you in the direction of some of the best resources out there.
Board Game Geek (BGG)
BGG is the logical place to start. This tabletop gaming hub not only allows gamers to connect with one another through forums, but also gives extensive details on nearly every tabletop game in existence. I use it all the time when I'm researching games to buy and reminding myself of details for the reviews that I write.
If you're looking for a specific game, find it by using the site's internal search bar or by googling something like "Terra Mystica BGG." You'll then arrive at the game's profile page, which I'll keep using as an example. The the first things you'll see are some key stats and information:
- Average Rating - An average score out of 10 based on every user rating for that game. Terra Mystica is rated 8.2/10, which means it's very well received by the community.
- Rankings - These numbers show what position the game is in for the overall leaderboard and its category leaderboard. Terra Mystica is eighth overall and in the strategy category, which makes sense given it's exceptional rating.
- Player count (including the community's recommended number), age rating and play time. These stats normally come from the game's publisher.
- Designer(s), artist(s) and publisher(s).
Each game's page will also feature images that will give you a good sense of the game's appearance and components, as well as a description, the categories the game falls into (including broad thematic classifications and a list of mechanisms), a list of any awards, links to the official website and some community stats (like how many people on BGG own the game). If you want a quick overview of a game, there's nowhere better to go than BoardGameGeek.
The site can also be helpful for finding new games. You can filter the entire library by mechanisms and categories, then sort them by ranking to find the best games of any given type. The hotness list on the left-hand side of the homepage also gives an indication of the games that are being viewed most at that time, which can help you keep an eye on new releases or Kickstarters. If you haven't used BGG before, the best thing to do is visit the site and explore. You'll find all sorts there.
YouTube
There are hundreds of YouTube channels that give you all kinds of insights into the world of gaming. Rather than attempt an overview of the entire scene, I think it's more useful to point you in the direction of three channels that I've personally found to be the most helpful for finding new games.
The Dice Tower is the giant of board game media. The channel features a diverse team of board game reviewers and pumps out multiple videos a day. If you're looking for an overview of a particular game, the chances are that there is a Dice Tower review.
You can also find Top 10 lists, which are one of the best ways to find out about good games that you might not have heard of, and regular shows like Board Game Breakfast and Dice Tower Tonight that also shine the spotlight on a broad range of games. It's rare that the videos go super in-depth, but they'll increase your game knowledge and give you some ideas that you can research in more detail elsewhere.
The brainchild of the wonderful Rodney Smith, Watch It Played is the best channel I've found if you want to learn a game or see it played. Rodney is a masterful teacher and explains rules really well. If I'm looking for videos to show me a game, I actually prefer Rodney's teaching videos to standard reviews. It's also got me out of trouble a couple of times when I've got the rules of a game wrong after reading the rule book.
If you're someone who likes to get a feel for the games you're considering buying, this is one of the best channels. You'll get a good idea of the game's complexity, look and feel from a single 15-30 minute video. If you know yourself and your game group well, these videos will often be enough to help you make a decision. However, if you're just looking for inspiration, you might be better off heading over to the Dice Tower first, then coming back to Rodney's channel when you have some titles in mind.
Rahdo's videos are perfect if you want a quick run through of a game. He'll give you a brief rules overview and show you a couple of turns, along with longer gameplay videos if you want more content. He also gives short reviews of the games that he features, though I find that just watching the game play is often more helpful, as you might not have the same tastes that he does.
These videos are halfway between the regular Dice Tower reviews and the Watch It Played videos in terms of their depth. You'll see a good amount of the game, but you won't necessarily get every rule explained to you in the way you do for Watch It Played. If you're still in the 'research phase' of buying your next game, these videos are a good way to filter through your early options.
Podcasts
Podcasts are my favourite way to learn about the board game industry. Everyone with a smartphone can access them and they're perfect to listen to on commutes or while you're doing jobs that don't require a lot of thought.
As with YouTube channels, there are more podcasts out there than I could hope to cover here, so I'll just talk about the three that I think are best for deciding which games to buy.
Sponsored by the kind folks here at Zatu Games, Bush's Board Game Thing is a new podcast that's dedicated to all things gaming. It's all about the magic of coming together with a few mates and sitting down to play a board game together, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Presented by Absolute Radio's Andy Bush, new episodes are released every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts.
Click here to listen on Spotify. Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts.
Along with their YouTube channel, The Dice Tower runs a fantastic podcast. Each week a pair of hosts (usually alternating between Tom/Eric and Mandi/Suzanne) discuss games they've played recently and topics relating to games. Tom and Eric's show also features a top 10 list with a different category every fortnight. Between the four hosts they cover an enormous amount of games and also have very varied tastes, so it's perfect to listen to if you want to broaden your knowledge.
This weekly podcast is hosted by three friends living in the Chicago area of the US: Chris, Kitty and Josh. They describe the show as a topical podcast, which means they don't focus on specific games to review, but instead go in-depth each week on a different topic. Recent topics include components, 'table talk,' gateway games and miniatures games.
Although they don't focus on specific games each episode, many games are naturally mentioned over the course of their conversation. Chris is particularly knowledgeable thanks to his enormous collection. They also have weekly dedicated Kickstarter episodes that cover new releases on Kickstarter, which is a great way to keep up to date if you're into that side of the industry. All in all, this is probably my favourite podcast to listen to.
Another podcast with a YouTube channel, Shut Up & Sit Down is a British show hosted by three friends, Matt, Quintin and Paul. The podcast format is basically reviews of different games, but they focus on four or five different titles in each hour-ish long episode.
If you're looking for review podcasts, this one is one of the best that I've found. You'll hear about a lot of games and get a good idea of how to play them and how good they are. They're good at covering a variety of different types of games, though I would say that they lean towards the heavier side. If that's your thing, you'll find a lot to enjoy here.
Other Reviews and Lists
Compared to the amount of visual and audible media out there, there's much less in the way of written content. This can make things tricky if you're not in a situation where you can stick headphones in or pay attention to a screen. However, there are some good written resources out there.
In fact, you're reading one now. Forgive me the self-promotion, but there are new reviews published every day on Zatu, and a quick Google search like 'Terra Mystica review Zatu' will get you to the right page. You can also browse through our blog pages or social media feed to find a wide variety of different reviews and other written content.
Top 10 lists and similar resources are also hard to find, but again, a site like Zatu can help. We regularly update our UK Top 20 and Editor's Choice lists so that you can see our opinion of the best games right now. If you're looking for ideas, those are great places to start.
In addition to everything that I've mentioned so far, there are plenty more ways to get involved in the board game community, find information and decide what to buy next. Many of the channels and personalities I've mentioned in this article have a presence on Twitter and the r/boardgames subreddit is an active and welcoming social media community. Any of these places, plus everything I've mentioned in the article, are great resources to get you more involved in the hobby. Why not give them a try?