So Very Wrong About Games

In addition to using The Seven Years War quasi-exclusively to refer to that conflict, Canadians have a bevy of unique regionalisms to delight and confound our American neighbours. Our standards and measures are famously opaque, switching between imperial (a person's height and weight, distances less than ~100 meters) and metric (temperature always [except when baking], non-human weights usually, v...

"Oh, boardgaming's very popular, Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads — they all adore it. They think it’s a righteous hobby." -Grace from Ferris Bueller's Day off, correctly observing that the hobby is for everyone Games Played Last Week: 01:13 -Revenant (Allan Kirkeby, Mindclash Games, 2026) 06:33 -Torres (Michael Kiesling & Richard Kramer, Rio Gra...

We cover the gamut of historical figures this week, from shy spiders, Thor, the Italian Masters, Iggy Pop, Terry Bogard, and one underexamined and grossly underappreciated figure in the form of Vasily Arkhipov. He made your life possible, so you owe him at least a day. 01:07 AYURIS: D.E.I.: Divide et Impera (Tommaso Battista, Ludus Magnus Studio, 2022) Games Played Last Week: 04:01 -Patchistory (Y...

To paraphrase Sir Mix-a-Lot (O.B.E.), I like big bears and I cannot lie! Fat Bear Week is upon us. Let these corpulent kings of ursine excellence strut their stuff, and let us admire in awe at their tangible gains. These bears do not skip leg day. Some people have mukbang--we have out fat bears. Games Played Last Week: 01:05 -Panda Spin (Carl Chudyk, Moon Gate Design 2024) 05:04 -Brightcast (Nicho...

With Walker imminently about to move (to Kingston from Kingston) and Mark still storing his games from the previous move, the overwhelming preponderance of the SVWAG collection(s) is currently shackled by packing tape. So much good design and fun toys yearning to get out! Alas, physical instantiation is a curse, the material world is a prison, and entropy always wins. Find me one realtor sympathet...

The SVWAG Canon (https://www.sowronggames.com/svwag-canon) is an elite list of games that Walker and Mark both very much enjoy. Walker is nervous around recommendations, per se, and the imitations on an ideal game library or somesuch is subject to many practical constraints--so instead SVWAG has an unruly list of games that are greatly enjoyed by both the hosts. And it is time for that list to be...

It's hard to go wrong with cats. Even most people who don't like cats are wise enough to keep relatively quiet about it, lest they suffer the consequences. What consequences? Oh, I don't know, maybe the fury of needle-armed psychopaths who watch things die for fun! And that's just the cat owners. ZING I kid, I kid. We here at SVWAG have considerable enthusiasm for Official SVWAG cat, Chandler, aka...

[EDIT] In this episode, Mark falsely attributes the co-authorship of Ayar to Nestore Mangone, when in fact it was designed by Mandela Fernandez-Grandon and Fabio Lopiano. We regret the error. Have you heard of the Walker Quint? This patent-pending, uncopyrightable system is more than just a game organizational schema--it is a multipurpose framework that will REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR LIFE in every way! I...

The world is changing, what with everything being cozy and (some) crowdfunding projects fulfilling in weeks rather than years. This dizzying pace of evolution can be disorienting, which is why Notebook Nations seeks to comfort and console you by having throwbacks to the design decisions of years past. Games Played Last Week: 01:55 -Wonderland's War (Tim Eisner, Ben Eisner, and Ian Moss, Druid City...

We have recovered from SVWAG Con II: Electric Boogaloo, and to the best of our knowledge there was no "con crud" or equivalent contagion. We make no claims that the con possesses curative powers, though we haven't had anyone say that it *didn't* cure a chronic illness. 01:27 AYURIS: Andromeda's Edge (Luke Laurie and Maximus Laurie, Cardboard Alchemy, 2024) Games Played Last Week: 03:48 -Eternal De...

Just in time for SVWAGCon, Mark's car has fallen prey to Princeton's unforgiving roads and local practitioners of the mechanical arts. Which ones are trustworthy? Which are inept mountebanks? As far as mountebanks are concerned, would one prefer an inept one or a skilled one? These pressing questions will have to wait, as in the interim the barrier between Mark and his SVWAGCon obligations is ALL...

"If you're down and confused And you don't remember who you're talking to Concentration slips away Because your baby is so far away Well there's a rose in a fisted glove And the eagle flies with the dove And if you can't be with the one you love honey Love the one you're with" -Confucius (probably, maybe Socrates, I don't know) 02:13 AYURIS: Deep Rock Galactic (Ole Steiness, MOOD Publishing, 2022)...

I was three actions deep into my tenth turn of Recall when I achieved total mastery. I was beyond the Schwarzenegger and the Farrell, deep with Koato and triple-mammaried subversives. A newb at the table interrupted my reverie with a question concerning ambiguous inconography. "That card?" I said, feeling like cutting a deal. "I can remember it for you wholesale." They called me a dick. Games Play...

It is Inadvertent Surprise Railway Week (ISRW, pronounced "is raw") here at SVWAG, and we take a look at some train games without directly addressing the raging controversy of what, exactly, constitutes a train game. 02:25 AYURIS: Wilmot's Warehouse (Ricky Haggett, Richard Hogg, and David King, CMYK, 2024) Games Played Last Week: 07:06 -Railway Boom (Hisashi Hayashi & Simone Luciani, Arclight Game...

Acronyms and initialisms are a tricky thing. In SVWAG circles, one must be careful to use proper punctuation, lest GOA imply 2022's Game of the Year (GotY, not Gotye) Guards of Atlantis. Mark remains enraged that the SC2 acronym was robbed from Greatest of All Time (GOAT, not goat, obviously) Star Control 2 by the usurper StarCraft 2. Games Played Last Week: 01:07 -The Old King's Crown (Pablo Clar...

SVWAG CON II Electric Boogaloo https://www.eventbrite.com/e/svwag-con-ii-electric-boogaloo-tickets-1986634285627 www.sowronggames.com www.twitch.tv/soverywrongaboutgames www.youtube.com/c/SoVeryWrongAboutGames https://twitter.com/sowronggames www.facebook.com/sowronggames www.patreon.com/svwag/ We are now a transnational podcast, bearing the official approval of both United States Customs and Immi...

Rest assured, Mark was subjected to the appropriate onboarding procedures and workplace safety trainings incumbent with his new (old?) role. The HR gibbons are ever-vigilant, and wouldn't dream of letting him skip the mandatory 56 week course. Well, that's the longest one, anyway--the ape sensitivity course is a mere 45 weeks long, despite the gibbons' insistence that it ought to be the most exhau...

SVWAG CON II Electric Boogaloo https://www.eventbrite.com/e/svwag-con-ii-electric-boogaloo-tickets-1986634285627 www.sowronggames.com www.twitch.tv/soverywrongaboutgames www.youtube.com/c/SoVeryWrongAboutGames https://twitter.com/sowronggames www.facebook.com/sowronggames www.patreon.com/svwag/ 00:00 INTRO 01:39 Salton Sea (David Bernal Devir 2024) 09:25 Stellar Ventures (Pontus Nilsson TableTapas...

https://www.youtube.com/@BoardGamingRamblings SVWAG CON II Electric Boogaloo https://www.eventbrite.com/e/svwag-con-ii-electric-boogaloo-tickets-1986634285627 www.sowronggames.com www.twitch.tv/soverywrongaboutgames www.youtube.com/c/SoVeryWrongAboutGames https://twitter.com/sowronggames www.facebook.com/sowronggames www.patreon.com/svwag/ 00:00 INTRO 00:50 Secret Societies (S J Macdonald Garphill...

https://www.youtube.com/@everydayboardgames https://www.eventbrite.com/e/svwag-con-ii-electric-boogaloo-tickets-1986634285627 www.sowronggames.com www.twitch.tv/soverywrongaboutgames www.youtube.com/c/SoVeryWrongAboutGames https://twitter.com/sowronggames www.facebook.com/sowronggames www.patreon.com/svwag/ 00:00 INTRO 01:12 Formidable Farm (Friedemann Friese 2F-Spiele 2025) 04:43 Trickster Gods (...

One Stop Co-op Shop www.youtube.com/c/OneStopCoopShop SVWAG CON II Electric Boogaloo https://www.eventbrite.com/e/svwag-con-ii-electric-boogaloo-tickets-1986634285627 www.sowronggames.com www.twitch.tv/soverywrongaboutgames www.youtube.com/c/SoVeryWrongAboutGames https://twitter.com/sowronggames www.facebook.com/sowronggames www.patreon.com/svwag/ 00:00 INTRO 01:30 Nippon: Zaibatsu (Nuno Bizarro S...

Get your SVWAG CON tickets HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/svwag-con-ii-electric-boogaloo-tickets-1986634285627 This weeks guest Tim Dolloff from Board Game Hottakes https://boardgamehottakes.com/ 00:00 INTRO 00:47 Euphoria Essential Edition (Morten Monrad Pedersen, Jamey Stegmaier, David J. Studley Stonemaier Games 2026) 05:56 The Waste of Parts (Evan Duda Sky Kingdom Games 2026) 10:57 Aquaria...

This weeks guest: Jake Frydman https://www.decisionspacepodcast.com/ Blueberry jam not jelly........ don't be gross 00:00 INTRO 01:33 Cysmic (Jason Blake Star Reach Games 2026) 04:43 Bomb Busters (Hisashi Hayashi Pegasus Spiele 2024) 07:03 Crits & Tricks (Pete Wissinger Inside Up Games 2026) 10:47 Baghdad: The City of Peace (Fabio Lopiano, Nestore Mangone Alley Cat Games 2025) 15:25 Taj Mahal (Rei...

This weeks guest: 5 Games 4 Doomsday Ben Maddox https://5g4d.com/ 00:00 INTRO 02:06 Moon Colony Bloodbath (Donald X. Vaccarino, Rio Grande Games 2025) 06:01 Ghost Blitz Junior (Jacques Zeimet Zoch Verlag 2018) 06:56 Paku Paku (Antoine Bauza Ravensburger 2017) 11:07 Imperial Elegy: The Road to the Great War 1850-1920 (Michael Lorino VUCA Simulations 2025) 17:12 Cysmic (Jason Blake Star Reach Games...

This weeks Guest Charlie Theel https://playerelimination.com/ Something smells tricky 00:00 INTRO 01:01 Dark Pact (Thomas Lehmann Trick or Treat Studios 2026) 05:21 Excalibur (Manny Trembley Roxley 2026) 08:48 Don't Mess with Cthulhu (Yusuke Sato New Board Game Party 2014) 10:59 Galaxy Trucker (Vlaada Chvátil Czech Games Edition 2007) 15:25 Railroad Tiles (Hjalmar Hach, Lorenzo Silva Horrible Guil...