Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast

Tonight is a follow-up to last week's episode where we talked about the best games to come from Kickstarter. After discussing the evolution of Kickstarter, we’re going to be reviewing the Robots expansion for MonsDRAWsity from Friendly Skeleton Games and The Artemis Project from our sponsor Grand Gamers Guild. We wrap up with a week in review that includes some birthday gaming and me getting three...

In this episode, we share what we think are some of the best board games to come through Kickstarter. We follow up with a review of The Groundhog Gambit, just in time for the holiday, and then return to Kickstarter with a review of Block and Key. Then we wrap up with a short week in review where Moe shares the games he got for his birthday and some thoughts on both Crokinole and The Ghost in the M...

With Valentine's day 2024 right around the corner, we return to one of our most popular topics: two-player games for date nights. In fitting with this theme, we review The Cupid Crisis and Distilled, a game my wife and I first played on a date night. We wrap up talking about the games we’ve been playing lately including our first thoughts on Disney Lorcana, The A.R.T. Project, and more. This is an...

This is a lighter (but not shorter) episode with us talking about the Holidays, looking back at the games we played in 2023, and sharing a few 2024 plans. If this happens to be your first time listening, just be aware this isn’t our usual format. After the year-end chat, we do have two reviews for you. Bah! Humbug and the 12 Games of Christmas followed by Catch the Moon. We talk about the games we...

'Tis the season and we are sticking with the holiday theme tonight with a question about holiday game nights with family. We share tips for gaming with family and each share our top five games to play with our family this time of year. We follow that with a review of a Christmas-themed escape room game, The Kringle Caper from Grand Gamers Guild and wrap up with our usual week in review where I’ve...

Happy Holidays. Since not everyone has the privilege of being able to gather together during the holidays, tonight we’re going to be sharing some great games you can play together online. After that, we’ve got a review of one such game, MonsDRAWsity followed by a review of the Sea Monster Edition of Seas of Havoc. We wrap up with a talk about the games we’ve been playing including more fun with Ba...

In this episode, we each share the top ten items from our 2023 Holiday Wishlists. Some practical and others, not so much. After that, we’ve got a review of Star Realms Frontiers from Wise Wizard Games. We discovered this newer entry point to one of our favourite deck-builders and Origins earlier this year. This is an edited version of our live show first recorded on 09/11/2023. Join us live on htt...

Welcome to the second part of our discussion on miniatures in board games. Last week we talked about the pros and cons of miniatures, this week we’re going to be sharing some of our favourite fantasy games with lots of miniatures. After that, we’ve got two unrelated reviews: Tome: The Light Edition and its expansion, another trick-taking game, and then Astra a game about stargazing. We wrap up wit...

Tonight we share our thoughts on miniatures in board games and whether we personally prefer meeples or minis. After that, we’ve got three featured reviews, The Turkey Trial, Aurum, and Reality Shift Deluxe. Then Moe’s got four new-to-him game plays to talk about in the Bellhop’s Tabletop. Hear first impressions on Astra, The Artemis Project, Starship Captains, Bah! Humbug, The 12 Games of Christma...

It is late October so we thought it would be a good time to revisit the topic of great games for the spooky season. We follow that up with two unrelated reviews, The Castle Panic Big Box Second Edition from Fireside Games and the new Cryptex from Escape Welt. We wrap up talking about a bunch of card games we played at a local gaming event. This is an edited version of our live show first recorded...

This episode Deanna joins to help us go through the pile of feedback we got from the survey we included as part of our 5th Birthday Celebration. After that we’ve got a couple of reviews: The Pumpkin Problem a Holiday Hijinks game and The Deadlies. We wrap up talking about games all three of us played together the past weekend. This is an edited version of our live show first recorded on 05/10/2023...

In this episode, we recommend some games we think would be great for older teens, both games we think teens would enjoy and games for parents to play with their teens. We follow that with reviews of boop. and Tapple. We finish with a look at the games we’ve played recently, including our first thoughts on Seas of Havoc. This is an edited version of our live show first recorded on September 13th, 2...

Where we’ve been, and potential future disruptions to the show. Once we get everyone up to speed we move on to two puzzle reviews, a murder mystery from Mysterious Package Company, and a look at a new sci-fi-themed Quezzle from Unidragon. We wrap up with some vacation gaming talk. Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 218, September 13th, 2023. Join us on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST at https://www.tw...

This week’s episode is a live Q&A. Topics include games that give a Momento-like experience, meat, RPG settings we want to see made into video games, higher player count games, keeping players with different likes happy, and more! We also had a ton of games to talk about during the week in review including first thoughts on Distilled, more Kapow!, the Crowns and Quests expansion for Castle Pan...

Tonight we’ve got someone looking for great games to bring out for a night at the pub. That’s followed by reviews of two games that are great for playing at a bar, Shobu and Psychobabble. We wrap up with our usual week in review, including the Engine of War expansions for Castle Panic, first thoughts on Kapow!, and more. Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 216, August 16th, 2023. Join us Wedne...

This episode we discuss quality of life board game improvements we’ve found and those that we would love to see more of in the games we play. That’s followed by reviews of the At the Ready Expansion for Disney Sorcerer’s Arena, Birds of a Feather, and the Siege of Valeria Campaign Expansion. Then we finish up with a pretty busy week in review.  Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 215, August 9...

This is a special episode celebrating our 5th birthday as a podcast. We start off with a couple of quick reviews, including a preview of the latest puzzle box from EscapeWelt and then a review of a birthday-themed escape-room-in-a-box. We then reminisce about the past year, talk about some future plans, and then wrap up by answering questions from our fans.  Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode...

In this episode, we talk about art in board games and how it can be taken too far. We then have a preview of the latest rendition of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. That is followed by two reviews, Illiterati, a co-op word game, and The Independence Incident, a small escape room in a box style game. We then wrap up with a rather busy week in review.  Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 213, Ju...

We try to help someone decide what cooperative game to buy next, including a list of our favourite cooperative board games. We then have three reviews: Trickdraw, a fast flipping card game, Outsmarted!, a modern take on trivia board games, and The Orbital Box x2, a puzzle box you have to build yourself. This is followed by our usual week in review with my first Holiday Hijinx experience, our first...

Welcome to our Origins 2023 recap where we spend the majority of the episode talking about our experience at the Origins Game Fair held last week in Columbus Ohio. Along with that we do talk a bit about some games we played before our trip to Ohio as well as some first thoughts on some of the games we’ve already played since getting back.  Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 211, June 28th 202...

We’re taking it easy this episode, answering some shorter questions from our questions pile, as well as answering questions in real time from The Lobby, our chatroom on Twitch. Interestingly all of these questions end up evolving into a longer discussion on the relation between video games and board games. After that, we review Siege of Valeria, the last of the new small box Valeria games.  Tablet...

In this episode, we discuss board game pacing, what affects it, and what you can do to keep a game moving. We also review the Leading the Charge expansion for Disney Sorcerer’s Arena Epic Alliances and Dr Lovenstein Presents: No Context, a new party game due to be released on May 31st! Then we wrap up with the Bellhop’s Tabletop which includes first thoughts on some new to us games.  Tabletop Bell...

Ask the Bellhop: “How can I protect my board games?” Reviews: Thrills & Chills expansion for Disney Sorcerer’s Arena and Castellans of Valeria Preview. We also talk about Kitara, Aqualin, Kings in the Corner, Skip Bo, Destination Retro and The New GME in Chatham, and more.  Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 208, May 18th 2023. Join us Wednesdays at 8 PM EST at https://www.twitch.tv/table...

In this episode we talk about games that look like they are made for kids but then when you sit down to play them you find out they are not. We’ve got two reviews to go with that, My Little Pony Adventures in Equestria Deck Building Game from Renegade Game Studios and the Turning the Tide expansion for Disney Sorcerer’s Arena Epic Alliances. Then we wrap up with some Injustice from Sean.  Tabletop...

This episode we talk about all of the games we played and the other things we did this past weekend as part of SeanCon Spring 2023. That will be followed by a review of the most epic and long game that we played during SeanCon, Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game. Then we wrap up with a couple of non-SeanCon games in our week in review.  Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 206, April 26th 2023....