How Do I Choose the Games I Feature (Live)– Board Games & Coffee, Ep 2.3

0:02 Hi and welcome to Board Games and Coffee. Now, if I was watching my channel instead of making it, I would have some questions. Uh, this year in advance of Essenfield, I hyped 20 games through YouTube shorts. uh three heavy games that I'm most excited about. Three medium light games I'm most excited about. Cooperative games be three best games from AEG. Uh the question that I think I would want to know is why those games? There are a lot of exciting games on, you know, coming out at Ess's Ash and Spiel. If I go on to Board Game Geek and we do the preview for Essen Spiel, why did I hype those 20 and not the other ones? That's kind of what I wanted to talk about first today. Oh wow, Queen Ellis overtook Avalon at number one.

1:04 That was recent. So, I've got couple of questions that I'm going to be addressing that I've already prepared. First, I'm going to talk about uh how I chose the games that I featured. And then after that, we're going to talk about why I did not choose other popular games. So, first, how do I choose the games that I feature? Well, I want you to understand something about how I operate. Maybe this will surprise you. Uh so, I basically don't watch YouTube. I don't I don't watch other reviewers. I don't read reviews. I don't participate on board gamegeeek um or read forums. Uh I I look at this I look at the the preview. But there's a reason for that.

1:51 Biggest reason is I don't want to be influenced. I don't want to get caught up in the excitement of other conversations that are happening. I want to have an unbiased opinion. So the way that I've decided to develop an unbiased opinion is by reading rule books. So this year so far at least since September I think I've read 60 rule books and uh I read them cover to cover and then based on my reading of those rule books I make the content. Now there are some filters that I use for selecting the rule books. This I I like to address the ones that are hot. I don't just address these. I use some search criteria as well, but um like for example, I did my reaction to the top three most popular games, Queen Alice, Avalon, 60 below. I did those just because I knew that people would be searching for that.

2:51 They'd want to know if they were worth the hype. Uh and that was just my honest reaction rather than, you know, money discovering it. Other games I select by going up into the filter and uh looking for what I really like. So, uh, you're probably not watching this my channel for the first time. You probably already know that I'm a big Euro guy. I like crunchy, complex, rich, problem solving games. So, I like looking for that. Uh, but I'm also board game dad. I like finding games that I can play with my kids. I often do my best to find games that will play with five players or more because as my family grows and as my channel grows, I want to get more games that will uh be playable with different sized families. So, that is a priority and I do use filters to find that. But then once I once I get some games on here, I just download the rule books. There are a few things that I don't look at. Well, talked about that when I talk about the games I I have not reviewed.

3:57 The rest of the criteria really comes from thing. I guess there's a little bit of philosophy here. So my opinion is if you are watching a YouTube reviewer, you should be watching them because you kind of identify with their tastes. I'm I'm assuming that if you're watching my channel, it's because you kind of like my opinion on games or you trust my opinion because it seems closely aligned to yours. Now, a lot of the games that I select, I'll admit, I I just like them because of my own subjective preference. I just think they're great games and great designs. That doesn't necessarily mean they're the best games or they're better games. There's a lot of great games out there. Uh but but sometimes I'm just it's just yeah, because I like it. That's fine. Uh that's not the only criteria that I look for. I am also very much looking for games that are doing something that's different. I have a lot of games on the shelf back there and over there and all throughout my house.

4:59 Uh I do not need more games doing the same thing. So, what I really try to find are mechanics that stand out from what else is out there. Anytime I see something that's that's that's new or novel, those really catch my attention. So, I tend to select games like that. I tend to look at other games that I pass on simply because this something I may have seen before. So, um that's what I've selected. So, all of the games I guess one of the reasons I did this video is I thought I wonder if people are going to suspect if I have like a deal with these publishers. Like, are the publishers reaching out to me and saying, "Hey, you know, we really we like Board Game Dad and we think that our games belong on your channel. please plug our games.

5:48 That actually doesn't happen at all. In fact, I sent an email out um to a lot of publishers that I have worked with in the past, and I said, "Hey, you know, I'm selecting games for the top 10 family board games, which I'm going to be doing before Thanksgiving this year. Does anybody have any candidates?" That's all I did. I just wrote a bunch of publishers saying, "If you have any candidates for top 10 family board games, please let me know." And one person, one person out of I don't know, probably not that many honestly. Still kind of a small channel, but I probably sent it to 12 publishers. One publisher got back to me and said, "Hey, I've got one and they and they sent it along. It was ending up being a great game." Um, but no, actually on the contrary, I have no deals. No one is asking me to plug stuff. I'm not following other influences. I am just selecting games based on reading rule books. I wish I could read more rule books honestly. So that gets me to the next question. How do I choose the games I feature? That's what we just asked.

6:56 Why did other popular games not get chosen? So let's take a look at the list of games that I haven't chosen. And what I kind of want to do is just talk about the games that are coming out of Essence Spiel based on the preview here. So, oh, you know what? Wait, wait, wait, wait. I forgot. I forgot one more point. I really want to go back rewind. I will say I I do go back to the same publishers. I think that's really important. I do find that uh publishers of my favorite games keep releasing similar games that are really great and um sometimes I go back to the publishers that I've had in the past. Inside Up is like that. I really like Inside Up. Um who else this year? Man, this video was kind of weird because a lot of the games that I got excited about actually aren't from publishers that I've worked with in the past. Some of my favorite publishers released some games that I kind of was underwhelmed by, which which I'm not accustomed to having that happen, but um I guess I'll talk about that, too. Some of the publishers that I love who didn't release something that I was very excited about. There's a few of them.

8:17 Anyway, now now we can get on to the other questions. So, the stuff that I did not choose. Okay. Now, I I kind of talked about Queen Alice, Avalon, and 60 Below. So, I did do a video on these, just reacting to the them, but when I made my video about my favorite heavy games, the only one I suggested or my favorite, I haven't played them yet. You understand this, right? I only read the rule books. Uh, the ones I'm most interested in, I only mentioned 60 Below. Why is that? Well, because Queen Alice is a whimsical theme. This is Alice in Wonderland. It's imaginative and cute. Um, but I I actually really like games that are backed by a little bit more research, not just fantasy. I think I would still really like to play Queen Alice because the chess playing element, but um it wasn't one that I was like, ah, I need to buy this. So, I'm not I don't know. I mean, I'm probably underrating it a little bit, but I I tend not to go with whimsical themes. However, in terms of a Euro game and the crunchy problem solving, there's some really cool stuff here in Queen Alice, Avalon, the Ribbon Veil. Um, I'm not a miniatures guy. I don't have room in my house for a huge box. I don't want to spend the money on a game with a huge box. I'm always thinking about value. Uh, I don't want to be recommending a game that's really expensive if I don't think it's worth a ton of money. So, I love mechanics of Avalon. I just feel like the target audience is for people who want to paint miniatures really. Um, but really cool

9:48 game design. Oh, entropy. Oh, man. I'm going to make a video about nos in board game design. Gosh, did I hate this rule book. I'm I might do an entire video about why I hate this rule book. I [snorts] think it I think it violates uh design principles. It's I I think I understand how to play the game, but I'm not going to recommend a game that like like there are like expectations. Okay. I do not like how Entropy wrote their rule book. Now, I might be missing. I don't know. I I get it. I I really persevered. It's the fourth most hyped game on Board Game Geek. I felt like I needed to I need to persevere. I got to read this rule book. But it I don't like flaws.

10:46 Uh so not flaws. It's not flaw. It's just I'll do a separate video about this one. Kingdom Come Deliverance. Okay. So the the designers here and Thomas Hulik, I hope I said that one right. Amazing designers. Like this game is going to be a masterpiece. But this is an adaptation of a like a I guess it's a video game. I don't play video games. Um it I watched a video with the designers playing through the game just because I couldn't find the rule book online. Uh I think it's going to be great. I just I I don't want to play a video game adaptation. And the the um it's going to be a monster of a game.

11:33 This is a huge like role playing game. Extremely immersive. It's kind of like a sandbox game, which I think I I think that's really neat and all. I just that's not that that it's like a different category. I feel like this isn't a board game. This is a a video game adaptation. So, I don't know. I mean, it's probably worth I think it's worth the hype that it has here on the preview, but it's not a game for me. So, I I wasn't enthusiastic. Endeavor Deep Sea. So, I um I don't do expansions. It is an expansion, right? Yeah, expansion. I didn't even read this one because it's an expansion. Gaudi Gaudi. Uh, this one is is actually really cool. Um, I you know, you know why I didn't do this one? Because I ran out of time.

12:26 Honestly, I could have done another video about medium weight gains on the spot. I remember that there was there were the these tiles. You're trying to group these tiles together. Oh man, I'm trying to remember how this one worked out. It was really good. I remember liking it. Oh, you know, I'm not going to I'm not going to go over the rule book live. I need to I need to memor refresh my memory on that one. Um actually, this was a great game, but I just didn't have enough time. So, sorry. And Debier, by the way, is one of my favorite publishers. Um anyway, Drillers, just didn't like it. Um it reminds me kind of a game kind of reminds me of Magnum Solve, which I thought was really cool. But the problem with this one is from my understanding, it's it seems super repetitive. You're having to go down, you're digging in the earth, you're getting stuff, you're having to take it back to the surface, back down, get stuff, take it to the surface. It seems a little repetitive. I didn't like the um the like mech type digging characters like this fantasy uh digging realm, but the the board game world was not interesting to me.

13:46 The rule book was okay, but it didn't, like I said, sometimes when I see something I've seen before and I've seen it done really well, I don't want to see something else. Magnum Saw is awesome. This game is not No, it didn't excite me. Okay, now A-ine Games. I love A-ine Games. I've recommended I put their games on my top 10 family board game list. I Revive Well, Revive is same designer, different studio. Time Span seems like a solid game. I could have talked about this one, but a couple years ago, I think it was 2023, Path to Civilization came out, and there was too much overlap. Path to Civilization is like simultaneous citiz uh civilization building, and Time Span is simultaneous civilization building. I just didn't I do think the theme is better embodied in time span, um but it didn't stand out enough for me to get very excited about it. So, even though I really like working with Aine Games, this time it's a pass for me. Well, I would try it if I was in Essen Spiel.

15:01 I'm not going to like be like, "Oh, it's stupid." No, it's not stupid. I um just didn't think it was standout. Night of the Zoo is one that I'm really excited about. So, I actually featured this on my channel, so I'm not going to talk about that one. Ash's Blackout Protocol. Uh, I looked at this one and it was not just not my it's not my thing. I I didn't really even read the whole rule book. I was kind of turned off from the beginning. So, I better not say much more about that. We have another expansion here. Carl von Len. This is one of This is probably the heavy game that I'm most excited about. So, that one I definitely featured. Okay. Now, okay. So, now we're at where where are we in the list? Position 10 or something. So, at this point in the list, I'm starting to skim.

15:49 Diablace is I just I judged it by its cover. I'll be honest. I don't I don't I didn't Yeah, I I should probably read the rule book and make a better, more informed decision. Um, but also like 120 minute play time. The title it sounds sort of demonic or scary. I don't do scary games ever. I don't do any scary games. I don't know if this is scary, but oh well. Sorry. I have to admit I don't I don't investigate every single game. Okay. Donapang Gaya. Read that one. Loved it. Put it on my top three most excited mediumweight games. Um this is an expansion so I didn't read it. Okay. Now, I think at this point in the list, what I the parts that I read, Scott, you know, I tagged thought I tagged this one. I still want to read this one, the book women. Um, I didn't even notice this one until like today. So, I'm not sure why I missed it.

16:53 I didn't deliberately avoid it. Um, so things start to get jumpy after that. I should probably just talk about some of the publishers that I skipped and we'll leave it at that or some of the titles that I skipped and why. Uh so Prague Unseen, this is one that I am really excited about. Here we go. This is a great example. Delicious Games. Uh Delicious Games is one of is one of my favorite publishers of heavy games. Um that's interesting. I didn't even notice that it wasn't designed by Vladimir Sushi. Maybe that's why I wasn't excited by it. Anyway, Chrono Critters is time traveling actions, but honestly, Anacrony is like the perfect time travel game. Anacrony is I don't see how this is I didn't think mechanically this was very interesting. Um, let's see. I don't know if I'm if the best way go through this anymore is by scrolling because I know there's going to be some stuff. Okay. Yeah, I think um I think at this point maybe I'll share a couple of other ones that I'm not excited about.

18:19 Okay, that's interesting. Let's just straight on. It's kind of cap, isn't it? Um, yeah. So, there are a few games that I did select that I didn't make videos of because I already like either I own them and I'm ready to make a video about them already. I'll make it after the Essen spiel. I'll put them in the top 10 family board game list, which is maybe I should have made more family focused videos. I sort of ran out of time. For example, Adam's Apple Games. They are doing uh a Kickstarter for Defenders of the Dictionary, but we also have Gnomeville.

19:15 This is a solid game. I'm really excited about it. I needed to make another video just about mediumweight games so I could have addressed Gnomeville. Um some other ones that I really liked like Bad Comic Games. I have been so excited about Bad Comic Games for like years. I've Look at my shelf. I got here. We got bad comic games. Bad comic games. Thought I had it all. Oh, they're all mixed up. Bad comic games. Bad comic games. There's I don't know. There's a Can't scan the shelf that fast. Um, they did a Kickstarter. They just did a Kickstarter for I can do it.

20:00 I can get it. Oh man. What's the underwater thing called so frozen? The underwater game. The underwater city. The city that was lost. It's not Oh man, I know the name of this. Too bad the latency in this video is poor because I bet people watching this are like, "Dude, the underwater load. I can't remember what it's called." Um, well, whatever. It's a You know what? It was a board game about diving. It was a board game about diving. I'm a diver. I'm a scuba diver. I know something about diving. I got so excited about this game. and they mechanically oh man they did some weird stuff like it's not it it's not true to what diving was and that bugged me. Oh that bugged me. So sometimes I I ran into a few things this year actually where I found things that were like just near misses or they did something I didn't like. So anyway, I tend to try to give you the best of the best. That's the point that I'm trying to make. I can't believe I That's all I'm trying to say. The things that I choose on the channel are games that I choose because I like them. It's not because publishers are giving them to me to put on the channel. It's not because I am trying to cover hype, although I definitely tried to get some of the more popular ones um

21:33 intentionally so that they would, you know, because people are interested in the ones that have a lot of hype. Um, I but ultimately what I try to do is I try to select games that have great rule books that just really draw me in and things that I want to play. That's how I choose stuff. So, if you have any uh questions for me, be sure to leave them in the comments because I can always follow us up with another live episode. Anyway, enjoy essence spiel.