Thoughtful board game talk, one detour at a time.
Boardgames To Go follows Mark Johnson through family strategy board games with a patient, conversational eye for why certain designs last. Recent episodes move between Mark Madness voting, Dice Tower West retro tables, designer-team comparisons, and a German vacation that turns into history-minded reflection.
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Boardgames To Go is a board game podcast centered on family strategy games, older games, and the culture around playing them. Mark Johnson anchors it from a conversational, hobbyist point of view. The episodes are rarely rushed. A small observation about a convention table, a BoardGameGeek poll, or a prediction bracket can gradually open into a larger thought about design, memory, taste, or community. Recent episodes show the format clearly. Mark Madness 2026 turns board game discussion into a tournament, with designer teams sorted into Germany, America, France, and Italy divisions. The show tracks predictions, votes, close finishes, and the odd psychology of choosing what one likes versus what one thinks everyone else will choose. That sounds narrow, but the conversations keep widening. With Adam Brocker, the bracket becomes a way to compare collaborative designs with solo designs and to wonder why some games feel intricate while others feel clean and stripped down. Azul and Palaces become examples, not just titles. The show is comfortable pausing over that kind of distinction. It also has a strong retro streak. At Dice Tower West, Mark Johnson and Dave-O use a retro game day to talk about Aladdin's Dragons, San Marco, Capital, Samurai, Africa, and other older games that still provoke real preferences. The discussion is affectionate but not blindly nostalgic. Simple rules, subtle depth, modern expectations, collections, sold games, and games worth finding again all sit in the same conversation. Boardgames To Go also wanders outside the game table when the context fits. A German vacation episode starts with travel and family, then moves through Aachen, Charlemagne, Hesse, federal states, and the way World War II history remains hard to avoid. That range is part of the appeal. The show is not trying to be slick. It is trying to think things through. Its best moments come from following a concrete game example until it reveals something about the people who play, remember, rank, buy, sell, and argue over games.
Made for: Best for board game hobbyists who enjoy family strategy games, retro games, BoardGameGeek culture, convention stories, and reflective design talk. It especially suits listeners who like measured conversation over fast review verdicts.
What sets it apart: Boardgames To Go stands out by treating brackets, old games, travel stories, and casual table talk as serious evidence for how the hobby works. It is less about quick recommendations than about following the reasoning behind preferences.
Mark Johnson's occasional & opinionated podcast about family strategy boardgames
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Boardgames To Go turns board-game opinions into reflective conversations about design, collecting, history, and the choices behind play.
Mark Johnson makes Boardgames To Go feel like a knowledgeable game-night conversation, with enough room for uncertainty, memory, and disagreement.
A sold copy of San Marco still nags at Dave; you know how that goes.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Ticket to Ride wins, while three first-round picks separate Mark363 from two tied runners-up.
Mark Madness wraps with Ticket to Ride beating Seven Wonders Duel / Lord of the Rings Duel for the championship, while Azul takes third. Host Mark Johnson and returning guest Adam Brocker unpack the close finish, especially how entrants who picked Ticket to Ride could overtake…
A Dice Tower West conversation about retro games, modern complexity, and sold titles that still invite second thoughts.
Boardgames To Go 253 pairs Mark Johnson with Dave O'Connor, better known as Dave-O, in a relaxed post-Dice Tower West conversation about older games and the way they sit beside heavier modern designs.
A tight board-game bracket opens into a warm discussion of design, collaboration, and the discipline of cutting ideas down.
Board Games To Go's Elite Eight installment uses a March tournament-style contest as a route into game-design taste. Mark Johnson and co-host Adam Brocker follow a bracket that has narrowed from 64 teams to the final two in each of four divisions, with Barrage slipping through…
A friendly kickoff turns designer divisions, bracket rules, and listener voting into an inviting March board-game tournament.
Board Games To Go opens Mark Madness 2026 with a March-long family strategy board-game tournament, as Adam Brocker joins Mark Johnson after winning the 2025 cover-art contest.
A thoughtful German vacation episode where Seven Wonders Dice sits beside Aachen, Charlemagne, Hesse, and layered German history.
Board Games To Go 251, German Vacation follows Mark Johnson through a two-week February trip in Germany, using tabletop play as one route into place and memory.
A Dice Tower West chat uses San Marco and Arbos to test which older games still earn shelf space.
Board Games To Go 253 follows Mark Johnson and David O'Connor at Dice Tower West as they talk through how a long-running collection changes the memory of older games.
A warm conversation about personal-scale history, role-playing roots, and approaching Civil War game design with care.
The playful "Dave Sember" business opens an easygoing interview about historical games built at the scale of individual lives. The guest usually works in World War II, where detailed records allow him to follow particular people instead of relying on broader unit histories.
Practical D&D craft for working DMs.
Live-wire esoteric teaching in motion.
Fast clues, drinks, louder wrong answers.
Mark Johnson interviews Scott Alden about the BoardGameGeek Hall of Fame and shares a report from Escon, with a brief political commentary at the start.
Mark Johnson hosts David Thompson for a 'Davecember' episode, a series interviewing board game enthusiasts named Dave.
Mark Johnson and Dave O'Connor recap their retro gaming day at Dice Tower West 2026.
Mark Johnson and Adam Brocker review the 2026 Mark Madness board-game bracket, where Ticket to Ride defeated Seven Wonders Duel and Azul finished third.
Board Games To Go 253, dated April 1, 2026, follows Mark Johnson and Dave O'Connor through their Retro Games day at Dice Tower West in Las Vegas.
Board Games To Go 252D, recorded on March 21, 2026, follows Mark Johnson and Adam Brocker through the Elite 8 of the March Madness-style board game bracket.
Mark Johnson discusses the second round of the Mark Madness 2026 board game tournament, explaining voting mechanics and his personal approach to voting.
Mark Johnson records a quick episode from Dice Tower West, discussing retro games and introducing the first round of Mark Madness 2026 voting.
Mark Johnson lays out Board Games To Go 252A, "Mark Madness 2026," as a 64-game bracket with single elimination, March 13 prediction deadlines, and voting that starts March 15.
Mark Johnson opens Board Games To Go 251 by revisiting Seven Wonders Dice, a Antoine Bauza design he played repeatedly on Board Game Arena and over Discord during a February 2026 trip.
Mark Johnson and Aaron Rosten discuss the Round of 32 in the Mark Madness 2025 tournament, focusing on game cover art across four divisions.
Mark Johnson interviews Scott Alden about the BoardGameGeek Hall of Fame and reports on his experience at EsCon, focusing on games by designer Michael Schacht, with a brief political commentary on January 6th and transgender rights.
Mark Johnson interviews Dave Arnott and Mike Mayer about their long-running online two-player board game club, discussing the games they play and the unique dynamics of their remote gaming group.
Mark Johnson and last year's champion Patrick Pence introduce the 2024 Mark Madness bracket challenge for board games, modeled after the NCAA basketball tournament.