Board game criticism on foot.
Pick Up and Deliver follows Brendan Reilly on suburban Chicago walks as he thinks through hobby board games in real time. Episodes move from weather and little free libraries into mechanisms, theme, story, collection choices, and the small social rituals around play.
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Pick Up and Deliver is a long-running walking notebook about hobby board games. Brendan Reilly records while moving through suburban Chicago, and the setting is never just background noise. The weather, the walk home from the train, the stop at a little free library, a microphone that will not behave, or a bird call arriving mid-sentence all become part of the listening texture. Then the board games take over. The show is strongest when it slows down and asks how a game does what it does. Story in games becomes a set of categories, from player-generated moments to mechanisms that create narrative by making something happen at the table. A quick-play segment can move briskly through Epona, Marshmallow Test, Finspan, and Gizmos, but the comments still land on the practical feel of play: timing, pressure, friendliness, interaction, and whether a design stays tight. The themestorm episodes widen the lens. Empire Records leads to cult favorites, music, life-direction themes, and the strange question of what kinds of movies deserve board game treatments. Adventuring in the jungle starts with pleasure in a genre and then pauses over the colonial baggage built into that tradition. The show is not trying to sound definitive. It thinks in public. That gives the reviews a useful humility, especially when Brendan Reilly can admire a game like Great Western Trail or Euphoria while admitting it does not work for him personally. Collection management is treated with the same seriousness as rules analysis. The Chicago No-Ship Math Trade episode turns trading away games into a miniature ethics and economics problem, with regret, timing, hotness, ratings, and shelf reality all in play. Roundups of new-to-me games are similarly grounded. Sea Salt and Paper gets praise for its art and compact thoughtfulness, while Masquerade Second Edition is framed through the odd feeling of a game that may technically be familiar but plays as if newly encountered. Across episodes, the format stays modest and distinctive. It is a walk, an argument, a diary entry, and a board game design seminar folded together. The result suits listeners who enjoy mechanisms, theme, and collection choices discussed with patience, specificity, and a little dry weather-report charm.
Made for: For hobby board gamers who like thoughtful talk about mechanisms, themes, collection choices, trades, and recent plays. It especially suits listeners who enjoy solo commentary that leaves in the thinking process.
What sets it apart: The walking format gives the analysis a lived-in shape: games are discussed alongside errands, weather, birds, audio mishaps, and everyday interruptions. That looseness makes the criticism feel intimate without losing its design-minded focus.
A brief podcast about hobby board games, recorded by English professor Brendan Riley on brief 15 minute walks around town. Join us for a stroll as we discuss mechanisms, gameplay, theory, and topics of the day. Find show notes at RattleboxGames.com
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Brendan Reilly makes board-game mechanisms, collection choices, and changing opinions clear through candid, on-the-move reflection.
Pick Up and Deliver turns Brendan Reilly's walks through suburban Chicago into thoughtful board-game criticism, with passing traffic, weather, birds, and neighborhood discoveries sharing space with the hobby.
A white-breasted nuthatch turns up mid-trade debrief; your unplayed favorites should feel nervous.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A reflective walk through the points where game rules and player choices turn into memorable stories.
Brendan Reilly turns a walk home from the library into a clear, reflective look at how stories emerge from games. He moves from games with an obvious narrative shape toward moments players create for one another, using Cartographers, Microscope, and Kingdoms to make the idea…
A relaxed board game update that settles in best around Marshmallow Test.
Brendan Reilly frames a board game espresso triple shot around a cool April walk through suburban Chicago, and the episode keeps that easy, conversational pace.
A walk through Rex Manning Day that moves from Empire Records to cult-favorite games.
Pick Up and Deliver turns Empire Records into a walk-and-talk about cult favorites, starting with April 8 and Rex Manning Day before moving through the record-store chaos.
A Chicago game trade turns into a candid look at why admired games still leave a collection.
The semi-annual Chicago No-Ship Math Trade gives Pick Up and Deliver a useful frame: why keep a game just because it is respected, highly rated, or likely to be wanted by someone else?
A suburban Chicago walk, a microphone problem, and candid notes on recent board-game plays.
Pick Up and Deliver turns a suburban Chicago walk into a candid tour of Brendan Reilly's recent board-game plays, starting with the practical annoyance of a microphone struggling in the wind.
A measured reconsideration of board-game tracks, where counters, income, and theme start doing different work.
Pick Up and Deliver uses its 400-episode lookback to revisit how Brendan Reilly thinks about tracks in board games. Returning to episode 363, from September 3, 2021, Reilly draws a useful line between tracks and tech trees, then opens the definition wide enough to include…
A brisk walking board-game catch-up led by Kanban EV's inspections and Hot Streak's rising bets.
Pick Up and Deliver turns a Friday walk home into a tidy board-game catch-up, with the board game espresso triple shot giving the episode its shape.
Loose, lore-heavy Star Wars conversation.
Brendan Riley revisits his 400th-episode-ago discussion about board games that use tracks for progression.
Brendan Reilly hosts a walking podcast from suburban Chicago, reviewing four board games in a 'triple shot' segment.
The host recounts his recent trip to Colorado, focusing on the board games he brought and played while also sharing details about his birding adventures.
This episode is a May 2025 movie roundup where the host discusses films he watched, shares thoughts on them, and suggests games to pair with each movie.
The host discusses how story and game mechanisms interact in video games, inspired by a conversation with a friend who teaches a game design class at DePaul.
Brendan records the episode while walking through suburban Chicago on a cool April afternoon.
Brendan Reilly records while walking through suburban Chicago on April 8.
The host shares his experience with the Chicago No-Ship Math Trade, a semi-annual event where board game enthusiasts trade games in person at a library in Chinatown, while also mentioning recent birding adventures.
The host discusses the theme of 'adventuring in the jungle' for board games, exploring its cultural history and colonial roots while on a walk during spring break.
Brendan Reilly's January 2026 Top of the Stack episode from Pick Up and Deliver mixes a December board-game audit with a 2026 challenge reset and a short list of January picks.
The host reviews two board games, Sea Salt and Paper and Masquerade Second Edition, sharing personal experiences and opinions on their gameplay and design.
The host introduces a series about new board games while discussing technical difficulties with recording equipment and weather conditions during a walk in Chicago.
The host discusses the books he read in Q2 2025, starting with The Hand of Oberon from the Chronicles of Amber series.