No Pun Included's Board Game of the Year 2023

[@IncredibleDream]

What an absolute honour! Thank you so much! We're so happy you've been able to enjoy our game, it means the world to us.

[@arthurtyshchenko7336]

1:26 - Old game of the Year (Remakes) 2:46 - Genre of the Year 4:08 - Overlooked of the Year 5:22 - Industry fad of the Year 7:07 - Campaign of the year 9:24 - Efka was wrong of the year 11:01 - Efka's game of the year 14:51 - Elaine's game of the year 17:46 - Bessie's game of the year

[@makerofjam]

Phew, now I'm really glad I picked up a rare Belgian 3rd edition printing of Robot tied to a Sock on eBay a few weeks ago! It's been out of print for so long and no doubt this will cause the few remaining copies to disappear!

[@IlanMuskat]

I'm waiting for the inevitable expandalone sequel, Robot Tied to a Sock: Reupholstering

[@curtislinden9297]

came to the comments early and ended up googling "Robot tied to a sock" 😭💀🤣

[@rudykraft5526]

Somehow, reading this before, I started watching the video, didn’t spoil anything for me

[@troccy]

I have a terrible feeling I ended up with a knockoff as I appear to have Sock tied to a Robot instead. I'm absolutely gutted.

[@Tolinar]

I saw your comment before watching. "What in the world?? ... was there some Stonemaier release I missed?"

[@rothanarae]

I've just found your channel for the first time. I'm extremely impressed with the thoughtfulness of your discussion about different board games and an issue like sustainability. It would be incredible if, as I watch more of your videos, I find that you highlight the more responsibly produced games whenever you review or discuss them. That would be very helpful! To highlight games which chose to use better practices was amazing and something that I feel like board gamers in general don't really consider. I've only ever sleeved one game which was so precious to me, but also it was the first really big game I'd ever got, Isle of Cats, and I've felt a bit guilty ever since for encasing cards in plastic which will just sit there for decades. I haven't bought any sleeves since then because we need to reduce our use of plastic. I'm not rough on my cards anyway, insist people wash their hands before coming to the table to play, and honestly if they see some wear and tear around the edges won't that just signify a well-loved and much-played game? Yes, yes it would. This video seemed to me to be of a much higher intellectual quality than the vast majority out there. Thank you, and I look forward to looking through a backlog of 9 years worth of content to discover more.

[@LumaTo]

Neat! I played near zero games 2023 but definitely tuning into this video

[@radiosonicfan1726]

Me too. Covid killed my hobby and gaming group. We have only gotten together twice this year. We joke see you in six months. We played: empyreal spells & steam, level 7, and possibly one more session this year.

[@mitsakosL]

Cant wait for Robot tied to a Sock to get some expansions in 2024

[@CrystalDax]

I will never tire of your cheeky banter and brilliant insights. Just... perfect. And now I have to try Dune Imperium Uprising AND Lacuna!

[@ClaudeAndTaylor]

GENRE OF THE YEARRRRRRR!! OH SO WONDERFUL TO SEEE!! Amazing video y'all this is such a lovely time!!

[@Calumlf123]

So glad you're into Dune Imperium too! Thought my Dune fandom might have swayed me too much but has been a hit even with non-gamers - actually pretty quick to pick up.

[@hermanvanbiesen]

Hmm, thanks for mentioning the ecological part as well. Even though for groceries I do stop and look for less plastic alternatives, somehow for boardgames my mind just ignores it. It was a very good point to make and one I will keep in mind! Thanks.

[@VonVeederVeld]

"...hopefully, you will find a discrepancy in your conscience that should be accounted for." Extremely well put, my biggest take away from this video will be a challenge to align my actions with my values... good job NPI.

[@freejay6091]

oh, poor you. Did it hit close to home? also the hoarding, not playing and still sleeving that people do in the scene is just... WOW.

[@jahniedez6834]

YESSS!! No one thought it would win it all, but Robot Tied to a Sock deserved all the praise its gotten! Congrats RTTAS team!

[@scottchladek1770]

Glad to see Kinfire getting some recognition! It was a great game and kept you on your toes, especially surprising since had such simple card check system that proved very versatile.

[@willie9764]

I listened to John Cage's 4 33 as a result of this video. No regrets. Well played.

[@TorIverWilhelmsen]

However, it was smart to stop at less than 20 seconds of it, so as to avoid a copyright strike.

[@jokerES2]

The twists and turns in this video were wild.

[@rmclean101]

You all are such a pleasure to behold...beholden...great list, thank you!

[@TheWindwall]

Glad to see Robot Tied To A Sock on this list. Too many review channels have let this gem sneak by them.

[@Maspital]

5:12 As soon as Forest Shuffle got mentioned, I started to type a comment about balancing issues, but you mentioned that yourself directly afterwards :D In my opinion, the tl;dr of that entire discussion is that Forest Shuffle should be treated as a 4-5 player game only. Wolves and deer being vastly overtuned doesn't "break" the game, but it makes for a really boring meta where every game plays out almost the same - definitely when playing as two, sometimes when playing as three. Would recommend it at higher player counts though.

[@patricksullivan6988]

Woo! Trick-taking! I think it's just my social circles, but I have some difficulty getting my relatives who love traditional trick-taking games to try the new ones, and I have a hard time getting a lot of my tabletop-gaming friends interested in trick-taking games. That said, I've managed to sell a lot of them on The Crew, but I've had only limited success with Yokai Septet and none yet with The Cat in the Box.

[@Tommywolfi]

Glad to see recognition for Kinfire Chronicles, we are really enjoying it so far, but I didn't see much hype or talk about it which is a pity. It is really good if a bit random at times (though there are ways to mitigate and plan for it)

[@jeffvandenberg]

It may be me, but Robot tied to a Sock felt like a masterclass in subtle undercutting of the entire GoTY practice or of how were constantly chasing the something new. I may also just be over thinking it.

[@brianl6151]

Love the Jack Russell, we lost ours last year. How in the world did you get him to stand still and so quiet lol .

[@lowsaiga]

i really love seeing your vidoes! up to the next year and have a good holiday

[@stefanopaolini1345]

I had two dates of restock/publishing of games marked on the calendar: Lacuna and Dune Imperium Uprising. I skipper both but now I catch up

[@bettermoodboardgames]

KNITTING WITH SPAGHETTI 🤣 brilliant...you both are sincerely my favorite. This channel just is so rich!

[@chrisroberts7159]

So excited for Earthborne Rangers! I've been wanting a deck based character campaign game for YEARS. Arkham Horror just wasn't enough

[@LumaTo]

6:55 Remember when Chip Theory played Too Many Bones underwater in scuba suits?

[@PoulAnteMadsen]

This video really takes the “Best End Of The Year Video About Best Game Of The Year Of All Time Award”! Congratulations!

[@josephpilkus1127]

Absolutely love you guys! Merry Christmas!!

[@greenspartan1213]

Man i was just looking at Forest Shuffle wondering what it was like

[@Stoicgame]

Here for the old game of the year! Powerful category.

[@mrbastos]

Love Dune and Forest Shuffle, I didn't realize there was a new version of El Grande maybe I will finally get a copy

[@theinstantnoodle9628]

Hoplomachus Victorum! I'm not overwhelmed! You're overwhelmed!

[@johns6177]

very entertaining and awesome lists. thank you!

[@zacdredge3859]

Has anyone seen Robot Tied To a Sock on the secondhand marketplace? Haven't been able to find it at retail anywhere.

[@jamiejackson2597]

Merry Christmas. Thank you for all your hard work. I was amazed how much I enjoyed the new version of Dune. Looking forward to playing forest Shuffle.

[@erithromycin]

"Pushing the envelope" is the perfect way to describe a switch to paper packaging.

[@christianvansomeren3760]

I had the exact same experience with Dune Imperium - wrote it off initially, tried the new version and immediately fell in love with it. Such a great game!

[@pecktec]

Thanks for the recommendations I picked up the top two to try.

[@narvuntien]

Dune Imperium is like 3 simultaeous games deck building worker placement and an area control game. Each time you play it you want to play it to see if some other strategy would have worked better. I was hooked from my first play where I had set up everything to win the battle only to be beaten by sand wurms out of the deck of the player that allied with the fremen. Getting flavor killed in a euro game is a hoot.

[@biomeboardgame]

Omg, i love your energy! Awesome games - There are a few on here that I haven't tried yet, but they sound intriguing. Excited for this year!

[@dropkickpikachu]

Robot Tied to a Sock has a huge runaway leader problem and the rulebook is impossible to understand. It's not for me but congrats to the puplisher.

[@leftistfrog404]

what a delightful video, I had my eyes on lacuna for some time now but it's really hard to get I think, I might look into forest shuffle as well as kinfire chronicles (though I have a problem with getting into and finishing campaign board games). Thank you very much for this year's content and see you in the next one.

[@leahhackman9538]

Could you please make a list of ALL the Trick taking games that were in your piles? I really love trick taking games and I saw a bunch in there I couldn't see the names of that I wanted to find out what they were. Thank you so much!

[@afrank525]

I was so happy to learn Bessie's game of the year! Worth the wait :)

[@papareece]

Played forest shuffle, ancient knowledge and the white castle at BGG CON this year. Purchased immediately.

[@grog3514]

Ok, i love el grande, but the zoo vadis and Ra releases are phenomenal. They really improved zoo vadis over quo vadis and the player boards for Ra make it easily the best version of a game that everyone should own.

[@HeyImBode]

I've had no outlet for this mildly funny shower thought before, but this feels like a good place for it. Every single time I've watched a video covered a trick taking game in the past year, the reviewer always pulled the same trick on me. Always offering a variant of this sentence : "We have a new entry of the classic but forgotten trick taking genre of which I'm not gonna explain the basics here, but with a game that has a twist !" The one in this video was sneaky ! Talking about legacy skills you can carry into other games of the same genre. I don't get why this is one genre where people have to make this pre-amble about how they're not gonna explain the basics lol. I couldn't un-observe the pattern every time it happened lol.

[@brunodubois8245]

Awesome mélange of games 😉😉 Merry Christmas to you❤

[@garyfaust6769]

Well done! Very interesting format. I like it batter than just choosing one game. Thank you!

[@bigsarge2085]

Made of 100° real game, so you know it's authentic!

[@bettermoodboardgames]

True story, Lacuna does not get enough love! It's such a LOVELY game! So happy it's in my collection!

[@denycast]

I love this approach👍 There a so many good games for so many different occasions, that having on Nr.1 game feels wrong for me. And great video and I love your jokes.😀

[@RvLeshrac]

Hadn't seen Lacuna before, but it is now on my list; That's a nice fast setup, and could easily make it to the table for a 30 minute "filler" while waiting for people to show up to a game night, without being an actual filler. Just enough randomness to keep it from being "solvable," while not so much that someone can simply win by luck.

[@andrewshih110]

So glad to see Lacuna on this list. It's really good!

[@privatkatze9186]

Ordered after this video. I thought my Mum might enjoy playing it too. 🤞🏼

[@VinegarAndSaltedFries]

Great Video. I’m gunna use this comment to talk about one of my favorite Trick Taking Games I played this year…Brian Boru from Osprey Games. I absolutely love this game. Typically I bounce off of Area Control games but not this one. Great game.

[@bertamizsei6758]

Excellent game content aside, your green hat caught my eye and now I need to know if it was hand-crocheted! Very pretty color

[@TheGains]

I was blown away how out of print forest shuffle is over here where I live

[@lisi2004148]

Great video! Thanks a lot. Happy christmas.

[@hickknight]

Man... this episode makes me wish I could support you. I'll have to check my housekeeping spreadsheet.

[@Esto_es_un_Poema]

The ending cracked me up! Great video!

[@Tristavillus]

And here I just picked up Uprising last week. Didn’t make it 2 mins into Lacuna’s review and it was already in my cart.

[@styfen]

Pamela Borksley was very excited about that one category. Wonderful list.

[@Sputnik34]

Lacuna sounds wonderful 😭

[@Shiroar]

“I can explain” 😂

[@stowcreek1999]

Love you guys... and love your emphasis on games being more environmentally friendly

[@iota7037]

wonderful vid as always. may i ask what brand Elaine’s shirt is from, the one with the flowers?

[@basc.8752]

El Grande. Just played it tonight. I just love it. Every time. Been in my top 3 for years now. So much fun. Quite harsh sometimes, but then you should have picked higher power card 😋

[@dksocal]

I’ve been playing Robot Tied to a Sock on Steam a lot lately and I really enjoy it.

[@Darkii1smile]

Perfect video! Agree so much on trick taking genre for this year!

[@evandercaldwell9993]

Love your guys humour!!! 😂😂😂 This was funny!!!

[@ekurisona663]

thank yall for putting this list together! #moleintights

[@JosephPage]

You get a like specifically for sneaking the word "millefeuille" into a board game video, that's an excellent word

[@Grinnam]

Love the inclusion of environmental angle/category. Awesome video!

[@BoardGameAnimal]

What a great video! However, we may be a little biased but we have to say Bessie has the most excellent taste. But tell her next year the Board Game Animals are sure they can rope her into a game of Dog Park at least. 😉

[@colinfreyvogel3014]

Is Scout actually a trick taking game? There’s no trump or following suit or taking the trick afterwards, you just take the previous set/run.

[@ryangallagher7183]

It is most definitely not a trick-taking game.

[@NoPunIncluded]

Scout is a climbing/shedding game. Trick-taking, climbing and shedding are three subgenres of the same uber-genre of games. They share a cultural geneology and frequently overlap with one another. Sometimes (perhaps out of laziness or for the sake of being brief), reviewers (including myself) will lump climbing and/or shedding games into trick taking. Way more on this in 2024, the history of these games if fascinating.

[@ryangallagher7183]

Looking forward to hearing more about it!@@NoPunIncluded

[@colinfreyvogel3014]

@@NoPunIncludedsounds like a really fun video topic! I really enjoyed your similar video on social dedication games with BotC!

[@spinningspray2607]

Cant wait for this year's video

[@cwb95k]

I am curious how much Uprising differs from the original Imperium? Did y'all get a chance to play Hegemony, Scholars of the South Tigris, or Nucleum? Those are three that I wonder where they fell.

[@pierrecuomo9207]

Thank you for your video, it's always fun and very interesting. Long life to NPI !

[@kasparbaktat964]

Very inspiring list of games! Thank you for presenting them. I only know El Grande so far from its original release, but I still like it very much! There are other very interesting titles in this video as well.

[@cabelys]

Aš jus dievinu.. tobuli video. ačiū!!

[@AnimeLoftus]

Wow, our tastes align a lot. I got a lot of these games this year. If i wasn’t looking at a new crokinole board I would look into Lacuna. :)

[@mendellee]

I bought a t-shirt many years ago that reads: " " -John Cage i love it when people get it.

[@juancruzfernandez6771]

Loved the John Cage insight 🥸

[@chrisroberts7159]

Elaine pointed at the upvote button instead of the subscribe button!

[@lawrencecollins7398]

You are correct. Long live the fighters!!!

[@Fi4z]

I like this format :)

[@yeerk]

The moment she knocked the Lacuna canister over and didn’t miss a beat, was the moment I subscribed.

[@futurescaper]

You can play the original D:I expansions with Dune Imperium Uprising.

[@venisontron]

That wasn't 4:33, Elaine. You only played an excerpt from it.

[@yomamasopoor]

Great video 🎉 I love dune as a game; but have to say that the previous dune imperium with the IX and Immo expansion is way superior to uprising.

[@NexusBaum]

seems it's time for a trick taking engine builder xD (or is there already one...?)

[@JosephFlemming]

Wowww that el Grande edition is stunning! But I have the big box so I feel no need to upgrade.

[@gregor.macgregor]

The original Dune Imperium expansions are compatible with Dune Imperium Uprising.

[@christopherundritz9194]

Will look for Dune. Played the original at this year's games EXPO and liked it a lot. I am however amazed that my two favourite channels (NPI and SUSD) have not covered Hegemony. I don't have a lot of boardgame exposure (limits of money and space) but Hegemony is my GOTY.

[@SolviKaaber]

I was hoping you would nominate one game from the genre of the year. Or are there just way too many good ones?

[@bobmatrix1]

I'm still trying to find the game of the year from last year!!!

[@jarredbultema2164]

Loved this!

[@theautisticguitarist7560]

Thats a weirdly long time to say "checkers with half the pieces replace with pepperoni".

[@Gathanokos]

I looooove Dune imperium but when I introduced it to one of my friend who I play the most, he was like "meh-" However, after a year, I persuaded him to try Uprising and he immediately liked it much better. Personally, I think it's good in a different way, and for me, different is a very important aspect XD