Welcome to the Gumbo!

Welcome to Board Game Gumbo, a blog site all about board games. I’m your host, BJ Rozas, and thanks for dropping by.

I started the blog with my game group a few years ago, but all of us have been playing games all of our lives, and we are glad you stopped by! Some of you may have clicked through the wonderful article quoting us in the Washington Post recently. Marie Elizabeth is a great writer and interviewer, and did a wonderful job collecting great pointers from board gamers and hosts from around the country on how to host a game night.

Board Game Gumbo is our weekly blog, but we also post to our Facebook and Twitter feeds game news, game plays, and game pictures. Plus, we host a Facebook Live talkshow every Tuesday night where we interview board game reviewers, bloggers, designers, artists, and publishers from all over the country.  In the past, we have interviewed:

1. Lance Myxter, the Undead Viking himself, from Tasty Minstrel Games;
2. Ted Alspach, of Ultimate Werewolf fame, from Bezier Games;
3. Chris Wray, from The Opinionated Gamers blog;
4. Chris Kirkman, of Dice Hate Me Games and the State of Games Podcast; and
5. Alex Goldsmith, of the Dukes of Dice Podcast

and many, many more!

While you are here, check out some of our reviews, previews and convention coverage:

• We are covering 2017’s best games, and you can check that out here and here.
• Did you recently discover Catan, but are looking for the next step? We did a deep dive look at one of the best games in 2014 called Concordia;
• Or are you looking for thematic games? We looked at thematic new games like Fate of the Elder Gods and Downforce;
• Do you love Star Wars? You might be interested in Bradly Billingsly’s time at the National Star Wars Destiny card game championships at GEN CON 50;
• Does your family like card games? We feature reviews and discussions of games like Bohnanza on the site;
• Gamers love to discover great games that they can really sink their teeth into, and if you are one of those gamers, we feature longer essays about classic hobby games like Agricola by a great writer, Jason Dinger;
• If you are a fan of movie and comic book properties, our hobby is full of those types of games, and our friend Matthew Ward covered the Scott Pilgrim card game here;
• Or maybe your family likes tile laying games like Scrabble, but wants something more than just word games? We love to talk about tile laying games like New York: 1901 which was featured in the Washington Post article — and even chatted with the designer, Chenier La Salle;
• Or maybe your family likes co-operative play, where everyone is playing together against the game (think games like Pandemic)? Bryan Barnes shows you a great new co-op game called Spirit Island right here;

So that’s a little bit about Board Game Gumbo. Pull up a chair and explore the site, and feel free to send me any questions on Twitter (@boardgamegumbo) or like our Facebook page and leave a comment.

Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!

— B.J.