Shane is absent due to recovering from sickness, so Steve signs off the pod for the year with his top 12 games to play in the holidays. Have a great holiday everyone, we will be back in late January 2026.

Ingrid joins us to count down the greatest games of all time!

Shane and Steve take a break from their regular format to bring you their top 20 games of all time. In this episode they count down 20-11, with a few surprises in the countdown already.

Shane (finally) falls in love with Heat: Pedal to the Metal, and Steve rekindles an old flame in Return to Dark Tower. The boys discuss the year 2020, with some interesting choices made in the annual top 10.

Steve discusses the Star Wars branded version of Memoir '44 - Battle of Hoth. Spoilers, he likes it a little. Shane's been getting his sheep herding gear on again for GWT New Zealand, and Steve reminds Shane about how great Obsession is, to which he disagrees. Then it's on to 2019 games - another outstanding year of games!

Shane and Steve have had a full plate recently, which has led to a long hiatus. The good news is, a lot of games were played during that time. Hear them chat about big, small and all games in between. There's even a horror story in there. Steve has gone a bit nuts on Kickstarter, and there's a bit of other news, including our standard Garphil games mention. Finally, we sew it all up with there results from the 2017 BGG challenge and get straight into our 2018.

Steve and Shane are at it again as they compare 10 games from 2017.

Shane and Steve do their usual chatter about games they've played recently, then move into their review of Crafting the Cosmos. Afterward, Shane easily confuses Steve with a basic concept for a new topic. This week is all about games from 2016.

Shane continues his Phister-thon (don't say that out loud) by trying Great Western Trail New Zealand. Where will it sit amongst the other GWT games?? Steve got the hotness of Endeavor Deep Sea to the table. Does it live up to the hype?  The news is very exciting as the Garhil sercet project gets discussed, as well us the upcoming sequel to A Feast for Odin, The Danes. The topic is all about games you played once, and that was enough - not necessarily for bad reasons, but sometimes so.

Erik from On Board Games joins the pod in a crossover! We discuss games, and dive into psychology in board games. Cheers Erik for joining!

Shane has just returned from Playcon, and it sounds like he had a pretty decent time!  We also recap out Spiel Des Jahres predictions, and finish with a long chat about brick and mortar stores, and what they can do to stay relevant.

Shane has had a week to forget... except for a stroll into EB Games, and we discuss Grail Games, while neither of us has many.

Welcome to Episode 12 of Mate Let's Play. This episode, Steve and Shane discuss recently played games and dive again into predictions for industry awards. This time, it is the 18th annual Dice Tower awards!

In ep 11, we see just who is out of touch with the BGG community more, as we see who predicted more winners in the BGG Awards. Then, not to be down for long, we predict the Spiel nominees! Shane had great and not-so-great experiences at Briscon, and we have both played a slew of games since the last episode, so tune in!

Shane and Steve go through the list of games nominated for awards in this years BGG Awards. We pick 2 games each - the one we want to win and the one we think will win. At the time of recording, the awards had not yet been announced, and on our next episode we will score up who predicted better!

Steve and Shane have both been playing the new Great Western Trail game, El Paso. Does Shane's hatred of all former GWT games continue? And can Steve feel like he is making good decisions for once in a GWT game? Huge thanks to VR Distribution for providing us each with a copy to play.

Yes, tariffs need to be discussed. What impact do we think we will feel in Australia? We also discuss our favourite designers, and what stands out about them. Also, lots of games, and even a dive into Warhammer!

That's right, the Aussie Solo Gamer is here to count down his favourite solo games, and Steve is doing it too. If you are in Brisbane, it is not too late to get yourself to Briscon! Come along and play loads of games over 2 days with Shane and other great members of the community.

Join Shane and Steve as they reminisce about their top 10 board gaming experiences!

Join Shane and Steve as they discuss their top 10 Go-To's for board game content, as well as discussing games they have been playing, and any news that is on their radar.