Later I'll drop in some game box cover images of the titles discussed:

Hutan Life in the Rainforest (2025)

Biathlon Blast (2025)

Formidable Farm (2025)

Oranges & Lemons (*2024)

Orbit (2025)

Star Wars Battle of Hoth (2025)

Wingspan Americas expansion (2026) - Hummingbirds

RA & Write (2025)

1975 White Christmas (2025)

Tenby (2025)

Piñatas (2025, but Voodoo Prince)

3 Witches (2025)

Tango (*2024)

One Round (2025)

Opener: I encourage listeners to join me at the OG guild's online game convention, OG Fest: Maispiele


Within the last month I turned 60. Does that make me old? Officially? Whether it does or not, I'm still playing games. Which is what I discuss in this episode--what it's like to turn 60 in this hobby, as well as reflecting on what it was like when I turned 50, 40, 30, 20, 10...and even 0! Those were all personal milestones in some way--what did it mean for me as a gamer?

In getting ready for this episode, I realized I kept thinking about time in three major ways:
• When I turned another milestone age (60, 30, whatever, and how old my kids were then)
• How long I'd been in the hobby at that point
• What the calendar date was, and what important things were happening in the hobby then (game releases, websites, the larger culture, etc.)

It was an interesting exercise, thinking about all those things. Is my journey through life as a gamer anything like yours? Finally, I thought a little into the future--what will things be like for me as a gamer when I turn 70? I'm sure I'll still be playing, but it will be when I'm retired, living a thousand miles away from here. Will I be playing the same games? Going to some of the same conventions? Meeting new people or still focusing on my longtime gamer friends?

-Mark

My annual Mark Madness contest is over, and co-host Adam Brocker joins me to wrap it up. Adam won the prediction contest last year, and this was his prize...a side job to work with me! Now we have a new winner, Mark363, who I am working to locate. If he's willing, in 2027 he will join me to run the next version of this contest.

In 2026 Adam had suggested we take a closer look at games that were designed by pairs or teams of designers, in contrast with their solo work. With that in mind, we set up four divisions of sixteen game titles apiece. One division was centered around Wolfgang Kramer's solo and partnered design work, then another with Alan R. Moon, one more with Bruno Cathala, and a final centered around the mostly-Italian designer collaborations.

After everyone made their predictions, we started voting for the games we liked best, wanted to win, or for any other reason. Gradually games were knocked out in a series of 1v1 matchups, leaving Azul, Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders Duel, and Grand Austria Hotel as our Final Four. In the end, Ticket To Ride was the ultimate winner, which meant Mark363 had done the bes with his predictions.