Board Game Blitz – Wonderful boardgaming podcast

Podcasts are a great thing to listen to on your commute. And there are a plethora of great boardgaming podcasts if you are so inclined as to listen to them.

I wanted to highlight another great boardgaming podcast after my talking about the Dice Tower and Shut Up & Sit Down.

Board Game Blitz started just over a year ago (I should have posted this about a month ago when they did their 1-year anniversary episode), and it is a lot of fun to listen to. In addition, it’s relatively short, with all of them lasting about 30 minutes or so (one of the many ways that “Blitz” fits in the title).

In each bi-weekly episode, the three hosts (Crystal, Cassadi, and Ambie) discuss games that they’ve played recently.

Then they have a thematic segment where they either talk about games that match a certain theme or talk about a specific topic (the most recent episode talked about being a good winner or a good loser).

They then talk about the etymology of a word related to that episode (or just boardgame- related in some way). The most recent episode talked about the word “tie”, for example.

I believe Boardgame Blitz was the first boardgaming podcast hosted completely by women, though I could be wrong. And that is an important thing.

But it’s not why you should listen.

You should listen because when you do so, you find yourself being entertained and informed. You’re not listening because you are aware of the fact that it’s an all-female podcast.

Because that’s the most important thing. Would it really matter if they were the first all-female podcast if you didn’t enjoy listening to it?

I would think it would have been a novelty, and then quickly died by the roadside because people would check it out for the milestone and then leave because it felt like a waste of time. Or they would feel obligated to keep listening to it in order to make sure it was a success.

Which isn’t fun either.

But that’s not the case with Board Game Blitz. These ladies are entertaining to listen to. They have good insights into boardgames and they definitely are having fun doing the podcast. You can tell, because it comes through in the presentation.

They have a variety of interests, so boardgamers of any interest should find something to enthuse them. For example, Ambie loves 18XX games and other “heavy” ones. I really don’t want to think that hard about games so 18XX doesn’t interest me much, but it’s fun to listen to her enthuse about them.

You can find Board Game Blitz on your podcast app of choice. They also have a Youtube channel that I don’t check out quite as often, mainly because of time. But you should definitely check out their 1st anniversary parody of the song Ballroom Blitz below.

Yet again, showing how much fun they are having, and ensuring their audience has fun too.

While I wouldn’t say they are up to the Dice Tower entertainment standard, that’s mostly because they haven’t been doing this for 10+ years. So give them time.

And they are now part of the Dice Tower Network, which is cool. Congratulations to them! Crystal actually appeared on this week’s episode of the Dice Tower as the 3rd chair, which was great to hear.

And finally, on a personal note, I have to say that I am particularly partial to the name “Ambie,” because it was my grandmother’s name and I have never heard it for anybody else.

So it’s nice to see somebody in the “current” generation named Ambie.

Anyway, if you are into boardgames and podcasts, and especially if you are but you don’t have a lot of time, you should definitely check out Board Game Blitz.

You’ll be glad you did.