As Long As We're Linking 24

Here's my update on what's new on the board game blogging scene. I only track blogs and podcasts which actually update and contain topics of general interest (i.e. not blogs devoted to a single game or promotional blogs for a game store or publisher).

This month I did another big purge of the blog list, dropping around twenty blogs or podcasts which haven't been updating. If you're not on my blogroll, it means I haven't yet found you, or you don't match my criteria, or you haven't been blogging. Shame on you.

ARKade Christian Gaming - Someone called "Archangel", Chattanooga, TN. An introduction to "Christian games". Have at 'em, Greg, Tom, and all my other Christian readers.

Georgia Boardgame Association - John Marchant, Kennesaw, GA. Or maybe others from the group, too. Anyway, it's a general interest blog on board games.

Major Deluxe - Henry, Vancouver, Canada. New to Eurogaming.

OddBattles - No personal info other than it's a father playing games with his boys. Started as a war gaming blog but has drifted into board gaming.

Online board games - Also no personal info. Seems to be tracking board games with online versions. Only four posts, so I'm not sure if it will continue.

play2relax - Jeff Myers, location? All about how play is good for you. He also restarted the game carnival.

Roll Dice and Kick Ass - John McLintock, Glasgow, Soctland. Yes, I've only recently added his blog to my roll. All types of gaming.

The Core Worlds - David Dorward, London, UK. Looks to be mostly roleplaying, but we'll see.

The Games Player - Bill Dove, Cornwall, UK. Only one post so far, but Bill promises me there will be more.

Under the Table Gaming - Kale Vanquen, Georgia. Although he doesn't make his personal info obvious. About less-well known games that he discovers.

Just a Thought changed its name to Review For Initiative.

And someone started a blog called Shrieking Emu, which then disappeared. I'm trying to find out where it went.

I'm tracking around 138 updating general board game blogs and podcasts. This has held steady for the last year or so, I believe, although the ratio of podcasts to blogs is slowly rising. I'm not sure why that is.

In fact, I've pretty much stopped listening to podcasts, although that has something to do with the trouble involved in getting the audio in a form that I can play in my car. And that while it makes me less "game lonely" to listen to game players talking in my car, and I like the podcasters, I've never really heard any super must-listen podcasts.

Surely there are some podcasts discussing whether games are art, or new thoughts on how to integrate theme vs mechanics, as opposed to simply telling us which one they like more. Because most podcasts never really rise above saying: what they like, what they played, how it is played, what's coming up, or what used to be.

If there are slightly fewer blogs, it may have something to do with realizing that blogging is more work than anticipated, and the person pretty much wrote what they had to say.

Yehuda