Recent Episodes

About

Kenny Katayama and Tom Bowers are two dummies that love board games. They've been part of the hobby for a sum of roughly 30 years. Prior to the podcast, they reviewed pizza together, wrote a food editorial for the Boise weekly, and were involved in community radio. They placed 170th and 150th respectively at the 2016 Netrunner world champs, so like... not good.

> Kenny's BGG <

> Tom's BGG <

 

100 Games Before You Die

> The full list <

 

The Pantry

> The games we like a lot <

 

Games We've Talked About

> Searchable list of all the games we have discussed with episode numbers <

 

FAQ

What's the cutoff for games that have "stood the test of time"?

Games that were released 5+ years ago. More specifically, games that were released a year up to and including the current year minus 5. So if it's 2024, games up to and including 2019. We recognize that means we are technically allowing games that are 4 years and X months, but the alternative is figuring out which month a game released and that's a pain.

That's ridiculous, how in the world is 5 years an old game?

It's not. The goal is not to profile strictly old games. Instead, we are focused on games where the hype has worn off. We feel that 5 years is a good window for games to breathe, where we can focus on the experiences they create, abstracted from the initial excitement they generated in the community. Note: we very frequently discuss older games. The five year date serves as a cutoff.

How many times do you play a game before reviewing it?

Between 1 and 1 bajillion. We don't consider ourselves reviewers and our content prioritizes sharing stories over critically analyzing games. We recommend taking anything we say with a grain of salt, it's just opinion and NOT rigorous.

Do you accept review copies?

We do. Review copies help us do more with this profitless hobby of ours. IMPORTANT: if it's a newer game, we will NOT talk about it. If it's an older game, reprint, or second edition, we will play it and share our thoughts.  We gladly accept older editions and used/damaged copies of games. We are also happy to return games after playing. We will provide our unfiltered opinion and will not change or take down our thoughts on a game. Shelf Stable is committed to providing full disclosure. If it's a review copy, we will say so when discussing the game. We do not resell review copies.

Do you do paid content?

We do not. We will never accept paid content from designers or publishers. Paid content tied to a game, designer, or publisher would make it impossible to separate opinion from incentive. We are open to doing paid or sponsored content for board game adjacent businesses (such as accessories and stores) in the future assuming it passes the above conditions (designer / publisher free) and we are genuinly interested in what the sponsor is advertising.

What are your thoughts on AI?

Everything we do is human made. No AI here. We do not cover games that use AI art. We are opposed to the plagiarisation of people's hard work, environmental impact, and the cocktail that is unregulated bias + misinformation + lack of accountability in current LLMs. We forsee a potential future where the above concerns are addressed by carbon negative models that credit and pay sources, but we can't endorse the use of gen AI until said concerns are addressed.

Can you keep politics out of your board game podcast?

No lol. The longer answer is that everything is political. When the hat man says he keeps politics out of his reviews, he's really saying that he is comfortable maintaining the current status quo. Politics can be rough and a bummer, but we believe it's healthier to engage with them than not to.

Why do you hate everything?

Eat my shorts. In all seriousnesss, we don't think we're that negative? Typically, our criticisms are backed by reasons. If there aren't clear reasons, we qualify that it's personal preference and not an evaluation of the overall quality of a game. We recognize that other board game content tends to be more positive, but we don't think that makes ours explicitly negative. Kenny prefers the word "fair".

Any other content you recommend?

If you like our humor, we are fans of MBMBAM and The Judgies

If you like our "no hype" approach to board games, we are fans of So Very Wrong About Games and Space Biff

 

Glossary

Carl "Tuck Chuck" Chudyk - An alien from outer space that bestowed us with non-Euclidean game designs. They like to tuck things and Kenny likes their games so, by the transitive property, Kenny likes tucking.

Cthulhu Heads - Fans of Chthulhu. The worst. Includes both publishers that insist on slapping this theme on everything as well as the consumers that keep spending da money.

Daddy and Baby - Shorthand for "the big, more powerful piece" and "the regular piece" in a board game. It's just easier than using whatever the game says.

Death Note aka Light Yagami moment aka L moment - How Tom describes "I know that you know that I know." It's a reference to some nerd anime. Stuff him in a locker next time you meet him.

Dr. Reiner Knizia - A very prolific game designer. Justice for Dr. Knizia.

Ego Crutch - When Tom wins, it's skill. When Tom loses, it's random.

I'm Not Scared - This is what you say in a push your luck game before inevitably losing.

Jimmy Carter - Tom accidentally killed him one episode. RIP.

Joker Moment aka Becoming the Joker - When the game group (or the world) is so cooked that you just want to see the world burn.

Kiki and Bouba - The bouba kiki effect is just vibes. Stop trying to understand it.

Meat and Potatoes - The main topic of the podcast. What people really come for. Ramble ramble.

Pax Pamir - A very good game that Kenny likes a lot. Tom ruined it by creating an attritional market that lasted 4 hours where nobody could do anything. It has a riotous tiebreaker involving a cooking competition.

Tom's Sexy Dice Game - We don't talk about this.

Trick-Taking Game - A genre of game where you play cards and the strongest card wins the trick. Pretty much any game is a trick-taking game if you really think about it.