The post-Essen Spiel 2021 episode of the Dicebreaker podcast, we give a summary of our favourite games of the show

And update our personal list of desert island games.

Video by Alex Meehan Senior Staff Writer

Additional contributions by Matt Jarvis, and Olivia Kennedy

Published on Oct. 25, 2021

Dicebreaker are back from Essen Spiel 2021 and still have plenty to talk about from the show, so much that we’ve skipped the news and special segment this week.

Our journeys during the world’s largest tabletop gaming convention had us playing all sorts of board games, some of which we covered in last week’s episode, ranging from ones we very much liked to some we unfortunately did not.

A dexterity board game that Matt and I both enjoyed was Iron Forest, a title that’s set in the same universe as Stay Cool but one that takes a decidedly more mature approach to the setting. We all enjoyed interacting with the exciting Teburu tabletop gaming system - a board that allows for some interesting digital integration with a companion app - even if we weren’t hugely keen on the game itself, which was clumsy entitled The Bad Karmas and the Curse of the Zodiac.

Another title we had mixed feelings about was Kingdomino Origins, the next entry in the beloved series of beginner board games that introduced one or two great ideas but felt, overall, like a set of mismatched ideas rather than a complete whole. Luckily we also played Art Robbery, the next board game from Lost Cities creator Reiner Knizia, which turned out to be a far better game than we expected it would be.

Other tabletop titles we cover on this episode include Cockroach Poker and Cheating Moth - which would be the best board games of 2021, if they actually came out this year - Spicy, Wonder Book, Last Friday, Mini Rogue, Far Cry Beyond and Azul: Queen’s Garden.

We also took the time to answer some eeee-mail questions from the audience, including a query about whether our lists of desert island tabletop games might have changed since we last answered the question way back at the beginning of the podcast and which board game tastes most like lemon. This was not an easy question to answer.

You can listen to our rundown of Essen Spiel 2021 on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and Google Podcasts. Add the RSS feed to player of choice.

We'll be back with another live edition of the Dicebreaker Podcast next Friday, streaming from 2pm BST. Join the team in the chat to ask questions, chat about what you've been playing and play along with our weekly segment.

You can also get in touch by emailing podcast@dicebreaker.com, tweeting @joindicebreaker or leaving a comment below. What other fruits might a board game taste like?

Games (and other stuff) discussed