Every Ask the Bellhop Question We’ve Answered

Here is a chronological list of every Ask the Bellhop question we’ve answered.

You can click on each question to see links to where we answered it. I’ve included live AMA questions, but only one that are related to tabletop games and not the off topic stuff like our favourite video games or what snack foods we like to eat. You’ll have to go back and listen to some old podcasts to find that stuff. 😉

Remember, the bullet points under each question are clickable links that will take you to related content.

I realize this list of questions is ridiculously long. I agnozied over this, but couldn’t think of a good way to break the information up. We’ve answered a lot of questions in the 5+ years that we’ve been doing this! I suggest trying CTRL+F to search the page if there’s a particular topic you’re looking for.

Catan! What is it about? Where do I even begin?

What are some lesser-known cooperative games for kids?

What are some good two player board games?

Are custom inserts worth it? And can they help with clean up?

How do you approach teaching board games?

What are some good 3-player area control games to play at lunch?

What are some twists on dominoes?

Can you suggest some next step up games from Splendor?

Does technology at the table help, or can it be a distraction?

What are some apps or techniques for playing music/sound while GMing?

What type of game mechanics do you prefer?

What is your favorite game?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 10, Picking Favourites: The Bellhop’s Top 20 (as of October 2018)

What are some of the worst games that have ever been published?

What are some dos and don’ts for gaming in cafes and pubs?

Can you recommend some solo board or card games?

What are some of your favourite horror games?

How do you sort your games?

What are your must have gaming accessories?

What are some of the best two player board games for date night?

How do you introduce your kids to gaming? And what are some of the best games for kids?

Are there any good ways of printing off a larger format map?

Is ZhanGuo any good at 2 players?

Is Concordia the best game ever made?

Which would you pick; Marco Polo, Coimbra or Lorenzo?

How do you teach a non-gamer a new game? What is the difference between teaching new vs experienced players?

How important is game night food etiquette?

What is the best way to organize a food run so it doesn’t cut into game time?

What are some lesser known 4-6 player board games that can be played after dinner?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 26, Digestif: After Dinner Gaming
Article: After dinner board gaming with 6 players

What games would you introduce to people who aren’t used to playing games? What games do you use to hook people?

How do you deal with a terrible rulebook?

How can I find a tabletop game teacher?

How can I wear the tabletop gamer badge with honour?

What differentiates a good FLGS from a bad one?

Which Kickstarters do you wish you hadn’t backed? Which Kickstarters do you wish you had backed and why?

What kinds of games and setup would work well at a wedding reception?

How do you anticipate when competitiveness can go awry and head it off at the pass? Do you have any rules that set the tone for gaming at your house or your events?

What is game weight? What is the importance of different ‘weights’ of games and how do they fit into a game night?

How can we help little gamers grow up into great gamers?

What are some of the best tile laying games where you build something?

What makes for a great tabletop game room?

What are some games with similar mechanics to Settlers of Catan? What are some good follow up games for folks who only want to play Catan?

What is the Spiel Des Jahres, and what’s it’s relevance to the average board game player?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 43, And the Award Goes To: Talking Tabletop Game Awards

What’s the difference between a Euro game and an American game?

Do you have any tips on prepping for a gaming convention?

What are some good gaming cons for first time con goers?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 47, Moving Day AMA

Can you suggest some games that have worked to hook kids on modern boardgaming?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 47, Moving Day AMA

Do you have any tips on con budgeting?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 47, Moving Day AMA

What are some good board games for console gamers?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 47, Moving Day AMA

What are some of your favourite childhood games?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 47, Moving Day AMA

How long does it takes to learn to play a game?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 47, Moving Day AMA

What are your thoughts on the BGG top ten?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 47, Moving Day AMA

What are some new trends in modern gaming that you don’t like?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 47, Moving Day AMA

What are some childhood games that you would love to see brought back?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 47, Moving Day AMA

What are some good games for a casual group of 4-6 players for a beer and pretzel kind of game night?

Do you have any suggestions for a 5-player game night with non-party games?

Do you have any tips on starting an organized gaming club?

What are your suggestions for a good campaign style game, good for two players?

What are some ways to select which games to play during a game night?

What is your favorite newish game to play with people just getting into the hobby, after games like Catan, and Ticket to Ride?

How do you run a good RPG session for a gaming event?

What is a good place to find older out of print games?

What are the best board games and roleplaying games to bring on a camping trip?

What’s the problem with problematic content?

What are some great board games for three players when one of those players is a toddler?

How many chances do you give a game that doesn’t catch you on the 1st play?

What are the best and worst, media themed games you’ve played?

If you had to remove a game from your collection, which would it be?

What is the best gateway area control game?

What games do you love but find impossible to pitch successfully to a group of players?

Any advice for a Gloomhaven beginner? Tips or things that can help me get the most out of the game?

Have you ever removed an expansion from a game, and why?

What is your favorite board game expansion that you feel is a must have?

To get a longer game played, are you willing to break it into multiple sessions? And what games have you done this with? (and this is excluding RPGs, which is kind of a given you’re gonna break things up)

What was the first game you remember playing that got you into the hobby?

If you were going to make a He Man RPG what system would it be powered by?

What are your thoughts on other game experience enhancing products (outside of sound)?

Any further or new thoughts or recommendations for cooperative games for kids for family games nights?

What’s the best gateway area control game?

Can fan created player aids actually help? Which kinds help the most? Can they help veteran players?

What are some board games that are simple enough that they won’t overwhelm newbs, but interesting enough to engage gamers?

What can I do to raise money through tabletop gaming?

What is the best way to tell someone you hate a game without hurting their feelings or sounding like a jerk?

What do you do when you have a steady weekly group, and as time goes by, you’ve got one player who’s getting less willing to play other games?

Is there a game you have been badly wanting to table, but it just keeps getting pushed back for one reason or another?

If you were going to a Halloween themed party and you could bring one board game, what would it be?

Was there ever a game so bad that it made you want to stop playing games altogether?

What makes for a great licensed board game? What are some of the best (and worst) licensed games you’ve played?

What’s the fastest path to getting to be a solid DM?

Do you have a recommendation for a party game to take to Thanksgiving for people that don’t normally play board games?

Do you guys plow through a rule book to learn a game, or do you watch a video, or a combo of both?

Are there any terrible rule books you wanna call out?

You have a $10 price limit for a Secret Santa gift exchange. What game do you buy?

Have you ever got a nice deal on a game at a thrift store or garage sale?

What game do you own that you have wanted to play forever, but no one will play with you?

What are the game accessories you can’t live without?

What is a product license that you want to see a good board game made for?

What is a good Cyberpunk board game?

On board game night, how do you decide what to bring?

Do you ever try to play some themed background music or sound effects while gaming?

What are some good 2-player co-op games?

Do you have any recommendations on how to better teach board games? And, do you have any suggestions on how to maintain focus on teaching the game?

Let’s say I have $50 to spend, what are the ten games I should consider getting?

Do you participate in any boardgaming-related New Year’s resolutions? Which ones and why (or why not)?

What do you do when one or more players can’t make it to game night for whatever reason?

Are there any good word-based games out there besides Scrabble?

How can I get back into wargaming without the cost of buying, building and painting an army? Are there any good strategic board games that might scratch that itch?

How do you deal with a game night failure?

What are some older games that you would recommend? And are there any games where the older edition is better than the more recent?

What’s an easy but quick two player game?

How about a discussion on house rules for tabletop games?

What are some good games to play during a COVID lockdown?

What are some tabletop games that can be played with little, or no, physical contact?

What are some gaming related things you can do when you can’t get together with others to game?

What are some of the best free ways to play board games online that don’t require you to download anything to play?

What are some great board games for six players?

What are some good, free, printable, D6 games for family night?

What are your thoughts on game experience enhancing products? Sound/music for the ears, candles for the scent, game related snacks, etc.?

What are your suggestions for sorting and storing hundreds of minis?

What are some great games by black game designers?

Do you have any solutions for players who only ever want to play one type of game?

What are some of the best tabletop games from Canadian designers?

How do you curate your game collection? When should you let go of a game? When you must get rid of some games how do you decide which ones?

How do you get the most from your unwanted games?

Why do you play boardgames?

How do you determine if a given player’s skill and experience is a good match for a new game they are about to play, given that a player’s skill level is very subjective at best? As my skill increases and I look for greater and greater challenges, am I going to lose interest in most of the current games in my collection as I pursue this hobby?

What are some surprisingly advanced older games with mechanics we think of as recent inventions? What are some newer games that are far more complex than you’d expect?

What are your thoughts on Game Generated RPG Artifacts (a.k.a. physical things that are created through gameplay and are left behind long after the game is done)?

Can you give me some suggestions of games that seem heavier than they actually are?

What are some things that designers can do to make their games easier to play and to learn?

What are your suggestions for adult beverages on a beer and pretzel game night?

What are your rules for beverages on game night?

How do you deal with a gamer who has a few too many drinks?

What are some of the games that are the most fun for 2 players that were released in the last three years?

What do you consider the best horror games? What horror themed board games and RPGs do you recommend?

How about a discussion on RPG type games that use playing cards?

What does one get for the gamer that has everything? I have a friend who is the game-buyer for our group, so he doesn’t need games, but it would be great to get him some accessories for the games he has. What do you recommend?

What are some of the best games you tried for the first time in 2020?

What are some good game suggestions for a historical miniature wargamer looking to broaden their horizons into hobby board games?

What exactly is an engine building game? How do you define an engine builder? What are some of your favourites?

Hey, can you help me define game types? What is a Dexterity game? What is a legacy game? Can you give me a Tabletop Bellhop guide to types of games?

Getting and keeping a group active and regular is probably the biggest problem that gamers face, can you give me any advice on how to keep a regular game night going?

Any recommendations for cooperative games for kids for family games night?

What superhero themed RPGs have you been reading? And what makes each of these supers roleplaying games stand out from the rest?

What are some board games and RPGs from Indigenous game designers? Can you list some historic games, as well as some modern ones?

Does your gaming life have to end if you have kids? What are some tips and tricks to keep game night going with newborns and toddlers on the scene?

Do you have any good filler card game recommendations?

What do people mean when they say a board game is a Train Game?

What would you recommend for someone as a next step up from Ticket to Ride, in so far as train themed games?

Why would you want a dice tray (or why not)? What should you look for when buying one? Is there a difference in usability or transportability in the different sizes and shapes of dice trays? What about dice towers?

What are your favourite 10 games from the Board Game Geek Top 1000?

What’s so bad about “Roll and Move” games? Just because this mechanism was employed very poorly in the past doesn’t mean it’s bad. I believe it’s getting a bad rap because of the lack of player decisions, and lack of ways to mitigate poor dice rolls. Are there any roll and move games that you know of which use this mechanism effectively?

I’m thinking about running a small board game tournament and am wondering how to choose games for the tournament? Also, how do you do the draw so the same people aren’t sitting at the same table the whole time? And is it better to do a league style tournament or a one day event?

What ultralight games would you recommend for groups of mixed generations, kids all the way to seniors?

Do you have any advice for organizing a public game night?

Do you have any good word based party game recommendations?

Do you have you any tips for a group trying to unbox and learn a game together for the first time?

My boyfriend went to work overseas for a year. I am looking for challenging single player fantasy themed games to play until he returns. Any suggestions?

What are some games that didn’t appeal to you by sight but you were blown away when you played them?

If you had to run a board game session for one hour in a school event with six players from first to fourth grade what would you do? What kind of games would you make them play? Would you try cramming lots of games into one hour or one longer game? How much help should you give to kids playing against each other?

Do you know of any RPG map-making websites or tools (ideally free) that can allow the user to create and/or generate both city and country maps? Primarily needs to be maps the user can create.

What are some tips you’ve learned for running superhero RPGs after reading multiple core rule books and running a few games?

If you had a defined space – say something like a 12 inch or 18 inch cube – that you wanted to stay within, what games would earn their place in that limited space? Bonus points if you have some family games.

What are some great games that a kid can toss into their backpack and bring to high school?

What were the best games you played in 2021?

What are some tips for how to improve a public game night? And how about some suggestions for an event with a mix of casual and hobby gamers?

Can you tell me about copyright and game design? If a game has been patented for more than 20 years, is it legal to use the card mechanics? Is it still covered by intellectual property? Regarding mechanics, how much do you need to change to make it your own?

What are some mystery themed games that are actually good?

How low does a price have to be before you buy a ‘bad’ game?

Could you do a show that is a roundup of all the Robotech games since there seem to be so many of them out there now?

What would you recommend for a narrative/adventure game that a 6yr old could play?

What are some party games that hobby board gamers will enjoy?

What are your thoughts on using a tile-laying game to start an RPG? What other ways can you mix board games and RPGs?

What are your thoughts on the new Marvel Multiverse RPG now that it’s out to the public?

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 170, Exploring the Multiverse: Our Thoughts on the Marvel Multiverse Playtest Rulebook

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Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast

Who doesn’t love board games? Find lots of board gaming (and a few RPGs). Tabletop Bellhop, your cardboard concierge, is here to answer your gaming and game night questions, helping you make your game nights better with tabletop game reviews and advice.

Where we’ve been, and potential future disruptions to the show. Once we get everyone up to speed we move on to two puzzle reviews, a murder mystery from Mysterious Package Company, and a look at a new sci-fi-themed Quezzle from Unidragon. We wrap up with some vacation gaming talk.

Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 218, September 13th, 2023. Join us on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST at https://www.twitch.tv/tabletopbellhop.

If you enjoy our show, tip the Bellhop at: https://www.patreon.com/tabletopbellhop

Detailed show notes: https://tabletopbellhop.com/episode218

Disclosure: Links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Games mentioned may be review copies provided by publishers.
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:58) SUGGESTION BOX

Send feedback to moe@tabletopbellhop.com

(00:08:19) ASK THE BELLHOP – What’s Up?
“What’s up? Where have you guys been?”

Send your questions to questions@tabletopbellhop.com or visit TabletopBellhop.com and click on Ask the Bellhop.

(00:34:03) THE GAME ROOM – Body of Evidence, Best Served Cold Preview
A new style of tabletop investigation game from Mysterious Package Company
Best Served Cold written preview https://tabletopbellhop.com/game-reviews/body-of-evidence/
Back Body of Evidence https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mysteriouspackage/body-of-evidence/
Check out other Mysterious Package Company games (use code BELLHOP to save 10% off) https://mysteriouspackage.com/?sca_ref=4037524.zKGVQi3XQq

(00:57:28) THE GAME ROOM – Quezzle Vol. 2 Space Adventures
A new sci-fi-themed mash-up of tabletop game and jigsaw puzzle from Unidragon.
Our Quezzle Amazing Cappadocia Review https://tabletopbellhop.com/game-reviews/quezzle/
Written Review of Quezzle Space Adventures https://tabletopbellhop.com/game-reviews/quezzle-space-adventures
Pick up Quezzle Space Adventures (use code BELLHOP to save 10%) https://quezzlespaceadventure.unidragon.com/?ref=BELLHOP

(01:19:33) BELLHOP’S TABLETOP

(01:39:07) PATREON SHOUT OUT
(01:39:38) End of Show

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