“Hey Kyle, where have you been?” is something I’ve never heard before in my life. But if you HAD said that, then allow me to answer you!

As anyone can see, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here on Boar & Arrow. My last review was for the wonderful Tricky Tides on September 16th. Then I went off the grid. Why? Is it because I spent way too much time laying on my couch, watching YouTube and drinking craft beer? Absolutely! BUT I also had other things taking my attention. I spent a good portion of October teaching myself how to use Microsoft Publisher so I could use it to make a newsletter for a freelance writing gig I have. While I’m sure many can use Publisher in their sleep (it really isn’t that hard a program to use), it still took a good deal of energy for me to learn and use, so I was in no mood to do any other writing at the time.

But there’s another reason why I’ve been dormant. You see, as a hobby board gamer I am legally obligated to do certain things. I am forced to own a Kallax, I have a framed picture of Tom Vasel hanging above my bed AND every year I must do a ranking of my top 100 favorite board games. The last one is the important one because over the past few weeks, I have been compiling and ranking my favorite games!

The end goal? To complete a top 100 games feature that will posted over the next 10ish weeks right here on the blog. The posts will be the different entries, comprised of 10 games each. So the first post will be 100-91, then the second will be 90-81 and so on. And this will lead all the way up to my number 1 favorite board game of all time. This will be my 2019 edition of the list and I would really love to make this an annual thing, where I update it towards the end of the year. This will likely bleed over into the first few weeks of 2020, which is a little awkward but hey, it still counts.

I would really like to get my 100-91 post up by the end of this week, but it will DEFINITELY be up by next week if not. In my enduring genius, it just so happens I have chosen to pick the holiday season to post these things, when internet traffic is usually at its lowest point. But it wouldn’t be a Boar & Arrow blog post without terrible decisions.

I am really excited for this, though. I did a top 100 last year for my own personal enjoyment and doing it this year was an even better experience. I have played a lot of new games since that last top 100, so I feel like this year’s list is far deeper in how much I love these games. I had a devil of a time picking which games to go where, and I honestly still have a couple that I’m pondering where to put. When in doubt, I’ve simply printed out pictures of the games, taped them to the back of a tortoise’s shell and had tortoise races to determine winners. Inhumane? Probably. Effective? Not really. But it’s been fun to watch.

And with that cheerful note, I will end this post and humbly ask that you keep an eye on this blog over the next two months or so. I imagine this won’t be as easy as I’m expecting, as nothing ever is, but it should be a fun ride nonetheless. See ya there!