You may not have noticed it, but the world of board games is evolving. We’re no longer in a world where a basic board game collection consists of Monopoly, Clue and The Game Of Life (and maybe Risk if you’re lucky). No, these days collections often have more of the euro-style games in them – and more games in general. In fact, there’s such a huge amount of variety in games nowadays, that if you’re not keeping up with the times you’ll probably have no idea which games to buy.

However, if you want to know what the best games are and get a feel for which games you want to own, there are plenty of great resources you can check out. You can browse forums, listen to podcasts and watch YouTube shows where you see the game played and discussed in detail. Basically, you can find out all you need to know about current board games. Then all you need to do is find the money to buy all the games you want.

Board Game Geek

If you have somehow managed to overlook Board Game Geek in your wanderings, then it’s time to fix that. Board Game Geek is a niche social network basically consisting of a huge forum and a neat way to make lists of your favourite board games. When viewing games, you can see eBay and Amazon pricing. If you add items to your wishlist, you’ll see Amazon prices when you view the wishlist later. Board Game Geek also works as a marketplace between users, so if you’re looking for a particular game, BGG will do its best to ensure you can buy it.

The forums have all sorts of useful discussions where people will try to make lists of the best games for families, two-player games, discuss versions of games and try to list as many useful gaming resources as possible.

The Dice Tower

There are many great board game podcasts to get stuck into, but if you’re just going to try one, then it should be The Dice Tower. The Dice Tower has been making podcasts for several years now and has quite a following and wealth of resources on their website. Take for instance, their list of Games Every Gamer Should Own.

There’s even an online radio version of The Dice Tower, so you don’t need to download it and can just listen to episodes online.

If you want to check out more board game podcasts, take a look at The Dice Tower Network and the Board Game Podcasts directory. I can also highly recommend the Gameopolis podcast as your second choice!

Tabletop

How cool do you think a show with Wil Wheaton showing off his favourite board games is? Answer: Awesome. Really awesome. Tabletop is that show and you should definitely subscribe to the YouTube channel and get watching.

Basically, the story behind Tabletop is that Felicia Day wanted Wil Wheaton to review board games for her Geek and Sundry premium YouTube channel. Once the brainstorming started, the show became one in which they actually play through the games, talk you through rules and strategies and generally show you why it’s great. Warning: You’ll want to buy all of them.

More Reading

Since you love board games, you might also be interested in:

• The 5 Best Gaming Podcasts You Should Be Listening To (not board games)
• Play Dominion With Style Using These Cool Apps [Web/Android/iOS]
• 5 Popular Free Turn-Based Strategy Games
• 11 Free iPad Board Games You Shouldn’t Miss
• 5 Awesome Free Printable Board Games

While we’re on the subject of board games, what’s one board game you’d recommend to anyone?