The winner of the competition prize is themaster408! Congratulations! For everyone else, there is still a chance to win prizes in my more recent videos.
Awesome thank you. I sent you an email and you asked me to do this to make sure it was really me :) Sorry about that. Super super excited. Even my wife, who only plays some games is excited to try some of these!
Thank you to everyone who is enjoying this video! Can I ask for an early Christmas present? That you share this video with your friends, online and off. TH-cam doesn't suggest my videos to new people very much, so I rely on word of mouth. I'm incredibly grateful. Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Funny & fantastic video yet again. Got a few more games on my Christmas list now. Looking forward to playing board games with you at London on Board. Keep up the great work!!!
Your multi-personality representation of family Christmas is surprisingly accurate. I'll make sure to bring Codenames to try to keep the Thanksgiving incident from happening again.
Congratulations! (themaster408) You have won the prize of the seven board games! Please send your address to jonpurkis@gmail.com. And reply to this comment so I know it's you.
I apologise for the terrible mix-up, but the selected winner was "themaster408" as stated in the pinned comment. I've emailed you to explain. Please get in touch with me, themaster408.
That face at 7:58 is one of my favourite things. Anyone else invested in the dynamics of this family?? I would watch episodes like this with or without boardgames in it!
Nothing brings the family together for the holidays better than deception and betrayal; I'll be jamming some Dark Moon down my family's throat this year thanks to your video on the game. Thanks!
I'm continuing to enjoy your amusing reviews that are so much more than the standard "here's how this video game works" reviews. Your characters make your videos a joy to watch. Thanks for keeping them coming. May 2017 treat us all a better than 2016.
Thanks Jon! My wife and I always get a kick out of your characters. She particularly loves Timmy and it often surprised how realistic he seems. Great job!
+Dwight Stone Thank you! I tried something different in this by mostly separating the sketches from the review. It made it easier to write. I'm glad you think it worked.
Beasts of Balance looks to be an interesting melding of technology and good old fashioned dexterity. THAT'S how you get tablet obsessed kids into boardgaming and social interaction. It's very beautiful looking, too, like a sculpture. Very impressive. Thanks for the ideas.
Me and my family love your review and comedy videos, Jon Purkis! You always hit the spot, especially your christmas episode. Even shared it with my dad. Can't wait for the next episode.
Seriously, favorite board game TH-cam channel for sure. Thanks for continuing to bring quality, hilarious, informative content. I'm always impressed at your creativity and humor :) Have a great holiday season!!
One of my favorites in your series! I agree that the sketches and reviews flow well by not being connected at all. And your characters are great fun! Always glad to see Timmy!
🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁WHAT A GREAT LIST! THIS WILL BE A FUN NIGHT FOR AND MY FRIENDS THIS SEASON! Thanks ACTUALOL FOR SHARING THIS TO US! VERY CLEVER, WITTY BUT STILL INFORMATIVE SHARING THIS TO ALL MY FRIENDS LATER! I HOPE YOU CAN MAKE THIS SEASON MORE MERRIER FOR US AND AS A NEWBIE HOBBYIST HERE THIS WILL BE A PERFECT GIFT FOR ME AND TO MY FRIENDS THIS SEASON! THUMBS UP ON THIS! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🎁🎁🎁🎁
Been playing Beasts of Balance for past few days - such good fun! One I'll be getting out for a 20 minute session basically any time anyone visits - it's that much fun!
Onitama has been on my wishlist for a while now. Pandemic Iberia looks like a fun new twist on the series. I'll have to check it out. Another brilliant video. Please keep them coming. They're the highlight of my feed.
Board games have been such a blessing for family events over here in the US during this election cycle. I used your previous list to pick up some games for Thanksgiving and we had such a wonderful time.
This is the list I needed. I've recently moved away from my friends back home (who are mostly into euros) and need to expand my collection to include more party games so I introduce my new friends to board games. Great video!
Splendid, as always. Got my little one Dream House for Christmas, so hope to be playing that! Boxing day she's at dad's so we're whipping out Scythe, finally.
I used to always recommend Gobblet as a two-player strategy game, but now I can recommend both Gobblet and Onitama for different reasons. Great list as usual Actualol!
Great video!! I really enjoyed the mom character, how she wanted everything to be perfect and even has a shedule! I don't know anyone who is this crazy during holiday season but I can relate 😊 going to share this video as well
Looked you up after you liked a photo of my game shelves on Instagram. My husband and I think you are brilliant and love your content! Thank you for making wonderfully entertaining and informative videos about our favorite hobby. This video alone has introduced us to 6 new games we have never seen or heard of. May you have Happy Christmas!
Celestia keeps working its way back onto my wishlist. It's a great little push your luck game that plays quickly, and is easy to grok so can be played easily (and with little explanation) with all kinds of gamers, no mater how novice. I played it's previous incarnation (Cloud 9), and while I'm just so-so on the steam punk retheming, the components and art look gorgeous.
Thanks for all the great game suggestions! I like that you suggest a lot of two-player and family games because for a lot of us, those are always the easiest to get to the table, unless you have a big game group dedicated to long strategy games. Also, poor Timmy :)
Agree with most of your list, always worth keeping it relatively simple to get even novice gamers involved. Keep up the good work. (fingers crossed for the comp!)
Loving your work. One thing I particularly appreciated in this one is your understanding of the possessive apostrophe; it's pretty much a lost art these days :)
Jon, you are the reason my wife and I have been able to entertain literally TENS of people with Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. I hope you'll be the reason we can introduce people to one of those awesome games in the video!
Great list, I think I caught you last year around this time with your seasonal recommendations and the characters were a fun interstitial. Codenames being number one I didn't "expect" but completely agreed with when I saw it. It's such a quiet, thinky, consider-your-decision game that I am really surprised that it has NEVER failed to be a winner in so many different social circles and age groups!
Fantastic video! Not only were the game descriptions spot on, but the intermediate comedy bits were genuinely funny and highlighted the potential pain of forced holiday get-togethers.
fantastic as always! What a great, awesome collection of games. Happy Salmon was great fun at a gaming convention but would also be enjoyable at Christmas. Sushi Go Party was simple and quick yet had a bit of thinking.. a good balance.
Funny as always. Still debating which ones to grab for my family to play. They loved the original Codenames but I want to try something new. Thank you very much for the suggestions.
Super funny and helpful! I am impressed that you continue to find new games I've never even heard of, despite spending a lot of time shopping, browsing, and researching board games. Well done!
The winner of the competition prize is themaster408! Congratulations! For everyone else, there is still a chance to win prizes in my more recent videos.
Awesome thank you. I sent you an email and you asked me to do this to make sure it was really me :) Sorry about that. Super super excited. Even my wife, who only plays some games is excited to try some of these!
Thank you to everyone who is enjoying this video! Can I ask for an early Christmas present? That you share this video with your friends, online and off. TH-cam doesn't suggest my videos to new people very much, so I rely on word of mouth. I'm incredibly grateful. Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Done! Merry Christmas
Will do, for sure!
Actualol already have. I told them the list was good for gift ideas for me
Done!
Funny & fantastic video yet again. Got a few more games on my Christmas list now. Looking forward to playing board games with you at London on Board. Keep up the great work!!!
Your multi-personality representation of family Christmas is surprisingly accurate. I'll make sure to bring Codenames to try to keep the Thanksgiving incident from happening again.
I don't know why I think his conversations with various people is so funny, but it is.
It's surprisingly easy to get invested in the drama between his multiple personalities.
Congratulations! (themaster408) You have won the prize of the seven board games! Please send your address to jonpurkis@gmail.com. And reply to this comment so I know it's you.
Message sent.
I apologise for the terrible mix-up, but the selected winner was "themaster408" as stated in the pinned comment. I've emailed you to explain. Please get in touch with me, themaster408.
That face at 7:58 is one of my favourite things. Anyone else invested in the dynamics of this family?? I would watch episodes like this with or without boardgames in it!
Thanks! That's good to hear. It's something I might experiment with next year.
Please do! I'm always excited to see where you'll go with the stories next.
The gag about the Church of England was genius. Board game analysis and Theological satire, a match made in heaven
Glad to see Onitama getting some love. By far, my favorite game of the year.
Your characters are amazing😂. Thanks for sharing your comedy and reviews with us!
+Laura Miguel Thanks Laura! :)
I love that stone quiet look. Best board game reviews. Funnier than shut up and sit down.
Awesome selection! Always impressed by the amount of goofy roles you play in one video.
Must agree, sketches and reviews intertwine beautifully!
Nothing brings the family together for the holidays better than deception and betrayal; I'll be jamming some Dark Moon down my family's throat this year thanks to your video on the game. Thanks!
I'm continuing to enjoy your amusing reviews that are so much more than the standard "here's how this video game works" reviews. Your characters make your videos a joy to watch. Thanks for keeping them coming. May 2017 treat us all a better than 2016.
Thanks Jon! My wife and I always get a kick out of your characters. She particularly loves Timmy and it often surprised how realistic he seems. Great job!
I love the effort that goes into these productions!
I love the persistent evangelism you do for the hobby, the presentation style you provide is easily accessible and I cannot get enough of it!
Awesome! Easily the best flow between reviews and sketch that you've done!
+Dwight Stone Thank you! I tried something different in this by mostly separating the sketches from the review. It made it easier to write. I'm glad you think it worked.
Beasts of Balance looks to be an interesting melding of technology and good old fashioned dexterity. THAT'S how you get tablet obsessed kids into boardgaming and social interaction. It's very beautiful looking, too, like a sculpture. Very impressive. Thanks for the ideas.
Me and my family love your review and comedy videos, Jon Purkis! You always hit the spot, especially your christmas episode. Even shared it with my dad. Can't wait for the next episode.
Beasts of Balance looks like one of those game I (a forty-something year old man) would just unpack and play with the pieces for an hour.
Seriously, favorite board game TH-cam channel for sure. Thanks for continuing to bring quality, hilarious, informative content. I'm always impressed at your creativity and humor :) Have a great holiday season!!
One of my favorites in your series! I agree that the sketches and reviews flow well by not being connected at all. And your characters are great fun! Always glad to see Timmy!
Kingdom Death Monster for my granny Betty.
Most of your reviews/skits are great, but this one in particular nails the awkwardness of holiday family get togethers. Hilarious!
🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁WHAT A GREAT LIST! THIS WILL BE A FUN NIGHT FOR AND MY FRIENDS THIS SEASON! Thanks ACTUALOL FOR SHARING THIS TO US! VERY CLEVER, WITTY BUT STILL INFORMATIVE SHARING THIS TO ALL MY FRIENDS LATER! I HOPE YOU CAN MAKE THIS SEASON MORE MERRIER FOR US AND AS A NEWBIE HOBBYIST HERE THIS WILL BE A PERFECT GIFT FOR ME AND TO MY FRIENDS THIS SEASON! THUMBS UP ON THIS! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🎁🎁🎁🎁
Wow! I cannot agree more :-)
Oooohh... this is the list you are talking about last night! Yes very clever and his list are great! Hoping for our next game night!
Share this to our friends as well guys :-)
Sometimes I like watching your characters more than hearing about the games!
Been playing Beasts of Balance for past few days - such good fun! One I'll be getting out for a 20 minute session basically any time anyone visits - it's that much fun!
Onitama has been on my wishlist for a while now. Pandemic Iberia looks like a fun new twist on the series. I'll have to check it out.
Another brilliant video. Please keep them coming. They're the highlight of my feed.
Loved the video. Beasts of balance looks quite intriguing for a gift idea, and I had never heard of it!
Beasts of balance looks super cool, the cross between video game and board game is a feature I want to see more utilised.
Loving the Christmas commentary!
Great video and killer competition
Happy Salmon looks like a great game. Thanks for this round up!
Board games have been such a blessing for family events over here in the US during this election cycle. I used your previous list to pick up some games for Thanksgiving and we had such a wonderful time.
Good acting. Great delivery. Thank you for taking the time to make these special.
Thank you! :D
Great writeup! Some of these were on my list already, but a couple of new ones to add for sure.
The best part of this list is that I am an avid board gamer, and only recognized 3 of these. Thanks for putting a couple new games on my radar!
Oh man Sushi Go Party looks like it adds so much more than the original
Great list of games! Some expected winners and a few surprises. Way to keep it fresh!
These group reviews are great. Give a quick glimpse of a lot of things. I havn't watched one yet without getting at least one game on the list
This is the list I needed. I've recently moved away from my friends back home (who are mostly into euros) and need to expand my collection to include more party games so I introduce my new friends to board games. Great video!
These stories with your family keep getting funnier!
I didn't realise the comp was still running! I love Timmy so much and would very much like to see more of him. May he never grow old
I enjoy watching you play all of the different people, it makes me smile. I hope you are not pulling from personal experiences.
Splendid, as always. Got my little one Dream House for Christmas, so hope to be playing that! Boxing day she's at dad's so we're whipping out Scythe, finally.
Great recommendations! The look on Timmy after the Santa comment made me laugh pout loud. This channel is appropriately named.
Merry Christmas to you too - I'd never heard of that Beasts of Balance game, it looks really cute!
I used to always recommend Gobblet as a two-player strategy game, but now I can recommend both Gobblet and Onitama for different reasons. Great list as usual Actualol!
Another great video! Can't wait to get some of these games.
Brilliantly done, man! Fantastically childish in a grown up way! You deserve a lot more subscribers.
Yes please!
Another great video. Swiftly becoming one of my favorite channels.
I am glad that you like Dream Home! I bought it for my parents and I hope that they will also like it.
Those conversations are so relatable! Thanks for the suggestions. I've been looking for games I could play with my boyfriend's non-gamer family.
a new standard for youtube game reviews...even shutupandsit down will need to up their game...thanks for all the work and humor!
Thank you!
Great video!! I really enjoyed the mom character, how she wanted everything to be perfect and even has a shedule! I don't know anyone who is this crazy during holiday season but I can relate 😊 going to share this video as well
Sushi Go was the first game I thought of when I read the title lol. I agree with your first choice! My sister loves that game.
My kids have been looking forward to your new xmas video. I'll be sure to watch it with them shortly. Thanks for the laughs.
Great video, I'm definitely picking up celestia and unusual suspects and I totally picked code names for number 1
Your multi reviews are astoundingly informative for the time length, it really is amazing!
Loved this series last year (how I discovered you) loved it even more this year! Great job!!!!
Looked you up after you liked a photo of my game shelves on Instagram. My husband and I think you are brilliant and love your content! Thank you for making wonderfully entertaining and informative videos about our favorite hobby. This video alone has introduced us to 6 new games we have never seen or heard of. May you have Happy Christmas!
Thank you so much! Happy Christmas :)
Celestia keeps working its way back onto my wishlist. It's a great little push your luck game that plays quickly, and is easy to grok so can be played easily (and with little explanation) with all kinds of gamers, no mater how novice. I played it's previous incarnation (Cloud 9), and while I'm just so-so on the steam punk retheming, the components and art look gorgeous.
The most creative board game channel on TH-cam!
Thanks for all the great game suggestions! I like that you suggest a lot of two-player and family games because for a lot of us, those are always the easiest to get to the table, unless you have a big game group dedicated to long strategy games.
Also, poor Timmy :)
"It might taste unwelcome like a mouth full of mashed potatoes." Hahahaha... love your videos.
The reveal of Santa being fake has been done so many times, but damn if it isn't still funny. I can't believe I laughed out loud.
Well done! Some games in your list are new to me, will have to give them a look.
sushi go party looks like a lot of fun for our groups!
Made me smile, thanks and Merry Christmas
LOL. Love the Codenames : Pictures "twist!"
love your videos! and Celestia and dream home look great!
Agree with most of your list, always worth keeping it relatively simple to get even novice gamers involved.
Keep up the good work. (fingers crossed for the comp!)
Always love your picks for these lists, great to see someone talk about games that aren't on everone's radar!
Loving your work. One thing I particularly appreciated in this one is your understanding of the possessive apostrophe; it's pretty much a lost art these days :)
Haha! Thanks! My greatest triumph :D
love your humor and the choices for Board game Christmas gifts
I really enjoy these reviews, thanks for making them.
I absolutely agree with this top 10, great lineup! Did not knew about Beasts of Balance, very interesting game
Well done as usual. Your original Sushi go video is how I found your channel in the first place.
Great list... I have several of them, my favorite being Sushi Go! Patry :) My wife actually likes that one. Thanks for your reviews!
A great video highlighting new games that most people dont have yet!
Love your videos! All these games would be great for Christmas time!
man that beast part when you played the kid first time playing the game was amazing. laughed so hard. cheers buddy!
Dream Home sounds awesome! I definitely need to get this one. Thanks for the suggestion!
Jon, you are the reason my wife and I have been able to entertain literally TENS of people with Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. I hope you'll be the reason we can introduce people to one of those awesome games in the video!
Great list, I think I caught you last year around this time with your seasonal recommendations and the characters were a fun interstitial. Codenames being number one I didn't "expect" but completely agreed with when I saw it. It's such a quiet, thinky, consider-your-decision game that I am really surprised that it has NEVER failed to be a winner in so many different social circles and age groups!
Fantastic video! Not only were the game descriptions spot on, but the intermediate comedy bits were genuinely funny and highlighted the potential pain of forced holiday get-togethers.
fantastic as always! What a great, awesome collection of games. Happy Salmon was great fun at a gaming convention but would also be enjoyable at Christmas. Sushi Go Party was simple and quick yet had a bit of thinking.. a good balance.
Thanks for this video! I had only played Pandemic and Codenames, and not even these variants.
Super excited to try some of these out for the holidays.
Always a fun time watching your videos. Good luck at the parents house this year!
Love the videos, man. Onitama's on my Christmas list!
Really like your different characters!
Watching your Christmas videos is becoming a tradition with our group. Great job!
Great video! I've added a bunch of these to my wishlist. Celestia was a huge hit for our Thanksgiving get together!
Jon these videos are fantastic! You are consistently making excellent content and as one of your loyal viewers, thank you!!!
Thanks for the loyalty!
Going to try getting the family to play Sushi Go on Christmas
Was looking forward to Pandemic Legacy Season 2 coming out for Christmas, but I'm really excited for Pandemic Iberia
Funny as always. Still debating which ones to grab for my family to play. They loved the original Codenames but I want to try something new. Thank you very much for the suggestions.
Keeps getting more and more entertaining! Guess I'll watch it again right now! Thanks!
Super funny and helpful! I am impressed that you continue to find new games I've never even heard of, despite spending a lot of time shopping, browsing, and researching board games. Well done!
I really like this list! I think Happy Salmon would be fun to play with my in-laws.
One of the best, funniest buying guides for gifts I've seen! Thanks for making me laugh, and keep on doing what you do!