ABOUT THE AYCB TEAM

 

Dylann Bobei

I wasn’t always an avid tabletop gamer. I had dipped my toe into the world of Dungeons & Dragons in my youth briefly, but it didn’t last. Back in the 90’s, I was a gamer of the video variety, always parked in front of the TV whenever I had the opportunity, playing Super Nintendo and PlayStation almost religiously. It wasn’t until I bought Pandemic on a whim one afternoon almost 10 years ago that an itch started to develop that no amount of board game purchases could ever properly scratch. Fast-forward to now and I have a collection that never stops growing and an overwhelming love and appreciation for the medium. I don’t just love playing board games, I love talking about them, writing about them, making content for them and connecting with its community to see what gets people excited and what brings them and their groups to the table.

With a passion for video production and writing and a love for tabletop games, naturally the idea of starting some sort of hub for consistent board gaming content began to circulate in my head. It wasn’t until Carlo approached me, sharing the same sentiments and feelings, that it clicked for me: We should do this. We can do this. And it’ll be awesome.

All You Can Board is a passion project. I want to take a hobby that I love so much and turn it into something more, but never lose that passion or that appreciation. I want to help people make decisions on which game to buy next. I want to help teach them how to play the games they’re most excited for or thinking of buying. I want to engage in discussions, debates, comparisons and everything in between with the people of this wonderful community. Hopefully you’ll find something here or on any of our channels that you like, connect with or find useful. And if you do, I hope you’ll keep coming back to check out our new content, or comment on one of my opinion pieces, or even just shoot me an email and tell me about a game you’re really excited about or think we should have on our radar. If there’s one thing I’m always willing, available and excited to do, it’s talk about and play board games.

You’ll find me heading up video production and post-production for AYCB, but you’ll also see plenty of me on camera, teaching games and reviewing them, as well as writing articles, reviews and a whole bunch more too.

Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a mug of coffee, a bowl of chips and a tabletop covered in Gloomhaven calling my name!

 

Carlo Sobral

Until I was 18, most of the board games I had played were the common classics like Monopoly, Scrabble, Guess Who and Battleship. One day, my brother introduced me to the Xbox online version of Carcasonne. I had no idea at the time how monumental that introduction to Carcassonne would be, but as soon as I played it, I was hooked. I immediately bought the tabletop version and taught it to all my friends. Soon after, I got Agricola, then Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride: Europe, Pandemic… and it all took off from there.

Even though I love to revisit old favourites, these days I try to diversify and play more games. After all, I played Agricola 100+ times in my first few years in the hobby, and while it’s likely my favourite game of all-time, I can’t help but wonder what else is out there. I definitely gravitate toward Euro-style games that aren’t too luck-dependent, but I also love small box card games that offer a lot with a simple ruleset. Most of my favourite games fall under the following categories/mechanics: tableau building, hand management, worker placement, and tile placement.

I have yet to play an 18xx game. The genre is a little terrifying, but it’s something I’d love to try one day. I don’t play a lot of area control or war-style games, or even heavy economic games, but those are all areas I’d like to eventually explore more.

Years ago, after finishing University with a degree in Rhetoric, Writing, and Communication, I entered the freelance world. It wasn’t easy, especially being unable to find consistent work I truly enjoyed. I always knew I wanted to pursue a bigger writing/multimedia project of some sort, and as my love of board games developed, I thought about a way to mesh those passions together. It wasn’t long until I thought of Dylann, knowing what our combined skill set and obsession for board games could do.

Though we tend to overlap in many of our duties here at AYCB, Dylann is absolutely the photography and videography expert. I tend to specialize more in writing and editing, but I’m loving creating videos too.

We hope to keep you entertained and well-informed as you explore the magical world of board games with us.

 

Thank you to our friend and talented artist, Jan Castillo, for our logos.

 

 

OUR REVIEW PHILOSOPHY

Our reviews will never be paid for.

Our reviews will always be 100% representative of our thoughts on the product.

We will never let our standard of quality suffer in favour of quantity.

We will always play a game as many times and at as many player counts as we deem necessary to form a fair, informed and thorough opinion.

Our final scores are not an average.

Categories will often be weighted more toward game design. However, this will depend on the game.

Category scores will only ever have decimal ratings of .0 or .5. Final scores may range from .0-.9.

Any and all sponsored content (such as previews) will always be clearly noted and stated as such in order to remain as transparent as possible.

 

NOTE: We are currently considering a slightly different approach to our reviews. Stay tuned for upcoming changes!