Gameblog is a blog I started in August 2002, almost 20 years ago now that I’m writing these words. It has documented my board game activities, with varying levels of activity, as is fit for something that has existed for two decades. It’s what it is, and I know some people have been reading it on and off for twenty years.

My name is Mikko, and I live in Tampere, Finland. When I started, I was a university student, and I lived with my girlfriend. Now I’m married to that girlfriend, my kids are teens, and I’ve been working on Relevanssi, a WordPress plugin, for more than a decade.

I like many kinds of games. Currently, the games I rate a perfect 10 on BoardGameGeek are:

• Magic: The Gathering – I got into Magic at Revised, then had a 20-year break with it. Now I’m really back at the game, thanks to Arena, and I play daily. I’m not a good player, though.
• Innovation – A delightfully weird card game. After hundred plays, the game still keeps surprising me. A masterpiece of design.
• A Feast for Odin – I like many of Uwe Rosenberg’s farming games. This one is my favourite; it’s such a rich game, with lots of possibilities.
• Die Dolmengötter – A perfect 20-minute storm of delicious player interaction. Stay too far, and you’ll get nothing done; get too close, and you’re stuck.
• Samarkand: Routes to Riches – A compact masterpiece of timing, networks, connections and player-controlled game length.
• Monikers – A silly party game that does what a party game should do. I’ve never had a boring game of Monikers yet; this game has me laughing with tears in my eyes every time.

The best place to read more of my views on games outside this blog is the latest top 100 list I’ve compiled on BoardGameGeek.