WE TAKE BOARD GAMES SERIOUSLY
We’re two Canadian board gamers with a passion for sharing photos and our thoughts on all things board games!
HOW WE STARTED
Hello, and welcome to our little corner of the hobby!
Tabletop Savants consists of Corinna and Duncan, two Canadians who met at the height of the pandemic, when dating meant swapping Spotify playlists and hoping that their hobbies aligned.
Luckily for Duncan, Corinna was practically hobby-less, so it didn’t take many trips to the local board game café to start playing more modern board games together.
What started as a hobby turned into a full-blown obsession! In 2023, we launched our Instagram channel as a sort of digital diary for friends, but it quickly became our creative outlet — a space to share the games we love, the ones we don’t, and everything in between. But Instagram slaps a character count limit on posts, so this blog will hopefully give our thoughts a little more breathing room!
YES, WE CALL OURSELVES THE SAVANTS.
WHO ARE WE?
Savant: a very learned or talented person, especially one distinguished in a particular field of science or the arts.
As two geeks who love to be right, we’re always striving to know as much as we can about whatever we can. In our friend group, we’ve become the game experts, the “savants” giving advice on which games to try, which to stray from, and which they NEED to come over and play with us!
We pride ourselves in being “in-the-know,” especially when it comes to reviews. So there our name was born, from our humble brag!
Duncan
A competitive spirit, driven to win, Duncan grew up playing the classics with his family — Clue, Battleship, Euchre, Hearts, and the most classic of them all, Chess.
In pharmacy school, he and his buddies stumbled into a Snakes & Lattes café… and never looked back. They tried their hand at modern board games like Catan, Smallworld, and eventually One Night Ultimate Werewolf — a game that’s still a staple in our collection.
These days, Duncan is the brains behind our operation: poring over rulebooks, spending hours learning, watching, re-learning, and patiently teaching every game we play.
It’s no easy task, but if you ever get the chance to be taught a game by Duncan, consider yourself lucky!
Corinna
The creative mind of the duo, Corinna has always been drawn to storytelling — whether through amateur photography, crafting stories and poems no one would ever read, or making up songs just for fun.
Her board gaming childhood was light on strategy but big on laughs and competition: Monopoly marathons, Crazy Eights showdowns, and Guess Who battles made up most game nights. Sprinkle some Banagrams and Boggle in there too!
But everything changed when she discovered modern board games. What started with Ticket to Ride: Europe, Cartographers, and Raiders of the North Sea quickly snowballed into a full-blown obsession.
Now, Corinna’s the heart behind our content — snapping photos, spinning stories, and finding just the right words to capture how a game feels to play (at least for us). She brings the voice and a whole lot of colour to everything we do.
WHAT’S THE POINT OF OUR WEBSITE?
We wanted a more permanent space for our text-based reviews, thoughts, and board game ramblings that we usually share on Instagram. A home for our ideas that would allow for them to be more detailed and, hopefully, more easily navigable.
Here you’ll find:
- Game Reviews,
- First Impressions and Gameplay Breakdowns,
- Monthly Recaps,
- Thematic Musings, Mechanics Talk, and Photo-Rich Highlights
We like to keep things upbeat but honest. We talk about what we love, what didn’t work for us, and who we think a game is for — even if it’s not for us.
WHY DO WE DO THIS?
Because board games are more than just cardboard and components. They’re shared stories, tense standoffs, cozy rituals, and reasons to gather. And every time we find a game that makes us laugh, gasp, or argue over end-game scoring, we want to talk about it.
So, whether you’re here looking for your next favourite game, curious what we thought of a recent release, or just nosy about what we’ve been playing lately, we’re so glad you stopped by.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to stick around, explore, or drop us a message — we’d love to hear from you.
Tabletop Savants
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Don’t forget to enjoy your corner of the hobby.