Adam delivers the first rule of Board Game Club
Episodes of Board Game Club are usually introduced with a "first rule of Board Game Club", parodying the "first rule of Fight Club" from Fight Club. Most of the rules are references to pop culture. The first 105 have been documented in this compilation.
The tables below document every one of these rules. Have a click through the links on the rightmost column for some great lines across the breadth of pop culture!
List of Board Game Club first rules[]
2020[]
| Episode | Introduced by | The first rule of Board Game Club is... | In reference to... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Let's Play CODENAMES | Adam | ... please do talk about Board Game Club, we'd love this series to hit the ground running. | The first rule of Fight Club, "don't talk about fight club." |
| Let's Play SPYFALL | Adam | ... BYOBB. | A joke in a The Simpsons episode. |
| Let's Play JUST ONE | Adam | ... no shoving. (Additional: ... there should always be a winner). | Unknown. |
| Let's Play WITS & WAGERS | Adam | ... very similar to Batman's first rule. | Batman's first rule is "no killing." |
| Let's Play WAVELENGTH | Adam | ... the challenge demands satisfaction. If they apologise, no need for further action. | Quote from the Hamilton song "Ten Duel Commandments", this being the first. |
| Let's Play SECRET HITLER | Adam | ... no Homers. We're allowed to have one. | Another joke in a The Simpsons episode. |
- To see this year as its own page, click here.
2021[]
| Episode | Introduced by | The first rule of Board Game Club is... | In reference to... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Let's Play SNAKE OIL | Adam | ... needlessly complicated. | Sometimes, sure. |
| Let's Play DECEPTION: MURDER IN HONG KONG | Adam | ... treat every day like Christmas. | The first rule in the Code of the Elves in Elf. |
| Let's Play A FAKE ARTIST GOES TO NEW YORK | Adam | ... don't get served the ball if any part of your head, body or feet is in the opponent's half, excluding the half way line, and any part of that head, body or feet is nearer to the opponent's goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent. | The offside rule, specifically the first section on The FA website. |
| Let's Play SPYFALL 2 | Adam | ... that fear is the mind killer. | Frank Herbert's Dune, specifically from its Litany Against Fear. |
| Let's Play BLOOD ON THE CLOCKTOWER | Adam | ... something you can absolutely 100% know to be true... unless you're drunk or poisoned. | The rules of Blood on the Clocktower. |
| Let's Play SKULL | Adam | ... if this is your first Board Game Club, you have to fight. | The eighth and final rule of Fight Club. |
| Let's Play DOBBINS OR BOBBINS | Adam | ... subject to rule F26, a jockey must be seen to ask their horse for timely, real and substantial efforts to achieve the best possible position and take all other reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure that the horse is given a full opportunity to achieve the best possible position. | Rule F37 of the Rules of Racing, administered by the British Horseracing Authority. |
| Let's Play BLOOD ON THE CLOCKTOWER II | Adam | ... you can get money for old rope. | An idiom about getting money for doing something easy. |
| Let's Play TELESTRATIONS | Adam | ... no throwing plates. | Possibly the rules of the UK's first DivorceHotel, meaning that divorcees must be on civil speaking terms to stay there. |
| Let's Play DECEPTION: MURDER IN HONG KONG II | Adam | ... you can't be tried for the same crime twice. | Double jeopardy, a concept in common law. |
| Let's Play SECRET HITLER II | Adam | ... you get a strict two-term limit. | The twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting how many terms a President is eligible for. |
| Let's Play DIXIT | Adam | ... laugh hard, run fast, be kind. | The Twelfth Doctor's regeneration speech from the Christmas 2018 episode of Doctor Who, "Twice Upon A Time". A final rule they set for their next incarnation.[1] |
| Let's Play SAY ANYTHING | Adam | ... protected by the 1st amendment. | The First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects the freedom of speech. |
| Let's Play FUNEMPLOYED | Adam | ... you stay until the job is done. | A fight scene from the 2000 film Snatch. |
| Let's Play SABOTEUR | Adam | ... legally distinct from any property owned by the Disney Corporation. Heigh Ho. | A song from Disney's Snow White, "Heigh Ho". |
| Let's Play BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! | Adam | ... no refunds. | Common phrase in retail. |
| Let's Play QUIPLASH | Adam | ... heroes never die. | Mercy's catchphrase from the game Overwatch. |
| Let's Play A FAKE ARTIST GOES TO NEW YORK 2 | Adam | ... der Kampf ist noch nicht vorbei. | German for "the battle is not yet over." It's another Mercy line from Overwatch. |
| Let's Play SNAKE OIL II | Adam | ... snake me once, shame on you; snake me twice, shame on snake. | The proverb "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," with added snakes. |
| Let's Play DECRYPTO | Adam | ... dash dot dot dot, dot dash dot dot, dot dash, dot dot, dot dash dot (-... .-.. .- .. .-.). | Morse code for "BLAIR". |
| Let's Play TELESTRATIONS II | Adam | ... that, you get? THAT you get? | Referencing previous Telestrations games. |
| Let's Play WAVELENGTH II | Adam | ... grab a friend, that's your second - your lieutenant when there's reckoning to be reckoned. | The second duel commandment in Hamilton. |
| Let's Play COUP | Adam | ... a bollocks lie, told by a bollocks liar. | Unknown. |
| Let's Play FIBBAGE | Adam | ... balderdash. | Balderdash being the game Fibbage is based upon. |
| Let's Play NO THANKS | Adam | ... yes please. | The opposite of "no thanks." |
| Let's Play COLT EXPRESS | Adam | ... 3 parts rooting to 1 part tooting. | The measurement of a cocktail, containing "rootin' and tootin'.[2] |
| Let's Play PANDEMIC | Adam | ... follow the guidance, unless the guidance doesn't make any goddamn sense, in which case just don't be a dick. | Will Wheaton's Law, in the wake of the actual pandemic. |
| Let's Play AVALON | Adam | ... Adam's always evil. Except actually, statistically most of the time he isn't, so apologise. | Adam often being accused of being evil in social deduction games. |
| Let's Play WEREWOLF | Adam | ... as numerous as the hit singles from popular Australian band Crowded House. | Jon's love of Crowded House and his insistence that they weren't just a one hit wonder. |
| Let's Play REPUBLIC OF JUNGLE | Adam | ... coming soon. | Possibly the switch to in-person Board Game Club episodes. |
| Let's Play WAVELENGTH III | Adam | ... BX 4 4 4 life. | Adam's faction (of which Big Damo was briefly a part) in his days at Whatculture. |
| Let's Play SNAKE OIL III | Adam | ... be careful what you wish for. | A popular phrase and trope. |
| Let's Play SPYFALL II | Adam | ... this is the end. | The end of online Board Game Club episodes. (And also the first line of Skyfall by Adele). |
| Let's Play COSMIC ENCOUNTER | Adam | ... a New Hope. | Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, and the beginning of in-person Board Game Club. |
| Let's Play CHEESE THIEF | Adam | ... aft gang aglay. | A line from the Scots poem by Robert Burns, "To A Mouse." Translates to "the best-laid schemes of mice and men/go oft awry." Mistakenly jumbled by Adam. |
| Let's Play DREAM CRUSH | Adam | ... always rerack your dumbbells when you've finished making those sweet gains. | General gym etiquette. |
| Let's Play SNAKESSS | Adam | ... trust in me. | Kaa from The Jungle Book, when hypnotising Mowgli. |
| Let's Play HIT THE SILK | Adam | ... the ground is that way. | Down. |
| Let's Play MEAN GIRLS: THE PARTY GAME | Adam | ... on Tuesdays we wear... board games. | "On Wednesdays, we wear pink," from Mean Girls. BGC comes out on Tuesdays. |
| Let's Play COCKROACH POKER | Adam | ... actually, a toad. | Well ... sometimes it is. |
| Let's Play BETRAYAL AT HOUSE ON THE HILL | Adam | ... don't be afraid of the dark, be afraid of what's in the dark. | Tagline for Pitch Black. |
| Let's Play DETECTIVE CLUB | Adam | ... just one day away from retirement. | The retirony trope, in which detectives in media die just before retirement. |
| Let's Play NEMESIS (Part 1) | Adam | ...oh..oh...oh, no. | The terror of Nemesis. |
| Let's Play CHAMPION OF THE WILD | Adam | ... animals are friends, not food. | A line from Finding Nemo. |
| Let's Play NIGHT OF THE NINJA | Adam | ... forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza. | A line from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles |
| Let's Play UNFATHOMABLE | Adam | ... do not call up that which you cannot put down. | A quote by H.P. Lovecraft in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. |
| Let's Play DUNE | Adam | ... (screw it, I'm doing the whole thing) I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. (that rules). | Frank Herbert's Dune, specifically from its Litany Against Fear, for a second time! |
| Let's Play CHINATOWN | Adam | ... I forgot it, Jake. | A quote from the 1974 film Chinatown. |
| Let's Play WHITEHALL MYSTERY | Adam | ... you will soon hear of me and my funny little games. | The "Dear Boss" letter, a message allegedly written by Jack the Ripper himself. |
| Let's Play MYSTERIUM | Laurie | ... bustin' makes us feel good. | "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. Of course, one should also listen to Neil Cicierega's "Bustin'". |
- To see this year as its own page, click here.
2022[]
| Episode | Introduced by | The first rule of Board Game Club is... | In reference to... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Let's Play DEAD OF WINTER | Laurie | ... there's no more room in hell, the dead shall walk the earth. | A line from Dawn of the Dead. |
| Let's Play KING OF TOKYO | Laurie | ... he's a monster from the 90s - he's been working out. | A quote from Hank Azaria. He was in the 1998 Godzilla film. |
| Let's Play MONSDRAWSITY | Laurie | ... punchline does not mean 'hit the child'. | The first of the Ten Rules of Comedy that appears on a sign in Monsters Inc. Made for a viral Tumblr post. |
| Let's Play CASH N GUNS | Adam | ... if you shoot someone in a dream, you do have to wake up and apologise. | A line from Reservoir Dogs. This itself is a play on a line from the 1938 film Angels With Dirty Faces. |
| Let's Play FIASCO (Part 1) | Laurie | ... anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. | Murphy's law |
| Let's Play FOR SALE | Adam | ... always be closing. | A line from the film Glengarry Glen Ross. |
| Let's Play TSURO | Laurie | ... before you criticise someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way you'll be a mile away from them and you'll have their shoes. | A quote by humorist Jack Handey. |
| Let's Play 6 NIMMT | Adam | ... a load of old bull. | Because of the card theming? |
| Let's Play DON'T MESS WITH CTHULHU | Laurie | ...well it's ... it's don't mess with Cthulhu. | It's the name of the game! |
| Let's Play SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM | Blair | ... every town has its ups and downs - sometimes ups outnumber the downs, but not in Nottingham. | Disney's Robin Hood, specifically the song "Not in Nottingham." |
| Let's Play NEMESIS LOCKDOWN (Part 1) | Adam | ... the game is never over, man. | A line from Aliens. |
| Let's Play HERD MENTALITY | Adam | ... they do move in herds! | A line from Jurassic Park. |
| Let's Play GOOD COP BAD COP | Adam | ... just one day away from retirement. | The retirony trope, for a second time. |
| Let's Play LORDS OF VEGAS | Adam | ... we're the only winners - the players don't stand a chance. | A line from the 1995 film Casino. |
| Let's Play WISE GUYS | Laurie | ... I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse. | A line from The Godfather. |
| Let's Play SKULL II | Adam | ... if you open your mind too much, your brain will fall out. | A general turn of phrase, but also a Tim Minchin song. |
| Let's Play CAMEL UP | Laurie | ... camel sense is what camels have to keep them from betting on people. | A play on the term 'common sense'. |
| Let's Play CONDOTTIERE | Adam | ... scegliere le tue battaglie. | Italian for "choose your battles." |
| Let's Play LIBERTALIA: WINDS OF GALECREST | Adam | ... it's how you look at buccaneers that make them bad or good. | The Muppet Treasure Island song "A Professional Pirate." Tim Curry! |
| Let's Play BETRAYAL AT HOUSE ON THE HILL (3rd ed.) | Sullivan | ... we have to go back to the old house. | The Smiths song "Back To The Old House." |
| Let's Play MAFIA DE CUBA | Sullivan | ... please, stop doing crime on the day of my daughter's wedding. | A line from The Godfather, again. |
| Let's Play THE THING: INFECTION AT OUTPOST 31 | Adam | ... don't be a cheating bitch. | Quote from The Thing. |
| Let's Play COSMIC ENCOUNTER II | Sullivan | ... there's no such thing as diminishing returns. | ... because this is a repeated game. |
| Let's Play COLT EXPRESS II | Adam | ... this town is absolutely big enough for the two of us -this town has two houses. | The trope "this town ain't big enough for the both of us." |
| Let's Play WESTERN LEGENDS | Laurie | ... once you've passed the point of no return there will be no way to slow the train down before it reaches Eastwood Ravine. | Back to the Future Part III. |
| Let's Play VAGRANTSONG | Adam | ... if the train doesn't stop at your station, it's not your train. You could still try and get on it, but it might kill you. | A quote from author and lecturer Marianne Williamson. |
| Let's Play CELESTIA | Sullivan | ... meeple and children first. | "Women and children first." |
| Let's Play THE ESTATES | Adam | ... the road to success is always under construction. | A quote from actress Lily Tomlin. |
| Let's Play JAMAICA | Adam | ... SOS, I hear them shouting, SOS, I hear them calling. | Kofi Kingston's theme in WWE. |
| Let's Play TRIAL BY TROLLEY | Sullivan | ... incredibly revealing about your personal ethics. | The Trolley problem is just that. |
| Let's Play HUES AND CUES | Adam | ... it's not easy being green. | Kermit's song. |
| Let's Play SOUNDS FISHY | Sullivan | ... thou shall have a fishy on a little dishy, thou shall have a fishy when the boat comes in. | A line from the song "When the Boat Comes In," originally from North East England in the 1800s. |
| Let's Play DECEPTION: MURDER IN HONG KONG III | Adam | ... one can't argue with a point of view. | A quote from Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot in Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories. |
| Let's Play MUFFIN TIME | Laurie | ... 2 medium eggs, 250ml of milk, 250g of sugar, and 400g of self-raising flour. Stick that in your mi-cro-wa-ve. | A recipe for muffins, most likely from BBC Good Food. |
| Let's Play WAVELENGTH IIII | Sullivan | ... like... here? | Reflecting the game mechanism. |
| Let's Play PITCHCAR | Adam | ... if you ain't first, you're last. And don't I bloody know it. | The film Talladega Nights, and Adam's poor win record. |
| Let's Play BRISTOL 1350 | Laurie | ... yeah but no but yeah but no but yeah but no but yeah but no but yeah. | Vicky Pollard in Little Britain, played by Matt Lucas. |
| Let's Play WONDERLANDS WAR (Part 1) | Adam | ... the best way to explain it is to do it. | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. |
| Let's Play WITS & WAGERS II | Sullivan | ... the house always wins, unless the house is Adam. | A popular proverb. |
| Let's Play SNIPER ELITE: THE BOARDGAME | Adam | ... there's always something to envy: a smile, a friendship, something you don't have and want to appropriate, Sullivan. | A line spoken by Commisar Danilov in the film Enemy at the Gates. |
| Let's Play PANDEMIC | Adam | ... really hard to come up with, without referencing, you know, the thing. | The pandemic, lol. |
| Let's Play QUEST | Sullivan | ... it's only a model. | A line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. |
| Let's Play WEREWORDS | Sullivan | ... that's my line. | Unknown. |
| Let's Play SECRET IDENTITY | Adam | ... Clark Kent. | Clark Kent's secret identity is Superman. |
| Let's Play LIFEBOATS | Adam | ... women and children first, Adam last. | "Women and children first," again! |
| Let's Play MODERN ART | Adam | ... art is anything you can get away with. | Quote by Marshall McLuhan in his book The Medium Is the Massage. |
| Let's Play MOONRAKERS | Adam | ... take my unfinished life and make it complete. | A line from Shirley Bassey's song Moonraker, made for the James Bond film of the same name. |
| Let's Play GRAVWELL | Adam | ... in space no one can hear you lose a game. | The tagline for Alien, "in space no one can hear you scream." |
| Let's Play STELLA | Sullivan | ... that living well is not having all the answers, but pursuing unanswerable questions in good company. | Quote from Rachel Naomi Remen. |
| Let's Play DECRYPTO II | Sullivan | ... password. | As in 'decryption'. |
| Let's Play CITADELS | Adam | ... never attribute to stupidity that which can be adequately explained by malice. | A reversal of Hanlon's razor. |
| Let's Play THE THING | Adam | ... why don't we just sit here a while and see what happens? | Quote from The Thing. |
- To see this year as its own page, click here.
2023[]
| Episode | Introduced by | The first rule of Board Game Club is... | In reference to... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Let's Play SURVIVE: ESCAPE FROM ATLANTIS | Adam | ... the real lost island is the friends you killed along the way. | A popular trope about worthless treasure. |
| Let's Play ISS VANGUARD | Adam | ... they mostly come at night. Mostly. | Quote from the film Aliens. |
| Let's Play HOLLYWOOD 1947 | Adam | ... it's not who you know, it's what you know about who you know. | Muddled version of a proverb; "it's not what you know but who you know." |
| Let's Play ZOO VADIS | Adam | ... not very interesting to me, cos it's not about me. See how that works? | Quote from King Julien in the Penguins of Madagascar episode "Tangled in the Web"[3] |
| Let's Play DIAMANT | Adam | ... it belongs in a museum. | Quote from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. |
| Let's Play ONE NIGHT ULTIMATE WEREWOLF | Adam | ... grrrrrrwwchhhh | Wolf noise. |
| Let's Play CODENAMES II | Adam | ... the only thing worse than change is the status quo. | Quote from the espionage novel Smiley's People by John le Carré. |
| Let's Play MONIKERS | Adam | ... rules help control the fun. | Monica quote from Friends. |
| Let's Play CATAN | Adam | ... never build your house out of straw, or out of sticks, when you could build it out of sheep. | Reference to "The Three Little Pigs." |
| Let's Play TAKENOKO | Adam | ... if you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are. | Quote from Kung Fu Panda. |
| Let's Play WHAT NEXT? | Adam | ... we don't know where we're going, but we are on our way. | Jumbled lyrics to "Road to Nowhere" by Talking Heads. |
| Let's Play GREEN TEAM WINS | Adam | ... it is easy being green. | Reversed Kermit quote from Sesame Street. |
| Let's Play AMONG CULTISTS | Adam | ... sus. | Among Us meme. |
| Let's Play TERRORSCAPE | Adam | ... it doesn't matter who survives, what matters is what will be left of them. | Tagline from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. |
| Let's Play THE SHIVERS | Adam | ... shall we play a game? | Quote from WarGames (we think). |
| Let's Play SALEM 1692 | Adam | ... up until an hour before the devil fell, God thought him beautiful in heaven. | Quote from The Crucible by Arthur Miller. |
| Let's Play BANK HEIST | Adam | ... what doesn't kill you makes you stranger. | Joker quote from The Dark Knight. |
| Let's Play SAY ANYTHING II | Adam | ... nothing is true, everything is permitted. | The Creed from the Assassin's Creed series. |
| Let's Play COUP II | Adam | ... done in the name of democracy, against democracy. | Quote by Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano about wars and military coups. |
| Let's Play FAST & FURIOUS: HIGHWAY HEIST | Adam | ... (and I feel contractually obligated to say it) all about family. | Quote from the Fast & Furious franchise. |
| Let's Play MYTHIC MISCHIEF | Adam | ... we gladly feast on those who would subdue us. | Quote from the credo of The Addams Family. |
| Let's Play FEED THE KRAKEN | Adam | ... the worst rule you've ever heard of, but you have heard of it. | Altered quote from Pirates of the Carribean. |
| Let's Play FUN FACTS | Adam | ... did you know that cornflakes were invented to stop people masturbating? | An entirely true fun fact. |
| Let's Play PICTURES | Adam | ... I don't care! Look at our new studio! Look at our new- We're in a new studio! RRRRRRRRRRR! | This is the first Board Game Club episode filmed in NRB's new studio. |
| Let's Play GOOD FACE BAD FACE | Adam | *good face* | From the name of the game. |
| Let's Play TORTUGA 1667 | Adam | ... one day, when the tonguing is done we'll take our leave and go. | Lyric from the shanty Wellerman. |
| Let's Play SUSHI GO PARTY | Adam | ... I'm going to say it again, I'm going to say it again: sushi is not raw fish ok? What sushi is, is anything that is made with a special vinegared rice. Alright? It's got nothing to do with the fish - you're thinking of sashimi, everyone. You're thinking of sash- | I mean - he's not wrong. |
| Let's Play HEAT: PEDAL TO THE METAL | Adam | ... rubbing is racing. | From NASCAR, particularly appearing in Days of Thunder, but also used as a metaphor widely in the US, including in politics. |
| Let's Play THUNDER ROAD VENDETTA | Adam | ... shiny and chrome. | The definition of beauty in Mad Max: Fury Road. |
| Let's Play SPICY | Adam | ... no heat, no eat. | Various sources, no definable origin. |
| Laurie | ... spicy chilli jam that jam. | A twist on the WrestleTalk/partsFUNknown tag line 'jam that jam'. | |
| Let's Play MEN AT WORK | Laurie | ... you better run, you better take cover. | A line from Land Down Under by Men at Work. |
| Let's Play HORRIFIED | Laurie | ... a graveyard smash. | A line from Monster Mash by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett. |
| Let's Play SMASH UP | Laurie | ... I've been waiting three years to play this game. Three years I've been waiting to play this on the channel. | Impassioned truth bomb from Laurie Blake. |
| Let's Play K2 | Laurie | ... up there you're not dying, you're dead. | Quote from Vertical Limit |
| Let's Play BLOCK PARTY | Laurie | ... like drinking poison, like eating glass. | Part of the lyric from Like Eating Glass by Bloc Party. |
| Let's Play LOVECRAFT LETTER | Laurie | ... only poetry or madness could do justice to the noises. | Direct quote from The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft. |
| Let's Play BEAST | Laurie | ... Sally forth! Tally ho! Grab your sword, grab your bow! | Part of the lyric from The Mob Song (aka Kill the Beast) from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. |
| Let's Play POETRY FOR NEANDERTHALS | Laurie | ... Forget the first rule of Board Game Club and look at this TABLE! We've got a brand new board game table. | I mean, he's not wrong - it's a nice table. |
| Let's Play BURKE'S GAMBIT | Laurie | ... you know Burke? I don't know which species is worse. | Quote from Aliens. |
| Let's Play GLOOM | Laurie | ...you're going to need a sunstone if you want to turn THAT into a Bellosom. | Pokemon business |
| Let's Play HORRIFIED: AMERICAN MONSTERS | Laurie | ...don't want ya - cos your feet's too big. | Part of the lyric from Your Feet's Too Big by Fats Waller. |
| Let's Play PARANORMAL DETECTIVES | Laurie | ...an unchained melody. | A song Unchained Melody recorded by multiple people, notably The Righteous Brothers. |
| Let's Play BETRAYAL AT BALDUR'S GATE | Laurie | ...chaotic neutral. | One of the potential alignments in Dungeons & Dragons. |
| Let's Play FUNEMPLOYED II | Laurie | ...one example of a time you worked in a team. | A very common interview question. |
| Let's Play STOP THE TRAIN | Laurie | ... delayed due to leaves on the line. | A common excuse for delays to trains in the UK. |
| Let's Play JUST ONE II | Laurie | ... nobody I'd rather be. | Lyrics from Chesney Hawkes' "The One and Only". |
| Let's Play MILLIONS OF DOLLARS | Laurie | ... we get the warhead, and then we hold the world to ransom. | Quote from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. |
| Let's Play FORGOTTEN WATERS | Laurie | ... why is the rum gone? | Quote from Captain Jack Sparrow himself in Pirates of the Caribbean. |
| Let's Play SABOTEUR II | Laurie | ... I can't stand it, I know you planned it. | Part of the lyric for Sabotage by The Beastie Boys. |
| Let's Play CONCEPT | Laurie | ... daddy made you your favorite, open wide. | Lyrics from Bo Burnham's song "Content". |
| Let's Play BETRAYAL: THE YULETIDE TALE | Laurie | ... making a list, checking it twice. | Lyrics from the classic Christmas song "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". |
- To see this year as its own page, click here.
2024[]
| Episode | Introduced by | The first rule of Board Game Club is... | In reference to... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Let's Play READY SET BET | Laurie | ... but you can't make it drink. | The second half of the saying which begins "You can lead a horse to water..." |
| Let's Play BOHNANZA | Laurie | ... the more you eat, the ore you toot. | Part of a playground song about beans |
| Let's Play BOHNANZA | Laurie | ... I'm a good person, and I don't deserve to be covered in marinara sauce! | Another Monica quote from Friends |
| Let's Play DECORUM | Laurie | ... bloody hell, you've had some cowboys in here! | Stereotypical reaction of a builder quoting for a job, in the UK at least. Very commonly referenced, including notably in the Doctor Who episode, The Girl in the Fireplace |
| Let's Play SPEEDPORT and CLICKPORT | Laurie | ... have you tried turning it on and off again? | Very common initial tech support question |
| Let's Play GALAXY TRUCKER | Laurie | ... your parcel has been delivered to a neighbour. | Familiar phrase from a missed-delivery slip left by a package delivery company |
| Let's Play TELESTRATIONS IV | Laurie | ... no kissing Monopoly golf. | It's a literal description of the Telestrations drawing in front of him. Let's wonder what the drawing was actually supposed to be. |
| Let's Play ROBO RALLY | Laurie | ... 3 - 2 - 1 - Activate! | The starting instruction for the robots in Robot Wars |
| Let's Play EL GRANDE | Laurie | ... thou hast seen nothing yet. | A quote from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. |
| Let's Play JAWS | Laurie | ... show me the way to go home - I'm tired and I want to go to bed. | A popular song from the 1920s, sung by Quint in the movie Jaws. |
| Let's Play SNAKE OIL IV | Laurie | ...first you make them think they have a problem and then you sell them the solution. | A quote from cartoonist and author Oliver Markus Malloy. The quote continues "That’s how advertising works. Every snake oil salesman knows that." |
| Let's Play PARKS | Laurie | ... all the people, so many people. | Part of the lyric from Parklife by Blur. |
| Let's Play MONSTER VOICES | Laurie | ... scary feet, scary feet, scary feet - the kid's awake! | A line from Monsters, Inc. |
- To see this year as its own page, click here.