Youtubers I watch

There are a lot of good channels in Youtube but every single viewer only sees a small fraction of them because of how the algorithm keeps making the content filter bubbles more tight. When I read blogs, I mostly read technical content. When I watch Youtube, I usually avoid developer content as it’s my escape hatch from the profession.

Tricky Gym

The best Pokemon TCG content in the web is Andrew Mahone’s Tricky Gym. Andrew is a accomplished competitive player and a very entertaining content creator. I really like that despite his channel growing a lot, he hasn’t sacrified the quality – quite the opposite. His recent increase in quantity and quality of tabletop games sets him far apart from all the other creators in the scene.

A few other good Pokemon TCG Youtubers I follow are Azul GG, ForTheWinTCG and Omnipoke.

Berm Peak

During the pandemic, I discovered Seth Alvo’s mountain biking channel Berm Peak and its extra channel Berm Peak Express and even though I don’t mountain bike, I’ve found a lot of enjoyment through Seth’s videos. His backyard trail building videos, workspace/office garage build videos and other entertaining content are such a great comfort watching on a rainy day.

Other mountain bike channels I’ve started following since are PorterMTB, The Singletrack Sampler and BKXC.

Brandon James Greer

Brandon is the best pixel art Youtuber out there. Every one of his videos tell an interesting story and show the process of starting with an empty canvas and ending up with the end result. I’ve tried my hand at pixel art a few times and Brandon’s channel has been a definitive inspiration in that.

I especially like his set pieces with vibrant urban environments and I loved his Princess Mononoke GBA piece. The way he imagines retro pixel art game scenes from existing media like Star Wars, Ghibli or Blade Runner gives me a smile as I imagine further what those games could have been.

Game Maker’s Toolkit

Mark Brown’s GMTK is one of the highest quality channels that makes videos about games. GMTK has such a unique style and approach to games: it’s not about gameplay videos nor game reviews but rather well written and researched video essays (that are also just the right length rather than some 4-hour long essays online that can be rough sometimes to get through).

No Rolls Barred

Board gaming is living its hay day right now and that’s visible in the amount of great board gaming Youtube channels. No Rolls Barred stands apart from the others with well produced videos of a group of friends playing games and bantering. I’ve learned of so many interesting games through the channel’s gameplay videos.

It fills the void that Geek & Sundry’s TableTop left on Youtube and the NRB crew has perfectly filled that slot without trying to be TableTop. Some other board game channels I like are Before You Play, Rahdo, No Pun Included, Shut Up and Sit Down and BoardGameGeek.

Laura Kampf

My favorite maker channel on Youtube is by far Laura Kampf. Bit like with mountain biking, I’m not a maker myself and couldn’t hold a saw the right way in my hand if my life dependent on it but Laura’s videos feature so well-crafted storytelling that it captivates me without me having to watch through 30 minutes of cutting planks of wood and then nailing them together.

Some other maker channels I enjoy are I Like To Make Stuff, Crafted Workshop, Marius Hornberger, Alexandre Chappel and Stuff Made Here.