The end of the year draws nigh, so of course we have to do a year-end countdown. All five of us - even the near-mythical Jayson - have prepared a list of our five favorite games from The Year That Was - enjoy! We argue about what a game's name means because of a (missing?) apostrophe Frank teaches Jayson the lore of the Mothman All of Frank's choices are, for once, board games! The same cannot be said for Joe. We are definitely NOT starting The Ascent of Role-Playing Games, but here are some...

Happy post-Halloween! Now that everyone's hopped up on sugar (and/or in a sugar crash coma), let's finish our discussion of party games! Come along as we discuss: Mike's greatest weakness - a limited knowledge of Campbell's Soup varieties! What game company was founded because of a flooded salmon boat? "They're Belgian, but that's French enough." (We're sorry.) A mercifully brief digression into Marcel Proust's 7-volume À la recherche du temps perdu. And a few video/picture links we mention...

Hi folks! We're back this month to talk about party games, though the last week or so hasn't been as much fun as we'd like. Between scheduling issues and hurricane-induced power outages, this episode was a bit rushed; as a result, it's ended up a bit on the short side, so we hope you'll forgive us. Also, instead of begging for an iTunes review this month, we'd like to ask that you donate what you can to the American Red Cross or another reputable charity providing relief to those battered by...

Remember way back in Episode 33, when we talked about two-player games but excluded fighting and war games because there were too many? Now is when we finally talk about the fighty ones! Join us as: Brian's tongue stops working. We talk about chess - good chess channels on YouTube, weird chess games on forums, and absolutely bonkers chess games on the computer. We look back at an early first-person shooter - in book form. We haggle about the intricacies of the Avalon Hill game complexity...

It's time for another deep dive - this time into the collected works of Czech game guru Vlaada Chvátil (whose name we hope we pronounced mostly right most of the time, but no promises). Join us as: We examine some of the...questionable design choices of Vlaada's first board game. We talk about the metallic composition of these famously flimsy early miniatures. We learn that Frank likes Talisman, and Mike dislikes that. Brian gratuitously quotes Walt Whitman. We talk about excellent digital...

Hello all! We have a lot of games to get through this month, so everybody please take your turn promptly. But how do we know whose turn it is? Listen and find out! Mike happily admits that he would rather watch crappy anime than good movies and TV. Brian explains the original rules to History of the World about four times, and eventually gets them right. Frank has many game designer shrines in his house. We do our research live on the air, making corrections as we go! As always, thank you for...

Welcome back! This month, we're concluding our deep dive into  Kingdom Death: Monster. This episode focuses more on who should consider KD:M (and who shouldn't), the logistics of getting it to the table, and what impacts it's had on the board game industry. Start playing KD:M so you can look forward to building things like this! If you prefer miniatures like this, maybe consider Gatefall instead. Frank tells Joe that he's wrong about his own opinion. And we argue about glue. What do you think...

Buckle in - we decided to try something a little different this month (and next month, because as usual we can't shut up once we get started). We're doing a deep dive on a single game, and we're starting with the legendary Kingdom Death: Monster. If you're interested in the game, you can look forward to two episodes full of discussion and commentary! If not...well, it's a great time to catch up on some older episodes, amirite? Either way, please let us know what you think - do you want to...

Let's talk about not talking! This month, we discuss games in which you have to use things other than words to communicate with your teammates. Highlights include: Charades may be older than we thought, but maybe not as old as BGG says it is. Frank's favorite part of Inkognito We delve into the historical era of...2009?...as Frank breaks the rules again to bring us a game that is literally bonkers. Mike serves his new AI overlords by promoting their game. Bad news - Joe has been murdered!...

We're back with more adorable animals (and some that you may not think of as adorable, but that's just, like, your opinion, man). This month's selection includes: Scythe With Wolves, or, The Dangers of Peer Pressure A lovely, solid game that just feels a little...icky Mike gets to make a picture panorama! The fox experiment that inspired The Fox Experiment The search for lost species that inspired The Search for Lost Species And an octopus escape room! As always, thank you for listening! If...

Wildlife games! They're full of adorable meeples, heartwarming themes, and...interesting mechanics (which lead to some differences of opinion between us and the mainstream). Come join us as we talk about:  Big chonky animeeples! We stump Frank on a Phil Eklund game, which turns out to not belong in this episode at all. Possibly the most useless insert ever to darken a game box. Contrariwise, here are some very GOOD component storage tools. Why does Mike hate birds? Their eggs are so...

Happy New Year, everybody! To kick things off right, here's an episode looking at all the cool games we're hoping to play in 2024. It's full of plenty of laughter, largely because of the maniacal giggling of Curtis, our newest cohost! Among the things we're laughing at: This map from The Stifling Dark amuses Joe. There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth as we pre-empt each others' picks (although no one else wants any of Brian's picks) This terrifying array of tokens from Magic Realm,...

Happy December, everybody! It's time to conclude our year-end wrap-up episode, during which we each count down our top 5 games or game-related things from the year that was, from #5 to #1. We covered our #4 and #5 entries last month, so here are our top 3 from 2023, including several unexpected entries. You'll also hear: Frank continues to assure us that our opinions are wrong. A subtle but delightful piece of box cover art. Mike and Joe both rate games at #2 that they haven't bought. An...

Welcome, everybody! It's time once again for our year-end wrap-up episode, during which we each count down our top 5 games or game-related things from the year that was, from #5 to #1. ...or rather, from #5 to #4 this episode, with the rest coming next month, because BOY, do we like to talk about games. Highlights (and/or lowlights) include: Use This One Weird Trick to Diversify Your Damage Portfolio - Glyphids Hate It! PLEASE LET MIKE PLAY THE GAMES HE BOUGHT Sometimes, more is just...

Happy spooky season, everybody! It's October, which means it's time for a horror game playthrough. This time, Frank brings us Hotel Lovecraft, an audio-powered paragraph-style game from Story Master's Tales. We've trimmed the game down to make for a reasonable episode length - and we got a few rules wrong along the way, to be honest - but hopefully you'll find it entertaining! Frank and Sandi's character develops a taste for blood. (Metaphorically. (We think.)) Mike introduces us to the...

It's time for another game designer interview! Kyle Rowan is the lead game designer at Wyrd Games and the main brain behind last year's smash hit Vagrantsong. In addition to talking about how Vagrantsong came to be and the exciting pair of expansions coming up on Kickstarter, we discuss: The game's esoteric set of inspirations, including the works of Jack Kerouac, the comic book Harrow County, and the computer game Kentucky Route Zero. Why some people (*cough* Mike *cough*) bounce off the...

We're back with even more SCIENCE! The nerdery continues as we discuss more recent science-themed board games, and offer such tidbits as: "BoardGameGeek - full of lies." - Joe Streeky, 2023 A brief digression on the interior starship lighting design of Picard season 3. The cards in Space Race mix English and iconography, but for why? The overarching threat of an all-Phil Eklund episode Frank's last minute addition this month is Expedition Zetta, with space exploration plus intrigue and...

SCIENCE! It's certainly closer to our areas of expertise than sports. In fact, Mike (a science teacher) says a lot of impressive-sounding science words when discussing various games, which some of you may understand. In addition: Smog plumes! Didja ever notice that most "evolution" boardgames are actually "intelligent design" boardgames? The most terrifying game board - oh, I'm sorry, "math map" - ever. Frank says, "It's a decent game for people who like that crap." Best score track...

WARNING: This episode is cursed. We had to record it (or parts of it) no less than three times, and we still had Frank drop out unexpectedly for a few minutes. (Don't worry, he didn't say anything important.) But it's here now, and it's full of sports games! Rotisserie Baseball! Electric Football!! SO MUCH GOLF!!! Tipp-Kick, still going strong after 100 years! (Here's video of a few professional soccer players from Germany's Bundesliga having a game.) Electric Football, where plastic players...

More paragraphs! More stories! More smart-assery! More great quotes like: "Yay for Finns!" "Like Tales of the Arabian Nights, but much better." (!!!) "The story is a lot more...wordful." "I'm not the final boss..." "Frank gets a point for Arc Knight Miniatures, which I don't know if we even talked about on the episode." Welcome to all of our new listeners, and welcome back to our returning friends! If you have a few extra minutes and a generous heart, why not leave us an iTunes review? It...

To listen to our new episode, read paragraph 234. To listen to our original paragraph games episode, read paragraph 191. 234: You listen to a podcast in which: Jayson scores 3 points with a single game. Joe's discussion of Awaken Realms games becomes a meditation on time and aging Germany (and KOSMOS, specifically) steal Frank's and Brian's childhoods  We learn about "The Adventures of Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marion, and the Other Guy" Mike underestimates the value of a light source As...

If this is the expansion to our first expansions episode, does that make it an Expansionception? We find Joe's definition of Hell. Mike and Joe dislike the Venus Next expansion for several reasons, but mostly because they're 12 years old. Frank introduces us to The Death Book, an essential expansion which has no effect on the rules or play of the game. As always, we'd love it if you took the time to write us an iTunes review, as it really helps us find new listeners We'd also love to have you...

Hi folks! Are you enjoying our podcast? Do you want even MORE of our podcast? Good, because here's the first part of our Expansion episode, wherein we talk about the first, worst, and best game expansions in our experience. Discussions include: What was the first expansion? This thread on the Geek suggests that Frank's choice (and thus ours) may be wrong. Joe has trouble remembering the name of a spaceship that is also the name of the expansion the spaceship is in, which he's already said...

Happy New Year! Last month, we took a look back at our favorite gaming things from 2022; this month, we're talking about some of the games we're looking forward to in 2023. Contents include, but are not limited to: Jayson sounds very, very sad post-sinus surgery (but he's doing fine now, promise). Donations of giant mecha or plastic miniatures should be sent to Jayson. Donations of cash should be sent to the podcast. Brian has some serious questions for past Brian. We explore the value of...