Meeple Overboard!

Remember when most of the games we knew were roll dice and move along a path? Maybe that wasn't your childhood, but it sure was ours! We're going to talk about the Roll-And-Move genre of games and some unique games in that style. We also talk about the 25th anniversary of the amazing, incomporable, Super Mario Brothers Movie. And we review Altiplano, recently released to English distribution by Renegade Games.

Ever wondered what it takes to design your own game and run your own Kickstarter?  We talk with Andrew Bosley and Mike Patience from Paisley Games about just that!  Enjoy some great insight into making and producing your own game, and see what these guys' flavors are. 

Continuing in our series of categories and mechanisms of games, we talk about Abstracts. Why are they interesting, and what's a little info about their history? Glad you asked! Let's talk about it. We also talk about the cartoon show We Bare Bears, because it's cute, and we review Rajas of the Ganges, a worker placement and tile placement game.

Mike DiLisio from Solomode Games joins Chris on this episode. As we're discussing solo gaming, he was an appropriate guest to have on during one of Chris' solo episodes. Are solo gamers just a group of socially awkward troglodytes who are afraid of the sun?  After our discussion, maybe you can decide!

Continuing on gaming mechanisms, we talk about why role playing is a good mechanism. We also discuss the history of nachos, and review a buzzworthy new word game people are calling a Codenames "killer."  Is it true?  Check out our thoughts of Decrypto by Iello games and Scorpion Masque.

Chris has been traveling for work, so while in Oakland, get some gaming in.  What has Chris been up to and how has he been keeping busy?  You'll just have to listen to see. Also, Chris looks back at the first 10 games we reviewed on the podcast to see how our opinions have aged since we last reviewed them.

Who loves worker placement games? We do! We do! So we chat about the history and great points on Worker Placement games as we continue to work through our series of talking about why different genres work. We also review Mystery of the Temples, being brought to US distribution by Deep Water Games, currently on Kickstarter!  Go check it out.  Thanks to Deep Water Games for providing us a review copy of the game.

We're starting a cycle for a several episodes where we break down different game mechanisms and discuss what makes them tick and why they're interesting. We're starting with deck building games. We also review Blood of an Englishman, and abstract game done entirely in cards, where two players take the roles of either Jack or the Giant, and the drama of the beanstalks. Come give a listen, and make sure to check back next week for the winner of our Raiders of the North Sea giveaway!

It's been a great time for conventions, and MeepleCon in our home town of Las Vegas is no exception. What a blast we had, and we got to learn quite a few new games. Hear us talk about some buzzworthy games like Decrypto and The Mind, and also our First Impressions on Dinosaur Island by Pandasaurus Games, since their second kickstarter is up now!

Ambie Valdes from Board Game Blitz joins us! We go over our Top 5 games that we really enjoy but haven't played enough times.  Wendy and Chris has some weird fractions of games too, apparently. Very educational and fun!

SaltCon 2018 was an excellent convention, with plenty of great games and a few special looks. One of those special looks was a full play of the demo copy of Brass Birmingham coming up from Roxley Games.  Come listen as we talk about our experience at SaltCon, and our first impression preview of this new game in the Brass system!

This episode, we're going full-blown Own Wilson and talking about "Wow!"  Ben from SnowBoardGamer joins us to go over the Top 5 games that wowed us from the get-go. Some games get slowly warmed up to over time, but not these ones. These ones were instant hits. So enjoy, and see you at SaltCon!

Our Patreon is launching Tuesday, February 27th, 2018. But that's in the future. Today, we're reviewing Azul by Plan B Games!  We also talk about perceived imbalance in games, and why we feel it so badly.  Also, we'll be talking going on Road Trips with a toddler, since we'll be at SaltCon on March 1, 2, and 3!  Hope to see you there!

Ever felt judged for pronouncing a weird game name wrong? We all do it.  Inevitably, we'll say some strange word wrong. Unless you are perfect at speaking every language, so we chat about how it's just fine. Also, puns are stupidly awesome, so we share a few more!  Lastly, we review Castles of Caladale, by Renegade Games and designed by David Wilkinson, which was a review copy received from Renegade.

Hey hey hey!  We're joined by Crystal Pisano from Board Game Blitz, a female-led podcast that also runs 30 minutes. Crystal loves thematic games that create stories, so she's on to share her Top 5 alongside us for great games that do this well.  She's an absolute blast, and I don't know if we've laughed this hard recording an episode before. We hope you all enjoy!

Wasn't there sort of special announcement?  There sure was!  We'll also talk about board game terms that we use, and what exactly we mean by "Heavy" or "Fiddly".  Wendy runs us through a Gluten-Free Roux which is an important staple of cooking tastily, and we review Raiders of the North Sea by Renegade Games/Garphill Games.  Like Vikings? Like Worker Placement?  Check it out.

Do you like candy? Sure you do, unless you're some kind of evil fog monster.  Assuming you're not, then check out our review of a very intering and historically themed game called Operatoin Candy Bomber.  We also discuss what board games have taught us, and learn a little about the fun musical group Postmodern Jukebox.

If you didn't hear the news, Charterstone is kind of a big deal. Jamey Stegmaier. Legacy. Claims of replayability.  So, how does that all stack up?  Let's dive in to our Spoiler Free, but very in depth review!   It's a half hour you'll be grateful to have spent listening to this episode.  Let us know if you have any questions!

Sometimes you get asked to teach a game to people. Those people may not really have much interest in games at all.  Maybe they want to see what you have to offer, but aren't really interested in getting further into the hobby.  Sometimes you have to host a party for 8 people who want to play some games once and that's all they want.  So, how about we offer our Top 5 Games for People Who Don't Play Games  (shortened to Non Gamers for the episode title).  Share with us what are yours!

Ahh, the smell of freshly punched out cardboard!  I love it.  Do you?  How about baby carrots? How about trees?  We're going to talk about them all in today's episode.  Photosynthesis is a beautiful game by Blue Orange Games, who has a solid track record with us.  Check out our thoughts, and share with us yours as well!