The Thoughtful Gamer Podcast

I'm by myself talking about solo games. I got a bit experimental with this one. I hope you enjoy. 0:32 -- A note on silence 3:43 -- Solo games 6:10 -- Arraial 7:35 -- My thoughts on the Fantasy Flight Arkham games 15:37 -- Arkham LCG 24:30 -- Unbroken 32:40 -- Nemo's War 44:26 -- Spring emerges, literally and figuratively Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

I was delighted to sit down with one of our most interesting historical and conflict game designers, Cole Wehrle. The discussion starts with talking about the second edition of John Company (on Kickstarter right now) before wandering to the the rest of his designs as we talk about the ways games can portray history or make interesting arguments. One of my favorite conversations yet. 1:00 -- John Company 2nd Edition 10:00 -- Inspiration for John Company 14:06 -- Connections Between John Company, Pax Pamir, and An Infamous Traffic 17:42 -- Handling Tough Themes 28:40 -- John Company's Success 32:29 -- Game Aesthetics and Kickstarter Expectations 44:58 -- Resolving Conflicts Between Simulation and Fun 1:04:56 -- Cole's Future Game Plans Find more from Cole at https://wehrlegig.com/ and https://ledergames.com Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

Marc, Orion, and Ben have been playing all sorts of 18xx games over the past year, and they're here to compare and contrast the five they've played the most. How much variation is there within this sub-sub-genre of game? What kind of dynamics do different rule variations create? Which is the best starter game? What makes 1817 "bananas-insane"? Find out this and more. If you do not have any experience with 18xx games, we recommend checking out Episode 52 for more of an introduction to the genre. 1:44 -- Plug for 18xx.games 4:41 -- 1846 13:53 -- 18MEX 29:10 -- 1889 and 18Chesapeake 48:35 -- 1817 Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

I sat with Sean Chappell from Ramstar Games to talk about their first release: Hivernation. We discuss the design process for this abstract game as well as the challenges of being a first-time designer and publisher. Hivernation will be on Kickstarter April 13th. 1:01 -- A little about Hivernation 3:23 -- Origins of the design 7:20 -- Experience with co-designing and publishing 13:55 -- Constructing a Kickstarter campaign 21:46 -- Development and polishing process 30:31 -- Sean's history with modern board games 33:32 -- The unique joy of playing games in-person 41:47 -- Release info about Hivernation 46:25 -- Future games in the works for Ramstar Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

I sit down with Kimberly, one of the co-organizers of the excellent Granite Game Summit, to talk about how to run a great board game convention. And, now that everything is necessarily virtual, how do you continue to keep that community alive? 1:01 - Origins of the Granite Game Summit 9:10 - Keeping a convention safe and welcoming 14:36 - Going virtual 30:40 - That unique "feeling" of a good convention 34:26 - Scaling up without losing the spirit of the thing 40:04 - Creating convention comfort 46:51 - Improvement hopes for the future Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

We're getting in touch with our feelings with this one. What can board games do to evoke a sense of adventure? Can board games do this, or is it a poor medium for the concept? How is adventure distinct from narrative? Marc, Matt, Ben, and Amber discuss these questions and more. 3:01 - Introducing the idea of adventure 4:33 - Which games evoke adventure best? 12:35 - Above and Below/Near and Far enter the conversation 18:48 - Strategic discovery process as adventure 21:32 - Throwing Pandemic Legacy into the mix 28:10 - It's not like he didn't warn us: Matt talks about MtG 39:25 - How would we design an adventure game? 52:32 - The role of art 57:22 - How digital tools can aid or hinder adventure Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

This is it, the best of the best! Will Gloomhaven retain its top spot? What new entries have catapulted their way into the top 33? Marc and Orion discuss, with only occasional interruptions from the new (very talkative!) kitten. His name is Mouse. Spoilers below. . . . . . . . . . . 2:28 - #33: Modern Art 5:02 - #32: Nusfjord 6:54 - #31: Food Chain Magnate 8:34 - #30: Agricola 9:12 - #29: The Crew 13:01 - #28: Suburbia 13:35 - #27: Pipeline 18:05 - #26: SpaceCorp 21:38 - #25: Tak 23:43 - #24: Lisboa 26:22 - #23: Terra Mystica 27:36 - #22: War of the Ring 28:25 - #21: Sidereal Confluence 31:25 - #20: Vinhos 33:52 - #19: 7 Wonders 35:09 - #18: Fire in the Lake 35:32 - Brand new kitten interruption! 39:44 - #17: Codenames 39:59 - #16: 1862 47:08 - #15: Concordia 48:04 - #14: Here I Stand 48:26 - #13: Brass Lancashire 50:14 - #12: Castles of Burgundy 51:22 - #11: Space Alert 52:09 - #10: Dominion 52:42 - #9: Through the Ages 54:25 - #8: The Resistance 55:11 - #7: Android: Netrunner 56:14 - #6: Mage Kn

Marc and Orion are back with the second of three installments discussing Marc's top 100 games of all time! This episode brings the most contention and disagreement yet as Marc and Orion's tastes diverge and become more clear. Plus, we get an account of an old Jenga-related trauma, emerging from deep within Orion's memories. Spoilers below . . . . . . . . . . 2:04 - #66: Liberty or Death 5:14 - #65: Fog of Love 5:38 - #64: Mysterium 6:24 - #63: For Sale 8:09 - #62: Downforce 10:30 - #61: Decrypto 12:48 - #60: London (2nd Edition) 15:44 - #59: Catch the Moon 17:42 - Orion relives a Jenga-based trauma 18:14 - #58: Innovation 20:08 - #57: Pictomania 22:08 - #56: Great Western Trail 23:45 - #55: Let's Make A Bus Route 25:01 - #54: Dune 28:08 - #53: Captain Sonar 29:54 - #52: Tiny Towns 31:32 - #51: Go 33:53 - #50: 1822CA 35:47 - #49: 7 Wonders Duel 36:43 - #48: Battle Line 39:44 - #47: Magic: The Gathering 41:12 - #46: The Gallerist 41:30 - #45: Falling Sky 43:17 - #44: Inis 46:07 - #43: Imperial Strugg

WE'RE BACK! After an unplanned hiatus during the chaos times we're back with a new iteration of the top 100 games of all time! 44 of the games are brand new to the list, so there's lots of movement and surprises. Here's the first third of the list. Spoilers below! . . . . . . . . . . 0:08 - We're back! 1:12 - Introducing the top 100 7:48 - Boy it's been a weird few months 11:34 - #100: Air, Land, and Sea 14:22 - #99: Star Wars Armada 16:47 - #98: Mechs v. Minions 17:07 - #97: Sushi Go! Party 18:15 - #96: Friday 18:31 - #95: Forbidden Desert 18:45 - #94: 18MEX 22:57 - #93: Die Macher 23:56 - #92: Stay Cool 25:33 - #91: Roll Player 27:40 - #90: Keyflower 27:51 - #89: Three Kingdoms Redux 29:33 - #88: Gaia Project 31:46 - #87: Pandemic Legacy Season 1 34:11 - #86: Goat 'n Goat 35:33 - #85: CO2 37:08 - #84: Irish Gauge 40:42 - #83: Robinson Crusoe 40:53 - #82: Son of Dr. Esker's Notebook 43:41 - #81: Viticulture 44:55 - #80: Triumph and Tragedy 46:08 - #79: Carcassonne 46:19 - #78: Coimbra 49:06 - #7

Matt and Marc are back at it with wild speculation about the new Magic set. Since we rambled on forever, making this a very difficult podcast to edit, the set has released already and we're already regretting some of the things we said (black and simic seem much stronger than we gave them credit for, for instance.) Still, I don't think we're wrong about everything. Haven't been able to get an Izzet deck together, though... 4:08 - Set mechanics 6:00 - Companion 13:46 - Cycling 17:25 - Keyword Counters 19:33 - Mutate 23:47 - White 32:57 - Blue 49:58 - Black 1:01:06 - Red 1:15:45 - Green 1:26:33 - Colorless 1:29:14 - Mulicolor 1:54:40 - Rares and Mythics Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

The world's gone crazy! Viruses roam the streets, Matt sounds like he's turning into a robot, and computer gremlins are devouring random bits of podcast. But never fear, we at The Thoughtful Gamer are here to provide a perfectly sane, intelligent conversation about the best games of last year. We rag on a few stinkers too. Come! Escape the madness of the world and find respite with our soothing voices. And thanks to our sponsor, Engro Games! Their kickstarter was successful and late pledges are open until April 15. Click here to get Reach and Okazaki before it's too late. Spoilers below. 2:53 - Wavelength Diversion 5:24 - Board gaming in a pandemic 15:55 - Suspense building before the list 16:54 - Honorable "reprint" mention: Dune 22:13 - What is "up"? 23:55 - More grade A suspense 25:22 - #10: Goat n Goat 29:32 - #9: Cooper Island 30:36 - Orion relays a cryptic message regarding a "theory" 31:26 - #8: Stay Cool 35:03 - #7: The Son of Doctor Esker's Notebook 37:40 - A word about our sponsor: Engro Games 38

I sat down with Sean to talk to him about designing board games for two beloved IP's: Sonic the Hedgehog and Bomberman. How did he get these gigs, and what are the challenges you face when you need to meet the expectations of publishers, IP-holders, and fans of the original properties? 0:56 - Sean's start with boardgaming 3:53 - First design: Train Heist 8:59 - First IP design: Sonic the Hedgehog: Crash Course 18:00 - Future design: Unnamed Bomberman game 36:08 - Sean's future plans and "dream IP" Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

Matt and Marc played a lot of games at PAX East, and you're going to hear about it! We've got a better crop than we had at PAX Unplugged, with nearly all of the games listed below being quite enjoyable. Which are our favorites? You might be surprised. This podcast is sponsored by Engro Games, who are running a kickstarter right now for two microgames: Reach and Okazaki. Find more information here. 1:09 - Our PAXperience 6:18 - 2-headed giant mystery sealed event 10:31 - Parks 13:51 - Ishtar: Gardens of Babylon 18:49 - Caylus 1303 20:57 - Marc proposes a new classification system for eurogames 25:55 - Point Salad 28:33 - Electropolis 35:18 - Pax Transhumanity 43:33 - Deep Blue 48:06 - Arkham Horror: Final Hour 52:45 - Cooper Island 57:36 - Nova Luna 1:00:29 - Cosmic Frog 1:05:14 - Goat n Goat 1:06:46 - Boba Boss Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

Bruno is one of the most prolific modern game designers. In this podcast we sit down to talk about all kinds of tricky topics and how they relate to board gaming. He presents a number of interesting ideas that I'm still mulling over. This podcast is sponsored by Engro Games, who are running a kickstarter right now for two microgames: Reach and Okazaki. Find more information here. 1:39 - Board games on the global scale 8:51 - Games as a reflection of real life choices 11:00 - Games in education 21:14 - Games and religion 29:46 - Faidutti's designs, and the place of politics/history in games 38:38 - What kind of game do you want to make but haven't yet? Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.  

In this episode I sit down with Patrick Rauland, designer of Fry Thief and creator of the Indie Board Game Designers podcast to talk about the process of creating games. What are the best practices that successful people use? How do you avoid burnout? What does Patrick have planned for his future designs? This podcast is sponsored by Engro Games, who are running a kickstarter right now for two microgames: Reach and Okazaki. Find more information here. 1:27 - Fry Thief and creating a game in a year 5:48 - Designing with constraints 9:58 - Lessons learned from the Indie Board Game Designers podcast 14:29 - Iteration and quantity 22:23 - Memory and note-taking 30:13 - Level of industry "literacy" among new game creators 33:57 - Marketing tools and strategies 42:20 - Patrick's future game publishing plans 47:10 - Patrick's design tendencies/patterns 49:18 - Overcoming burnout See more of Patrick's work at https://indieboardgamedesigners.com/ and https://laidback.games/ Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstrac

It's fundraising week, and that means we're going all out! Not only will we talk about the ways (including some new ways) to support The Thoughtful Gamer, but we're answering listener questions and giving 5 games our "Masterpiece Games" honor! Plus it's our biggest podcast group ever, with Marc, Matt, Orion, Bubba, and Lindsay contributing their thoughts. Every once in a while Amber mutters a comment from across the room. 3:01 - Fundraising Week! 4:22 - Q&A: Ban a game? 8:27 - What is a Masterpiece Game? 12:24 - Masterpiece Game #1: The Resistance 15:44 - Q&A: Guilty pleasure games 20:31 - New opportunity: Looking for podcast sponsors! 21:37 - Q&A: First board game "crushes" 25:33 - Masterpiece Game #2: Twilight Imperium 28:32 - Q&A: Games co-hosts should try 34:04 - New Opportunity: Voiceovers 35:04 - Q&A: Gluten-free baking tips from Lindsay! 38:28 - Masterpiece Game #3: Magic the Gathering 44:51 - Q&A: How has our approach to gaming evolved? 47:50 - New Opportunity: "Final Look" Ru

I've never met anyone at passionate about the transformative power of gaming as Ken Franklin. Matt and I caught up with him at PAX Unplugged and chatted about his designs, his faith, and why non zero-sum games can change the world. [Headphones recommended due to some background noise] 0:39 - Ken Franklin's history with board games 2:30 - The Mansky Caper 4:44 - Non zero-sum games 11:44 - Faith, religion, and art 16:50 - Imagineers 18:43 - Working with Chris Leder/Back To The Future 21:57 - The single winner problem 24:13 - Party games 26:30 - Upcoming designs 28:31 - Positive experiences through gaming Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

Matt and Marc sit down to discuss the new Magic: The Gathering set, focusing on limited formats (ie the best formats). Which colors looks the best? What kind of new stuff does Theros: Beyond Death bring? Why are there so many enchantments? Let us know what you think about this podcast and maybe we'll continue doing something similar for each new set! 0:39 - Why evaluate a draft set? 4:55 - Set overview 14:48 - "Signpost" uncommons 29:13 - White 37:06 - Blue 45:32 - Black 55:10 - Red 1:00:57 - Green 1:08:39 - Artifacts/Lands 1:10:53 - Marc's top mythics 1:15:05 - Final impressions Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

My conversation with Gil quickly flew by, and before we knew it we were nearly 2 hours in and geeking out about sports. Gil is overflowing with knowledge and enthusiasm about games and design, and our conversation touched on digital games, publishing, Gil's designs, podcasting, and more. Check out what Gil's doing at Formal Ferret and Ludology. 1:44 - Gil's history with games and game design 8:52 - Digital game inspirations 14:28 - Distinctions between the digital and analog media 20:36 - Prolix/Wordsy 29:09 - Game design groups 33:49 - Battle Merchants 36:37 - Games where you're the villain 56:12 - Bad Medicine and the creation of Formal Ferret 1:00:29 - High Rise 1:03:52 - The Networks 1:08:04 - The Rival Networks 1:11:04 - The Ludology Podcast 1:14:33 - Podcast production 1:25:40 - Podcast prep 1:27:34 - Dream Ludology guests 1:41:00 - Has podcasting helped with your designs? Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on 

Five Games for Doomsday quickly established itself as one of the premier board game podcasts. In it, Ben Maddox interviews people from all parts of the board game world with incisive questions, illuminating who they are as people. I sat down with Ben to talk a bit about his work with the podcast and a lot about board game reviewing. What is the role of the reviewer? What are our approaches to analyzing a game? What does objectivity mean, anyway? Find more about Ben here: https://fivegamesfordoomsday.com/ 2:08 - Ben's history with podcasting 6:00 - Five Games For Doomsday 11:57 - The role of the reviewer 16:15 - Reviewing structure 23:48 - Objectivity 30:23 - Civilization games and value 35:26 - Game reviewers we like 38:43 - Why negative reviews are necessary 49:03 - Ben's approach to writing a review 55:47 - Concluding thoughts Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.