The Thoughtful Gamer Podcast

It's that magical time of the year when we go to PAX Unplugged and revel in beautiful wonderful games, both new and old! We talk about a lot of them here, and we barely cover half of what we saw. But don't worry, there's time to scrutinize Matt's odd perspectives on Magic drafting and bask in the gastronomical wonder that is barbacoa. 1:26 - Impressions of the convention 9:47 - Expo Hall adventures 10:19 - War Room 14:21 - Frosthaven 17:58 - Overbattle 21:29 - Sniper Elite 24:52 - KLASK 28:03 - Foodies 30:26 - Sabotage 37:57 - Namiji 39:39 - Detective Club 42:02 - For Sale 43:02 - Goat n Goat 46:49 - Crystal Palace 51:07 - Tokyo Highway 54:41 - Irish Gauge 55:40 - Flamme Rouge 56:24 - Stay Cool 57:48 - MtG drafting 1:05:40 - South Philly Barbacoa 1:07:51 - Final Impressions 1:10:01 - Weave! (almost forgot) 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 John Zilch, creator of the Clever Kids Mysteries series of puzzle games, to talk about how he creates puzzles for the family gaming experience. We also discuss family gaming in general, and how games can help us all learn and think more critically. 0:56 - Creating the Clever Kids Mysteries games 11:18 - Narrative in puzzle games 29:22 - Family gaming 42:44 - Obligatory sports tangent 48:42 - Using data and feedback to aid puzzle-making 53:48 - Designing puzzles for diverse thinkers   Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

We just finished a game of Trade on the Tigris and decided to sit around a microphone and talk about trading games. Marc, Matt, Lindsay, Amber, and Ben lend their thoughts to this exciting, but challenging genre of game. What is a trading game? Why is Matt insane to think Catan isn't one? What kind of challenges face someone trying to design one? Which one do we think does trading best? Find out! 3:26 - Marc tells a story about middle-schoolers and epistemological horror 5:46 - Board games are first mentioned 7:15 - What is a trading game? 14:47 - Characteristics of trade 19:03 - Creating different valuations 27:45 - Double coincidence of wants 32:48 - Deception and risk analysis in Trade on the Tigris 41:48 - The "single winner" problem 49:43 - An aside on economic notions of value and profit 52:52 - The length problem 58:18 - The uncertainty of value problem 1:02:55 - The aggressiveness problem 1:06:38 - The "trade dominates the game" problem 1:12:22 - Pie Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Lik

Inspired by a conversation over dinner and the success of Geoff and Ryan doing this on the Ludology podcast, Amber and I work through the initial brainstorm for a game design idea we had about...chili peppers. Amber loves peppers, and despite them now being a staple of Indian and SE Asian cuisine, they were originally an exclusively New World plant. How did this massive shift in cuisine come about? We want to find out and make a game about it. 2:38 - We need questions for a future podcast! 4:55 - Origins of the game idea 8:08 - The brainstorming process 12:08 - The POV 23:19 - Honing in the key ideas 33:31 - Goals for historical research 37:05 - Mechanisms: interesting or discard? Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

For my money Tom Russell is one of the most interesting, thoughtful game designers working. For 90 minutes we go deep into his design process, what he hopes to accomplish with his games, the strategy behind Hollandspiele, and what he considers his best work ever: This Guilty Land.  1:40 - Tom's Introduction to Board Gaming 11:08 - Starting in Design 20:49 - Publishing and Hollandspiele 29:03 - Design Process and How Do You Make So Many Games? 46:36 - Irish Gauge 48:42 - The Soo Line 55:24 - For-Ex 1:06:07 - This Guilty Land 1:15:56 - What is a Wargame? What is Objectivity? 1:27:52 - Hollandspiele Recommendations Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

This is less an episode about party games than it is about the nature of criticism. Marc, Matt, and Ben sit down (around a single mic, old-school style) and talk about what features contribute to the classification of "party game", and Marc throws out some ideas he had while he was laying in bed trying to sleep. If criticism is not about trying to predict what people will generally like, and if being generally likable is a valuable thing for a party game to have, does criticism of a party game look different? There's also some nonsense and buffoonery in there. The usual. 0:00 - Something about prime numbers and hockey 3:35 - What is a party game? 15:06 - The critical dilemma 26:01 - Some ruminations on the party games we've played 32:03 - Marc's response to the critical dilemma Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

I am delighted that I got to speak with one of my favorite designers, and a guy whose games I've been playing almost as long as I've been playing modern board games: Corey Konieczka. We go through his time at Fantasy Flight Games, highlighting many of his most popular designs, before talking about his recent announcement that he'd be heading up his own studio called Unexpected Games. 1:08 - Beginnings at Fantasy Flight 7:04 - The design and development process at Fantasy Flight 8:53 - Battlestar Galactica 15:12 - Descent 2nd Edition 20:52 - The Star Wars Games 26:24 - SW Imperial Assault 33:34 - SW Destiny 36:45 - SW Outer Rim 41:06 - Twilight Imperium 4th Edition 49:26 - The future and Unexpected Games Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

Marc, Matt, and Ben are here after a bit of a break to talk about one of our favorite games. In our reviews of all of the Dominion expansions Nocturne and Renaissance had not yet been released. We're now catching up, and these are two very interesting expansions! One fits in with the later, more complex expansion, and the other hearkens back to a simpler time. Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

Dan Letzring is back, and he's here to talk about the latest offering from Letiman games: Adventure Tactics. This is a campaign game inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics that promises to offer the adventuring and character growth of a game like Descent or Gloomhaven without the mandatory 3 hour play sessions.  Adventure Tactics will be on Kickstarter July 29th! See more from Letiman Games here: https://www.letimangames.com/ Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

Vital Lacerda is one of the most significant eurogame designers of the last decade, delivering consistently high quality complex games others can rarely match. In this episode Orion and Marc go through each of Lacerda's games chronologically, evaluating them individually and as part of a larger body of work. What design aspects stand out as particularly "Lacerdian"? What trends have emerged in recent games, and what do we predict for the future? 2:48 - Vinhos 17:33 - CO2 27:34 - Kanban 33:56 - The Gallerist 48:40 - Lisboa 55:50 - Escape Plan 1:07:56 - Tangent about some sci-fi book 1:13:00 - Design consistencies Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

Marc and Matt have started playing Magic again, so they're going to talk about the game itself, its impact in the gaming community, and the new online implementation -- "Arena". 2:15 - MtG as a game 21:18 - MtG as a drafting game 26:42 - Theme 46:28 - MtG as an institution 1:00:59 - MtG Arena Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

We've finally taken the plunge into 18xx train games, and guess what? They're awesome! Marc and Orion talk about what makes a game an 18xx game, what the appeal is, and some of their favorite experiences yet. 1:14 - It's not that intimidating, we promise 3:07 - Overview and history of 18xx 7:04 - Fundamental principles of 18xx 14:24 - Brutal indirect conflict 17:51 - Two design philosophies/emphases in different 18xx games -- operational and financial 27:19 - Why having friends is good 28:32 - Emergent strategic exploration 35:48 - 18xx as narrative-creating experiences 50:08 - Barriers to getting into 18xx 57:16 - Amina the cat voices her opinions Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

I arbitrarily set a deadline for declaring the best games of 2018, and now is that time. I haven't played all of the games from last year that I wanted to, but I did play a good number, and these are my favorites. It's kind of a weird list! I think I was a bit anti-popular opinion this year, so if you want some eclectic choices, here you go. As usual, Matt and Orion join in with their comments and mockery. Don't look at the timestamps if you want to avoid SPOILERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5:58 - Reprints of Note 7:49 - #10: Hardback 8:46 - #9: Dr. Esker's Notebook 9:38 - #8: Teotihuacan 11:14 - #7: Passtally 12:39 - #6: Decrypto 15:32 - #5: Coimbra 19:35 - #4: Gugong 23:58 - #3: Let's Make a Bus Route 27:21 - #2: Sprawlopolis 31:09 - #1: 1822CA 37:29 - Games we played the most in 2018 38:55 - Games of note for Orion and Matt 42:20 - A spectacularly bad idea is developed 44:47 - Most disappointing 2018 games 51:51 - Notable new-to-us games of 2018 55:13 - Memories Music: Sailing The Sola

Matryoshka is available on Kickstarter right now!  I sit down with Cassie and Dan to talk about Matryoshka, a trading and bluffing card game about those Russian nesting dolls I didn't know the name of until I heard about this game. It's the first of hopefully many localization projects Cassie is organizing for Letiman Games. Their enthusiasm is infectious as they talk about this project, some of the rad art they've commissioned, and what's in store for the future of Letiman. I even pitch my own idea for a game that needs a North American printing, because I'm shameless like that. Click to see more about Letiman Games and Cassie.  Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

We're back talking about books! After navigating schedules, we've finally managed to reconvene to talk about the third and final installment of the Three Body Problem series: Death's End. The scope of this book is truly immense, even as the main themes distill and come to a head. Remember, there are full spoilers here, so we recommend you read these fantastic books first. 1:41 - An unusual beginning 9:22 - The swordholder and the male/female metaphor 16:24 - Post-deterrence and 4D chess 21:42 - Fairy tales 25:44 - c 28:48 - Bunkering down 32:24 - The museum 34:21 - The final decision 42:08 - Circling back to the beginning Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

G2S is a great weekend of gaming for those in the New England area. Marc and Orion attended this year and we're here to tell you all about it. We've got ugly games, beautiful games, and aesthetically controversial games. Also, Matt's not here so we get to briefly mention a sport superior to hockey. But mostly games still, don't worry. 2:04 - The Bloody Inn 4:49 - Let's Make A Bus Route 9:54 - Sidereal Confluence 19:29 - Die Macher 35:19 - Glory To Rome 37:27 - Wingspan 45:10 - Gaia Project Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

We played a whole bunch of new games at PAX East and you're going to hear about them! Marc, Matt, and a SECOND Marc bring you the lowdown on every single one of them. This is a mega episode with some mega games (but not megagames, sadly). One of them is easily leading GOTY contention for 2019. We've got euros, we've got dexterity games, we've got train games, and one that kinda looks like a children's construction set. Don't even get me started on Trollfjord. Spoilers below if you don't want to know our rankings. . . . 3:07 - MtG Sealed 9:50 - Video Game Highlight: Lemnis Gate 11:26 - #17: Blood on the Clocktower 18:45 - #16: Ceylon 21:08 - #15: Solenia 23:47 - #14: Trollfjord 30:36 - Dexterity Game Interlude 37:20 - #13: Majolica (introduction) 38:19 - #12: The Climbers 43:12 - #11: The Quest For El Dorado 49:36 - #10: Passtally 53:50 - #9: Welcome To... 1:01:11 - #8: Noctiluca (and more Majolica) 1:09:17 - #7: Symphony #9 1:16:30 - #6: 1906 San Francisco 1:21:26 - #5: Coimbra 1:30:03 - #4: Arboretum 1:

Orion and Marc talk about some of the 2 player games they've been playing recently. There's a good mix of popular and obscure, good and bad here. What makes a great 2 player experience, and what are some of the dynamics created when you make a 2 player game vs. a multiplayer game? Also, Marc rants for a bit. 1:25 - Broader themes with 2p games 7:53 - 7 Wonders Duel 15:50 - Hanamikoji 22:29 - Anthelion 26:29 - Master Of Wills 29:39 - IT'S TANGENT TIME! 36:13 - Targi 46:56 - Innovation 58:24 - 13 Days 1:04:44 - Dual Powers 1:09:37 - Keyforge Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

NOTE: The Kickstarter date for Thrive has been pushed back to March 5th instead of February 26th as mentioned in the audio. I sit down with Adam Rehberg to discuss the upcoming abstract game Thrive where the pieces adapt and grow stronger as the game progresses. I also ask him about his start with modern board gaming and becoming a designer and publisher. Thrive will be up on Kickstarter on March 5th.  Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.

Who could have guessed that birds would be an exciting part of early 2019 among gamers? Elizabeth Hargrave might have been able to predict it, as her new game Wingspan, published by Stonemaier, is both mechanically interesting and lavished with a beautiful production. I sit down with her to talk about her design philosophy, what it's like to see her first published design do so well, and, of course, birds. Because birds are great! 0:44 - Wingspan and birds 21:29 - Tussie-Mussie 26:24 - Elizabeth's history with gaming 30:36 - Different themes and the designing community 39:34 - The pitching and publishing process Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.