NEW CONTEST ALERT! Listen to hear how to win Chronicles of Crime from mrdiceguy.com

Chad, Ryan and Adam discuss the various ways a game night can go wrong for the average group, outside of a poorly designed game. Playing with other humans certainly comes with its own array of considerations, but have you ever had a night wrecked by the theme of a game or the gaming environment? We discuss a few things to look for and your best bet to avoid a negative gaming experience.

After the contest break we discuss Arkham Horror, both the second and newly released third editions. Both games feature investigators looking to defend the city of Arkham from one or more existential threats, but how each game goes about it is quite different. We list the differences and similarities as well as our likes and dislikes with Fantasy Flight’s flagship Arkham Files product.

Finally we wrap up the show with some of our recent plays, including Holding On; The Troubled Life of Billy Kerr, El Grande, Chronicles of Crime (our newest giveaway game), and discuss a few new releases!
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Adam, Ryan and Chad discuss what to do when players make mistakes while playing boardgames, as well as discussing the ever present classic board game Risk!
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Ryan, Chad and Adam have put together their gift recommendations for the 2018 holiday season! Whether you’re buying a gift for a work gift exchange, the kids, or perhaps your favourite podcast hosts, we’ve got you covered with suggestions for any conceivable scenario. Well maybe not for your pets. Forgot that one.

After we make our draw for the winner of our Brass: Birmingham contest (sponsored by Mr. Dice Guy Games) we break out our feature game of the episode, Decrypto! This 2018 release takes on the popular Codenames word-guessing genre, with 80% less words and 80% more strategy. Find out why this game may take the cake in the wordplay genre.

Finally we wrap up with our usual “what did we play recently” section, featuring Discover: Lands Unknown, Secrets, Space Alert, and Chad has a pity party about Chronicles of Crime.
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Chad, Adam and Ryan discuss “big games in small boxes” - those games that surprise you with their strategic complexity relative to the smaller-than-normal packaging. Is it possible to get the same level of satisfaction from a card game as a plastic-filled behemoth? Is replayability proportional to the number of components? Does size really matter? We discuss these topics and more!

The second half features A Fake Artist Goes to New York, a big social deduction game in a box the size of your hand. This drawing game gets everyone involved with its approachable theme and ease of play, and doesn’t require any artistic skills short of drawing a line for players to contribute. Find out what we think!

Finally we wrap up with some games we’ve played and want to play, including Ultimate Werewolf Legacy, Pandemic Legacy Season 1, Neanderthal, Discover: Lands Unknown, and more!

Don’t forget to get your entries in for our Brass: Birmingham giveaway! Details buried in the episode somewhere.

CONTEST ALERT! Listen to hear how you can win your very own copy of Brass: Birmingham!

Just in time for Halloween, Adam, Ryan and Chad discuss board games where players take on the role of villains, whether required by the game’s theme or mechanics, or where players are just encouraged to become evil masterminds in their own right. We start with the more obvious hidden traitor and one-versus-many board games, and move on to the more obscure as we try to identify which genres are more prone to bring out the evil in their players.

Starting the second half of the show we feature Werewolf, a hidden role game where hapless villagers attempt to rid themselves of a hidden population of werewolves embedded within their village’s population. Find out why this psychology experiment from the ‘80s is still one of the most popular party games around, and how Chad hosts his online variant (which Adam and Ryan may prefer to the in-person version?)

Finally we wrap up with some games we’ve played at a local 24-hour convention and a few games we’re looking forward to, including Twilight Imperium 4th Edition, Stockpile, Pandemic Legacy Season 1, Tiny Epic Quest, Hunt for the Ring, The Mind, Concept for Kids, and more!

Ryan, Adam and Chad argue for 30 minutes about the meaning of a big word. Really.

We take on the topic of “variable player powers” and how that broad categorization applies to games from Cosmic Encounter to Vast: The Crystal Caverns, and everything in-between. Is there a hard line between variable player powers and asymmetric games? We certainly don’t have the answer.

As you may have guessed, our feature game is also asymmetric - Root. This recent hit has been the talk of the town, and your three hosts had a chance to play it together. Hear about that game (and Chad’s subsequent games since) went, our views on asymmetric games, and what our opinions are on this cutesy woodland creature wargame.

We close the show with some games we’ve been playing recently, including Detective: A Modern Crime Story, Gloomhaven, and Chad’s 5 hour Through the Ages match.

Don’t forget to find Mr. Dice Guy’s most recent discount code buried within!

Ryan and Chad bring you this episode’s topic, Deceptive Cuteness. Starting with a few examples from outside the board game sphere, we demonstrate how games can catch you off guard with their cute themes and/or artwork and follow up with an uppercut of complexity, feelings, or straight up meanness when you least expect it.

Our feature game for the episode is Gloomhaven, a game that Ryan’s recently started and Chad has been solo’ing for awhile now. This massive release from two years ago is still wowing dungeon crawlers with its massive tomb of quests. Find out what works and doesn’t as your two hosts reflect on their recent plays.

We wrap up with some games we’ve been playing lately, including Seal Team Flix, Pax Porfiriana, and Detective: A Modern Crime Story. Speaking of Detective, see if you can find the discount code for Mr. Dice Guy hidden in the show!

Chad, Adam and Ryan discuss the topic they’ve been tiptoeing around for months - co-operative games! From Pandemic onward this style of board game has taken the world by storm, and is distinctively different from the standard competitive game. We discuss trends in the genre as well as our personal picks from the classification.

Afterwards, we discuss a recent co-operative hit, Black Orchestra! This game puts players in the role of German citizens during World War II, attempting to assassinate Hitler from within Germany’s ranks. What does this game bring to the standard “4 actions then event” co-op genre? Listen to find out!

Finally we wrap up with some recent plays, including Tiny Epic Galaxies, Star Trek Frontiers, and a few roll’n’writes.

Alert! Keep your ears open for a exclusive discount code from our sponsor, Mr. Dice Guy, available until September 9th!

Ryan, Adam and Chad take advantage of the recent GenCon released to talk about innovative design in board games. Is the future of board gaming bright, or just full of derivatives? Can’t it be both?

The feature game for this episode is one of the most innovative and popular releases from 2014 - Dead of Winter. This zombie game stands apart from the others as the first one to really “get it” (according to Adam) - find out what makes it so unique in a sea of flesh-eating clones.

Finally we discuss some games we’ve played/are going to play, including Factory Funner, Dungeon Lords, Black Orchestra, Seal Team Flix, and Pax Porfiriana.

Adam, Chad and Ryan discuss bidding and the auction mechanic in board games, breaking down the different types of auctions and what they add to the games that use the mechanic.

They announce the winner of the #OnlyAzul giveaway contest and also discuss some of the things they heard about regarding GenCon 2018.

The feature game got the episode is classic game Power Grid, there is a small addition to the segment “Adam Struggles to like Twilight Struggle” and the boys talk about Skip Bo, The Lost Expedition, some of the Graphic Novel Adventures, and what they want to play in the future.