Boardgame Mechanics

FOMOE (Fear of Missing out on Essen)

Blog by Jason

Essen Spiel has concluded and everyone is now starting to post all of their obligatory "haul" pics.  I have been seeing people with piles and piles of games.  That gets me wondering...do people that go to this con only to acquire games and if so have they been saving up for the entire year for this?  I have had the privilege of going to Origins for the past three years and Pax Unplugged in 2017 and when I was there I was unable to buy this many games that I am seeing on these posts from Essen.  I would have loved to bought this many games but bills and other responsibilities kept this from becoming a possibility.  I guess this is more about my jealousy of not being able to buy this many games than it is about the people who do buy this many games.  Someday I will have the opportunity to go to Essen and buy so many games that I have to wonder how I am going to get the back to America.  First world problems, for sure.

Episode 40 - Interview With Plaid Hat

Introduction

News

• Arkhanos by creative games studios
• Dungeon WC by Dracomaca Games Real time co op game where players are trying to get their hero thru a dungeon to the bathroom before time runs out.
• Fantasy Flight Content Creator smackdown

Games played 

• Jason - Dungeon Petz by Vlaada from CGE
• Joel - Coimbra Plan B and Eggertspiel
• Jason - Tanks, but no Thanks! by Tin Robot Games
• Joel - Concordia

A Hat that is Plaid Interview

• Interview with Plaid Hat Games

Closing

Let Yes mean Yes

Blog by Jason

I understand that being an adult is tough, I do. There are days that I play hooky from work just to take a mental health day or to spend some time with the family.  While these are nice to do occasionally these need to be the exception to the rule in life and not the rule.  There are too many people that make plans or agree to do something and then cancel last minute or just don’t say anything and leave people hanging and wondering what is going on.  Again I understand that things can come up and that sickness and emergencies can happen; I am not heartless. It just makes it hard to believe that these happen so often every time certain people make plans.  I know that this isnt board game related but sometimes it is just good to just reflect on life because there is more to the world than board games and sometimes I forget that. If this is a topic that any of you feel strongly about I would love to read some comments about it. This is one of the things in life that irritates me the most and I just needed to vent a bit about it. 

Episode 39 - The Swankiest of Interviews

Introduction:   

News: 

• RB8 Retro baseball

Games played:

• Jason - Dragon Boats of the Four Seas
• Joel - First Class
• Jason - Not Alone
• Joel - Altiplano

A very Swanky Interview:

• Interview with Mike and Chris from Swanky Turtle Games.

Closing

Episode 38 - Shame Games

Introduction:  

News: 

• Rise to Nobility Beyond and Second Printing.  On Kickstarter now with 14 days to go.
• Centershaft Fallen Elements from Not My Eyeball Games.  This has 28 days to go and is only 8% funded. Met designer at Origins.
• Dragon Boats of the Four Seas from Maple Games and designer Daryl Andrews.  Bidding for spots on these four boats that will take you to one of the four islands.  There is a bit of take that but seems like a slick euro in spite of that.

Games played: 

• Jason - Drop It!
• Joel - Red Scare
• Jason - Rising 5: The Runes of Asteros
• Joel - New York Slice

TBD: 

• Jason - Terra Mystica
• Joel - Detective
• Jason - Vast: The Crystal Caverns
• Joel - Heroes of Land Air and Sea
• Jason - Vasco da Gama (all What’s Your Game Games)
• Joel - Twilight Imperium 3

Closing: 

Joel Honorable Mentions -union pacific, power struggle, BSG

Jason Honorable Mentions - Spirits of the Rice Paddy, Ladies and Gentlemen, Redacted

Episode 37 - Top 5 Worker Placement Games

Introduction (2 additional questions)

• Which are your favorite board games as apps (mobile or PC), either by fun or by best implementation and experience?

• Which digital games (card, board, etc.) would make good physical games?

News

• Second edition of Belfort coming from TMG. Has new expansion material and the hard to find Expansion Expansion.
• Renegade is reprinting Trajan. Will release in December.
• Keyflow… it’s definitely less than keyflowER
• Homebrewers. -- looks awesome.

Games played

• Jason - Xi’an
• Joel - Heaven and Ale
• Jason - Castles of Caladale

Top 5 Worker Placement Games

• Jason 5 - Dinosaur Island
• Joel 5 - Voyages of Marco Polo
• Jason 4 - Tzolk’in
• Joel 4 - Keyflower
• Jason 3 - Lorenzo Il Magnifico
• Joel 3 - Vinhos
• Jason 2 - Voyages of Marco Polo
• Joel 2 - Viticulture
• Jason 1 - The Gallerist
• Joel 1 - Great Western Trail

Jason Honorables - Trickerion, Vasco da Gama, Istanbul, Demon Worker, Rajas of the Ganges

Joel Honorables - Near and Far, Le Havre, Manhattan Project, Kingsburg, Alchemists

Closing

What To Play During Game Night

Blog by Jason

When you have game nights do people bring their own games to play?  I have game nights at my house frequently and the other gamers usually bring a pile of games that they want to play.  This isn’t a problem except when it comes to deciding what games to play.  My collection is pushing 400 games that I love and want to play but when others bring over games I feel obligated to play those games to make sure my friends are playing games they are interested in. I usually oblige because, well, I have a podcast and need to get lots of games played to keep the podcast relevant and interesting but I also like playing older games as well.  At the end of the day I realize that this is really one of those “first world problems” kind of post and some other people would love to be able to have the opportunity to relax and play board games and here I am lamenting whose games I am going to play.  With all of that being said how do all of you decide whose games to play on game nights? Do you take turns playing different people’s games or just have an already determined schedule of the games for the night.  I would love to hear all of your thoughts on this topic. Head over to our Facebook page where there will be a post where you can comment your responses. Keep gaming!