Ambie, Crystal, and special guest Amanda Panda discuss a couple games they played recently (which all happen to be from AllPlay), including Slambo!, Llama Llama, Tearable Quest, Alibis, and Waddle. Then, we talk about relaxing or cozy games that we like and what can make a game relaxing (or the opposite of relaxing).
Check out Amanda on all her links!
Dreaded continuity! We're following up Episode 41 from seven years ago about the games that started our love for board games! After those first loves, what really got our hearts aflutter with the joy that the hobby had to offer? Before we yearn, we talk about Der Fliegende Holländer, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.
02:52 - Der Fliegende Holländer 16:03 - The Hobbit: There and Back Again 27:14 - The games that made us 29:11 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 32:54 - Mage Knight Board Game 36:33 - Francis Drake 39:33 - Two Rooms and a Boom 42:44 - Survive: Escape from Atlantis! 46:46 - Grand Austria Hotel 49:53 - Dead Last 55:26 - Rising Sun
Opener: The games we played at the second BGTG Online Mini-Con
Closer: Essen is almost here, and I'll still follow it (but not anticipate it) For a long time I've wanted to have a boardgamer's discussion about different sports...as games. I don't mean sports boardgames, or season/league play. Nor do I mean franchise management. I mean the physical game itself, on the field, with its rules. Sure, a sport is a physical activity. An enormous part of the resulting play comes from the athletic prowess and physical skill of the players. However, there's a lot of strategy in the best sports games. It's part of what makes them fun to watch, to discuss, to second-guess, and so on. Whether it's football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, or tennis, these games have rules, they have scoring systems, they have strategic texture. Right? If you don't see that, then it might explain why you don't care for sports.
Maybe all sports have strategic texture. It's much harder for me to see in something like the dash races on the track or in a pool. Those seem to be much more measures of sheer physical athleticism. Though even in races, I've heard runners talk about the strategy for a race, especially with the energy management and psychological contest against other runners. However, I'm really focusing on sports that have more rules, more scoring. I think these provide greater opportunity for players and teams to differentiate from each other by their strategy. Sometimes it comes from the coach or manager, such as when managing the clock. Part of the reason this is a solo episode is that I've always had difficulty getting others to understand what I'm talking about. Or perhaps no one is interested! Whatever--I decided to record this episode by myself and find out what kind of response it generates. If you are a sports fan--and a boardgamer--does any of this make sense to you? Did I forget something? Especially with the sports I don't follow so much (soccer, basketball, hockey), I'm sure that I did. Boardgamers seem to gravitate toward baseball, a game that offers the opportunity for deep study and second-guessing. I'm anticipating some reaction there. -Mark
Hey Now Cabalists! Today Don and Jamie share their time at one of the best game stores they've ever experienced - Games and Stuff in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Then the gang dives into a bunch of games they've been playing, including The Presence, Mythwind, Etherstone, Shackleton Base, and Age of Galaxy. Don, Chris, and Jamie throw down a feature review of Tea Garden from Tomas Holek and Capstone Games. And after Tony T’s legendary news segment, the gang tackles a slew of listener questions like what types of players we most enjoy gaming with, whether Kickstarting board games has become too volatile, and how to handle the dreaded phrase: We got it, let’s just play. The Presence: 00:08:42, Mythwind: 00:17:16, Etherstone: 00:28:33, Shackleton Base: 00:36:06, Age of Galaxy: 00:46:26, Tea Garden Review: 00:59:59, News with Tony T: 01:32:18, Short Topic Extravaganza: 02:27:30. Check out our sponsors Restoration Games at https://restorationgames.com/ and Game Toppers at https://www.gametoppersllc.com/.
This Game is Broken is a comedy board game panel show with Matthew Jude, Dave Luza, Paula Deming, Nick Murphy and Mike Murphy. We play a lot of nonsense games full of role playing and trivia as well as other fun stuff which can be found at the links below.
"A quipu usually consists of cotton or camelid fiber cords, and contains categorized information based on dimensions like color, order and number. The Inca, in particular, used knots tied in a decimal positional system to store numbers and other values in quipu cords. Depending on its use and the amount of information it stored, a given quipu may have anywhere from a few to several thousand cords. [...]
Inca administration used quipus extensively for a variety of uses: monitoring tax obligations, collecting census records, keeping calendrical information, military organization, and potentially for recording simple and stereotyped historical "annales"."
Chelsea Steenbock, Chair of Play with Your Food, joins me for a wide ranging conversation. We talk about how games have shaped our lives and how our passion for play enables us to build community and serve others.
Clef and Tim return from Age of Steam Con in Kansas City and talk about all the disc golf and Age of Steam they played. We cover a few Age of Steam maps, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion and Crystal Palace.
Board game talk starts at 34:51!
Join the discord at discord.gg/s8hYtWkMS3 and visit punchboardparadise.com for more info on PPCon 2026!
Music by Hey Disarray
Reviews of Moon Colony Bloodbath and Come Sail Away. All the pegs dive into the Esen Spiel preview list to share their top picks and spotlight the hidden gems you need on your radar discussion starts at {00:35:51}.
Thank you to our sponsors: Queen Games and Grand Gamers Guild.
Guten Tag Cabalists! Don, Jamie, and Tony T are raising their steins high for Oktoberfest and running down their top picks for the hottest games releasing at Essen Spiel 2025! It’s a full-on beer hall bash here at The Secret Cabal, and the excitement is flowing like a fresh keg. All we need now is a heaping plate of wienerschnitzel, spaetzle, and sauerkraut to make it complete. So grab a brew, settle in, and join the Founders for the festivities. PROST!
Adrian takes us into the world of variation in board games. We discuss the various ways and mechanisms that game design does this and whether we personally like them or not and why.
FIRST PLAYER: Adrian OTHER PLAYERS: JP & Rob
In this episode you'll learn: - that we have a new Discord so come and Join us on Discord and say hi - that Adrian has can to Warp 9 in Star Trek Ascendency by Gale Force Nine Games - that the Lacerdaverse is extended to Rob as he plays Lisboa by Eagle-Gryphon Games - JP gets a full playthrough of The Old Kings Crown by Eerie Idol Games
A quick search of the word Pandemic as it relates to the board game mentions on this site, you will find a bunch of them. However, back in Episode 5 is when we do this first mention and where our mission on the podcast was to bring awareness to board games beyond those found at big box stores. That was on February 12, 2013.
Time marches on and we find ourselves with a new entry using the Pandemic system with the LOTR: Fate of the Fellowship. Mr. Leacock has done an incredible job with this one. In my opinion, this brings the base goodness of the Pandemic series to the LOTR world and then ramps it up a few notches. To be honest, it might be a little too hard at times. But who cares, play it again and think of the feeling you will have when you destroy the ring.
We also have some slight dissension in the ranks at RDTN where one does like a game as much as someone else and we have a solid discussion on why. This doesn’t mean that the game isn’t good, just that there is a difference of opinion on what some people like versus what others like.
The Wondrous Museum is an engine builder that plays very fast and has solid decision making for which cards to play and how to use the runes that activate the cards. Leaders if a two person duel game that shrinks down the board to where players are using special moves by their champions to allow them to capture the other person leaders. Your champions are never removed from the board, so it is all about positioning while maintaining a solid defense for your leader.
Thanks for listening and be sure to visit the Discord site to tell us about what type of grass is in your area.
Tom begins by recapping his adventures at the Dice Tower Retreat, and looks forward to the World Series of Boardgaming, before turning to the topic of figuring out what to do with your game collection after you're gone, and why it might be a good idea to make some choices sooner rather than later. Later, we share a new Tale of Boardgaming Horror, peek into the mailbag, and gather a collection of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.
00:51 - Tom at the Dice Tower Retreat
02:25 - The World Series of Boardgaming
04:58 - Dice Tower Cruise, Dice Tower West, Spiel
06:03 - Planning for the Future of your Collection
We are staunchly body positive here at SVWAG, but we do prefer our bears fat. "Let me have about me bears that are fat," said Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, or he would have, had he known about the glory that is Fat Bear Week. I guess Caesar wouldn't have been totally down with the democratic aspect of the whole voting thing, but whatever! Exercise your franchise and vote for the moist chonkers bears.
Anmelden
