We're back with more adorable animals (and some that you may not think of as adorable, but that's just, like, your opinion, man). This month's selection includes: Scythe With Wolves, or, The Dangers of Peer Pressure A lovely, solid game that just feels a little...icky Mike gets to make a picture panorama! The fox experiment that inspired The Fox Experiment The search for lost species that inspired The Search for Lost Species And an octopus escape room! As always, thank you for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review to help us find new l ..read more

Wildlife games! They're full of adorable meeples, heartwarming themes, and...interesting mechanics (which lead to some differences of opinion between us and the mainstream). Come join us as we talk about:  Big chonky animeeples! We stump Frank on a Phil Eklund game, which turns out to not belong in this episode at all. Possibly the most useless insert ever to darken a game box. Contrariwise, here are some very GOOD component storage tools. Why does Mike hate birds? Their eggs are so pretty! Why does Joe hate zoos? Their Arks are so Nova! Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few ..read more

Happy New Year, everybody! To kick things off right, here's an episode looking at all the cool games we're hoping to play in 2024. It's full of plenty of laughter, largely because of the maniacal giggling of Curtis, our newest cohost! Among the things we're laughing at: This map from The Stifling Dark amuses Joe. There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth as we pre-empt each others' picks (although no one else wants any of Brian's picks) This terrifying array of tokens from Magic Realm, which is getting an unofficial remake this year. And then, to moderate the mood, we take a sharp and unpla ..read more

Happy December, everybody! It's time to conclude our year-end wrap-up episode, during which we each count down our top 5 games or game-related things from the year that was, from #5 to #1. We covered our #4 and #5 entries last month, so here are our top 3 from 2023, including several unexpected entries. You'll also hear: Frank continues to assure us that our opinions are wrong. A subtle but delightful piece of box cover art. Mike and Joe both rate games at #2 that they haven't bought. An asymmetrical, real-time, cooperative roll-and-write? In SPACE?!? But Frank, if it's your "greatest game ev ..read more

Welcome, everybody! It's time once again for our year-end wrap-up episode, during which we each count down our top 5 games or game-related things from the year that was, from #5 to #1. ...or rather, from #5 to #4 this episode, with the rest coming next month, because BOY, do we like to talk about games. Highlights (and/or lowlights) include: Use This One Weird Trick to Diversify Your Damage Portfolio - Glyphids Hate It! PLEASE LET MIKE PLAY THE GAMES HE BOUGHT Sometimes, more is just more. The slightly bonkers player board from Revive The Adventures of Robin Hood: Friar Tuck Is Stupid Made-Up ..read more

Happy spooky season, everybody! It's October, which means it's time for a horror game playthrough. This time, Frank brings us Hotel Lovecraft, an audio-powered paragraph-style game from Story Master's Tales. We've trimmed the game down to make for a reasonable episode length - and we got a few rules wrong along the way, to be honest - but hopefully you'll find it entertaining! Frank and Sandi's character develops a taste for blood. (Metaphorically. (We think.)) Mike introduces us to the concept of a "comfort knife." We are all very bad at Egyptian mythology. Except Mike. Thanks as always for ..read more

It's time for another game designer interview! Kyle Rowan is the lead game designer at Wyrd Games and the main brain behind last year's smash hit Vagrantsong. In addition to talking about how Vagrantsong came to be and the exciting pair of expansions coming up on Kickstarter, we discuss: The game's esoteric set of inspirations, including the works of Jack Kerouac, the comic book Harrow County, and the computer game Kentucky Route Zero. Why some people (*cough* Mike *cough*) bounce off the Runaway character. RPG discussions, including Eat the Reich and the forthcoming Blades in '68. And a (not ..read more

We're back with even more SCIENCE! The nerdery continues as we discuss more recent science-themed board games, and offer such tidbits as: "BoardGameGeek - full of lies." - Joe Streeky, 2023 A brief digression on the interior starship lighting design of Picard season 3. The cards in Space Race mix English and iconography, but for why? The overarching threat of an all-Phil Eklund episode Frank's last minute addition this month is Expedition Zetta, with space exploration plus intrigue and romance! Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes and are willing to help us with ou ..read more

SCIENCE! It's certainly closer to our areas of expertise than sports. In fact, Mike (a science teacher) says a lot of impressive-sounding science words when discussing various games, which some of you may understand. In addition: Smog plumes! Didja ever notice that most "evolution" boardgames are actually "intelligent design" boardgames? The most terrifying game board - oh, I'm sorry, "math map" - ever. Frank says, "It's a decent game for people who like that crap." Best score track ever? Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes and are willing to help us with our scie ..read more

WARNING: This episode is cursed. We had to record it (or parts of it) no less than three times, and we still had Frank drop out unexpectedly for a few minutes. (Don't worry, he didn't say anything important.) But it's here now, and it's full of sports games! Rotisserie Baseball! Electric Football!! SO MUCH GOLF!!! Tipp-Kick, still going strong after 100 years! (Here's video of a few professional soccer players from Germany's Bundesliga having a game.) Electric Football, where plastic players slowly and erratically vibrate across the field. (There's video for this one too.) Arnold Palmer holdi ..read more