The Albino and the Bear

It's been a long time since we gave you any sort of episode which would help frame the context from which we're reviewing our games, so here you go. Today, we both go over some of our earliest gaming (specifically eurogaming, and hobby gaming) experiences, so that you know where we're coming from.

Carcassonne may lack the notoriety of Catan and Ticket to Ride, but it is absolutely of the same pedegree. It's an extremely satisfying gateway game with great expandability.

Apologies ahead of time for the ramblings this week, but herein, we tackle the topic of what makes a game a classic. It is, predictably, rather hard to nail down, but we approach the topic from a number of different angles.

Cosmic Encounter is both really old and really well spoken of in gamer circles. Here, we try to put our collective finger on why that is, as well as discussing our experiences with it.

Here, we talk about some serious upcoming changes in at least one of the host's lives which you might be able to guess from the title. Admittedly, not much board game content this week, but we do talk a lot about community, and we firmly believe that board games are excellent means for developing community.

Imhotep is a game which really came out of nowhere to get a lot of buzz, since it was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres. Is it worth the attention? Here, we try to pick it apart a bit.

We had a difficult time getting together this week again, so this time, it's all bear and no albino. Jason goes over a quick statement of where the podcast is and where it's going, so we really covet your feedback on this last year of podcasting. It's sort of a mini-sode, but let us know what you think.

Boardgames today are really driven by the hype engine of the internet, so here, we discuss how to get  your head around all the noise out there about games.

Scythe has gotten an absolutely unreal amount of hype in gamer crowds, as well as an extremely enthusiastic reception by the community of reviewers and pundits. Do we agree with the consensus? Give us a listen to find out.

This week, we take on the topic du jour with a discussion of diversity, inclusion, and tolerance in board gaming. As you might expect, we're approaching the issue from a distinctively Christian perspective, which means that we have a different take on the whole thing than the secular culture tends to have. If you want a take on this issue that you're not hearing on other podcasts, give us a listen.

Puerto Rico is one of the most venerable warhorses in the eurogame stable, and Lije finally got a chance to play it. Let's see what he thought....

Hurrah! Fifty episodes feels like a milestone, so as a thanks for you guys sticking with us for so long, we decided to cram in as much content as we possibly could. Today, we're reviewing fifth different filler games for 30 seconds apiece, so buckle up and pay attention.

Following up on our review of Rampage!, we take up the issue of dexterity games in general. They work a bit differently than a lot of other games, and you have to hit a different balance to really get them to work, but they have a lot of potential.

This one is a really nice little dexterity game where you're flicking discs, wrecking cardboard buildings, and knocking over your opponents' monsters. Give it a listen for our thoughts.

Confession time - both Lije and Jason have weirdly tenuous relationships with the gaming community at large. Despite the fact that we're producing a podcast (that, ostensibly, you're listening to), we lead very involved lives in a bunch of others areas. So how do we keep up with games? Should we even try? Is there such a thing as too much gaming?

In this episode Lije and Jason run a comparison of two games which share a lot of DNA: Race for the Galaxy and Roll for the Galaxy. Roll is the dice-based sequel to Race, but does the addition of dice actually improve the gameplay? Perhaps it actually makes it worse....

Dice are both ubiquitous and contentious within hobby gaming circles. Lije and Jason work through a bunch of the advantages and disadvantages of rolling them bones.

Arkham Horror is one of those giant classics of the hobby which is simultaneously loved and despised by many. You may be able to guess which one of us falls on each side of that opposition :)

People play games in a bunch of different ways, and one of the biggest dividing lines is between competitive and casual play. In a lot of ways, we have very different temperaments toward playstyles, so the discussion on this really does roam pretty freely over several aspects of the difference. Knowing how you play games is key to getting along w/ others in the game space, so take the time to figure out the assumptions you're bringing to games.

For such a simple little game, Jaipur has a lot of subtlety and clever play.