Category: Podcasts

K2 (Digital Eyes)

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Being halfway up the mountain, in bad weather, the time when we were still acclimatizing at base camp felt like an eternity ago. I knew that "Squiggle" was ahead of me and had erected their tent, but I had to save mine for nearer the top, where we needed the shelter more urgently. I could only imagine the relative comfort my fellow climber was in, while I was hunkered down behind a small collection of rocks to take the brunt of the storm. I kept thinking how dangerous it was, but I also kept reminding myself of the ultimate goal: reaching the summit of K2.

Resourceful components (Topic Discussion)

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Over the years, I've played many games where you produce and have to manage resources of one kind or another. These can range from traditional things such as coal and ore or wheat and sheep to money, gems, energy or similar. Different games represent resources differently, so in this article, I want to look at what you might come across when you play a resource management game.

Istanbul: The Dice Game (Saturday Review)

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The bazaar was busy. Traders were displaying their colourful wares on their rickety stalls, shouting into the crowd how they offered the best prices and the best quality. It was mesmerizing to watch, but I had to focus and make sure I found the goods I needed to exchange for rubies. If I could get five rubies before everyone else, then I would be the best trader in Istanbul: The Dice Game by Alderac Entertainment Group.

Sprawlopolis (Saturday Review)

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Being a city planner isn't easy. You need to balance out the needs of your citizens for green spaces, living accommodation as well as offices and industry. You also have to ensure the infrastructure allows everyone to get around easily, without taking over. With that in mind, we went ahead to collaborate on the design of Sprawlopolis by Button Shy.

Attack! (Topic Discussion)

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Player interaction isn't for everyone. Some enjoy the confrontation in competitive games, the moments when they move their troops into another player's territory and battle commences, the epic card combos that deplete the other player's health or similar actions that directly attack another player. Yet, there are more forms of player interaction, and in this article, I want to look at what these are and how they work.

Eiyo (Saturday Review)

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Waves upon waves of attackers were lining up in front of me and behind me, two rows of three fighters each. I wasn't daunted by having to face 12 highly trained warriors at a time, because as a samurai I was more than able to defend myself. I wasn't even worried that every line of attackers would be replaced by another, creating a constant stream of enemies. The only thing that was on my mind was facing the bosses that would eventually appear at the end of each line - four in total. There was nothing for it. I had to give my all and fight for my honour, my Eiyo by ThunderGryph Games.

Small and beautiful (Topic Discussion)

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If you've been following me for a while, you'll know how much I like small box games. From wallet games to mini mint games to mint tin games to Oink-sized games to a deck of cards to any game that you can repackage into a smaller box and take with you anywhere. The other thing I like are games that are very quick to teach and learn and very quick to play, but still provide a lot of fun and excitement and many small box games provide exactly that. So in this article, I want to discuss why small and quick games are sometimes the better choice than big, heavy and long games.

Earthenwar (Saturday Review)

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We were going to fight it out head to head or rather golem to golem. Using our magic control grids, we would steer them around the arena and inflict damage on each other until one was mortally wounded. It was going to be a quick fight, but the battle would take longer. We would fight over many rounds to decide the victor in this Earthenwar by Lazy Poet Games.

Play and pass (Topic Discussion)

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Many of us have taken to playing online when the pandemic started to take hold and moved regular games nights into the digital world. I have written about different online board game platforms and their pros and cons in previous articles and you can find out which games I personally play online, but this time I want to focus on so-called play-and-pass games, where you don't play a game with others at the same time, but everyone takes their turn when they have time and log off again. It's a bit like old-school postal games, but with a digital twist.