Category: Podcasts

On Tour (Saturday Review)

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It was going to be great. We were going to visit most of the USA and play to millions of people over a few months. It was going to be fun, but also a lot of hard work and the planning was the most difficult. In the end, we decided to roll the dice to decide what states we were going to visit in what order, but rather than making it completely random, we turned it into a little game. It would let us build an almost circular route, so we could finally go On Tour by BoardGameTables.com.

Atmospheric ambience (Topic Discussion)

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A 60 miles an hour dust storm is whistling around the small Mars base, pulling at the airlock, shaking the whole station side to side and blowing over the tiny buildings with a deep rumbling sound, while the computer equipment fans quietly hum away in the background and a random bleep from one of the monitoring systems indicates that our communications channels to Earth are still down. No, this isn't a review of one of the many Mars themed games available these days, but an idea of how you might set the scene for everyone when playing one of those games, because in this article I want to talk about how you could create a thematic atmosphere when playing board games with your friends.

Tiny Footprint (Saturday Review)

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Living in the country is nice, but getting to work requires a car. In fact, getting anywhere needs a car: shopping, going out (unless it's to the local at the edge of the village), seeing friends (because even though you pretend to, you don't actually get on with your neighbours) and doing the school run. On the other hand, because it's so hard to get around, we don't actually spend as much on things, which is good. However, there is a lot we need to do if we want to make sure our household leaves only a Tiny Footprint by Gaard Games.

Jaws (Saturday Review)

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It was time to find the next victim. The beaches were full of swimmers, so it was going to be easy pickings. Yet, the sea around the island was patrolled by the Orca, a 42-foot former lobster boat, that was launching barrels into the sea to flush me out. A little speedboat was also making its rounds and using its fish finder to see if it could spot me. So far, I hadn't been found and already five people had lost their lives to my merciless attacks. I just needed four more victims to end up in my Jaws by Ravensburger.

Give and take (Topic Discussion)

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I've recently got into heavier games, such as Brass: Birmingham with my games group, because they help me completely focus on a game, allowing my brain to fully put aside my day-to-day worries and thoughts. I've also started to enjoy games with more player interaction, which encourage everyone to stay focussed on what everyone around the table is doing, rather than just doing their own thing and not being part of the group. However, for me, the best type of player interaction is where you don't just put one over on another person, but where everyone gets something out of it, and in this article, I want to look at those types and what it is I enjoy about them.

Brass: Birmingham (Digital Eyes)

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Looking back, building that last pottery had been foolhardy. Investing in the rail network would have been much more lucrative and sensible, but you had wanted to compete with your contemporaries. Maybe if you had been more careful and had planned further ahead when you first started out as an entrepreneur, things would have worked out differently. But then, nobody could have predicted the Industrial Revolution to be so transformative as it had been. Yet, overall you had done well and were certainly top Brass: Birmingham by Roxley Games.

Julie Okahara (Let me illustrate)

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Julie Okahara was born in Osaka, Japan and after graduating from Osaka Industrial Arts High School, began work as a graphic designer. Wanting to further their studies in studio art, Julie came to California in 2005. Since then Julie has expanded into acrylic painting, ink drawing, sewing and clay sculpting. This year, she started teaching herself animation and now live-streams with interactive animations on her Twitch channel.

Easy rules (Topic Discussion)

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The holy grail of the perfect rulebook is something that most publishers try to find and is something that we all want. It's no surprise that unboxing videos usually show you what the rulebook of a game looks like and one reason why many publishers allow you to download rulebooks for their games, so you can see for yourself if you'll be able to learn the game from it. I have read quite a few rulebooks over the years and wanted to share my thoughts about what makes for a good rulebook.