For this show, we talk about Bo's new Kickstarter campaign for Pirate Den, a fun new 30-minute game that is light enough for casual players but has the depth to interest serious gamers as well. It looks like a terrific game and you have until April 10th to support it and get the very cool sounding Kickstarter exclusives.

We also briefly chat about his company Gamesmith and his role with International TableTop Day, a cool holiday he cooked up with his friends at Geek and Sundry last year. This year is going to be bigger than ever so check out their event listing.

Want to see Bo showing off Pirate Den at SXSW? You can learn it and see the whole game played in 20 minutes.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

I've been meaning to play Joey's game for ages and I'm happy to say I finally got a chance over the holidays while enjoying a nice time at our SoCal board game cafe, GameHaus. I found Chaosmos to be a fun deduction game with a cool sci-fi theme, awesome art and alien races, and some inventive mechanisms. So, I invited them on the show to chat about their game. I think they did the right thing by getting a lot of exposure for their game and getting it played a lot around the country before hitting Kickstarter and clearly there was demand because it funded quickly, even with a lofty (for board games!) goal.

You can find more details on Chaosmos and support it on Kickstarter. It is already funded but their stretch goals seem pretty juicy for fans.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the show and I'm glad to say getting back on the mic more is part of my plan for 2014. In addition to my work on three key games this year, I'm dialing back my involvement with Strategicon to focus my non-gaming gaming time other activities.

Feedback is always welcome either here or to my e-mail address on the side. Thanks for downloading and listening.

Anyway, this is the rest of the conversation we had when we were honored to host Scott Alden, the man behind Boardgamegeek.com and the convention for its fans, joined us as our Guest of Honor. And we were also lucky enough to lure GameNight Hosts and Producers Lincoln Damerst and Nikki Pontius over to talk about all kinds of game stuff. Listen in to the latter half of the conversation to hear more GameNight secrets ('those aren't bongs!') and more about the hobby in general with these three welcome guests to BGB.

And we're just about a month off from hosting Gateway 2013 Guest of Honor Vlaada Chvatil. I'm going to endeavor to release that show while we're still at the convention. There may be one more show in the interim, too, if I can get my possible co-host together for it. To whet your appetite, I'm calling that show "Gamer Dad Epic Fail".

This is part one of the conversation. Part two will come out next week when I return from San Diego ComicCon.

Please check below for details about the Fireside Games tour of the U.S. that is currently going on. You will definitely want to check out their fun family games and you won’t meet a nicer couple of game designers (okay...Andy and Kristin Looney are right up there, too. And Dirk and Barbara Henn. Wait - maybe there are a lot of these wonderful pairs...)

Thanks for downloading and listening.

Show Notes

Fireside Games on Facebook Castle Panic Bears! Bloodsuckers

Plus - what the heck is this?

I love the Alea series as both a gamer and a collector. Yes, other publishers put numbers on their boxes now but Alea were the originals to have that audacity - and no one has a library like this one. So, I'm going to see how far we get. My plan: Small to Big...but we won't stick to just doing them sequentially. I'm going to dip into the different sizes a bit but if I don't do them sequentially within the series, we'll end up with a bunch of clunkers at the end (yes, although the quality is pretty high, there are clunkers - but I'm not naming names...yet).

The Alea Series Challenge began tonight with Alea Small #1: Wyatt Earp. I'm a big fan of rummy-style games and Mike Fitzgerald's charming Mystery Rummy series (of which Wyatt Earp is an unofficial member) hits a sweet spot between the simple card play and some extra rules for interest. Although the conventional wisdom is that WE is best with three (MR: Rue Morgue, with its delightful partnership rules, is primo for four), the family played it tonight. Three rounds in, Gwyn and I were tied at $23K each (one K shy of the winning condition) after everyone but Xtina lost a big payout due to nasty Hideouts. The fourth round was vicious, with the Hideouts out again and more special cards putting a share in the big takes out of reach of the second place players. In the end, Gwyn triumphed on picking up the one big bounty from the previous round that hadn't paid out at all. Although the game ran a bit long because of the excess of Hideouts in the third round, it was a good experience and kept the kids engaged once they recalled the rules and felt they were in contention. Although we planned to hit Royal Turf as well, it got late so we called it a night. Off to a good start with the Small Box games...although I better read those Die Sieben Weisen rules again...

I'll surely do an official podcast at the end of the run but you can see my brief session reports until then.

Antoine even brought us a copy of the Essen 2012 exclusive Leader "Esteban". And why not have a little contest here - those of you going to Essen will surely get plenty of opportunity to get a copy of Esteban. But for those that won't make it, I'm going to give away two copies to some lucky listeners. I'll pay postage but you need to listen to the show to win.

To enter, answer this question: What three games does Antoine say define his career up to this point? You might guess one or two but you'll need all three. If you listen and have the answer, send it in my e-mail address for the podcast: boardgamebabylon AT GEEMAIL DOT COM. I'll pick two winners on October 5th and, with any luck, you'll have a copy of Esteban before the folks at Essen do.

7 Wonders Ali Ghost Stories Hanabi (and Ikebana) Takenoko Tokaido

Next year, I give up some of my responsibilities for Strategicon. Although I will still curate, store and staff the awesome Boardgame Babylon/Strategicon Board Game Library (with my group of friends), I am stepping away from many of the other duties, including marketing efforts, Special Events and VIP invitations that I used to perform. This is so I can spend that time focused on my current projects for my game company, 3Sided Card. My longtime friends Chad Smith (no, not the drummer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Clark Mason have come on-board as developer and operations director so we can get focused. I think anyone who has written me an e-mail to ask why I haven't done a BGB show in a longtime and then promptly seen one come out knows how much I respond to external pressure. Chad and Clark will be doing that to get all these games to actually get these games out the door.

As for BGB, I will continue the show but I'm planning to start a new series that are diaries of what we're doing with 3Sided Card. Some will be design discussions with the team or various other designer friends who have been involved with our projects. Others will be my meditations on the way to enter this industry and the measure of success in a business where making money clearly isn't the main motivation. I know people do this for money but that's not why I make games. How will that change over time? It's already changed a bit with a serious re-theme of one of our games. Hopefully that series will be interesting to listeners.

Lastly, the Gamex 2012 shows. Sigh. I had a very nice listener offer to clean them up but he eventually said he couldn't find a solution. I'm going to spend a little time on it this autumn to see what I can do. I haven't hit up my friends in the BG podcasting community yet and they may have a solution that is less painful than what I've been contemplating. I really hope I can save these shows because the Richard Borg Q&A is really enjoyable, the Kickstarter one is quite good and I loved doing the Wiz-War: In Depth with Tom Jolly. I would love to make those available to the community but it's just a matter of time and, in that, I'm quite the pauper.

Oh, one more thing - The Battle of Red Cliffs is back on Kickstarter for the third and final time. This is a game I helped develop from designer Ta-Te Wu and we're very excited that after just a few days, it's over 50% there. But the time is short so if you're going to support, please do so now. The campaign ends on September 5th. Here's a link.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

San Juan is a solidly constructed version of this Andreas Seyfarth game that plays well and includes the key component of most successful eurogame ports: asynchronous play. This one feature often makes or breaks a game in terms of number of plays. While any player will knock the teeth out of the AI a few times, eventually we crave the opportunity to play with our friends from far away and close via this little computer in our pocket. So, we’ve been enjoying a few plays between my iPhone and my wife on the iPad in recent days, which beats the heck out of local play and challenging the passable AI players. I beat each AI level on my first try but I’m also pretty good at San Juan. The Game Center implementation seems pretty good and even has a nice quick start action to get it going quickly. You can even do multiplayer games against the AI and other players. Seems a bit silly but I guess it’s better that it be there than it not be there. I prefer San Juan head-to-head so my expectation is that sad little Salvador will not be joining one of my online games.

The game is certainly an attractive affair. The artwork shows the same high standards that Ravensburger has previously brought to the iOS - their Puerto Rico remains one of the prettiest euros to find its way into iOS-land - and the game interface is smartly implemented with always-on cards making sure to remind you to use them and effects nicely denoted throughout. If you need to learn the game, unfortunately the rules are set out in a long scroll rather than an interactive tutorial that takes you through the game. It can be quite difficult to learn games in this environment but San Juan’s concepts are fairly easy so that shouldn’t be an issue. If I had a complaint overall, I’d say it’s the understated animation. I find it funny to complain about this issue since I’ve previously lamented the excessive animation on both Puerto Rico, Ra and, most recently, A Fistful of Penguins but San Juan often just sits there. This is particularly obvious at the game’s end when you see very simple medals pop up for the winner(s). No song or excitement about my victory over the hapless Carlos? While I certainly don’t want the annoying screams of other games, a little more joy would be nice. There is music and ambient sound in the game and, like Puerto Rico, it’s a bit odd. But I guess it does add to the mood or, at least, it doesn’t ruin it.

So, if you like the original game or you want a nice light-medium weight game that can be played in iOS-appropriate time, San Juan is definitely worth a look; its gorgeous graphics mixed with tight gameplay and a beautifully implemented interface make it a winning adaptation - although it might just increase the frustration of waiting for its steroid-loving cousin Race for the Galaxy to show up.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tatewu/the-battle-of-red-cliffs-reload

It only seemed appropriate for me to get Ta-Te on the microphone while he is visiting Southern California from Taiwan. We talk about his ludography, his game company Sunrise Tornado Game Studio, his history in gaming and his newest campaign on Kickstarter for The Battle of Red Cliffs.

Show Notes

The Battle of Red Cliffs Di Renjie Tien Zi Que Soccer-sonic

Mountain of Inferno Sudoku Taisen Glory of the Three Kingdoms

I'll forgo the usual Show Notes in the interest of getting this out on time except to say - Strategicon is the place to be in the days ahead.

Gamex 2012 - Memorial Day Weekend - Richard Borg and Tom Jolly will be our Guest of Honor and Special Guest.

Gateway 2012 - Labor Day Weekend - Antoine Bauza will be our Guest of Honor!

Listen for those and more BGB shows to come (yes, I promise to double the output of 2011 - which isn't saying much).

Thanks for continuing to listen to Boardgame Babylon.

(yes, those are cool Showmanager cards of Dirk and Barbara - I might have one to give away for people who actually read this and send in a request...one lucky winner will get one! Let's see who actually reads the website and the Guild).

Show Notes

Civilization The Board Game Arkham Horror Elder Sign Doom: The Board Game Descent Cosmic Encounter

Magdar Magdar on Facebook Magdar on BGG Kevin's RPG Bio Fantasy Flight Games Alderac Entertainment Group

Dan Verssen Games (he was on the podcast before, too!)

Show Notes

Ultimate Werewolf Perpetual-Motion Machine Rapscallion Seismic

TieBreaker Start Player Start Player iOS Ultimate Werewolf Artifacts

Board2Pieces Bezier Games

Be sure to check out his hot new Kickstarter campaign for World Conquerors

Coming up: Q&A with Ted Alspach, also recorded at Gateway 2011

Show Notes

Gorilla Games Who Would Win? Battlestations Lifeboat

Ninth Generation Fat Messiah Games Throwing Stones Gamesmiths

Monster Derby Hunting Party World Conquerors

Thanks to Strategicon as well for sponsoring Jeff as Guest of Honor.

http://www.garrettsgames.com/

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/71011/boardgame-babylons-clear-the-shelves-auction-3-c

Thanks and happy bidding!

P.S. Another BGB is on the way shortly...

Gamex 2011 is behind me and I have no podcasts from the show because I was only there part time. After a trip that involved Discovery Coves and Wizarding Worlds, I was only able to attend part of the last Strategicon so a podcast with Guest of Honor Jeff Siadek still lies ahead. Also ahead is a podcast about more iOS games. But, for now, here are some capsule reviews for the games I've been playing most on my iDevices:

Ticket to Ride for the iPad Days of Wonder have made their next foray into the iOS world by bringing their most popular game, Ticket to Ride, to the iPad. The one thing you know for sure about DOW - everything they do, they do big. Their releases come out with splashy marketing campaigns that are clever and inspire a lot of interest in their games. Occasionally, their marketing is so good that it almost overshadows the game. But that won’t happen here since the game in question is the 2004 Spiel Des Jahres winner, Alan Moon’s Ticket to Ride (maybe we should call it Alan Moon’s Ticket to Retirement?), a huge worldwide hit that has been published in many iterations and with many expansions - almost all of which are worth adding to any good game collection. It’s a game that plays with well for casual players and still interests gamers for the most part.

As you would expect from the people that brought you Small World (the best iPad-only eurogame there is), TTR is expertly done by talented people who raise the bar in terms of quality, the way DOW does in the physical game space. The gameplay probably needs no explanation for people reading this article; TTR is a modern classic of rummy/track-building goodness that has sold millions of copies. In the $6.99 game (okay, a bit steep by eurogame standards), you get the basic TTR on the USA map in a format that can be played solo or online with other players. TTR has been available for online play for years (and I’m still a willing player of the game seven years into the life of this product line) and they reuse a lot of the attractive art of that version here, too. Pass-and-play isn’t available here but, unlike Small World, this isn’t as much of a slam dunk for that format with secret cards and all. It could be done but I never thought that it worked on the Xbox and although it might be better here, they’ve made up for it in at least one way. To ensure a strong online component, TTR taps into the network of players online and combines them with players on the iPad, meaning that the game’s community was strong on day one. This is just good thinking on the part of DOW and probably part of why this release is just coming now, sometime after their Small World launch. But DOW’s commitment to get it right pays off - there are already tons of players there and it’s easy to join a game.

The in-game play is excellent. While the same AI players (Direct Bot, etc.) are still pretty easy to beat, you’ll want to play online against real opponents more often anyway. The interface follows closely the way cards are selected and placed in the online game - which is to say, it is what you would expect and is well done. Twenty games in, I’ve found only timing glitches (clicking too fast and needing to the game to catch up - heck, it’s an Apple product, which means that Steve Jobs wants you to wait sometimes just to show who’s boss) and it has yet to crash on me. In the funky world of handheld development, that’s saying something.

If there is something clunky in the app’s implementation, it’s the game options and start screen. In an effort to provide good, themed user interface, the designers have made something rather clicky that requires sometimes annoying sound in an effort to be language independent. So, to pick options, you go into an attractive train station where you can click on various spots to look at videos, high scores, other electronic DOW products and the like. If you have your sound turned on (which I couldn’t do on a recent plane flight, as my earbuds were in another bag), it’s less of a hassle - although I have yet to go to that screen even with the sound on without clicking the wrong options a few times. The options are themed but not necessarily indicative of what they select so it’s a good experience but perhaps not as intuitive as I would have liked. Not a big deal, though, as you will not explore this area that often. Worse is how many clicks you need to go through just play the game again with all the same options – and the same annoying voice overs that may make some people turn off the sound anyway. I’d love to have a ‘Play Again’ option from the final score screen that lets the players jump right back into a game. When you can plow through TTR in five minutes, you often want a rematch with the same player number and map. I don’t think I’m alone in that. But these are minor quibbles in a terrific app.

Ticket to Ride has three add-ons available already. For $.99, you can get the 1910 Expansion for Ticket to Ride USA. In physical form, this expansion is a necessity since it gives you the larger rail cards but it also gives you additional tickets for those that already had the original ticket memorized. In electronic form, it’s essential once you’re about where I am - after a couple of dozen games, you’ll want more variation in the basic game.

For $1.99, you can get the Swiss map. This is a fine expansion that was intriguing in that it limited the game to two or three players, included tickets that had multiple options for the end connections and included the tunnels mechanic from TTR Europe. Implemented here, it’s a winning addition that is worth the extra dough. I’d like Nordic Countries even more but I expect this terrific version (also limited to 2-3 players and, for my money, the most satisfying version for head-to-head play) to be added later.

Perhaps less attractive is TTR Europe for $3.99. At four times what many games cost on the App Store, the pricing will give some pause but it does give you the challenging Europe map with the tunnel mechanic as well as the stations which help players get around the intense blocking you see in TTR. Although I love the map, it’s a little less appealing to me and knowing that it can be played online, I’ve not bothered to get this option yet.

It’s worth noting that DOW offered all three expansions for only $.99 on launch but now, they’re full price. Might that happen again? Who knows but I’d encourage readers to grab those bargains when they happen in the future (Small World Underground, anyone?)

The game is only available for the iPad at the moment - not the iPhone. I support this idea. Like Small World and so many other apps that look great on the iPad but would look much worse on the iPhone, I think DOW is doing the right thing by keeping to a format that works. You will also see many asking for Android versions. As someone who’s had to consider the Android when developing handheld apps, I will say that the instability of the devices (different screen sizes, hundreds of devices to test on), the tendency of Android users to prefer free apps to paid ones and the overall smaller footprint for any individual Android tablet means it is a tougher choice to get into this space and not always a profitable one. I’m sure DOW will keep monitoring to make sure that if there’s money to be actually made there, they’ll do it. But maybe with iOS 5, there will be fewer Android users soon anyway. Yes, I know I’ll get hate mail over this part of the post. Just pretend you sent it and you can be done. ;)

As with Small World, the polish, quality of the original title and quick game play make Ticket to Ride another essential title from Days of Wonder. If you are a fan of Ticket to Ride, I find it hard to believe you won’t get your seven dollars’ worth out of the game on the iPad.

P.S. Warning – if you decided to upgrade your iPad to the Beta of iOS5, your TTR app won’t go with you. Neither will Small World. Most eurogame apps are okay but not the Days of Wonder games.

Gold! for the iPhone and iPad

Michael Schacht pushed into new territory by releasing a game in both electronic form and physical form at the same time. Gold is the right type of game for the iDevice platform - a quick-playing card game that can be completed on your iDevice in five minutes on a single screen. Like other Schacht games, it has a slim group of choices that end up being more interesting than they might seem when you just read the rules.

Indeed, the rules are simple - draw cards to collect sets of three. Most of the cards have values from three to eight and a color - but then there are the donkeys. These cards have a -2 value at the end of the game but are powerful in play. Players start with a single donkey. Each turn players take a single card from the center of the table, where five are laid out each round. To claim a card, players have two choices - take a card of the lowest value shown or trade a card from your hand for a card with a lower value. If you trade a donkey, it can be traded for a card of any value. When you collect three cards of the same color (regardless of value), you collect those cards for your score and get the opportunity to steal a card from another player. There is a limit; the card you steal may not match the color of any in your hand. If none is available, you lose this power. Once all five cards are gone, a new group of five are dealt out and the next round begins. This continues until all cards are dealt out and players then score for the cards that remain in their hands but only the player who has the highest value in each color gets to score in a card in that color. The app is good enough to ring a bell and give you a visual queue when the game is coming to an end. Gold seems to solve a common issue in iDevice games in that all cards are on the table. Because of the nature of the stealing and close watching of what people have to try and foil their attempts at sets of three, this is a natural component of the game and it reminds me of the power that you get out of the mechanics of the game in something like Geschenkt (or No Thanks!) where the secrecy of your cards is not important.

Similarly, when Reiner Knizia opted to create one of the more popular offshoots of Keltis, The Way of the Stone, he eliminated the hand of cards in favor of stones and showed how compelling and interesting all that information can be without it getting too overwhelming. Off on a tangent there a bit but, the truth is that too many games on iDevices do seem to want secret cards that doesn’t really work in this medium. Gold's strategy isn't terribly deep but there is something there. When to trade up donkeys, position yourself to get the final card in a round or - better yet - the first card in a round is compelling since you can also trade the other cards in (something that is easy to forget if you are playing quickly). Forty games in, I find it to be an enjoyable pastime and I think it will be fun to get the physical copy of the game, too. The other thing to note is that this is another excellent implementation by Shannon Applecline, a talented writer for RPG.net and someone who has developed a standard format for card games on iDevices. He's already done solid versions of Money (a terrific Knizia filler), High Society (a lesser Knizia filler that is still attractively packaged) and I think he’s doing Modern Art: The Card Game, too. The format he uses works well, although I cannot get behind his 'handwritten' rules, which I find hard on the eyes, if aesthetically interesting. The simplicity of the appearance of his company's games is enjoyable but I'll admit they lack a certainsharpness that I find in Steve Blanding's Mu and Tichu. There, the colors pop a bit more, the tips are attractively revealed and the cards seem to sail rather than slide across your tableau. Both companies are creating a solid way to standardize eurogame apps and I appreciate that a great deal because there are few things more annoying than not being able to intuit what to do in an iDevice game.

Gold is a lot of fun, especially if you like Schacht’s wonderful lighter games like Coloretto (or, my personal favorite, Der Elefant im Porzellanladen – sorry, I can’t get behind the goofy Playroom Entertainment version). I remain convinced that the short, light game is what works best for the iPhone. Even Gold plays with more players only on the iPad (iPhone is limited to two players), which is a sensible choice like that of Days of Wonder to keep their games iPad-only.

Reiner Knizia’s ClusterMaster

A free but pay-to-upgrade game, this new offering from Dr. Knizia and his friends at TribeFlame was designed for the iOS experience but it feels like many other games. Players place multi-color hex pieces on the hexagonal board and trying to come up with clusters that will be disappear and score points when they do. Points are scored, time is short and there are a few options like bonus pieces and bombs to knock out hard-to-eliminate clusters. It reminded me of nothing more than Bejeweled with a couple more sides and although you can buy additional upgrades, the game is pretty thin. The expansions give you options but I’m not sure the addition of slight variations in play will do much for this game. Furthermore, the interface to rotate the pieces is quite clunky. The player has to adjust them by clicking arrows while the cluster is sitting in a space below the board. This is sort of awkward, especially since other games make use of multi-touch to rotate pieces into place successfully. The funny thing is that this deficiency sent me back toTopas, an earlier Knizia iOS original that was released by Ludicious Games. Although, at the time, I criticized Topas for the rotation interface being less responsive than it should be, it was functional and reasonably intuitive. My lack of interest with ClusterMaster did send me back to Topas and found its minor charms appealing again for another dozen plays or so. The issue is that neither of these games has a lot going for them in the way of strategic depth - they are just about trying to deal with situational luck. After a while, they lose their appeal but for a buck or two, you might very well get your value out of them before that happens.

But I’m not a big fan of the ‘pay to get additional features’ option when the basic game is so spare. Like so many other people, TribeFlame and Reiner are clearly trying to find a revenue model that works. This seems to be having limited success for Zabu Studios on Facebook, who are invading the social space with their apps (including a few Knizia titles) and you can buy power-ups (“cheats?”) by paying money for an otherwise free app. That hasn’t appealed to me at all but perhaps they’re making more money than trying to charge directly for the game. I tend to think ads are the way to go (free version with ads or a paid version without) but I’m not sure that is working out for the eurogame makers with fewer eyeballs looking at their game than say those with Upset Fowls or Dopey Undead, for example. That’s it for this quick round-up for now. Part 3 of my iOS podcast series is coming and will include these and other games reviewed in some depth. Happy iOSing.

Carcassonne Kingsburg Wabash Cannonball Reiner Knizia's Labyrinth Boggle (yes, BOGGLE!)

More are to come very soon!

Two by Two

Valley Games has many new ‘family’ games to go with their line of heavier titles like Container, Liberte and Republic of Rome. Two by Two is a large box with a good family game inside of it. As you might guess from the title, it’s about gathering animals into your ark to avoid rising flood waters. The board has land in the center which you cover with animal tiles that come in about a dozen styles - including the unicorn, a species that apparently wasn’t saved in a very early playtest of this game - and you want to save them all but especially three that are marked for double-points on each player ark. Players spend each turn first placing a water marker and scoring points for each adjacent water marker and then they will move and/or collect animals with their ark. Often those two forms of victory point collection are at cross purposes because pushing out into the land with new flood tiles is usually the best way to get access to animals, it is also the least effective way to make points on water hexes. When it is move/collect time, players get two actions to either move or load. Loading involves being adjacent to an animal and having a second copy of the same animal (there are six of each) visible on the board somewhere. The game has two scoring methods - one for family play and the other for gamers (which isn’t too hard and makes the choices more interesting). A fun game that was well-received by those to whom I demonstrated it and it was checked out with some frequency by gamers and families alike.

7 WondersWe were thrilled to get a copy of the game in time for the convention and this game was gone from the library the longest over the weekend. Now, that isn’t ‘the most check-outs’ - it was just gone for the longest time. Reason being: this game is like eating peanuts - try to just play it one time in a sitting. It is so quick, so enjoyable and is one of the best games you will find anywhere for seven (or so) players. Don’t listen to the blackguards that deride it as only containing ‘one decision a turn’ or that say it lacks depth. They’re looking for something that this game isn’t and punishing it for not being all things to all people is nonsense. 7 Wonders is perhaps Antoine Bauza’s masterpiece - a design so organic that Knizia might consider a play, game-play that just sails even on the first play and a range of choices that may not last forever but that sure feel like they could (balancing seven wonders against the card combos, combined or single-minded strategies, randomization of the card distribution and a powerful but interesting groupthink factor that might be a liability elsewhere). I’m perhaps 15 games in and still having a blast. For those fuss-budgets that are 50 games in and calling it boring, I say: how many games on your shelves have been played 50 times? Game of 2010, hands down - even if the artwork and production wasn’t terrific (okay, the coins ain’t no ‘Cargo Noir’ - but, then, what is?)

Queen’s RansomAnother Z-man small card game that might surprise you. This is a quick deduction game of buying information, manipulating cards and deducing a mystery in about 20 minutes. Three locations and three suspects need to be investigated in each game and the best way to get details is by buying the right to look at evidence cards from the Jester. He sets his own price each round and the cards you draw each turn will give you money to pay or special powers that might give you a free peek, let you change the evidence cards around to further obfuscate things for those that might already have looked or you might gain some other ability. Thankfully, the cards are self-explanatory and you can teach the game without having to go through them all beforehand. The game is light enough for families but I introduced the game to three sets of ‘real’ gamers and they all enjoyed its minor charms. Like Onirim, this is another game with a nice look all its own. I am not sure this will stand up to dozens of plays but it’s been fun so far and consistently finishes in just the right amount of time.

I'm writing a massive geeklist about all the best games we played at Orccon 2011 but I'll drop some small bit of text here for now as I write up all the individual capsule reviews. For now, here are some quick impressions of popular games that were checked out of the library a lot.

BUGS

This new tricky trick-taking game for 3-6 players from Valley Games was demonstrated and played at Orccon 2011. The object is to get rid of all of your cards and force the other players to take points for those remaining in their hand at the end of each of six rounds. Play is simple - play cards of one rank and the next player needs to play a different set that is higher, add to it with the same rank of card or take the cards into hand (not a score pile). The deck is made up of nine types of vermin in quantities opposite their rank totaling ten (e.g., nine number ‘1’ cards, eight number ‘2’ cards) plus cards that let you skip your turn, push play back to the previous player and even zero out the current total. Up to that point, it seemed a bit like Knizia’s Escalation but the major difference is that the only real way to eliminate cards from play is to collect sets of one rank. If you have them all, you can discard them from the game. With fewer players, this is easier to do and the game plays quite differently. With the larger numbers, it’s more challenging to collect those sets and I think it shines in that 5-6 player range. A fun filler that I expect we’ll continue to play.

Nightfall

Alderac Entertainment Group already added a cool new game to the deck-building genre in the form of Thunderstone, which allowed players to do more than just tactical shopping in a historical setting. You could actually do something with all those things you bought and even level up your cards. Now, they have Nightfall - a game with a horror underworld theme that genuinely adds new features to this style of game. Sure, there are some familiar things - you claim (okay, ‘buy’) cards using influence (okay, ‘money’) to add to your deck, lots of shuffling and trying to optimize and exile (okay, ‘trash’) cards from your deck later in the game.

But the main difference (not counting the private shopping you can do from cards available only to you) is chaining - a new concept that lets players add cards to their play area on other player’s turns and more to your own if you combo your cards well. Essentially, each card has a color and one or two ‘chain’ colors. Once per turn, you can play a single card but if you have another card of a color that matches the first card’s chain color(s), you can play it, too - and potentially keep going. This gives you another way to find cool card combos by buying cards that complement each other, chain-wise. The downside - other players can chain off your cards, too. You have to give them all a chance and this helps them get cards out on other players’ turns so they can be ready for their own, when their minions attack.

That’s really the anatomy of the turn - minions attack, chaining occurs to bring out new cards and then, influence is used to claim more cards (you start with a base and discard to get more). Those combat sequences are what really matter because, like Magic or even Jyhad before it, the object is to attack the player and make them take Wound cards from a stack. The depletion of that stack means the game’s end and then the person with the fewest wound cards wins. There are more good ideas (like the way the starting cards cycle out of your deck naturally, Would cards having a special power to even things out from a bad draw, and the simple hit point system for minions) but that’s Nightfall in a nutshell - an entertaining addition to the deck-building genre with a lot of potential as the card types rise with more expansions. It was heavily checked-out at the convention and quite popular on our webcast stream. I find it to be an enjoyable game four plays in and plan to explore it more in the days ahead.

Onirim Z-Man has been putting out a LOT of small card games lately. They can’t all be that good, you say. But a fair number of them sure seem to be. This one is a solo/two player co-operative game where players try to collect a series of doors cards by placing certain sets of cards in the right order. Unfortunately, you can only build one sequence at a time and there are Dream cards that will make you discard valuable cards or burn through the deck. If you get to the end of the deck and haven’t collected all the doors, you lose. It’s a sly game of risk-reward with distinctive art and a quick play-time that is just right. Our demo didn’t go off (maybe people didn’t know what to expect?) but my wife and I played it a few times and drew a crowd at the Board Game Library who got to hear the rules and see us play. We failed to win but we’re ready for another go later this week. A nice surprise in a dark little box.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon

Show Notes

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer

Strategicon

Don't miss our upcoming Guests of Honor for Gamex 2011 (Jeff Siadek and Gorilla Games) and Gateway 2011 (Kevin Wilson!)

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/g eeklist/63654/i-need-to-do-something-a-jack-vasel-auction

I've listed one of my most valuable and collectible games, the cooler than cool Autoscooter, on the Jack Vasel Charity Auction. Please bid to help the family out! http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1237/autoscooter

Days of Wonder are famous for putting out gorgeous games with enormous fanfare and the smartest marketing in the business (example: check out their awesome campaign for their intriguing new title “Cargo Noir”, which I am itching to try). But they’ve also recently made a name for themselves putting out expansions and variants for their best games. Their amazing success with Small World (certainly one of the finest releases in recent years) led to expansions galore, all of which are worth having. For years, their SDJ Winner, Ticket to Ride, has been churning out excellent new versions (notably TTR: Nordic Countries) and some expansions for individual versions and one that worked for all games (The Dice Expansion) but didn’t please everyone since it so drastically changed the game.

Look no further for a crowd-pleaser that will work for all TTR versions that the new “Alvin and Dexter: A Monster Expansion for Ticket to Ride”. This new expansion only disappoints in that it didn’t hit the shelves a couple of months earlier when it surely would have been a great stocking stuffer. But no matter – this one is a lot of fun and although it will alter your play of the game somewhat, it won’t transform the game like the Dice Expansion did (which made TTR into a filler that took 20 minutes to play). The titular characters are two monsters (an Alien in his saucer and a dinosaur – both beautifully sculpted like BattleLore figures of old) that mess with your TTR board. Both sit hunched on what looks like a train station from TTR Europe and wreak havoc on the city where they are placed (initially by the players last in player order). Said location becomes a ‘City in Chaos’, which blocks the players’ ability to build into or out of the city. At the game’s end, the monsters also halve the value of any ticket that references their City in Chaos. But you can tame these monsters; players can move the monsters on their turn by playing 1 or 2 Locomotive wild cards. This will allow them to chase the troublemaker up to 3 cities away for each card used. Please note that this is in addition to your normal play so you won't move a monster and then let an opponent grab your route. Furthermore, the most frequent monster-wrangler will get a 15 point bonus at the end (awarded for each monster and, since this is TTR, ties are friendly). You can make good coin shifting these boys around so it will just give you some more choices as you play the game.

How does the expansion play? Well, we found the monsters to be a great way to stop people from building into certain locations. They’ll slow growth early on for sure, when few players want to give up a prize locomotive card just to shift an ugly beast out of the way. It can be a nice tactical move to shift them where you know your opponent is going, all the while picking up cards toward the monster bonus. Near the end of the game, it’s easy to throw a monster into a terminus where lots of players are or where an opponent who is doing well might have ended his route (more than likely the spot he or she needs to reach), knocking the player's score.

As usual, Days of Wonder has done a magnificent job with the components. The monsters are carefully detailed, sturdy and have a wonderfully whimsical quality to them. The expansion also includes cards for the monsters and a bonus card for each. It is priced at $13 and I’ve heard some online grousing about this pricing. I don’t get into those arguments because I’m not a normal buyer of games (most games come to me as review/library copies) but I will say that with Days of Wonder, you get a top-notch product every time and Alvin & Dexter is no exception.

Alvin & Dexter are set to invade your FLGS or FOGS next month. If you are coming to Orccon 2011 next month, stop by the Strategicon Library and give Alvin & Dexter a try with your favorite TTR map (we have both TTR: USA and TTR: Europe plus the Swiss map in the library). Your time with them is sure to be monstrous fun.

More of my BGN articles will continue to come out in the new version that will appear on BGG. You do have your secret decoder ring, right?

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon. Happy Holidays!

Gift A Eurogame App To A Friend

Some time ago, Apple introduced the ability to ‘gift’ an app to a friend and I’ve found this to be a terrific way to send a small token of holiday joy to friends and family. So what am I giving away this year to my favorite eurogamers? Here are three that have been dominating my airplane time of late so I’m sending them to some people on my Secret Santa list.

Neuroshima Hex - This enjoyable tactical game that takes a half-hour on the tabletop can be played in five minutes on the iPhone or iPad. Using the original graphics, which scale nicely even on the smaller device, Big Daddy Creations has done a wonderful job of reproducing the look and excitement of the board game. Essentially, you play army tiles each turn, setting up your units and HQ in a crowded battleground until the space fills up and everyone starts fighting. The object is to weaken the other player’s headquarters and it’s all about placement since proximity is huge with some units bashing each other in melee and other taking shots from afar. Furthermore, each unit has a certain direction (or group of directions) to which it aims so it will only attack in that path. There are also units that pump up others, start early battles if you like your positioning and others that move units after their initial placement

The learning curve is tough with four different armies to keep track of and a host of different pieces; iconography can only do so much! There are great rules and an excellent reference guide for the armies included but the clicks to get there from your tile selection tray (when you need that information most) are many and this can slow down the game. A half-dozen games in, it may not bother most as the unusual units in each army become familiar but it is a barrier in early play. Neuroshima Hex offers varied AI play (armies play differently) and the option for human vs. human play for up to four players - rare for iDevice games. Don’t worry about crowding around the iPad - it’s easily handed off and dropped back on the table to watch the game resolve battles (one of the more onerous tasks in the original game). And, as is popular these days, you can brag about your wins on Facebook and Twitter with a connection interface. Definitely recommended for a fast, tactical game experience you can enjoy with friends.

Tichu - The maker of the iDevice version of Mu (one of the best iDevice games around) is back with a lush implementation of the gamer-geek obsession called Tichu. Few card games have captured hardcore gamer attention like this ladder-climbing game that has always confused me because of its similarity to Daihimi (which I’ve played thousands of hands of) and Gang of Four (certainly in the hundreds prior to my learning Tichu). You play card combos and other people play higher ones until you run out.

Simple enough, huh? No, it’s a deeply mannered game with four special cards and the option to bid extra points if you think you’ll go out first during the current round. Steve Blanding has reused the smart user interface of Mu, which nicely packages the card game experience; choices are just what you expect. I challenge you to find something unintuitive about his designs. This is a hallmark of Apple products (‘it just works!’) and Blanding has it down pat. Should you opt for the AI player experience, you will definitely find yourself yelling at your partner for aggressive Tichu calls followed by often less-than-aggressive play but the real way to enjoy this game is by playing a linked game. It is simple to link up when you don’t have cards handy. While I still advocate play of the AI for building your experience (and Blanding’s tutorials/tips are terrific), the game shines most when played against live players. Tichu is available for both the iPhone and iPad; it looks particularly nice on the latter in landscape mode. A big winner and something you should already have downloaded...

Tricky Chicken - Michael Schacht’s Crazy Chicken/Drive has come to iDevices in a simple implementation that keeps the charm of the game strictly to two players. This set collection contest plays well enough, although publisher Tech20 Group assumes rather a lot. Rules like the need to place a discard on an open spot just happen, you don’t get a warning about why you can’t discard to the other pile. Most apps are smart enough to react to a mistake, especially when repeated, so Tricky Chicken’s silent refusal to proceed feels outside the iDevice paradigm. Further, even after a revision, their Facebook connection doesn’t seem to want to work so bragging about your prowess will have to wait until a future iteration. Still, the wacky chicken art and enjoyable take-that element of smashing the other player’s sets with larger ones (much like Ticket to Ride: The Card Game, which this one pre-dates) makes Tricky Chicken a marginal thumbs-up that is worth your attention.

What about the kids that may not have their own iDevice? Online Plush might do the trick.

The time is coming for your kids’ holiday stockings to be stuffed, too, and although I always recommend small box eurogames, kids of a certain age love to get stuffed toys. So, how do you mix a doll and some actual game play? One way is to check out the world of Online Plush - stuffed animals that come with an online version of themselves that can be played with minimal or no additional cost. For pure value, these little guys are an amazing bargain; in addition to the stuffed toy, your child also gets to play online games that won’t set you back 15 bucks a month like a certain fantasy game that shall remain nameless (although you may need to buy another one now and again to keep the account active). As a bonus, these online environments are sometimes a cool ‘gateway’ for kids to get interested in light, educational games by offering some thoughtful play amongst the variety of mini-games. Within, you’ll find puzzle-solving and word games that will may inspire an interest in similar tabletop games.

Will they turn your kids into puzzling, cube-processing eurogame converts? No, but it can’t hurt. Within the Webkinz world, there is the concept of trading (always a good eurogame skill), collecting sets and general money management, which all kids need. I noticed my daughter watching her pennies a little closer in Zooloretto after saving up her ‘KinzCash’ for bigger ticket items. Games are great for teaching money management skills (something the schools are often soft on) and the fictional cash of this world can help teach it. While the social aspect of Webkinz isn’t of much there (it’s a kid environment anyway) and there are definitely some games that are pure luck or dexterity, I’d recommend many of the educational games like, ahem, ‘Booger Gets an A’, Eager Beaver Adventure, Cash Cow,Home Before Dark, Goober’s Lab, Get Eleven Solitaire - all of which offer puzzle experiences, choices instead of chance and even teach some good language skills.

The other Online Plush World that caught our attention is Freaky Pets. While Webkinz worked well for my daughter, the kittens, puppies and horses were a trifle cute for my tweener son. Enter the morphing monsters called Freaky Pets, who also have an online persona that can be used to play through a series of games and activities online. Much like Transformers before them, Freaky Pets have two forms - a ‘nice’ and a ‘nasty’ side. One essentially turns them inside out to switch gears so they are fun play toys as well. Although Freaky Pets are sufficiently ugly that my daughter scampered back to Webkinz right away, my son went whole hog for a characters with teeth and just a bit of ugly about them. Plug in the code into www.freakypets.com and your ugly little monster can be played with online in a Massively Multiplayer World that is far more immersive than the simple navigation system of Webkinz. It’s no World of Warcraft but it does have that feel and allows kids to explore and find random feature of the worlds while also engaging in a variety of mini games, collecting in-game cash and buying things to outfit your character and lair. Freaky Pets is lighter on the puzzle games, opting to go more of the arcade route with racing and shooting games, a Magic Eight Ball character, Simon-like dancing game play and such but there is still a lot of fun to be had for tweener boys that. The world includes the ability to chat in a kid-friendly way, add friends and explore the expanding world of “Pet Town” as Abandon Interactive Entertainment, the publisher, adds to the games available. A good choice for the fickle tweener boy set that might still want a stuffed animal to show up in their Xmas sock this year.

How long is it before eurogames get on-board with this model? As it is, Funagain Games is currently offering buyers the opportunity to get a ‘free’ license for any board game they buy that has an electronic equivalent. I’m not talking about radio-controlled meeples to perk up your game of Carcassonne. An electronic version of the Wallenstein/Shogun cube tower? A display that shows the cubes you have and can change their color when you convert them? Could my nearby iPad calculate the cost of building options for my turn in Power Grid? Could my iPhone automatically take a picture of our Le Havre game after each player turn and serve up my options? Heck, can it just remind me that I can go use the other player’s buildings in a game of 51st State? Already there are neat apps to help you record your scores and select a beginning player (hmm...might that be my next article?) so why can’t they go to the next step and offer some level of support during the game? Some might view that as the end of tabletop games. My inclination is to think everyone will have their own line in the sand. Sure, give me Ted Alspach’s Start Player on my iDevice, but if you start telling me how to play Through The Ages, it’s back to the desktop with you, computer.

For now, you’ll have to stick with the Online Plush options if you want something simultaneously physical and digital to stick in a stocking. Webkinz can be found at Target, Toys R Us and many other retailers. Freaky Pets are exclusive to Hallmark Stores. Funagain’s promotion looks to run through the holiday season.

The author would like to thank his children for helping him research Webkinz and Freaky Pets but he also tends to think they would have done it without the acknowledgement.

Listen soon for BGB v88 - 2010's Last Minute Stocking Stuffers podcast with some great games, expansions and other game items that fit into those Christmas socks.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

In March of 2010, Out of the Box launched a campaign to donate 80 games to needy families through the Toys for Tots organization. For every 10 new fans on Facebook, Out of the Box pledged to donate one new game. At the end of the campaign, over 900 fans rallied and over 90 games were donated.

This holiday season, Out of the Box hopes to donate more than 120 new games to families.

Everyone can participate by visiting www.facebook.com/outoftheboxgames and clicking the 'Like' button. Fans can also encourage friends to participate by clicking the 'Suggest to Friends' button below the Out of the Box logo. The event ends December, 15th 2010.

It was bound to happen. Tom Lehmann talked about it on BGB recently. And now it's here: Facebook is being invaded by eurogames! Lost Cities has been modified by the good doctor into a solo game with lots of achievements, special powers and other touchstones for Facebook and console games. The game's title may be inelegant but it is good fun to play. Look for my full review on Boardgamenews.com very soon. And, yes, I'm already salivating over "Ra Solo".

Check out the official word from Zabu Studios below:

ZABU STUDIOS PARTNERS WITH WORLD RENOWNED GAME DESIGNER, REINER KNIZIA, TO BRING “LOST CITIES SOLO” TO FACEBOOK

San Francisco, CA – Zabu Studio, Inc., a social gaming company, has partnered with Reiner Knizia to release a new line of games designed exclusively for the Facebook platform. The first title is a solo version of “Lost Cities”, the award winning card game originally designed by Knizia in 1999.

The Facebook version on “Lost Cities Solo” will be available to Facebook users for free (http://apps.facebook.com/lost-cities-solo/), and is available now.

“Lost Cities” is often noted as the best two player game in its genre. “Lost Cities Solo” on Facebook, preserves much of the strategy and tactics of the original game, but adapts the game play from player versus player to player versus system. The player has to make agonizing decisions about whether to commit to an expedition among unknown lands with incomplete information.

Players earn “gems” by completing stages of the” Lost Cities Solo” game. Gems earned may be used in any of Zabu Studio’s stable of games to purchase useful powerups and items to improve a user’s gaming experience. All Zabu games also contain the social elements that are indispensable in today’s Facebook games; including, the ability to compare all time high scores and weekly high scores against friends, inviting friends to share the joy, earning achievement badges, or earning experience points and gaining levels to earn free items.

“We are really excited to bring this classic Eurogame to Facebook users, and to turn a traditional card game into an engaging, interactive experience. So many people grew up playing “Lost Cities”, and now is there chance to reengage with one of their fondest gaming experiences in a whole new way,” said Milton Soong, CEO, Zabu Studio, Inc.

“Seeing my original card game come to life in the social gaming format is a thrill. The team at Zabu really understood how to capture the excitement and competitive spirit of the original game, while incorporating all the best practices in today's social games.” Sais Reiner Knizia.

“Lost Cities Solo” is the first of many elegant Facebook casual games from Zabu Studio, Inc. Upcoming titles include, Knizia’s “Ra Solo”, “Pickomino Solo”, Peter Burley’s “Take it Easy”, and many more.

"In collaboration with Michael Schacht, one of the premier German game designers, Tech20 Group brings to you the challenge of beating those Tricky Chickens at their own game. In this fast paced card game, players collect cards of similar suit and lay them down to win victory points. But you've got to watch out because those tricky chickens may steal your victory points just when you think you've got the win in the bag.

Play against computer opponents, keep track of your top ten scores, and post your achievements to Facebook. Tricky Chicken follows the same rules that you known from Michael Schacht's original game, Crazy Chicken, including the original artwork but is now available in an exciting new format. Interactive help is included along with the complete rules to the original game."

I've been playing the regularly since it first cropped up a while back and have enjoyed it. Look for my capsule review about it soon on www.boardgamenews.com.

And we talk for nearly two hours...not strictly following the In Depth format but who cares when the stories are this fun? We get through the history, design, production, rules, strategy and electronic implementation of the game. This is certainly one of my favorite BGB shows and I hope you will find it enjoyable.

Thanks to Tom, Wei-Hwa, Trisha, Stephanie and Chris for joining me on the microphone and to Strategicon for sponsoring the event at Gateway 2010 this year.

Show Notes

Race For The Galaxy Tom Lehmann Wei-Hwa Huang San Juan Keldon's Race AI

Yes, yes, yes! Race For The Galaxy: In Depth is coming soon. There is one more show I need to push out before it but then it will be here. Hey - just be happy BGB has two shows in a month! ;)

Show Notes

Tom Lehmann 2038 Fast Food Franchise Middle Kingdom Jericho Outpost Suzerain

Tasty Minstrel Games Homesteaders Michael Mindes on Twitter

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon!

By the way - if you use the Amazon link to buy something on the side menu here, e-mail me and I'll give you TWO additional entries to win. Win what? Listen to the show! This is a great FREE way to support BGB and pay no more than you would going directly to Amazon...thanks!

Back to the Future: The Card Game

Pirate Fluxx Aquarius Icehouse

More Gateway 2010 shows are coming, including a Q&A session with our other Guest of Honor, Tom Lehmann and also Race For The Galaxy: In Depth.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Homesteaders Longshot Court of the Medici

Tasty Minstrel Games Gateplay.com SORVENT

In Memorium: Kevin Pimental

On this volume of Boardgame Babylon, I speak to Stephen Buonocore, the co-founder of the up-and-coming game company Stronghold Games. He and Kevin Nesbitt (formerly of Valley Games fame) are bringing the designer game community some great games from the past that deserve fantastic, quality editions.

Stephen (who despite his BGG avatar, doesn't SEEM evil) shares his vision for Stronghold and details about the return of classic including Code 777, Survive! and the lesser known Confusion (from the same designer as Code 777 and now called Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War). I really enjoyed this conversation about starting up a company with a major commitment to high-quality components and bringing back some classics to the community - I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

Code 777 is a terrific code-cracking game and Survive is a really fun family game. I certainly look forward to the Confusion re-theme as well. Once we see them out, expect full reviews on BGB.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

The first show is a brief discussion with my wife about planning game nights with the family. It is worth making it a priority! Then, we talk about three good 'party/word' games for kids: Wits & Wagers Family Edition, Word on the Street Junior and Sounds Like A Plan - three terrific games our family have enjoyed.

There are SO many good games to play with your kids. I'll defer to some of the folks that have done more writing on the subject (notably the Fluff Daddy himself), but here are some we've enjoyed as our kids have grown up:

2-4

Animal Upon Animal (Tier auf Tier), Bang on the Spot (Knall and Fall), Crafty Badger, Hula Hippos (an old Haba game called Maus nach Haus), Zitternix, Chicken Cha Cha Cha, Stacrobats, Kleiner Spatz, Roads Rivers and Rails, Kids of Catan, Knuckling Knights

5 and up

Gulo Gulo, Hungry Wolves, Dancing Eggs, Kayanak, Nacht Der Magier, Nacht Der Vampire, Hop Hop Hooray, This Big, Super Circles, 7 Ate 9, Cap'n Clever, Klondike, Loopin' Louie, Wag The Dog, Midnight Party, Pyramidos, Hey That's My Fish!, Pitchcar

8 and up

Animalia, Cheeky Monkey, Zooloretto, Archaelogy: The Card Game, Wits & Wagers: Family Edition, Sounds Like A Plan, Word on the Street Junior Edition, Forbidden Island, Straw

We'll include more 'emerging age' euros on the list for the next podcast.

Victory Point Games are our Guest of Honor at Gamex 2010 and although I haven't scheduled a Q&A session with them, I plan to ask them to sit down for an interview during the show. I also have plans to chat with AEG Board Game Man and sometime BGB contributor jim pinto and I might try to squeeze in another long-planned show I won't mention for fear of jinxing it.

The Family Games Series will start with Party and Word games; each in the series will also talk about getting together with the family to play games regularly. With summer coming, it's the perfect time to make a commitment to regularly pulling the kids away from the screens (be they DS, iPad, TV, Xbox, whatever) and spending some time with the family laughing it up (and then keep it going in the fall). Just last night, our Friday plans fell apart and I seized on the chance to schedule a family game night. We had just received a shipment of great games from Gamewright, Z-Man and Wattsalpoag so we broke out a number of them and had a blast. I encourage everyone with kids to book those nights and have a wonderful time sharing your hobby with the spouse and kids.

Lastly, as promised, I will start posting some of my iPad/iPhone notes as reviews/commentary in this space for those that just don't DO the podcast thing. It's nice to have received a few requests for it - even though it is mildly odd. How did these people even know I was doing it if they don't listen to the show or follow me on Twitter? Whatever - it's coming.

Thanks for downloading and listening (oh, I guess and reading) Boardgame Babylon.

The iPhone offers a great individual experience for gameplay and the chance to train for those face-to-face play. The iPad offers a nearly true board game experience - the wonderful Small World app is so well-implemented, it's almost a better experience for a quick game against a single opponent. Keltis Oracle gives US players a chance to play a game not even available over here (yet).

Games discussed:

Small World, Keltis Oracle, Mu, Jamzu, Poison, Knights of Charlemagne, Hive, Zooloretto, Robot Master, King Me (Viva Il Re), Bananagrams, Money, Topas, Monumental

I'll post some additional commentary here from my notes soon.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

In the mean time, spend the week looking at the blog of my buddy Mark Jackson. He is the master of Five and Dimes recording (that is, games played 5 and 10 times by over 300 individuals that reported the numbers to Mark) and he's started the rollout of details now. Check them out at his blog.

I also wanted to mention the upcoming Gamex 2010. The second Strategicon of the year will be held at the lovely four-star Sheraton LAX (the once and future home of Strategicon now - although Gateway 2010 - featuring none other than Guest of Honor Tom Lehmann - will be back at the Radisson LAX for one final show at the ancestral home of the convention). Gamex promises to be a great show - some events include:

• Settlers of Catan Pre-Qualifier event where you can win a trip to GenCon this summer to compete in the National qualifier event!
• Join us as we host Victory Point Games and Guest of Honor Chris Taylor (designer of many Victory Point Games, including the new Loot and Scoot!) for a VPG-a-thon and a great introductory Loot and Scoot event
• A formal Puffing Billy event will be held throughout the convention so you can get your rail on!
• Party Game Challenge - play party games all weekend long to compete for fabulous prizes to the biggest party monster!
• MEGA-Dominion event on Monday morning - win $100 top prize!
• Big Magic: The Gathering tournaments to win over $1000 in game prizes
• Learn great new war games in the Wargame Boot Camp!
• Over 200 board game events
• Check out games in the Board Games Library - hundreds of great games from the Strategicon Library - heavily supplemented by the review library of your friendly local podcast, Boardgame Babylon
• New game demos from Rio Grande, Out of the Box, Z-Man Games, Mayfair Games, FRED Distribution, Valley Games, and more!

Come on out and join us for four great days of gaming at the end of May. Please drop by and say 'hi' to me at Board Game Headquarters if you make it out to the show.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Boardgames To Go (with Dave Gullett) - You should hear this before our show (and you should be listening to it anyway, as Mark is one of the OBP (Original Boardgame Podcasters) and still the best.

Mark Jackson's Five and Dimes

All this Five and Dime nonsense was started by the brilliant Sumo (Mike Siggins)

I don't have the patience to list links to all the games Chris mentions!

I've also been playing A LOT of games on the iPhone - and expect to start doing so on the iPad soon. I'm a huge fan of the iPhone and I was thrilled to hear of the iPad despite my misgivings about the lack of a camera, multi-tasking and a few other things. They all sound pretty fixable so we'll see how Apple deals with the tech-geek response to it, too.

But for now, I'm plugging away at a bunch of games on the iPhone like:

• Knights of Charlemagne
• Money
• Mu
• Zooloretto
• Robot Master
• Topas
• Jamzu
• Bananagrams
• Monumental
• Poison
• King Me
• Ingenious
• Hive
• Roto

and a few more - notably (once I get the iPad in my hot little hands), Small World!

The future of gaming will be partially written by the influx of these devices which give us such immediate access to our favorites. It gives you a chance to explore these games and get even better at them for the next time they hit the table with a group of friends. Plus, designers like Reiner Knizia are already giving up on the free sites and finding another revenue opportunity in these $1 to $5 sales rather than trying to market cardboard and wood games. It certainly gives him the chance to recycle into another medium. Originals like Roto and Monumental show the master has it down more than the average joe cobbling together an iPhone app.

Anyway, that show is on the way - it was only delayed due to the new iPad apps that I want to review, too. Additionally, a couple more session review shows are on the way along with a Five and Dimes for 2009 show with my friend Chris Johnson. Finally, I'm planning a three-part series on great family games and may get the kids back on the show to be part of them. We have so many terrific titles we've been playing from Gamewright, Out of the Box, Bucephalus Games, and other publishers that we are making it a focus in the days ahead.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

The FTC has now mandated that this kind of information be mentioned by bloggers and other people inclined to express opinions about products and services. In addition to reviewing games, I also curate the board game library for Strategicon’s thrice-yearly conventions, which means some games are also sent to me so they can be played in the big board games library I tote to each convention. Many of those games I demo at the conventions as events but not necessarily with the direct sponsorship of the game companies. I do it because I know people like to learn the new stuff and, frankly, I find it fun to teach people new games.

So, the line is blurry – I get games for review, demo and library additions. But I want to make sure you know the line is blurry and you can assume that most of the games I talk about were provided to me for one of these purposes. Okay? Okay. Let get back to the games…

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/52573/boardgame-babylons-orccon-2010-wrap-up-report

I have two new podcasts in the can. The next one coming will feature:

Mystery Express from Days of Wonder

Maureen Hiron's card-smashing trilogy: Super Circles, 7 Ate 9 and Run Wild from Out of the Box

Days of Steam from Valley Games

Happy Spring Gaming...

Boardgame Babylon is back with a Q&A session featuring award-winning designer, Matt Leacock. You probably know him from his hit games Pandemic and Roll Through The Ages. His newest game, Gamewright's utterly gorgeous Forbidden Island, debuted at Orccon 2010 and was well-received. Listen in to hear him talk about his history in gaming, the development of his games, and he even politely listens to me complain about game branding (he's an incredibly nice guy - listen for him to tell me to 'be nice' when I joke about people getting low scores in Roll Through The Ages). ;)

Here's a complete bio:

Matt Leacock is a user experience designer and game designer. His games have received many awards including Family Game of the Year from Games Magazine for both Pandemic (2008) and Roll Through the Ages (2009). His newest game, Forbidden Island is due out from Gamewright this spring. When not designing games, Matt heads User Experience at Sococo where he's applying game design techniques to reinvent communications software. Prior to Sococo he was an interaction designer at Yahoo!, AOL, Netscape, and Apple.

We had a lot of fun recording the show and I hope you will enjoy listening to it, too.

For more information on future Strategicon events, see www.strategicon.net

Early tournaments for Incan Gold, FITS, Slide 5 (6 Nimmt!), Formula Motor Racing, Tobago, Lost Cities: The Board Game, and some Steve Jackson Games events have already gone off. Thunderstone demos are all the rage with the AEG team (BGB friend jim pinto is here with his crew). I think we had four tables of the game going earlier. I need to check that one out.

Late arrivals for the demo/library include Days of Steam, Repulic of Rome (there were gasps when I brought it out!), Such A Thing, Dungeon Lords, Witch of Salem, CarDcassonne, Skyline 3000, and Atlantis.

Popular checkouts already: Dungeon Lords, Havana, Galaxy Trucker, and Campaign Manager 2008.

I'm about to play Days of Steam - a light train game from Valley Games - so I can be ready to run a demo for it tomorrow.

Hoping to record a podcast tonight with jim pinto about games played in 2009. Will post promptly it if isn't too awful...

I also announce the winner of the Leaders of Small World giveaway. Thanks to everyone who tweeted, Facebooked, posted, commented or otherwise spread the word about our Last Minute Stocking Stuffer show. Hopefully a few extra people got some good smaller games in their holiday socks this year with our help.

Don't forget that Orccon 2010 is coming soon! Cash in those miles and fly out to see us in Sunny L.A. (our twice-a-decade rainstorm is ovah!) for President's Day Weekend to enjoy these great events:

* Guest of Honor Matt Leacock will join us for big Pandemic and Roll Through The Ages events. He'll also debut his great new co-operative game Forbidden Island, due out soon from Gamewright!

* Compete in the Ticket to Ride World Championship Qualifier with exclusive prizes!

* Learn great new games like a pre-release of Mystery Express, Tobago, At The Gates of Loyang, Cardcassonne, Dream Factory, Homesteaders, Terra Prime, Megacorps, Campaign Manager 2008, Havana, Run Wild, and many more!

* Play games in the Strategicon Board Game Library further expanded through donations from Rio Grande Games, Z-Man Games, Mayfair Games, Out of the Box, Days of Wonder, Looney Labs, FRED Distribution, and many more great publishers!

* Play in over 200 board game events for dealer dollars you can use to buy anything in the dealer room - no lousy prize pool!

For more information, check out: www.strategicon.net and join us from 2/12-2/15.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Stocking Stuffers:

Small World: Grand Dames from Days of Wonder

Small World: Cursed! from Days of Wonder

Small World: Leaders of Small World from Days of Wonder

Ticket to Ride: Europe 1912 expansion from Days of Wonder

Wits and Wagers: Expansion #1

Archaeology: The Card Game from Z

Horse Fair from R&R Games

Straw from AEG Enterprises

Party Game Suggestions:

Such a Thing from Valley Games

Wits and Wagers from Northstar Games

Word on the Street from Out of the Box Games

Cineplexity from Out of the Box Games

The Chain Game from Out of the Box Games

Time's Up: Title Recall from R&R Games

Time's Up: Game Geek Edition from Repos Games

Dexterity Game Suggestions:

Sorry Sliders

Ring-O Flamingo

Going to Target?

Qwirkle

Bananagrams

Pictionary Man(!) - he's on my wish list ;)

Scattegories On The Go

iPhone Apps

Zooloretto

Bananagrams

Roto

Robot Master

Don't forget to sign up for the Leaders of Small World contest by tweeting, Facebooking, posting on BGG, a publisher's site, Amazon.com or otherwise spreading the word about this podcast and its recommendations. Drop me a note with a link to the Connect address on the side for your chance to win. The contest is only running through Christmas and then I will play Santa to one lucky listener (worldwide)!

Happy Holidays to all and thanks for listening to Boardgame Babylon in 2009.

Taj Mahal (RGG/Alea)Naval WarEssen and Strategicon exclusive Zooloretto, Power Grid and Ghost Stories expansionshuge set of Clan WarLots of kid games (yay! They've moved on!)A bunch of old D&D minis from the 80's

Happy Bidding!

At this time of year, I always appeal to listeners doing their holiday online shopping to please shop through the Amazon.com link on the top left corner of the page here. If you search for items you are going to buy on Amazon anyway, a small percentage of your purchase goes to BGB to help keep the podcast going. It is no additional cost to you but helps out here, especially now that I am getting all those Essen bills in (eek!) And it couldn't be easier - just search for your item and then go through the regular purchase process.

Thanks for supporting the show and for listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Warning - I meant to edit this show all week but never had time while I am down here in India. So, here it is, warts and all.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

This is pretty much how I think I'll do my Essen shows - a brief vignette or two and then three quick reviews of games (roughly, one I like, one I didn't particularly and then a filler or lighter game).

And if you watched the live streaming from the Boardgamegeek.com booth at Essen, you saw a lot of me! I am there for the Czech Games Edition demos, Colonia, part of the Jay Tummelson interview and at various other times. The BGG.COM booth was the place to be and I'm thrilled I got to attend the show for their debut. I hope they make it back again next year.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

In light of the fact that Geekdo/BGG did so many cool live broadcasts on UStream and that other podcasters were on-hand, I've decided to keep my podcasts to game reviews and thoughts on the show. I did a few interviews but didn't follow the sensible advice of conducting them in quieter spots and the noise is not good - plus, there would be some overlap. So, as I spend a couple of weeks in India for work, I'll record and upload some shows to talk about the event and my attempts to play Uwe Rosenberg's new At The Gates of Loyang (the only game I brought to India) solo over the course of my trip here.

Unfortunately, the time and money involved in making the trip to Essen means that I am going to bow out of BGG.con, which is coming in less than a month's time. I am selling my BGG.con pass and although I have a friend looking in to selling it, you can feel free to e-mail me with an offer. Although some find selling the pass at a premium untoward, I was encouraged to do so by many folks. I certainly wouldn't mind something to help offset the costs of the Essen trip and the chance to bring all these podcasts to you.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon. A new show will go up shortly and many more will follow in the next two weeks.

Better shows with proper analysis and discussion will follow soon.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

No, it's that I am getting ready to head out to Essen for Spiel this year and want to clear the backlog as much as I can. I also really want to get this show out, which I think is an interesting one in the Stories of Self-Publishing series. Tasty Minstrel Games is a new kid on the block and they have two new games on the way to debut at BGG.con. Hear about that, their path to publishing, and their exciting 2010 lineup on this show.

And if you plan to be in Essen, I'd welcome the chance to meet up with BGB listeners! Please drop me an e-mail and let me know if you expect to be at the show. Essen Spiel experts who want to show me around are certainly welcome! ;) Heck, I'll take beer, food and travel recommendations (need to take a train from Frankfurt to Essen on Wednesday...) I have a press pass for the show and will cover it extensively in audio and probably video, too. Very excited to finally get there after longing to go for...oh...too long...

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Le Havre is an undeniably terrific game, if a bit long for my taste. I've jokingly referred to it as "Agricaylus" but it does have a personality all its own. Although I would not play it with four or five, it is a terrific three player game full of interesting choices. While I am not crazy about the selection of promo buildings that are largely unavailable for direct purchase (an issue that has kept me from buying the game since the OCD will surely kick in), I quite enjoy playing it and, with my recent success getting my lovely wife to play Agricola, I'm hoping we can try Le Havre down the line, too. Maybe if we can get one for the Strategicon library…

I appreciate the IGAs recognizing the longer 'gamer games' that simply don't have a shot at winning a Spiel Des Jahres or even, it seems, a DSP or Tower. Heaven help them in any Origins award category, the nominees for which seem to be selected by a poorly informed psychic reading tea leaves. As sorry as I am to see great Martin Wallace designs like Automobile and Brass get edged out, it is terrific to see them in the running.

The IGAs also give out a two-player award and it has gone to Day & Night by Valentijn Eekels and published by Mystics. I certainly look forward to trying the game out now that the IGAs have recommended it so highly (indeed, above fine games like Dos De Mayo and Kamisado). They give away awards for historical conflict games but you didn't expect to read about that here, did you? If so, I'd have to paraphrase the mighty Derk Solko, "Do you LISTEN to the podcast?!?"

Congratulations to the winners and also to the IGA committee for such fine selections. More info on the IGAs and their voting process can be enjoyed here.

Gateway 2009 was also my first convention running the Board Games department and I'm calling it a success despite a few mishaps here and there with scheduling. But we also replaced the old library with an awesome new library of great titles, adding some terrific events, ran a qualifier for the Rio Grande Design Contest and drove a 10% increase in turnstile attendance even in this still-in-recovery economy. I'll chalk it up as a success - largely thanks to an amazing staff of volunteers who put up with me (especially the wonderful Gayle Charboneau). I'll talk more about the show in an upcoming episode and reveal more about plans for Orccon 2010, where we will be honored to have Matt Leacock as our Guest of Honor and will host a couple of truly major events that I can't wait to reveal.

Your feedback is GREATLY appreciated. Please send it to the link on the side, post here or on the BGG Guild for the podcast.

Thanks for listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Z-Man's Archaeology: The Card Game by Phil Harding

Asmodee's Snow Tails by Fraser and Gordon Lamont

I was a bit out of practice and so I convinced Christina to join me on the microphone since she's actually played all the games included – and she ends up getting us to also talk briefly about Friedemann Friese's Fast Flowing Forest Fellers and a game I mentioned liking before on this podcast, Antoine Bauza's Hurry'Cup.

Also mentioned during the show was the convention debut of short film "Boggle Nights". If you'd like to see this fun view into the 'world of competitive Boggle' by filmmakers Richard Castrence and Rachel Hart, check it out here. Gamers should find some good laughs in it.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Longtime BGB listeners will remember the inimitable Mr. pinto as a special guest on my first Stories of Self-Publishing shows and I've been trying to get him back since. Here, we talk about game design, the industry and his work for Alderac Entertainment Group, who are entering the board game market big time. They're local heroes in Southern California (as the guys responsible for the brilliant CCG "Legend of the Five Rings") and I'm glad to see them get into the kind of games we talk about on BGB. I hope you enjoy our freewheeling chat – I sure enjoyed having it.

As I mention on the show, please feel free to follow me on Twitter (bgbabylon), link to be on Facebook or LinkedIn and please become a "Fan" of Boardgame Babylon on Facebook so I can get one of those cool unique URLs for the show.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

P.S. Yes, that sandwich is jim pinto. It was hard to interview him without getting hungry but I managed it.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Strategicon Dan Verssen Games One Small Step

· Giants by Fabrice Besson (Asmodee/Matagot)

· Playing Gods by Benjamin Radford (BallsOut Entertainment)

· Roll Through The Ages by Matt Leacock (FRED Distribution)

I also announce the lucky winners of the BGB contest for cool Michael Schacht stuff from Orccon 2009. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone that sent in an entry. This was the most popular contest yet for BGB and it's inspired me to do another one soon.

I'm back from GAMA (where I didn't record any shows) but I do have some good material for a couple more shows, one archive show that should see the light of day soon and even - finally - a "Favorite Games of 2009" show with one of my favorite BGB occasional contributors joining me on the mic.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

A word of warning: I recorded this over Skype and it would appear that there is some bug through the VOIP that makes it sound like I am breathing heavily whenever I am not speaking. It's clearly not me using a sub-standard microphone for this one podcast but an actual bug in Skype. They apologize for the excess noise.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

* Ghost Stories

* Wasabi

* Gem Dealer

Also, be sure to send in your entry for our exclusive Michael Schacht contest. You can win one of the following:

* A copy of the Strategicon exclusive Zooloretto expansion, "King K."* A signed copy of the Spielbox Zooloretto expansion.

Send in your entries ASAP - we'll take them through the weekend (until March 22). The contest is available to everyone WORLDWIDE.

And for more information on Orccon, Gamex or Gateway, please visit: www.strategicon.net

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

...Sheylon

Be sure to listen for the way to send in an entry for our exclusive Michael Schacht contest. You can win one of the following:

1. A copy of the Strategicon exclusive Zooloretto expansion, "King K."
2. A signed copy of the Spielbox Zooloretto expansion.

Send in your entries today. We'll take them until March 21th (something I conveniently forgot to mention during the recording...) and then pick a winner.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

However, I'm editing the Michael Schacht Q&A for posting shortly and should be giving away a copy of the exclusive Strategicon Zooloretto expansion (entitled "King K.") to one lucky listener. Watch for the show later this week. I have material for at least one additional show, if not two (plus one show I recorded last week but didn't get a chance to edit).

The convention was a lot of fun, very crowded and I got a very warm reception to all games I showed. I guess it was all the advertising I did but all but one demo went off and they were nearly all packed to the point of turning people away. I did a few extras to get in some of the folks who really wanted to learn the games (notably: Municipium, Hogwarts House Cup Challenge and Roll Through The Ages). I'm exhausted for the work week now but at least I had dozens of folks that appreciated the chance to learn games instead of reading the rules themselves and it was fun to see so many of them come back with the games they had just learned in hand, having purchased it in the dealer room. That's a nice feeling - knowing I helped introduce them to something they will enjoy.

Thanks for downloading and - in this case - reading Boardgame Babylon.

After this, I bolted over for Michael Schacht's other major new release, The Golden City. This one is a building game with various bonuses available from building from the ports on four sides of an island (each with different kinds of territory) through the fields and into the city for big bonuses. There are scoring opportunities every turn depending on where you place your shops and also which goods you have acquired. Players build by acquiring territory cards and if someone takes the pair you like, you can pay to grab it instead (and back and forth). Nice game and one that plays in about forty-five minutes.

The day started with some good demos. Supernova was enjoyed by some folks, even though the game didn't end up working particularly for me. Then the Roll Through The Ages madness! I demonstrated the game three times in a row because there were so many people lined up to play it. The excitement over the game was palpable – nearly every person said they wanted to buy it (notably – one very slow game was played where all four players kept the game going slowly by focusing solely on infrastructure – had two naysayers). I also managed to get in a Ticket to Ride Dice Game expansion demo for five that left two very excited players that thought the Dice expansion improved the game. Although I cannot agree with that assessment, I do like the Dice expansion quite a bit – particularly with boards we play less frequently (like Switzerland and Europe).

The Michael Schacht Q&A session was enjoyable. We had plenty of good questions and once I give the recording a polish, it will be up. I'm also doing a follow-up with Michael as well but as we finished up, we encountered the squad from MyNerdGirl.com. Apparently this is a social networking-style site and I'm hoping to post our brief conversation with their two representatives along with a second podcast with some additional questions I had for Michael that didn't get into the Q&A – hopefully including a preview of Zooloretto Exotic, Valdora and The Golden City.

The most amazing part of the day – the raucous response to Antoine Bauza's Hurry'Cup. We had a full complement of six for this party-style race game and a great time was had by all. This is a race game from Asmodee that has a personal speed element (i.e., you grab pawns to find out how quickly you will move). One player actually left the table mid-game to run to the dealer room to buy it because he'd noticed that there were not a lot of them available. I think I got a few action shots from the insane diving for the good pawn each. We had a nice crowd, too, and lots of interest for another demo tomorrow.

Right now, I'm running a demo of Andrew Parks' Hogwarts House Cup Challenge for a bunch of Harry Potter-mad folks. There are quite a few people here and I think a second game will be starting just after this one. This was meant to be my last demo of the day but if the players are there, I guess I'm teaching it again. The game is a family adventure game where you wander the grounds of Hogwarts in search of points for the Gryffindor house. Your encounters add to the glory of Gryffindor but also that of your own character – so although the House wins, there is an individual winner, too.

I also taught Roll Through The Ages to a few groups of enthusiastic folks – Matt Leacock's (of Pandemic fame) latest has a lot of fans here and I just hope the retailers in the dealer room listened and brought enough to sell. All four people at the last game were swearing they would get one tomorrow morning (Saturday, when the dealer room opens). I also showed Ghost Stories with great success – although the players did not win. For me, Ghost Stories remains just as much fun when you lose as when you win. The nice thing is that it is easy to vary the difficulty with some tweaks like giving the players more life tokens or playing with the haunted space numbers a bit.

Tomorrow, we show off Valley Games' Supernova and Titan, FRED's Gem Dealer and Roll Through The Ages, NECA/Quixotic's Hogwarts House Challenge, Z-Man's Middle Kingdom and Heads of State, and many more. But I'm really looking forward to the Q&A session with Michael Schacht. There isn't much time to send in questions but if you do, I'll try to get them in. I'll probably do a follow-up show with him as well to ask all my questions that do not get in during the Q&A so even if you send them after 1 PM PST today, I might have time to ask him.

If I can get the darn pictures off my camera or Blackjack, I'll upload some soon.

I've just finished teaching Municipium (myu-nih-KIP-ee-um – unless you like church Latin) to some excited players. We had about four additional folks listening in and I think the next demo will likely fill again. I'm fond of this middle-weight Knizia (okay, maybe light-middle) and the art has really grown on me.

In fact – if you have any questions for us to ask Michael Schacht in the Q&A session tomorrow, drop me an e-mail at sheylon AT gmail DOT com (or click the Connect link to the left) and I'll try to get your question in. Send them in soon!

Tonight, I'm doing demonstrations of Valley Games' Municipium, FRED Distribution's Roll Through The Ages, and Asmodee's Ghost Stories.

Strategicon's Orccon 2009 is welcoming award-winning game designer Michael Schacht as Guest of Honor for their annual convention held at the LAX Radisson from February 13-16.

Mr. Schacht is set to US debut of three major new releases at the convention. "Zooloretto Exotic" is a new expansion for the Spiel Des Jahres-winning family game of the same name. "The Golden City" is a major new Kosmos release and "Valdora" is the latest new board game from Abacusspiele due out at the Nuremberg toy fair this year. All three will be available for exclusive play at Orccon along with some games Mr. Schacht will bring for play-testing at the event.

In addition, Mr. Schacht has provided an exclusive Zooloretto game tile for Orccon 2009 that will be available to Strategicon attendees this year. Strategicon also runs Gamex 2009 on Memorial Day Weekend and Gateway 2009 on Labor Day Weekend. The tile will also be used in a big combined Zooloretto/Aquaretto tournament also held at the convention.

Orccon 2009 regularly plays host to approximately fifteen-hundred gamers from around the world. Board game tournaments offer dealer dollar prizes and have no individual event cost. Come join in the fun in sunny Southern California this Presidents' Day Weekend. For more information on Orccon 2009, please visit: www.strategicon.net.

In case you aren't familiar with the term "Five and Dimes" in reference to plays of board games, the mighty game reviewer Mike Siggins coined the term years ago to refer to games played five or ten times in the course of a year. These days, the terrific blogger/gamer/family games expert Mark Jackson (aka "Fluff Daddy") tracks this information and doesn't a series of reports to show which games are getting the most play and how it compares to past years. You can watch for the details on Mark's blog here.

Boardgame Babylon will be back with a session review show soon with details on some exciting newer releases including Ghost Stories, Municipium, Le Havre, and Hurry'Cup.

Don't forget that Orccon 2009 is coming up February 13-16 with Special Guest Michael Schacht. I can't say enough - don't you want to come to Southern California in mid-February to play games? Considering the great price war going on right now with the airlines, it should be fairly cheap to come visit us (check out the deals on Travelocity and Expedia) and get away from freezing temperatures. Hey - it was 85 degrees here today - I considered taking the kids to the beach. Sorry, didn't mean to rub it in... ;) Find out more information on www.strategicon.net and if you are coming out, drop me an e-mail so we can get together and play a game at the convention.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

But for now, here is BGB v60 - a series of interviews I conducted at BGG.con last month. I apologize for the sound quality on the interviews. I hadn't intended to podcast at the show but I ended up doing so anyway with the recorder on my Blackjack and now I know - we won't be using that again (the iRiver died some time ago...)

Anyway, the show includes interviews with the folks from Asmodee, Your Move Games, Bucephalus Games, and Ape Games (plus a bonus chat with Kevin G. Nunn of "duck duck GO!" fame) - plus some noteworthy news I share about the very special, very cool guest we have joining us here in Los Angeles for Orccon 2009. You'll want to check flight prices when you hear about who is joining us here in Southern California for the big show. As noted on the show, a second BGG.con show with some locals chatting about the convention will be coming soon. When Aldie gets around to releasing the fun show he recorded with Jason Matthews, Tom Lehmann and Derk, you can hear me asking more than my fair share of questions, too. ;)

Also, listen in to hear about the BGG.con coins that have been launched here and around the world. Keep those coins moving and you can check out where they have been right here. You may be able to get in on the fun even if you didn't attend BGG.con.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon. Happy New Year!

Sadly, the Last Minute Stocking Stuffer show was scrapped at the last minute when I had to do some work this week when I was supposed to be on vacation. I only had so much time before Xmas and that had to win out. But I'll replace it with a session review show for sure. I hope to release two BGG.con shows shortly in addition to at least one session review show.

Listen to the next Boardgame Babylon for some exciting news about the upcoming Orccon convention. We have a special guest coming in from Germany that might interest you. There are even more reasons to visit Sunny Southern California in February now.

We've got the Christmas music playing and we're about to play a little Mystery Rummy (likely Rue Morgue since we're tired and I can almost play that one in my sleep) while we wait for Santa. Those of us at Boardgame Babylon wish all listeners a very happy holiday season filled with joy, games, and good times!

...ERB

However, there is at least one BGG.Con report coming and two Session Review shows talking about some exciting titles from Essen and just after. Patience is appreciated!

Also appreciated are the nice folks using our affiliate links for Amazon and MeeplePeople. You buy things for the same amount if you went to their site but if you click from here, I get a tiny cut. So, thanks to those that have contributed to the show with your shopping dollars.

As we go into the Christmas season, feel free to visit us here at BGB when you are shopping at Amazon or MeeplePeople.com. Although we don't ask for donations at BGB (I always listeners to become a BGG Patron or BGN subscriber instead since those terrific folks make a living doing this kind of thing), I certainly appreciate those that use the Amazon search box to find the items you are ordering and when you make a purchase, we get a tiny little cut (doesn't affect your price). Same thing for Meeple People.com - we get a small slice that doesn't increase your price. So, if you're shopping on those sites, I humbly request you click through BGB to help support the show. A very big thanks to those that already have (since that reminded me to mention it, too).

Lastly, I wanted to mention that, as expected, the terrific Ryan and Chad of GameInk.net did indeed have the RA shirt at BGG.con and if you want one, you'd better order NOW. They were moving nicely there and they had people contact them ahead of time to put in their requests for one to be held. If you want a copy of this awesome limited print-run item, browse on over to GameInk.net right away (and check out their other cool stuff, too - I bought a couple more shirts myself at BGG.con). They make terrific presents.

Happy Thanksgiving to all US folks observing it and happy holidays to everyone else.

I've decided to part ways with my Risk: Black Ops. I'm reviewing a copy of the same game a friend bought so this shrinkwrapped Risk: Black Ops can go to someone who will love it more than I will. Drop me an e-mail with an offer if you are interested. I can deliver to BGG.con if necessary.

E-mail to: Sheylon AT GMAIL DOT COM. Send it soon! No formal process (not a bid or whatever) - I'll just look at the offers and if one looks good - you got it.

BGG.con is just a week away and I'm going encourage BGB listeners to do two things:

1. Please check out my BGG List of games I'm keen to play at the convention. If you'd like to join me, please comment and I'll try to seek you out for the game in question. The list is nearly forty-strong so hopefully every listener in attendance can find one that we can play together. Here's the link: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/36547
2. The great guys of GameInk.net are producing their fabulous RA t-shirt ("17"), which lost out on their two contests for top shirts but apparently they can be won over with enthusiasm and the promise of nearly two dozen BGB listeners agreeing to buy shirts at the show. However, the shirt is in short supply so get to their booth early and get your awesome "17" shirt. You'll be the best dressed person at the con. Note: The above may not be the final design - I think Ryan said it might be in black instead.

Hope to see many of you in Dallas next week. Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Games Mentioned

Dominion Ticket to Ride: The Dice Expansion Race for the Galaxy

Hero: Immortal King (three different scenarios below)

The Lair of the Lich Infernal Forge Den of Dementia

Other Links

Days of Wonder Asmodee GameInk.net

And, no - you need not have enjoyed Igor to enjoy the R&R games based on it. ;)

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon. Happy Halloween!

Show Notes

Games mentioned:

Igor: The Monster Making Game Igor: The Life of the Party

Innsmouth Escape Bump In The Night Mmm...Brains

Fearsome Floors Fury of Dracula Gravediggers Vampire (Knizia)

Zombies!!! Zombietown

Additional Links

R&R Games Twilight Creations Fantasy Flight Games

1. There are sound quality issues
2. This show IS NOT edited properly so it's a little longer than it would be if I spent some time tightening it up.

Hope this one is still enjoyable even though the awards were announced last week.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

International Gamer Awards

A while back, the International Gamer Award nominees were announced and I was quite impressed that I'd played all fifteen of the multiplayer category's games. I also knew that my friend Chris Johnson had also done so and thought it might be interesting to talk about our opinions of the games and their chance to come out on top for this prestigious award.

So, I planned a nice to record and convinced Chris to come over...only to fall ill (darn the school year starting!) Thus, I delayed a week and when I finally recorded the show, well, I had a sound problem. Last week, as I began to work on fixing the problem (while also finishing up my big Clear the Shelves auction) and didn't get it done until the weekend...when the 2008 IGA winners were announced.

So...should I release this thing? I know I don't want to edit the heck out of it and wrestle with the sound quality when I can record my next podcast talking about Ticket to Ride: The Dice Expansion, Tinners' Trail, Playing Gods, and Hero: Immortal King.

If you would like to hear us breezily talk about the nominees (and accurately predict the winners!), let me know and I'll quietly add the show to the feed. If I hear from a couple of dozen or so listeners, I'll put it up. You can post on the comments here OR send an e-mail to me at: sheylon AT gmail dot com.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon - even the ones that may be out of date...

Also, you might want to check out my BGG "Clear the Shelves" Auction. I've put up fifty games from my collection that could use new homes. Check it out here: BGG's Clear the Shelves Auction.

More BGB is on the way, including a discussion of the IGA awards, another session review show and hopefully two new In Depth shows with nice special guests.

And, yes – that is one of Meeple People.com's new plush Meeples. I used him to intimidate Alaric's followers in our recent Carcassonne game (funny how the Xbox version inspired us to play the regular one – not complaining!) I feel sure his awesome power led to my two-point victory.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon. Your feedback is greatly appreciated! Please send your comments, thoughts, and complaints to: sheylon at gmail.com.

Show Notes

Games Mentioned

Age of Gods Octego GIPF

Elric Dark Emperor Sorceror

Other Links

Willow Tree Games (sorry, I call it Willow Games on the podcast) Asmodee Editions

Additionally, I wrote up my session reports from the convention and they ended up being so long that I decided against reproducing them here. Instead, I shoved them on a Geeklist here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/33755

(see the pic for a shot of one of the weekend's silliest moments - me mercilessly defeating newbies in the traditional Loopin' Louie tournament - photo courtesy of Greg Zamira)

I'm looking ahead to the next couple of conventions. Gateway 2008 is at the end of the month and it should be a great time. Again, I'm demonstrating games on Friday and Saturday - including new games from Z-Man, Days of Wonder, Rio Grande, Fantasy Flight, and a few other companies. Come out and join us in Southern California for the best convention series around.

The next Boardgame Babylon is a Session Review show with comments on Age of Gods, Octego, and a great book of games called "The 15 Greatest Board Games In the World!"

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon. We're hitting huge numbers lately and it is much appreciated! Please share with me any feedback you might have - it's always a pleasure to receive your notes. Just click the "Connect" button to send me your comments.

This podcast is sponsored by the wonderful folks at Gateplay.com. Check them out for great games at terrific prices and free shipping with a $100 order. A terrific site for gamers new to the hobby as well as the full initiated.

A couple of additional items:

Strategicon is raising their rates for the next convention, Gateway 2008, but you can still get the old convention rate through July 31st - including your BGG Patron or Boardgamenews.com Subscriber discount. Check it out now and join us for this great convention on the Labor Day Weekend.

GameInk.net is a great place to buy gamer shirts that don't look too much like gamer shirts (that's a good thing). They had the good taste to design an utterly wonderful RA shirt but they cannot seem to get enough votes to have it be one of their latest prints. Luckily, they saw my attempts to shamelessly get people to vote for the RA shirt by offering to buy extras to give away at BGG.con and now we're working on trying to get it printed if enough people will contact me and commit to purchasing one. So, if you are interested - please send me an e-mail and let me know.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

But the game is just about to debut here in the US in an English language version and so I don't feel too badly about releasing a show with more information and details about the history of the game. I'm honored to have the US publisher of Agricola, Zev Shlasinger of Z-Man Games, join me on the mic to talk a little more about the game, the hype and the US release.

Part 2, featuring a conversation with LA-based Agricoholics Stephanie Kelleher and Chris Johnson talking with me about basic gameplay, strategy, a preview of the Z Deck, and the tournament we ran at Gamex 2008, will be out soon.

Please send your feedback to the connect link on the side or post them on the comments section.

This episode is sponsored by Gateplay.com - check them out for your pre-order of Agricola. I certainly recommend pre-ordering Agricola from your favorite retailer if you want to make sure you get a copy of this print run with the Z Deck.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Games mentioned

Agricola Race for the Galaxy Bohnanza Mamma Mia

Klunker Caylus Scepter of Zavandor End of the Triumvirate

Stone Age Pillars of the Earth

Other Links

Z-Man Games Lookout Games Uwe Rosenberg Spiel Des Jahres

Gateplay.com

The cake also tasted great. You'll notice that the Scientist is out this round (she ran out of white) and the Researcher was made of Tootsie Roll (and was the first pawn eaten). Despite all the detail, Christina was excited to do this one since Pandemic is one of her favorite games. It was another nice reminder that I am one lucky guy.

Watch next week for the first of two "Agricola: In depth" shows and I'll even be tackling Pandemic soon on a show devoted to co-op and semi-co-op games.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Apparently some people miss these shows so here is a new show talking about some great new games that we've enjoyed in recent months. A second show like this will be coming soon about Cutthroat Caverns, Age of Gods and Innsmouth Escape.

But before that, you can expect another game in the "In depth" series. "Agricola: In depth" is coming and quite soon! The first part of this two-parter should be out next week and the second part will follow shortly after that - all just in time to whip up the hype on the eve of the game's (finally!) release in the US.

Lastly, I'll note that my dear wife Christina joined me on this show just because she was sitting nearby when I was going to record. Her comments are light (she made me edit out a section) but I sure enjoyed having her around for the show because it's ages since I recorded a solo show.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Games mentioned

Ticket To Ride: The Card Game Say Anything Pizza Box Baseball

Keltis Lost Cities Drive (Crazy Chicken) Wits & Wagers

Apples to Apples Wer War's

Other Links

Northstar Games