Board Games with Scott

BGWS 047 - TransEuropa and Vexation

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:55:33 +0000

TransEuropa is a good introductory train game where players have secret agendas to connect five cities using communal track. (11:28) TransEuropa (and the similar game, TransAmerica), is a great introduction to modern board games. It’s a light game where players connect cities across Europe by playing track that everyone shares. In this episode of [...]

BGWS 046 - 18xx

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:17:10 +0000

18xx is a series of complex economic train games where players invest and manage multiple train lines, set in the 1800’s. (42:03) The 18xx series of games are a long-standing series of economic train games. Players invest in one or more train corporations and manage their routes on a board. In this episode of [...]

Blatant Plug - Tulipmania 1637

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:10:12 +0000

(Begin Blatant Plug) I’ve designed my first board game, called Tulipmania 1637. It’s a stock market game that replicates the bubble market that was in 1637 regarding the price of tulip bulbs that almost destroyed the dutch economy. I made the game after visiting the Tulip museum in Amsterdam and learning all about Tulipmania, [...]

BGWS 045 - Board Games with Scott 045 - Puerto Rico

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:41:07 +0000

Puerto Rico is a modern eurogame that combines strategy and tactics about building an effective plantation in San Juan. (34:29) Puerto Rico is one of the top-ranked games at BoardGameGeek and is one of my favorite games. That said, it is a medium-complexity game that offers a new player a large number of choices. [...]

Scott on Local TV - “Food for Thought - Board Game Segment

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:21:33 +0000

It’s not a full-blown episode of Board Games with Scott, but it’s a video about board games. The show that inspired me to start the series is off the air, but the host is now doing a cooking show. He contacted me and asked me to be on the show, so I offered [...]

BGWS 044 - Board Games with Scott - Portrayal

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 17:22:58 +0000

Portrayal is a party game where players draw what they are told. (13:53) Time for something lighter! This is a party game from a small publisher, Braincog, and I really enjoyed it. While you draw in the game, it’s not like a traditional drawing game. Make sure and have pencil and paper ready [...]

BGWS 043 - Reef Encounter

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:10:50 +0000

Reef Encounter is a medium-weight strategy game about coral reef combat and hungry parrotfish. (37:06) Welcome! It’s been a while, but I’m getting settled in after my move, and am ready to start up again. This episode is about Reef Encounter and features clips from an interview that I did with the designer, Richard [...]

WORD-FM Segment

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:32:16 +0000

On Tuesday, Nov. 27th, I was on WORD-FM, talking about Board Games. You can get the MP3 file directly or listen to the segment at http://www.archive.org/details/Word-fmSegment-BoardGameRecommendations-November2007 If you are visiting here because you heard me on WORD-FM, welcome! Here are videos about the games I discussed on the show: Wits and Wagers - http://www.boardgameswithscott.com/?p=53 GiftTRAP - [...]

The scene from the basement..

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 00:09:01 +0000

What could be going on?

BoardGameGeek Guild

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:00:42 +0000

In case you are interested, I’ve started a BoardGameGeek Guild about Board Games with Scott. This is where I’ll talk about what I’m up to, what games I have planned to make videos about, and offer forums for other chit-chat about the show. You will need a BGG account to join, and then you can [...]

Getting closer…

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 01:50:32 +0000

We’re moved into the new place (and still have had no offers on the old one). I’ve put up track lighting in the basement for my filming, but I have not yet found the box with the video camera. It’s somewhere.. in a box…somewhere…

More house delays

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:17:59 +0000

As it always seems to go, everything takes longer than it should. You would think in this time of a housing slump, there would be so little work that those involved with houses would be eager to work! We own the house, but are still waiting on some big repairs before we can start moving [...]

Boardgame Broadcasters Panel

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 09:58:30 +0000

Greetings! We’re closing on our new house tomorrow (after weeks of delays) so I won’t be putting up an episode for another few weeks as we repair the new house and then move in. (note - our current house remains unsold, so if you are looking or know someone who is looking in the Syracuse [...]

BGWS 042 - World of Warcraft, the Boardgame

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:31:45 +0000

World of Warcraft, the Boardgame is a long fantasy game for two teams of players. (38:27) Special Note! I’ll be at Origins. There is a Meet the Boardgame Broadcasters panel Saturday morning at 10AM that I’ll be on, and will be happy to go out to lunch with BGWS viewers afterwards. I’ll also [...]

BGWS 041 - ConHex

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Tue, 22 May 2007 11:26:08 +0000

ConHex is a fast abstract connection game for two players (17:54) In this episode, I interview Michail Antonow, the designer of ConHex, about his game, teach the game and play a sample game. ConHex is a clever two-player abstract game where players are attempting to connect two sides of a square board. [...]

BGWS 040 - The Pillars of the Earth

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:04:57 +0000

The Pillars of the Earth is a light strategy game about gathering resources and employing craftsmen to turn those resources into parts of a catherdal. (27:07) The Pillars of the Earth was an Essen 2006 release based on Ken Follett’s book of the same name. It’s a family strategy game which is similar to [...]

On Board Games netcast

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 11:49:12 +0000

Looking for a little Scott to tide you over between episodes of Board Games with Scott? I’ve joined up with Don Dennis (the pirate from Board Games without Scott) and Erik Dewey (reviewer for Knucklebones magazine) to do a new netcast called “On Board Games”. This is a regular series where we talk about [...]

BGWS 039 - Yspahan

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 11:15:54 +0000

Yspahan is a strategy game where players play the role of merchants, occupying souks and caravans in order to score points in this quick 30-minute game (20:06) Yspahan is a clever and short strategy game. Where there is a theme, it doesn’t really match up with the gameplay, but is still fun. Players [...]

BGWS 038 - Lifeboats

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:55:01 +0000

Lifeboats is a light negotiation game about sailors trying to make it ashore in leaky lifeboats. (15:09) In Lifeboats, players have escaped a sinking ship onto a series of lifeboats. These lifeboats have not been well-maintained, so have sprung leaks. Players are maneuvering for the best boats and try to avoid being tossed overboard [...]

BGWS 037 - Rum & Pirates

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 01:45:16 +0000

Rum & Pirates is a family strategy game about collecting honor points through strategic placement of scarce resources. (16:38) In Rum & Pirates, players control a group a pirates. On your turn, you control the movement of your pirate leader, following along with members of your group. Based upon where the leader goes, you [...]

New BGWS episodes

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:51:26 +0000

Greetings! I have good news, more good news, bad news, good news, and a request. The good news: This semester, I’ve been promoted at work to Program Director of the Masters of Science in Library and Information Science program, which is an administrative position where I plan courses, marketing, find adjuncts, and basically run that academic program. The more [...]

“Best podcast/videocast” and Gone Gaming Hall of Fame

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 15:24:34 +0000

The Gone Gaming awards have been posted, and Board Games with Scott was selected as the Best Podcast/Videocast for 2006. In addition, they have placed BGWS into the Gone Gaming Hall of Fame (since I also won an award last year), so BGWS is not eligible for an award in the future. So, [...]

BGWS 036 - Shear Panic with the Lamont Brothers

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:37:08 +0000

Shear Panic is a light strategy game about managing the position of your sheep in a flock. (24:48) This week on Board Games with Scott, host Scott Nicholson discusses Shear Panic - The Best Game Ewe Ever Heard and interviews the designers, Gordon and Fraser Lamont. In this 2-4 player light strategy game (with really [...]

BGWS Lampooned on Google Current

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:13:16 +0000

But hey, you know, any publicity is good publicity, as they say. These folks poked some serious fun at BGWS and the hobby… http://www.current.tv/google/GC02295 but I still found it funny. (all except for the first entry in the “Here’s some games Scott likes to play” part…that just hurt.) It’s all about raising awareness, and if a lampooning is [...]

Another HourCNY segment

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 13:39:23 +0000

My Veoh Show I was on our local live PBS talk show, HourCNY, last week. This time, my focus was games that could be purchased locally. The sad news I got was that the show is going off the air; HourCNY was the reason I started BGWS, as I saw how useful video-based explorations [...]

Welcome to Board Games with Scott!

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 22:07:04 +0000

To those of you coming here from The 9 (http://9.yahoo.com/2006/12/11/), welcome to my show! Each episode I do is about a different board game. Some of my shows are about party games, others about family games, and some about strategy games. Here are a few good starting points: - Are party games your style? Then [...]

BGWS 035 - BattleLore

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 13:36:26 +0000

Holiday Sale! Use the special code JV8X4F83 at CustomFlix and get 20% off the BGWS DVD. This video has the first 9 episodes of BGWS and a special episode on Aquadukt, all of which were remastered to DVD-quality video so they look good on a television. You could buy this video [...]

BGWS 034 - Wits & Wagers

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 03:11:35 +0000

Wits & Wagers is a party game that combines trivia, knowledge of other players, and gambling. (10:46) This week on Board Games with Scott, host Scott Nicholson discusses Wits & Wagers. This is a party game with a game show feel. Players attempt to guess the answer to numerical questions without going over, and [...]

BGWS 033 - Blue Moon City

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 12:54:05 +0000

Blue Moon City is a strategy racing game about making clever card combinations more effectively than opponents. (20:09) This week on Board Games with Scott, host Scott Nicholson explores Blue Moon City. This game is set in the the world of Blue Moon, which is a popular 2-player card game. In this board game, [...]

BGWS 032 - Carcassonne: The Discovery

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 13:36:07 +0000

Carcassonne is a tile-laying game, highly recommended for families and new players to Eurogames. (14:04) This week on Board Games with Scott, host Scott Nicholson explores Carcassonne: The Discovery. Carcassonne is a series of games; the original one was about building cities and fields, and the resulting board looked like Carcassonne in France. [...]

Special audio show about my Essen experience

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 04:27:57 +0000

I recently returned from the Essen game fair in Germany. It was my first trip, so I wanted to make an audio show about my personal experiences there. I took about 8 hours of footage from the show, so you can expect to see a lot about the Essen games over the next [...]

BGWS 031 - Du Balai / Wicked Witches Way

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 13:50:49 +0000

Du Balai is a fantasy-themed puzzle game where players all play at the same time trying to find one of two solutions. (15:29) Note - I’m posting this a week early, as I’m heading to Essen soon. The next episode of BGWS will be posted Nov. 3rd, so if you need to, ration this episode [...]

BGWS 030 - Ad Acta with designer Andrea Meyer

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 12:36:33 +0000

Ad Acta is a game about being a civil servant involving card and queue management and a good dose of humor. (25:20) This week on Board Games with Scott, designer Andrea Meyer joins Scott Nicholson to talk about her game, Ad Acta. This game takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to civil servitude as players attempt to [...]

BGWS 029 - Easter Island

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 11:23:12 +0000

New! There is a PayPal donate button over to the right on the main site, if you’d like to help support the show directly. I’m trying to upgrade some of my equipment. Easter Island is a a two-player strategy game about bouncing light beams around the board in an attempt to destroy your opponent’s pieces. [...]

BGWS 028 - Timbuktu / Tombouctou

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 13:21:55 +0000

New! Order the BGWS DVD, with episodes 1-9 and a special episode on Aquadukt. Timbuktu is a lighter-weight deduction game where players lead herds of camels through the dangerous desert, avoiding traps and delivering goods. (17:15) This week on Board Games with Scott, Scott Nicholson explores Timbuktu. This is a deduction game from Germany where [...]

HourCNY appearance and details

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 12:07:29 +0000

On Friday, August 25th, I appeared on the HourCNY talk show in Syracuse on a 14-minute live segment about boardgaming with your kids. You can watch the video through the Internet Archive. Right-Click and Save: HourCNY Visit 003, Low quality (21 MB) HourCNY Visit 003, High quality (99 MB) If you are visiting BGWS from that show, welcome! Here’s [...]

BGWS 027 - Tahuantinsuyu with Alan Ernstein

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 10:54:32 +0000

Tahuantinsuyu is a medium-weight strategy game where players build roads, cities, and temples in a historical setting based on the Inca empire. (27:22) This week on Board Games with Scott, game designer and publisher Alan Ernstein joins me to talk about his game, Tahuantinsuyu. This game is set in the Inca empire and many of [...]

BGWS 026 - GiftTRAP

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 10:44:14 +0000

GiftTRAP is party game focused on selecting the best gift for your other players. (16:06) This week on Board Games with Scott, I’m taking a look at GiftTRAP. This is a new party game by a new publisher. It’s lavishly produced, as you will see, and is focused on the acts of getting and [...]

BGWS 025 - Aqua Romana

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 10:22:28 +0000

Aqua Romana is a light strategy tile-laying game about digging aquaducts, cutting off your opponents and avoiding being cut off yourself. (11:01) This week on Board Games with Scott, I’m taking a look at Aqua Romana. This game is in the tile-laying family, so has a similar feel to Caracassonne, Tsuro, or Streetcar/Linie 1. [...]

Geek of the Week and my views on Boardgame Broadcasting

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:55:45 +0000

This week on the BoardGameGeek Webstie, I have been chosen as the Geek of the Week. What that means is that, for a week, people can ask all sorts of questions about my gaming preferences, my life, and even these videos. If you would like to learn a lot more about me and learn about [...]

BGWS 024 - Die Macher

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:30:18 +0000

Die Macher is a 5 hour heavy strategy game about German Politics. It is, however, one of the classic euro-style games. (56:35) This week on Board Games with Scott, I’m looking at the granddaddy eurogame, Die Macher. Die Macher is a heavy procedural strategy game that takes about 5 hours to play. [...]

BGWS 023 - Masons

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 12:19:05 +0000

Masons is a strategy game about building walls, creating cities, and developing high-scoring patterns on the board that match scoring cards. (14:44) This week on Board Games with Scott, I’m looking at the strategy game, Masons (a.k.a. Mauer Bauer). Masons is a fairly abstract strategy game with a good balance of luck and skill. In Masons, [...]

BGWS 022 - Apples to Apples and Attribute

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:17:14 +0000

Apples to Apples and Attribute are both party games based on the mechanic of matching a descriptive word from your hand of word cards to a main concept. (12:45) This week on Board Games with Scott, I’m looking at two lighter party games - Apples to Apples and Attribute. Apples to Apples is a very [...]

BGWS 021 - Cleopatra and the Society of Architects

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 10:39:28 +0000

Cleoptra and the Society of Architects is a light strategy game about collecting sets of cards and placing buildings strategically for the most points. (24:14) On this week’s episode, Scott Nicholson talks about the Days of Wonder game, Cleopatra and the Society of Architects. This game has some of the best components in a [...]

BGWS 020 - Power Grid with Friedemann Friese

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 19 May 2006 10:00:07 +0000

Power Grid is a medium-weight strategy game with auctions, markets, and connetions of cities. (26:41) Itunes user? If you just got audio, delete the file and then get it again, and it should be video. On this week’s episode, Scott Nicholson is joined by designer Friedemann Friese to talk about Power Grid. Power Grid [...]

BGWS 019 - Thurn and Taxis

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 05 May 2006 20:43:34 +0000

Thurn and Taxis is a light strategy game about delivering mail to cities in Germany (17:01) This week on Board Games with Scott, I’m taking a look at Thurn and Taxis, which is the newest game by Andreas and Karen Seyfarth. This is a light strategy game that is about delivering the mail! It’s [...]

Reminder and Request

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:23:24 +0000

This is just a reminder that BGWS is moving to a biweekly schedule, so there won’t be an episode this week. Now, I have a request. I was listening to the Have Games will Travel blog, and Paul Tevis has a suggestion for his readers that I would like to present here. One of [...]

BGWS 018 - Poker Chips

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:10:53 +0000

I’ve explored Poker Chips as a replacement for money in games, and this week’s episode explores the cheap to the expensive of poker chips. (26:41) Announcement: Board Games with Scott is going Biweekly. When I started it, I had hopes that I would be able to significantly reduce the time to edit an episode. [...]

Photos and narration from the Gathering of Friends

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 16:27:39 +0000

I went to the Gathering of Friends this year and rather than take notes, I took pictures of the various games I played. I’ve posted those pictures and added short audio narrations to each. You can view my report at http://bubbleshare.com/myalbum/25280.586e5117ac0 and pressing the View Slideshow button on the left-hand side.

BGWS 017 - Um Krone und Kragen

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 05:29:37 +0000

This is a dice game that is similar to Yahtzee with more strategy and special abilities. (20:07) This week on Board Games with Scott, I’m going to talk about Um Krone und Kragen, which is a 2006 dice game where your goal is to impress royalty by rolling dice well. In the game, [...]

BGWS 016 - The Fury of Dracula

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 13:18:26 +0000

The Fury of Dracula is a deduction/roleplaying game where one player is Dracula attempting to hide and ambush the other players, who form a team. (25:31) This week, Board Games with Scott is an exploration of The Fury of Dracula, a 2006 remake of an 1987 Games Workshop board game (back when they made a [...]

BGWS 015 - The Big Idea

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 22:57:27 +0000

The Big Idea is a party/light strategy game about pitching and investing in ideas. (12:12) This week, I’m going to talk about The Big Idea. This is a game by Cheapass Games that starts like a party game with everyone coming up with a Big Idea, then moves into an investing round where you attempt [...]

BGWS Mission Statement

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 17:46:05 +0000

There’s been some talk about podcasting in general. One of the things I feel strongly about is that shows need to have a good sense of identity. This helps the show focus on its goal and aids users in determining if a show is right for them. Here are some of the core concepts [...]

BGWS - Audio Only announcement

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 12:17:21 +0000

I’ve created an audio-only version of Board Games with Scott. Each week, I’ll extract the audio and create an MP3 for those of you who might want to enjoy the show without having to sit in front of the computer watching it. You can get the audio episodes from the regular blog postings at http://boardgameswithscott.com [...]

BGWS 014 - Ticket to Ride Europe, Switzerland and Märklin

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 23:33:25 +0000

TTR Europe, Switzerland and Märklin are all different games based on the TTR base game. (31:39) Welcome to Board Games with Scott! This is a weekly show where I take a different board game each week, review it, and lightly review it. This week, I’m looking at three games - all of them variants [...]

BGWS 013 - Pizza Box Football

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 23:48:48 +0000

Pizza Box Football is a two player dice-rolling game where players take on the role of a play-calling manager. (15:53) This week on Board Games with Scott, I’m taking a look at Pizza Box Football and its expansion. This game can be played at various levels, based upon the rules that you decide to play [...]

BGWS 012 - Antike

scott@scottnicholson.com (Scott Nicholson) — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 20:33:11 +0000

Antike is a German empire-building/logistics game that plays in under two hours. (24:14) Greetings! Welcome to Board Games with Scott, a weekly show where I take a board game, explains it, and briefly reviews it. This week, I’m going to look at Antike, which came out at the Essen game fair in 2005. [...]