Episodes
Friday Jul 23, 2021
Ep 85: A Conversation with Dan Thurot on Board Game Criticism
Friday Jul 23, 2021
Friday Jul 23, 2021
Dan Thurot has been reviewing board games for a number of years now, and for my money he's the best in the business. I had the pleasure of sitting down with him to talk about games criticism, and in the course of the discussion we touched on history, economics, literature, and more. Also, lots of Cole Wehrle games.
Find Dan's writing at spacebiff.com
1:24 -- Dan's start in board game criticism
6:35 -- "Fun"
14:10 -- Changes in board game criticism over the last few years
18:43 -- Misunderstandings about criticism
26:24 -- Board game criticism is still young
29:16 -- Overspecialization of critique
36:18 -- Shared language
48:28 -- The value of historical games
1:00:27 -- Challenges posed by abstraction
1:13:49 -- Civilization games and accidents
1:18:50 -- Playing as the villains
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
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Monday Jul 12, 2021
Ep 84: Golf, Disc Golf, and Course Design
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Marc and Bubba sit down to discuss two different forms of golf. They're still games, just on a larger scale. What makes them compelling as games, and what kinds of lessons can we learn about board games by looking at the history and development of course design?
1:18 -- Difference between a sport and a game
2:59 -- What is disc golf?
4:27 -- Our histories with the sports
12:19 -- Classifying golf and disc golf as games
15:57 -- The appeal of mastery over a difficult game
20:30 -- How will disc golf change in the near future?
24:02 -- Course design
25:26 -- The penal school of design
29:19 -- The strategic school of design
33:20 -- The strategic nature of par 4's
45:07 -- Designing around unorthodox throws in disc golf
49:15 -- Risk/reward, or push-your-luck
51:53 -- The heroic school of design
56:15 -- How should disc golf course design evolve and improve?
1:08:36 -- Applying these lessons to board game design
1:26:24 -- Which sport is best?
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.