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A conversation about tabletop games
Episodes
Jun 7, 2022
Jun 3, 2022
Jun 3, 2022
1hr 34 min
Sports are games too, you know. In this episode, Marc, Matt, and Bubba sit down to talk about various sports rules and controversies and analyze them as game design. What are they optimizing for? Whose interests do they serve? What's the role of randomness or human judgement in making a sport great? What even makes sports great?
0:34 - Intro
1:32 - What's the goal when "designing" sports rules?
2:45 - What's the most viewer-friendly board game?
7:12 - Gold Drafting
13:24 - Playoff size
16:18 - Promotion/relegation
21:45 - Eliminating the kick return
24:39 - Conservative play in the NFL and elsewhere
29:18 - The designated hitter
31:50 - Changes to the actual baseball ball
36:03 - 3-point line
42:56 - Dunking on basketball
45:44 - Soccer's relatively simple rules
48:27 - Punishments and penalties in different sports
50:35 - Robots and video
54:22 - Disc golf penalty culture
1:03:10 - The 2 meter rule
1:11:41 - Back to robots
1:26:39 - The shift
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
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May 31, 2022
May 31, 2022
4 min
Originally posted here: https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/05/31/two-final-exit-games-forgotten-island-and-house-of-riddles/
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
May 26, 2022
May 23, 2022
May 11, 2022
May 11, 2022
3 min
Originally posted here: https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/05/10/review-blackbrim-1876/
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May 8, 2022
May 8, 2022
1hr 11 min
We're back where it all started for episode 100: Pax East. Marc and Orion discuss a number of heavy euro games they played at the convention (including one surprise hit), and get excited about NISEI.
4:26 - Ark Nova
13:22 - Space Lion
18:22 - Video Games
28:06 - Zapotec
36:48 - Pavlov's Dogs
40:06 - Radlands
44:29 - NISEI
49:46 - Boonlake
54:22 - Golem
1:07:26 - No Thanks
1:08:01 - Unmatched
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Apr 28, 2022
Apr 28, 2022
7 min
Originally posted here: https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/04/27/that-time-you-killed-me-review/
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Apr 1, 2022
Apr 1, 2022
9 min
Here at The Thoughtful Gamer we're no strangers to innovation. We look risk and uncertainty in their faces and say "what, that's all you've got? I am unimpressed." Some may argue that audio is not the medium for board gaming, and to those people I counter with this podcast: a state of the art uni-media experience straight from our thought-labs into your ear canals: a riveting liveplay of Wolfgang Warsch's "The Mind". It's like you're right there in the room. Because there was a mic right there in the room. That's...that's how mics work.
Mar 28, 2022
Mar 28, 2022
5 min
An audio version of my written Codenames Duet review. I heard from some people that they would appreciate my reviews in audio form, so this is going to become a regular thing. Originally posted here: https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/03/28/codenames-duet-review/
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.