Episodes
Saturday Apr 04, 2020
Ep 71: Best Games of 2019
Saturday Apr 04, 2020
Saturday Apr 04, 2020
The world's gone crazy! Viruses roam the streets, Matt sounds like he's turning into a robot, and computer gremlins are devouring random bits of podcast. But never fear, we at The Thoughtful Gamer are here to provide a perfectly sane, intelligent conversation about the best games of last year. We rag on a few stinkers too. Come! Escape the madness of the world and find respite with our soothing voices.
And thanks to our sponsor, Engro Games! Their kickstarter was successful and late pledges are open until April 15. Click here to get Reach and Okazaki before it's too late.
Spoilers below.
2:53 - Wavelength Diversion
5:24 - Board gaming in a pandemic
15:55 - Suspense building before the list
16:54 - Honorable "reprint" mention: Dune
22:13 - What is "up"?
23:55 - More grade A suspense
25:22 - #10: Goat n Goat
29:32 - #9: Cooper Island
30:36 - Orion relays a cryptic message regarding a "theory"
31:26 - #8: Stay Cool
35:03 - #7: The Son of Doctor Esker's Notebook
37:40 - A word about our sponsor: Engro Games
38:37 - #6: The Crew
46:30 - Best art of 2019
50:46 - Worst games of 2019
52:52 - Most disappointing game of 2019
54:17 - Most mediocre game of 2019
54:40 - Most ambitious but not quite successful game of 2019
58:50 - #5: Tiny Towns
1:04:14 - #4: Pax Pamir 2nd Edition
1:09:44 - #3: Caylus 1303
1:11:52 - #2: Pipeline
1:18:22 - #1: Pax Transhumanity
1:25:00 - Tragedy strikes and a hero emerges
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Ep 70: A Conversation With Sean McDonald About Making IP Games
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Monday Mar 23, 2020
I sat down with Sean to talk to him about designing board games for two beloved IP's: Sonic the Hedgehog and Bomberman. How did he get these gigs, and what are the challenges you face when you need to meet the expectations of publishers, IP-holders, and fans of the original properties?
0:56 - Sean's start with boardgaming
3:53 - First design: Train Heist
8:59 - First IP design: Sonic the Hedgehog: Crash Course
18:00 - Future design: Unnamed Bomberman game
36:08 - Sean's future plans and "dream IP"
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Monday Mar 09, 2020
Ep 69: PAX East 2020
Monday Mar 09, 2020
Monday Mar 09, 2020
Matt and Marc played a lot of games at PAX East, and you're going to hear about it! We've got a better crop than we had at PAX Unplugged, with nearly all of the games listed below being quite enjoyable. Which are our favorites? You might be surprised.
This podcast is sponsored by Engro Games, who are running a kickstarter right now for two microgames: Reach and Okazaki. Find more information here.
1:09 - Our PAXperience
6:18 - 2-headed giant mystery sealed event
10:31 - Parks
13:51 - Ishtar: Gardens of Babylon
18:49 - Caylus 1303
20:57 - Marc proposes a new classification system for eurogames
25:55 - Point Salad
28:33 - Electropolis
35:18 - Pax Transhumanity
43:33 - Deep Blue
48:06 - Arkham Horror: Final Hour
52:45 - Cooper Island
57:36 - Nova Luna
1:00:29 - Cosmic Frog
1:05:14 - Goat n Goat
1:06:46 - Boba Boss
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Tuesday Mar 03, 2020
Ep 68: A Conversation With Bruno Faidutti
Tuesday Mar 03, 2020
Tuesday Mar 03, 2020
Bruno is one of the most prolific modern game designers. In this podcast we sit down to talk about all kinds of tricky topics and how they relate to board gaming. He presents a number of interesting ideas that I'm still mulling over.
This podcast is sponsored by Engro Games, who are running a kickstarter right now for two microgames: Reach and Okazaki. Find more information here.
1:39 - Board games on the global scale
8:51 - Games as a reflection of real life choices
11:00 - Games in education
21:14 - Games and religion
29:46 - Faidutti's designs, and the place of politics/history in games
38:38 - What kind of game do you want to make but haven't yet?
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Friday Feb 21, 2020
Ep 67: A Conversation With Patrick Rauland About Game Creation
Friday Feb 21, 2020
Friday Feb 21, 2020
In this episode I sit down with Patrick Rauland, designer of Fry Thief and creator of the Indie Board Game Designers podcast to talk about the process of creating games. What are the best practices that successful people use? How do you avoid burnout? What does Patrick have planned for his future designs?
This podcast is sponsored by Engro Games, who are running a kickstarter right now for two microgames: Reach and Okazaki. Find more information here.
1:27 - Fry Thief and creating a game in a year
5:48 - Designing with constraints
9:58 - Lessons learned from the Indie Board Game Designers podcast
14:29 - Iteration and quantity
22:23 - Memory and note-taking
30:13 - Level of industry "literacy" among new game creators
33:57 - Marketing tools and strategies
42:20 - Patrick's future game publishing plans
47:10 - Patrick's design tendencies/patterns
49:18 - Overcoming burnout
See more of Patrick's work at https://indieboardgamedesigners.com/ and https://laidback.games/
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Monday Feb 10, 2020
Ep 66: Q&A, Masterpiece Games, and Fundraising Week
Monday Feb 10, 2020
Monday Feb 10, 2020
It's fundraising week, and that means we're going all out! Not only will we talk about the ways (including some new ways) to support The Thoughtful Gamer, but we're answering listener questions and giving 5 games our "Masterpiece Games" honor! Plus it's our biggest podcast group ever, with Marc, Matt, Orion, Bubba, and Lindsay contributing their thoughts. Every once in a while Amber mutters a comment from across the room.
3:01 - Fundraising Week!
4:22 - Q&A: Ban a game?
8:27 - What is a Masterpiece Game?
12:24 - Masterpiece Game #1: The Resistance
15:44 - Q&A: Guilty pleasure games
20:31 - New opportunity: Looking for podcast sponsors!
21:37 - Q&A: First board game "crushes"
25:33 - Masterpiece Game #2: Twilight Imperium
28:32 - Q&A: Games co-hosts should try
34:04 - New Opportunity: Voiceovers
35:04 - Q&A: Gluten-free baking tips from Lindsay!
38:28 - Masterpiece Game #3: Magic the Gathering
44:51 - Q&A: How has our approach to gaming evolved?
47:50 - New Opportunity: "Final Look" Rulebook Checking
49:50 - Q&A: Game progression for new players
54:45 - Masterpiece Game #4: Dominion
1:01:33 - Q&A: Game peripherals
1:05:44 - Masterpiece Game #5: Chess
1:10:27 - Q&A: Group social behavior norms
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Friday Jan 24, 2020
Ep 65: A Conversation With Ken Franklin
Friday Jan 24, 2020
Friday Jan 24, 2020
I've never met anyone at passionate about the transformative power of gaming as Ken Franklin. Matt and I caught up with him at PAX Unplugged and chatted about his designs, his faith, and why non zero-sum games can change the world. [Headphones recommended due to some background noise]
0:39 - Ken Franklin's history with board games
2:30 - The Mansky Caper
4:44 - Non zero-sum games
11:44 - Faith, religion, and art
16:50 - Imagineers
18:43 - Working with Chris Leder/Back To The Future
21:57 - The single winner problem
24:13 - Party games
26:30 - Upcoming designs
28:31 - Positive experiences through gaming
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Saturday Jan 18, 2020
Bonus! Theros: Beyond Death Set Analysis (for Limited)
Saturday Jan 18, 2020
Saturday Jan 18, 2020
Matt and Marc sit down to discuss the new Magic: The Gathering set, focusing on limited formats (ie the best formats). Which colors looks the best? What kind of new stuff does Theros: Beyond Death bring? Why are there so many enchantments? Let us know what you think about this podcast and maybe we'll continue doing something similar for each new set!
0:39 - Why evaluate a draft set?
4:55 - Set overview
14:48 - "Signpost" uncommons
29:13 - White
37:06 - Blue
45:32 - Black
55:10 - Red
1:00:57 - Green
1:08:39 - Artifacts/Lands
1:10:53 - Marc's top mythics
1:15:05 - Final impressions
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
Ep 64: A Conversation With Gil Hova
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
My conversation with Gil quickly flew by, and before we knew it we were nearly 2 hours in and geeking out about sports. Gil is overflowing with knowledge and enthusiasm about games and design, and our conversation touched on digital games, publishing, Gil's designs, podcasting, and more.
Check out what Gil's doing at Formal Ferret and Ludology.
1:44 - Gil's history with games and game design
8:52 - Digital game inspirations
14:28 - Distinctions between the digital and analog media
20:36 - Prolix/Wordsy
29:09 - Game design groups
33:49 - Battle Merchants
36:37 - Games where you're the villain
56:12 - Bad Medicine and the creation of Formal Ferret
1:00:29 - High Rise
1:03:52 - The Networks
1:08:04 - The Rival Networks
1:11:04 - The Ludology Podcast
1:14:33 - Podcast production
1:25:40 - Podcast prep
1:27:34 - Dream Ludology guests
1:41:00 - Has podcasting helped with your designs?
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.
Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
Ep 63: A Conversation With Ben Maddox
Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
Five Games for Doomsday quickly established itself as one of the premier board game podcasts. In it, Ben Maddox interviews people from all parts of the board game world with incisive questions, illuminating who they are as people. I sat down with Ben to talk a bit about his work with the podcast and a lot about board game reviewing. What is the role of the reviewer? What are our approaches to analyzing a game? What does objectivity mean, anyway?
Find more about Ben here: https://fivegamesfordoomsday.com/
2:08 - Ben's history with podcasting
6:00 - Five Games For Doomsday
11:57 - The role of the reviewer
16:15 - Reviewing structure
23:48 - Objectivity
30:23 - Civilization games and value
35:26 - Game reviewers we like
38:43 - Why negative reviews are necessary
49:03 - Ben's approach to writing a review
55:47 - Concluding thoughts
Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction
Like the podcast? Want to watch it being recorded, live? Consider supporting it on Patreon.