Help Decide the Fate of the Galaxy – Again!
Greetings dear readers, and welcome to a long-awaited return to the far-flung star realms of Twilight Imperium. Five years ago, at Dice Hate Me HQ, six intrepid contestants vied for the seat at the head of Mecatol Rex, and only one was triumphant – me! Now, four factions have risen to challenge me for the throne. Two are veterans of the original battle, but two are new to the fray. And all, including me, are new to Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition! Here’s where you all... Read More
The State of Games, Ep. 150 – The One About Going Back to the Well
Every now and then on the podcast we like to have a special guest, and it’s especially special when the guest not only wants to be on but also proposes a salient topic. This time around we have Seth Jaffee, who is not only a game designer and head of development for Tasty Minstrel Games, but also a long-time listener of the podcast. We’ve known Seth for about seven years now, and it’s awesome to be able to catch up with him somewhere outside of Twitter and the... Read More
It’s Time to Go Back to the Island!
In this video I’m joined by J.R. Honeycutt, Ruth Boyack, and Lillian Hagmann as we return to Fireball Island and face the wrath of the volcanic tiki god Vul-Kar in the remake from Restoration games! The game is awesome, and still on Kickstarter… but for only a few days! Pledge now and try your best to survive! Read More Read More
The State of Games, Ep. 149: The One About Just Some Games
It’s been a busy year for us here on the podcast and, as such, we’ve had back-to-back episodes that were around 3 hours. Those types of episodes can be a lot of fun but they’re also pretty exhausting, so we figured we’d take it a little easy this time around, keep it simple, and just talk about some of the great games we’ve been playing recently. Enjoy! Read More Read More
The State of Games, Ep. 148: The One About Unpub 8
We travel to a lot of gaming conventions each year but none are quite as unique or as special as the Unpublished Games Festival. In this, its 8th year, Unpub has grown from a tiny gathering of game designers at the VFW Hall in Dover, Delaware, to thousands gathering to make good games better at the Hunt Valley Resort just outside Baltimore, Maryland. Unpub has been an invaluable resource for designers as playtesters pour in to play, give feedback, and improve game designs. It’s... Read More
The State of Games, Ep. 147: The One About the Pros and Woes of Cons
Every year we travel to Charlottesville, Va. to visit one of our favorite board game conventions, PrezCon. Although we had just as much fun as we usually do we also played fewer games, so we had the idea to extend our conversation on this podcast to talk about our feelings about other shows we attend throughout the year. Over three hours later, and completely exhausted after talks of GenCon housing woes, body odor attacks, registration nightmares at Origins and such, we realized... Read More
The State of Games, Ep. 146: The One About Expanding Your World
Love ’em or hate ’em, board game expansions are a huge part of the industry. Some companies survive just on expansions for their most popular titles, which can sometimes lead to consumer fatigue. They can often feel like cash grabs, but on occasion an expansion is released that not only provides more content for a game – it also makes that game better. So settle in Dear Listeners – we’re here to separate the suck from the essentials, all just for... Read More
The State of Games, Ep. 145: The One About One-Hour Wonders
If there’s one thing that’s awesome about board gaming it’s that we are spoiled for choice when it comes to variety. There are great card games that play in about 15 minutes, meaty Euros that burn your brain for 2 hours, or Ameritrash juggernauts that might take you a full day to play. But there’s also this super sweet spot in gaming where a certain type of game exists – one that plays in about an hour, isn’t overly-taxing, and yet makes you... Read More
The State of Games, Ep. 144: The One About The Best Games of 2017
Whether 2017 was great or terrible for you, there’s no denying that there were a ton of new game releases last year – more than any year on record, in fact. Add those to the already hugemongous collection of quality game titles from the past few years and gamers had a cornucopia of gaming goodness from which to choose. Now, there’s no way for everyone to play every single title that comes out, but we do pride ourselves on playing as many as we possibly can here... Read More
The State of Games, Ep. 143: The One About Holiday Road
It’s been almost a month since our last episode, but the holidays seemed to ambush us this year, keeping us busy and away from our microphones! It certainly hasn’t been an uneventful month, however, as we all managed to get together in Dover, Delaware for our traditional Dice Hate Me Holiday gathering with good food, grand festivities, and gaming galore. So gather round, Dear Listeners, and ring in the New Year with your good friends from The State of Games. May 2018... Read More
