The State of Games, Ep. 154 – The One About the Top 5 Games EVER

We love when listeners get involved with the podcast and, because of comments and feedback from all of you, this podcast was magical. We’ve revisited our favorite games of all time occasionally but never within the context of a listener-curated list. And, oh, what an incredibly varied list it was! It just goes to show that all of you love so many different games in this hobby and that, dear listeners, is a truly wonderful thing. Happy listening! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 153 – The One About Origins 2018

It’s summertime and that means it’s time for the biggest gaming conventions of the year! It’s always great to kick off the season at one of our favorite gaming conventions, Origins Game Fair, and it’s hard to believe that this is the 7th year we’ve covered it on The State of Games. Both the podcast and the con have grown and changed through the years but the focus for both has, thankfully, remained the same – let’s get together and play... Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 151 – The One About the Axis of Not Misrepresenting Your Product

When TC volunteers to handle an upcoming topic and tackle the show notes I never say no. Not only is it a welcome break for me but it’s inevitably like that ol’ box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get. This time around it ended up with all three of us talking about best and worst of game aesthetics for about an hour, but the conversation was far more engaging and encompassing than I expected. We start at the fall of the video game industry... 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We travel to a lot of gaming conventions each year but none are quite as unique or as special as the Unpublished Games Festival.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. 142: The One About Unplugging

November is usually the time when gaming conventions come to a close and the holidays kick into high gear. For the past few years, only one con has ruled the November calendar – BGGCon. This year, however, a new contender reared its head, and in Philadelphia, PA! Thus, PAX Unplugged was born. And it was huge. And we all went to it. And we ate pretzels and brats and drank our Yeungling and played our games and T.C. actually bought things and all manner of unheard of activities... Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 141: The One About Perception of Value

We love it when listeners send in podcast topic suggestions; not only does it mean that there are actually people out there paying attention to what we have to say, it also means that we don’t have to wrack our brains thinking of something interesting to talk about! This podcast topic comes to us from long-time listener Neil Biggs. He asked us to dig really deep into the retail and Kickstarter sides of what makes certain games hold a high value both for gamers & publishers.... Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 139: The One About the Germans, Part Drei

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – October! So many great things happen this month, and most of them involve board games, buddies, and beer. This is definitely true when it comes to SPIEL, which takes place in Essen, Germany. I’ve been and it is quite the spectacle of crowds, games, and great drinks. This year it’s Darrell’s turn, and we sit down to (hopefully) prepare him for the greatest show on Earth. Come join us! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 138: The One About Trendsetting

It’s great to have guests on the podcasts, especially when one of our regulars has other business. In this instance, we were lucky enough to have Fleet and Wasteland Express Delivery Service co-designer Ben Pinchback on to talk all about WEDS, Sleepy Hollow, Ladder 29, and the boardgaming trends we’ve seen over the years! We planned for about an hour of podcast but you know you want two. Yep, it’s two. Enjoy! Read More  Read More