New Stack City

In a recent BoardGameGeek News round-up, W. Eric Martin featured a brief tease about Sunrise City – a tile-laying city game currently in production by Clever Mojo Games. Intrigued, and always wanting to know more, I contacted Clever Mojo Games, who graciously got me in touch with game designer Isaias Vallejo. Here is what Isaias had to say about the game, and his experience with W. David MacKenzie and Clever Mojo Games: “The idea for the game is definitely inspired by Sim City. I’m sure everyone can relate to starting up a new city on Easy mode, spending that $10k on laying down a nice city, and then scrapping it after you realize... Read More

Throwing Stars: An Interview with Ninjato Designers Adam West and Dan Schnake

In 2008, CrossCut Games – a company known previously for independently-producing computer games – introduced Galactic Emperor to the boardgaming world, and fans of epic tabletop star sagas fell in love. Not content with resting on success, the guys behind CrossCut Games – Adam West and Dan Schnake – are bringing the art of the silent death to tables everywhere with the summer release of Ninjato. After all, when you want to top epic star sagas in coolness, your best bet is to break out the ninjas. For those not familiar with the theme or concepts of Ninjato, can you provide a brief summary of gameplay and mechanics? Ninjato... Read More

The State of Games, Episode 6 – The One About Alf

The State of Games, Episode 6 has become self-aware! Oh, wait, maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves. To call this episode a bit high-brow would be akin to calling the Grand Canyon a ditch – but believe us, this is a very good thing. So sit back, grab your pipe and smoking jacket, and make room in your brain for a whole lotta data. Read More  Read More

Kickstarting The Road to Canterbury

Attention all fans of 15th century Chaucerian poetry – and really cool games – the Kickstarter campaign for Alf Seegert’s The Road to Canterbury has been launched! The folks at Gryphon Games have 60 days to raise $10,000 to fund printing for this wickedly-intriguing new release. Be sure to check out the official Kickstarter campaign page, and watch the video for more information. Who knows, if you stick around to the very end of the video, you may recognize some familiar names in the production credits… And be sure to check back on Monday for the next episode of The State of Games, as  Monkey238 and I talk in-depth with... Read More

Of Vice and Dice – A Lords of Vegas Review

The game so nice, they reviewed it twice! Some of you dear readers (and listeners) may find this review of Lords of Vegas familiar or redundant – that’s because Monkey238 and I mentioned it as something awesome in our recent State of Games podcast. Since that podcast had a mighty spoiler warning, we thought a few of you might have missed out on a great game. So here, for you enjoyment, is the full Dice Hate Me treatment for Lords of Vegas. Everyone remembers their first time in Vegas. The heat. The smoke. The free drinks. The ever-present and exciting ding-ding-ding of a slots payout drifting from three rows over. And that’s... Read More

The State of Games, Episode 5 – The One About Mansions of Madness

The State of Games, Episode 5 is alive! And this may be our most controversial episode yet – at least amongst the rabid Cthulhu Mythos gamers amongst you. Bear with us, Lovecraftian fiends, we promise you the stars are right to talk of Things Man Was Not Meant to Know… About Mansions of Madness! Read More  Read More

MACE Convention Wrap-up

As many of you dear readers know, I attended a local gaming convention this weekend in Hickory, NC – MACE West, the sister convention to the somewhat-larger MACE held in High Point in November each year. Smaller in no way means that there was less fun to be had, as I and my gaming companions – Michael, Shawn, Scott and Matt – proceeded to play the holy heck out of 11 different games over two and a half days. I was also lucky enough to walk away from the convention with a smorgasboard of gaming goodness; after winning a silent auction, I got great deals on two tickets to Origins Game Fair, as well as the games Infinite City, Mystery... Read More

The State of Games, Episode 4 – The One About the 7 Deadly Sins

The State of Games, Episode 4 is good to go! We may be playing around a tiny bit with the format this week, but we’re still here to talk about some subtle controversies; only this time, we’re inviting all of you to look deep inside your gaming souls and seek out the sin within! Read More  Read More

Under the Bridge: An Interview with Alf Seegert

In the world of trolls, Alf Seegert is the man. Wait, let me rephrase that: In the world of troll games, Alf Seegert is the man. Alf is the designer of the outstanding new release Trollhalla (check out my review, if you haven’t done so already), as well as its predecessor and pseudo-prequel, Bridge Troll. Always curious about the names behind the best games, I decided to learn more about this somewhat-unassuming literature professor from Utah – and let me tell you, there’s a lot to learn. You provide a very in-depth look at the creation process behind Trollhalla on Board Game Geek, but for our readers, what was the kernel of... Read More

Great Odin’s Goat! A Trollhalla Review

Ahh, island life. Sipping coconut cocktails by the shore, dreaming of that cheeseburger in paradise, not a care in the world. The skies are a pearlescent blue, and the sea is cascading against the golden sands, while farther out dolphins frolic in the surf, the mammals a beautiful blur of grey that are suddenly driven away by hulking behemoths of wood and metal, pounding through the drink like drunken golems. And carrying trolls! Trolls, of all things! They’ll soon be running off with the women and pigs! If only we had more of their mortal enemy to fling at the approaching juggernauts, those cantankerous billy goats… Intrigued? You should... Read More