The State of Games, Ep. 175 – The One About the Year That Wasn’t

This is the spot where I usually say it’s hard to believe that another year has passed, but this year I truly mean it – mostly because we did absolutely nothing last year and, yet, the whole year is gone. The pandemic lockdown created a true gaming vacuum in which many of us did not escape, which makes creating a year-in-review podcast quite the challenge. And yet, here we are, partly because it’s tradition, and partly because we don’t want Covid and 2020 to take away all our joy of life and camaraderie. So come, sit with us and commiserate. Just sit over there and wear a mask, much love. Read More  Read More

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. 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. 132: The One About Origins 2017

Greetings dear listeners, it’s time to sit back and take a trip with us to Columbus, Ohio for one of our favorite cons of the year – Origins Game Fair! This will be the sixth Origins that we’ve covered on the podcast and we discuss many familiar things like the Three-Legged Mare, late-night gaming, and tons of great unpublished games on the tables. However, this is the first Origins where we had a near-death experience on the podcast! We can laugh about it now, but we thought we had lost Eric Handler there for a minute or two – you’ll just have to hear it to believe it. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 131: The One About Getting Nasty

Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug – I’m talking about games with a little bit of spite in them! Whether you love ’em or hate ’em, mean games have been around for a long, long time (heck, Sorry has been around since the 1920s) so we thought it would be fun to take a look at the dark side of gaming. Don’t worry, we won’t be mean, and I promise you lots of fun! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 128: The One About House Rules

Jessica’s back in the house, and just in time for a jaunty discussion on house rules! I’ve covered house rules a time or two here on Dice Hate Me, most notably a couple of articles on some big changes we brought to Bang! during #lunchgames back in the day. But there are many more games out there whose rules could either benefit from an intelligent house rule, or just become more fun for a particular gaming group. Be sure to send us yours! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 127: The One About Intelligent Design

Completely rudderless without our podcast editor, Jessica, Darrell, TC, and I decide to go completely off the rails and talk some inside baseball about game design. Don’t worry, though, it’s not too dark down that rabbit hole, and you may just find a wonderland of marvelous fun and information! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 124: The One About PrezCon 2017

Many of us on podcast attend a ton of conventions during the year, but none are as relaxing or as enjoyable as PrezCon. There are no work duties, no meetings, no networking – nothing but kicking back, playing games, and spending some quality time with old friends. This year’s con was a bit sleepier than most, but all the usual suspects were still around to make sure it was just as memorable a tradition, as always. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 123: The One About A Table For One

Ah, Valentine’s Day is here and love is in the air! Not only do we love all the boundless cardboard bits in our favorite board games, but we also love sharing them with our significant others! And, as per usual with any podcast around this time, we should just follow suit and share our favorite games for two. Right? WRONG. We’re here to talk about how to enjoy all those delightful games with yourself! You don’t need anyone else to relish in board gaming! Not that there’s anything wrong with that… Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 122: The One About Bits & Pieces

We love having special guests on The State of Games, and this time around we get to talk to the always awesome Chris Matthew of Panda Game Manufacturing. We take a big look behind the green curtain of game production and all the decisions that go into which components are the best for a game, and how to keep costs down while making sure the production is awesome. We also talk in-depth about some of the changes in the industry over the past couple of years in terms of component quality escalation and how it can affect the board game market. Oh, we also talk about awesome games we’ve played, so there’s that. Read More  Read More