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 be filled with peace, love, and games! Read More  Read More

The 2017 Dice Hate Me Holiday Gift Guide

Grab some cocoa and join me by the fireside, Dear Readers – tis the season to gab about gifting games! Believe it or not, this is the 7th annual Dice Hate Me Holiday Gift Guide, and nothing gets me more in the spirit than sharing some great games with all of you that you can share with everyone else. The list might be a tad late this year, but there’s still plenty of time before Santa loads up that sleigh and flies past Boardwalk and Park Place with all the Rolex and diamonds from Tiffany’s. I hope you enjoy the list, but most of all I hope you enjoy time with family and friends and get everything you wish for. May all your rolls be... 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 ensued. This… this is our story. Read More  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. You’ll also get to hear about Darrell’s adventures at Essen Spiel, how TC designed a whole Euro about a boring city in 5 hours, and how I just had to... Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 140: The One About Getting in the Spirit

I LOVE HALLOWEEN. I almost celebrate Halloween more than I celebrate Christmas. Which is why it’s a bit of a shock that we haven’t done more Halloween-centric State of Games in the past few years. Well, all that obviously needed to change, so we drafted a little help from Keith Ferguson to really dig into the spirit of the holiday. I’ll just say that this is in my top 5 episodes that we’ve ever done; I hope you all have as much fun listening to it as we did recording it. Read More  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

The State of Games, Ep. 137: The One About Getting Critical

It’s been awhile since we really dove headlong into the nature of game reviews and critical thinking (way back in Episode 32!), so we thought it would be a good idea to revisit the topic since things have been a little bit… crazy, lately. Besides, we really didn’t have a choice since the DHM 7th Anniversary grand prize winner Lee McConnell got to come on the podcast AND pick the topic! In the end, though, it turned in a deeply satisfying and timely discussion, so join us and let us know your thoughts. Enjoy! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 136: The One About Gen Con 50

The end of August has come ’round again, and that can only mean that it’s time to talk about Gen Con. The biggest show in North America just keeps getting bigger, and with it so does all the excitement, spectacle, and adventures. Although working duties keep the three of us from spending as much time gaming and hanging out as we used to, we did manage to have a lot of fun, play quite a few games, and listen to Richard Launius talk about how the shark in his newest game really, really wants to get the mayor fired. Boy, do we have stories to tell. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 135: The One About Tactics vs. Strategy

It’s always awesome to have a long-time friend and podcast listener on the show, and it’s even better when that guest throws down with TC on a serious game topic! I’ve known Van Ryder Games founder AJ Porfirio for almost as long as Kickstarter has been around, and yet he’s never been on the show. After a controversial tweet last week, I figured he was due, if only to give us all an amazing opportunity to talk all this tactics and strategy kerfluffle through! Read More  Read More