The State of Games, Episode 31 – The One About Origins, Chemistry and The Big Blue Noodle

This is a really big show about a Really Big Show – namely, Origins Game Fair. Ok, so it wasn’t as Really Big as it usually is because of a date change and gamer malaise and rampaging pomeranians… but we’ll get to all that. Regardless, we had a blast at Origins, and it was awesome getting to meet and play with a whole bunch of you. At any rate, get comfortable – we’ve got a whole lotta podcast for ya! Read More  Read More

The Hunt Is On – A Kickstarter Quick-look at The Legend of the Lost Dutchman

We live in an age of the reborn gold rush. It’s happened many times through the course of history; whether it’s the search for spices in the Orient, the great American gold rush of the 1840s, or the race to build the best and brightest dot com in the 1990s. Now we have Kickstarter. And just like in those days of yore, many enterprising individuals have been frantically strapping on their digital boots and wading into the crowdfunding flood in search of the newest treasures. I mention this analogy to make note of the meta when I talk of the theme of Legend of the Lost Dutchman. In the mid-1800s, Jacob Waltz is rumored to have discovered... Read More

Venture Cardboard – A Kickstarter Quick-look at Ground Floor

There are certain things in life that instantly and easily lend themselves to interpretation and adaptation in a board game. Farming, naturally. War, racing, and buying/trading on the stock market are practically games already. But until recently, one of the only recourses an entrepreneurial zealot had at the game table was to roll dice and move a little Scottie past Go. Enter crowdfunding; suddenly, games about business and start-ups became not only viable, but incredibly meta, making funding such entrepreneurial ventures possible. Startup Fever hit Kickstarter last spring and found gangbuster sales, while Briefcase tore through Indiegogo earlier... Read More

Feeding Frenzy – A Kickstarter Quick-look at My Happy Farm

When I first joined the ranks of the hardcore gamers lo so many years ago, if someone had asked me what the most prolific theme in gaming would be in 20 years my answer would not have been farming. War, maybe. Space travel, most certainly. But raising pigs, picking radishes/squash/bok choy, and figuring out the best price I could get out of my bundle of hay at the county market would not have been the first things that popped to mind. And, yet, here we are, in the future, and farming is everywhere. I can’t fully explain the allure, and robots do most of the harvesting these days, but we all flock to farm-themed games like a murder of crows... Read More

Reason to Rhyme – A Kickstarter Quick-look at Goblins Drool, Fairies Rule!

Dear readers, I’m here to report, On a game of mysterious sort, It’s more magical than strange, Fairies, goblins may change, The way you lay cards down for sport! Yes, yes, my poetry may be atrocious, but I choose to rhyme without reason simply to express how Goblins Drool, Fairies Rule is far superior to my lame limerick. Goblins Drool, Fairies Rule (hereby to be known as GDFR), is a game by David Sanhueza of Game-O-Gami, recently released on Kickstarter. I was lucky enough to be involved in the development of the Kickstarter campaign and, so, have been privy to a lot of the hard work that David has put into bringing GDFR to gaming... Read More

The Crowded Table – Spring 2012 Edition

I’m not sure what it is about spring, exactly, but board games tend to multiply in this season like a certain cotton-tailed carrot eater that likes to deliver painted eggs. That usually means that more games start hitting the table and more games need to be reviewed – because hey, it’s what I do, and all of you dear readers deserve it. So let’s ditch the dallying dialogue and hop straight to the heart. Dragon Valley I’ll be completely honest – when designer C.W. Karstens first contacted me about Dragon Valley during its Kickstarter campaign last year, I was a bit trepidatious. The combination of art and main... Read More

The State of Games, Episode 30 – The One About the Duke of Dice

If it seems like we’ve been cranking out podcasts lately as fast as The Flash on a caffeine binge, that’s probably because we have! Sometimes there just seems to be a lot to talk about in the world of boardgaming. We’re aiming not to wear out our welcome, though, so it’ll likely be a bit before our next online roundtable – but we promise that when we do come back, it’ll be with good stuff just for you, dear listeners. Because we love you. Read More  Read More

Harvesting Fun – A Kickstarter Quick-look at Garden Dice

In the world of board games – particularly those with a certain European flair – there is seemingly no theme more rich, more explored, more involved, more epic than… farming. It’s true. Enter a hobby store anywhere and you’ll find more vegetables – albeit tiny wooden ones – than at your local supermarket. This does not mean, however, that there cannot and, indeed, should not be more rich and engaging games that allow players to get their inner gardener involved. With that said, let me introduce all of you dear readers to Garden Dice, a game about vegetables, vermin and my favorite vexing vice – dice. I... Read More

The State of Games, Episode 27 – The Short One About PAX East 2012

It’s been a little longer than expected between podcasts for us here at Dice Hate Me HQ, but we have a good excuse – we’ve been on the road, bringing boardgaming to the masses! We got an invite to the really big show up in Beantown – PAX East – and we couldn’t say no. We’re certainly glad we made the trip, getting the chance to meet so many wonderful people and share some boardgaming love. So come on in and sit a spell while we spin a yarn of our wonderful adventures. Read More  Read More

A New Kind of Spice – A Rex: Final Days of an Empire Review

“Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.” Leto Atreides, Dune For over 30 years, the board game Dune has often been talked about in hushed awe by a generation of gamers who have heard countless tales of its groundbreaking game play and legendary subject matter. For many, there was no way to prove nor disprove the rumors in these tales, as the game was often harder to find than the legendary cup sought after in the Crusades. Not long ago, Fantasy Flight Games announced that they would rerelease the classic game, but reimagined for the Twilight Imperium universe. Those that had not yet... Read More