The State of Games, Episode 7 – The One Rated PG-13

The State of Games, Episode 7 is way in, man. It’s, like, so in that it’s far out, you know what I’m saying? No? Well, open your ears and expand your mind, because we’ve got some heavy dope to throw your way. But don’t let the title fool you, this stuff is super groovy for the whole family. Read More  Read More

Game Overboard – A Hagoth: Builder of Ships Review

Game selection can be a curious thing. Quite often I’ll spend a good half hour or so in my local game store, pulling boxes from shelves and seeing what interests me. Quite likely I’ll bring a game up to the counter that was referred by a friend, or mentioned in a recent review, or it’s just the new hotness. And then there are the quirky ones – you know, the ones that inexplicably call to you from the shelf. You have no idea what might lurk inside, but suddenly there’s a cute panda, or a zeppelin, or a buff, shirtless man hauling lumber by the seashore. Yeah, that’s Hagoth: Builder of Ships. I bought the quirk. And now you get the... 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

Diamond in the Rough – A Jaipur Review

The winding streets of the bustling center of goods and commerce in India are filled with row upon row of merchants selling, bartering and trading untold riches, from fine cloth to glittering gold. You quickly make your way around the stalls, dodging advances from a smug rug merchant, but are soon cornered by a shifty, rather persistent man, dressed all in white. With a gleam in his eye, he produces a large, rather garish diamond from his sleeve. “Rumor has it that this stone once fell from the heavens and into the lap of a young prince; it is priceless, but it is yours for a mere 200 rupees.” You wave him off with a hasty harumph; you’ve... 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 Quick and the Undead: A Nightfall Review

One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach; all the damn vampires. For those gamers not in the know, Nightfall is the new horror-themed,“direct conflict” deck-building game from AEG that feels a bit like the love child of Dominion, Magic: The Gathering and the old, classic Killer Instinct video game. Just as in Dominion, each player starts the game with a small collection of cards in their personal decks and can later augment those decks by drafting cards from stacks of other cards during their turn. Unlike Dominion, players are able – through the use of carefully played orders and minions – to deal direct damage... 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

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

High Stakes Trivia – A Wits & Wagers Review

Math may sometimes confound me and dice certainly hate me, but there has always been one gaming staple that I could fall back on: trivia. Yes, I’m that guy that used to play in weekly trivia leagues, and the one that sometimes ruins Trivial Pursuit for the rest of the group. I’m not sure if someone at North Star Games was aware of all this when they offered to send me a review copy of Wits & Wagers, but after playing, I’m pretty sure that it was designed by someone that hated playing Trivial Pursuit with the likes of me. Wits & Wagers is truly the cure for the perfect know-it-all. The game consists of seven rounds. Each round, players... Read More