Help Decide The Fate of the Galaxy!

Greetings dear readers – and prepare for something completely different! This weekend at Dice Hate Me HQ, six of us will gather in the wee hours of the morning to face off in an epic, full-day battle for galactic supremacy playing Twilight Imperium: Third Edition. Some of us are veteran TI:3 players, while others have only stared longingly at the limousine-sized box on the local game store shelf. This event promises to be so epic that we’ll be live-Tweeting the super showdown this Saturday, talking about our experiences on a future State of Games, and I’ll even have a session report on how the whole thing went down next week... Read More

The State of Games, Episode 45 — The One About Hobo Pain

After the last beast of a podcast, I figured it was time to just take everything back to formula, give all of you dear listeners a little break, and just chat about some board games. And that’s just what we did. Of course, what was intended as a brief, 30-minute foray into some titles that Darrell, TC and I played during a recent visit soon stretched into an hour. Hey, give us a microphone and just try to stop us. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Episode 43 – The One About 20 Questions

This podcast is a little break from the recent norm, as I give usual co-hosts Darrell Louder and TC Petty III a tiny break (but they’ll be back!) and bring on some new knuckleheads in a fun and different Q&A format – turned on its quirky nogging. So sit back and enjoy some banter with two of the gaming industry’s nicest guys ever, Matt Riddle and Ben Pinchback. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Episode 38 – The One About a Little “Guy Time”

The phrase “Winter Is Coming” can mean many things to many people, but around Dice Hate Me HQ that most commonly means that Monkey238 is up to her eyeballs in ballet duties. During this special time, she is typically holed up in a ballet studio somewhere teaching the best and brightest on how to be the premiere snow queen or sugarplum fairy. For poor old Dice, however, that typically means “fend for yourself” when it comes to games. Luckily, I had a November back-up plan to get in as much gaming as possible – and the gaming was superb. Lucky for all of you, however, is that Monkey still has enough time to play –... Read More

WBC 2012 – A Pictorial Recap

We’ve attended many conventions over the years, but one of our recent favorites has become the World Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. No other convention embodies the thrill of competition and the camaraderie and fellowship of tabletop gaming quite like the WBC. Although Monkey238 and I headed to Lancaster to playtest and promote Dice Hate Me Games, we also wanted to be able to relax and have a little gaming vacation before the madness of GenCon. We were definitely not disappointed, and had a wonderful time with friends, both old and new. So settle back and take it all in through this picture book look at the WBC! Our... Read More

Ye Olde Meat and Potatoes – A Lyssan Guest Review

Today on Dice Hate Me, we’re lucky to have a guest review by the most excellent and always helpful Marc Specter. Marc takes a look at Lyssan – a sprawling boardgame that racked up some nice funding last year on Kickstarter, at about the same time as Carnival. So grab ye some mead, dear readers, and dig into this special feast! The arrival of Lyssan is upon us.  As team leader of the group that was privileged to run Lyssan at Origins this year,  I feel it incumbent upon me to provide you, gentle gamer, a preview of your next great game. We play in a time where few games make it to the table more than a few times, and where the new... Read More

Origins 2012 Photo Recap – A Publisher’s Perspective

Hello dear readers! Monkey238 and I have returned from Origins 2012 a bit weary, but incredibly happy as we met many of you and made lots of new friends along the way. We worked hard from 10 to 6 every day in the Exhibition Hall running demos of Carnival, VivaJava and Compounded, teaching the joys of Lucky Dice (and awarding awesome prizes!), and just generally spreading the Dice Hate Me Games love around the con. After the Exhibition Hall closed for the day, we also got a chance to do quite a bit of after-hours gaming with a great group of people in Cartrunk Entertainment’s Unpub area in open gaming. The easiest way to share our adventures... 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

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

A Titanic Talk with Matthew Duhan of Gozer Games

Dice Hate Me and Go Forth and Game have joined forces to bring you some of the best gaming interviews on the web! That’s right, from time to time here on Dice Hate Me, Tom Gurganus will contribute one of his comprehensive conversations. In this interview, Tom sits down for a chat with Matthew Duhan of Gozer Games to discuss the current Kickstarter project, Titans of Industry. Enjoy the interview and be sure to let us know if there are other designers, artists or gaming insiders that you would like to know more about! Tom: Welcome to Go Forth And Game again Matthew. Before we get to far into this remind us about your company Gozer Games. Matthew:... Read More