The State of Games, Ep. 170 – The One About the Best Things of 2019

It’s hard to believe that another year of gaming has passed, but here we are! It’s been a bit of a strange year for us here at Dice Hate Me – a bit less gaming, busier schedules – but we were still able to play so many of the thousands of amazing titles that came out, and a few great blasts from the past. In this podcast we’re presenting our usual Discoveries and Games of the Year, but we’re also spicing it up with some special one-choice categories for games and things that needed the spotlight. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the curated picks from the year that was. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 167: The One About What We Did This Summer

We love recording The State of Games, but there are times when our hectic schedules don’t make it easy to make time for the podcast. This summer has definitely been one of those times. We’ve all been stretched thin by new jobs, heavy projects, and just a little bit of board game burn out. But we’re finally back and re-energized after seeing so many people and playing so many games over four conventions. So settle in and get comfy – we’ve got a lot of catching up to do with you, Dear Listeners. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 155 – The One About Gen Con 2018

Welcome, dear listeners, to another podcast about the biggest show on astroturf (really) – Gen Con! Even though Gen Con has become almost nothing but business, business, business for most in the industry, it’s still a fun, amazing, and exhausting spectacle that we look forward to every year. Let us know if you have some great tales from the show, or, if  you played something awesome participating in GenCant. We’d love to talk about your adventures on the podcast! Read More  Read More

Gen Con 2018 Pictorial Recap!

Hello, dear readers, and welcome to another year of Gen Con coverage! This year’s show had record attendance, and I was just as busy as always showing off awesome games and taking meeting after meeting after meeting with designers. But I did get a chance to escape the job from time to time and check out some really cool stuff. So settle in and enjoy this brief look into the good time that is Gen Con! The first part of our trip involved a stop in Nitro, West Virginia – a five-year tradition! This year, Dan Halsted of The League of Nonsensical Gamers flew into Raleigh all the way from Copenhagen just to make the drive with us! Yes, he’s... 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. 153 – The One About Origins 2018

It’s summertime and that means it’s time for the biggest gaming conventions of the year! It’s always great to kick off the season at one of our favorite gaming conventions, Origins Game Fair, and it’s hard to believe that this is the 7th year we’ve covered it on The State of Games. Both the podcast and the con have grown and changed through the years but the focus for both has, thankfully, remained the same – let’s get together and play some awesome games. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 151 – The One About the Axis of Not Misrepresenting Your Product

When TC volunteers to handle an upcoming topic and tackle the show notes I never say no. Not only is it a welcome break for me but it’s inevitably like that ol’ box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get. This time around it ended up with all three of us talking about best and worst of game aesthetics for about an hour, but the conversation was far more engaging and encompassing than I expected. We start at the fall of the video game industry in 1983 and don’t let up until we’ve covered the latest all-flash and no-substance projects on Kickstarter. So break out your smoking jackets, it’s... Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 150 – The One About Going Back to the Well

Every now and then on the podcast we like to have a special guest, and it’s especially special when the guest not only wants to be on but also proposes a salient topic. This time around we have Seth Jaffee, who is not only a game designer and head of development for Tasty Minstrel Games, but also a long-time listener of the podcast. We’ve known Seth for about seven years now, and it’s awesome to be able to catch up with him somewhere outside of Twitter and the big conventions. Join us as we go deep into all sorts of territories – this is a long one, but it’s chock full of meat! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 133: The One About Letting Go

We’ve covered a lot of ground over the past six years on the podcast, and sometimes it’s nice to look back on a great topic and reintroduce it to a new audience. The topic this time is a somewhat-controversial theory introduced by Cody Jones back in 2012 which states that to have the most compact game collection you should only have one game of each type. We thought it was pretty crazy back then, and the opinion hasn’t changed too much. BUT – we do embrace the madness and practice a little bit of The Jones Theory on the podcast, all for your enjoyment. 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