Dice On The Road

Greetings dear readers – and listeners! Below you’ll find a link to the nifty new audio player for the Dice Hate Me mini-cast. You’ll be seeing many more posts like this one starting on Wednesday as I head to Origins Game Fair to get some good gaming and plenty of interview time with a bevy of board game builders and heads of the biz. Listen to the mini-cast below to hear about everything I’ll be up to while at the big show, and be sure to comment or email with suggestions or things you’d like me to cover on Dice Hate Me! Dice On The Road mini-cast, Episode 1 – The Grand Experiment Keep your eyes glued to Dice... Read More

The State of Games, Episode 9 – The One About Getting Kickstarted

The State of Games, Episode 9 is fitted, fueled up and ready to fly. Time to kick the tires and light the fires! Can you all guess what this episode is all about? I’ll give you a hint – it’s not about motorcycles. It’s about making some money and playing some games. Awww, yeah. Read More  Read More

Kickstarter Profiles, Part 1: Dark Horse

Last summer, the name “Kickstarter” began to be whispered in awed, hushed tones after people like David MacKenzie and Daniel Solis had proven that self-publishing through crowd-funding was fresh and feasible. Last fall, Michael Mendes proved that Kickstarter was not just feasible – it was also lucrative as Eminent Domain went supernova, gaining over $48,000 in funds. Since then, board game projects have been popping up in that wild inter-frontier like rabid prairie dogs; some brilliant, some bombs. Regardless of the mix, one thing is abundantly clear: it’s a truly great time for board games, and those who love them. There are several... Read More

The Year of Awesome

Greetings, dear readers, to a brief celebration in honor of Dice Hate Me’s anniversary! It’s been an amazing, wonderfully awesome year, and we are so thankful to our many supporters, peers, and companies for making it possible to live the Dice Hate Me dream. One year ago today, the first game review was posted – an extremely brief look at Red November from Fantasy Flight Games. Seriously, it was so succinct that many of those first few who read it wondered if it qualified as an actual review! Now, a year later, many of you are probably wishing that the reviews around here were half as short as that first one. For better or worse,... Read More

Space For More: An Interview With Empires of the Void Designer Ryan Laukat

Space… the well-trod frontier – at least in board games. There’s good reason for that, though: Space is awesome, as are many quality, space-based games. One space epic in particular has developed quite a buzz recently online – Empires of the Void, designed and illustrated by veteran board game artist Ryan Laukat. Ryan is responsible for quite a bit of art in Dominion, as well as Alf Seegert’s trollish masterpieces, Bridge Troll and Trollhalla. Ryan’s unique art style lends a fun flair to a genre that can sometimes feel a bit staid. In order for us to know more about Empires of the Void and the inspiration to... Read More

The French Revelation: A Troyes Revue

And the Freeples say: Vive la France! In the past few years, the realms of boardgaming have traditionally been broken down into two main categories: “Ameritrash” — which typically includes those games with lots of plastic sculpted miniatures used to bash the crap out your opponent, along with tons of shiny dice — and “Euro” games, which usually include a dazzling array of choices in which to stoically quell the machinations of your opponent with feathered subtleties like influence, victory points, wooden cubes and meeples. Pearl Games has chosen to walk the insane path of including flavors from both realms in one box with their first... Read More

The State of Games, Episode 8 – The One About Not Playing With Yourself

The State of Games, Episode 8 is open and ready for business! Don’t worry, the title doesn’t mean what you think it means. Or maybe it does? We have no idea what goes on inside those crazy minds of yours. But you can find out what goes on inside our crazy minds – just take a listen to our mad ramblings! Read More  Read More

The Crowded Table: April/May Edition

So many games, so little time… to review them all! Yes, the past couple of months have seen a flurry of new games enter the Dice Hate Me library and, subsequently, our gaming table. I’ll be ramping up the review schedule a bit this summer, but cranking out two or three reviews a week right now is just not a practical goal. And, so, I offer up the next best thing: some brief impressions on a notable few that we’ve encountered, many of which will be getting the full Dice Hate Me treatment in the weeks ahead. Castle Panic Not too good... In this hybrid co-op, you and up to five other brave souls must defend the castle against a relentless,... Read More

A New Frontier for Alien Frontiers

Dice Hate Me has just received news from Clever Mojo Games regarding a new licensing agreement for future editions of Alien Frontiers. Here, directly from Clever Mojo Games owner W. David MacKenzie, is the full scoop: “Clever Mojo Games has signed licensing agreements to bring localized editions of Alien Frontiers to Eastern and Western Europe. Ystari Games will be producing French, German, Spanish, and Italian language versions of Alien Frontiers for distribution in Western Europe and LocWorks will be producing and distributing Polish and Eastern European language versions of Alien Frontiers. Both LocWorks and Ystari expect late 2011 release... 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