The State of Games, Ep. 158 – The One About The Doctor’s Advice

There are certain creative leaders in the game design hobby that pop up from time to time with interesting nuggets of wisdom – Dr. Reiner Knizia is one such creative. With over 600 games and books credited to him over his career, he definitely has the experience and chops to lay down some knowledge, and a lot of that knowledge is extraordinarily valuable. On this particular show we decided to take a couple of his more recent – and infinitely intriguing – statements and break them down for discussion. Should you file them or flush them? Come on in and find out! 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. 149: The One About Just Some Games

It’s been a busy year for us here on the podcast and, as such, we’ve had back-to-back episodes that were around 3 hours. Those types of episodes can be a lot of fun but they’re also pretty exhausting, so we figured we’d take it a little easy this time around, keep it simple, and just talk about some of the great games we’ve been playing recently. Enjoy! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 146: The One About Expanding Your World

Love ’em or hate ’em, board game expansions are a huge part of the industry. Some companies survive just on expansions for their most popular titles, which can sometimes lead to consumer fatigue. They can often feel like cash grabs, but on occasion an expansion is released that not only provides more content for a game – it also makes that game better. So settle in Dear Listeners – we’re here to separate the suck from the essentials, all just for you. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 144: The One About The Best Games of 2017

Whether 2017 was great or terrible for you, there’s no denying that there were a ton of new game releases last year – more than any year on record, in fact. Add those to the already hugemongous collection of quality game titles from the past few years and gamers had a cornucopia of gaming goodness from which to choose. Now, there’s no way for everyone to play every single title that comes out, but we do pride ourselves on playing as many as we possibly can here on the podcast and we love sharing those experiences with all of you, dear listeners. So sit back and enjoy our takes on our absolute favorites of the past year, straight... Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 143: The One About Holiday Road

It’s been almost a month since our last episode, but the holidays seemed to ambush us this year, keeping us busy and away from our microphones! It certainly hasn’t been an uneventful month, however, as we all managed to get together in Dover, Delaware for our traditional Dice Hate Me Holiday gathering with good food, grand festivities, and gaming galore. So gather round, Dear Listeners, and ring in the New Year with your good friends from The State of Games. May 2018 be filled with peace, love, and games! Read More  Read More

The 2017 Dice Hate Me Holiday Gift Guide

Grab some cocoa and join me by the fireside, Dear Readers – tis the season to gab about gifting games! Believe it or not, this is the 7th annual Dice Hate Me Holiday Gift Guide, and nothing gets me more in the spirit than sharing some great games with all of you that you can share with everyone else. The list might be a tad late this year, but there’s still plenty of time before Santa loads up that sleigh and flies past Boardwalk and Park Place with all the Rolex and diamonds from Tiffany’s. I hope you enjoy the list, but most of all I hope you enjoy time with family and friends and get everything you wish for. May all your rolls be... Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 142: The One About Unplugging

November is usually the time when gaming conventions come to a close and the holidays kick into high gear. For the past few years, only one con has ruled the November calendar – BGGCon. This year, however, a new contender reared its head, and in Philadelphia, PA! Thus, PAX Unplugged was born. And it was huge. And we all went to it. And we ate pretzels and brats and drank our Yeungling and played our games and T.C. actually bought things and all manner of unheard of activities ensued. This… this is our story. Read More  Read More