Gen Con 2017 Pictorial Recap!

Greetings, dear readers! I’m back from Gen Con with most of my sanity and some of my health, so it’s time for a big ol’ pictorial recap. This year’s show was the 50th anniversary, and it was huge! Every badge was sold out, and there was a record 207,000 visitors. It was truly a legendary show, and I did my best to capture some of that in the pics below. As usual, we had a car full as we set off for Indianapolis! Lillian made the trip with us this year for her first Gen Con ever. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 134: The One About the Great Egress

I’ve been recording The State of Games for over 6.5 years now, and there have been many great milestones, and also a lot of bittersweet goodbyes. I’m so thankful to have recorded so many episodes with so many great people over these years. And, so, it is with a heavy heart that I find the need to say goodbye to yet another era in the podcast’s storied history. Exactly what does that mean? I guess you’ll just have to listen and find out! Read More  Read More

The Crowded Table – Post-Origins Edition!

Hello dear readers, and welcome back to a new Crowded Table! With both Origins Game Fair and RuthCon now behind me I have played a plethora of new titles with which I’d like to share my thoughts. What’s great about this particular Crowded Table is that not only have I played a ton of new games – I’ve also played many of them a ton of times! From here on out in my Crowded Table features, as well as any full reviews on the site, I will be stating how many times I’ve played the game, and with what player counts. If a game is played only 1 or 2 times you can consider my thoughts as an impression and I may need to explore the game further... 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

The State of Games, Ep. 129: The One About Bridge Club

The first rule of Bridge Club is you don’t talk about Bridge Club. The second rule of Bridge Club is you don’t talk about Bridge Club. The third rule of Bridge Club is you absolutely talk about board games in which you can talk about anything and everything while playing, including Bridge, Diamonds, Fleet, Vegas, Uno, Cacao, Thurn & Taxis, Ticket to Ride, and a whole bunch more. Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 128: The One About House Rules

Jessica’s back in the house, and just in time for a jaunty discussion on house rules! I’ve covered house rules a time or two here on Dice Hate Me, most notably a couple of articles on some big changes we brought to Bang! during #lunchgames back in the day. But there are many more games out there whose rules could either benefit from an intelligent house rule, or just become more fun for a particular gaming group. Be sure to send us yours! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 127: The One About Intelligent Design

Completely rudderless without our podcast editor, Jessica, Darrell, TC, and I decide to go completely off the rails and talk some inside baseball about game design. Don’t worry, though, it’s not too dark down that rabbit hole, and you may just find a wonderland of marvelous fun and information! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 126: The One About Unpub Prime

For seven years now, game designers and plucky playtesters alike have gathered together at the Unpublished Games Festival. Once a small affair held in Dover, Delaware, Unpub has grown exponentially in the last three years, expanding to the Baltimore Convention Center and drawing huge crowds. The fundamentals and fun have not changed over the years, though; Unpub is still the best place for designers to make their unpublished creations the best they can be, and for playtesters to try out the next Big Thing before it hits the shelves! Read More  Read More

The State of Games, Ep. 125: The One About the Absolute Essentials

From time to time it’s good for us to reflect on those games that are a cornerstone of our hobby or our personal collections. Even though many of you dear readers are experienced gamers, there may be a few great designs that you’ve missed over the years. We’re here to set that straight! Read More  Read More