Episodes

Another great game from designer Steve Jackson. I love this game. In zombie dice you are a zombie trying to eat brains. My family takes this game of trips to play before bed. My sister wanted to play “The brain game”, we had no idea what she was talking about so we asked her to go get it. Then she brought in this game. It is based on a push your luck mechanic, and this game is simple enough a 5 year old can play it, but adults can also enjoy it. So, gather your horde, sit down, and try to be the...

Facebook strikes again! A group that I follow had a post by a fellow member that her book was finally published. Of course, I had to read it. Professor Camilla Zamboni's book, Roll for Learning: 51 Micro Tabletop Role-Playing Games to Use in the Classroom, is a collection of TTRPGS with a lot of other information to help implement them. She graciaously joined me in this episode to talk about gaming in the classroom, gaming online, expansions (good or bad), and the usual questions. Thanks for lis...

Facebook got me again! I am an easy target for ads about board games. I had heard of this one, but when the ad hit, and I clicked over, and it was only $50, I had to order Farms Race. It is the debut game from Medium Brow Games. (What a great name, by the way) This publisher was founded by one of the creators of Cards Against Humanity, Daniel Dranove. The other designer credited is Tom Weiner. This is his first game. So, what drew me to Farms Race? It looked and sounded Catan-ish. The box art wa...

Edward and I are always up for a good racing game. We have mentioned this in the past. We have a lot of different types of racing. When watching videos on YouTube of great racing games, 1500M came up. It is a racing game that came out in 2018 where you are a track runner in a, well, 1500M foot race. I instantly reached out to the creator, Eduardo Crespo, and his company Lucky Loser Games . Edward is a cross country and track runner. It seemed like a perfect fit. It arrived just before a vacatio...

In this episode, I am joined by father and son designers Cory and Gavin Neslon. They are the duo behind The Naughty Jester. Their debut game, Chivalry is Dead: Race for the Crown, is currently up on Kickstarter. It is a fantasy themed racing game. I can't wait for it. We talk about Kickstarter, racing games, inspiration, and ha lot of other fun things. Thanks for listening. Chivalry is Dead: Race for the Crown

I preordered Horrified: Greek Monster Edition against my better judgment. Once I was not overly impressed with the American Monsters Edition, I do not know what possessed me to preorder this newest edition. Anyway, I did, from Target. It was scheduled for delivery on October 9. Oddly, I received a notification from Target that it was out for delivery on September 29. When I clicked for more details, the UPS website said it was out for delivery, scheduled to arrive on 10/9. This meant it was goin...

I came across De'Von Truvel's board game while trying to find a book for the kids about the Greenwood Massacre, as we were planning a trip to Tulsa. I found a book on Amazon, Black History Adventures of Rose and Rodney: Greenwood and Tulsa's Black Wall Street. The book said it was from the creators of Play Black Wall Street the Board Game. So, I bought both. De'Von talk about the game, the event, and much more. He talks about his work with schools and the community to promote good financial deci...

Dad found Kuddly Kymera at a gaming convention. It was designed and published by Mythica Gaming. They are the same team behind one of our other favorite games, Dueling Dice! Kuddly Kymera is a game about creating the cutest animal possible. Players take turns playing down cards from their hand onto themselves or other players. My dad, sister, and I had a blast playing it so we introduced it to my grandparents on vacation, and they really enjoyed it. The true definition of chimera is spelled with...

I first came across CJ Connor's debut cozy novel Board to Death my usual way. I simply searched "board game" in the library online catalog. I recognized that I had not read it, so I checked it out. After about two chapters, I just decided to buy it. Edward read it before I had the chance. Anyway, we both loved it, and I reached out to CJ to be on the show. CJ and I talk the usual and when the next book is due out. Also, his connection to the narrator of the audiobook version of the book. Get a c...

Edward and I took a trip down to Paducah, Kentucky, to visit some friends we made at a convention. We taught kids our game, Fences, and I interviewed one of the owners of The Play Portal. Shannon mentions some great games, that Edward and played off the shelf. She also mentioned a game after we wrapped recording, Brutality. It looks and sounds like a great team, and more brutal, version of King of Tokyo. We obtained a copy off ebay, and we look forward to getting it to the table. Anyway, here is...

I won’t beat a dead horse, but I will say it one more time: I love a good roll and write. Of course, there are variations on this mechanic, like the flip and write. So, when I first heard of Inside Up Games’s Draft & Write Records, I was immediately curious. In Draft & Write Records, designed by Bruno Maciel, you are trying to build a band, take it on tour, release tracks and albums, and do press, trying to be better than your opponents. It plays 1 - 6 players. Oddly, I played it solo first. Why...

As you know, I have been playing a lot of Long Shot and Long Shot: The Dice Game. I have been waiting for the next release, WIN, to finally hit the stores. Well, last week, I received the email that my preorder was in! So, I drove out to the FLGS to pick up my copy of Chris Handy’s seventeenth game in the Perplext Pack-O-Games series, WIN: A Long Shot Game. Once again, in WIN, you and your opponents are betting on the horses at the track. The bettor who has the most cash at the end of the race, ...

Sometimes, you just buy a game because of the name. You know nothing about it. But, the price is right, and it is called Butts in Space. I came across this card game on Etsy. I am starting to think that I should not be allowed on the internet unsupervised. Anyway, I added it as a favorite to come back to buy at a later date. Well that date came, but when I went back, the shop/publisher, The Dusty Tophat, was on a hiatus or vacation. I got an alert that they were back, but the game was no longer...

Brian and I had a rough time with the recording website, but we still managed a fantastic conversation. He gave insight to working with an IP as a small designer, the differences with working with digital versus analog games, and we found out that we have a lot of the same tastes in games. Thanks for listening!

Well, it took me little time to hunt down an affordable copy of Chris Handy’s original Long Shot in the United States. I found it via BoardGameGeek Market. I had it delivered straight to work, and we played it the lunch hour of the day it arrived. It might be the shortest time from purchase to play ever! In Long Shot, you and your opponents are gamblers at the race track vying to make the most of your money. You can make money by placing bets that pay out, buying horses, or just playing cards th...

I have mentioned it before many times on this show, Edward and I love racing games. One evening, he and I were at a local game shop looking through the used games section. We found two games that caught our eyes: Long Shot: The Dice Game and Elfenland. Long Shot caught our attention because it was designed by Chris Handy and published by Perplext, the same designer publisher duo behind Roland Wright. That was, well, a roll and write game that I impulsively bought for $5 at a convention and we pl...

In this episode, I am joined by Larry Saunders. I came across Larry when searching for Christmas presents for my coworkers. He has an Etsy shop where he makes various game related stickers. I reached out to him, and he told me that board games had helped him through a tough part of his life. Well, after almost two months of trying to get a night free together, Larry and I finally got to have our conversation. He has a great, but sad, story to tell. Thanks for listening.

A few of my past guests have suggested Cockroach Poker for a lunchtime game. I put it on my Christmas list a few years back. I never received it from friends, family, or Santa. One day while I was perusing the local game shop, there it was, hanging on a peg board. I was surprised that it was in a box that was barely four inches square. I don’t know what I was expecting, but not that. I immediately took it off the peg and purchased it for $11.99. Then, it sat unplayed for a month or so. It wasn’t...

My dad found Outfoxed on the clearance section of Target and got it as a gift to the family for Easter. We played it right away with my sister who was 4, my mom who is 10 times that and some change, and my dad who is a little younger than mom. In outfoxed you work together as chickens trying to stop a fox from reaching the fox hole and escaping. WHY is the fox on the run? Because, the clever fox has stolen Mrs. Plumpert's pot pie and is high-tailing it to the foxhole! Can you and your chicken fr...

At a recent board game day at the library, I was left as the odd man out. That did not bother me. I was happy to see so many people playing games. A fellow game nerd has his bag of games there. He said I could have a look, so I did. He had For Sale, a game that has been mentioned by a few guests and has come up in a few books. I sat down with it, opened the box, and was immediately distracted by the insert advertising the Bookshelf Series. Now, this was an old advertisement. It only listed games...

I was talking with a fellow designer at a Protospiel about past Spiel des Jahres winners. About how it is sad that some of these games, these games that helped propel the board game hobby to the heights it is today, are no longer available. We then started looking at some of the games, and I couldn’t help purchasing a few. One that struck my interest was Andreas Seyfath’s Manhattan, 1994’s winner. He is better known for creating the 2002 game Puerto Rico. He and his wife won the 2006 Spiel des J...

In this episode, I am joined by Freddie Carlini. He is the mastermind behind Mixtape Massacre, a highly thematic board game where you are the slasher hunting down victims to collect souvinirs. Freddie talks about how Mixtape Massacre is NOT TSA Friendly! It is a hilarious story. We also talk about running over zombies on a motorcycle, chunky dice being cool, and how dice trays save time and dice! All this and more coming up. Thanks for listening! Get a copy of Mixtape Massacre !

Spencer Mohr joins me on this episode. His company, Dastardly Fun Entertainment, has put out two games a year, and I have played and enjoyed both. Their second game, Dastardly Drivers, was a finalist in the game design competition I sponsored last year. Thanks for listening. Dastardly Fun Entertainment on The Game Crafter

My grandmother, who I called Mee-Maw, bought Michael Marra’s 13 Dead End Drive for me back in 1993 when it came out. I am not 100% sure why, but I am so glad she did. It is hard to believe that the game is 30 years old! That makes me even older. Anyway, 13 Dead End Dr got a lot of playing when I was young. My little sister, brother, and I played a lot of Clue, and this gave us a new mystery to solve, a new toy to play with. 13 Dead End Drive feels like Clue and Mouse Trap had a baby. In 13 Dead ...