Apologies for the sound quality -- Lindsay got a new mic and it... did not work well, to say the least. Anyways, we all went to PAX Unplugged once again and it was the least stressful PAX yet. We found fun in some unexpected games and ate delicious food. What else could you want?

0:35 - General PAX Impressions 4:39 - Tether 8:44 - Fit to Print 12:05 - Block and Key 16:12 - Food. Delicious Food

You've got questions and I've got answers! I cover everything from wargames to babies to cooking to economics.

2:43 - #1: Most impactful game of the last 30 years 9:31 - #2: Best game to play while holding a baby 11:27 - #3: Good wargames for kids 13:45 - #4: How to market a game 20:24 - #5: Favorite color 21:48 - #6: Choose between: Root, Bananagrams, Vast 23:45 - #7: Which is more of a game: Candyland or Snakes and Ladders? 24:38 - #8: Solutions to high cost of shipping 32:37 - #9: Which games model economics best? 39:40 - #10: Unpopular opinions 49:28 - #11: Cooking tips 52:31 - #12: Favorite pasta shape 53:38 - #13: Games I'm uncertain about 59:12 - #14: Board game reviewing vs. other media

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Originally posted here: https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/06/07/through-the-ages-review/

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I give the rundown of three digital card games that I've enjoyed quite a bit: Monster Slayers, Slay The Spire, and Age of Rivals. All three have some unique and interesting interactions only logistically feasible in a digital game. I also preview the most significant change to the Thoughtful Gamer patreon that will be happening in a couple of weeks.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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At long last we've reached the conclusion of the 2018 countdown. Marc, Matt, and Orion talk about the best of the best. The cream of the crop. The best games ever made! Seriously, these games are incredible and I get giddy just thinking about them.

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3:44 - 7 Wonders 7:16 - Concordia 14:30 - Pulsar 2849 20:21 - War of the Ring 24:38 - Agricola 29:29 - Lisboa 35:53 - Suburbia 43:36 - The Castles of Burgundy 47:33 - Through The Ages 53:28 - Here I Stand 1:00:20 - Dominion 1:04:09 - Dominant Species 1:08:23 - Space Alert 1:12:51 - The Resistance 1:19:01 - Android: Netrunner 1:22:38 - Mage Knight 1:26:08 - Spirit Island 1:31:13 - Twilight Imperium 1:34:18 - Twilight Struggle 1:38:47 - Gloomhaven

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc, Orion, and Matt sit down with Eric Reuss, designer of Spirit Island. This is one of our longest podcasts ever, but it might be our best ever. Eric was a delightful conversationalist, and we learned so much about the design and lore of Spirit Island. We were absolutely amazed to hear about all of the thought and work that went into the design. There's so much going on underneath the surface that you only see glimpses of in the game itself. I think you'll be equally enthralled.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc's fighting off a cold but that won't stop him! Orion and Matt join to count down some truly excellent games and fail to stay on topic. You know how it is.

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7:02 - Terra Mystica

11:37 - Fog of Love

17:45 - Robinson Crusoe

22:40 - 7 Wonders Duel

27:30 - Churchill

33:14 - Power Grid

36:54 - Mombassa

43:05 - Scythe

47:40 - Star Wars Armada

53:52 - Pandemic Legacy Season 1

58:14 - Tzolk'in

1:01:57 - Vinhos

1:07:12 - Triumph And Tragedy

1:14:11 - The Gallerist

1:17:55 - Falling Sky

1:22:16 - Viticulture

1:27:30 - Downforce

1:31:47 - Codenames

1:38:06 - Food Chain Magnate

1:41:43 - Battlestar Galactica

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc, Matt, and Orion are joined by Trey Chambers, designer of Argent: The Consortium, Harvest, and Empyreal: Spells and Steam (now on kickstarter!). We hit all of the important topics: whether dogs or cats are better podcast mascots, dreams about Stefan Feld, and how long you can ramble on a tanget after the end of the podcast before you inadvertently begin a second podcst.

Also some stuff about Trey's games.

Empyreal is only on kickstarter for a couple more days. It looks wild. Check it out! Also play Harvest because it's seriously legit and seems to have slipped under the radar. Also check out Trey's podcast, which focuses on important topics in the board game community, called Eternally Board.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Special for our list-aficionado fans out there--another list! The middlest of the best games ever, or something like that. Marc, Matt, and Orion talk about some quality games.

SPOILERS BELOW

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1:53 - Stats

4:47 - El Grande

9:49 - Colonial Twilight

14:48 - Friday

17:55 - Mechs v. Minions

22:49 - Sushi Go Party

25:23 - Secret Hitler

30:12 - Captain Sonar

34:40 - Eclipse

38:50 - Harvest

43:30 - Tokaido

46:29 - Memoir '44

52:48 - Roll For The Galaxy

58:36 - Galaxy Trucker

1:02:42 - Fire In The Lake

1:06:13 - Carcassonne

1:09:31 - Forbidden Desert

1:12:30 - Mysterium

1:15:37 - Keyflower

1:18:21 - Lost Cities

1:20:53 - Nusfjord

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc, Orion, and Matt talk about "hindered communication" games, where you're trying to communicate something to another person with an arbitrary barrier in the way. Word association games like Taboo or Codenames are the most well-known types of these games, but we discover that the genre we kind of made up is a lot bigger than that.

Also in this episode, Marc pitches his million dollar invention idea, and everyone marvels over the word "algorithm". 

2:11 - Defining Our Terms

3:58 - The Classics

9:55 - The Apples To Apples Continuum

13:45 - Word Association Games

30:23 - Beyond Word Association

35:55 - Idea Association

46:04 - How These Games Succeed

1:03:08 - Oddities And The Hanabi Problem

1:15:31 - Metagaming

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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We're creeping down the list to better and better games. Marc, Matt, Orion, and Ben talk through some of Marc's favorite games ever. This time we hit some serious controversy, the ripples of which are felt all throughtout the rest of the list. Marc stands by his rankings.

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2:35 - Command And Colors: Ancients

5:10 - Wits and Wagers

9:54 - Archipelago

14:11 - Dice Forge

16:40 - Capital

18:44 - Millennium Blades

23:55 - Libertalia

27:18 - Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective

32:14 - Star Wars Rebellion

36:32 - Dungeon Lords

41:48 - Paramedics: Clear!

45:40 - Above and Below

50:12 - Blood In The Fog

54:34 - CrossTalk

1:01:17 - Onitama

1:03:37 - London

1:08:13 - Kemet

1:14:08 - Calimala

1:18:08 - Star Wars Imperial Assault

1:21:52 - Five Tribes

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Prompted by a discussion in the Thoughtful Gamer discord channel, Marc, Orion, and Matt explore the nature of language, games, and aqueousness as they discuss what constitutes a dry game. It's a concept that people seem to understand but can't quite define. Will we be able to do it? Spoiler: I have no idea.

Skip to 5:09 if you don't care about sports.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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The countdown has returned! Marc has expanded the list to 100 games this time, so there's double the fun. In this installment Marc and Orion blast through numbers 100-81. They're all great games you should check out!

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5:11 - Seikatsu

7:32 - Sekigahara

9:25 - Terraforming Mars

12:26 - Medici: The Card Game

14:08 - Descent 2nd Edition

18:22 - For-Ex

24:16 - The Shipwreck Arcana

28:53 - Isle Of Skye

30:54 - Time of Crisis

37:12 - Deception: Murder In Hong Kong

39:16 - Evolution: Climate

44:30 - 1960: The Making Of The President

47:09 - Alchemists

50:30 - Scrabble

52:07 - Caverna: The Cave Farmers

57:09 - Exceed

1:01:18 - Riftwalker

1:06:22 - Sagrada

1:07:34 - Ticket To Ride: Europe

1:11:18 - Three Kingdoms Redux

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Sports are games too, you know. In this episode, Marc, Matt, and Bubba sit down to talk about various sports rules and controversies and analyze them as game design. What are they optimizing for? Whose interests do they serve? What's the role of randomness or human judgement in making a sport great? What even makes sports great?

0:34 - Intro 1:32 - What's the goal when "designing" sports rules? 2:45 - What's the most viewer-friendly board game? 7:12 - Gold Drafting 13:24 - Playoff size 16:18 - Promotion/relegation 21:45 - Eliminating the kick return 24:39 - Conservative play in the NFL and elsewhere 29:18 - The designated hitter 31:50 - Changes to the actual baseball ball 36:03 - 3-point line 42:56 - Dunking on basketball 45:44 - Soccer's relatively simple rules 48:27 - Punishments and penalties in different sports 50:35 - Robots and video 54:22 - Disc golf penalty culture 1:03:10 - The 2 meter rule 1:11:41 - Back to robots 1:26:39 - The shift

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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PAX East expanded to 4 days from 3, and that means we got even more games played this year, including an absolute GEM of a game from CGE. We also rant about Jimmy Johns and, frankly, get extremely silly. Also, the debut podcast appearance from our good friend Lindsay!

3:12 - First Impressions of PAX East 2018

11:15 - Tabletop Tournaments

15:34 - Expo Hall

22:21 - The Grimm Forest

23:24 - High Heavens

27:21 - Wallet Games by Chip Beauvais

32:15 - Downforce Expansion

37:34 - Tokyo Metro

41:48 - Faza

44:15 - Panel On Game Balance

50:48 - Jimmy Johns Sandwiches and Bad Design

56:09 - Merlin

1:01:12 - Munchkin CCG

1:04:15 - Civilization: A New Dawn

1:08:32 - Dice Forge

1:11:27 - I don't even know what to call this. You're just going to have to listen to it.

1:14:00 - The Shipwreck Arcana

1:22:06 - El Grande

1:29:56 - London

1:33:45 - Nusfjord

1:39:28 - Pulsar 2849

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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I've got a wide assortment of topics today, from rulebook pet peeves to disappointing card games to an exciting livestream announcement. Happy Friday!

0:29 - Problems With Rulebooks

6:19 - Consider Supporting Meeple Like Us

7:11 - Great Resource: Stonemaier Games' Blog

8:18 - The Mind

9:46 - Deep Sea Adventure

11:37 - Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game

14:44 - Top 100 Games Podcast Livestream Announcement

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Ever feel like you're just not doing as well as you should at games? Want that secret sauce so you can beat your friends? Marc, Orion, Matt, Matt's secret brother Dave, and another Matt who we call Bubba are here to help! We're sometimes not bad at games and we have a variety of tips to help you out.

4:17 - Find The Bottlenecks

9:06 - Understand Resource Values

15:30 - Identify Action Loops

22:23 - Digression - Who Is This Advice For?

23:32 - FOO Strategies

33:34 - Be Aware Of Remaining Time

42:58 - Always Draw First

44:31 - Sports Digression

45:05 - Deck Efficiency

53:22 - Figure Out If You Should Differentiate Or Follow

56:31 - Disguise Your Strength

1:01:35 - In Co-Ops, Maximize Your Offense

1:04:50 - Leave Your Options Open

1:16:16 - Subvert Common Expectations

1:22:34 - Reverse Engineer From The Victory Condition

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc and Orion sit down to talk about all they played at the Granite Games Summit in Nashua, NH. It was a wonderful convention and we played some truly awesome games! Except one. Prepare for a good old-fashioned rant.

Paramedics Clear!: 2:31

Clank! In! Space!: 7:04

Dominant Species: 13:38

Rising Sun: 18:57

Deck Construction (prototype): 43:38

Here I Stand: 46:45

Lisboa: 55:32

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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I chat with Matt from Mountaintop Games about his first game design: The Primary, which is a light area control game based around the US primary election system. It launches on Kickstarter tomorrow, right here: https://goo.gl/hcSz79

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc, Matt, Orion, and Ben join up to talk about two of their favorite real-time games: Space Alert and Captain Sonar. What makes them so captivating? How do their differences highlight their respective strengths and weaknesses? Will Marc ever be able to end the podcast, or will it forever spiral into more and more increasingly irrelevant tangents? Only one way to find out!

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Greetings! I'm here with another quick update on what games I've been playing recently and what's in store in the next couple of weeks. Get my first impressions on Terraforming Mars, The Gallerist, and the new Netrunner meta.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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This week's podcast is a wonderful discussion with Jason Perez, a psychotherapist from the Every Night Is Game Night podcast, about depression and mental health. We talk about what it means to be depressed, why if you think you might be struggling with depression you should seek help, and Jason talks about 10 things you can to do help break out of a delf-defeating depressed cycle. Board games can play a role in that!

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Longtime listeners will know that Matt frequently tries to sabotage this podcast by talking about hockey. Well, back when me, Orion, and Matt were doing our "listener question" podcast, we got into a very long discussion about sports that I didn't include in that podcast. I then forgot about it for a while but have dug it up for your enjoyment. Spring training is about to start and the hockey season is in full-swing, so hear what we have to say about those games and the games played around them.

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Join Marc, Orion, Matt, and Wes in a hidden movement cage fight! The old Fantasy Flight standard goes up against the new hotness. Which one is better? Only one way to find out.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Originally posted here: https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/05/31/two-final-exit-games-forgotten-island-and-house-of-riddles/

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Hey, all. This one's me talking about how I've organized my life recently to be more productive. I also discuss some very early first impressions of the odd game Vast: The Crystal Caverns. Finally, I weigh in on the subject of using "they" as a non-gendered singular pronoun in game rulebooks and why that's obviously a good thing. Obviously.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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This is an odd one. Marc, Orion, Matt, and Wes talk about the differences between board games and video games as media and how their inherent qualities shape how we interact with them, and each other. Included are multiple references to Plato and a 20 minute tangent where we question the premise of the entire podcast. Good times!

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc discusses his experience with Twilight Imperium 4th Edition and goes over the news of the day, which includes why bad graphic design led to an entire state going into panic, people counterfeiting board games, and why the talk surrounding HATE illustrates a problem with internet discourse.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc and Orion are on an island. They've also been playing a lot of Spirit Island. Chill with the sounds of the ocean and people barbequeing and hear about three great games.

Harvest - 1:17 Hunt For The Ring - 9:07 Spirit Island - 31:52

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It's a MEGA-PODCAST where Marc, Orion, and Matt look over 2017 and all of the great (and not so great) games we've played. We've had some amazing experiences and we've played some of the best games ever made for the first time this year. Plus, lots of lists! Everyone loves lists.

6:47 - What have we been playing recently?

13:44 - The "Shame List" (games we haven't played yet)

28:06 - Top 5 "New To Us" Games

50:26 - The Thoughtful Gamer 2017 Random "Awards" (most innovative, worst game, biggest disappointment, game we keep playing incorrectly, etc.)

1:13:31 - Best of The Thoughtful Gamer in 2017

1:34:40 - Top 5 2017 Games

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Sometimes weeks are hard. This has been one of those weeks. But I want to try to turn it into something positive. If you want to join me for a quick discussion about mental health, email me at marc@thethoughtfulgamer.com. Also I talk about why I loved Star Wars.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc quizzes his wife Amber on her theory of "social manipulation" in board games, which desperately needs a new name because that sounds really evil. It's not evil. It's how Amber uses psychology to give her a leg up in games. Marc doesn't get it. Amber doesn't get Marc's puns. It's a good time.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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No specific theme this time, just some thoughts on Patreon, Gloomhaven, The Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Terraforming Mars, Hollandspiele, social deduction games, and board game media awards (at thedrinkingmeeples.com).

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc and Orion talk about, perhaps, their favorite genre of board game, the illustrious card-driven wargame (CDG). From 1993's We The People to 2016's Star Wars Rebellion (I can feel the anger the purists), there have been a lot of different games with the CDG gameplay shell. What do they have in common, and what did they do differently? What innovations have we seen throughout the years?

Also in this episode: the cat makes an appearance, Marc hates on Blood Rage and the state of Wyoming, and we absolutely fail at the closing remarks. Like, really fail. I don't know how we're going to top it, frankly.

0:44 - Defining the CDG

8:07 - What CDG's do well

25:52 - What CDG's don't do well

33:31 - Washington's War

39:05 - Twilight Struggle

45:45 - Here I Stand

54: 38 - 1960: The Making Of The President

59:02 - Labyrinth: The War On Terror

1:02:57 - Star Wars Rebellion

1:08:32 - COIN Games

1:16:31 - Final Thoughts

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc, Matt, Orion, Ben, Wes, and Bubba reminisce about PAX Unplugged and all of the great games they played and great times they had. I promise we didn't record this in a tunnel. There are no technical mistakes, only happy accidents.

3:40 - Star Realms

8:54 - Expo Hall Experiences

22:46 - SEPTA

24:55 - Bushido

29:32 - Ethnos

35:11 - Exceed Card Game

39:33 - Twilight Imperium 4th Edition

49:37 - Keyflower

57:20 - Megagame Funtimes

1:19:03 - Imperial Settlers

1:20:56 - The time I almost said hi to Geoff Engelstien but then didn't

1:24:07 - PAX Unplugged Keynote

1:28:47 - Cheesesteaks

1:33:07 - Fog of Love

1:43:25 - Downforce

1:48:15 - Mechs vs. Minions

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Originally posted here: https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/05/25/babylonia-review/

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The Thoughtful Gamer heads off to PAX Unplugged tomorrow morning, and we'd love to see you there. Marc talks about his plans at the convention, a couple of exciting features coming up for The Thoughtful Gamer, and why he thinks that negativity can be a positive force.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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The group finds themselves in a gun and axe fight.

Matt tries to reign in Marc, Ben, Jeff, and JR as they nagivate the difficult terrain of the outer rim during the height of the empire, getting into a lot of messes along the way.

Marc, Orion, Matt, and Wes talk about five different board game themes and ideas that may be impossible to design. Can they be done well? Or are board games inherently limited in such a way as to make them impossible to implement in the medium?

Also in this podcast: Samwise Gamgee becomes a universal metaphor, and Wes conceives of the worst party game ever.

4:14 - Real Market Activity

29:06 - Scaled Conflict

49:23 - Horror/Terror

1:05:39 - Surrealism

1:11:48 - Romance

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Our plans come to fruition! Matt tries to reign in Marc, Ben, Jeff, and JR as they nagivate the difficult terrain of the outer rim during the height of the empire, getting into a lot of messes along the way.

The pinnacle of Dominion week at The Thoughtful Gamer. Join Marc, Matt, Orion, Ben, and Bubba as we count down our collective favorite 10 dominion cards. Listen as we discover that our ranking methodology wasn't the best, and resulted in people hating some of the top 10 cards. Also gain many valuable strategies for how to use the card Crossroads. Lots of other Dominion talk too.

3:08 - Favorite Dominion Memories

11:36 - Top 10 Cards

1:01:28 - Honorable Mentions

1:20:33 - Favorite Expansions

1:23:59 - Favorite Mechanisms

1:30:45 - Most Hated Cards

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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I sit down with Luca from Board To Death to talk about his new 80's cyberpunk racing game - Neon Knights. It's a mid-weight racing game with customizable cars, deadly weapons, and white-knuckle push-your-luck mechanisms, where you're not only trying to win the race, but look the best while doing it.

Neon Knights theme song

Available now on Kickstarter

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Marc, Matt, and Orion answer some questions from listeners. Learn about our favorite movies, how we see The Thoughtful Gamer fitting into the board game media landsape, and if we think we're aquiring new games too quickly. Also, Marc gives a surprise top 10 list!

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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Join Marc as he discusses the near future of The Thoughtful Gamer. October and November are shaping up to be a very exciting time. If you have any interest in all with what we're doing, listen in.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

In this episode, Michael and I confront the age-old question: how much of a podcast can be made up of tangents before the tangents become the subject of the podcast?

Also in this episode we talk about Meeple Like Us and issues of accessibility in board gaming, a bunch of random political things, our favorite games, gender representation, ethical choices in video games, the state of criticism and if it's okay for publishers to pay reviewers for reviews, and....Nazis? 

It was a wild ride, but a tremendously fun discussion.

0:00 - Accessibility

3:40 - Controversial parts of Meeple Like Us

9:47 - Limitations of internet platforms like Reddit and Twitter

15:02 - Working with publishers on accessibility

26:24 - Gender representation/random hotbed political topics

54:36 - Some of our favorite games

1:02:44 - Criticism in board gaming and publishers paying for reviews

1:28:57 - Ethical choices within video games and board games

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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A continuation of the last episode!. Matt tries to reign in Marc, Ben, Jeff, and JR as they nagivate the difficult terrain of the outer rim during the height of the empire, getting into a lot of messes along the way.

Originally posted here: https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/05/17/pan-am-review/

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(Apologies for the audio quality. I'm investigating what went wrong.)

Marc, Matt, and Orion discuss what makes co-op games unique, what problems can show up in the design, and how games overcome those problems.

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

Matt GM's a game of Fantasy Flight's Edge of the Empire Star Wars RPG system. Marc, Ben, Jeff, and JR nagivate the difficult terrain of the outer rim during the height of the empire, getting into a lot of messes along the way.

We've got a beast of an episode today! Inspired by GenCon, the game conference behemoth, Marc, Matt, and Orion discuss some of the games announced there, some of the games they've been playing recently, and their top 10 favorite old games.

4:12 - 1960: The Making Of The President

18:29 - Seikatsu

23:01 - Outpost: Siberia

27:59 - The Bloody Inn

33:55 - 1960 (reprise)

41:00 - Half-Witted Scruffy-Looking Podcast Recap

1:02:04 - GenCon

1:22:23 - Top 10 Games At Least 10 Years Old

1:52:41 - Netrunner

Music: Sailing The Solar Wind by Abstraction

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