Every Night Is Game Night

We have some very good family cooperative games for you this week. The first is My First Castle Panic (3:45), the adaptation of Castle Panic that is excellent for your three year old! For the older kids, we share next about Zoo Break (7:21), a family game about recapturing escaping zoo animals with some excellent moments of thematic integration? Finally, we get to one of the big releases from early 2019 - Comanauts (16:04). For our discussion topic, we're revisiting a conversation Jason had with Dr. Max Davie, a specialist in child psychology, that was posted on the Dice Tower main YouTube channel a few months ago. We chat about how to use games to help kids heal, how to adjust games so that we can get them gaing with us as adults, and other aspects of gaming with kids. Please visit Max's blog! - https://playisthething.home.blog/

Time for something completely different! There is NO board gaming content in this bonus episode. I was lucky enough to already have a scheduled record session with Annette Villa, aka Nettersplays from YouTube and the Dice Tower, and we both happen to be HUGE fans of Game of Thrones. We are here to chat The Long Night, the big episode of Game of Thrones that aired last Sunday. Annette loved it, Jason had issues with it, so come check out our debate and deliberations. Regular episode of ENGN will drop on Friday, as normal!

Jason climbs back into the solo chair this week to share another very different episode. He chats into two games that are thematic within the recently finished Easter season: the cooperative Kings of Israel (5:50), as well as the worker placement game also set in ancient Israel, Wisdom of Solomon (15:30). For the second half of the episode (24:04), Jason talks about... himself. A lot of folks out there have issues with their mental health. Jason goes into his personal issues with depression, talking about his own experience with it but also explaining some things for folks who might not know what it's all about - how it feels, how it's different from sadness, and what are some ways that we can overcome it. Hint: gaming is heavily involved! It can be a heavy conversation at times, so please be warned. If you would like to keep things light and about the games, then please enjoy the first half of the show.

We had a big episode last week! Thanks so much to Marc Davis and Paul Grogan for hopping on. We’re slowing it down this week and just dropping a quick one into the feed. Please go ahead and catch up on old ENGN episodes and your other podcasts. We’ll be back next week with another full episode. Before we go, though, please check out some written work Jason has been up to lately. Top Eleven ENGN episodes blog (for the masses of people who have been clamoring for Jason to rank his own episodes) - https://boardgamersanonymous.com/best-every-night-game-night-top-eleven-episodes/ Jason’s Big GeekList of Played Cooperative Games (over 150 games played and ranked) - https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/254711/jasons-big-geeklist-played-cooperative-games

Jason is very excited to host Every Night is Game Night's first Podcaster Roundtable on a specific topic. It started as a Twitter conversation, and it has now blossomed into its own podcast. We welcome Paul Grogan from the Gaming Rules YouTube channel as well as Marc Davis from the Thoughtful Gamer blog to talk about theme in games and thematic gaming from all angles. We cover: • Basic definitions of theme • A game's theme vs. a game's setting • Theme as distinct from narrative, story, or plot in a game • Dice rolling in many thematic games • Whether a dyed in the wool Euro game can ever deliver a truly thematic experience Please follow these fine gentlemen at their respective channels. And if you are so inclined and have the means, please check out their Patreon campaigns! Gaming Rules - https://www.patreon.com/GamingRules The Thoughtful Gamer - https://www.patreon.com/thethoughtfulgamer

We're talking deckbuilders this week, starting with the family weight game that teaches basic atom theory in as fun a way as I could think of, Subatomic (6:21). Also on the lighter side but for an older audience, we have the highly tactical and very cute Dale of Merchants (11:47). Our last two deckbuilders for the episode are both cooperative behemoths. First, we have Shadowrift (19:51), an oldie but goodie originally released in 2012 where you defend a town against marauding baddies (spoiler alert: I think it holds up very well!). Finally, we get into Aeon's End: Legacy (30:20). We know how good Aeon's End is, but is the Legacy part of it any good? For the discussion topic, we get into the good and the bad of deckbuilders. A big shout out to everyone who contributed to threads on BGG and Facebook. Between those two discussions, we cover a lot of what people are drawn to with deckbuilders, and also what might create some difficulties.

Whenever we discuss a difficult topic on an episode of ENGN, we like to come right back with something positive and fun. This week, we look at some games in nature (stretching the definition juuust a bit with Anthony's game), then talk about some ways that games make our lives better that you might not have thought about. First, we get into Herbaceous Sprouts (3:33), a next level gateway game building upon the very simple, entry level card game Herbaceous. This one has you rolling custom dice with a good amount of mitigation and strategy. After that, we tackle the looming sales behemoth of early 2019, Wingspan (10:35). We review the game on two levels - game mechanisms and also how important it is in the hobby. Finally, Anthony shares about a complex card-based engine building game that Jason is dying to play, Underwater Cities (24:40). We then get into some discussion about ways that games make us happier and more well adjusted people overall. When people talk about the positive impact of gaming, they usuall

To kick off today's episode, we chat about two reiterations of popular games. First, Anthony breaks down Duelosaur Island (7:46), the streamlined two player version of Dinosaur Island that promises nearly as much game in almost half of the table space. Then Jason presents Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth (19:04), a post-apocalypse/ comic book retheme of the popular Lost Expedition from two years ago. Jason and Anthony then engage a difficult topic - social media in board gaming. We've heard a lot about how the internet and social media have been great for growing the hobby and connecting folks all over the world. We definitely acknowledge that. However, if you follow the news at all, you'll know there's an underside to these social media platforms, particularly their behaviors as companies and how their products impact our lives and our happiness. We break some of that down and offer thoughts on how we navigate these issues. As always, we are open to any feedback about this (or any other) episode! The Trauma Flo

Liz from Beyond Solitaire had a chance to sit down and interview AJ Porfirio about the newest season of Graphic Novel Adventures. This short interview serves as a nice companion to our regular episode this week.

We're double dipping this week - preview and regular episode content! We welcome back Liz from Beyond Solitaire and Wendy from the Singlehandedly blog to help Jason preview newest series of Graphic Novel Adventures. Season Two is currently live on Kickstarter! Along with a preview, the gang also gives opinions and analysis of the existing Season One of the Graphic Novel Adventures. If you are curious at all about the series, we have you covered. Kickstarter Link - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vanrydergames/graphic-novel-adventures-season-2?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=graphic%20novel%20adventures Beyond Solitaire - http://www.beyondsolitaire.net/blog/kickstarter-preview-mystery-graphic-novel-adventures Singlehandedly - https://singlehandedlydotblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/11/become-the-worlds-most-famous-superhero/ 

We move on with our thirteen easy steps to teach a board game. Please check out the show notes for the Episode 126 to check out the first five steps to teach a board game. Most of those were about prep and proper introduction. Now we're starting to get into it. Steps Five, Six, and Seven all have to do with laying a proper foundation for players so that everything else about the game makes sense. They are: 5) "In this game, you are a _____ trying to do ____" (covered last episode) 6) Demonstrate general game flow 7) Describe the basic victory conditions. Once players have that essential context, then we get get into the nitty gritty of teaching game mechanisms. That will vary wildly from game to game, but Anthony and Jason both agree in splitting up game elements into the following four areas: 8) Describe Basic Mechanisms and Player Actions 9) Describe Obstacles, Combat, and other Interactions 10) Describe the Endgame in Detail 11) Wrap up with Player Powers, Exceptions, etc. After that, hopefully the teacher

Anthony and Jason are always showing off new games for folks and playing as much of the hottest stuff as possible. Practice makes perfect, as they say, so this episode is about sharing all the tips for good teaching that have been picked up along the way. We all know what bad teaching looks like, so let's help folks... uh, stop doing that! Jason has organized his teaching method into thirteen easy steps that involve everything from learning the game initially, to gathering a table of people to play, all the way through the end. In this episode, after we share some teaching horror stories, we talk about the five steps of teaching games. The first four are preparatory steps: 1) Personal prep and/ or managing table expectation 2) Laying the game out and letting it do some of the teaching work 3) Giving an elevator pitch 4) Giving folks a heads up about the game - weight, length, theme, and interaction style After that, we get into the proper intro to teaching, which starts with: 5) "In this game, you are a ____

Last week, you heard about the best from 2018 in a wide variety of categories. For this episode, we get down to brass tacks and present the absolute best games of 2018. Once again, we thank all of the presenters who helped us out with this episode. Please go follow them on social media and check out their channels! Best Short Game (2:10), presented by Travis Hill of Low Player Count - @travisdhill Best Family/ Gateway Game (9:50), presented by Jason and Anthony Best Adventure Game (13:15), presented by Tristan Hall from the Board Chitless Podcast - @ninjadorg Best Advanced Strategy Game (21:48), presented by Michelle Ridge from the Tabletop Crier blog - @feaien Best Strategy Game (31:55), presented by Liz Davidson from Beyond Solitaire and Jeremy Howard from Jambalaya Plays Games - @beyondsolitaire, @jambapg. Once again, we also thank those ruddy tossers from the Sporadically Board podcast, Mike and Dan - @SporadicBoard.

Welcome to the Second Annual ENGN Solo Awards! If you do a thing twice, does it become an annual tradition? Regardless, we are back to bring you the absolute best of 2018, as decided by Anthony, Jason, and ENGN fans across Facebook and BGG. We are happy to be joined once again by contributors from all over the board gaming universe - some familiar, some brand new. And this year, we also get to hear from the winners as well. Some folks went above and beyond with their clips, so please give a listen and check out their pages! The categories we present in this episode are the following: Best Digital Board Game (5:15), presented by Mandi and Suzanne from the Dice Tower - @boardgamerpinup and @425suzanne Best Narrative Game (15:05), presented by Peter and Mike from Coop Cast - @mvpboardgames Best New Edition of a Game (23:58) - presented by Raz from the Le Comboteur Fo blog - BGG user Razoupaf Best Expansion - presented by Luke Hector (30:58), the Broken Meeple - @TheBrokenMeeple Special thanks to Mike and Dan a

Liz from Beyond Solitaire and Jeremy from Jambalaya Plays Games are back for more recently delivered Kickstarter fun!  Liz and Jeremy start us off with a highly portable and quirky cult classic which is finally seeing the published light of day (5:38). Then Jason and Liz share about Direwild (12:35), the latest game to take a stab at marrying deckbuilding and dungeon crawling. Our discussion gets into some larger points about deckbuilders - what we enjoy, what we think makes them good, etc.  Liz and Jeremy jump back in to share about Donning the Purple (31:21) a 'king of the hill' style game that might offer some more aggressive play than you might be used to. Finally, a game which is the complete opposite of aggressive - Cat Rescue (40:11) a cooperative, small card game about training cats for adoption. Yes, we went from murdering one another for power and political gain to training cats. Yet another reason to love Kickstarter - you can find games about... anything, really! 

We do this once a season, for the reason of new kickstarter deliveries hitting our tables. Liz from Beyond Solitaire and Jeremy from Jambalaya Plays Games hop back on the show to do what we do whether the mics are on or not... talk about games!  First up, we have King's Guild (5:20), a game that Jeremy promises might kill that unkillable game for you - Splendor! It already has a one-up on Splendor in that is has a built-in solo mode, and Jeremy breaks down what else this one has to offer. After that, we get into Crypt (9:50), a small filler game with some dice and a cute theme that might get some chuckles as your local bar night.  After that, we get a bit heavier and share about Dawn of Peacemakers (16:17), a VERY unique game where you play a diplomat running around in the field of battle, trying to bring two warring armies to a state where they don't want to kill each other any more. There's tactical movement, clever card play, and an ongoing, replayable campaign in this game, everything that Jason loves t

Jason chats with Chris Cieslik and Julia Urquhart from Asmadi Games about one of his most anticipated games for 2019 - 1001 Odysseys! We've talked about it before during our PAX Unplugged recap episodes. For this Preview Series, we really blow it out and get under the hood with this cooperative story telling game. If you liked Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this is the game for you! We get into the very simple mechanisms here, how they directly answer to some of the other storytelling and Choose Your Own Adventure games that came before. However, when you try to solve design problems, you might create new ones. Jason gets into some critical issues that might arise from such a simple, open-ended system, such as retaining the ability of players to make meaningful choices. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/asmadigames/513161662

Jason gets to revel in some glory this week as we catch up on a whole bunch of Pandemic. We covered some of the earlier versions way back in episodes 14 and 15 of the show. Please hop over to our website (www.everynightisgamenight.com) or our GeekList (https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/228542/every-night-game-n...) to check those out.  For this latest round, we start with the new hotness - Pandemic: Fall of Rome (4:09). Both of us have played it, so we're able to give a nice chunky review of it. After that, Jason runs through some earlier iterations of Pandemic that not many folks are talking about, but that Jason thinks are good regardless - Pandemic: Rising Tide (15:20) and Pandemic Legacy: Season Two (21:14).  Finally, we get into out current thoughts on Legacy games. How are we doing with them? Are we able to get through them all, or even some of them? Are we still excited, or experiencing a bit of backlash? Once again, thanks to everyone in the Every Night is Game Night Facebook group who helped contr

Anthony and Jason finally settle down for a chat about games, just the two of them. Nice to get back to our roots . We talk about two new games that have hit our table. First up is Architects of the West Kingdom (4:43), a very hot worker placement game that made a lot of people's Top Ten Games of the Year list. We get into what separates it from the pack, at least for some folks, as well as the very neat little solo bot included. Next up, we chat about Cerebria: The Inside World (17:26), a much more complicated game that one of us really loves, while the other...  Finally, we chat about tastemakers in games. You know who the big ones are - Tom Vasel, Radho, Undead Viking, etc. What kind of impact do they have on us and on gamers? What's the best way to use them in your gaming life? What do you do when they point you in the wrong direction, whether towards buying a piece of garbage or avoiding what might be your next favorite game? Thank you to our Every Night is Game Night Facebook community for your contri

Animal Kingdoms, currently on Kickstarter, is the very first game from the new collaborative company, Galactic Raptor Games. The co-founders of Galactic Raptor, Carla Kopp and Dan Letzring, drop by to chat about the accessible nature of its card play, as well as the solo mode. Carla and Dan also chat about why they came together to form Galactic Raptor. Stay tuned for the aftershow in this one! We get into some predictions for 2019, including a desire to see more diverse, off-the-beaten path games and what both Carla and Dan are doing to make that happen. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/galacticraptorgames/animal-kingdoms-an-award-winning-game-of-area-cont?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=animal%20kingdoms