Every Night Is Game Night

We are happy to welcome Jenn Bartlett, the Board Game Librarian, to the show! She is a contributor to Board Game Breakfast on the Dice Tower, where she shares her passion for games inspired by books in her weekly segment, From the Page to the Table. We chat about three such games in this episode. First, Anthony talks about his recent plays of Dinosaur Island (5:18), which was based on a movie that was based on a book! That counts, right? Second, Jenn shares about a light war game from Academy Games, 878 Vikings (17:41). Finally, Jason shared about a family weight game with a mischievous spirit, The Grimm Forest (27:18). We end with a discussion of how libraries could fill vital roles in our gaming lives. So, if you are looking for an alternative place to gather, play games, try games, and all of that good stuff, Jenn talks all about how your library could be a good resource (or, if it isn't how you could advocate and make your library a good resource). **Programming note - We did the best we could with a subo

April 28th, 2018 was International Table Top Day, the once per year event where we celebrate board games, RPGs, and all things that bring people together around the table. Jason spent the day at the Portal Gaming Store in Manchester, CT, where they held a 24-hour event for one of the best board gaming meetup communities in the country. Many games were played, three of which we fully review in this pod: - -The Shipwreck Arcana (11:30) -Herbaceous (25:35) -Sunset Over Water (39:30) Also, we hear audio clips from folks at the store throughout the day, including some fellow content creators from the Dice Tower Network. Jason had a great Table Top Day experience; we hope you did, as well!

This week, we chat about Gem Rush, a Victory Points Game from 2012 which is the latest to get the "Premiere Line" treatment. That means out with the pizza box and the sooty tokens, and in with a new, beautiful edition! We welcome Jeremy Lennert on to the show to talk about the new edition, what has changed from the first edition (and whether it's worth it for fans of the old edition to take a look), as well as the app that 's being developed along side of it. Gem Rush Second Edition: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/567823005/gem-rush-second-edition?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=gem%20rush

As we announced last week, we are taking a break from the regular episodes this week after the MEGA two parter that we dropped last week. If you have not done so, please check out the Fantasy Adventure Designer Roundtable we did with a bunch of really cool folks. We will be back next week with a regular episode. For now, though, we have another kickstarter preview which represents something of a left turn from the products we usually feature. We are happy to bring to you an interview about a brand spanking new RPG system called Overlight, currently running on Kickstarter. This represents the first foray into RPGs for Renegade Game Studios, which will serve both as a standalone product as well as a backdrop for a number of Renegade game products moving forward. Sara Erickson, Renegade's Director of Sales and Marketing, drops by the show to talk about the development of the system and what it offers that's different from other similar products. And, of course, since Jason is a massive RPG geek, he presses Sara

We are calling an audible! We originally intended to release Part Two of our fantasy adventure discussion one week after Part One. However, why wait? We've decided to just give you double the content for the week, instead. Because of the double content week, we are going to give you Preview Series episode next week, then get back to our regular series of episodes one week after that. In Part Two of our conversation with Isaac, Frank, and Tristan, we talk about mechanisms that did and didn't work in their games, as well as designers they get excited about and where they see the industry going in the future. The City of Kings is now in Kickstarter! - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tcokgame/the-city-of-kings-ancient-allies-and-vadoran-garde?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=the%20city%20of%20kings And also check out Tristan Hall's latest project, Lifeform - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tristanhall/lifeform-the-sci-fi-horror-board-game-for-1-4-play?ref=nav_search&result=project&term

Here at ENGN, we always have fun when we bring a special guest on to share about their projects and their passion. For this episode, we have tripled down and brought together three designers whose passion led them to producing three massive, exciting fantasy games. We are happy to have the designers of Gloomhaven, The City of Kings, and Gloom of Kilforth, respectively, talk about their love of fantasy games and some interesting aspects to designing and producing them. Not only that, we took the majority of the questions from fans who were good enough to respond on Facebook and BGG. Thanks to all who helped out! This episode will be Part One of Two. In this episode, we get to know their backgrounds as fantasy gamers as well as the importance of rich, original theme. The City of Kings is now in Kickstarter! - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tcokgame/the-city-of-kings-ancient-allies-and-vadoran-garde?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=the%20city%20of%20kings And also check out Tristan Hall's latest

Many solo and cooperative gamers love Legendary Encounters: Alien. However, for as good as that game is, it doesn't replicate the emotions of the original movie - the suspense, the dread, or the desperation to survive. Lifeform, currently on Kickstarter, aims to bring you just that. It is a one vs. many game where an unstoppable alien being has boarded your mining ship, and you have to scramble out of the ship as best you can. We get into some design questions about the one vs. many aspects of the game, as well as the solo mode that you can get separately with the Kickstarter. KS page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tristanhall/lifeform-the-sci-fi-horror-board-game-for-1-4-play

We welcome Kevin Erskine back to the show to continue... not talking about the current hotness! Last week, we went back and looked at a classic in the genre. This week, we look at more older games that we like, but which may have slipped under your radar. First, Jason takes a look at a stealth based cooperative game set in World War II called V-Commandos (3:27). Anthony, of course, sees Jason's thematic cooperative game and counters with an older Euro - Troyes (7:52). Kevin jumps into the fun with a cooperative tower defense game, King's Armory (14:02), then Jason rounds it all out with a review of a post-apocalyptic, resource management game called Salvation Road (22:10). Finally, we talk ourselves off the ledge with regards to the Fear of Missing Out (28:58) - that is, how do we manage not getting games we really want, managing our budget, why FOMO might not be as easy to resist as we think, and other issues.

Unlike most preview series episodes where we interview the designer or publisher, we were not able to get AJ Porfirio of Van Ryder Games on the show due to his being incredible busy. However, two good friends of the show stepped up to have a great chat about this product - Official ENGN Kickstarter correspondent Liz Davidson, as well as Wendy Barlow from the Singlehandedly blog. Did you love choose-your-own-adventure novels as a kid, or adventure video games like Broken Sword or Monkey Island? The Graphic Novel Adventure series, currently live in Kickstarter, takes those experiences and presents them in a whole new way! Wendy, Liz and I were fortunate to be provided preview copies Captive, the first of five novels available for backing. We talk about the books as a whole, compare them to similar games and products, and also our spoiler-free impressions of Captive. Stay tuned after the outro music if you want to hear us go full bore on spoilers, as well! Graphic Novel Adventures on Kickstarter: https://www.ki

Here's an episode that we've wanted to do for quite a long time. Even as new, rich, and complex adventure games come out seemingly every month, Mage Knight fends off all pretenders to the throne and maintains itself as the gold standard of adventure solo gaming. With this in mind, we invited noted Mage Knight devotee Kevin Erskine back to the show (he of the Top 100 Solo Games People Choice) to talk about Mage Knight, specifically why we like it so much (4:20), as well as what expansions to get and whether to hold out for the upcoming Ultimate Edition (16:40). Finally, for those who are familiar with the game and want a leg up on a successful conquest, we get into some tips and strategies in our second ever Improve Your Play segment (20:04). In addition to all of that Mage Knight goodness, we are debuting a new ENGN segment that we hope people will like enough to where we could do it regularly. Liz Davidson from the Beyond Solitaire blog, who you have heard a number of times at this point, has agreed to be ou

Maximum Apocalypse is a survival and exploration game that has already funded and shipped, and is currently being enjoyed by gamers in the wider community. It is an exploration and survival game where you and your friends travel on a modular map, looking for supplies and just trying to last long enough so that various monsters don't eat you. The exploration part has elements of Forbidden Island/ Desert. As a player, you will handle a deck in a similar way that you would in games like Sentinels of the Multiverse or Andriod: Netrunner. Mike Gnade visits our show answer critical questions about how the original project was received, some good and bad feedback, and how Gothic Horrors moves the ball forward. On Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mikegnade/maximum-apocalypse-gothic-horrors-expansion?ref=profile_created

We have a very, very unique episode for you this week. First, we were happy to be joined by Liz Davidson from the Beyond Solitaire blog, who hopped into the cohost chair and lent her expertise to the subject matter at hand. Also, the airdate of this episode falls on Good Friday for Christians. In that spirit, we took a look at a few games with Christian themes - AD 30 from Victory Point Games (2:53) and Commissioned from Chara Games (11:10). We were also happy to hear about another Chara Games release with a Christian theme, Unauthorized (28:00). Finally, we have a discussion about Christian board games in general (30:00) - why they have a reputation of not being able to sell, how to navigate touchy historical and theological themes, and other topics. This is another in our sub-series of episodes on games whose themes raise interesting, possibly controversial cultural issues. As always with these episodes, we give you game-related content in the first half, then get into the meat of the conversation in the se

Solo gamers over the last few years have gotten their short, quick, dungeon crawling fix from One Deck Dungeon. Today, we have a project also intended for solo gamers who love hanging out in dungeons, but with a very, very different feel. In Unbroken, instead of heroically diving into the dungeon, defeating bosses and getting phat lootz, Unbroken casts you as a hero who's just suffered a total party wipe and tries to get out! It takes 20-30 minutes to play, and gives you a healthy dose of resource management, clever, stealthy play, and cool theme. The Kickstarter is live as this podcast drops! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1227872561/282020983?ref=443900&token=bda50c50

We have a split show for you today. First, in rapid fire fashion, we run through some of the newest apps hitting our screens from late 2017 and early 2018 - Smash Up, 7 Wonders, The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game, and Hostage Negotiator. Anthony then gives his thoughts on the app version of a video game whose franchise has inspired many, many, many board games - Sid Meier's Civilization VI. For the second half of the episode, Jason opens his psychology textbooks to give a fresh take on a topic relevant to board gaming. Why are Top Ten lists so popular? Why do they get so many more views, clicks, or downloads than other forms of board game media? We give you some context and hopefully get you thinking a little bit. As always, please get in touch with us if you like what you hear, or if you want to discuss further!

For this episode, we attempt to settle a blood feud! On a recent episode of the 1 Player Podcast, Julius Besser declared blood feud on ENGN in response to Jason besmirching the good name of Mice and Mystics. So of course, we invited Julius on the show so that we could talk about our different perspectives. We get into Mice and Mystics (1:31) and do something of a rarity on the internet - have a civil and intelligent discussion in which we both disagree! Afterwards, we get into how we think Stuffed Fables moves the ball forward and improves upon the concepts introduced in M&M (19:15). Please check out Julius and Albert (both proud guest alums on our show now!) over on the 1 Player Podcast: http://1playerpodcast.com/

Have you checked out Kickstarter lately? Holy moly, there are so many good projects running right now! We are going to go on a mini-run of Preview Series episodes as a result. This week, we have the wife and husband team behind Chara Games here to talk about their latest project, Soul of the Empire, live on Kickstarter on the same day as the air date of this podcast. Soul of the Empire deviates from our usual solo and cooperative games menu - this is an area control, asymmetric, combat heavy game in the vein of Kemet or Cry Havoc. You guys know how much I love ANY game with juicy, tangible theme, though, so here you go! After we get to know Pat and Kat, we jump into talking about Soul of the Empire (7:30), including how it weaves historical flavor into the different factions, how it invites long term strategic thinking over a more tactical experience, and more. Also, if you wanted a copy of their first game, Commissioned, you could get it via the KS project, along with some bonuses that Pat tells us about in

Here at Every Night is Game Night, we try our best to cover a huge spectrum of games, ranging from the thematic, imaginative jaunts that Jason loves to the heavy strategy affairs enjoyed by Anthony. In this episode, we double down and give you two groups of games from either end of this spectrum - two economic games and two fantasy adventures. First up, Anthony tells us about a somewhat lesser known yet still magnificent game from Uwe Rosenburg, At the Gates of Loyang (2:15). You will learn, among other things, why the game is beloved in the solo community. Then Jason hits you with a Kickstarter project that is just arriving to backers now, a dungeon crawler powered by deckbuilding called Dungeon Alliance (9:06). Anthony returns to talk about Clans of Caledonia (23:05), noting similarities and differences between this game and its spiritual older brother, Terra Mystica. Finally, Jason takes us home by talking about Darkest Night, Second Edition (32:25). As always, we try our best to give you honest, well thou

A little while ago, Jason was lucky enough to appear as a guest on the Thoughtful Gamer podcast. A whole range of topics were covered with regard to depression - distinguishing depression from sadness, how depression can play out within the geek community, and options for treatment. We'd like to share with you an extended clip from that episode. If you are depressed, here are ten potential avenues for you to pursue in order to get yourself going again. Hint: many of them involve board games! We hope you enjoy this special feature. If you would like to hear the whole pod, please head over to the Thoughtful Gamer: http://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2018/02/21/podcast-episode-25-discussion-jason-perez-mental-health/

We are traveling back in time this week.. a whole 14 months! 2016 gifted us with some of the most amazing games we've ever seen, and we're here in the future to review some of their expansions. For any expansion, gamers want to know if it adds new, essential gameplay or just more stuff. We have answers for you! Anthony leads us off to talk about Scythe: The Wind Gambit (2:34) with comes with Airships and also different end game conditions. Next, Jason bumbles his way through his impressions of Star Wars Rebellion: Rise of the Empire (11:20), a review through which Star Wars lover Anthony could barely contain his rage. Finally, Anthony gathers himself to talk about Terraforming Mars: Venus Next (23:05). Finally, we debut a new segment which we call Improve Your Play, where we break down the basic strategy for a hot solo game and help you win consistently. Building on our reviews for this week, we give you our strategy tips for Terraforming Mars (30:58). If you were struggling to fill those three Terraforming t

We are back with another preview series episode, this time with perhaps the smallest game we have ever covered. Palm Island is a resource management game that fits in the palm of your hand! After we get to know Jon, his family, and the founding of Portal Dragon Games, we get into Palm Island itself (11:40). We talk about how the game travels well and doesn't require a table, then about squeezing as much resource management strategy and tangible decision making into as small a package as possible. In addition to this interview, please check out Anthony's written preview: http://boardgamersanonymous.com/palm-island-review/. As always, we hope that our interviews give you enough information about a game to help you decide how to spend your hard earned cash