It’s been quite a week! We define a handful of board game terms (what’s a meeple?) and talk about lots of games we’ve been playing. Andrew describes his recent cooking experiment “FOR SCIENCE” and we share a big announcement!

We talked about some common video game terms back in episode 46. This week, we’ll define a few common tabletop game terms.

What we’ve been playing:

Ingenious (by Fantasy Flight Games)

Bärenpark (see our review. We love this game!)

Think ‘N Sync

Flip City – it’s a deck-builder that’s also a city-building game. You can also level up cards (the “flip” of Flip City)

More Go Away Monster – it’s a super fast play and the 3 year old is always happy to play it.

kids have resurrected Disney Princess Uno. We don’t mind, as long as they’re not always asking us to play (it’s got some strange extra rules).

Asher showed his grandmother how to play My First Stone Age.

Grandmother showed him Celestia – a press-your-luck game with a travel-the-board aspect.

Andrew is loving Through the Ages on iOS

We co-sponsored another B&N Game night. We got to play some brand-new games!

Magic Maze – this was a Spiel des Jahres finalist, recently localized to the US by Dude Games. Co-operative movement game with a cute theme – and you’re not allowed to directly communicate with your fellow players!

NMBR 9, from Fantasy Flight and Z-Man Games.

Downforce, from Restoration Games (brainchild of Rob Daviau, also known for Stop Thief). Remake of Top Race, AKA Formula 500.

Board Game Terms Lightning Round:

Meeple – a pawn representing your player, usually person-shaped.

Tap a card – Turn a card (or board, or token) sideways to indicate that it has been used.

D4, D6, D10, D20, etc.

FLGS – support it if you have one!

Announcement

We have a panel at PAX Unplugged!!!! Tentatively scheduled for Sunday at 11:30am.

FOR SCIENCE!

Andrew’s disappointing experiment in “Spicy Sweet Chili” Dorito fried chicken. Next time, he’ll try baked chicken.

More Tabletop Game Terms:

4X game – “eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate”. Usually long, usually space-themed. (dozens of 4X games on Board Game Geek)

Deck builder – play cards to accumulate currency to buy better cards that will allow you to do more things. Can feel slow, can feel isolated (only building up your own stash without much interaction with other players). Classic examples: Ascension, Dominion. Non-card example: Quarriors.

Press Your Luck – Almost always a dice game. Take chances to get a better reward, but risk losing everything. Examples: Can’t Stop, Zombie Dice.