In episode 41, we discuss Jungo, Trio, and Combo – all three published by Happy Camper. First, we chat about what is bringing us joy: Dungeons & Kittens, Ostia, Sweet Lands, and Skull King. On this episode, Becky, Reed, and Gillean prepared a special joy segment called: Ambush Angela!

Jungo, Trio, and Combo are all brightly colored card games that play in 15-20 minutes or less. We love that Happy Camper is taking harder to find games and reimplementing them to reach a greater audience!

Jungo (2-5 players) is a reimplementation of Hachi Train with a jungle theme. In this game, players are racing to be the first to empty their hand of cards. To shed cards, players must be able to overplay the card or set of cards last played. This is done by playing a higher value or a larger set of cards (for example, three 1s beat two 2s.) The fun part is balancing shedding cards to win and adding cards to your hand to build a better hand. Cards can never be rearranged, but when a card is added by either drawing a card instead of playing or by beating the cards on the table, it can be placed anywhere in the hand. 

Trio (3-6 players) is a reimplementation of Nana (one of our top collective favorites!!!) In Trio, players are trying to be the first to collect three sets of matching cards (three 1s, three 9s, three 10s, etc…) or all three 7s to win the game. Trio introduces a team playing variant and makes the winning condition of collecting two sets that add or subtract to 7 (4s and 11s, 5s and 2s, etc.)

Combo (2-6 players) is a reimplementation of Surfosaurus MAX. In Combo, players work together to create different smoothie combos–the easiest being a collection of any combination of suits and numbers to the trickiest being a run in a single suit. Gameplay is simple: play a card and draw a card until all players have played two or three cards (depending upon the number of players.) Players score if their card contributes to the winning combo; there are some fun nuances here! The game ends after everyone has been the starting player an equal number of times (depending on player count), and the player with the most points wins!

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies 

In episode 40, we review Molly House designed by Jo Kelly and Cole Wehrle and published by Wehrlegig Games. First, we chat about what is bringing us joy: Twinkle Starship, Nokosu Dice, Haggis - Grok Edition, and Apiary.

Molly House is a 2-5 player game all about creating joy in the queer community in early 18th century London; build your reputation and joy by cruising the streets (eyes), throwing festivities, and foiling threats. Though… all will be for naught if the Community’s joy isn’t raised alongside the players’ joy or if the Molly houses are raided and the community is betrayed by informers. This game is rich in queer history and strategically leaves space for interpretation and wondering. Will you stay loyal to the community and prioritize their joy or will your stack of indictments and their threats of death persuade you to collaborate with the Society for the Reformation of Manners?

In this episode, we also discuss the Zenobia Award–a competition and mentoring program–which connected Jo Kelly with Cole Wehrle to create this historical game. We share quotes from and highly recommend “Origin Stories: Molly House – An Interview With Co-Designer Jo Kelly” by Alex of Talking Shelf Space.

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

In episode 39, we review Weather Machine by Vital Lacerda and published by Eagle-Gryphon Games! First, we chat about what is bringing us joy: Galactic Cruise, Kinfire Council, Lightning Train, and Brightcast.

Weather Machine is a crunchy, crunchy game for 2-4 players (a Solo mode is included with the Upgrade Pack). The players are scientists working with Professor Lativ to refine his weather machine in order to take control of the planet’s weather. Unfortunately, the initial design of Professor Lativ’s weather machine caused a “butterfly effect” when used, which improved weather locally but worsened it elsewhere on the planet. The government has stepped in to help you and Professor Lativ improve the weather machine by providing subsidies and assisting with extreme weather events caused by running the prototype. Players maneuver between Supply, the Government’s Weather Machine, Lativ’s Lab, and R&D. Each space requires area specific resources to take the corresponding action(s). Efficiently manage your vouchers, robots, and machine parts and publish your findings regarding the weather machine, and you may just become known as the savior of the world.

We’re three Lacerda’s in now, and all three games land a bit differently for each of us. We do agree Weather Machine’s theme is the most abstract compared to Lisboa and Kanban EV, and that does make it a bit harder to grasp. We’re looking forward to our next play!

Get to know us @ ⁠https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies⁠

Timestamps:

00:33 - Galactic Cruise

06:00 - Kinfire Council

9:34 - Lightning Train 

15:13 - Brightcast

18:36 - Weather Machine Introduction and How to Play

22:45 - Production, Components, and Artwork

36:25 - Gameplay

55:12 - Final Thoughts

1:04:15 - Who is this game for?

In episode 38, we create starting collections with various budgets: $100, $250, $350, and $500! Angela’s brother’s experience of diving into a board game collection from scratch inspired this topic. We all approached our lists a bit differently: beginner friendly games, wide representation of mechanics, foundational games, and the games that bring our friends joy and inspire them to purchase for themselves.

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

Board games and happiness are free at the link in bio

00:53 Capital Lux 2 Generations

03:36 Yokai Septet

08:35 Acquire

11:35 Rumble Nation 

14:30 Molly House

17:30 Starter Collection Introduction

19:44 Angela’s $100 Starter Collection

24:57 Reed’s $250 Starter Collection

33:31 Gillean’s $350 Starter Collection

40:19 Becky’s $500 Starter Collection

In episode 37, we review Patchwork and A Feast for Odin in Polyominoes Part 1! First, we chat about what is bringing us joy: Sea Salt & Paper: Extra Pepper, Ptolemy, the Board Game Community speaking out, and Brightcast.

Patchwork and A Feast for Odin are both Uwe Rosenberg games, and they differ quite a bit in their complexity (1.60/5 and 3.86/5, respectively, on BGG.) Patchwork is a 2-player game in which players are attempting to complete a quilt - or get as much done as they can.  A Feast for Odin plays 1-4 players, and it is a saga in which players seek to make their viking clan prosper.

Why are we discussing these two games together and including such a beefy game in Polyominoes Part 1? Interestingly, Patchwork came from the design process of A Feast for Odin as Uwe explored income from covering up spaces and printing the cost on the tiles (check out “An Interview with Uwe Rosenberg” by Lest My Opinions go Unheard to learn more!) They’re also the only two Uwe polyominoes all four of us have played together.

We all love a polyomino game, and we’re very excited to finally be kicking off this sporadic series with two solid games.Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

00:53 - Ptolemy

03:11 - Sea Salt & Paper: Extra Pepper (with a tangent on Alpine Spice [not a game])

08:32 - Board Game Community Speaking Out

15:30 - Brightcast

18:01 - Patchwork

31:60 - A Feast for Odin

In Episode 36, we discuss games published in 2023! We don’t feel like we’ve played enough 2023 games to create a collective top 10 list, however, we do talk about our collective top 3 games, games we still want to play, games that didn’t live up to the hype, and games we played but didn’t love. 

This week, we turned last pod’s bonus episode into a full episode as the original recording ran longer than a game of Great Western Trail New Zealand, and, with Reed being our #1 listener, we had to sheer our time. We hope this helps, Reed! 

Extra bonus–Gillean keeps us (mostly) on the rails as our host.

Extra extra bonus–Angela shames Malcolm for being bootylicious so we’re boosting his confidence with this week’s episode announcement on instagram.

Find Malcolm on our instagram @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

In Episode 35, we’re finally tackling games published in 2024! We start with a cumulative top 10 (the points are made up, but we’re trusting Angela’s calculations) and roll into an analysis of our individual lists, games that surprised us, and games that didn’t live up to the hype.  Our individual top 10 lists varied quite a bit, but we all saw a similar theme emerge. 

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies 

00:38 How did we create this list and how many 2024 games have we played?

1:24: Notable 2024 games we did not play and the games we still want to play

7:25 Explanation of how we get to our Collective Top 10

08:16 Game #10

10:57 Game #9 and #8 - they tied!

17:10 Game #7

21:28 Game #6 and #5 - Another tie!

28:20 Game #4

31:57 Game #3

34:36 Game #2

40:46 Game #1

43:35 Fun Facts about our lists

49:44 Things that surprised us about our collective and individual lists

54:08 Games that did not live up to the hype (Was there a game published in 2024 that did not live up to the hype for you?

In episode 34, we review Galactic Cruise by Kinson Key Games! First, we chat about the games that are bringing us joy: Rumble Nation, Gin Rummy, Ahoy!, and Dominion. 

Galactic Cruise is a game for 1-4 players with an expected 90-150 minute playing time. Designing and manufacturing a cruise ship, advertising and catering to guests, and managing the company and our own reputations, we discuss bumping workers, refusing to help our friends, and the value of completing company goals in this worker placement game. 

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

Timestamps:

00:44 Rumble Nation

02:40 Gin Rummy

04:06 Ahoy

6:08 Dominion

10:20 Description and rules of Galactic Cruise

12:32 Components, box, art/design, the rulebook, etc

21:07 Game play

50:30 Who is this game for?

56:34 Final thoughts

In Episode 33, we review Endeavor: Deep Sea by Burnt Island Games and Grand Gamers Guild! To start off the episode, we talk about what’s bringing us joy: Crokinole, Trick & Snipers, the Tokyo Game Market, and Cyclades: Legendary Edition.

In Endeavor: Deep Sea, players head individual research institutes with the goal of having the most beneficial effect on the world’s oceans. Over the course of six rounds, players will assemble a crew of specialists to explore the ocean, research dive sites, publish scientific Journals, and conduct conservation efforts. Many of these actions will advance their institute’s attributes (Reputation, Inspiration, Coordination, and Ingenuity) and directly influence their ability to recruit team members, how much effort their team can exert, how efficiently their team functions, and the technological efficiency of their scientific vessels. All of this effort is exerted and attributes advanced in the pursuit of meeting scenario-specific Goals and creating the most positive Impact on the ocean. Be the most efficient at developing your institute and adapting to the scenario, and you’ll succeed in this endeavor–just as Endeavor: Deep Sea has in the homies’ hearts. 

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

In Episode 32, we discuss our collective Shelf of Shame! To start off the episode, we chat about the games that are bringing us joy: Love Letter: Batman, Spire’s End: Hildegard, Endeavor: Deep Sea, and lower Tariffs in the U.S. which means… Kickstarter notifications.

With so many unplayed games on our shelves, we decided to submit our individual top 5 most-excited-to-play games to Angela to secretly rank them. Angela reveals our collective top 4 games, and we discuss the state of our shelves and how we got to this point.

Excitement, regret, shame, hope, and joy… all of these emotions describe how we feel about our shelves of shame. We’re past calling them shelves of opportunity as our unplayed game count keeps ticking up this year; we knew we needed to talk about it, and one of us may have been feeling like they needed to confess. 👀 

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies