It’s our big 2025 wrap-up episode! Mat and Joel team up as cohosts for a special year-end rundown of our Top 5 Movies and Top 5 Games of 2025. From cinematic standouts to tabletop obsessions, we break down what stuck with us, what surprised us, and what completely took over our free time.

Of course, we couldn’t stop at five—so we’re also handing out honorable mentions and shining a spotlight on our favorite non-movie, non-game media of the year. And to make it even better, friends of the show drop in via short video messages to share their own favorites of 2025.

Mat is joined by game designer Danielle Reynolds for an episode that’s all about Vikings, dragons, and really funny names. Together they revisit How to Train Your Dragon—both the animated classic and its live-action counterpart—before turning their attention to Looot, a clever board game about collecting axes, gold and sheep while politely pillaging everything in sight. It’s a friendly clash of film and cardboard as the crew talks adaptation, design, and why training a dragon might actually be easier than collecting the perfect tiles.

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Mat is back in the host’s chair and Jason finally returns from a long, mysterious hiatus—just in time for an episode all about lies, logic, and confidently accusing the wrong person. This week we break down Awkward Guests, the deduction board game that turns polite conversation into weaponized information, and pair it with Netflix’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
Clues are exchanged, theories are formed, and confidence is misplaced—often. Whether at the table or on the screen, we explore why solving a mystery is never as easy as it looks… especially when Jason’s been gone this long.

Rian Johnson's "Q" interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyUsVMBT4cU

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Mat, Isaac and Joel get together for a Pax-U Recap and somehow discover a hidden talent for re-naming random things.

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Join Mat and Chris as they dive into Planet Unknown, breaking down what makes this polyomino game stand out. Then they head into deep space for a rewatch of Ridley Scott’s Alien — exploring why it still stands as one of the greatest sci-fi horror films ever made.
A mix of strategy, suspense, and maybe even a little screaming…

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This week, Mat is joined by guest host Ryan Campbell from the Trick Talkers podcast — a true trick-taking expert — as we dive into Stonemaier’s brand new trick-taking release, Origin Story. We break down how it plays, how it fits in the trick-taking landscape, and why this one might actually feel like a “superpower draft” in card form.
To pair with it, we revisit Chronicle — the found-footage superhero film where ordinary teens discover extraordinary powers… and then, predictably, use them in all the wrong ways.

Card powers, psychic chaos, and a surprising amount of thematic overlap — "Do I look like a guy with a plan?"

This week, Mat and Joel (aka The Diced Onion) dive deep into Citizens of the Spark, where players build cities powered by invention, teamwork, and probably some questionable safety standards. To pair with all that mad science energy, we’re watching The Island of Dr. Moreau — a movie so bonkers it makes you wonder who let the monkey have final cut?
We talk about the fine line between creativity and chaos, what makes a “good” citizen, and why Marlon Brando’s ice bucket hat might just be cinema’s greatest invention.

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In this episode, Mat, Jason, and Jim take on Vantage, the hot new release from Stonemaier Games, and dive into the prehistoric chaos of Adam Driver’s 65. But the real highlight? A special interview with Jamey Stegmaier himself—where he not only shares insights on design and publishing but also drops a surprise announcement about a brand-new Stonemaier game.

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Mat and Andrew are joined by guest host Tom from Tabletop Misfits to tackle a futuristic double feature. First, they review Skyrise, the city-building board game of lofty ambitions and dazzling skylines. Then, they dive into Elysium, Neill Blomkamp’s high-concept sci-fi about class divides, orbital utopias, and questionable accents. Can these visions of the future hold up under scrutiny—or do they come crashing down to earth?

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