00:00 - Using Lara Croft-esque flares for romantic photography.

03:30 - No matadors whatsoever.

05:04 - We had a fantastic time at the UK Games Expo this year, and the organisers did a brilliant job of making it feel as welcoming and safe as possible. Last year’s digital version - which we did a… unique?… video for was all well and dandy, but it’s wonderful to meet up in person and get hyped again for board games. Plus, we spill the tea on the attendees of The Festival of Quilts.

09:34 - Kris’s booty.

16:56 - We popped over to a booth run by Kingdom Gaming of Northampton at UKGE, as they were running Flesh and Blood, a TCG from Legend Story Studios that’s really starting to pick up a lot of plaudits, for one key reason: it’s real good. There’s a satisfying tension between playing cards and keeping them, a great back-and-forth between attack and defence, and a huge reduction in the amount of frustrating luck seen in similar games.

26:51 - Another great find at UKGE was Stop the Train! from Escape Plan Board Games. Fans of Werewolf will be right at home, but there’s more than enough here to set it apart from the classic social deduction games, with a train track providing a visual reminder of time running out, and individual conflicting goals casting suspicion left, right, and centre.

31:44 - Themeborne’s Escape the Dark Castle was at UKGE in a big way, so we took the opportunity to give it a go, and we’re super glad we did. It’s a mix of Choose Your Own Adventure and deck-based dungeon crawl, by way of the OSR; grim and perilous adventures, unique enemies and characters, and just the right combination of tactical nuance, ease of play, and some very flavourful writing.

37:51 - It’s always a pleasure to catch up with Bez at a show, someone who is perhaps one of the most prolific and consistent game designers with their ELL Deck (the new name for Wibbell++, which we’ve previously covered). We got to play a new game - possibly created at the show itself! - called Coupell, a “flip and write” that will put your vocabulary to the test.

42:14 - “You get a lot of game for your money” is a phrase we think is going to be synonymous with Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road, from Osprey Games. Pop on a spiced tea and take in the beautiful art, all while building an economic engine in an ancient city.

50:41 - The very deliberately named Masters of the Universe: Revelation TV series has an amazing cast, an incredible soundtrack, and a compelling storyline that successfully draws and builds upon 130 episodes of lore.

All that, and He-Man’s colleagues, with Dan (@ThisDanFrost), Kris (@DigitalStrider), Peter (@XeroXeroXero), and Sam (@MrSamTurner).

Links to where you can find us - StayingInPodcast.com

Note: sometimes we'll have been sent a review copy of the thing we're talking about on the podcast. It doesn't skew how we think about that thing, and we don't receive compensation for anything we discuss, but we thought you might like to know this is the case.