Pick Up and Deliver

Brendan finishes going through his Shelf of Opportunity. Join us, won’t you?

• Previous SOO episodes
  • Pick Up & Deliver 632: Shelf of Opportunity Review (part 1)
  • Pick Up & Deliver 562: Shelf of Opportunity, Update 3 (400 Back)
  • Pick Up & Deliver 213: Shelf of Opportunity Update 2
  • Pick Up & Deliver 161: Shelf of Opportunity Update
• Shelf of Opportunity
• Notes on this episode
  • Rome & Roll by Nick Shaw and David Turczi
  • ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo by Scott Rogers
  • Last Night at the Mall

What games are on your shelf? Share your thoughts over on boardgamegeek.com in guild #3269.

Brendan talks about the games on his shelf of opportunity and why they’re there. Join us, won’t you?

• Previous SOO episodes
  • Pick Up & Deliver 562: Shelf of Opportunity, Update 3 (400 Back)
  • Pick Up & Deliver 213: Shelf of Opportunity Update 2
  • Pick Up & Deliver 161: Shelf of Opportunity Update
• Shelf of Opportunity

What games are on your shelf? Share your thoughts over on boardgamegeek.com in guild #3269.

Brendan shares a message from the deep about Ark Nova. Join us, won’t you?

• Ark Nova (2021)
• Pick Up & Deliver 614: Essential Expansions
• Previous episodes in which I mention Ark Nova
• Rajas of the Ganges (2017)
• Comparison 1: Terraforming Mars (2016)
  • Race for the Galaxy (2007)
  • 7 Wonders (2010)
• Comparison 2: Bärenpark (2017) or New York Zoo (2020)
  • Cascadia (2021)
  • Wild: Serengeti (2022)
  • Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game (2023)
• Comparison 3: Castles of Mad King Ludwig (2014)
  • “Study Claims Bavarian Monarch Was Sane”
• Comparison 4: Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization (2015)

What do you like about Ark Nova? Share your thoughts in our boardgamegeek guild, #3269!

Brendan shares what movies he watched in April and May of 2024, what he thought of them, and what games would go well with a viewing. Join us, won’t you?

• Damsel
  • The Princess
  • Legacy of Dragonholt
• Dead Poets Society
  • Miskatonic School for Girls
  • Poetry for Neanderthals
• Wrath of Man
  • Escape Plan
• Ghostwatch
  • Late Night with the Devil
  • Mysterium
  • Hako Onna
• The Blackening
  • Last Friday
  • Final Girl
• I.S.S.
  • Stationfall

What films have you seen lately? Share over on boardgamegeek in guild #3269.

Brendan shares his thoughts about what makes deck-building games fun or interesting. Join us, won’t you?

• Previous episodes:
  • Pick Up & Deliver 015: Deck Construction
  • Pick Up & Deliver 239: Duel – Valley of the Kings vs Arctic Scavengers
  • Pick Up & Deliver 246: My top games for the 10 additional mechanisms Kris Hickman suggested (part 3)
  • Pick Up & Deliver 267: Gentle Conflict Mechanisms, part 2
  • Pick Up & Deliver 407: Combos
• Deck construction vs deck building
• 1. Variety in setup or variety in player choice
  • Static market setup
    • Dominion
    • Arctic Scavengers
    • Aeon’s End
  • River market setup
    • Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
    • Ascension
    • Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game
• 2. Gimmicks / Innovations
  • Brawl: Arctic Scavengers
  • Shared reserve: The Big Book of Madness
  • Deck de-construction: Valley of the Kings, Dale of Merchants
  • Board manipulation: A Few Acres of Snow, Clank!
  • with Worker Placement: Lost Ruins of Arnak, Dune: Imperium
  • Don’t shuffle: Aeon’s End
  • Evolving Static Market: The Quest for El Dorado
• 3. Varying Amounts of Randomness and Control
  • Dominion
  • Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
• 4. Eyes Bigger Than Your Stomach
  • The Quest for El Dorado
  • Clank!

What deck-building games do you enjoy? Share your thoughts over on boardgamegeek in guild #3269.

Brendan shares some thoughts about new/old games he’s played recently. Join us, won’t you?

• Cairn (2019)
  • Onitama (2014)
• Hadrian’s Wall (2021)
  • Fleet: The Dice Game (Second Edition) (2020)
  • Three Sisters (2022)
• A Handful of Stars (2017) (revisited)
  • Pick Up & Deliver 626: Negotiation … and Betrayal!
  • Pick Up & Deliver 125: Shootin’ from the Hip – February 2019
• Mythic Mischief (2022)
  • IV Studios
  • Audie Harrison

Have you played any of these games? What did you think of them? Share your thoughts over on boardgamegeek in guild 3269.

Brendan looks back at 2012 and examines the games he’s played that were published in that year. Join us, won’t you?Top 5 Games from 2012

• 5. Legacy: Gears of Time
• 4. Las Vegas
• 3. The Resistance: Avalon
• 2. Escape! Curse of the Temple
• 1. Lords of Waterdeep
• Disqualified from consideration: Android: Netrunner; Terra Mystica; Merchant of Venus
• Honorable mentions: City of Horror, Coup, Qwixx

Other superlatives from 2012

• Most plays: Love Letter
• Love/Hate award: T’zolkin: the Mayan Calendar
• Want to Love but can’t: Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island
• Cutest Game: Mice and Mystics
• Potential for Growth: Seasons
• Like in the Abstract: Ginkgopolis
• Best Deduction Game: P.I.
• Area Control Extravaganza: Rex: Final Days of an Empire
  Best Duel: Targi

What games from 2012 do you love? Head over to boardgamegeek guild #3269 and share your thoughts!

Brendan shares his views on negotiation games, articulating 3 different kinds of them and what he likes and dislikes about each. Join us, won’t you?

• Economic Negotiation Games
  • CATAN (1995)
  • Sidereal Confluence (2017)
  • Monopoly (1935)
• Organized Negotiation and Alliances
  • Rex: Final Days of an Empire (2012)
  • Dune (1979); Dune (2019)
• Political / Area Control Negotiation Games
  • Diplomacy (1959)
  • A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) (2011)
  • A Handful of Stars (2017)

What are your favorite negotiation (and betrayal) games? Share your thoughts over on boardgamegeek in guild #3269.

Brendan looks back 4 years to see what was happening four years ago at this time. Join us, won’t you?

• Pick Up & Deliver 224: Paper Tales, The Isle of Cats, Everdell: Pearlbrook (Shootin’ from the Hip)
• Paper Tales
  • 7 Wonders
  • Sushi Go
  • It’s a Wonderful World
• The Isle of Cats
  • Extra boards
  • Kittens & Beasts
  • Explore and Draw
• Everdell: Pearlbrook
  • Everdell
  • Bellfaire expansion
  • Spirecrest expansion
  • Newleaf expansion
  • Everdell Big Box

What games were you playing 4 years ago? Share and commiserate over on boardgamegeek in guild #3269.

Brendan talks about the books he’s read since the last time he did one of these book review episodes. Join us, won’t you?

• The Rhesus Chart (Laundry Files #5) by Charles Stross
  • A Study in Emerald
  • Cthulhu: Death May Die
• Bubble by Jordan Morris and Sarah Morgan
• Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
  • Paranoia
• Where Black Stars Rise by Nadia Shammus and Marie Enger
  • The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers
  • Arkham Horror: The Card Game
• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • The Big Book of Madness
• Suburban Hell by Maureen Kilmer
  • Zombie 15′

What books did you read between January and March of this year? Share your list over on Boardgamegeek in guild #3269.