There are episodes where we bring as much knowledge as we can about whatever board game we are talking about. And then there are episodes where we just want to share why something didn't click so much that we didn't want to go beyond game one. Apropos of nothing, today we'll be chatting about Brink, a "trading cubes in space" game that conceptually riffs on Catan but in execution whiffs on us.

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On to the time stamps:

00:00 Cold Open & Intro

Work in Progress: 

2:08 Tenby

7:26 Railroad Tiles

10:42 Rumble Nation

18:53 Winter Rabbit

Audience Correspondence:

25:05 Vantage, Neurodivergence in Board Games

Main Feature:

31:23 Brink

Well, Hot Dog! Do we have an episode for you! We peruse the lofty promises of Vantage, try to keep ourselves on track in Railroad Tiles, discuss whether selling doughnuts at night is really worth your time in Taiwan Night Market, and Efka tells us about angry dice you can chuck about in the bath, in Wroth. 

But wait! That's not all! The main game on our podium is Hot Streak - which not only has a hot dog, but also a fish, a bear, and HM the Queen herself in a game of racing, falling down, getting back up again, and trying all over again. Phew. 

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On to the timestamps:

00:00 Cold Open & Intro

Work in Progress: 

00:54 Vantage

Audience Correspondence:

36:19 Gaming Tables

Main Feature:

41:23 Hot Streak

Pew pew kaboom! That's the sound of every child's living nightmare - their toys coming to life and unleashing an arsenal of deadly weaponry in their bedroom. Many a sleepless night I've had in my youth with this vivid imagery - blood, guts, plastic viscera strewn across my chewbacca rug - which might I add, also comes alive and eats the other toys... anyway, turns out they made my nightmare into a board game and you can now play it.

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On to the time stamps:

0:00 Cold Open

Work In Progress

0:56 The Old King's Crown

Audience Correspondence

16:14 Trick Taking

Main Feature

27:51 Toy Battle

Good news, we're still on holiday. Better news - we're still doing the holiday cast, which means more free podcast more delivered to more you. Moorish! You know what else is moorish? Trees! Just can't get enough of those suckers. And you know where trees live? That's right, in Germany. And you know what Germany has? Autobahns. But also forests.

Apropos of nothing, let's talk about a board game called Black Forest which is about a forest in Germany.

Once again, no timestamps because we're still on holiday and it's still just one game in the episode. You'll be fine.

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Good news, we're on holiday. Better news, we're not leaving you without podcast. It's a smaller episode, yes, but it is Talk Cardboard delivered right to your door, for free! Mmmmm, free podcast, what could be more delicious? Oh, I know, human suffering! If you feel like what you need more in your life is a cardboard simulation of robots slaughtering endless amounts of flesh bags on the moon, Moon Colony Bloodbath has got you sorted.

Not doing timestamps cause we're on holiday. Also, it's just one game. You'll be fine.

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Sharpen your papercuts because it's time to put cards face down in front of you and simultaneously flip them face up! The Old King's Crown is maybe the year's most exciting game and we've got an exciting early scoop!

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SHIRTS! Find them on https://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/

On to the time stamps:

0:00 Cold Open

Work In Progress

2:08 Emberleaf

Main Feature

31:06 The Old King's Crown

Efka opens our review of Eternal Decks with "This is the main candidate for Game of the Year 2025" and if you need a better endorsement to learn about a cool new board game, I can't think of one. And I'm Efka. This and more in this week's Talk Cardboard.

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SHIRTS! Find them on http://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/

On to the time stamps:

0:00 Cold Open

Work In Progress

1:59 Barony: Royal Edition

Audience Correspondence: 

21:34 Blue Prince

Main Feature

28:46 Eternal Decks

You want me to do what now? Play a board game on the TV? Using my phone? Never!

*shakes fist at cloud*

*shakes more fist at cloud*

*picks up phone and starts playing*

Wait this thing is good! Like, real good. Okay, I guess today we're talking about a board game that's also a video game that's also a phone game. And you're going to listen and you're going to enjoy it.

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On to the timestamps:

00:00 Cold open

01:24 Intro

02:03 'Work In Progress"; Fruit Fight

03:50 Tenby

08:10 Deep Regrets

15:57 Correspondence

20:01 Sunderfolk

Why duel with silly weapons when you can duel with whole cities? In Rival Cities, Hamburg and Altona go head to head to see who will be the city anyone's ever heard of. I think you probably know who pulled that off IRL. 

But if you'd rather fight with fruit or sausages, fear not because we have those for you too - in our Work in Progress.

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On to the timestamps:

Get ready to flick your way to victory, or get the flick out of here because it's time to play Ascending Empires: Zenith Edition - a 4X game - but iiiin flicking spaaaaace! 

We also have the games we've been playing this week in our new segment: 'Work in Progress', where Elaine compares Eternal Decks to being back at school, and Efka tells us about under-salted negotiations in Moonrakers.

Bonus Episodes on patreon.com/nopunincluded

Eternal Decks tutorials mentioned in the episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT1d_lHw4yM

On to the timestamps:

00:00 Cold open