The boys put on their Santa hats, jingle bells, and thigh-high leather gift-giving boots to bring to you the magic of their very own Christmas special. The first half deals with the tribulations of being and knowing board gamers around the holidays, while the second half... well, you'll just have to tune in to experience the splendid magic of the second half. Plus, a word from our sponsors, because Christmas is a capitalist shell-game. Oink oink, you bourgeoisie pigs.

Chaos ensues as the time streams fracture and characters from the past emerge to wreak havoc once more. Can our heroes prevent a rupturing of the fabric of the universe, and the rise of a new dark overlord? Or will they become distracted by words that sound funny and early-90s rap music, and doom us all? Probably the second one.

Johannes lures another game designer into our lair and we talk about him and his games. In this case, it's Corey Young and his game Gravwell, but, if Tom is to be believed, it's Chip Beauvais for a second time (Tom is dumb). Corey tells us all about his design process, his expansion plans, and about designing for colorblind players, proving once again that our show is immeasurably improved by adding somebody who knows what they're talking about.

Those podcast boys are at it again, wandering off into the weeds to talk about Snoop Dogg before themeballin' a couple of games. Then it's time for a play and review of tiny little wallet game North, South, East, Quest. Will Juan Calvo find the taco truck man? Will he manage to make his rap dreams come true? Does Snoop Dogg descend in light and fury from a flaming chariot to put an end to this farce with divine fire and sic rhymes? Listen in to find out!

Success! Triumph! Glorious victory. We talk about what makes for a good victory condition, whether or not degrees of victory matter, and also methods you can use to compress your computer files. Then it's on to a game review, where we report on the intelligence we gathered infiltrating spy-themed games [redacted] and Codenames. Yes, Madame Secretary, we got the facts. No, Madame Secretary, no entanglements or complications. The Ukrainian girl? No... just another face in the line of duty...

Sometimes, a board game has a board that isn’t the same every time, and we ponder whether or not this is a good thing. Then it’s off to the races as we consider how different ways of determining statistically identical things might be different from one another. Plus advertisements for a local bar you’ll never go to and a device that guarantees your immediate death! The Mildly Alarming Podcast.

We wrap our meaty forearms around Hasbro’s torso, invert them, and administer a devastating suplex as we discuss the things we would’ve done differently had we made Risk. Then we booze the news, because Tom couldn’t be bothered to write a goofy script about farm animals who don’t understand modern banking. Plus burning goats, majestic hair, and the quivering muscles of a thousand hirsuit men. The Mildly Alarming Podcast!

The boys are thinkin’ Lincoln this week as they podcast from their new studio which is, inexplicably, inside a church. This leads into a partnership with the God Talk podcast, discussions of real-time games and player elimination, and a lengthy debate about Robin College, which is where certain types of birds go to learn about old books (No it isn’t—Ed.) Plus, an advertisement for meat and a reminder to be patriotic in the podcasts you listen to.

Programming games, unorthodox mechanics, and the Protestant Reformation. What more could you want?

This week - or is it last week? Or maybe next week? THERE'S NO WAY TO KNOW! Whenever it happens, though, we sort of almost talk about microgames, and then we Booze with the News. And stay tuned to the end for a sneak peak at the upcoming season of Crime Mummy!