Which Game First: A Board Game Podcast

By Which Game FirstComedy Leisure Games

Which Game First: A Board Game Podcast episodes

March 17, 2019 Dude | Isle of Skye | Dealer’s Choice
Did we unearth any hidden treasures you’ve been missing out on? Let’s find out! First up, we use the only word necessary to communicate even the deepest thoughts and feelings in dude. Next we grab the Highland entrepreneurial spirit in Isle of Skye. And lastly: armed with our Blue Books, we go for coveted title of Best Used Car Dealer on the Block in the classic game of Dealer’s Choice!
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36 min
March 10, 2019 Rack-O | Healthy Heart Hospital | The $20,000 Pyramid Game
Did we unearth any hidden treasures you’ve been missing out on? Let’s find out! First up, we stand Rummy on it’s head with Rack-O! Next, we scramble to keep our patients alive & well in Healthy Heart Hospital! And lastly, we give and get a clue with The $20,000 Pyramid Game! Published by: Winning Moves (2013) Originally Published by Milton Bradley in 1956 Players: 2 – 4 Ages: 8 & up Time: 10 – 30...
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40 min
March 03, 2019 Flanx | Game of Crowns | Kung Fu Samurai on Giant Robot Island
Welcome to Which Game First where we Boldly explore the Hilariously Huge world of Board Games. Did we unearth any hidden treasures you’ve been missing out on? Let’s find out! First up: Sharp minds and steady hands prevail as we outmanoeuvre our opponents in Flanx! Next up: Brilliantly negotiate, or draw your sword to bring your kingdom glory in Game of Crowns. And lastly: We heed the casting call...
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38 min
February 24, 2019 Top This! | Zendo | Fluster
First up we make the tastiest pizza pie with a flick of the wrist in Top This! Second will our 3D structures leads us to the laws in Zendo. And lastly we try not to pull our hair out as someone slams a Q in your 22 in Fluster. Designed by: Yves Tourigny Published by: UniForge Games Players: 2 – 5 Ages: 6 & up Time: 30 minutes Top This! is a game about making pizza to order. Your dough is perfect...
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37 min
February 17, 2019 Loot | Ascension | Joe Name It
Designed by: Reiner Knizia (1992) Published by: Gamewright (2005) Players: 2 – 6 Ages: 10 & up Time: ~ 20 minutes You are dealt a hand of 6 cards. Most of the cards in this game are pirate ships or merchant ships, a few of them are Pirate Captains, and there is one Admiral. On your turn you may play a merchant ship in front of you, or if there is already a merchant ship out in front of a player...
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37 min
February 10, 2019 The Quacks of Quedlinburg | Too Many Bones: Undertow | Oh My Goods!

The Quacks of Quedlinburg

Designed by: Wolfgang WarschPublished by: North Star Games (2018)Players: 2 to 4Ages: 10 & upTime: 45 minutes

Each player has a separate bag of ingredient chips, with which to create concoctions. Ingredients are added one at a time, but adding too much can lead to ruining the batch. In each round, you may add new ingredients to your collection, which should allow you to push your luck a little further next time. (Beware: too many cherry bombs can make your potion explode!)

When a round ends, players can gain victory points and collect money to spend on new ingredients. But players with exploded pots must choose points or coins — not both! After nine rounds of play, the player with the most victory points wins the game.

Too Many Bones: Undertow

Designed by: Adam Carlson, Josh J. CarlsonPublished by: Chip Theory Games (2018)Players: 2-4Ages: 10 & upTime: 1 to 3 hours

Undertow is a standalone expansion and sequel to Too Many Bones, a dice building RPG. The characters you play are called Gearlocs, they are on a quest to discover and defeat one of five different Tyrants terrorizing your homeland along the Sibron River in Daelore.You’ll draw daily encounters filled with tough decisions and battles as you make your way to the Tyrant’s lair. Discover Loot — and powerful Trove Loot — to help you on your way. Use your experience and training to develop your Gearloc, unlocking new skill dice to roll as you take down unique Baddies, each with their own special abilities and traits.Undertow allows for 1-2 players out of the box, but by bringing in additional Gearlocs, you can create an adventure for up to four players. This expansion features all new baddies, encounters, tyrants, and a double-sided battle mat allowing battles to take place both on land and on your raft.

Oh My Goods!

Designed by: Alexander PfisterPublished by: Mayfair Games (2015)Players: 2-4Ages: 10 & upTime: 30 min

In Oh My Goods!, You take the role of a craftsman during the Middle Ages, making use of your resources, constructing buildings, and maximizing your production to gain the most Victory Points!The cards can be used in 3 different ways: As a resource, as a building, or as a good. Each turn, you’ll plan your production and select your building to make the most of the goods available in the community market, and in your hand. Triggering your building’s production chain will allow you to turn those goods into higher end products that will earn you even more profit.You can hire assistants to help work an additional building. Once a player has built 8 buildings, the game ends, and the player with the most victory points wins!
40 min
February 03, 2019 Titan Race | KeyForge | Dracula’s Feast

Titan Race

Designed by: Julian AllainPublished by: Funforge (2015)Number of Players: 2 – 6Ages: 8 & upRun time: 30 min

If you’ve always wanted to race Godzilla-sized monsters in a no-holds-barred, full-tilt race around your kitchenette, this game’s for you! Push your competitors into harm’s way while chasing victory through a hurricane jam-packed with horrifying monsters who are all just as wild and reckless as you are!

KeyForge: Call of the Archons

Designed by: Richard GarfieldPublished by: Fantasy Flight Games (2018)Number of Players: 2Ages: 14 & upRun time: 45 min

In a crowded field of sci-fi / fantasy card games, Keyforge is blazing new trails. Each deck is not only unique — yes, actually unique! — but the game forces you to re-calibrate your choices on the fly, every single turn. Sure, you crush your opponent’s minions while yours are getting crushed in turn, but that’s not the point of the game. It’s a race to build your engine, but that’s not the point either. The point is to build three Keys, so reap the Æmber!

Dracula’s Feast

Designed by: Peter C. HaywardPublished by: Jellybean Games (2017)Number of Players: 4 – 8Ages: 10 & upRun time: 10 – 15 min

Everyone knows Dracula loves parties, but do you know who all the guests are? Most of them have their own agendas; they may even be watching their backs! Each turn you choose an option (you can question other players, dance with them, and more) as you try to be the first to successfully identify all the guests. Be careful not to throw wild guesses around, or you might end up getting banished!
38 min
January 27, 2019 Pixel Glory | Letter Tycoon | Funemployed

Pixel Glory

Designed by: Frank Alberts, Russell NgPublished by: Zafty Games (2014)Players: 2-4Ages: 13 +Time: 30 minutes

Pixel Glory begins with the “Town Phase”: you draft a deck of spells, trying to get the ones you want by skillful bidding. When this phase is over, you should have nine spells (and some basic attacks) at your disposal. Then, you take on the monsters in the “Dungeon Phase” ! Cast spells, or launch your basic attacks — you have to play all your cards, so don’t hold back. And don’t forget to keep track of which elemental forces can pay off with some extra damage.

All fame for a monster’s kill is given to whoever landed the final blow. Getting the most fame also wins you the game, so be vigilant!

Letter Tycoon

Designed by: Brad BrooksPublished by: Breaking Games, Squirmy Beast (2015)Players: 2-5Ages: 8+Time: 30 minutes

At first this looks like a lot of board games, where you try to build the longest words to get points. But in Letter Tycoon, you get money — and stock!

You build words at least 3 letters long from the cards in your hand, and maybe also from the central pool of letters that can be used by anyone. You get cash for building words, which you can eventually spend on patenting one of the letters of the alphabet. After doing this, no one else may use the patented letter without paying you for each use!

Funemployed

Designed by: Anthony ContaPublished by: Mattel (2013)Players: 3-20Ages: 13+Time: 30 minutes

Each player takes a turn as a “hiring manager”, where they get to give every other player a job interview! The HR director of the current turn gets to evaluate which one of the applicants gets offered the job.

But when a player is interviewed, they draw several cards which must be integrated into their answers. Some are absurd, some are scary and some are a bit racy. The challenge for each round’s applicants is to work the unexpected, random words and phrases on the drawn cards into their attempts at marketing themselves, in as seamless (or as entertaining) a manner as possible.
34 min
January 19, 2019 Show & Tile | Kings’ Struggle | Probe

Show & Tile

Designed by: Isaac Shalev and Matt Loomis Published by: Jellybean (2018)Players: 3 – 6Ages: 8 & upTime: 30 minUnearthed by: Ed

Show & Tile is a party game where each player takes two sets of tangram tiles, picks a word, and starts building. At the end of 90 seconds, put your tiles down, flip over the timer and you have 90 seconds to guess everyone’s word on your score pad. You score 1 point for each correct guess, 2 points if anyone guessed your word correctly, or 3 points if you picked a harder star word. After 4 rounds, the player with the most points wins!

Kings’ Struggle

Designed by: Robert BurkePublished by: Wizkids (2018)Number of Players: 3 – 6Ages: 14+Run time: 30 min

Unearthed by: Evan

Kings’ Struggle is a negotiation-focused card game, with elements of trick-taking and set collection. The game is mechanically simple: each player plays just one card per round, and each game lasts only seven rounds. Along the way, players vie to win cards and earn gold through various means, which garner victory points.What makes Kings’ Struggle special is the unique card abilities that have been crafted to drive negotiation. The ability of a card you’ve played can be activated on your turn — or not: it’s up to you. Just remember, your action or inaction is for sale! Analyzing who has the most to win — or the most to lose — from your current ability will help you leverage the cards to your maximum benefit.You must learn to play the players, more than you learn to play the game.

Probe

Published by: Parker BrothersEdition Played: 1976 (first published in 1964)Number of Players: 2 – 4Ages: 8+Run time: 30-60 minutesUnearthed by: Celeste

Each player has a long strip of paper with 12 segments. Each player writes a word of 12 letters or less on the segmented paper, making dots on every segment without a letter. Before play begins, the long paper is enclosed in a long, bright orange, plastic case, with 12 tiny lids that open and close independently (one for each segment!). At the start of each of your turns, you draw a card that may give you a special bonus or detriment that will affect your turn. A player’s turn ends when they guess wrong. The scoring of letters varies based on which one is revealed.
38 min
January 13, 2019 Death Wish | Fist of Dragonstones | Squadro

Death Wish

Designed by: Jason Hibbert of Sketchy GamesPublished by: Zafty Games (2017)Players: 2 to 8Ages: 15 & upTime: 20-45 minutesUnearthed by: Ed

Death Wish is a light-hearted party card game where the goal is to be the first player to die from fictional diseases.Players take turns collecting matching symptoms and “afflicters”, with the aim of contracting one of the diseases displayed on the table before they’re snapped up by another player. You strive to collect a set of the same colour for most diseases, or one of each color for the wild diseases. Contract a disease by showing the completed set to describe how you caught the disease, and gain “skulls” based on its severity. White strains are most common; less harmful types (one skull) contrast with the rare and deadly red strains (four skulls!)Some diseases trigger outbreaks, which have an array of random creative effects that change the dynamic of the game.The goal is to collect enough “Skull” points to die; the amount required is set by the number of players. First one to die . . . wins the game!

Fist of Dragonstones: The Tavern Edition

Designed by: Bruno Faidutti & Michael SchachtPublished by: Stronghold Games (2018) Players: 3 to 6Ages: 8 & upTime: 45 – 60 minUnearthed by: Evan

Fist of Dragonstones: Tavern Edition is a closed-fist, bidding game. Players try to outwit their opponents by bidding with different types of gold or silver coins to buy control of an ever-changing cast of enchanted character cards. The powers from those characters help collect valuable Dragonstones, lend their magical powers, help foil other players, and convert Dragonstones into victory.This new Tavern Edition has been updated greatly from the original to improve gameplay. The King’s Favor is introduced to the game, which speeds up play. The game includes more than 70 special character cards, compared to 25 in the original. But we are not comparing this version to the original; we intend to judge it on its own merits.

Squadro

Designed by: Adrián Jiménez PascualPublished by: Gigamic (2018)Players: 2Ages: 8 & upTime: 20 minUnearthed by: Mike

Each player starts with five pieces on their side of the game board, with each player sitting perpendicular to the other. When you move a piece, you move a number of spaces based on the speed indicated in the row that you’re leaving.

Once a piece has made its way across the board, you move it back based on the speed on the other side. If your piece passes over an opposing piece while moving, then that opposing piece must return to its last departing base — and your moving piece advances one cell further than where the opposing piece was.

The first player to return 4 of their pieces home (facing the right direction!) wins.
29 min