Whose Turn Is It Anyway?

After a fantastic few days in the town of Essen, Jacob, Paul, and Robin talk about their Spiel 2015 experiences.

Reflecting on their choices for hot games (as revealed on the last podcast), their surprise hits, and their biggest disappointments.

They also take a quick look at the Spiel 2015 BGG Geekbuzz and FairPlay Lists (ranked).

Opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared or condoned by the other cast members.

Our 25th episode is an extended episode, in which we take a look at some of the games coming out at Essen Spielmesse 2015, which runs from October 8th – October 11th 2015 in the town of Essen, Germany.

In this episode, Robin and Paul are joined by guest Bill Corey Jr. And they discuss their top 3 most anticipated games, one hidden gem, and one “over hyped” game (that can both be good and bad!).

Additionally some previous contributors and guests pop by to give us a rundown of which of the new release games have them excited.

A massive thanks to everyone who contributed to this bumper episode.

Host: Robin Lees

Panelists: Paul Grogan (Gaming Rules!), Bill Corey Jr. (The Cubist)

Special Appearance: Barry Doublet (Board Games Everybody Should…), Barry Reynolds (A Gateway Gamer Runs Through), Ben Maddox (Perfect Information), Edward Uhler (Heavy Cardboard), Efka Bladukas (No Pun Included), Marty Connell (Rolling Dice And Taking Names), Nate Brett (Board Game Hour), Rich Mulholland (Missing Link), Ricky Wilkins (Box Of Delights), Ryan LaFlamme (Cardboard Republic)

Opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared or condoned by the other cast members.

This episode Ben is back, and we are joined by guest Barry Doublet.

Amongst other topical items, we discuss the game mechanisms we don’t like, games we like that use mechanisms we don’t like, sliced bread, and whether or not end game scoring is a game mechanism or not.

Oh, yeah, we also touch on game mechanisms vs game mechanics.

Opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared or condoned by the other cast members.

After a break of nearly two months, and with no guarantee of when the next episode will air, we are back with Whose Turn Is It Anyway? Episode 23: Small Town Cons.

Robin, Paul, and Ignacy get together in the lull between Gen Con and Spiel to talk about everything small town cons have to offer, including useful hints on starting your own convention for visitors, publishers, and people running them.

Opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared or condoned by the other cast members.

Ignacy and Paul join Robin to talk about replayability in games.

Drawing on their industry experience, and using examples of games that Portal Games has published, and Paul has developed, we discuss different types of replayability, from the perspective of board game players, designers, and publishers.

Starting from a core 4 ideas:

* Modular Setup

* Scaleable Difficulty

* Multiple Roles

* Modular Goals (Scenarios)

We discover two more:

* Social

* Strategic

We question the need for every game to have expansions, and pose the questions:

* How many times do you replay a game?

* How important is replayability when purchasing a game?

* How often do you buy game expansions as a way to improve/adjust replayability?

 

Opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared or condoned by the other cast members. There is much mention of Robinson Crusoe in this episode.

This week on Episode 21 of Whose Turn Is It Anyway Jacob, Paul and Robin are joined by guest Ryan LaFlamme of The Cardboard Republic to talk about all things Board Game Media.

In light of recent reviews (Shut Up Sit Down talking about Cards Against Humanity, and a counter argument from game designer Bruno Faidutti) this week the panel look at Board Game Media, the role of the reviewer, and the responsibilities of board game media as a whole. Rounding off the topic with a couple of rounds of Play, Own, or Burn.

Opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared or condoned by the other cast members.

Episode 20 of Whose Turn Is It Anyway rounds the corner, and Rhyannon, Geraint, and Robin are joined by Barry Reynolds from the YouTube channel A Gateway Gamer Runs Through.

This time we discuss gaming with your significant other, and play a couple of rounds of Play, Own, or Burn.

Opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared or condoned by the other cast members.

In Episode 19 Robin, Jacob, and Paul are joined by guest Marty Connell (from Rolling Dice & Taking Names podcast) to talk about licensed games.

Is there an upturn in the number of designer games that are being created with a licensed theme? How and why is that? Are licensed games good, or are they still looked down upon?

We talk about our favourite licensed games, and what licenses we would like to see.

And we briefly touch upon games being made into films

We close the episode with a “pointless” game of View From A Board.

Opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared or condoned by the other cast members.

In Episode 18 Jacob, Paul, and Robin are joined by guest Richard Mulholland (author of Legacide) to talk about gaming in and outside of your comfort zone.

What makes you comfortable, and what makes you uncomfortable, from the types of games you play, to the location in which you play them.

We talk about gaming as introverts and extroverts, and Rich divulges some secrets about using games in the working environment, as a way to help illustrates business strategies.

Listening to this episode, and you’ll see zombie-dice in a whole new light!

We close the episode with fan-favorite; Play, Own, Burn!

Opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared or condoned by the other cast members.

In the second part of our podcast about theme in games, Ben, Geraint, and Robin return alongside our guest, designer of Dead Of Winter (Plaid Hat Games), and the upcoming Vault Wars (FloodGate Games), Jon Gilmour.

We also play a new game called “In The Defence Of…”

in which we welcome contributions from listeners in the comments section below. Do you agree or disagree with the panelists?

Warning! One or both of these episodes may contain exclusive spoilers about Jon’s upcoming work.

Opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared or condoned by the other cast members.