Openers:

Mark: Fishing
Steve: Trick Taking Game Conventions (here's one, and here's another)

Closers:
Mark: What do I think is an OG game? I can tell what it ain't!
Steve: What would new boardgamers think is an OG game?

Nonsense Junkie

@elschmear

My friend Steve Paap returns to his set of interview questions for me. A year and a half ago, back on episode 214, Steve turned the microphone around on me. Now he's back with more questions for yours truly.

First, though, he tries to rile me up by having me defend my "favorite boardgame" Entdecker from a variety of BGG comments from folks who didn't like it. They rate it a 4, 3, or 2, and explain why. Does it get under my skin? Not really. He says I'm too nice for that, Maybe that's it, but the truth is that no game is really for everybody, and I'm well aware that Entdecker is less-than-average for many gamers. There are some comments I find just inaccurate and wrong, though--that's true.

-Mark

Opener: Noli

Closer: Just a few games that caught my eye or attention in other ways coming at Essen. Galileo Galilei, In the Footsteps of Marie Curie, Port Arthur, Amazonia Park, and Flatiron

My call for feedback earlier this year sparked both halves of this podcast. First, there was a request for me to explain my history with the best, most famous, and original CCG, Magic The Gathering. Though I dabble a tiny bit even now, there were a few years in the beginning when I dove in with both feet. It was, as we now say, a lifestyle game. I still think it's incredible, clearly one of my all-time favorites, but it's not easy to keep up with Magic and other games. Therefore it's mostly part of my gaming past, but I have such fond memories and will definitely play a game here or there in the future. Such as on M:tG Arena, the fantastic free-to-play digital version of the game.

When Settlers of Catan (and Air Baron! another of my early favorites) showed up, eurogames essentially displaced Magic for me. Though we called them German Games at the time. I was hooked, and now it's been nearly thirty years. That sounds like a a long time--and it is!--but I have a hobby gaming history before Catan and Magic. I've told parts of that history on this podcast before, but when someone who listens to the show was surprised to hear I'd once worked for Steve Jackson Games, I realized it's been about 18 years since I told that story! So you'll forgive the repetition, if by some chance you remember my tale the first time. After talking about Magic, I go back to the beginning of my hobby gaming with a variety of stops along the way. There were years of wargames (both science fiction and some historical) and lots of roleplaying games. Like Magic, my RPG days are something I'll always remember fondly, but I'm not sure if I'll ever play those again.

-Mark

Opener: Wayfarers of the South Tigris

David Arnott

@Arnott

Mike Mayer

@Mike Mayer

If you're like me, you've been supplementing your in-person boardgaming with the ability to play online. I've been doing that for over 20 years, way before the covid pandemic struck. However, that worldwide event opened up the joys of online boardgaming to many more gamers, especially as they worked to keep connections going with friends they couldn't see across the table for many months. Add in the explosion of titles and popularity of BoardgameArena, coupled with the widespread use of Discord, Zoom, or other voice/video communication tools, and gamers today have more ability to stay in touch than ever before.

My two guests have taken that, stuck with it, and done more than I've ever managed to do with all of my online play: make a regular game group out of it. Three years on, no longer with the pandemic as the reason, Dave and Mike continue to get together almost every week to play games together. One's in California, the other in Virginia, but they meet more regularly than most in-person game groups. Sometimes they widen the circle to include some other friends like me, but primarily this is a 2-person game group, another interesting aspect.

Like me, these guys have been around a long time, have favorites going back decades, yet in this online group they're really espousing the Cult of the New. Why is that? Why are they always learning new games, why do they enjoy online roll & writes so much, and what the heck is Tulpenfieber?! Listen and find out.

Closer: The sort of old school games I don't like


-Mark