We are back for what we hope isn’t a one off episode. Our goal is an episode a month as we get our sea legs with parenthood, playing games, and just the day to day drudgery of the 9-5. What a way to make a livin’. We spit ball about games that we have played over the past three months in “Quick Fire” fashion. Some we liked, some we didn’t, and one was a surprising disappointment. I used Craiyon to generate the cover by typing the phrase, “Ark Nova is not our jam.” Feel free to jump over there and let an AI generate your nightmares. 

Here’s to more games in the future. Beware the spiders in your house Crocs, and don’t let the bastards get you down.

Apologies for a lack of designers/publishers in the notes.
12:22 Founders of Teotihuacan
19:30 Breaking Away
21:08 Longshot: The Dice Game
22:30 Furnace
25:35 Museum: Pictura
31:00 Vagrantsong
38:45 Games that interest us at Gen Con 2022
52:05 Regicide
58:30 Smartphone Inc.
01:06:45 Dice Realms
01:12:49 Planet Unknown
01:23:19 Foundations of Rome
01:39:00 Ark Nova

We’re back, and more Tarnished than ever. In this episode, that is longer than the Odyssey, we regale you with tales from House Crocs to Dune Stories, and then get into the games that have found their way into our silly lives. We follow that with an Off-Brand segment all about Elden Ring. Retrieve those runes and shake off the heebie-jeebies from whatever that “guard dog” was. Ain’t no party like a tower party, but BYOP(Palantir). 

Games We’ve Been Playing:
38:08 Res Arcana (Thomas Lehmann, Sand Castle Games)
44:53 Merchants of the Dark Road (Brian Suhre, Elf Creek Games)
01:10:52 Bloodborne: The Board Game (Eric Lang, Michael Shinall, CMON)

Featured Game:
01:38:10 Return to Dark Tower (Rob Davian, Isaac Childres, Tim Burrell-Saward, Noah Cohen, Justin D. Jacobson, Brian Neff, Restoration Games)

Off-Brand:
2:17:50 We journey to the Lands Between in Elden Ring!

New “season”. New intro tune. Same off-the-cuff board game conversation. 
As usual, we start chatting about some of the latest stuff that we have been diggin’, including the new Big Thief record, Pokémon Legends Arceus, the Batman Calzone, and Ted Lasso, and then we dive into the games. 

Crowdfunding Roundup:
24:20 Bloc by Bloc: Uprising
26:47 Tindaya
28:55 Earth

Games We’ve Been Playing:
32:25 Trails (Henry Audubon, Keymaster Games)
36:10 Caper: Europe (Unai Rubio, Keymaster Games)
42:12 For Science! (R. Eric Reuss, Grey Fox Games)
51:05 Project L (Michal Mikes, Jan Soukal, Adam Spanel, Boardcubator)
55:06 Bunny Kingdom (Richard Garfield, Iello)
56:20 Beyond the Sun (Dennis K. Chan, Rio Grande Games)
58:59 Jump Drive (Tom Lehmann, Rio Grande Games)
58:59 Race for the Galaxy (Tom Lehmann, Rio Grande Games)
1:08:50 Res Arcana (Tom Lehmann, Sand Castle Games)
1:17:23 Factory Funner (Corne van Moorsel, BoardGameTables.com)

Featured Game:
1:26:05 Meadow (Klemens Kalicki, Rebel Studios)

Post Credits Discussion That Was Teased In The Introduction But Then Totally Forgotten About:
1:45:45 Our favorite boardgame art. 

Let’s call it the end of the first season. We recap the things we did this year. All of ‘em. In a couple hours. It is definitive, absolute, and unwavering. Tender men unite and gather on the fields of valor during Boy’s Craft Night. Rejoice, for Craft-halla awaits us!

• 11:15 - Best Game We Didn’t Like
• 15:30 - She’s So Heavy Award
• 20:55 - I Want You (She’s So Heavy) Award
• 28:45 - Top 3 New To Us Games
• 48:26 - 2021 We Don’t Own But Want to Play
• 1:06:15 - 2021 We Own and Want to Play
• 1:27:12 - 2021 Game of the Year!
• 1:51:30 - Ultimate Cage Match Game of the Year!
• 1:54:10 - 2021 Albums That Tickled Our Fancy.

Saddle up, Mariners! We talk about our continued love of treadmill gaming, enter zen states while polyominoes rain down from the heavens, and the perfection that is Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. We talk about some real doozies this week. Tell ‘em Large Marge sent ya!

Featured Games:
14:14 Luna Capital (Jose Ramon Palacios, Devir)
35:50 For Sale Autorama (Stefan Dorra, Eagle-Gryphon Games)
47: 40 Trek 12: Himalaya (Bruno Cathala, Corentin Lebrat, Pandasaurus Games)
57:40 On Tour (Chad DeShon, BoardGameTables.com)
1:03:45 Hadrian’s Wall (Bobby Hill, Garphill Hames, Renegade Games Studio)
1:28:50 Sleeping Gods (Ryan Laukat, Red Raven Games)
1:48:47 Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)

We mostly stick to board games this week, but have a brief detour to discuss how Tetris Effect Connected soothes the soul and a succinct but fulfilling quest for the Lost in Translation Soundtrack on vinyl. We then discuss all of the Kickstarters we are interested in, our featured games of the week, and then take a rapid fire approach to the games of 2022 that we most anticipate. Sorry for one more drop in the deluge of board game content. 

Kickstarter Convo:
20:30 Skate Summer (Randy Reiman, Pandasaurus Games)
21:42 Sync or Swim (Lucas Hedgren, Divya Hedgren, Bezier Games)
22:29 Puzzle Strike 2 (David Sirlin, Sirlin Games)
32:38 CoLab (Jonathan Gilmour, Jon Mietling, Portal Dragon)
35:55 Marvel Zombies (Fabio Cury, Michael Shinall, CMON)

Featured Games:
38:25 ROVE: Results-Oriented Versatile Explorer (Dustin Dobson, Milan Zivkovic, Button Shy)
42:48 Death Valley (Kevin Ellenburg, Button Shy)
45:25 Tussle Mussie (Elizabeth Hargrave, Button Shy)
53:00 Three Sisters (Ben Pinchback, Matt Riddle, Motor City Gameworks)
1:07:00 Final Girl (Evan Derrick, A. J. Porfirio, Van Ryder Games)

1:38:30 Our Most Anticipated Games of 2022

Welcome to 2022! We herald in the new year by diving into dungeons(that likely were produced by sinkholes), stacking cards, stacking fuzzy balls, stacking roads and rails, and getting frustrated at games that make us act against the best interest of the party. We also have our first top five in a segment we dubbed “Five in Five”. Five minutes to create a top five. Simple. Keep smilin’ in 2022, and don’t let the bastards get you down. 

Intro:
Dungeon Encounters (Square Enix, Nintendo Switch)

Featured Games:
25:15 The Game: Face to Face (Steffens Benndorf, Reinhard Staupe, Pandasaurus Games)
38:10 The Fuzzies (Wolfgang Warsch, Alex Hague, Justin Vickers, CMYK)
49:10 Railroad Ink Challenge (Hjalmar Hach, Lorenzo Silva, Horrible Guild)
1:34:00 Townsfolk Tussle (Stephen Louis, Tony Mayer, Rachel Rusk, Panic Roll)

Off-Brand - The Peter Jackson Super Trilogies Special Extended Cut:
1:34:40 Lord of the Rings
1:53:00 The Beatles: Get Back

Five in Five:
2:22:10 Our DEFINITIVE Top 5 Beatles Songs

Welcome back! After a brief hiatus, we attempt to figure out how to do this in real time even though we never really had any clue, and I am making a New Years vow to never say, “We already talked about this on the podcast.” We discuss some Nintendo Switch games we have been playing including, Golf Story(again), The Messenger, and Katana Zero before diving into board games. We conclude with our final thoughts on Survivor Season 41 and its controversial(?) ending.

Correction: During our conversation about Cartographers(which we love), I mentioned the designer as Keith Matejka, however the designer is Jordy Adan! Our apologies!

Featured Games:
20:20 Back to the Future: Dice Through Time( Ken Franklin, Chris Leder, Kevin Rodgers, Ravensburger)
32:34 Roll Through The Ages: The Bronze Age & Era (Matt, Leacock, Eagle Gryphon Games & Eggertspiele)
45:45 Haunt the House (Josh Cappel, Helaina Cappel, Kids Table Board Games)
51:02 Picture Perfect (Anthony Nouveau, Arcane Wonders)
1:06:14 Cartographers (Jordy Adan, Thunderworks Games)

Off Brand:
1:42:20 Survivor Season 41. 
Something, something, something, the edit.