Decision Space

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 222 - What have we been playing?  In this very chill episode, Jake and Pete discuss some recent plays of some new and old games.  Listen for such unexpected topics as: Mac Gerdts designs a rondel game??? Pete talks about a trick-taking game??? Jake plays a Kramer and Kiesling game???   Game Timestamps 3:52- Earthborne Rangers 20:35- Linko 30:01- Nanatoridori 30:48- Calimala 40:08- Confusing Lands 48:05- Xylotar 52:57- Antike II   Preplanners A few deep dives are in the works, so get in some plays of Apiary, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Dominion, and more Root! Also, start thinking about what your "guilty pleasure" board games are (if that's even a thing).   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 221 - Balancing for Player Count (WWTA) A game development episode in which Pete, Paul, and Brendan ask the important questions: What makes games flexible or inflexible when it comes to player count? Should a publisher put a suboptimal player count on a box? Are there games that you would only play at one player count?   Timestamps 02:40- main topic begins 05:00- games with fixed player count 18:03- challenges and solutions for player count flexibility 30:00- game design discussion 40:30- player count variants 49:45- games that are naturally scalable 54:15- games you would only play at one player count 58:20- what player counts should go on the box? 1:08:50- closing thoughts   Games mentioned Unrest, Werewords, Codenames, Star Realms, Magic the Gathering, A Feast for Odin, Fromage, Earth, Planet Unknown, Wingspan, Honey Buzz, Crits & Tricks, Lobby Snacks, Enchanted Plumes, Viticulture, Age of Innovation, Dune Imperium, Watches and Clocks of Dickory Docks, Robotrick, 7 Wonders, The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Fellowship of the Ring the Trick-Taking Game, Santorini, Race for the Galaxy, Kingdomino, Cascadia, Incan Gold, Not Alone, A Game of Throne: The Board Game (second edition), Unlock, Tigris & Euphrates, Root, Orapa Mine, Santa's Workshop, No Loose Ends, Trinket Trove, El Grande Pete's dev diary on No Loose Ends https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogpost/175099/developer-diary-no-loose-ends   Preplanners Pete is still putting Brenan through the reps of Root expansion factions so we can make part two of our deep dive on that game!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 220 - Listener Question Mailbag A loose episode in which Jake, Brendan, and Pete answer such hard hitting questions as:   "Why do you play board games?" "What designs are you working on?" "Who is the hottest member of the Fellowship?"    Game Timestamps 02:20- Clockwork Wars 03:40- Fishing 05:30- It's a Wonderful World 11:10- TRICKTAKERs 12:30- Voyages of Marco Polo 14:40- BattleCON 20:36- My Favorite Things 24:28- Enchanted Plumes, Cascadia, Babylonia 25:15- The Crew, Root, El Grande 26:06- Bruges, Challengers, the Resistance 27:10- Honey Buzz, Isle of Skye, Star Realms 44:30- First Class Letters 47:15- Nimalia 48:13- Gudnak 48:44- Typeset, Signal, Here Lies 49:45- Food Chain Magnate 50:50- That's Not a Hat 51:01- Bomb Busters 51:35- Final Binary 53:20- Barrage 56:01- Root 1:06:40- Babylonia 1:07:25- Bottle Imp, Schadenfreude 1:08:50- Chicky Boom 1:09:40- Slap Jack   Preplanners Unsure what's next, but Pete wants to deep dive Dominion.  Play it!  It's still amazing!  Also, Root expansion episode will happen once Brendan gets enough plays in with those factions.   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 219 - Root Deep Dive (part 1) Buckle in for a long one!  Pete and Brendan go DEEP on Cole Wehrle's Root.  Did Brendan enjoy exploring Pete's favorite game?  Is the Vagabond OP?  Do the Cats suck?  Is this game too hard to learn?     Timestamps 3:20- reviews 12:50- game background 18:14- basic rules overview 22:00- faction overview 34:30- the cards 36:00- battles 38:30- back to the cards 42:00- core decision space 54:00- marquise de cat 1:02:00- eyrie dynasties 1:12:10- woodland alliance 1:21:05- vagabond 1:31:25- table politics 1:36:00- final thoughts 1:43:20- plans for the future   Preplanners Send up questions for an AMA episode through email or by joining our discord!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Dive into the fascinating world of lifestyle games! Explore what makes them integral to players' lives, from personal stories to the strong community bonds they foster. Discover the balance between passion and budget when investing in games, especially trading card titles. Delve into the evolving dynamics of gameplay and the impact of innovative business models on player engagement. From the joys of games like Magic and Dungeons & Dragons to the financial realities of collectibles, this discussion covers it all!

Bill Collins, Ships Enumerator and gaming enthusiast, dives into the captivating world of board games. He discusses the 'wow factor' that makes games unforgettable, from innovative mechanics to those thrilling moments that keep players on edge. With examples like Vivo and Magic: The Gathering, he emphasizes the balance of surprise and skill in gameplay. The conversation also highlights how aesthetics and design elevate the overall experience, and invites listeners to reflect on their own memorable moments in gaming.

Dive into the fascinating world of games without guard rails, where unpredictability reigns! The hosts discuss how these games, like Tigris and Euphrates, balance chaos and strategy while highlighting the intricacies of engine-building mechanics in Innovation. Personal stories breathe life into this analysis, showcasing the unique experiences these games create. Explore the tension between skills, luck, and player agency that makes each session a fresh adventure!

In this lively discussion, Luke Williams and Jared Ingersoll from the Laughing Table Friends share their exhilarating experiences at the Geekway convention. They award their favorite new games, highlighting the emotional dynamics of titles like 'Bomb Busters' and 'El Grande.' The duo dives into both competitive and cooperative gameplay, revealing the thrill of hidden movement in 'Specter Ops.' They also explore engaging card games like 'Soda Jerk' and 'Hot Streak,' celebrating the chaotic fun they bring to the table.

The hosts celebrate their top 5 games, diving into the intricate mechanics of 'The Resistance' and its thrilling atmosphere. They explore the allure of gateway games like 'Imhotep' and the strategic depth of 'Dune Imperium Uprising.' Discussions on territory control shine a light on classics like 'El Grande' and 'Isle of Skye.' The innovative gameplay of the 'Unlock' series captivates, showcasing its escape room experience. Personal reflections on beloved titles like 'Root' reveal the emotional connections players form through unique mechanics.

The hosts unveil their top ten board games, sharing nostalgic favorites and the criteria behind their choices. They dive into Modern Art's design and thematic elements while exploring the strategic depths of games like Imperium Deck Builder and Wonderland's War. There's enthusiasm for the innovative Age of Innovation and engaging gameplay in titles like Miyabi and Broom Service. The conversation also covers the excitement of cooperative games like The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, showcasing the joy of strategy and player dynamics that keep these games coming back for more.