Decision Space

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community!  Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games and now on YouTube.   Episode Thirteen - Does El Grande Hold Up to 25 Years of Innovation?   The year was 1996, one year after the release of a little game we like to call Settlers of Catan (or just Catan now, I guess). The German board game circuit is absolutely buzzing about the exciting future for board games hobby and designers are poised to risk it all with their next design. At that moment, Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich seize the moment and shock us all with their new design, El Grande. Fast forward. It is 2021. The board game hobby now ascends to heights many never thought possible. Glossy games with beautiful components and spot UV crowd the marketplace, with innovative mechanics seeking to refine, explore, and improve on the giants that came before. In this landscape, is it possible for any game, even a bonafide classic like El Grande to hold up 25 years of board game innovations? So we must ask, is it time to thank this dusty, old relic for its service that led us to this moment and move on to bigger and better things, or is it possible... there's still some life in this game yet. There's only one way to find out. Hop into our interdecisional spaceship and let's explore the Decision Space together!   0:00 - Intro 1:16 - Where Is My Mind 6:51 - Ratings and Slogans 10:01 - Rules Overview 13:14 - Decision Space Exploration 24:05 - Power Cards 31:44 - Action Cards 47:47 - Castillo, Secret Disc, and El Grande Cube 58:50 - Provinces and the Court 1:02:29 - Region Scoring (Ties, Special Scoring Tiles) 1:06:51 - Final Thoughts and Turbulence 1:14:40 - Wrap Up (Leave a Review!)   Games Mentioned: El Grande, Rock Paper Scissors, High Society, Red Rising, A Feast for Odin, Blood Rage, Game of Thrones, Risk, etc.   Preplan Your Next Turn Next week we'll explore the decision space in Star Realms with special guest, Paul Salomon.   Call to Action Leave us a review and we'll read it on the next episode! (Still waiting, but not without hope!) We can be reached on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. Follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! Thank you for helping to grow the show!   Music Credits 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

Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games and now on YouTube.   Episode Twelve - We Invented a New Way To Talk About Games There's Waxing and Waning and Dynamic and Static, but do you recall, the most famous decision framework of all?  Well, Brendan has really went and done it this time. That's right, he invented a whole new way to talk about games. On this episode, we'll talk about this new paradigm and way to frame future discussions of decision space on Decision Space. Woof. We admit it's a lot, but this isn't the time to sit statically by. Do a dynamic leap right into this week's podcast, where Jake and Brendan wax poetically while the runtime wanes down to nothing!   Games Discussed New York Zoo, Patchwork, Spades, Rock Paper Scissors, Underwater Cities, KeyFlower, KeyForge, Welcome To..., Res Arcana, Mansions of Madness, Dominion, Splendor, Ticket To Ride, Five Tribes, Arkham Horror: LCG, Magic: the Gathering, Hearthstone, Legends of Runeterra... etc.   0:00 - Intro 2:23 - Where Is My Mind 6:27 - New Paradigm Overview 15:07 - Waning 24:01 - Waxing 34:54 - Static 43:41 - Dynamic 50:17 - Questions 1:06:07 - Outro   Preplan Your Next Turn Next time on Decision Space... we explore the decisions in El Grande!    Call to Action Leave us a review and we'll read it on the next episode! (I'm going to keep posting this until it happens.) We can be reached on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. Follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! Thank you for helping to grow the show!

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community!  Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games and now on YouTube.   Episode Eleven Little boxes on the worksheet Little boxes filled with tricky tracks Little boxes on the worksheet Little boxes all the same There's a pool one and a park one And a fence one and a double one And they all cross off scoring tracks And they all work just the same   Welcome to... episode eleven! (See what I did there?) Today, we talk about the famous roll and write/Roland Wright/flip and write board game Welcome To... designed by Benoit Turpin and published by Blue Cocker Games. Hop on into our interdecisional spaceship as we go deep into the variants, variance, and decisions of this exceedingly pleasant game.  0:00 - Intro 3:12 - Where Is My Mind 8:24 - Rules Overview 10:41 - Ratings and Slogans 14:40 - Decision Space Exploration 39:15 - Turbulence 48:20 - Scoring Mechanisms 1:05:00 - Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up   Preplan Your Next Turn Next week is a discussion episode, where we'll talk more about waxing, waning, static, and oscillating decision spaces. In two weeks we'll explore the decisions in El Grande.    Call to Action Leave us a review and we'll read it on the next episode! (Still waiting, but not without hope!) We can be reached on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. Follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! Thank you for helping to grow the show!   Music Credits 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

Join our brand new Discord community!  Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games and now on YouTube.   Episode Ten It's our the big one-zero, and we make it a doozy by covering the legendary Magic: The Gathering. Was it perhaps too bold to attempt to cover the decisions in Magic: The Gathering in a single podcast episode? Yes. Definitely yes. But hey, you have to give us some points for trying. Magic is a game that needs no introduction. It's a game that has stood the test of time and one that both Brendan and Jake have spent untold hours pouring their hearts into. Well, we are back at that again and now there is nothing left to do but answer one last lingering (souls) question: is it any good?   0:00 - Intro, Ratings, and Synopses 11:55 - Rules Overview 14:00 - Personal MTG Backgrounds 19:25 - Decision Space Exploration 44:59 - Turbulence 57:57 - Bluffing 1:05:22 - Card Stories 1:16:08 - Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up   Preplan Your Next Turn Next week we'll explore the decisions in Welcome To...!   Call to Action Leave us a review and we'll read it on the next episode! (Still waiting, but not without hope!) We can be reached on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. Follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! Thank you for helping to grow the show!   Music Credits 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

Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games and now on YouTube.   Episode Nine - What We Talk About When We Talk About Competitive Play It turns out we talk about a whole lot when we talk about competitive play.* We ask what is competitive play and try to define it. We share our own histories in competitive gaming. We also think of the benefits and not-so-benefits of engaging in competitive play, including the potential pitfall of the "Levine Ravine." We conclude the episode with Brendan and Jake both sharing their TOP 5 Factors that Make a Game Suited for Competitive Play.    *Side discussions may include but are not limited to Magic: The Gathering, KeyForge, Kickball, Chess, Disc Golf, Pokken, Chess, Boxing, Battlebots, Donkey Kong, Poker, Ladder Golf, Bridge, Super Smash Brothers Melee, Pokemon Trading Card Game, Line Graphs, wavelength, the Pixies and much more. If you find yourself engaging in competitive play for more than 4 hours after listening to this podcast, see a doctor immediately.   Preplan Your Next Turn Next time on Decision Space... we explore the decisions in Magic: The Gathering!    Call to Action Leave us a review and we'll read it on the next episode! (I'm going to keep posting this until it happens.) We can be reached on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. Follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! Thank you for helping to grow the show!

Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games and now on YouTube.   Episode Seven We discuss the two-player trick-taking game The Fox in the Forest, designed by Joshua Buergel and published by Foxtrot Games. For the first time, Jake and Brendan significantly disagree on their rating for this game, but both agree that the game is a lot like basketball. No really.   Preplan Your Next Turn On Next week's episode, we will discuss the terraforming mars game, Terraforming Mars!   Call to Action Leave us a review and we'll read it on the next episode! We can be reached on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. Follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! Thank you for helping to grow the show!   Music Credits 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  

Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games and now on YouTube.   Episode Six In our second "What We Talk About" episode, we had the pleasure to speak with Jamey Stegmaier of Stonemaier Games about the "Value" of games. While we talk a lot on Decision Space about the decisions in games, this conversation focuses instead on the decision to games... and why you should games too. Games Mentioned in this episode: Red Rising The Fox in the Forest Sagrada Magic: the Gathering Hallertau Sleeping Gods Terra Mystica   Look Ahead On Next week's episode, we discuss the decisions in The Fox in the Forest.   Call to Action Give us a review! You can be the very first one. We can be reached on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. Or you can be the very first to follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! What did you think about the episode? Let us know. If you are enjoyed the show, what the heck, throw us a "follow" and a "like" to help us grow. Sigh. Like, Subscribe, and Ring the Bell.   Special Thanks To our friend Jamey Stegmaier!

Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games and now on YouTube.   Episode Five Today we discuss a game that is definitively not about terraforming Mars. This game could literally not be any less about terraforming Mars if tried! That's right. We are talking, of course, about the wonderful Underwater Cities. After all, as a wise lobster once said, life under the sea is better than anything they got up there. On this episode, we consider the lobster, and it may be on to something...   Look Ahead On Next week's episode, we will discuss the value of board games with a very special guest.   Call to Action We are once again asking to hear your feedback. We can be reached on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. Or you can be the very first to follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! What did you think about the episode? Let us know. If you are enjoyed the show, what the heck, throw us a "follow" and a "like" to help us grow.    Music Credits 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   Special Thanks To my friend Mike for the incredible voice acting. Can you believe he's not a real pilot? Total acting pro. 

Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games and now on YouTube.   Episode Four We discuss Res Arcana and boy are my arms tired! Seriously, this was a difficult game to cover on a podcast about decisions. Nevertheless, Jake and Brendan give it their best shot to pull apart the threads of this tightly wound gaming package to see what's inside! What's in the box?!   Look Ahead On Next week's episode, we will discuss Underwater Cities by Vladimír Suchý. You can play Underwater Cities free online at Yucata.de.   Call to Action We are once again asking to hear your feedback. We can be reached on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. Or you can be the very first to follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! What did you think about the episode? Let us know. If you are enjoyed the show, what the heck, throw us a "follow" and a "like" to help us grow.    Music Credits 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

Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games.    Episode Three This is our very first discussion topic show! We are calling these our "What We Talk About" episodes, which will pop up every third episode or so. In this week's episode, you'll hear what we (Brendan and Jake) talk about when we talk about decision space. No. We aren't talking about the show itself. We are trying to define the term "decision space" in the context of board gaming. The term is ubiquitous in our hobby, but not so easily defined. We try to do just that and also think through the different factors that contribute to the size and texture of any given "decision space." We also discuss whether there is any value in trying to put any given decision space on a scale from 1-100... or should that scale look like a parabola? If you aren't confused yet, you will be!   Look Ahead On Next week's episode, we will discuss Res Arcana by Tom Lehmann. You can play Res Arcana online on Board Game Arena.    Call to Action We are still desperate to hear your feedback. We can be reached on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. Or you can be the very first to follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! What did you think about the episode? Let us know. If you are enjoyed the show, what the heck, throw us a "follow" and a "like" to help us grow.