The In depth series is back with a bang...or perhaps I should say with a plow? This is the first part of Agricola: In depth, a couple of shows focusing specifically on the hot new game that we US gamers are anxiously waiting on - Agricola. This Uwe Rosenberg release has been much talked-about (and the Hottest Game on BGG.com) ever since its Essen 2007 debut and German copies haven't been very common in the US due to the difficulty in pasting up a copy for play.

But the game is just about to debut here in the US in an English language version and so I don't feel too badly about releasing a show with more information and details about the history of the game. I'm honored to have the US publisher of Agricola, Zev Shlasinger of Z-Man Games, join me on the mic to talk a little more about the game, the hype and the US release.

Part 2, featuring a conversation with LA-base Agricoholics Stephanie Kelleher and Chris Johnson talking with me about basic gameplay, strategy, a preview of the Z Deck, and the tournament we ran at Gamex 2008, will be out soon.

Please send your feedback to the connect link on the side or post them on the comments section.

This episode is sponsored by Gateplay.com - check them out for your pre-order of Agricola. I certainly recommend pre-ordering Agricola from your favorite retailer if you want to make sure you get a copy of this print run with the Z Deck. 

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Games mentioned

Agricola   Race for the Galaxy   Bohnanza   Mamma Mia

Klunker   Caylus   Scepter of Zavandor   End of the Triumvirate

Stone Age   Pillars of the Earth

Other Links

Z-Man Games   Lookout Games   Uwe Rosenberg   Spiel Des Jahres

Gateplay.com

As has become tradition around here, my lovely wife Christina (my nearly silent co-host on the last BGB) again made me a birthday cake themed to a favorite game of mine. This year, she tackled Pandemic - the hot new game from designer Matt Leacock and Z-Man Games. In one evening, she decorated both this and a heavily detailed seaside-themed cake for my daughter (meaning she stayed up late into the night making sure the red travel lines were accurate...mostly!)

The cake also tasted great. You'll notice that the Scientist is out this round (she ran out of white) and the Researcher was made of Tootsie Roll (and was the first pawn eaten). Despite all the detail, Christina was excited to do this one since Pandemic is one of her favorite games. It was another nice reminder that I am one lucky guy.

Watch next week for the first of two "Agricola: In depth" shows and I'll even be tackling Pandemic soon on a show devoted to co-op and semi-co-op games.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

It's been ages since I did a session review show talking about just a handful of games. Hey, I had to keep doing all those series, right? You'd rather hear from Reiner Knizia, Jay Tummelson, Zev Shlasinger, Steve Jackson, Tom Jolly and good folks like that anyway, right?

Apparently some people miss these shows so here is a new show talking about some great new games that we've enjoyed in recent months. A second show like this will be coming soon about Cutthroat Caverns, Age of Gods and Innsmouth Escape.

But before that, you can expect another game in the "In depth" series. "Agricola: In depth" is coming and quite soon! The first part of this two-parter should be out next week and the second part will follow shortly after that - all just in time to whip up the hype on the eve of the game's (finally!) release in the US.

Lastly, I'll note that my dear wife Christina joined me on this show just because she was sitting nearby when I was going to record. Her comments are light (she made me edit out a section) but I sure enjoyed having her around for the show because it's ages since I recorded a solo show.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Games mentioned

Ticket To Ride: The Card Game   Say Anything   Pizza Box Baseball

Keltis   Lost Cities   Drive (Crazy Chicken)   Wits & Wagers

Apples to Apples   Wer War's

Other Links

Northstar Games  

Hello from Gamex 2008. The con has got off to a great start on Friday with a big crowd of board gamers filling into the open gaming area and the early tournaments. I've decided to send some dispatches from the convention floor since we've got wi-fi in the hotel. I just love wi-fi.

Zev Shlasinger, Gamex 2008's Guest of Honor, arrived today and was perhaps a bit surprised to find the L.A. weather worse than that he'd been experiencing back in New York. This week in L.A. has been bizarre with 100F weather quickly turning into bizarre, windy and somewhat rainy conditions marked by a touchdown of a tornado and many funnel clouds. We're not accustomed to that kind of thing here in Los Angeles where the mantra is 'sunny and mild'.

But off to the gaming: I started the evening by playing a game that I will be showing off this weekend - a 10-inning nailbiter game of Pizza Box Baseball played against my buddy (and occasional BGB co-host) Mason Rourman. Mason is NOT a baseball fan and was fussy about the perceived lightness of the game (we played the basic game since we were learning). As the game progressed and I made note of where the game expands with the full rules, I could envision how much I would enjoy it with the full complement of rules. I can hardly wait to show it off at the demo tables tomorrow. Although the game is a little heavier than Harry's Grand Slam Baseball (a Burgess Family Favorite), I think it will go over well with Christina and Alaric.

At 6:00 PM, I ran the big Pandemic tournament. How do you run a Pandemic tournament, you might ask? Well, you can hear more about that in an upcoming Boardgame Babylon. I came up with a concept I liked, put it to Zev and Matt Leacock (Pandemic's designer) and they both thought it was a good idea. And it went off quite well - we had a shortage of Pandemic games but the players had a good time even though nobody won the tournament! Admittedly, we set the bar high but Pandemic is one of those games where you often have just as much fun losing as you do winning.

After this, I went over with Strategicon co-owner Mark Hyman and played Stone Age with two other fellows. This is my sixth or seventh play of this agreeable game from "Michael Tumelhofer" and I have a pretty straight strategy down now after winning my last three games. However, Mark managed a little beginner's luck and edged my buildings-plus-buildings-bonus strategy with all ten workers, every worker bonus and a lot of cultural cards. After one more Pandemic and a lot of rules review, plus some good chats with convention friends and Zev, I hit the sack. A more social day than a game playing day but that's okay - conventions are for reconnecting with old friends and new, too, not just games.

April has been both a quiet month for gaming and a busy one. Not a lot of big events but I've managed to slip in some game events among the busy work and family life schedule. BGB v52 - a session review show about some recent games and a very cool gaming book - should be out shortly but at the moment, I'd like to fill you in on a couple of cool things (and delay getting around to working on my screenplay tonight - hmm...is that the only motivation for this post?)

1. Z-MAN is coming to Gamex 2008 - The Z-man himself, Zev Shlasinger is the Guest of Honor for the upcoming Strategicon convention over the Memorial Day Weekend, Gamex 2008. This means Gamex 2008 will host the US debut of Uwe Rosenberg's instant classic, Agricola (with a tournament to boot), as well as a Z-man Marathon Tournament, and a unique tournament experience for Matt Leacock's awesome new Pandemic (which I'll talk about on BGB v52). You can expect a great time over the weekend and to hear the Q&A session with Zev on Boardgame Babylon sometime later (and, hopefully, at least one more podcast recorded there...)
2. Demos at Gamex 2008 - We have an awesome lineup of demos at Gamex planned for attendees. My crack team of Boardgame Babylon co-hosts and I will show con attendees some of the latest and hottest games around from Z-Man (of course - Zev will be showing them, too), Rio Grande, Days of Wonder, Fantasy Flight, Twilight Creations, On the Line Games, Smirk and Dagger, and many more.
3. Buy from Thoughthammer tomorrow! - In celebration of Earth Day, the wonderful folks at Thoughthammer.com are donating a portion of proceeds to the Rocky Mountain Institute. How cool is that? Alfredo and gang are already one of the best places online to get the latest games (and they've added Haba to their line recently) and if you order tomorrow, you also get to celebrate Earth Day in style. Need ideas for $125 order? How about: Galaxy Trucker, Stone Age, Tribune, Pandemic and Agricola? Can't go wrong there!
4. Exciting new stuff from Days of Wonder - I'll chat more on the next show but I'm very excited about the new stuff coming out of those DoW folks recently. The best news is that the story that broke earlier this year about a Shadows Over Camelot expansion (how did that get out of the Cone of Silence?) is true: Merlin's Company is on the way to liven up a game some say they solved. More can be found at the place where you are supposed to go for your news. But they also are releasing the long awaited Memoir '44 carrying case! Now, if they can just repackage it for BattleLore, I'll be cheering, too.

Okay, enough procrastination. Back to the Script Frenzy.

Sorry for the delays in getting this show out but at least it is finally here. Orccon 2007 (held over the President's Day Weekend) featured legendary game designer Steve Jackson as the Guest of Honor. Steve is, of course, famous for so many games that it's pointless to list them. Okay, I will list the best and most famous but this is just a drop in the bucket.

Car Wars   Illuminati   Ogre   Munchkin   GURPS (best RPG ever)

Steve was kind enough to answer questions from the audience as well as those from my co-moderator Paul Tevis (who handled the RPG side of things) and me.

The show starts out with Steve giving an overview of upcoming Steve Jackson Games products before taking questions. Although there is some discussion of RPGs (which we don't normally cover on Boardgame Babylon), there is also a lot of good material from the very witty Mr. Jackson who is certainly well-aware that we are recording for the podcast and he does what he can to give listeners extra audio cues about the proceedings - to amusing effect.

Thanks again for listening to Boardgame Babylon. A new session review show is coming soon.

Show Notes:

Steve Jackson Games  Have Games Will Travel   David Brin   Tribes

Charlie the Unicorn   Unspeakable Vault   Print On Demand  

Boardgame Babylon's special 50th show is a Rectangular Table Discussion with a huge list of special guests:

Reiner Knizia   Martin Wallace   Friedemann Friese   Alan Moon

Uwe Rosenberg   Jay Tummelson   Wolfgang Kramer   Michael Schacht

They each bring their unique perspective to this subject of the current state and the future of the hobby.

Show Notes:

Contest Details   Transcript of the Discussion   Today's Date

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Okay, we're back with the fourth volume in the Ascent and Dissent of the Friendly Online Game Store. In this episode, I speak with the owner of a new FOGS, Gateplay.com. Chris Handy is a game designer, musician and e-commerce expert who has decided to try his hand at the Online Board Game business with the unique spin that he's targeting the new or 'gateway' gamers.

I should note that my daughter has become a fan of Chris' music as CJ. If you have young kids, you will want to check him out. That CD is in heavy rotation along with Gwyndolyn's favorite kid band, Gwendolyn and the GoodTime Gang (also one to check out if you have young ones).

I hope you enjoy this new show in the series. With any luck, we'll have a second BGB this month, too. Keep an ear out for it.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Links:   Gateplay.com   Chris Handy's Designer Page   Simply Fun

Games Mentioned:

Trump: The Game   Linkity   Handy   Plext   Pandemic  

Topeka Board Gamers: Donate to the Boys and Girls Club of Topeka

Best Games of 2007 - as determined by yours truly and my special guest, Aldie from Boardgamegeek.com. We chat for quite awhile about great games from 2007 and a few that weren't so great. There are even a couple of notes about the upcoming Boardgamegeek.CON - get the scoop here!

You'll also want to check out the website of our sponsors for this show:

Gateplay Games   Tanga.com

And here are the full Best Games of 2007 lists for both of us:

Aldie

1. Agricola   2. Race for the Galaxy 3. 1960: Making of a President

4. In the Year of the Dragon   5. Starcraft   6. Galaxy Trucker

7. Age of Empires 3: Age of Discovery 8. Fire and Axe 9. Notre Dame

10. Arkham Horror: The King in Yellow

Honorable Mentions: Thebes

Disappointments: League of Six, Kingsburg, Key Harvest

Eric

1. 1960: Making of a President   2. Agricola   3. Race for the Galaxy

4. Notre Dame   5. Brass   6. In the Year of the Dragon

7. Hamburgum   8. Age of Empires 3: Age of Discovery   9. Amyitis

10. Duel in the Dark

Honorable Mentions: King of Siam, Midgard, Thebes, Vikings, Take It To The Limit, Wurfel Bingo, Key Harvest

Disappointments: Kingsburg, Chicago Poker, Gipsy Kings (edited out)

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.