Just wanted to let you know that I'm running an auction for about 100 games/items (including a few RPGS and miniature things) from my collection on BGG.com right now.
 
Shipping costs can be saved for the locals - we can arrange pick up for those of you who live in Southern California.
 
Check it out here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/48764
 
Some featured games from the list:
Factory Fun plus the new expansion
Tricky Trek (new Essen 2009 release)

Taj Mahal (RGG/Alea)
Naval War
Essen and Strategicon exclusive Zooloretto, Power Grid and Ghost Stories expansions
huge set of Clan War
Lots of kid games (yay! They've moved on!)
A bunch of old D&D minis from the 80's

Happy Bidding!

Thanks for all the great feedback on the Essen shows. I still have a few more to release when I can get a chance (and shake the jetlag after three weeks out of the country).

At this time of year, I always appeal to listeners doing their holiday online shopping to please shop through the Amazon.com link on the top left corner of the page here. If you search for items you are going to buy on Amazon anyway, a small percentage of your purchase goes to BGB to help keep the podcast going. It is no additional cost to you but helps out here, especially now that I am getting all those Essen bills in (eek!) And it couldn't be easier - just search for your item and then go through the regular purchase process.

Thanks for supporting the show and for listening to Boardgame Babylon.

More Essen shows are on the way soon. Unfortunately, limited internet access in Germany prevented me from having enough time to upload 'casts and being at the show for the first time didn't help either.

In light of the fact that Geekdo/BGG did so many cool live broadcasts on UStream and that other podcasters were on-hand, I've decided to keep my podcasts to game reviews and thoughts on the show. I did a few interviews but didn't follow the sensible advice of conducting them in quieter spots and the noise is not good - plus, there would be some overlap. So, as I spend a couple of weeks in India for work, I'll record and upload some shows to talk about the event and my attempts to play Uwe Rosenberg's new At The Gates of Loyang (the only game I brought to India) solo over the course of my trip here.

Unfortunately, the time and money involved in making the trip to Essen means that I am going to bow out of BGG.con, which is coming in less than a month's time. I am selling my BGG.con pass and although I have a friend looking in to selling it, you can feel free to e-mail me with an offer. Although some find selling the pass at a premium untoward, I was encouraged to do so by many folks. I certainly wouldn't mind something to help offset the costs of the Essen trip and the chance to bring all these podcasts to you.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon. A new show will go up shortly and many more will follow in the next two weeks.

Wow - took me almost a month to recover from that silly April Fool's Day joke. But now BGB is back with a new show talking about three new/newish games.

·         Giants by Fabrice Besson (Asmodee/Matagot)

·         Playing Gods by Benjamin Radford (BallsOut Entertainment)

·         Roll Through The Ages by Matt Leacock (FRED Distribution)

I also announce the lucky winners of the BGB contest for cool Michael Schacht stuff from Orccon 2009. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone that sent in an entry. This was the most popular contest yet for BGB and it's inspired me to do another one soon.

I'm back from GAMA (where I didn't record any shows) but I do have some good material for a couple more shows, one archive show that should see the light of day soon and even - finally - a "Favorite Games of 2009" show with one of my favorite BGB occasional contributors joining me on the mic.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Orccon 2009 is at a close and I missed a chance to do much blogging on Sunday due to a heavy demo schedule. I showed Hogwarts House Cup Challenge, Heads of State, Middle Kingdom (x2), Supernova, Municipium, Draco Mundis, The Club, and Roll Through The Ages. Luckily, Devi Hughes was nice enough to demo Titan for me. This left me no time for gaming and less time for blogging.

However, I'm editing the Michael Schacht Q&A for posting shortly and should be giving away a copy of the exclusive Strategicon Zooloretto expansion (entitled "King K.") to one lucky listener. Watch for the show later this week. I have material for at least one additional show, if not two (plus one show I recorded last week but didn't get a chance to edit).

The convention was a lot of fun, very crowded and I got a very warm reception to all games I showed. I guess it was all the advertising I did but all but one demo went off and they were nearly all packed to the point of turning people away. I did a few extras to get in some of the folks who really wanted to learn the games (notably: Municipium, Hogwarts House Cup Challenge and Roll Through The Ages). I'm exhausted for the work week now but at least I had dozens of folks that appreciated the chance to learn games instead of reading the rules themselves and it was fun to see so many of them come back with the games they had just learned in hand, having purchased it in the dealer room. That's a nice feeling - knowing I helped introduce them to something they will enjoy.

Thanks for downloading and - in this case - reading Boardgame Babylon.

It's getting late here on Saturday night at Orccon. I'm heading home tomorrow afternoon but before then, I'm getting some games in tonight and some demos tomorrow morning. This evening, I had another shot at Diamonds Club – a Rudiger Dorn tactical shopping game that I thought was just-okay at BGG.con. I'm not sure I've changed my opinion but I liked it a bit more the second go-round with everyone knowing the rules. We had to abort the game due to some tournaments, including my participation in a Der Elefant im Porzellanladen event. Okay, okay – it's Bull in the China Shop in the U.S. but I truly hate that version (a note I shared with M.S.) because the original German version was so lovely. I was horribly targeted because I'd played the game a few times and it gave my friend Paul (who was quiet about his one play of it at Essen a few years back) a chance to sneak in and win on the strength of one huge 40 point scoring round.

After this, I bolted over for Michael Schacht's other major new release, The Golden City. This one is a building game with various bonuses available from building from the ports on four sides of an island (each with different kinds of territory) through the fields and into the city for big bonuses. There are scoring opportunities every turn depending on where you place your shops and also which goods you have acquired. Players build by acquiring territory cards and if someone takes the pair you like, you can pay to grab it instead (and back and forth). Nice game and one that plays in about forty-five minutes.

I'm happy to say it is sunny and gorgeous here today. I promised Michael the 'sun-kissed hills' described in his game California and today, despite forecasts of storms, we get to make good on that. Not that we got out of the hotel at all…

The day started with some good demos. Supernova was enjoyed by some folks, even though the game didn't end up working particularly for me. Then the Roll Through The Ages madness! I demonstrated the game three times in a row because there were so many people lined up to play it. The excitement over the game was palpable – nearly every person said they wanted to buy it (notably – one very slow game was played where all four players kept the game going slowly by focusing solely on infrastructure – had two naysayers). I also managed to get in a Ticket to Ride Dice Game expansion demo for five that left two very excited players that thought the Dice expansion improved the game. Although I cannot agree with that assessment, I do like the Dice expansion quite a bit – particularly with boards we play less frequently (like Switzerland and Europe).

The Michael Schacht Q&A session was enjoyable. We had plenty of good questions and once I give the recording a polish, it will be up. I'm also doing a follow-up with Michael as well but as we finished up, we encountered the squad from MyNerdGirl.com. Apparently this is a social networking-style site and I'm hoping to post our brief conversation with their two representatives along with a second podcast with some additional questions I had for Michael that didn't get into the Q&A – hopefully including a preview of Zooloretto Exotic, Valdora and The Golden City.

The most amazing part of the day – the raucous response to Antoine Bauza's Hurry'Cup. We had a full complement of six for this party-style race game and a great time was had by all. This is a race game from Asmodee that has a personal speed element (i.e., you grab pawns to find out how quickly you will move). One player actually left the table mid-game to run to the dealer room to buy it because he'd noticed that there were not a lot of them available. I think I got a few action shots from the insane diving for the good pawn each. We had a nice crowd, too, and lots of interest for another demo tomorrow.

Right now, I'm running a demo of Andrew Parks' Hogwarts House Cup Challenge for a bunch of Harry Potter-mad folks. There are quite a few people here and I think a second game will be starting just after this one. This was meant to be my last demo of the day but if the players are there, I guess I'm teaching it again. The game is a family adventure game where you wander the grounds of Hogwarts in search of points for the Gryffindor house. Your encounters add to the glory of Gryffindor but also that of your own character – so although the House wins, there is an individual winner, too.

Got a chance at my first new Michael Schacht game of the convention tonight. We'd made an appointment to play Valdora at 8:30 and were joined by another convention attendees. Valdora ("Golden Valley" or something like that in German) is an enjoyable pick-up-and-deliver style game with gorgeous components and a clever selection mechanic that is like turning the pages of a book to find the item you are seeking. I'll talk more about it in a podcast but I enjoyed Valdora and not just because I beat M.S. at his own game. ;)

I also taught Roll Through The Ages to a few groups of enthusiastic folks – Matt Leacock's (of Pandemic fame) latest has a lot of fans here and I just hope the retailers in the dealer room listened and brought enough to sell. All four people at the last game were swearing they would get one tomorrow morning (Saturday, when the dealer room opens). I also showed Ghost Stories with great success – although the players did not win. For me, Ghost Stories remains just as much fun when you lose as when you win. The nice thing is that it is easy to vary the difficulty with some tweaks like giving the players more life tokens or playing with the haunted space numbers a bit.

Tomorrow, we show off Valley Games' Supernova and Titan, FRED's Gem Dealer and Roll Through The Ages, NECA/Quixotic's Hogwarts House Challenge, Z-Man's Middle Kingdom and Heads of State, and many more. But I'm really looking forward to the Q&A session with Michael Schacht. There isn't much time to send in questions but if you do, I'll try to get them in. I'll probably do a follow-up show with him as well to ask all my questions that do not get in during the Q&A so even if you send them after 1 PM PST today, I might have time to ask him.

If I can get the darn pictures off my camera or Blackjack, I'll upload some soon.

Playtesting will be a top draw this weekend. Not only do I expect to play in many of Michael Schacht's playtesting events but I've just run into jim pinto (yes, he's like k.d. lang) from Alderac Entertainment. He the man in charge of their board gaming department and he has some interesting new titles that he's offered to show me. At least one seems to be up my alley so I'm looking forward to giving them a look later this evening.

I've just finished teaching Municipium (myu-nih-KIP-ee-um – unless you like church Latin) to some excited players. We had about four additional folks listening in and I think the next demo will likely fill again. I'm fond of this middle-weight Knizia (okay, maybe light-middle) and the art has really grown on me.

I'm off to teach Roll Through The Ages now and have an 8:30 PM appointment to play Valdora with M.S. The con is filling up already.

Orccon 2009 is here (or at least I'm here)! Michael Schacht has arrived and I've had a few moments to speak with him. He's a charming, pleasant fellow and we're looking forward to spending the weekend playing his new games and revisiting many older ones. He has a nice stack of the Zooloretto Strategicon Exclusive that the convention will be handing out to those who attend Schacht events (including our Q&A session Saturday at 1 PM).

In fact – if you have any questions for us to ask Michael Schacht in the Q&A session tomorrow, drop me an e-mail at sheylon AT gmail DOT com (or click the Connect link to the left) and I'll try to get your question in. Send them in soon!

Tonight, I'm doing demonstrations of Valley Games' Municipium, FRED Distribution's Roll Through The Ages, and Asmodee's Ghost Stories.

I wanted to make sure you are all aware of this exciting news from Strategicon! Considering the great deals Virgin America, Southwest and Jet Blue are offering to L.A. right now, you've got few excuses not to join us. What? Just because of Valentine's Day? Sell it as a romantic getaway to glamorous L.A.! ;)

Strategicon's Orccon 2009 is welcoming award-winning game designer Michael Schacht as Guest of Honor for their annual convention held at the LAX Radisson from February 13-16.

Mr. Schacht is set to US debut of three major new releases at the convention. "Zooloretto Exotic" is a new expansion for the Spiel Des Jahres-winning family game of the same name. "The Golden City" is a major new Kosmos release and "Valdora" is the latest new board game from Abacusspiele due out at the Nuremberg toy fair this year. All three will be available for exclusive play at Orccon along with some games Mr. Schacht will bring for play-testing at the event.

In addition, Mr. Schacht has provided an exclusive Zooloretto game tile for Orccon 2009 that will be available to Strategicon attendees this year. Strategicon also runs Gamex 2009 on Memorial Day Weekend and Gateway 2009 on Labor Day Weekend. The tile will also be used in a big combined Zooloretto/Aquaretto tournament also held at the convention.

Orccon 2009 regularly plays host to approximately fifteen-hundred gamers from around the world. Board game tournaments offer dealer dollar prizes and have no individual event cost. Come join in the fun in sunny Southern California this Presidents' Day Weekend. For more information on Orccon 2009, please visit: www.strategicon.net.

The holidays are upon us here at Boardgame Babylon. It's Christmas Eve and although we've spent the night wooping it up with Rock Band (and hoping that Santa brings "Rock Band 2"), I've also been editing podcasts while others had their turn - although I took the mike for a setlist that included Screaming Trees' "Nearly Lost You", Oasis' Don't Look Back in Anger" and the newly downloaded Billy Squier carol, "Christmas Is A Time To Say I Love You" (which is one of my Top 10 Favorite Christmas Carols).

Sadly, the Last Minute Stocking Stuffer show was scrapped at the last minute when I had to do some work this week when I was supposed to be on vacation. I only had so much time before Xmas and that had to win out. But I'll replace it with a session review show for sure. I hope to release two BGG.con shows shortly in addition to at least one session review show.

Listen to the next Boardgame Babylon for some exciting news about the upcoming Orccon convention. We have a special guest coming in from Germany that might interest you. There are even more reasons to visit Sunny Southern California in February now.

We've got the Christmas music playing and we're about to play a little Mystery Rummy (likely Rue Morgue since we're tired and I can almost play that one in my sleep) while we wait for Santa. Those of us at Boardgame Babylon wish all listeners a very happy holiday season filled with joy, games, and good times!

...ERB

The Holidays are taking their usual toll on my podcast output. Sorry about that but I do love to make merry this time of the year (when work and other things aren't taking my time). However, I expect about three more podcasts to come out soon. My annual Last Minute Stocking Stuffer show may not come out in the form I expected - it might end up as a regular session report since I've found a dearth of stock-sized winners lately.

However, there is at least one BGG.Con report coming and two Session Review shows talking about some exciting titles from Essen and just after. Patience is appreciated!

Also appreciated are the nice folks using our affiliate links for Amazon and MeeplePeople. You buy things for the same amount if you went to their site but if you click from here, I get a tiny cut. So, thanks to those that have contributed to the show with your shopping dollars.

Well, I'm back from BGG.con and I had a great time meeting up with BGB listeners to play the latest Essen titles. I'm editing at least one podcast of some interviews I took from some of the vendors there. I might do a separate one about the titles I played (about thirty games) or roll it all together into one. We shall see. I expect to get a moment to put the show(s) out this weekend since it's another lovely four-day weekend.

As we go into the Christmas season, feel free to visit us here at BGB when you are shopping at Amazon or MeeplePeople.com. Although we don't ask for donations at BGB (I always listeners to become a BGG Patron or BGN subscriber instead since those terrific folks make a living doing this kind of thing), I certainly appreciate those that use the Amazon search box to find the items you are ordering and when you make a purchase, we get a tiny little cut (doesn't affect your price). Same thing for Meeple People.com - we get a small slice that doesn't increase your price. So, if you're shopping on those sites, I humbly request you click through BGB to help support the show. A very big thanks to those that already have (since that reminded me to mention it, too).

Lastly, I wanted to mention that, as expected, the terrific Ryan and Chad of GameInk.net did indeed have the RA shirt at BGG.con and if you want one, you'd better order NOW. They were moving nicely there and they had people contact them ahead of time to put in their requests for one to be held. If you want a copy of this awesome limited print-run item, browse on over to GameInk.net right away (and check out their other cool stuff, too - I bought a couple more shirts myself at BGG.con). They make terrific presents.

Happy Thanksgiving to all US folks observing it and happy holidays to everyone else.

Not making a big announcement on BGG for this one because I know there are a couple of friends who already want it. But, if you read BGB regularly, you are in on the offer.

I've decided to part ways with my Risk: Black Ops. I'm reviewing a copy of the same game a friend bought so this shrinkwrapped Risk: Black Ops can go to someone who will love it more than I will. Drop me an e-mail with an offer if you are interested. I can deliver to BGG.con if necessary.

E-mail to: Sheylon AT GMAIL DOT COM. Send it soon! No formal process (not a bid or whatever) - I'll just look at the offers and if one looks good - you got it.

It's been a great summer of gaming and I just returned from a trip up to West Coast MeepleFest were fun was had by all. I wasn't able to take Christina with me this year but I still managed to have a nice time even as I missed having her there by my side. Although I didn't record any volumes of Boardgame Babylon, I do appear on the latest Garrett's Games and Geekiness alongside Aldie, Paul Tevis and Ric Bretschneider (and Doug and Shelly, of course).

Additionally, I wrote up my session reports from the convention and they ended up being so long that I decided against reproducing them here. Instead, I shoved them on a Geeklist here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/33755

(see the pic for a shot of one of the weekend's silliest moments - me mercilessly defeating newbies in the traditional Loopin' Louie tournament - photo courtesy of Greg Zamira)

I'm looking ahead to the next couple of conventions. Gateway 2008 is at the end of the month and it should be a great time. Again, I'm demonstrating games on Friday and Saturday - including new games from Z-Man, Days of Wonder, Rio Grande, Fantasy Flight, and a few other companies. Come out and join us in Southern California for the best convention series around.

The next Boardgame Babylon is a Session Review show with comments on Age of Gods, Octego, and a great book of games called "The 15 Greatest Board Games In the World!"

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon. We're hitting huge numbers lately and it is much appreciated! Please share with me any feedback you might have - it's always a pleasure to receive your notes. Just click the "Connect" button to send me your comments.

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.

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.

Yes, it's been a while - even since I promised a new show. But rest assured, gentle listener, I am hard at work producing new shows. I've been slogging through the ages-old Rectangular Table Discussion on the Games Workshop line of 80's board games. It's a two-hour show (even after edits) and, frankly, it's a little more off-the-cuff than I care for it to be. We'd had some wine and, well, it's a little breezy. I might still release it and do a follow-up with another guest that has expressed some interest in talking on the subject.

In addition to that, I have shows for all the major BGB series coming up soon - most are recorded and one is planned. The "Best of 2007" show is also on the horizon, with another favorite guest. In fact, that will probably be the next one you hear. Also, I recorded a Q&A session with the Orccon 2008 Guest of Honor, Steve Jackson, with one of my esteemed podcasting colleagues, Paul Tevis of the Have Games Will Travel podcast. I think I have six shows in the can so, you know, they need to come out!

Thanks to everyone who has written in to ask about why BGB has been so quiet lately. The first quarter of 2008 has been rather busy with work, a family emergency and, yes, a bout with bronchitis. But I'm on the mend and setting some time aside to get out some new shows. If nothing appears by next Monday, you are free to harass me again.

Thanks for downloading (and waiting for) Boardgame Babylon.

As it happens, Boardgame Babylon has won the 2007 Board Game Internet Award for Best Podcast/Videocast. I'm deeply honored that the show could win in a field with so many great shows.

Thanks to all the terrific and clearly discerning folks that voted on it and for all the fond wishes of congratulations from listeners. It certainly was a great year for the show and I had a wonderful time being part of it.

Thanks for downloading and listening (and voting for) Boardgame Babylon. A new show with my Best Games of 2007 (and a good guest) is coming up soon.

No new podcast yet (should be one up in a day or two) but I did jot down notes of the games I played on my vacation for the holidays from Dec. 22 through New Year's Eve. I expect to play a few more today but this represents a good sized list from a lot of game day events and parties where we got some games in among the holiday festivities.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/27498

Happy New year to all and thanks for listening to Boardgame Babylon.

It's the season of giving and so I want to encourage those of you who haven't done so to please consider becoming a Boardgamegeek.com Sponsor. BGG is truly the center of the online board gaming experience for so many of us and yet it is provided free of charge by some great guys named Scott Alden and Derk Solko. BGG continue to get better and better (unlike much of the software you pay for), while also handling more and more users in the growing hobby.

I've never asked for donations for Boardgame Babylon (although many nice people have inquired) but I do occasionally encourage listeners to support worthwhile charities (as in the Franz-Benno Delonge event) and I certainly encourage everyone to sign up and support BGG now during their membership drive leading up to the year's end. There's only about a week left to help keep our hobby's most valuable online resource alive and active in 2007. Here's the link:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/support.php

Happy Holidays to all!

...Sheylon

We hit $2,500 tonight, with two days to go until BGG.CON.

We've got plans in place for 72 participants in the TransAmerica tournament. We'll have room for some walk-ins but I'm not sure how many. Donate now if you want to make sure you are pre-registered for the tournament.

We'll also draw for the "Play At Home" winners at that time, except for Shire Games for UK donors - you have until 11/30 for that one.

You can still donate here: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/boardgamebabylon

Oh, and there should be a new Boardgame Babylon tomorrow. See some of you at BGG.CON. Look for me in the black BGB shirt, shamelessly promoting the podcast.

...ERB

In just the last few days, we've added three new sponsors for the Franz-Benno Delonge Fund Raiser. Your Move Games, Shire Games, and Sunriver Games are adding some cool prizes that you can win if you are generous enough to donate to the American Cancer Society during this fund raiser.

Your Move and Sunriver are donating prizes that you can win at BGG.CON by playing in the TransAmerica Memorial Tournament. Shire Games - a fine retailer in the UK - has offered to help boost our donations from Great Britain by offering a game to one lucky donor who cannot attend BGG.CON but still wants to help support the fight against cancer.

We thank these terrific sponsors for their help in supporting the cause. We're at 38% of our goal now. Won't you please support the effort with a donation? The ACS Web Site will take a donation as small as $10 (or any size - and some board gamers have indeed been very generous!) and every little bit helps.

That link again: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/boardgamebabylon

Thanks in advance to all who help with the cause and honor Benno in this way!

...ERB

In honor of the great Franz-Benno Delonge, designer of eurogame classics like TransAmerica, Big City, Dos Rios, Manila and the new classic, Container, Boardgame Babylon is encouraging listeners to join us in donating to the American Cancer Society to help fight the disease that claimed FBD's life at only fifty years of age.

As a tribute, Boardgame Babylon is hosting a TransAmerica tournament for donors at Boardgamegeek.CON on November 16th from 5 to 8 PM. The tournament will be a single elimination event, with Rio Grande Games kindly providing copies of the game for play. The finalists will win prizes provided by supporting game companies, retailers, and others helping with the drive. These wonderful companies include:

* Boardgamegeek.com (uh, that place where you are reading this)
* Meeple People.com
* Rio Grande Games
* Strategicon
* Thoughthammer Games
* Time Well Spent
* Valley Games

If you would like to help as a sponsor, please contact us at: sheylon@gmail.com. We are raising donations for a great cause but prizes are a nice extra thank you for donors who are supporting the drive.

Just make your donation here and you will be included in the tournament: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/boardgamebabylon

Further details are on the donation page.

You do not need to be at Boardgamegeek.CON to participate!

We welcome contributions from friends and fans of Judge Delonge's even if you are not attending the event but you would just like to honor his memory with a donation. We will even have a drawing after the tournament for some prizes to go out to donors that are 'playing at home' if they cannot join us at BGG.CON. This is open to gamers in all countries! If you win a prize and the supporting company won't pay to ship it to you, I will!

Of course, the REAL reason to support this effort is to fight this terrible disease - the prizes are just a nice thank you for supporting the cause. Your contribution goes directly and entirely to the American Cancer Society - the costs of setting up the event and prizes are being paid for by the terrific companies and individuals involved. Please donate what you can - it is all appreciated!

Once again, here is the link: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/boardgamebabylon

Thanks in advance to those who support of this event and this cause. I certainly believe this is a good way to honor Benno for all the great games he gave to us while also working towards the goal of a cancer-free world.

E.R. Burgess
www.boardgamebabylon.com

(photo courtesy of John Bohrer)

Yes, it's been a bit quiet around here. To be honest, I have multiple shows waiting - it's just that my capacity on Libsyn is limited and it looks like the system balked at me posting another show.

So, once November rolls around, I'm expecting to post the next BGB. I'm also expecting to announce a special event for BGG.con shortly, too - and I'm hopeful that it will be something that will encourage a lot of people to get involved.

Stay tuned.

Thanks for downloading and listening to (and waiting for) Boardgame Babylon.

Wow - two Boardgame Babylon shows in one week? It's never been done before and don't expect it again... ;)

As promised, this is the Q&A session recorded at Gateway 2007 with Guest of Honor Tom Jolly. Tom is, of course, well-known in the board game community as the designer of the classic game, Wiz-War (one of my few games rated a '10'), as well as more recent favorites like Drakon, Cave Troll, and Camelot. He was kind enough to entertain attendees with all kinds of interesting anecdotes about his history in game design and self-publishing, his experiences with various publishers and about how the industry has changed in the nearly twenty-five years since he entered it with 100 bagged copies of Wiz-War in hand.

I've decided to add this to the Stories of Self-Publishing series for the simple reason that a whole lot of the questions were about his days running Jolly Games, the shingle under which he published many of his older games, including G.O.O.T.M.U., Knots, Programmer's Nightmare, and Villages. But this doesn't mean I am wanting for more in the series - one more is already recorded and another is scheduled soon.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Games Mentioned

Wiz-War   Villages   Drakon   Cave Troll   RA

Cosmic Encounter   Magic: The Gathering   Knots

Disk Wars   Camelot   Cargo   G.O.O.T.M.U.

Other Links

Tom Jolly   Strategicon   Jolly Games

Okay, the first Boardgame Babble-on is now available on Talkshoe.com. It's a pretty freewheelin' discussion between Aldie, Dave Gullett (Davebo), and Sourwyrm about games, play styles, and things you can do on the 'Geek. I promise the next one will link to a specific subject and I will invite guests to speak on specific subject. Even so, I hope it's fun to hear. You can find it here...

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=52245&cmd=tc

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babble-on...

I've now scheduled a volume of Boardgame Babble-on, the interactive companion podcast for Boardgame Babylon. I'm hopeful that I can get some listeners and friends to join the show for a chat.

Okay, for the first volume of Boardgame Babble-on, I'm hoping for a very general talk about some subjects from recent shows: Demise and Rise/Ascent and Dissent, latest games and disappointments, recents conventions and my excitement about finally attending BGG.con this year - and anything else the callers would like to discuss, really. Let's see how it goes. Hopefully this isn't so late that we lose the East Coasters.

Here is the link for the show: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=52245&cmd=tc

Like many on BGG.com right now, I have tried out the interesting web site called Talkshoe.com and I would like to give it a try for a companion podcast with Boardgame Babylon called Boardgame Babble-on, where I will host a show with participants calling in to talk about a recent BGB show.

While we do not need to directly tie to only one BGB show, I was hoping to somewhat do so and have this be a chance for people to talk back on subjects we discuss on the regular show.

Would this be of interest to people? Please respond in this space and if it seems like a few people will show up, I'll schedule the show one night PDT. I'd love the chance to connect with BGB listeners.

Thanks for downloading and talking about Boardgame Babylon.

P.S. Some have asked what cake my wife made for my birthday this year. Feast your eyes on this one!

As I returned from Gateway 2007 this Labor Day weekend, I received the terrible news: Franz-Benno Delonge of TransAmerica, Big City, Dos Rios, and Hellas fame has died at only fifty years of age. Cancer was the reason and as one who has lost a close loved one to the same disease, I feel for the Delonge family and the good Judge's friends. Remember that you can always make a contribution to great organizations like the City of Hope to honor someone who has passed away in hopes that others in the future will have a stronger chance against this horrible disease.

While news of Delonge's passing has tempered the weekend a bit, I did spend most of it away at Gateway 2007 and it was a terrific event. The Live Action Wiz-War event was a smashing success with excellent attendance and although a couple of our props didn't make it down to the event, people had a great time. Our qualifying round lasted quite a while but the final game was over quickly due to a critical risk taken by one of the wizards and the fact that another player had the right card to take advantage of it. Classic Wiz-War, people kept saying.

I had a great time showing off new Z-Man titles like R-Eco and Duel in the Dark. Owner's Choice was also a big hit and I keep liking it more the more often I play it. Even had a chance to play it with Tom Jolly, who was disappointed that he couldn't find it in the dealer room and was trying to get mine from me in trade. Nothing doing, Jolly (I was able to saying that cavalierly since he'd already recorded a podcast for me).

Played great games like Shogun, Yspahan, R-Eco, Poker, tons of prototypes and, yes, even a game of Star Wars: Epic Duels. Sigh. At least I had a couple of glasses of Guinness in me to dull the pain.

Tons of shows are on the way. I have at least two show's worth from Gateway 2007, including the Q&A session with Tom Jolly (which I'm calling Stories of Self-Publishing, Part 2 since he talks a whole lot about it) and snippets from Protospiel West's event at Gateway - a chance for designers and playtesters to come together (and a very well-attended event!) This is in addition to a couple more shows I have in the can in a new series I meant to announce last week. Alas, I got too busy with work and life leading up to Gateway so you'll just get a whole lot of Boardgame Babylon over the next couple of months.

Thanks for downl...er...reading Boardgame Babylon.

If you are in SoCal (or can make it down here), come on down to say 'hi' at Strategicon's Labor Day Weekend convention, Gateway 2007.

In addition to the normal mix of great open gaming, tournaments, and demonstrations, there are a few notable special events:

*  Play with the Creator sessions with Tom Jolly and other designers
*  Fermat Challenge - Beat Tom Jolly at his own game and you can win dealer dollars to be spent at the con
*  Live Action Wiz-War with a full-sized map, giant props and a quick-play qualifying round that will allow dozens to play
*  Q&A session with Tom Jolly on 9/2 at 1 PM - We'll get Tom to answer everyone's questions about his long career in game design, publishing and where the heck the new Wiz-War is! This session will be recorded for Boardgame Babylon
*  Protospiel West has a series of sessions to bring designers and playtesters together to try out the next generation of designer games.
*  Many seminars in the Strategicon War College.

In addition, I'll be running tournaments of Owner's Choice, Saboteur, Midgard, Stack Market, and Colosseum (maybe more that I am forgetting).

For more information, please see www.strategicon.net.

Come on down and say 'hi' - just look for me in the Boardgame Babylon t-shirt. I'll be there for most of the weekend.

 

A sharp-eyed Boardgame Babylon listener recently pointed out that he found a picture of me on BGG.com so the jig is up - I'll stop posting joke photos and just show off my favorite picture of myself in the last couple of years. Here is a shot of yours truly - a big fan of Reiner Knizia's Taj Mahal - at the actual Taj Mahal. I carted one of my special oh-so-exclusive white palaces that were given out as promotional items all the way from Los Angeles to Agra, India to take this picture. The story of the journey there is something else, too, and I may find a way to work that anecdote into a show at some point.

Besides, I was heavily photographed at fellow podcaster Doug Garrett's West Coast MeepleFest this weekend (which was a blast), too, so I figured the image is out so I might as well embrace it. It was amusing (to me) while it lasted. I will post some comments on games played there (see the sidebar for some of them), although most will end up on a podcast.

Sorry for the dearth of podcasts this Summer. My walking pnuemonia seems to be back and my voice is a shade of its former strength. That and Skype/Total Recorder problems have kept me from a couple of projects. But a new series, another episode of a previous series and at least two session review shows are on the horizon.

...Sheylon

I'm happy to report that my cousin Steve managed to recover my crashed hard drive, which contained at least four recorded Boardgame Babylon episodes. I'll be getting around to editing them soon, but at the moment, I'm focusing on a couple of new shows so I'm not sure how soon they will be out.

One is a Rectangular Table Discussion about Kid's Games, another is the RTD on the Games Workshop board game line in the 80's and I think there are two additional session review shows.

If you ever need a great hand in data recovery, check out my cousin's business at: http://www.burgessforensics.com/

...Sheylon
www.boardgamebabylon.com

Just a quick note for game publishers out there that are interested in sending review copies of games for discussion on Boardgame Babylon: I really appreciate the honor of getting a review copy of your games but I'd respectfully ask that you please contact me ahead of time to see if it is a game I'd like to play and talk about. My taste is pretty heavy on euro/designer games and doesn't really stray in the realm of war or role-playing games (excepting some fantasy miniature games) so I'm less inclined to review this type of game.

I realize I've gotten myself into this by putting the mailing address on my business cards but if you just send me a quick inquiry ahead of time, I can make sure you don't waste your money sending me a game I might not want to play and I won't feel guilty if I take a long time to review it. If you confirm with me ahead of time, I'll be happy to review the game and ask you to be on the show - although I always want to find an interesting angle for including you (and not just a straight advert), like my recent show about High School Drama, which was also about game design and self-publishing. Thanks in advance for your consideration!

Thanks...ERB

The last game I played at Gamex was Super Yahtzee, I mean, To Court The King. No, I shouldn't be so mean (and that joke is old). I don't want to criticize this Tom Lehmann game since there are a ton of dice games out there now that are all using the Yahtzee mechanic of 'roll the dice and pull at least one out at a time'.

In fact, To Court the King is closer to a pure Yahtzee game than most others but with a whole host of cards you can acquire with various combos so you can get more dice or more ways to manipulate them to complete better combos.

While Jay was teaching Heather and me, Devi came up and said that he liked it because "you get more control as you go along". Indeed, TCTK gets better as you gain cards which give you special abilities - each named for some person or noble (maids, barons, laborers, all the way up to the King and Queen).

Some cards add dice set to a particular number (you can re-roll them after the first turn) to your rolling set, while others allow for pip manipulation (move them between dice to turn, say, a four and a two into two threes), while others allow for re-rolls.

And, yes, this is all dependent on the rolls you make. Luckily for those who dice hate (like yours truly), there is also the Fool card which you get if you are unable to roll a good combo (which are sets, higher totals, and the like). The Fool lets you do a free re-roll and if you get a second Fool, he turns into the Charlatan card, which mercifully gives you an extra die. All of this builds towards the winner combo - seven of a kind. This courts the King and then everyone gets one turn to beat that roll (i.e., roll seven 'fives' if the King-holder has seven 'fours'). If no one can unseat him, he wins. If someone manages, the King is handed over but the Queen stays and helps the original finisher gain the King back.

One potential issue for some is that large number of different cards that do different things. There is a cheat sheet but it is long and also double-sided. This is kind of a pain but I'd rather have them than not.

The game plays in about a 1/2 hour once you know how to play it. For those that cannot manipulate numbers (and, hey, they are small - it didn't intimidate this Literature major) and think quickly about how to reorder things with a whole bunch of factors, this one will seem harder than it should be. But as a casual activity for those who enjoy rolling the bones, it is fun. We played with three (including Jay) and it moved along nicely (despite the quirky choice to have the Start Player rotate counter-clockwise, giving everyone consecutive turns each round).

I plan to pick it up because I think it will play well with two and because I would like to use it to encourage good math skills with my kids. The numbers are small but the concept of moving the pips around to make other numbers sounds like something good to drill into elementary school kids.

One most post with a wrap-up will follow. I will also do a podcast wrap-up with more opinions later on.

...Sheylon
www.boardgamebabylon.com

The Q&A session with Jay was a lot of fun. I'm going through it now and it should be out soon. He told some great stories about Settlers first being published, the way he got Rio Grande going, his upcoming schedule and whole lot more. I expect it will be up in a week (after I give Jay a chance to hear it).

Here's a nice shot after the crowd left with Devi and Heather Hughes (from the Orange County Board Gamers), my sister Isabel (in the Invoke Ra shirt from www.meeplepeople.com), Mason hiding behind Jay and our gaming buddy Burt on the right.

...Sheylon
www.boardgamebabylon.com

Travis Ball, the winner of Orccon's Kniziathon and the man behind Protospiel West, took the crown for the Rio Grande tournament this weekend. I'm thinking that someone better knock Travis off his throne at Gateway in whatever special event ends up being the board game highlight or he will be impossible to be around!

Congratulations, Travis! He was awarded the nicest of three cool trophies - and the runners-up were Chris Johnson and Michael Nickeloff.

(photo: courtesy of Patrick Havert)

Before heading off to the Q&A session with Jay, we managed to squeak in one more game and my request was Guatemala Café. Jay had a copy of the German version and followers of this game (and Eggertspiele) will know that they packed some coffee beans into the game's draw bag so that while you are playing the game, you get the aroma of fresh coffee beans. A cute idea (although not appealing to me since I am both not a coffee drinker and I dislike the smell of it), but one that Jay isn't following through on for the US version. He noted that he'd rather not run afoul of the FDA by selling something that could be consumed, even though his counterparts at Eggertspiele insist that they are inedible. I can appreciate Jay's concern and, honestly, I'm fine with the lack of real beans.

But forget the Smell-O-Rama aspect of the game, how does it play? Very nicely, I'd say. GC is a rare game in that there are two boards. However, only one is really a play-board - the other is the staging area where you can draw play pieces from the column that the master pawn is on. On your turn, you must move the MP from 1 to 3 spaces and then you select up to three items you want to buy - be they roasting houses, workers, ships, roads or scoring markers. When you first look at this massive board plus the second one full of fields where you will place them, it may seem daunting and complex.

In actuality, the play of the game is pretty easy. You are trying to place similarly-colored roasters and adjacent workers to score in one of five colors when someone takes a scoring marker. If you can use roads (which come into play when the other pieces are taken - a nice touch) to connect to the docks through one of the roads, you can get bonus multipliers by placing similarly-colored boats down there. The roads are specific lines with multiple slabs for roasters placed by different players so you can either piggyback on someone else's work (and connect to the same docks) or compete with them directly and try to limit their ability to score big by placing your own boats down there. Workers add on to roasters and depending on how close to the docks your setup is, you pay more or less. The balancing act here, including the fact that you can specialize in one of five types of coffee, is where you find the fun. I managed to pull a solid victory by using only three types, including piggybacking on someone else's efforts with the white coffee, doing a solid job of the same for less money with black and then winning when Bernie managed a huge score at the end with the natural coffee type. He almost caught up but I shot straight over the line created by nearly constant scoring.

Ah, the scoring. So, you can select scoring tiles to get more points in the color of your choice - that is, for everyone with a roaster of that color with a corresponding worker connected to it. However, this is also how you can refill your coffers with eight more pesos - in face, this the only way! So, scoring is encouraged a lot and each time you score, you put the scoring tile on the score track. Since the winner is the one that reaches the end of the scoring track first, this accelerates the game as it goes. I love this mechanic since it means you can affect the length of the game, too.

Guatemala Cafe is a nice game that I enjoyed. It comes with a whole lot of wood and although the basic game provides a standard set up for new players, you can also randomly set up the pieces for a more varied game. Of course, this option could allow for a player to get too much on a line for a single turn.

After staying up way too late on Saturday, I still managed to get up early so I could play more of the great games Jay brought along. When I got down to the demo area, I wanted to play Caylus Magna Carta. However, Bernie and Devi were already playing the game with another guy. So, I settled for the chance to play Wikinger - or, as Jay will soon call it, Vikings. Can you believe that that name wasn't already taken?

Vikings has one 'exciting' mechanic - a wheel built into the board which sets the price for recruiting vikings and their respective island piece to your group. You buy vikings of different colors (farmers, nobles, goldsmiths, scouts, warriors, boatmen) and each comes with an island piece (a beginning, middle or end) that you can build out on your play space. Red gives you points, Yellow gives you Gold to buy things, Blue feed your vikings at the end of the game - and on and on. You need them all but can only buy so many. As Jay said, "a game where you can't do everything you want each turn. What a concept!"

Now, I have to say - the theme of this game makes no sense at all and has nothing to do with the admittedly enjoyable mechanics. In an upcoming (although actually recorded back at Orccon) Boardgame Babylon episode, art director jim pinto points out how 'phony' the mechanics of many designer games appear to be when you think about it with regard to the theme. Vikings is a particularly good example of this but the truth of the matter is that I don't care. Indeed, it is all artificial but it is also an enjoyable game that, again, plays through in about forty-five to sixty minutes (depending on your DPF - Deliberative Player Factor).

Jay explained the basics but didn't overwhelm us with the sometimes quirky scoring. In the end, we all found many things we would do differently but the first time is always a learning game. Indeed, nearly everything gets a chance to add victory points at the end, in addition to the incidental scoring and money payouts which happen throughout the game. All in all, I was very fond of Vikings and may very well get it. The Viking meeples are certainly neat ("Vikeeples?")

Check out Jay looking at me disapprovingly! "Did he ask permission to take this photo?" ;)

After the Escalation! tournament, I ran one for Blue Moon City. This is fast becoming one of my favorite light games. In fact, I think three copies are now owned in our regular group. Anyway, the tournament was a big success, with lots of players but I had to step in to fill out one of the tables with four players.

In BMC (which has nothing to do with Blue Moon except the artwork and dragon components), players complete the rebuilding of sections of the city by playing cards and placing tokens on spaces. There are bonuses to be awarded for using your cards to move one or more of three dragons to the space on which you are building and bonuses galore for building near other completed cities. The game rewards some level of cooperative play and although the artwork is wild and perhaps a trifle goofy, it is an utterly approachable game that plays very quickly and enjoyably in forty-five minutes. Further, it is one of those games that picks up speed as it goes since the building rewards are better as time goes on. A delightful gateway game and one that I look forward to playing even more this year. I came in second in our game but primarily due to an error on the part of one of the other players. That new player had some challenges playing but most don't.

After BMC, I ran a tournament for Midgard and this is another enjoyable game that I have been showing off at various SoCal stores and events for a while. Think of it as El Grande in forty-five minutes, with a touch of Fairy Tale thrown in plus a couple more fun mechanics that work nicely with the theme. It is an area control game where you want to get majorities in various areas. You start with a Fairy Tale-style draft, so you get to see a good portion of the cards people have and then you use them to deploy your vikings out from the ships and on to the three regions, each of which have three or four provinces. Like El Grande, you have your vikings in your ship and more in a general supply that you need to bring into play. There are three categories of card (Bronze, Silver and Gold) which vary in value but you need a selection of all three. In a fine nod to the theme, vikings that are killed give you victory points and so do those that are deployed into the half of the provinces that are 'doomed' each turn. And heck, the doomed guys are worth another two points! There are also heavens that offer additional bonuses and a set collection mechanic to encourage even-handed placement. Midgard snuck up on me. At first, I thought it was just a fair game but the more I play it, the more I think it is a solid game and good fun.

Later that evening, I had a chance to play Notre Dame again. This time, I played it with three (the previous play had been with five), with all of us on our second play. Bernie, Seth and I powered through the game in under forty-five minutes and had a blast. This time, I managed to pull a victory through a combination of getting the carriage around and help from Notre Dame. The second time around was even better and I'm so happy to say that at least two copies have entered our regular game group's collection. I know Notre Dame will get a lot of play. It was THE hot game of Gamex 2007 and it's a good thing Jay brought a lot of them to sell.

Unfortunately, he forgot to bring Vexation - the TransAmerica/TransEuropa expansion! He did bring a sample but forgot to bring those for sale. Ah, but it and many other great games like Caylus Magna Carta, Jenseits von Theben, and Zooloretto will be in stores very shortly.

After that, I threatened to make everyone play a game of Rocketville! I was going to drop it into the convention's auction but I really had to see if was truly that bad first. While I went through the rules, we played a game of Ticket to Ride with the full complement of cards from the Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 expansion. Our friends Seth and Chris had never played the game before but the lineup of players also included experiences Ticketers Bernie and Mark (the convention's co-owner). Despite my being distracted by reading through the rules of Rocketville (it sounds bad...), I managed to pull a sizable victory because everyone else was fighting for the Northeast and I was lazily building across from Los Angeles to Miami. I managed to get all the way across, with one minor side trip to Chicago, completing three tickets - and then drew two completed tickets.

I pulled out a huge victory, made all the more disturbing for the others since I casually took my turns in the midst of reading about this Richard Garfield monstrosity. No one was willing to play Rocketville at 2 AM. We're getting old, I guess. To bed, then.

Egad - Jay actually brought the "Maxi Chicken Cha Cha Cha". Yes, you can dress up like the chickens and play the game full size! This was nicely paired with a full size Settlers of Catan game, too. Only at a convention, as they say. These are available through Rio Grande but they are pretty expensive. He brings them over at cost but, well, they are about $200 at cost. You don't see them too often...

After a whirlwind morning of errands, I finally made it down to Gamex before noon. I dropped off my sizable contribution to the Rio Grande library and checked out the nice dealer room. We've got a great crowd here and I'm thrilled to see such a big turnout.

Just after that, I got a chance to meet Jay Tummelson. As always described, Jay was a nice fellow and was cheerfully asking everyone, "Want to play a game?" Some of the games Jay Brought to show off include:

Caylus Magna Carta
Notre Dame
Guatemala Cafe
Master Thieves
Ponte De Marchio
Fiji

Jay brought a lot of terrific games to the convention to try out but the crown jewel for the simple reason of exclusivity is If Wishes Were Fishes, the Peter Sarrett game that was just published in Germany this Wednesday. Good guy that Jay is, he paid a hefty fee to have a copy shipped out so he could show it off at Gamex. Naturally, this story was good enough to get me to sit down right away. Jay showed the game to me and my buddy Bernie, who flew in from NYC for the con.

If Wishes Were Fishes is undeniably cute. I mean, you get little fish meeples ("fisheeples?") and a half-dozen rubber worms in addition to a single card representing two boats where you can store your fish. This card is cleverly divided to show two halves of two boats so you can put a fish on each side. The rainforest thanks them. You also get a colorful board with a fish stand for each fish type where some 'buyer' meeples hang out randomly to increase the amount you can get if you sell fish you caught and keep.

On your turn, you can sell a fish you have in your boat or 'fish' for a new fish card (well, draft them) and decide if you are going to keep the fish to sell at the appropriate stand or toss the fish back and receive the 'wish' the fish has on the top of his card. The wishes vary from allowing you to sell more than the limit of one fish per turn, increase the value of fish by manipulating the buyers, sell you fish as a more valuable one, get money for all your worms, get extra boats, and that kind of thing. The fish are set up in a line of four and you can only take the one to the far right free (shallow sea). If you want to take one further over, you need to use your worms - one for each card you want to skip past. Later, if there is a worm on a card you take, you get to claim it. Also, you can't take fish if you have no room in your boats.

There are also bonus cards that show up when a certain number of a type of fish (betwen 4 and 7) are sold and cycling through them will draw the game to the end. When this comes up, the two people with the largest number of fish sold for that market gain extra money (points). The market for that kind of fish is then closed - well, sort of. You can still sell these fish for their current price but now any sold fish go into the garbage and the person with the most fish in the garbage loses 10 points at the end of the game. There are some wishes that will let you pull your fish out of (or put your opponents fish into) the garbage so you can affect this later.

Unfortunately, Bernie and I played a two-player game. Like many games, it seemed fiddly at first but once we got the hang of it, we were fine and churned through quickly (it says it plays in 40 mins). Although I think the game is fine, I don't think it is suited to head-to-head play. The markets filled slowly since we could often make a lot more money with worm bonuses and other choices. I think it will shine with four, although you will have less chance of the fish you want being there by the time your turn comes around. All in all, a nice game that I will play again. I could see Puerto Rico, Mall World, Parts Unknown - sheesh - a lot of games in this one. But that's okay, it worked well.

After that, Jay taught me Notre Dame and since this one has been described extensively online, I will make my comments brief. This is another victory point builder with multiple angles you can use. It has parts of Fairy Tale, El Grande, Industrial Waste, Thurn and Taxis, Castle Merchants - egad! But, you know what? I thought it was delighftul. I'm sure much of the muted praise coming out about it is the fact that the influences are so visible. But tossed in with an intriguing board makeup, nice bits, and quick gameplay, this game is quite enjoyable! Jay has brought a bunch of pre-release copies to the convention to sell and if I hadn't already pre-ordered it, I'd already own it. As it is, I'm just going to get in some additional games of it this weekend on the two copies available in the Rio Grande Tournament.

Okay, I'm off to run the Escalation! tournament so I'll sign off until this evening.

Okay, I'm now heading down to the convention on Saturday morning. Plans for a late night arrival on Friday were scrapped after the BBQ party I attended Friday evening had deceptively powerful "Hawaiian Punch" drinks. The haze formed quickly and yet I was still able to explain Klunker and Diamant to players and enjoy two good games.

Despite being "Punched", I managed to win Klunker handily (which is a game that seems like Bohnanza's Martian cousin - not surprising since it is the same designer). You get gem cards and have to place some out for sale (the ones you don't need for a set), some into your safe (which you do want for your sets) and then there is a buying round when you can grab up your opponent's wares. Money is rewarded for sets of four in your safe, but you get more if the sets match. Necklace cards are bonuses, making it easier to get full value for your sets - but in our game, nearly all the necklaces were at the end. Final scores: Lisa 12, Bernie 14, Chad 17, and Eric 22. A fun, but unmemorable game.

I was in fourth out of five in the wonderful press-your-luck game Diamant. Simply, over five caverns of play, each player must decide how long to stick it out and try to get a share of the gems that come up on most cards while avoiding one of five disaster card types. If two cards from the same disaster show up, everyone left in the cavern loses - you all face the cards together and split the gems that come up. But, if you manage to get out before (you get a chance after each card), you can add your spoils to your ore cart and have them as points for the end of the game. Leaving early can also be profitable sometimes because you get to grab the gems leftover from uneven splits (gem cards range from 1 to 17).

After doing fine throughout the first three rounds, I bailed on cave four with only one disaster out (admittedly, one of the disasters with three remaining cards) because the take for early departure looked too good! Unfortunately, Lisa felt the same way and we split the booty. Then, the remaining three players went on to form the longest cavern route I've ever seen - and they all got out with their gems! They loaded up so heavily (Chad gaining the most) that Lisa and I had no chance but to press our luck fully and we were rewarded with an untimely demise. Final scores: Matt 44, Bernie 43 (so close!), Chad 25, Eric 18, Lisa 12.

Now I'm off to Gamex to enjoy a weekend of great gaming. I'm doing Z-Man demos today, plus running an Escalation tournament at 3pm. Our Math Trade is also happening today at 6pm at Boardgame HQ. If you are in town, please stop by and say hello!

I was already looking forward to next week's Gamex convention but now I've just been informed that Gamex 2007 Guest of Honor Jay Tummelson will debut the new Rio Grande titles Notre Dame and Vexation: TransAmerica and TransEuropa expansion at the convention. He will have some number of them both available for sale to convention attendees. Both are sure to be hot titles and Notre Dame was unquestionably the big hit of the Gathering of Friends and Nuremberg this year. US fans will get the first crack at them only at Gamex 2007.

I will be moderating a Q&A session with Jay on Sunday at 1 PM in the Theater so please bring in your questions for the man who broke designer games in the US. If you cannot be at the show, you can also send me questions at: sheylon@gmail.com. If you send one in, I will be sure to attribute your question to you on the podcast.

For more information on the convention, check out: www.strategicon.net. See you there!

Just a reminder that you need to send in your feedback (really, an e-mail with anything is fine) if you want to be entered in the contest to win one of two Ingenious Puzzles signed by Reiner Knizia himself. It boggles my mind but there are a relatively small number of entries for this item compared to the contests I previously had for a Boardgame Babylon t-shirt and for the Thrillville stuff (admittedly, the Thrillville stuff included a PSP...) Regardless, if you enter to win one of the two puzzles, your chances are better than ever before (despite this being a very heavily downloaded show).

The cutoff was officially today but I'll take your entries through tomorrow (3/18) in case you are caught up drinking too much for St. Patrick's Day or the snowstorm is slowing you down. Sorry to hear about that, those of you in the Northeast. As a native and nearly lifelong Southern Californian, for me, a blizzard is something you buy at the Dairy Queen. ;)

I've included another picture here of Reiner and me - this is while I was doing his introduction. Unfortunately, my sister Isabel (a previous guest on Boardgame Babylon) appears to be a pretty bad photographer and so the shot is imperfect. It's annoying because you can't see my lovely Boardgame Babylon t-shirt. Well, at least Reiner looks happy!

As for the upcoming shows, I have a few already recorded and I'm doing another one in the next day or so - meaning that Boardgame Babylon will have a reasonably regular release schedule for a while. Upcoming volumes include:

*  Self-publishing and design talk with Bo Radakovich - the designer and publisher of the game High School Drama - and jim pinto (yes, he likes the lower case), an art director and game designer in his own right.

*  Rectangular Table Discussion: Orccon wrap-up show, including notes about my day out sightseeing with Reiner Knizia, with guests Chad Smith, Matt Grimaldi and Mason Rourman.

* The Demise and Rise of the FLGS, Part 4 - The almost-award-winning series is back in the form of a quick interview with one of the longest-tenured and most well-respected game store owners in Los Angeles, Rocky Johnston, the owner of The Last Grenadier in Burbank, California. This is a store much-loved by locals and followed through many changes in location and it is a pleasure to add a real veteran's perspective to the series.

I haven't numbered these yet because the ordering (along with one other special show) hasn't been worked out yet. But they should all be hitting the podosphere soon.

But not today - I'm heading out to a St. Patrick's Game Day with the Orange County Boardgamers, who've asked us all to bring green games. I'll be bringing my gorgeous new green accented Eagle tournament-quality Crokinole board, a Friedmann Friese game, and Money!

Here's wishing you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day - one of my favorite Irish blessings is:

"May you always have courage to take a chance and never find frogs in your underpants."

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Many have inquired about the glorious Boardgame Babylon theme music and here it is - your chance to buy a CD of the band's only EP, "Unfurl" and even a sticker or bumper sticker. What is cooler than advertising your appreciation for an excellent and also incredibily obscure band? The album includes four tracks:

1. Dreamery

2. Cowboys, Pirates, Supermen (the BGB theme music!)

3. (1-2-3)

4. The Day The Earth Changed (BGB outro music!)

You can order a CD for only $7.00 and if you order a CD, you can add an oval sticker for $.50 or bumper sticker for only $1.00. All the money goes to the lovely ladies of Cucoloris and I pay your shipping! (if you just want a sticker, add a buck to the order) I don't make any money on this - I just want to support the band so they will make more beautiful music.

While you are at it, please consider supporting Boardgamenews.com. There is a great contest this month for cool prizes if you are a member and frankly, you know this excellent source for board game information is on your regular read list, so why not support them? Do the hobby a favor and help keep the great house that Rick Thornquist built and Eric Martin is keeping up the faith on alive for all of us to enjoy. Go to www.boardgamenews.com and click "Subscribe". I just did so myself (after realizing recently that I hadn't done it last year as I thought I had...) Hypocrite no more!

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon (even when we try to get you to pay other people for the great work they do).

A listener recently let me know that the podcast had won this nice award for The Demise and Rise of the FLGS series. I wish I'd known the show was up for it - I would have tried to convince listeners to vote BGB ;) - assuming there is voting. Thanks to the folks at the Gone Gaming site for the honor.

Thanks for downloading and listening (and, apparently, voting for) Boardgame Babylon.

For the first time in about 15 years, I actually attended a complete game convention and I really picked a great one for my return to this part of the hobby. The new owners of Strategicon, our Los Angeles-based convention series, have really shown their commitment to the hobby and to the huge, diverse group of gamers we have here in Southern California. After purchasing the company only three months before their first convention, they revitalized the board gaming, RPG and nearly every other aspect of the convention experience. Amazingly, they managed to secure not just the great Reiner Knizia but also the fantastic Tom Jolly as special guests in such a short time! The best news, of course, is that both of them were really friendly and extremely witty. Listen for a podcast talking about my experiences at the convention and the day I spent showing Reiner Knizia around Los Angeles before the convention. There are some things I can't reveal about prototypes played and details shared, but I will try to give you some good impressions of the great experience I've had over the last five days.

Even better, the new Strategicon is just getting started and I'm hoping that the high level of quality the new owners are bringing to the conventions will draw more and more people to these great shows. I know that attendance was huge, numbers of participants were up big-time and that I spoke to people from all over the country and even quite a few international visitors, too. And if this is what the new owners can accomplish in a few months, I can hardly wait to see the cons later this year and next, when they have more time to plan. They have an amazing mix of the best of the old staff and some incredibly sharp newcomers helping them out (including my multi-talented fellow podcasting buddy, Paul Tevis, who leads up the RPG efforts now). Between this development and the great game stores I now have near my home (Gameology) and my work (Game Empire), I'm certainly more optimistic about the board gaming hobby in SoCal than I was a year ago when I was inspired to do the Demise and Rise of the FLGS series (although there are at least two additional installments planned there).

Watch for many shows to come out of the con this weekend, including a broadcast of the Q&A session with Dr. Knizia, a short bit about the Ingenious Puzzles demo he gave (with prizes including signed copies of the puzzles!), a show about self-publishing and entering the game business, and a general wrap-up show with Matt Grimaldi joining me for some additional commentary. The dry spell is officially over.

I also have Cucoloris CDs that I was supposed to put out to sell at the show but never did! If you would like to order a copy of their magnificent EP, please e-mail me and if you are local, I can probably deliver it to you at one of the upcoming game events.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Listeners of the Demise and Rise series may enjoy reading a local article about the store Gameology, which was featured on Part 2 of the series (which will continue soon). Check out the following link:

http://www.claremont-courier.com/pages/Topstory010607.4.html

The store link is: www.gameologyshop.com and it's definitely one to visit if you find yourself on the East end of Los Angeles county.

Meeple People is having a series of exceptional sales on their cool merchandise over the next 12 days to celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas. Remember that you can shop from the Meeple People link on the left bar here on Boardgame Babylon to support my Meeple People habit. ;) Still need a couple of Meeple pillows to brighten up the couch (and must speak to Cynthia about doing a "RA" pillow...) so shop away.

You can also head over to the Garrett's Games podcast to hear a nice interview with Cynthia from Meeple People.

There still is time to enter the t-shirt contest (which is a Meeple People product) so don't forget to send in your e-mail address.

Played the last item for the Stocking Stuffer podcast so I should be writing up some notes and recording it this weekend, in time for your last minute shopping.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Remember to send in your e-mail address to me at: sheylon@gmail.com if you want your chance to win a free Boardgame Babylon t-shirt. You can include feedback in your e-mail if you like, but really all you need to do is forward your e-mail address to me. Good luck to all - there are far less entries for this one than the last contest (for obvious reasons...) so your chances are good! Get it in by the end of the day on 12/14 (that is - tomorrow!) for your chance to win.

Sorry for the delay in new shows - I expected a new Demise and Rise show, with my guests the proud owners of Game Empire in Pasadena (on the site of the former "Game Zone", featured in BGB v23) which represents a huge new gathering place for SoCal gamers that is chock full of amazing games and tons of game space. Check them out at www.gameempirepasadena.com and listen for an interview with the owners soon.

I will also be posting a new podcast shortly that gives you some great last minute Stocking Stuffer suggestions that you can find at your Friendly Local Game Store in case you can't piece together a $150 free shipping order from one of the online retailers.

Hope you are all having a good holiday season and thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

The contest is now closed and all winners have been selected. You can listen for your name (hopefully) on BGB Volume 27, which will be a show with some ideas for games you might want to buy your non-gamer friends - party games and kids' games that might just inspire them to take the plunge into designer games shortly thereafter.

Also, Lucas Arts was unable to acquire an Xbox console (they're all cleared out for Xbox 360) so the Grand Prize winner will win a Sony PSP and PSP copy of Thrillville, with the runner-ups still getting an Xbox copy of the game. Sorry for the confusion but, hey, it's still a free and very cool PSP!

Don't forget to get your contest entries in today to win an Xbox console or copies of the exciting new Lucas Arts game, Thrillville. The contest ends tomorrow (11/14) at midnight PST.

You can get the trivia questions about the show from episodes 25 or 26. Don't forget that you need not answer all questions correctly to win - each correct answer is just another entry.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

In case you haven't sent in your entries for the Thrillville contest yet, please remember that you only have until November 14th at midnight PST to do so!

Also, I have started a couple of games on Spiel By Web to distract me from work and NaNoWriMo (10,000 words and counting), so please join me for a game of Hacienda or Hoity Toity (which I haven't played on SBW yet). The games all have the podcast title in them and the password is 'babylon'.

BGB Volume 26 with session reviews of Figaro, Emira and Die Weinhandler should be posted later this week.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

The contest for the Xbox and copies of Thrillville continues. I must say - chances are very good for those of you that have entered so far. Considering Boardgame Babylon is up to over 1,000 listeners per podcast and the fact that the Thrillville trailer has been downloaded hundreds of times, I'm stunned to say that only a fraction of that group have already submitted an entry. I mean, I'm sure a bunch of you already have Xboxes but you don't have this cool game! Don't forget to send in your entry soon.

Thanks also to the many folks who have also included a kind note or feedback in with your entry. It is always great to hear people are enjoying the show and constructive criticism on how I can make it better and better.

One note, though - due to an excess of comment spam, I've had to set the site to only take comments confirmed with a secret code displayed when you post. Some folks have said they cannot post with this utility in place but Libsyn claims they have fixed that. If you try to post and it doesn't go up in a day or so (I still have moderation on) or it keeps telling you that you have entered the wrong thing, please drop me a note at: sheylon@gmail.com.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Comments haven't been working for most people lately because I had turned on the spam guard because I was getting slammed by comment spam (oddly enough, it seemed to all be hitting the RA: In depth show - insult to injury, man).

Anyway, I've disabled it now and just set it to moderation since the spam has slowed down. I'll still have to delete the spam when it comes but at least you can post comments.

Sorry for the delay in the latest shows but work has kept me extraordinarily busy. Volume 2 and 25 will both be posted soon.

Hello, friends out in the podosphere! Yes, we’re messing around with the website and trying to make it look a little more interesting. I have wanted to jettison the generic Libsyn template for a while but our Boardgame Babylon staff artists and web designers have been slow in moving. However, through a twisted campaign of bribery, guilt trips and peer pressure, they are now getting going so you'll see more soon.

The site may look weird for a while but when it is all done, you'll see our nice new mark (the punk pawn), more website goodness and maybe even a chance to win something. Egad - I've sold out. No, no. Hopefully, I'm like Tony Wilson (well, Steve Coogan playing him) in 24 Hour Party People when he says something like, "I've made it impossible to sell out by not owning anything."

I do have a lot of shows lined up. At least four recorded shows await editing and two more are planned for the next week or so. The Demise and Rise series may just dry up now because one of my big fish seems have gotten away and the other one is even less likely. A final ‘cast with some summation will follow, as it leads into a somewhat different subject. 

Also, please join me for more gaming on Spiel By Web. I’ve set up more BG Babylon games for listeners: Hacienda and Tikal. The password is Babylon and I invite all listeners to join me for the wonderful implementations of these games. Heck, we even had two additional podcasters on one of the Hacienda games last time, with the most excellent Scott Nicholson and the mighty Mark Johnson participating. In fact, SLC punk Dirk Chegigo was man enough to beat another listener and all three of us podcasters. But I'll refrain from mentioning that I came in second on that game and won the other two games I played with listeners. Oh, whoops... ;)

I've had a number of inquiries about how long I intend to do the Demise and Rise series of podcasts (I think for both "okay, we get it - do something else" and "I like it" reasons).

I got into this not really knowing how many owners/former owners I would be interviewing. My thought is that as long as they are saying different things (reasonably so) and I can vary questions a bit from person to person, it should remain interesting. At one point, I had a huge list of retailers to seek out, with both of the retailers I've lamented losing on my docket (both of the former owners seem to not be interested in talking and I understand completely).

However, I think things are running their course and I'm pulling back from that very ambitious list. I have two more significantly different people I am going to pursue (one who is not a local retailer but who should have an interesting perspective on the subject and another that has a lot to offer, I think) but if those don't work out, I'll close up the series and move on to other 'special' shows in between session reviews. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for all the interest and feedback.

Yes, after somewhere around forty e-mail messages to Apple, they finally reinstated Boardgame Babylon to the iTunes store, although they messed with my search keywords. Ah, I'm just glad the show is available again for easy download. Download numbers have actually stayed pretty strong but I think that's due to all the...uh...publicity on the Demise and Rise series lately.

I have two episodes in editing right now - a session review done with my good friend Matt Grimaldi (the pro-Power Grid voice in the Power Grid: In depth show) and also Part 3 of The Demise and Rise of the Friendly Local Game Store.

Sorry to all that were inconvenienced by this crazy issue. Resubscribe and I promise never to try and change the URL again!

I find it hard to believe I'm still talking about this on the blog but iTunes STILL hasn't resolved the whole feed issue. I mean, I got this almost-humorous e-mail the other day from one of their techs saying he'd fixed the URL but considering they deleted the entire podcast from their servers, I don't know that this was possible...

But they say they are looking at it and I was trying to have faith in Ruben, the second level tech, who is the first person after talking to, I think, 1,356 different people at Steve Jobsland, that has actually said he might be interested in solving the problem. Of course, now he has conveniently gone on vacation and someone else is now taking it over. Now they say they are really, really, for-real deleting the podcast now (so I can resubmit it) so we'll see how it goes. If I can stand it, I may describe the whole delightful Catch-22 situation at some point on the podcast. We'll see if it is interesting enough, I'm still hopeful but honestly, I think direct downloads or subscribing to GOBLIN is the best way to go at the moment. Sorry!

Okay, enough whining. Head over to the awesome Spiel By Web and join one of the games of Hacienda that I have started and join me for a game! They are called BGB Babylon 2 and 3. I had a chance to be a Beta tester on this implementation and I think the SBW boys have done a terrific job on it.  Unlike the magnificent Mr. Siggins and the mighty Mark Johnson, I think Hacienda is a hoot and would love to play it with some listeners. The password for the games is: babylon.

You've probably already downloaded it but I'm a guest on this week's episode of The Dice Tower, Tom Vasel's excellent variety show devoted to tabletop gaming. It is hosted on the premier tabletop gaming news site, Boardgamenews.com so browse over there to download it and get the best in game reporting.

It's like a cross-over television show of old - I join Tom to talk about our Top Ten Games with the Worst Theme. File your complaints about my lack of appreciation for silly themes and senseless ribbing of Cheapass and Steve Jackson games in the comments section below. So much for the review copies...;)

I seriously apologize to subscribers of Boardgame Babylon who use iTunes. Due to an error I made in trying to reset my URL to use Feedburner, the incorrect URL showed up on iTunes and getting them to delete the seven characters that made the URL invalid has been a chore of epic porportions, what with their Catch-22 means of fixing a dead feed (by sending a tag through said dead feed...hmm...).

So, for now, direct downloads are the way to go. Believe me, I've spent almost every lunchtime this week on hold with some Apple Computer person and although they first managed to simply delete the show from iTunes in the US, they have now removed it from other countries but somehow, I still can't resubmit it - ugh!

Your patience is appreciated. I've held off posting the new show due to this mishap but I'm tired of waiting on them and want the show to get up there so you'll see it shortly.

Thanks for downloading (hopefully) and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My birthday was last week and my dear wife Christina did another designer game-themed cake for me (previously, she has done Puerto Rico, Wallensteain and a couple of others). This time - she did our favorite new Kosmos two-player game, Reiner Knizia's Times Square. We actually took it down to the July meeting of the Orange County Board Gamer for them to enjoy it, too. I think the little Barbie shoe is a nice touch - there is a shoe like that on the board (although my daughter Gwyndolyn was quick to reclaim it). What a lucky guy am I?

If you experience any difficulty with your regular syndication of Boardgame Babylon, please let me know. I've changed over to feedburner to use some of their interesting tools and I am concerned that it may end up repeating the series again (feeding it all back to subscribers). If you have any problems, please let me know at: sheylon@gmail.com. Sorry for any inconvenience this change may cause!

Two more shows should be posted shortly - a new session review and also the second part of the Demise and Rise series.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Just a reminder that I will indeed be at the store Gameology in Claremont, California next Thursday night (6/29) at 6:30, showing off the Z-man games Castle Merchants and No Thanks! (yes, Geschenkt). No Thanks is already a classic filler game that has finally made its way to the states via Zev's sharp eye for good designer games. Castle Merchants is a fun pick-up and deliver style game with a frequently changing board that has some neat design elements and plays well in less than forty-five minutes. Come on down to check out this great new store with loads of gaming space, a good selection of games and an owner devoted to an innovative approach to board game stores.

If you can't make it to the store (because, say, you don't live anywhere near Los Angeles and those plane tickets have gotten outrageous), well, no problem - both No Thanks and Castle Merchants will be in the next session review show.

But that show won't come out until I release the first in the Demise and Rise of the FLGS series. It has been edited and it should be posted this weekend, once I've given my guest on the show a chance to preview it.

Whew, does this mean I might actually release more than one volume of BGB in a month? Heck, there might be three.

Thanks again for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Apparently, the comments field on the blog here was broken for some people. I gather this has been out of commission for quite a while since a few people have not gone, "oh, yeah - I've been trying to post there for a while." Thanks to Paul Allwood for letting me know that it wasn't working properly - it should be fine now. If you have any difficulty, please let me know.

The Power Grid show has been delayed due to technical difficulties. Despite having been recorded, there are some complications. It is coming, I'll probably drop a previously recorded Session Review in first since that one is ready to go and the PG show still has some ways to go.

Finally, some changes are a-foot. I'm hoping to make the site a little more attractive soon and there may be a few other surprises, too. Stay tuned.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

I've just finished recording the Power Grid: In depth show with my good friend Matt Grimaldi and it's a loooooooong one. I suppose it's a long game anyway, so Power Grid fans will enjoy that (yes, Matt - another little dig).

Needless to say, part of my interest in doing this show was focusing on a game I do not particularly like and trying to dig in a little and discuss why as we go over the game at length. I even played the game a couple of extra times recently just to get ready for the show. See how I suffer for this podcast?

I'll start editing today but I'm still torn about whether to break it up into two shows (raw, it is over two hours). We'll see how much hits the editing floor and then I'll make a decision. Stay tuned. 

And, yes, those are Matt's arms above the French Power Grid map in the picture here.

I’m excited to release the show I recorded at our massive marathon game day yesterday – Women and Gaming. I recorded this show with not one, not two, but three guests and it sounds like it worked with the boom mike thing since the people at Radio Shack gave me an audio splitter that works only for headphones, not microphone. Who knew you can’t trust the Radio Shack Nerd? Anyway, my wife Christina, my good friend Lisa, and my sister Isabel all joined me for a discussion about what games they like, a little of their experience in gaming as young people and what they really think about the hobby. I enjoyed the discussion a good deal and, hopefully, it will be enjoyable listening. I’m editing it now and expect to have it out later this week. Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon. Comments and feedback to: sheylon@gmail.com

I've recorded my first guest host show with my good friend Mason Rourman and it's "RA: In depth". RA is, of course, my favorite game so we rambled on for an awfully long time. In the interest of making the show accessible to those burning a CD, I'm editing it down a bit but it should be posted some day this week. Sorry for the delay but this comes right as I'm going through a job transition that is keeping me enormously busy so that's why I'm just a little behind (not that I have a schedule around here). I'm also working out my schedule this week to record "Power Grid: In depth" with my friend Matt Grimaldi, so that should see the light of day soon, too. Check out the link on the side and order cool stuff from Meeple People's website, including the very fashionable "INVOKE RA" shirt.

So, I'm in the process of copying files over from my old blog to this one. Please let me know if any of the links are broken.