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.

Okay, here is the second promised Knizia podcast from Orccon 2007. This show includes Reiner's seminar where he introduced the world debut of Ingenious Puzzles, a new product "NOT A GAME" in the Ingenious line that delighted fans at the convention.

Since that recording is shorter, I've added a session review of my buddy Mason Rourman and me talking about three recent and upcoming Knizia games we enjoyed recently. All three were popular at the Kniziathon event at Orccon 2007 and we've enjoyed them as light additions to Knizia's ludography.

Escalation: The Suburban Wars (Z-Man Games)
Mmm...Brains! (Twilight Creations)
Dragon Parade (Z-Man Games)

Two more shows are still to come from the Orccon experience and I even have another Demise and Rise show coming. Wow - regular releases of Boardgame Babylon? Don't get used to it...;)

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.

I'll just say it - this isn't a standard episode of Boardgame Babylon and it makes little sense for me to advertise it as such. But since I passed on my chance for an official interview with Reiner Knizia for Boardgame Babylon because I knew some other podcasters where hanging about, I thought I would instead just go ahead and broadcast this and a couple of other shows about the new Ingenious Puzzles that Reiner introduced and a wrap-up show done with some of my buddies who also had an amazing time at Orccon 2007. This is the first of, count 'em, four shows I've got in the bag (makes up for the two rejected shows from my trip to India) that just need a little TLC to get them out.

Anyway, this is the man himself, Dr. Reiner Knizia, in the Question and Answer session he held at Orccon 2007, the President's Day Weekend show of Southern California's Strategicon game conventions. Reiner talks about his process, some exciting upcoming events and products and shows the wonderful good humor we've all heard about.

There is also a contest to win a very cool little item Reiner gave me to hand out to a couple of Boardgame Babylon listeners and also some exciting news about Gamex 2007 and a special guest that will grace us with his presence here in Los Angeles over the Memorial Day weekend.

There are also details about ordering a Cucoloris CD, which you can now get directly from me. The lovely ladies of Cucoloris sent me CDs and stickers to sell at Orccon 2007...and then I forgot them at home for most of the convention. Help me save face and order a Cucoloris CD now! Drop me an e-mail if you are interested in supporting this wonderful band responsible for the coolest music in board game podcasting.

NEXT UP: Another Knizia show with Reiner explaining the new Ingenious Puzzles and some talk about three new Knizia games that were popular at the Kniziathon: Dragon Parade and Escalation from Z-Man Games, plus Mmm...Brains from Twilight Creations (yes, Reiner did a zombie game!)

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Games mentioned:

Mmm...Brains   King of the Beasts   Amun-Re
Ra   Taj Mahal   Escalation
Blue Moon   Blue Moon City   Tigris and Euphrates
Ingenious  Beowulf   Lord of the Rings: Battlefields

Other Links:

Strategicon   Journal of Boardgame Design

Cucoloris on MySpace (BGB's theme music composers!)