Author: Anthony

We spend a lot of time in the dealer hall at Gen Con – like almost all of the time we are there. It’s the epicenter of new game presentations, demos, and interviews with publishers. The reason we’re there to be honest. So, we run across a lot of games that we’ve neither heard of or seen before. These are games that flew under (our) radar on Kickstarter, haven’t released yet, or wouldn’t normally fit the types of games we cover. That’s the beauty of a convention – you can see everything. Such was the case with Gruff, and its…

Anthony and Jason sit down with AJ Porfirior, owner of Van Ryder Games and designer of Hostage Negotiator to discuss the game and its background. With the newest iteration of Hostage Negotiator, Crime Wave, hitting backer hands last month, we wanted to sit down and discuss the game, where it started, how it is developed, and future plans for the series. Learn more about how Hostage Negotiator is structured, what the future of the series looks like, and what AJ thinks about luck and the application of game mechanics to mitigate that luck in the game. If you haven’t yet,…

Jason sits down with Evan Derrick, designer of Detective: City of Angels, and the game’s publisher, owner of Van Ryder Games, AJ Porfirio, to discuss the new game, now on Kickstarter. Learn more about this deduction and crime solving game, it’s multiple modes of gameplay, and whether it’s one worth backing for solo gamers. 

A year ago I wouldn’t have believed you if you had said Dream On! was published by CMON. With a company name like “Cool Mini or Not”, there was little room for ambiguity. Which is of course why they changed it – so game reviewers like me couldn’t point out the cognitive dissonance. It’s okay, guys, I’ll get over it soon. Because I’ll be the first to admit that some of my favorite CMON games (developed or just distributed) from the last year have had no minis whatsoever. Ethnos. Lorenzo il Magnifico. Potion Explosion. So I enter Dream On! with…

Chris and Anthony are talking about word games this week! Check out our top 10 games all about words and wordplay, plus reviews of recent plays and our question of the week. We kick things off by asking the listeners how many times they play a game before they feel comfortable remembering the rules in our question of the week. For acquisition disorders this week, Anthony digs into the new game from Horrible Games – Dragon Castle – a beautiful, modern take on majhong. Chris then looks at the 7 Wonders Anniversary Packs for both Cities and Leaders. At the…

Jason sits down with Danny Lott, designer of Coma Ward to discuss his new Kickstarter project. The game, now on Kickstarter from Everything Epic Games, is a horror adventure board game taking place in a hospital. Learn how the game came together, what it offers that’s unique in the space, and whether you should consider backing it in this week’s Preview Series episode.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled podcast (sorry, AJ!) in order to bring you coverage of one of the hottest kickstarter projects of the year – 7th Continent. Anthony was unable to make it, but Jason was lucky enough to get help from game designer and podcaster Peter Gousis, as well as reviewer Zach Homrighaus. We go on the deepest of deep dives, analyzing 7th Continent from multiple angles. We talk about theme, player and world-based mechanisms, comparisons to other adventure games, player count, replay-ability and reset-ability, and a whole host of other topics. We hope that, if you are on…

More fantasy adventure! Jason chats with Tristan Hall, the designer of Gloom of Kilforth, who is currently running a kickstarter for a reprint of the base game and some small expansions. If you like games like Talisman or Runebound, this one might be for you! We also get into some critical questions that players have asked about the game, then talk about some other projects that Tristan has on the hopper.

Chris and Anthony are back this week with another if you like… episode. This week, we’re looking at Stefan Feld’s The Castles of Burgundy – one of the highest rated point salad games every made! Specifically, we’re going to dive into six games you might like if you also like Castles of Burgundy, with two lighter games, two medium games, and two slightly heavier games. In addition, we have our question of the week, asking people what games they consider average that they are tired of others heaping praise on. Then Anthony dives into his acquisition disorder with Artificial Intelligence,…

Anthony and Jason sit down and discuss 7 more games from Gen Con and the summer. We’re knocking out a big backlog of the biggest and best games we got to the table this summer, so make sure to check out our run through of the following: Flipships Triplock Magic Maze Terraforming Mars: Hellas & Elysium Eldritch Horror: Cities of Ruin T.I.M.E Stories: Lumen Fidei Summit: The Board Game If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous), Twitter (http://twitter.com/bgapodcast), and on our website (www.www.boardgamersanonymous.com). You can support the show as well by donating on Patreon…