1 Player Podcast

We took another 1 week break but we come back with a two game discussion!  Okay, they are both small games and this episode ended up being a bit shorter than most but that's okay.  This week's games are similar in that in both you are lining up cards in numerical order.  Each supports 1 to 5 players and each seems fun.  Mind you, Julius and I each have only played one of the two games so we can't really compare if one is more fun than other but we can both say the game we played is definitely fun!

This week Julius tells me all about the game Kingdom Rush: Monsters, based on the tower defense for mobile devices.  The game's art and theme comes straight out of the video game and does a good job of copying the setting, but is it a tower defense game?  Julius doesn't think so.  Listen and get the scoop!

This week is one of our "long running" Popular Mechanics episodes.  This time around we look at deck building in solo games and talk a bit about some we like.

• 04:11 Friday (BGG)
• 07:08 Maiden's Quest (BGG)
• 11:27 Star Realms (BGG)
• 12:15 Star Realms: Frontiers (BGG)
• 14:13 Big Book of Madness (BGG)
• 15:00 Lewis and Clark (BGG)
• 20:20 Newton (BGG)
• 20:57 Rune Age (BGG)
• 24:18 Edge of Darkness (BGG)
• 27:31 The LOOP (BGG)
• 30:14 Warp's Edge (BGG)

Games I wrote down but didn't talk about

• Lost Ruins of Arnak (BGG)
• Thunderstone Advanced (BGG)
• Paperback (BGG)
• Valley of the Kings (BGG)
• Groves (BGG)
• Clank! (BGG)

This week, we look at a board game based on the classic Choose Your Own Adventure series originally published by Bantam.  In these classic game books, you are the hero of the story and as you read through, you get to make choices that very much affect how the story continues.  This was managed with a branching story in which you would read the book out of order.

This game tries to recreate that experience using one of the classic books, number 15 in the series.  It does a great job of making you feel like you are reading an old CYOA book but using cards instead of a book.

• The House of Danger game (BGG)
• The House of Danger book (gamebooks.org)

If you want to explore the House of Danger, listen to episode 264.

If you would rather avoid the House of Danger, go back to episode 263.

This week Julius and I, after taking a 1 week break from the podcast, take a 1 week break from talking about games. That's because this week we talk about puzzles in their various forms.  This is just a friendly chat about the types of puzzles we enjoy.  There are sooooo many types of puzzles it's not hard to find one that will suit you.

Here are some things we mentioned

• Math logic puzzles
  • Sudoku
  • Kakuro
  • KenKen
  • Nonograms
  • Bridges/Hashi
• Word puzzles
  • Wordle
  • Crosswords
• Think Fun
  • Rush Hour
  • Brick by Brick
  • Shape by Shape
• Logic puzzles
  • Pinochio "green hats" puzzle
  • LSAT
  • Montigue Island Mysteries
• Jigsaw puzzles
  • Heye Black or White
  • White puzzle

This week I tell Julius about the rather large Kanban EV.  This game is a re-implementation of the original Kanban and designed by Vital Lacerda.  This quite complex and challenging game was rather fancily produced by Eagle-Gryphon Games.  We talk about the game play and mechanics of the game without getting too deep into the details of how to play.

• Kanban EV (BGG, Eagle-Gryphon)

This episode is a bit different from the typical episode and that it doesn't really talk bout a game.  This week I have the pleasure of talking to Al Leduc, the designer of Yukon Airways.  Julius and I discussed this game two weeks ago.  I found the designer notes in the beginning of the rulebook really interested so I invited the designer to come talk about the back story of the game.  I found the conversation interesting because it gives some perspective to theme of the game and, hopefully, makes the game more interesting for those folks that are playing it.

• I think this is the Taco Bar at the confluence of the Wind River and the Peel River in the Yukon. (Google Maps)

This week Julius and I look at solo drafting games along with the helping, I'm sorry to say, of some barking dogs.  We talk a bit about what is or isn't a drafting game and briefly go over a half dozen or so games worth looking into.  While editing, I realized we completely overlooked a very obvious choice... Gates of Loyang. Darned, darned, darned.  It's an excellent example because the drafting mechanism in solo is much better than the multiplayer drafting.

• 03:45 - Clank! (BGG)
• 04:25 - Cascadia (BGG)
• 05:50 - Nations: The Dice Game (BGG)
• 07:30 - Hostage Negotiator (BGG)
• 12:55 - Canvas (BGG)
• 14:45 - Mechs vs Minions (BGG)
• 17:00 - PAX (BGG)
• 19:30 - Ilse of Cats (BGG)
• 21:50 - Imperial Settlers (BGG)
• 23:45 - Sylvion (BGG) & Aerion (BGG)
• 26:00 - Suburbia (BGG)
• 29:50 - Lux Aeterna (BGG)

This week Julius introduces us to a game called Yukon Airways by Al Leduc.  In this game, you play a pilot flying around the Yukon Territories and carrying passengers to various locations in a large and sparse region of Canada.  I believe the game is set in the mid-1900s but I'm not entirely sure about that.  Spin it!

This week we talk about a game I've had for years but only finally gotten around to playing it.  It's a game of gladiatorial arena combat for one or two players.  You compete in various arenas around the world in famous sites like El Dorado, Xanadu and Atlantis!  The game brings a large mix of gladiators to play with and is highly tactical.  It's a lot of fun but it's not a perfect game.  Check out what I think...

• Hoplomachus: Origins (BGG, Chip Theory Games)

This week Julius and I popped out an old favorite of ours.  It's Sentinels of the Multiverse, the original edition.  We talk about this unwieldy super-hero game and what we think of it.  How's it aged, considering there is now a second edition out that "fixes many of the problems" with the original. Neither of us have played the new one so we don't have that to taint our opinions!

• Sentinels of the Multiverse (BGG)
• Sentinels of Earth Prime (BGG)

This week Julius brings us another episode with his son.  The talk about the escape room style game Echoes: The Microchip.  This game is part of the Echoes series which includes audio interactions in the game.

Echoes: The Microchip (BGG)

This week Julius and I discuss worker placement games.  Drat, I forgot to write down the games we talked about in order.  I'll have to do that later on when I listen to the episode once it comes out.  If you want an exact, clickable list and you don't see it in the notes in your podcast player, visit 1PlayerPodcast.com and view the episode notes there.

Drat.

• 04:20 Agricola (BGG)
• 05:15 Feast for Odin (BGG)
• 05:55 Nusfjord (BGG)
• 07:10 Parks (BGG)
• 09:20 Caverna Cave vs. Cave (BGG)
• 10:00 Coldwater Crown (BGG)
• 12:40 Paladins of the West Kingdom (BGG)
• 16:40 Steam (BGG)
• 23:10 Kitchen Rush (BGG)
• A few games where mentioned in passing
  • Harbour (BGG)
  • Kanban EV (BGG)
  • Lost Ruins of Arnak (BGG)
  • Maquis (BGG)
  • Robinson Crusoe (BGG)
  • Manhattan Project: Energy Empire (BGG)
• 27:40 Far Space Foundry (BGG)

This week Julius tells us about his smartphone or, really, about his smartphone empire.  Smartphone, Inc. is a game in which you build a multinational smartphone company to rival any Android or iPhone!  Julius tells us all about interesting looking game with so-so art.  At least I think the art is so-so.

Note: This week we suffered some audio issues.  The quality is up to our normal standard but occaisonally the software we use, Zencastr.com, froze and we would have to restart.  I cut out some of that nonsense but you'll still come across some weird cuts.  I used dice rolls to mark those spots.

Unexpectedly, this week Julius tells us about this co-operative Back to the Future game.  Just in case you lived under a rock in the 80s, Back to the Future is the classic sci-fi movie featuring Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd and a Delorian.  Actually, it's based on all three movies in the Franchise.  It being that this is a movie tie-in game, you (or at least I) would expect to be pretty poor.  However, it was published by Ravensburger and they make pretty decent games.  This one sounds pretty darned cool!

• Back to the Future: Dice Through Time (BGG)
• Back to the Future (iMDb)
• Back to the Future Part II (iMDb)
• Back to the Future Part III (iMDb)

I actually only ever saw the first one.  Should I go watch the other two?