This week we talk about Playing to Win (vs. playing for fun, because you want to be part of the group, etc.)

Off-Topic:

We give the details of how to add an entry this week for our Gloomhaven giveaway.  Listen to find out how (it’s near the beginning).

We summarize the feedback we got from our Gloomhaven unboxing, thank you everyone that sent us your positive and constructive feedback!

We announce a new interview that will be dropping this Friday (March 3rd, 2017) with Hyacinth games about their RPG/Tabletop Miniatures game Wreck Age (http://www.wreck-age.net).  Keep an ear out for that.

We get more 6 player game recommendations from Sam.  We hear about solo play from Dan, and we answer a question from Enzo about the ability to reseat the legacy part of Gloomhaven.

Our quick question deals with apps making their way into boardgames (companion apps or apps that are required to play).

Some new games Chris picked up:

• Ashes – Rise of the Phoenix Born
• Expedition – The Roleplaying Card Game
• Not Alone

And new Kickstarters Chris is backing:

• Champions of Midgard
• Thunderstone Quest
• Superhot
• Quod Heroes

Our game of today is Assault of the Giants.  We talk about play length and impressions after a single play through.

On Topic:

This week’s on topic discusses some feedback we got from Mish Boutet about the pros and cons of playing to win.  We reference David Sirlin’s book, “Playing to Win” which can be found at http://www.sirlin.net/ptw.   Let us know your thoughts on the subject.

Next week: Interview with Stephen Buonocore of Stronghold Games.

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This week we announce a new contest to win Gloomhaven.  Listen to find out how to enter.  We then talk about a prototype we received call Mageling.  We finally go on topic to find that Josh and Kitty didn’t do a lot of homework, but I think we were still able to touch on the pros and cons of solo games and we even recommend a few solo games worth tracking down.

Intersted in supporting the show and being auto entered into all our contests?  Take a look at our Patreon page http://tabletopgametalk.com/patreon.  You can also check out our new YouTube channel at http://tabletopgametalk.com/youtube.

Enjoy!

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In this, kind of long episode, we talk with David Sirlin on his game Codex.  The interview starts around 25 minutes in, before that we discuss future plans for the Tabletop Game Talk “network” as well and talk, accidentally, about a new game we have, Gloomhaven.

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This week we announce the winner of our listeners only valentines day contest!  We then go on to talk about lots and lots of games good for couples.

There are a few surprises along the way – so listen on!

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This week we talk a bit more about Codex as it’s our game of the day.  We also get to some feedback about our CCG episodes and answer a question about games with lite rules for super casual gamers.

Then we get into our main topic of D&D where Chris starts out with a history of D&D and then we move into how to play.  This is one of Chris’s favorite topics so email us if you have questions or comments.

And thanks our Friend of the Show Emil Gilljam, for being our first Patreon!

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This week we start out with a lot of announcements and feedback.  On of the bigger ones, for us, is that we now have a Patreon page.  You can find it by searching for us on Patreon or just go to tabletopgametalk.com/patreon.

About 31 minutes in we get to our on topic section where we answer an email from Andrew Fayash about expansions.  We’ll talk about types we like and don’t like so much.  And games that have tons of expansions vs games that may only have one but it’s a must have.

Let us know what you think about expansions!

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In this episode we talk about Collectable Card Games – Mainly Magic the Gathering and Pokemon, but a splash of Yu-Gi-Oh as well.  But before we get to that we have a couple long listener feedback.  Oh and an announcement that you can only hear about from listening to the podcast.  Enjoy!

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This episode is all about you.  Well sort of.  First we announce a secret thing you’ll have to listen to to find out about, then we go off topic and talk about X-Com the board game as well as Labyrinth (a classic from Kitty’s childhood).  Eventually we get on topic and answer your questions.  Let us know how you think we did!

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In this, start of the year episode, we each list off our top 5 games.  Since Spencer joined us, that’s 20 games for our 20th episode.  We want to know your top 5 games!  Let us know by emailing us at tabletopgametalk@gmail.com.

But first we start of year off topic with a new years goal from Chris…to lose 55 pounds by October.  Starting weight 215.  What are your new year’s goals?

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In this episode we go meta.  We start out talking about the podcast in meta ways (you’ll even learn our last names).  We’ll then go into a short off topic and talk about our game of the day, “Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu.”  Then we go on topic and tall about meta gaming in your board games and how that can cross over into cheating.

Our next episode will be a questions from the listeners episode.  Send us your questions and we’ll answer as many as we can.

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And we have our first contest winner!  Listen to find out who.

Send us questions (tabletopgametalk@gmail.com) for our upcoming questions episode!

This week we first spend a little extra time off-topic talking about some social deduction games we just played (and the wine we played them with).  We then go on-topic to talk about a few of our favorite deck building games.

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