Game Brain: A Board Game Podcast About Our Gaming Group

#181: Games Vs. Puzzles

Tom, Ben, and Dmitry discuss game night drama, whether or not they'll ever receive Hegemony, and the difference between games and puzzles.

#180: Our TOP Board Games of 2022!

Tom, Matt, Trey and Ben gather to reveal their Top 5 Games of 2022! 0:00:00 Introduction 0:05:40 Games we played this week Red Cathedral Stationfall Barrage: The Nile Affair Boonlake Black Angel 0:32:20 Top Games of 2022 Lacrimosa Deal with the Devil Guards of Atlantis II Ready Set Bet 56:30 Weather Machine Mosaic: A Story of Civilization Autobahn 1:22:30 Blood on the Clocktower Ben's #1: Carnegie Trey's #1: The Transcontinental Tom's #1: Tiletum Matt's #1: John Company, 2nd Ed. 2:02:45 Honorabl...

#179 The Red Cathedral + Contractors

Ben, Trey, Elder, and Paul discuss the 2020 game The Red Cathedral and its 2022 expansion The Red Cathedral: Contractors. 00:02:40 - Ramen Fury 00:07:01 - Scholars of the South Tigris 00:13:30 - Hegemony 00:19:27 - Tzolkin 00:20:26 - Robotech Reconstruction 00:38:23 - Woodcraft 00:43:40 - Imperial Steam 00:59:34 - Red Cathedral + Contractors

#178 A First Look At Stationfall

#177 The Blanket Episode

Ben lost power in the great LA blizzard of 2023, but just because his house was dark didn't mean the podcast had to be. And so Ben and Paul bravely wrapped themselves in blankets and churned out an episode in a heatless house, sharing their gaming stories of the past two weeks: Mosaic, Deal with the Devil, Crisis, Red Cathedral and several others. Time codes: Mosaic: 05:54 Santiago 18:14 Wiz War: 25:53 Glory to Rome, Import/Export: 31:35 Deal with the Devil: 34:38 Tragedy Looper: New Tragedies 4...

#176: Mosaic A Story of Civilization

Ben, Tom, and Trey deep dive Mosaic: A Story of Civilization and discuss what makes a civ game... a civ game? Plus, recent plays of Dune and Cosmic Frog.

#175 Horseless Carriage First Impressions

Trey gets it in gear with Tom and Dmitry and their first impressions of Splotter's Horseless Carriage. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:06:45 Traitors Talk 0:21:10 Games on the Brain Dmitry's 5x5 List: Tichu , Barrage , Indonesia , Panamax , Autobahn Mosaic Western Empires Through the Ages Nations Trey's 5x5 List: Mosaic, Autobahn , Imperial Steam , On Mars , Horseless Carriage Trickerion 0:45:20 Endurance 0:46:45 Tragedy Looper 0:47:50 WizWar Kickstarter 0:55:10 Heat: Pedal to the Metal 0:59:45 First Imp...

#174 The Joy of Splotter

Talking about our favorite Splotter games in anticipation of "Horseless Carriage." Plus, The Traitors, which blends social deduction party games with reality TV.

#173 Lords of Vegas

Ben and Paul talk about Lords of Vegas as well as fairness and games and the new reality series "The Traitors." 00:00:00 - Intro 00:03:55 - The Traitors 00:17:47 - Fairness + Winning Discussion 00:47:41 - Vast: The Mysterious Manor 00:53:56 - Weather Machine 01:01:19 - 18Mag 01:11:41 - Mind MGMT 01:15:44 - Lords of Vegas

#172 Back from Break!

We're back from a busy holiday season, and we have games to talk about: Woodcraft, Imperial Steam, Wayfarers of the South Tigris, and Matt's first ever game of Twilight Imperium!

#171: Tiletum

Tom, Candice, and Ben talk about Tiletum. Plus, Candice tells us all about the games she played and people she met from five back-to-back conventions!

#170: Autobahn

Ben, Trey, and Dmitry discuss the 2022 game, Autobahn. Plus, recent plays of Deal with the Devil, Lacrimosa, and Atiwa. Plus, they discuss a recent piece in the New York Times about strategy games.

Solo Mode #6: The State of Solo Modes in 2022

Matt discusses the state of the solo mode in 2022 by looking at the solo modes from this season's top Essen games.

Bats and Turkeys

Ben, Tom, and Paul chat about recent plays of Atiwa, Tiletum, Fracis Drake, and Maria. Plus, recommendations for good games to play at Thanksgiving.

Revive

All four hosts are here this week to talk about a whole mess of hot Essen releases, as well as a deep dive on one of the season's biggest games, Revive. 00:05:30 Ready Set Bet 00:10:30 Oak 00:19:50 Autobahn 00:30:30 Tiletum 00:57:30 Revive...

#166: Games, Games, Games

00:00:00 Introduction 00:09:15 Maricaibo: The Uprising Francis Drake 00:23:00 Let's Go! To Japan Note: Josh Wood is NOT the designer of Isle of Cats - that's Frank West Josh Wood's best known games are Cat Lady and Santa Monica 00:32:30 Ready, Set, Bet 00:45:45 Autobahn 01:01:45 Oak 01:08:50 Revive 01:15:40 Federation 01:35:15 Discussion : Narrative and the move toward Baroque design 02:03:10 Thank you and outro...

#165: Space Station Phoenix

Tom, Paul, and Elder talk about recent plays of "Food Chain Magnate" and "Space Station Phoenix" and then games they would play for the rest of their lives. Plus, Tom has more news from Essen.

#164: Skymines

Matt, Tom, Ben and Dmitry discuss the 2022 release "Skymines" (aka Moon-basa) as well as preview their most anticipated games of Essen 2022 and give four Essen games a brief "rulebook review".

#163: Western Empires

Tom, Trey, Paul, and Ben discuss the 2019 release "Western Empires" as well as "On Mars," "Ticket to Ride," "Viticulture," and "Food Chain Magnate."

#162: John Company Second Edition

Ben and Matt revisit Grand Austria Hotel with the Let's Waltz expansion before doing a deep dive with their initial impressions of the 2022 release John Company, Second Edition by Cole Wehrle. Afterwards, they discuss the expectations they carry — perhaps unfairly — into a game night.

#161: Revisiting The Transcontinental and Carnegie with Ben, Tom, and Trey

Now that we've finally notched some in-person plays The Transcontinental and Carnegie, we share our thoughts about what's changed in person versus online. Plus, we talk about the modular game boards that pique our interest and recent plays of Tzolkin, Fresh Fish, and Ethnos.

#160: "Stroganov" with Trey, Ben, Tom, and Dmitry

00:00:00 Introduction: A discussion of Cossacks and the Steppe 00:04:30 Avalon Poll results and discussion Tom calls our listeners "trolls" and compares them to the "Silent Majority." 00:08:20 Game Night Highly abbreviated Avalon discussion 00:09:30 Wormholes Trajan More highly abbreviated Avalon talk wiithout talking about the actual game. Underwater Cities Ben does a Paul impression. Tom does a Mike impression The first of many discussions about minks, ermines, sables, stoats, and ferrets 00:2...

#159: How We Spent Our Summer Vacation

Round 16, Turn 7: "1848: Australia" with Ben, Candice, and Paul

Ben, Candice, and Paul review "1848: Australia" and then discuss how to demystify the 18xx genre. 0:00;00 - Introduction: Welcome Ben, Omnigamer Candice and Gamebreaker Paul: Railways of Australia, 1848, 18xx, Avalon, Tank Duel, TI4, Die Macher, Tribune 0:09:07 - This Week’s Game Night: Eclipse; Eclipse: Second Dawn; (TI) Tzolk’in (Tribes expansion) Pax Pamir 2nd ed, The Climbers, (Santiago) Railways of the World Async on BGA (Eastern America Map) Pictomania, 2nd ed, (Through the Ages, Pictionar...

Round 16, Extra Turn: Game Sommelier Roundup with Paul

Ben and Paul make up for episodes of neglected game sommelier segments with this mega roundup of questions we're overdue to answer. 0:00:00 - Introduction: Welcome Ben and Paul 0:04;39 - This Week’s Game Night: 1848, Dice Realms, Taverns of Tiefenthal, (Russian Railroads) 18Ireland 0:23:11 - Board Game Sommelier 0:24:10: Games for an Adult Community: Scrabble, Catan, Wavelength, Tichu, Telestrations, Ticket to Ride, 6 Nimmt, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, Just One, Concordia, Mahjong 0:32:10 - ...

Round 16, Turn 6: "Time of Crisis" with Tom, Candice, and Mike

0:00:00 - Introduction: Welcome Tom, Candice and Mike 0:09:57 - This Week’s Game Night: Carnegie Deluxe (Gingkopolis, Carson City, Troyes,) Time of Crisis, (Railways of the World) Battle for Rokogon, Dale of Merchants, (El Grande, Babylonia, Wiz War) 0:30:00- Game News: BGG Con 2022, (Ark Nova, Messina) Cat in the Box, Undaunted: Stalingrad, Undaunted: Reinforcements, (Undaunted: Normandy, Undaunted: Africa) San Francisco, War of the Ring: The Card Game (Hunt for the Ring, Successors) 0:49:34 - ...

Round 16, Turn 05: "Root" with Trey, Tom, and jim pinto

Trey is joined by Tom and RPG designer jim pinto to review Root and explore asymmetry in games. 0:00:00 Message about audio quality 0:01:08 Introduction jim pinto at Post World Games A Good Book for Bad GMs Dogs in the Vinyard 0:20:50 Game Night Clank: A Deck-Building Adventure The Hunger Ricochet Robots The Resistance: Avalon Shadows over Camelot Glass Road Time of Crisis: The Roman Empire in Turmoil 0:30:00 Game News Terra Nova Terraforming Mars: Dice Game Praxis / Protocol Atiwa BGG on Great ...

Round 16, Turn 4: Ginkgopolis

Ben, Dmitry, and Paul discuss the 2012 game "Ginkgopolis" as well as its expansion "Ginkgopolis: The Experts." Plus, what makes us want to give a game a second chance. 0:00:00 - Introduction: Welcome Ben, Philosophical Gamer Dmitry, and Game Breaker Paul. 0:04:29 - This Week’s Game Nights: Avalon, Lowlands, Ark Nova, Time of Crisis, (Food Chain Magnate) Caesar!, (Blitzkrieg!) K2, Healthy Heart Hospital (Jaws, Top Gun) (Dice Hospital, Clinic) 18 Ireland, 1848, Scout, Mafia, (Bohnanza) Carnegie (T...

Round 16, Turn 3: Perseverance

0:00:00 - Introduction: Welcome Game Enthusiast Matt #1, Game BreakerPaul and Game Designer Trey. 0:03:45 - This Week’s Game Night: Perseverance, Crescent Moon (Root, Oath, Pax games) Agricola 0:13:03 - This Week’s Game News: Azul, Master Chocolatier; Origins reinstates mask requirements; Awaken Realms Castles of Burgundy (Castles of Mad King Ludwig); Evergreen (Photosynthesis) 0:28:50 - Games on the Brain: Reacting to the Past (Argent); Burn Cycle (Cloud Spire, Too Many Bones) 0:37:21 - Review ...

Round 16, Turn 2: "Crisis" with Tom, Ben, and Paul

0:00 INTRO 10:33 GAME NIGHT Perseverance Avalon Crescent Moon Crisis Scapegoat Letter Jam Foundations of Rome Nemesis: Lockdown 56:00 GAME NEWS Cardboard Creations Trailblazer The Thing Dragonlance 1:10:00 REVIEW: CRISIS 1:42:48 MEMBER SEGMENT: THE SEMI-COOP GAME 2:09: 30 WRAP-UP