The Family Gamers Podcast

We discuss our top games from 2018 - and ask the kids about theirs. Plus Boardgame in the Middle, what we've been playing, and Backtalk! The post 128 – Best of 2018 – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We’re joined today by Peter McPherson, the creator of Tiny Towns, coming soon from AEG. Tiny Towns was Andrew’s favorite game from PAX Unplugged. Tiny Towns is definitely family-friendly and easy for kids to understand. We can’t wait for our kids to try it! Tell us about Tiny Towns Each player is the mayor of a tiny town, represented by The post 127 – Peter McPherson, Tiny Towns – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Happy (almost) New Year! We’re back to doing “regular” shows after our PAXU blitz, and it feels good. Games Given and Received for Christmas: IceCOOL (which we had before we received IceCOOL2 from Brain Games for review! Argh!) Mole Rats in Space – a nice cooperative game from Peaceable Kingdom. Draw cards that determine what you’re allowed to do on The post 126 – 2019 Goals and Resolutions – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We welcome back Spencer Williams, formerly of Married with Boardgames, to talk about his new Lighten Up! initiative. What We’ve Been Playing Spencer is loving Forbidden Sky – it uses real electricity! Takes the “Forbidden” games to the next level. Many ways to die – struck by lighting, blown off the platform, etc. while you are trying to build the The post 125 – Lighten Up! with Spencer Williams appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We’re here with another hour of interviews from PAX Unplugged. But we’ll also talk about our highlights in gaming from the last few weeks, and a little bit of Backtalk! What We’ve Been Playing We’re only giving you the highlights because there’s a TON of games we’ve played in the past month, and we don’t have time to cover them The post 124 – PAX Unplugged 2018 Part 2 – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Today we have a real NASA scientist on the show! Welcome Dante Lauretta, Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Arizona. Dante is the leader of a NASA mission called OSIRIS-REx, which has just arrived at a near-earth asteroid called Bennu. He tells us about that mission and what is planned for the spacecraft. Dante has created three games, The post 123 – NASA Mission Leader Dante Lauretta – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We just returned from this year’s PAX Unplugged. We’re exhausted, but ready to share with you our favorite moments and interviews from the show! Our Favorite Moments Anitra loved going to Flip Florey’s Super Saturday Board Game Serial – LIVE! Laid back but lots of fun. Flip had even made a lot of “20 sided balloons” and the gamification wheel The post 122 – PAX Unplugged 2018 Post-Show – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We’re joined again this week by Stephen Duetzmann from Engaged Family Gaming! We are really looking forward to seeing Blume at the Yanaguana Games booth at PAX Unplugged. (Stephen formerly told us about Blume on episode 103.) Stephen is our go-to man for all things video game. “I’m weaponized.” What We’ve Been Playing Spider-Man (both Andrew and Anitra) – Andrew The post 121 – Holiday Gifts with Stephen Duetzmann – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Did you know the average family has 1.8 kids? What do you do with the extra .8? Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are upon us. Even if you normally play with 2 or 3 players, you’ll probably want to accommodate more family in your games! After geeking out a little bit about the change in how the kilogram is defined, The post 120 – Top 5 Games for Five Players – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Our guest this week is Jenn Bartlett, “The Boardgame Librarian”. Jenn works at a public library in Connecticut, and part of her job is to “cultivate a boardgame collection, run a boardgame program, and do a lot of outreach and education too. I get to be an awesome librarian who works with awesome boardgames!” Have you always wanted to be The post 119 – Boardgames in Libraries – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Essen Game Fair (Internationale Spieltage SPIEL) is the world’s largest boardgame trade show. No one could hope to cover everything (and we won’t try!) We brought Nick on to help us with our top picks from Essen Spiel, accumulated through BoardGameGeek and other media. Did you know that in Germany, 118 is the directory inquiry phone number? We’re going to The post 118 – Top Picks from Essen 2018 appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Today, we welcome Erin Dean, board game renaissance woman! She tells us about her book, the board game museum she is founding, along with a game or two she’s been working on. “I recently quit my day job to focus on board game related activities full time” – she’s not kidding! Erin is currently doing all of the following: Social The post 117 – Erin Dean – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

It’s that time of year again! We revisit the best spooky, magical, and weird games to play for Halloween. But first, let’s catch you up on what we’ve been playing over the last month! What We’ve Been Playing: Sparkle*Kitty – a new favorite of Claire’s. Play word cards as “spells” to break down your princess’s tower. Twin Stars – a The post 116 – This is Halloween – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

As promised last week, we have some interviews from Boston FIG. We’ve also got another giveaway – this one’s only a week long, so don’t miss out! Giveaway We picked up a copy of Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters and played it this week. We liked it so much that we picked up a second copy to give away to one The post 115 – Boston FIG Interviews – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Last week was Boston FIG, our favorite indie game festival. We talk favorite games and impressions, with special guest co-host and staff writer Corey Lagunowich. As in past years (2017, 2016 digital, 2016 tabletop, 2015), we couldn’t see everything. Instead, we’ll tell you about our favorite games of the festival. Digital Showcase We noticed a lot of derivative games. What The post 114 – Boston FIG 2018 – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Is episode 113 the episode of Funk? No, it’s the episode of Funkhouser! Derek & Lizzy Funkhouser run a social media community called “Board Game Spotlight”. They have been called the “Carebears”, because their rule is to be nice, even in disagreement. They want to make a friendly, inclusive place on the internet for all board gamers. It’s ok not The post 113 – The Board Game Spotlight with Derek & Lizzy Funkhouser appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Is resource management more than a business term? Do you take that? Or would you rather use worker placement to gain area control? We dissect some common terms from the board game world, and give examples of games that use these mechanics. What we’ve been playing Senshi by Arcane Wonders – recommended to us by Ryan and Erin Gutowski of The post 112 – Popular (Board Game) Mechanics – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We’re turning this episode up to 11! We’re joined by Marc Specter, the Grand Poobah of the Grand Gamers Guild. We’ve had Marc on the show before to talk about Pocket Ops, but this time we’re talking about a brand new Kickstarter, The Artemis Project. The Artemis Project The Artemis Project is a bit different from the games we normally The post 111 – The Artemis Project, with Marc Specter – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

We love games that tell a story. Whether the stories are driving the game, or encourage players to get into character and make their own story, these games are fun. Enhance your game-playing experience with some of these. What We’ve Been Playing: Scarabya (coming in October from Blue Orange). A multi-player-solitaire polyomino game. Fun, even though we can’t figure out The post 110 – Tell Me a Story: Storytelling in Games – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.

Today we interview two special guests: Hannah Schauer and Karen Cleveland from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Why are we interviewing employees of the Department of Natural Resources? Because they made a game! What in the Wild? is a game system with 120 cards and instructions to play five different games, using common wildlife and plant species across the The post 109 – What in the Wild? Interview – The Family Gamers Podcast appeared first on The Family Gamers.