1P 350 - Popular Mechanics - Animal Games

This game seems to come up again and again and it's for good reason.  Pandemic is a classic games in line with the likes of Monopoly, Clue or Scrabble.  Fight off diseases ravaging the world in an effort to save humanity.  This game has inspired variants, legacy games and made cooperative games popular.  It occurs to me that we didn't credit the game.  It was designed by Matt Leacock and originally published by Z-Man games. Pandemic (BGG, Z-Man Games)

While still struggling slightly (very slightly), Julius and family recorded an episode about tragic games.  That's right.  These week we look at games that are overall about sad events.  No tragedy here though, it's a very fun episode! 02:00 Endangered (BGG) 03:55 Leviathan Wilds (BGG) 05:30 Anachrony (BGG) 07:45 Pandemic (BGG) 11:20 Mysterium ?? (BGG) 13:00 Horrified (BGG) 14:30 Under Falling Skies (BGG) 15:07 Purim (BGG) 18:57 The Spill (BGG) 20:39 Flatline (BGG)

This week we talk about Deck of Wonders, which currently has an expansion out on Kickstarter.  I'd hope to get this episode out with plenty of time for listeners to decide if they want to back this.  Saddly, Hurricane Helene set back my production schedule and the Kickstarter ends in just a couple of days. This game is a light deck construction game similar to Magic: The Gathering.  In fact, it draws some inspiration from that game.  However, this one is much lighter and more accessible because of that.  Also, the card pool is a bit smaller :) Deck of Wonders (BGG, Kickstarter Expansion)

I am still struggling with outdoor home internet. Julius and family picked up my slack and recorded an episode. This week's game is the sequel to The Search for Planet X.

This week again no episode. I was affected by Hurricane Helene. My family is fine but we are with out power going on four days now. It will be a few weeks before I can get the currently recorded episode out. 

This week Julius tells us all about climbing behemothic monsters, also known as Leviathans.  In this game you are trying to remove crystals from Leviathans all while they fight back.  It's a cooperative game that can be played solo and uses a book with 17 diferrent monsters, each its own board.  It is actually a pretty unique sounding game and I enjoyed learning about it. Leviathan Wilds (BGG, Gamefound)

This week I talk about a gamebook from Fervent Workshop called What Lies Beneath.  It was designed by Chris Scaffidi and the art is by Jason Glover, who has also designed quite a few games of his own. In this gamebook, you wake up in a dungeon with no memory of who you are or what you are here.  What's worse is you seem to have some sort of creepy cancerous growth on your arm.  You need to get out of here and figure out what is going on.  It's an interesting gamebook with some very novel mechanics. You get to play as one of 6 character classes.  If you die, you can take any earnt experience points and apply them to the next character you make.  Hopefully, this time you are able to survive long enough to get out of this dungeon. What Lies Beneath (BGG, Fervent Workshop)

This week Julius and I are back with a Popular Mechanics episode.  The mechanic this time around is "animals".  That is, we are talking about games with animals in them and feature animals. Oh, we also resolve a contest about 6 minutes in.  If you have entered any recent contests on this show, listen in to see if you won. Anyway, animals!  These are games that feature animals in the theme! 05:21 Arkham Horror: Barkham Horror (BGG, FFG) 06:39 Contest resolution 10:23 Agricola (BGG) 12:20 New York Zoo (BGG) 15:22 Food Chain Island (BGG, ButtonShy) 19:11 Bullfrogs (BGG) 22:18 The Animals of Baker Street (BGG) 23:47 Honey Buzz (BGG) 26:03 Defenders of the Wild (BGG) 27:40 Nekojima (BGG)

This week it's not actually episode 350 but just a filler to let you know things are busy around here.  We'll be back in a few weeks.  In the meantime, don't forget to enter in the Ragemore contest!

This week a sick Albert tells Julius all about Hallertau.  It's a really interesting worker placement farming game by Uwe Rosenberg.  Yes another one!  As per usual, this is a fun game with lots interesting choices, cool mechanics and more bits that fit in a normal sized box.   Hallertau (BGG)