Saturday Morning Board Game Show — August 2025

[Music] Hello, hello, and welcome to the show. It's that time again. >> Yeah, you already know. Grab your dice and shuffle your deck. It's game time now. What else would you expect? Get comfy, get cozy, get ready to play. It's Tantrum House Live on your Saturday. We're playing games with wood and meeples.

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>> We're playing games with custom cardboard. Winning is fun and that's our reward. From the couch to the table and back again. Come and hang out with your tabletop friends. Your tabletop friends. From the table to the couch and back again. Come hang out with all your tabletop friends. From the couch to the wall and back we go.

Everybody ready to start the show. Put on your game face. >> Yeah, you know how. Everybody ready. The show starts now. The show starts now. Hello. Hello. Good morning and welcome to the Saturday Morning Board Game Show. I'm Ryan. >> I'm Sarah. >> And I'm Will. And we are back again with another Saturday episode for y'all.

Thank you for joining us on the second Saturday of the month. A lot of us were at Gen Con last week, which would have made it a little tough for us to pull off the live show. >> Yes, indeed it would have been. >> But we did bring bunches and bunches of games back to show you off show you off show off to you today.

So, we're excited. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, Jeff. Thanks everybody else that's in the comments. Say hi if you're out there. We'd love to chat with you throughout the course of the show. Kevin is running the switcher. He'll answer your comments if you have specific questions for us, but I think we're pretty much ready to jump into the show.

Before we do, we always like to give a shout out to our sponsors. >> Our first sponsor is Game Toppers. We have two lovely Game Toppers showing off here. Uh you can check out their latest Kickstarter campaign to make lake pledges and they have beautiful mats, >> some really beautiful mats on their current >> go on and tons of accessories.

So you check that out. Our other uh sponsor is Wall Zap, which we will show that off later in the show. But first, let's head to the table. Welcome to the table. I am Hannah Vanna and this is >> Melissa. And today we've got Catastronauts, the board game from Atlas Games here at the table. The base game has one to four players, but you can get an expansion that adds two players, so it can go up to six.

This is a cooperative game. We are Cat said the International Space Station and it has gone so well that President Cat has allowed us to build more modules onto the space station. Once we have built all those modules, we can launch back down to Earth and they will throw us a parade. >> So that's >> cat party.

Awesome. >> Absolutely. A cat party. So before I go through what a round looks like in this game, I do want to point out some of the components that really impressed me with this. So, not only is all of the main board pieces double layered cardboard, so that you have a spot for each of the components, the cards, even on the player board, it has two things that I have not seen, but I believe Melissa has seen it has a spot for the first player token on our game boards.

And we do have a regular rule book that comes with it, but it did also come with a quick start guide that is a comic book that goes through what an entire first round. So if this makes it easier for you to remember what a round looks like, it's very helpful. So in this round, we are trying to not let our power level go all the way down.

We can lose that way. We're trying to get all of the modules out. Once we get all the modules out, every single one of them active, then we can all go into the launch bay, launch back down, and we're trying to do that all before all of our power runs out. >> Okay. So, I I am Waffles, uh, Catsup pilot extraordinaire, >> and I, of course, am Pom Pom, the Catsup chief science officer.

Now, we each on our player boards are starting with a couple of gear cards that's going to help us build the modules. We each have a special skill >> and then we all have an encouraging speech, which some of us have really better speeches than others. Would you like to talk about what your encouraging speech is, Melissa?

>> So, um I can do this once per game and it gives someone an extra action. >> Correct. Whoever the active player is. My encouraging speech is meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow. >> I am >> encouraged beyond belief. >> Hopefully encouraged and not >> discouraged scared.

>> So on your turn whoever has the first player token is going to get to do depending on how player count normally two or three actions. Um so what those kinds of actions are those are going to be moving to different tiles. Those are going to be going into outer space so you can walk around the modules, picking up gear cards, building modules, all the typical cooperative things.

So, whoever has the first player token will go first, but then the rest of the players don't have to go in any specific order. You can kind of go back and forth. The only way you know when someone's done when they have done their two or three actions, they're going to go off duty, which just means flipping over their character card and they are done for that round.

>> Nap time. Once that kind of round is done, you're going to do things like discard down to four cards. So during the round, you could have more than four cards because we can share with each other and that's the way to build that module faster. Or um we can also just help each other out throughout the whole thing.

Then once everyone has gone off duty, we're going to lower the power thing and reset. Everyone comes back online and then we do the next round. We're basically just kind of continuing that. There are some special like gear cards that are going to allow us to do wild tokens and things each. If you've ever played what's that what's that game where you're the little alien you're going to the little the astronaut game.

It was a popular video game where you go to each the different modules and have to do something but someone's about to kill you. >> Oh yes. >> Yes. >> Among Us. >> Among Us. So, you're you are doing Among Us without anyone trying to kill you where you're going into each of the modules and picking up different things and having to turn them on.

>> Um, >> and that's kind of a general overview of Catastronauts. I would say this is if you like Pandemic and like those cooperative games, but you have people in your player group that might not think that's a little too difficult, maybe this is the one that you bring to the table because not only is it cute cats, but it is a little bit easier to play than >> So, so you had me do my encouraging speech.

What's your encouraging speech? >> We can do this. We are cats. We always land on our feet. >> You had words. >> I know. I might have done that on purpose, but we'll never know. But anyway, this is Cat Shot. So, it can go up to six players. It plays in about 30 to 60 minutes from Atlas Games. And we're heading back to the couch.

>> And at the couch, we're looking at the game Flip Tunes from Thunderworks Games. Quick shout out to Nan and Tolken Fan. Thank you guys for tuning in this morning. Uh we picked this game up at Gen Con this year. It's a four two to four, one to four player, two to four, one to four, some number of up to four players.

One to four player game. Uh, it's a deck building game with some really cool art on it. And it's a little bit of a different type of deck building game because in this game, you're going to shuffle your deck, lay it out on the table in a very specific one, two, three, four, five, six pattern, and then you'll check for any adjacency bonuses that you might get based on where your cards are.

Now, we've got the game set up on the table. We're looking at just the starter hand. So, all of our hands look very similar, but in slightly different orders. And if we then count up how much uh tune power, I think it's fame that we have. Uh maybe over here you can see which can you see that one? >> So the snail is worth two, the bee is worth one.

All these other ones are worth zero, but there are unique things that happen. So per uh a point per unique adjacent card. So technically I have five based on this because a different bee and a different caterpillar. >> Looks like you're also the first player. So, if you go ahead and make a purchase, you can.

On your turn, you can either discard one of the cards from your tableau, from your tune show, uh, which will cost you five, unless you have the skunk showing, which may help you out depending on who has the least amount of money. And then you'll be able to purchase one of the cards from the tableau.

Do you have any favorites? >> Uh, I'm going to purchase a butterfly because when I purchase the butterfly, when hired, I may dismiss a caterpillar. Get out of here, caterpillar. And so, I'll put the butterfly there. and then it would be the next player's turn. Now, technically, he wouldn't actually dismiss this to the discard pile because there are some cards in the game that are going to allow you to >> get points for your discarded cards or things like that.

>> Okay. >> All right. I also had five, so I'm going to do the same. >> I didn't count mine. I think I have less. Two, three, four. I don't have five. I have five. >> You have five. >> A donkey. Your starting cards are going to be, you know, very similar for the first couple rounds. You're going to add those cards to your pile.

Let's say I I bought the horse. And then you're going to reshuffle your discard, assuming that you >> you would draw off your draw pile. But right now, we don't have enough cards to do them. >> And then we relay them in that same six pattern to see what new scores we were able to to get for the next round.

And over the course of the game, you're obviously going to be shedding your small cards that aren't any good. You're going to be buying some really cool cards that work in some pretty neat ways. A lot of them will be like whoever has the most on the table. If you have the most, you get more points. Or if nobody else has this card, you get more points.

or if it's next to two other cards, some of them like the goat is like if it's on the top row, it's worth three points. If it's on the bottom row, it's two points. So, it is luck in how they come out, but as you start to grow and stack your deck, obviously you can try to build it in ways that allow you to flip a card from the bottom to the top.

And now your goat can be on the top type of thing. We also managed to pick up the big button expansion while we were at the show, which is just a couple of cards that includes the axelottle, and that guy is going to let you reset your button basically. And the button is you can push it and clear the entire uh queue of available cards.

Flip it over until you potentially get to recharge it later in the game. This one is pretty uh like super light, easy to jump into, but the deck building stuff is pretty interesting. Like it gets a little bit deeper as you try to figure out which cards are going to be the most powerful. I also think that's going to change from player count because like in a two-player game it was like, "Oh, this card is way more powerful because I only have to have one of these showing and I'm scoring big points." Within a four-player game, obviously your odds of being the only one showing are going to be different.

Cool. What do you think? We played it the other night. >> We did. Um, this one seems very straight, like you said, seems very straightforward, but the fact that you have a specific orientation where the cards go changes it from just a normal deck builder where you're buying things out of your hand and then getting a new hand.

This um makes you think about how you build your deck a little differently. >> Yeah. Yeah. Some neat normal things obviously too, like you'll discard the lowest card and shift them all down and reveal the new one. And then these cards actually appear in value order. They're numbered so that your highest cards are always the most expensive to get.

Uh lots of little nice logical things like that. Your uh score tracker, you're going to move or flip over to track as you go throughout the course of the game. And then the game ends when one player gets 30 points. That's the game in trigger. >> Ah, >> and then we all do a final turn and compare points and see who won the game.

>> Yep. >> Flip tunes. >> Fun stuff. >> I like the artwork. >> I do too. It's super cute. Let's head back to the table. Welcome. We are talking about first class letters. This is a competitive roll and write game that can play well it says one to 100 because there are 100 sheets in the game. So basically any number of players can play.

This is from Game Head which is a new publishing company and we talked about two of their games in our last Saturday morning show. So that would have been July. >> Yes. >> July. July is what comes before August. Uh we talked about Corgi pileup and venture angels. So uh Game Head has been putting out some really interesting games in these small square boxes.

So we have started to set it up. At the beginning of the game, you roll the package dice, the brown package dice, and then you write the letters in alphabetical order on specific spots on your uh sheet, which you may or may not be able to see since I wrote in pencil. First round, Hannah, why don't you roll all the dice all?

>> Even the red one. >> Even the red one. >> Hannah has not played this before. I have. So, this red dye indicates a letter that we cannot use in our word. >> Excellent. If you end up writing a word with that letter, it will be canceled out. No point. >> Okay. >> Uh otherwise, what's going to happen is we're going to write one word in any of the spots on our sheet.

>> Okay? >> But at the end of the game, you want all of your words to be in alphabetical order. >> Okay? >> So, between H and J, I can put an H, an I, or a J starting word in here. If I put anything else, it's going to get >> So it can match. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Well, you are dictionary style, so you're going to go all the way down.

>> So, I want a J A before a J O or something like that. Okay. >> So, we have these three package dice. >> Okay. >> Basically, you get a point for each of those letters that you have in your word. You don't even have to use all of them to tell you what my word is or do we want? >> We're going we're going to do it a few more rules first.

Sorry. If you if you can use all three of these letters, you're going to double your word score. >> Excellent. I get it. >> But say if you end up using just two G's, >> your point, your score will be two points. >> Got it. >> But if I use all three of them, it would be 3 * 2, six points. So >> So the most I can get for any word is six points.

>> No. Well, this one's going to be really difficult. But if you two, one, two, it would be five times two. Got it. >> 10 points. So excent. >> Just how many times you've used the letters. And obviously you can't make a word out of just these letters. So you can use any letters in the alphabet. Got it.

>> But these are the ones that will give you points. >> Don't put the red. >> Don't put a Y. Got it. Okay. >> And you can put it in any slot. >> Okay. So I just write in a word. >> Uhhuh. First person to finish flips it. And people have you already thought of one. I've been talking. >> You have. And I'm not showing you what it is.

Now, do proper names count? >> I don't remember. I'd have to look at that. This isn't I mean it's not but let's see in the maybe if we have anybody in the audience who also has a word. We'll see if we match with anybody. >> Let's see if we are thinking alike in the audience. Melissa's thinking really hard.

>> Oh, you were supposed to. >> Oh, sorry. >> She's definitely um um and we're going we're thinking. >> So, I went ahead and wrote the word Viking. >> Oh. >> And got both the V, the K, and the G. >> Nice. Very nice. >> So, >> so you would go and you basically do a check mark for each of the >> So, I did all three letters.

>> So, you would check this one and then you would get >> six points for that word. >> I didn't think at all because I was talking. So, I just did grand and one and scored one point for that. >> And then I I can see where this can get more difficult >> as you have. So then we would and we're not going to play too many like a bunch of other rounds but Oh now you have an E >> that you can't even use harder.

>> So depending on the letters that are rolled it becomes easier or harder to meet the objective. >> If we have a spelling error, can we call someone else out on that or how is how does spelling come into play with this? >> You would have the person rewrite it with the correct spelling and then adjust the score.

>> Got it. >> As um >> as needed. Yep. So, there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven rounds in the game. You're going to total up points. See who has the most points. See if anyone broke any of the rules with the letter or um this is fun. >> I do really appreciate that they put the alphabet on the side.

So, I'm not sitting there going A B C E like >> which comes first, the H or the I or any of that. >> When you're on the spot, it gets harder when it's in a game. So, that is First Class Letters from Game Head. Let me pull this back up again. Uh, one to 100 players. So, you can play it with however many people you want.

A spelling game with a little twist with the letters that you're trying to use. So, now we're going back to the couch. >> We're talking about the game Bomb Busters. This is the Spiel the Arts winner this year, and it's a great time. We made it to snag this. Brian jumped in line early at Gen Con. Way to go to snag a copy of this because we didn't know how long it was going to last and it didn't.

They sold out quick. Uh so we have played it a couple times and we're ready to show it to you guys. Ryan, you want to give us a rundown? >> Yeah. So Bomb Busters is a cooperative bomb diffusing game. We are all on the same team and basically what we are doing is our turns will consist of uh if you can see my board here, we all have uh numbers that correspond to each other.

So for example, there are four sixes that are available. I might have multiples of those sixes. I might have one of those sixes and other people have uh the other ones. Basically, what we're trying to do is we are trying to diffuse the bomb by matching the corresponding numbers to their wires. Uh so I we need to match our sixes, our sevens, our eights, etc.

and so forth. The snag is there's there's multiple things. One, if we get a number wrong, so if I say, "Hey, you have a six." And unfortunately, Will does not have a six, then we lose a life. In a three-player game, we only have three lives. >> Now, there are also two yellow wires out there. The yellow wires, you draw them at random, but this is a 5.1 and a 10.1.

You want to arrange the wires on your board in a way to where people can kind of they can't see your numbers, but they know they're going to ascend in order so that you know they're they're not choosing 12 over here. They're choosing it over here. There's also a So the the yellow wires just make it a bit more complicated.

If you guess a yellow wrong again, it's only one life. However, if you pick the red wire, we're dunzo. That's an instant fail. We're toast. So, the the game has 66 different scenarios. Scenario 1 through eight are all training to get you to uh give you a feel for the game. We just jumped straight into number four because that >> Okay, good.

>> That is when you have yellow and that's when you have red. We got to have it. We got to have it. My cousin when we first played this, he blew us up. Unbelievable. >> On the first round, >> uh it was it was like two or three and it was I will never let him live that now that he blew us up. So, I give him all the sass.

So, basically, uh, what we're going to be doing is each of us, because I'm the captain, in a four-player game, everyone would normally just have one of these. In a four-player game, you need to have or three-player game or lesser. The captain will have two of these. So, basically, what I will do is I'm going to look at what's in front of me, and I'm going to try to guess if someone else has something of that of that wire.

What we do at the beginning is each of us will take one of these. This is just an indicator token. This is basically just your initial clue to let people know something might be up here. So, uh to to let them know, hey, don't guess beyond this or whatever that might look like. So, >> yeah, it's hard to know what where to put them at, but hopefully once you get it narrowed down to the game, you'll figure out like, oh, okay, I see what they're communicating.

>> Yep. As you play the game, you have a better idea of how to utilize these. But basically what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to use this to indicate >> don't don't >> go below this, don't go above this, whatever that might look like. >> Pick this numbers if you don't have it. >> So I'm going to put my four right here.

>> So now Will and Sarah now know that this particular one is a four. That's the only hint I can give them of my whole configuration. Now Sarah and Will choose Oh, Will chose an 11. So we know where one of his 11s are. Um, I feel like I should pick a different number than you two. >> You should. >> That would be ideal.

You don't want to pick the same number because what this does >> doubles of either probably. >> Yeah. So, what that lets us know is that Will has an 11. So, if someone else has an 11, they can just guess that straight from the get-go. Okay. >> Who goes first? >> Me, cuz I'm the captain of this ship.

>> Okay. Captain. >> All right. So, being the captain of this ship, >> you're the man. >> What's up? >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, I am going to say that will this right here is a 12. >> Ding. Correct. >> All right. So, what we do is we put that out in front of us. We now know two twelves have been got.

So, now it is Sarah's turn and she chooses one to indicate what we need to do. >> If you have a four, you can guess. >> That's another piece. If you don't have the number, you can't guess that number. You have to have one. Have that wire. So, it prevents you from guessing weird stuff. And you always know if someone guessed a six, you know that person has a six.

If Sarah never guesses a six, I know chances are pretty good she doesn't have that. >> Okay. So, I select yours first. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, you say what you're going to do four. >> Okay. So, you think this is a four. >> Yes. All right. >> Very good decision. >> Congratulations. That is indeed a four.

>> Show my four. >> You show your four. >> Now, we haven't played all the scenarios in the game, so I don't even know what else is in the box. However, one of the cards that we start with is our double detection card. Being bing, >> which allows us to take instead of guessing someone else's stuff, we can say, "These are both eights." Yep.

>> And then we can reveal straight from our hand, which we can all do because we all Oh, is yours different? Oh, she's a different character. >> Yeah, it's a different character. I got the captain. Okay. So, as you progress through the the scenarios, they get more and more difficult. They add more things.

They add equipment cards, things like that. So, plenty of opportunities for you to do some crazy crazy stuff. Uh, I'm going to take a risk here. I'm going to say this is a nine. >> It is. >> Good guess. >> Okay. So, now Sarah's up. >> I'm up. >> Yeah. And so, we're going to keep going and trying to diffuse this bomb.

Once we finish it, that will be the end of round four scenario. And then we'll reveal totally new stuff to do in the next game. Same basic premise, but there'll be different wires. There'll be different tools, different cards, different powers that we can use. >> Okay. Um, >> I'm gonna try to blow this up.

>> Say this is a three and this is a three. >> Did you have to try? >> She did it on accident. I was going to do it on purpose. >> What? >> Yeah. Yeah. So Sarah just blew us up. >> Sorry. >> It happens to the best of us. >> Yeah. So I assumed the reason that he told us this is a four. We knew that this maybe you did.

We 3.5. >> So I was like, "Right, it's not going to He's probably telling us don't pick this three." >> Yes. So this this being a 3.5. >> Good job. We set you up perfect. >> Yeah. So each of these has a different number and that's why you indicate this so everyone knows uh what that could be. Now I haven't played all the scenarios.

66 scenarios is a lot. There might be ones where you don't put those out and it's even more complicated. I don't know. >> Could there be one where you want to blow it up? There's got to be. >> Ah, the whole the whole bomb buster. Maybe not. All right. I hope there's a twist. I mean, that's between you and my crew.

>> So, yeah, that's Bomb Busters by Pegasus. >> All right, we're going to go to a quick cutaway to Katie, who's actually, I think, camping in Alabama this week, but she sent us this video. >> Good morning. Today, I'm going to be talking about Llama Llama by AllPlay. This is a small box card game um that really uses a lot of the mechanics of pick and pass um setting your own goals and also um set collection.

So, just taking a quick look at this game. Um it has um a deck of cards that gets dealt out to all the players. If you're playing with less than four players, you deal out um some dummy hands that gets that gets used. It's actually pretty simple to use them. So, um it's not a big deal if you can't play at the full player count.

Um but there are um cards in here that um are range from A, B, C, D, and the lowest is G that it goes to. And in these um the most common card in the decks are A's um followed by B's and then G. there's only one of the G's. So, at the beginning of the game, you deal out all the cards to all the all the players.

So, you always deal out four decks of cards. Um, and in this, you will choose um looking at your hand, one of the cards to be a secret goal that will be laid down and then revealed in a certain round. So, um, and for example, I would choose maybe, um, a D as my secret goal card. Everybody lays one face down.

These get shuffled and then they get placed out in one of the random spots to be revealed in a round. I don't know any of the other three goals for the game, but in the first round, you reveal the card first, the goal card that's there. Um, and this is goal card C. So, it means here that every C card will be worth three points, but if you have this combination of two A's and two B cards in your hand at the end of the game, you'll get 10 points.

So, kind of going to be working towards that. Um, so we pass our four cards, you get new four new cards from the person sitting next to you, and then the next round begins. Did I mention this is a 15minute game? Yeah, this is fast. So, the next one you'll reveal. Oh, it's my card D that I put down. Or at least I assume it is.

Um, somebody else could have put down the same G goal card I put down, but it'll mean that the D any D cards left in your hand at the end will be four points. But it also has a lot of different ways to score. All right, so we'll be working towards that. will all pass three cards and then we will move on to the next round.

Um here we have um card A is revealed and it will um gives you a ridiculous amount of points. So if you manage to get one of every type, you get 50 points, which means you have to already be holding the G card because there's only one in the entire deck. All right. So, pass only two cards this round and then reveal the last one.

Ah, so the last one is also a C card, which means a combined um C equals 3 from this one and C equals three from this one. And combined that'll be six whole points the C's will be worth at the end of the game. And then if you manage to get this combination, two A's and two B's, you'll also get 20 points instead of the 10.

So that's just happen stance that it works out that way. Um, but cards can count towards multiple goals. So if I was able to meet any of the extra goals on the card I put down for D, um, I'll also score additional points for any combinations I can can make out of my cards for that. So, you're going to be making your best seven card hand for the revealed um cards.

Uh you have to be careful because you can actually get your goal early in the game that you're trying to hit and then you still have to pass your cards. Um so there's no way to not pass cards. And in fact, I've run into that a few times while playing this game is that I met a goal really early, but unfortunately I still had to pass cards off and then at the end I didn't actually get what I needed.

So, you have to be kind of thinking through a lot of those kind of issues like I have a lot of these things, but will I be able to keep them throughout the game to meet these goals. So, this is Llama Llama by All Play. It's a super fast game. Like I said, set collection, pick and pass. Um, if you are interested in this type of game, go ahead and check it out.

>> Hey, hey, we're coming at you from the wall with five things that we enjoyed at Gen Con. Quick shout out to Wall Zap though before we do that. Their magnetic hanging system is definitely worth checking out. You can learn more at wallzap.com. It makes the displaying of your games when you're not sitting around twisted sideways really, really convenient and easy.

They've also got some really cool art pieces that you can put up instead. It's as simple as just putting a little plate in the back of your game. Sticks it to the wall and you can swap them out. It makes for a great display which I think is pretty slick. >> Using the power of magnetism. >> Magnetism.

magnetism and fastest on the wrong salad. >> Ryan and I and Sarah and Anna had the opportunity to be at Gen Con this past week in Indianapolis, the United States's largest board gaming convention. Had a fantastic time and we walked away with some definite highlights. I have numbered them in a non necessarily ranking order.

But just for organizational sake, you got five, too. Are we sure both? >> I have five as well. So, we each get to say one. Is that what we're going to do? >> Sure. Sure. And then we'll overlap maybe. >> All right. I gotta start it off with the big group games. >> That's always my highlight experience whenever I go to these conventions, Tantrum Con or other.

I love playing the games that involve, you know, 15 to 30 people. And you don't get those opportunities all the time. Uh my son got to play in some two rooms in a boom games. >> Oh yeah. >> He won as Shy Guy, the single winning player against everybody in a zombie game. He said there were like 30 people.

He was like, "Oh, Shy Guy is the hardest one ever to win." Won the game. Bravo. Well done, son. We also played a game of Blood on the Clock Tower, of course. And uh always always a great time. >> Yep. Uh for me, I love working the con. So Will has been hired contracted by Genius Games to run the booth for them.

So every year, uh he basically asks my wife and me to come and help out and work the con and work the tables. So basically, we just help out in whatever way. Anna loves to work the counter and help people sell games and all of that stuff and just be a pretty face at the front of it and help them with the trivia and whatnot.

Uh, I sit at tables with a game in front of me and when people walk by and say, "Hey, what's this?" or "I've heard of that," I say, "Well, I can tell you about it or you can sit down and play it for yourself and find out." So, I really like that aspect of uh Gen Con where I can go and attend the con, but I also have purpose while I'm there.

So, it just makes those times where I get to do the the things and walk around a bit sweeter. >> No pressure. But, I think the next game we're looking at is one of the games you demoed. So, we're going to exp expect really great presentation. >> Fun fact though, I didn't teach it. >> Oh, you didn't?

No, I didn't teach that one. I I learned it. I learned it later on, but I'll be I'll still be fine. >> One of my favorite things is just the exhibit hall. The exhibit hall, Jen Con is massive. They always have the big shiny booths and huge banners and all the cool buildouts. Arcane Wonders had their cat tower thing which was really cool looking.

Um, one of the most impressive ones, got to give a shout out to Ivy Studios. Did you walk by their booth? It was actually outside the exhibit hall. Exhibit hall. exhibitors. Maybe that's what I meant. Yeah. It was in the hallway on one of those big side rooms and it felt like you were walking into like some kind of alien casino or something.

They had like cool box lights hanging from the ceiling. Everything was roped off inside. You walked in and like checked in with a guy who had this like cool iPatty thing of future technology. It was slick. It was very slick. >> I'm bummed that I didn't get to see that. That sounds amazing. >> It was good.

It was >> uh let's see. For me, it's just the quiet times of after a long day of working the con, of going to the con, of seeing crazy booths with a bunch of things that I didn't get to see, unfortunately. Just getting to play some of the the games that we collected over the course of our time. So, the the first evening that we were there, uh, my wife Lydia, Brad, my cousin Dan, and I, we just pllopped down and we played bomb busters.

So, that was a lot of fun to actually learn that, go through the trainings. It was funny because initially we were like uh you know it's okay but then once it started to get more complicated and you started yeah the yellow wires and the red wire then we were like okay okay we get it we get it we see it.

So we did that and then we got to play a little bit of 12 Rivers which is really neat as well. So really just going out getting the things and then actually getting to unpack it. Yeah. And get to play it afterward. It's so good. >> My one of my favorite things I enjoy are the meals and the meetups every night.

So similar before we get to the games, you got that in between period where you actually get to sit down and talk to some people, enjoy some good food. Indianapolis, I think one of the reasons that that con is so successful is because there's so much good food real close. Like you don't have to go 10 miles to get a decent meal.

There's some really delicious stuff and really good places to hang out and catch up with friends. >> Yeah. Uh one of the things I'm thankful for, I love that I can go with my wife. My wife enjoys Yeah. Yeah. >> That's mine, too. >> Now, here's the sad here's the sad thing. the last few years, every con that we go to, either Anna gets hurt or I get sick.

And yes, yeah, we need to stop that. But I like uh being able to go with people I love. And uh my cousin's been able to go to this one the last few times as well. So, it's just cool to be able to hang out with the people that you care about, you love. You get to meet new people and hang out with the people that you haven't seen in a while, but also just having people who are passionate about it >> in the in your midst.

It's a wonderful thing. >> I'll piggyback on that because my number five is the people at the convention. It is the best. We got some really cool opportunities to sit down with people that we haven't seen in a year to catch up on old times to be able to spend time with them. My son got to go this year which is fantastic being able to hang out with him even on the drive in and out which was great.

And then I also got to like run into people that I kind of only barely know and I love like the warm reception that you get. Uh the Wilsons who are the designers of Everddale were at the show and I like saw them from a distance. I was like, "Oh, I got to go say hi." Snapped a pick with them. They at least pretended like they knew who I was which was great.

I was like, "I'm a huge fan." They were like, "Yeah, we are." So, it was a really, really good time. Always enjoy running into good game designers and having fun and catching up. >> Yeah, it was pretty cool to see you, too, Mr. Tantrum, >> baby. >> So, didn't Liam bump into his his football coach? >> He did.

Yeah. Yeah. >> At Gen Con. Had no idea. >> Yeah. And I actually bumped into a lady I used to do karate with like 10 years ago. So, it's weird. It pulls everybody in. >> Okay. Uh, one for me, I was able to snag up Blood Rage. >> What was it? Tycoon Games. They they snagged up uh Sean uh and all that fun stuff.

So, what they're doing is they're trying to sell off a lot of the old stock. So, they had a bunch of stuff that were just bundles of this is what we still have. We'll sell it for a really good deal and then they're going to be restarting doing another Kickstarter for Blood Rage Valhalla and then they're going to be filling in the gaps for a lot of the things that have been out of print for a long time.

So, I have not played Blood Rage yet, but I'm really excited. It's an older one, but for me, yeah, it's for me it's less about I need to play this new shiny thing. I just want to play the thing that I want to play that I've heard is really good. And so I'm excited about making or bringing that one to the table.

But it was also cool to see, okay, this one's not going to die. Another company has brought it back and they're revitalizing it. >> Yeah. Yeah. So I'm in a similar boat where one of the things that was a standout for me was a game I got to play. I did a demo of the game makers which is coming from Bezier Games and it is it's a crazy tablehog experience.

It has like a what's it called? Like on your mower steering wheel when you got like that ball that you hold on to. You know what I'm talking about? There's a name for that. Whatever that thing is. Yeah, I have no idea. It >> makes steering wheels turn easier. They have one of those and it's actually controls like what your turn is in the game and you're using the craziest meeples.

Like you have an actual forklift like with metal and plastic pieces is your mele. We're not talking wood here. >> Yeah. At Gen Con, they had an actual fork forklift to show the display. >> It was cool. It was a really cool experience. I'm looking forward to that Kickstarter coming soon. What was your final thing?

>> My final thing was the fact that Genius bought Elf Creek and uh yeah, they they Elf Creek was uh struggling and everything. People were wondering if some of these games would go to print and >> the Kickstarter would ever be fulfilled or Yeah. And uh a lot of people coming up to that booth asking, "Okay, so you guys are here.

What's going on?" And being able to explain uh one, these games are not going anywhere. A lot of people were really thankful about that, especially if they didn't have copies. And two, uh that they're going to be able to fulfill things and uh fulfill a lot of the promises that have been made over the course of it.

So, I'm I'm excited about how that's going to unfold. And a lot of we had a lot of really grateful, thankful people over the course of that process and that was cool to witness. >> Yeah. Yeah. The Genius Games trying to take over and bring it back is pretty awesome. So, it'll be a long road ahead, I'm sure, but it is exciting to know that there's there's some hope out there.

>> Hope. >> All right, I think we're heading back to the couch. Ryan's running because he's got to go set up for the next game and we're going to play High Tide. >> Welcome back. >> Hello. Welcome to the couch. I'm Ryan. >> I'm Sarah. >> Okay. And this is High This is High Tide by Underdog. So, basically what this game is is it's a cozy two-player stacking game and uh it looks like it's going to be simple and everything.

However, it gets pretty cutthroat. So, each of us gets to be a color. Do you want to be pink or blue? >> I'll be pink. >> Okay, she'll be pink. And so, uh what we do is at the start of our turn, we move one tile up. It has to go up. It can't go across, you know, as we get new stacks and things like that.

So, an example would be uh I could move this one here. The whole point of the game is to cover up your opponent's tiles and keep all of yours visible. The person at the end of the round when there are either no more moves or one person is unable to make a move. The person with the most uh of their color showing wins that round.

And uh if there if you're tied, it's the person with the highest tower. And if you're tied and you both have a similar tower, then it's the person uh who played last. So, there's just some rules as far as where where you can stack and things. Obviously, you have to place it next to something that it's connected to.

And uh you you have to move either one of these neutral ones or one of your color. I can't move Sarah's color. However, I can do this. So, if I were to do that, I'm good. At least two sides of a tile needs to be showing. And you can't create an island. So, this one can't move. >> I cannot move this one.

So, that was a power play because now there's nothing she can do about that theoretically. >> Y >> um let's see here. >> My wife and I played this the other day night. Uh the other night we went to sushi. We brought this. The server was very curious about how how all this works and uh it was a it was a pretty cool time.

It gets surprisingly cutthroat. One of the things that they advertise is that if you want to play this at the beach, you can because it's very simple. It's a very small box. These little blue stones right here, these just signify you can, it's best to, you know, three out of five rounds, but you can do whatever makes sense to you.

I'm going to put this one here. Can I make a move? >> Can she make a move? The answer is yes, you can. >> But it does make it difficult. >> Can I move this one? >> You cannot because it only has one side showing. >> Yeah, >> you can move this one up to here >> or that one on top of that blue. >> But then you're going to stack on top of it.

>> But then I'm going to stack on top of that. You better believe I'm about to do that. I'll do that. >> Okay. And then I'm going to do the same. >> You're going to do the same. >> Oh, I'm gonna lose. >> Yeah. So, I'll go up here. And then there's nothing else that Well, actually, technically, you could move this one or you could move this one up there.

>> Yeah. We'll go back this way. >> Yep. And so, tiles always have to move up. So, in this case, she has two showing at the end. I have five. I would win this round. And what you do is you reset. When you reset, you always I'll show you what the game board needs to look like. You have two of each color and then you have three neutrals.

You can just kind of randomly place them in a configuration like this. If I can do my shapes. Shapes are hard. There we go. And then what you would do is you would put the rest of these in the bag. You shake them around and then you randomly place them around. But basically, you would just do that again and again and again.

You can do three out of five. You can do 100 games, whatever you want to do. But that is how you play High Tide by Underdog Games. >> This was sold out twice. >> Yes, it was crazy. People were coming to this. They had uh they had a a massive one that was their prototype with just big blocks of wood and people kept asking, "Can I buy that one?" And the answer was, "No, but you can make one." >> You can make one.

>> Yes. >> Yeah. They sold out uh on Friday, shipped more in, and then we sold out the second batch of games. >> Yeah, it was it was quite popular. >> Yep. Quite >> high tide by Underdog Games. Back to the table. >> Speaking of making things, I have some 3D printed things from Geekshapes. If you have a 3D printer at home, I would want you to visit geekshapes.com.

Here on this lovely phone stand, that's one of the options you can create. They do have a catalog of all the options and then some of the free models and the places where you can 3D print them and whichever builder app that you do. Please forgive me. I don't know a whole lot about 3D 3D printing and what kind of spaces you can do it in.

But I'm going to show you some of the things that you can do. So, we have things like card holders in different shapes, sizes. I'm going to kind of depending on what your game is. Everything from one card, couple cards all the way up. We've got different size component compartments. They come in different colors.

And what's even cooler about this, there is magnets that are printed in here and they stick together and you can kind of make them in any configur configuration that your game requires. There's two different depths and each of them also you can 3D print little dividers. So each of these can be two different compartments.

There's also these inserts that kind of come snapped together so you can put them clamped on the outside of your tables. There's two different size clamps that can print with the screws that come with it. There's one for a cup. There's even these cool little numbered and favor tokens that fit inside these little holes so that you know so all the customization that you could possibly want for your game play.

And there's even a card holder. The card holder can go into another 3D printed device that then can be clamped on the edge of the table. The customization kind of possibilities are endless. If you want anything here, I would go check out game shape. Geekshapes, sorry, not game, geekshapes.com. There's even >> a magic wand.

>> There's a magic wand. There's fire. There's every number 0 through nine. All the colors. I would go check them out. There's a lot of cool customization. You can even stick these little trays all over the place. Um, I love the fact that you can stick a magnet in them. What a fun little detail of things.

But that is I'm not sure if we are good to go, but that is geekshapes.com. Please check them out. And we are heading back to the couch. >> Welcome back to the couch. So, we are looking at the Flock Together expansion. It's called Birds of a Feather. This is by Sea Cow Games. So, if you played Flock Together, it is a cooperative chicken game.

You are chickens who have founded a new town and you are trying to protect it from predators and everything and it takes the game takes place over the course of several seasons. You're basically trying to fight off your enemies and build enough uh upgrade your chickens and make sure that you're safe for the winter.

I actually did a review of this x amount of time ago, so that was uh quite quite a bit of time ago. But really fun game. The birds of a feather feather uh expansion adds more. So, you have chickens that you choose and your chickens, it's kind of cool. >> This is the best part. >> Yes. The the chickens, all of them are uh based they're puns based on actual figures and things like that.

So, for example, we have Ericorn, heir of Condor, Tolken fan forever. >> This is your guy. We also have JRR Yolken. >> All right. So, the cool thing is over the course of the game as you're eating bugs and things like that, you're upgrading your chicken and uh the booklet shows. >> So, instead of just having a card that you flip, there is a whole booklet.

>> Yes. So, it's very slick in how it's presented. >> You upgrade multiple times. >> Yeah. So, what the expansion does is it adds more of these uh chickens that you can be, and each one has different abilities that uh help them in battle or help uh give other players lives, things like that. And then you also have more bads.

So, let's see. Uh, Leonardo, which is a turtle. Coupella, which is whatever that, I'm guessing, some sort of cat. It's a cat. And the sheriff of Rottingham. All of these have different abilities that they use to fight you and they can be quite difficult and everything. This uh also adds a sixth player board.

So, you can normally in the base game you can play one to five players. This allows you to play with six. So, if you have a group of six people, that's pretty cool. And then it also has each each season you have different uh weather effects that could happen. So this adds new weather effects for fall, summer, and spring.

And uh these are negative things that you have to combat along with all of the other creatures that are messing with you and all of that stuff. So more more more. So, if you've gotten Flock Together or if it's something that you're interested in, uh, Flock Together, this expansion adds a lot of new components as well, so that you can have more fun with your friends up to six people.

So, pretty good time. How are we looking over there at the table? >> I think we're ready. >> Will thinks we're ready. So, >> join us. >> Off we go. >> Just a little journey like the hobbits took. >> That's right. So, we've got Yubibo on the table. This is a game that we picked up as Yeah. Sorry. Good luck.

It's all good. like on the exit for uh Gen Con, uh some people I had heard about this game a couple different times and people mentioned like, "You got to get in on this. You It's going to be fun. Just slide around the corner." >> There you go. Um and I finally actually saw it, so I was like, "Oh, I got to snag it." I haven't actually read the rules.

Did you actually finish reading the rules? >> I I actually I've played this twice already. No idea if I'm playing right. We had a great time. >> I will explain the rules. Please do. Ryan, what do you got for >> real rules instead of will rules? >> Yeah. Kind of close. Mine's probably more fun than >> I mean, when you play a game with Will and you just do it according to his whims, it's kind of fun in its own way.

You just know. You just know it's going to be different. All right. So, each of us has a corresponding color and each of these cards has a different finger, a different fangi that you're going to be utilizing over the course of this. So, what we're going to do is each of us has colors. We are going to shuffle all of these together.

So, I'm orange. >> Do we know what this card does? This is the only one I don't actually know what it does. >> Uh, I didn't get that far. >> Okay, look at that card. >> Just the person card. >> All right, so we each uh we we >> put in our colors. >> I wonder if this one stays in front of you so you know what color you are.

>> See, the more you know more fun the way I play it. >> Yeah, I'll explain that later. >> I don't know. Just made up rules. >> Will's rule was and you can put it on any body part that you want, >> which was great. the And what ended up happening was his son Liam just put it on his face. >> I was sitting right here.

>> Oh boy. >> So what you do is you shuffle these cards together and what what'll happen is when you draw one, the person with that color has to put that the a stick on that with whoever drew the card. >> Color representation. >> Exactly. >> Don't forget. >> So here we go. We're just going to do our first card for your connections and one hand.

>> So light blue. I have to I have to connect with Will and it has to be >> You do. >> Yeah. Because I drew the card. >> I have to do this with Will and it has to be >> and it's actually just my middle finger. So or whatever. Ring finger. It could be. >> It could be this, but I'm just going to do that as well.

>> If you do a ring finger later, what happens? >> We have to have multiple on the ring finger. We're only using one hand. We can't do a pow pow pow. So that's the the dexterity behind this. She has to build off of yours or >> it all depends. >> So, she's connecting to pink. >> Oh, boy. >> But remember, >> she could use her forefinger if she wants to, if it's easier.

>> We're all doing a single hand, >> but at some point, we got to be close enough that we could potentially all be connected. >> All right. So, Melissa, you have to use your other hand >> without letting go. >> All right. Purple >> thumb. You're in with the thumb. >> All right. All right. Flip that card, Hannah.

Green thumb. >> Green thumb. Ryan is green. >> You got my green thumb. >> So, the game ends when either we >> Oh, myself. What do I do with that? Either >> with whoever you want. >> Oh, perfect. All right. I'm going with Ryan cuz he's right here. >> All right. The game ends when either we've used every stick or something falls.

>> All right. >> Oh, snap. >> So, what do the balls do? >> Okay. >> We're not ready for that yet. >> Okay. >> We'll explain. >> Okay. There we go. This is getting so difficult. I'm super glad that I planted my elbow. Thank you, Ryan, for floating. >> I know. >> Planting the elbow would have something.

>> Okay. Careful. Careful. >> I got it. I got it. >> All right. Really? We're killing it. You got >> Keep the pressure. We only have one, two, three, four, five. >> Orange thumb. >> That's me. >> Orange thumb. We only have six more sticks. We got this team. >> Oh, no. >> You do it. >> I feel like I'm like this.

So there when you when you get to more difficult things more difficult. >> Yes. Difficultter things. Uh they have these balls and you have to potentially balance them between sticks while you wear >> you got to like pinch two things together and hold it and float it. >> I guess if you want to practice your dexterity, this is a a great game.

>> If you have long nimble I imagine Kevin would be good at this because he has long nimble fingers because of the the magic. Where's my piano players at? >> Indeed. Yeah, piano players, you might dig this game. You Bibbo. >> All right, I think we should swap cuz we still have five minutes. Kevin, I can tell he wants to play this.

I feel like he also wants to do magic. I can just sense it. >> The Spongebob's one. >> All right, come on. >> Shuffle them back up. >> Show the balls. Show the balls. >> Now that I'm not in it, not responsible. >> Thanks, Will. >> All right. All right. All right. So, what you do with the balls? Is it on the overheads?

Overhead. Here we go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. >> How did you do it? >> Magical mystical heaven. >> Let's do it one more time backwards. You guys. >> All right. One. Oh, backwards is 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 two one. >> All right. All right. So, that's how you >> You're the coolest, Kevin.

>> All right. Blue. Blue. >> Yeah, you are blue. You're going to >> Are we going to do the thought we going to do the balls? >> Oh, yeah. We >> were We not going to add them. >> Do I need to read the rules for that? >> You have to read the rules. >> Never mind. >> Here we go. >> All right. So, thumbs.

>> You have to buy this game in order to use this one. >> Sarah's flipping. Okay. >> Okay. We got to get >> purple. Purple is Hannah. Oh, this one. >> Close enough. >> Yeah. A little closer. Sure. >> To also >> Yeah, let's just get prepped. >> Purple one. >> Middle. >> My middle finger, please. >> All right.

>> I'm going to hold. Okay. It's all up to me. >> And pink pinky. >> Pinky. A pink pinky. >> Whichever finger you Oh, my pinky is not going to be very blue with myself. >> You don't have to do pinky. You choose. >> You choose the person. I choose the person. I might as well do you. >> Let's do it. >> I'm holding three already.

>> Middle finger. >> All right. Oh, this is easier with my actual >> I did it with my right, but my uh elbow >> opportunity. Yeah, do it. >> Yeah. >> No. No. >> Okay. >> Hold our fingers together. >> Ryan green finger. >> How do we get a ball in there? >> My Greek. What's that? >> Why did we get a ball in there?

>> Because he's trying now. >> Cuz I just did it. >> Oh, >> that is >> We haven't read the art. >> I know. But it looks cool. >> Orange thumb. >> Who's orange? Oh, >> not me. Thankfully. >> Um. >> Oh no, the tension. >> Okay, we got this team. >> The green thumb. >> The green thumb. >> Melissa's thumb.

>> I was I'm actually green. I'm green. >> I >> You can do it. >> Wow. >> Okay, my turn. >> Yeah, >> the dexterity options are >> I pick again. >> Yeah. >> Oh, we lost the ball. >> Sorry, that wasn't real. >> That was real. >> So, technically, we would have already lost. Correct. >> Technically, yes.

We are put >> green. Uh, we're going to go here. >> Trying to get a boss. >> House will rules. >> It is. So, >> where are we putting that? >> Uh, I don't know. >> It's uh >> Where's Mr. >> The problem is? >> Put it on my middle fingering. Oh, there we go. There we go. >> I would like everyone to have special effects coming out of our hands after >> Where's our AI special effects?

>> Pink is me. >> Oh, dar lift my >> Oh, I'm like >> the ball is so hard. Uh, >> no. >> I like my >> How many lost one? >> Oh, we've lost twice. Come on, guys. >> My hand is away from >> We have two more. >> My pinkies are here. >> Oh, we have three more. >> We dropped two. >> Well, yeah, that's >> We've definitely dropped a bunch.

>> You just move your fingers like this. >> Orange. >> Kevin, can >> I mean, you and I are fine. >> Oh, there's no way you can [Laughter] you >> fun. >> How fun. >> Well, uh, you all did a great job with the Saturday morning board game show. Thank you so much for showing off amazing dreams. Um, so next time September will be the first Saturday of the month.

>> Y back to normal. >> Back to normal. Back to normal. I think we have one more special thing, right? >> Just stay around. >> Okay. So stick around >> after the credits because we have a new song coming your way coming up in a second. >> Guess [Music] [Music] I pack my dice and grab my map. First time here and there's no going back.

I demoed five games before it hit noon. My wish list just outgrew my game room. >> Almost clanking capes in sight. Strike a pose. Yeah, we're shining bright. Snapped 100 pics in the vendor hall. I danced till dawn. If it was a masquerade ball, every table a brand new world. >> Every part, every roll, the story unfold.

The best thing I found through and through is the laughter and stories we share in the queue. The hearts from old friends and the meet up too. >> The parties, the panels, the dice that we threw. The best part of Gen Con is you. Now you. >> The best part of Gen Con is you. >> There are crowds on crowds like a rolling tie to see a board game.

Fans with stars in their eyes from wall to wall. It's a living dream. The biggest show I've ever seen. Cons and I still get chills. Walking these holes gives me all the feels. Some friends I only see once a year, but when we hug it's like we were just here. >> From the towering booster to surprise reveal >> to the secret trains that exclusive dare.

>> There's magic in everything we do. From the morning rush to the late night crew, from board game towers to that secret brew, we cheer and we laugh like a family does. The best part of Gen Con is you. >> No, it's you. >> Yeah. The best part. [Music] >> It's not just the games or the dice in our cup.

>> It's the stories we carry, the hearts we fill up. >> For four epic days, we're living the dream. They think we're crazy. >> I don't know what you mean. The costumes, the chaos, the lines that we drew, >> the legends we meet, and the friendships that grew >> through every adventure, every breakthrough.

>> The best part of Gen Con was you. >> No, you. >> Yeah. The best part of Gen Con. The very best part of Gen Con. The best part of Gen Con is, you know, really you. The best part of Gen Con was [Music]