Winter Spectacular - Board Game Breakfast

[music] [music] Eric, I'm muting you. All right, everybody. Welcome back out to the Dice Tower. My name is Chris Ye. >> I'm Mike Delisio. And hi there. I'm Eric Summerer. >> If you heard me say that, I muted Eric on a different device. You can still hear him here. [laughter] >> I'm not used to the timing of the of the new intro yet.

Why the new intro? Well, because this is a little event we do every year called the winter spectacular. >> Uh this is sponsored by Ivy Studio. You're going to be seeing uh we're actually right after breakfast, we'll be jumping into the other room to play tend >> by them. So, uh, and then we have tons of of other stuff going on.

I don't want to overexlain it because Tom recorded a little message here introducing what the spectacular is. >> Let's let Tom do the hard work. >> No, you know what? We're going to do it. Eric, explain to Mike why you're here. >> Uh, I'm here because I uh I like breakfast and um I like to enjoy the breakfasts and um and uh and they asked me to.

>> All good reasons. Mike, explain to Eric why you're here. >> I'm here because um I had to fill in at the last moment. Normally Wendy takes this this spot. >> That's what's different. >> That's what's different. Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. She lost her voice and I found it. >> Mhm. >> So, uh I'm taking the place of Wendy's voice today.

>> You're you're nailing the role. >> I'm feeling good about it. Yeah. Yeah. >> To be dialogue replacement. We'll just lip sync uh her stuff later. [laughter] >> All right. All right. Well, we're excited to get kicked off of this entire event here, the Winter Spectacular all week long. So, let's go to the Big Boss Man in the Hat, not Santa Claus, unfortunately.

Tom Vassel. Welcome everyone to the beginning of the winter spectacular 2025. There's going to be a week of live plays of games [music] and a lot of looking at 2025 as a whole and our favorite [music] games from that year. We have top games of the year, our favorite surprises of the year. We have all kinds of fun things that we're going to be talking about this week.

Now, note that we can't play every game that's come out over the course of the year. I've played about 300 20 25 games and between the whole staff, we played hundreds and hundreds of games, but we're missing some. We're not going to be able to play all of them, but we're going to do our best because there's so many games out there.

There's hundreds of them, thousands of them, and we're going to try to tell you what ones [music] we think were the best to come out this year. And at the same time, play a lot of fun games. And hey, maybe you'll find out some other cool things as we go along through here. We got special guests um coming in for a couple days of spectacular, Alex and Meg from Board Game Co.

And we're going to be here having a lot of fun playing games. Mike Delisio's in town, so it's going to be fantastic. Anyway, I hope you have a great time. Let's get continue or started as we go back now to board game breakfast. >> This show is sponsored by GripMat. These custom playmats come in regular texture or with their custom grip surface.

[music] So cards, tiles, chits, and miniatures won't slide around during your games. Make setup a breeze. Upgrade your play experience or just beautify your table with a grip mat. Check out their Etsy store to see their huge selection of custom playmats [music] for many of the best games on the market.

>> [music] >> Welcome back. It's time for our top 10 list where we take 10 things and put them in a list. Um, except there's only three of us and so we have chosen three things each and you in the chat are going to pick our number one answer. So, feel free to share your selections for this list, which happens to be our top 10 worst Christmas gifts uh we've ever received.

Uh we were talking before air uh and and Tom said that he's never received a bad present and we were remarking at how fortunate that must be. My selections are all going to come from my children um because I need to shame them. Will you please name specifically the child that gave you each bad gift?

>> It's funny because they're all Noah, all the older child. [laughter] >> Um, [snorts] so we're going to begin. I think the first one I gave you, Chris, uh, is about a pen. Um the the elementary school uh where where Noah went had like a a Christmas market before the holiday season where the kids could spend some, you know, small like one or two dollars to get some little gifts.

And uh he got this pen um which says number one dad on it, which you know, oh it's upside down. Number one dad. Lovely little pen. Um so you know that's great. Wonderful. The following year, I got the same pen. [laughter] The same pen. But I don't think he bought another one. I only have one of these pens.

I'm not convinced he didn't rewrap the pen. Just take it and put it under the tree again. And that so the sentiment was the same as was I believe the pen. Eric, is Noah has he expressed any interest in going into politics in as [laughter] a career? >> Uh, no, not not overtly, but you know, >> he may be grip down.

>> Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. So, anyway, the same pen is my number 10. >> Wow. You don't even mean the same model. You [laughter] mean I'm pretty sure he rummaged through your personal belongings. Was like, perfect. >> It's possible there was a second pen, but I'm not convinced. >> No. No. This is like a JFK shooter.

There's no there was no second >> No, there was no second pen. This was uh clearly a clandestine inside job. Um and uh look, I admire his pluck. I admire his ingenuity. I admire his deception, Eric. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. The slight of hand. [laughter] Eric, interestingly enough, uh my number nine or the number nine pick here from me is uh also a pen, but this was a pen set that I received.

It was it was one of these that came in like that kind of nice like custom little box you open the lid and it has those little nibs that like the pen pops into. And this would be a very nice present normally if I was not 9 years old. [laughter] And I I uh I love my cousin to death, but he I I I think he just had no idea what to do that year.

>> No, surely Chris doesn't want a toy. Nine-year-old Chris, he wants this nice pen set. >> I promptly have no idea what happened to that pen set. >> So, good sentiment. Uh bad uh timing, I guess. I tell you what, as a 9-year-old, nothing is more of a power move than coming in to school the first day after Christmas vacation with a big fancy pen set >> that says number one, dad, >> right?

Everyone's bringing in their toys. You're bringing in a pen >> with fancy nibs. >> That's fantastic. That's fantastic. All right. Well, um, my number eight is, uh, mine are kind of a little bit more in in categories and and I I think for many of us, except for Eric, who apparently only got bad gifts from his own children.

Uh, a lot of these are going to be from when we were younger. And and this definitely applies. when I was between the ages of I would guess somewhere in the range of seven to maybe 12 or 13. Kind of a standing thing on any of my Christmas list would be just Legos, right? Loved Legos growing up. Still love Legos, but may I'm not I'm not the adult Lego person like the adult Disney people, Joey Evans.

Um >> I'm not that right. I'm not dropping five G's on a on a Lego uh Seinfeld set. Although I would love a Lego sign, you know, Seinfeld Lego set. That's >> one that makes the impossible hallway work. >> Yes. Exactly right. But >> no comment. >> What I got several times several times growing up, much more often than Legos, by the way, were knockoff Legos.

Yes. [laughter] Yes. I did not realize there were so many fake Legos in the world. But let me tell you, it's the gift that keeps on giving. And none of these fake Legos are compatible with either a Legos or b other knockoff Legos. So they were all >> sometimes themselves >> and sometimes themselves.

So, they were all uniquely bad and uniquely not able to be mixed with other bad non- Lego or Lego products. So, um I will tell you though, if I had gotten Star Plan, that may have uh I would I I'm loving the look of Star Plan, >> [laughter] >> um I'm actually into into Star Plan a pretty fair bit. But, uh oh, what do we have there?

This is a um fake Lego Spore Heroes of Nick [laughter] Fury. >> That's great. [laughter] Um >> I don't know if they've even opened it. He's in there. >> Let's take a look. >> That look does that look like Nick Fury in there? >> Wow. >> It It might work. >> That's pretty spor. >> Yeah. So there you go.

Knockoff Legos were my number eight. Oh, fantastic. >> All right, we're back to me. Um, >> you're back to Noah is what you mean. >> We are indeed. Uh, so my children would often spend time at grandma grandpa camp uh where they'd spend like a week or two at my parents up in Maine. Uh, my dad is a woodworker and uh, and so he would always spend some time with the children working on some sort of project and um, they presented these projects to my wife.

Um, some nice little carved pens. um uh ornaments for the tree. But I had a box as well um that was presented to me of this. Um this is the piece of wood that they practiced on. [laughter] Uh it's got a scorch mark there. It's got pieces that actually flaked off as I was bringing it down here. Um it is utter chaos.

It is a hunk of wood that was wrapped up specifically to troll me. Um, so they intended for this to be a bad gift. Now we keep it and put it on the tree. >> I I got to tell you, Eric, I mean, I think that that's a multi-aceted, multi-purpose gift. I don't think the error is with your child. I think the error is with you, sir.

How have you not >> lack of creativity? >> How have you not found several several uses for that hunk of wood? Um, it's a start player marker for um, >> it's it's an advanced version. What's that game? Jungle Speed that has that thing. >> Jungle danger you when you grab. >> This is the danger mode version.

Um, >> so yeah. Yeah, there are there are things I could do with it. >> It's actually on the nativity set right now on the mantle. You got like Jesus and Mary and some angels over here. And then I just put this >> taking the place of myrr. We have a hunk of wood. [laughter] You know, the kids don't know what myrrh is.

I could just tell them that's myrr. [laughter] >> You thought it was frankincense. No, no, it's myrrh. >> Can we appreciate for a second that Eric says he puts this on his Christmas tree. He takes this dilapidated corpse of what used to be a tree. Yes. >> And decorates an actual tree with it. It's a the intimidation factor.

He's telling the tree, "Look, >> you're not going to start losing needles until January 1st or this is what's coming for you. [laughter] >> Shape up or else." >> That's right. >> All right. Number six is coming from me here. I think this is something that we can all agree on. I considered making this my highest pick, but no, I I have I have a more more personal one than that.

I think everyone here can agree that well-intentioned but uninformed board games >> This almost made my list. [laughter] Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I'm guessing we all thought it, right? >> Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. >> This >> um Yeah. What more can you say, you know, the person said, "Oh, I know you love board games." And you're like, "That is correct." >> You know, >> but this is one of those things like if I know if I know someone who loves skiing.

>> Yeah. I I don't take it upon myself to buy them ski equipment >> uh or >> just anything related to skiing because I don't have enough knowledge base of it. >> Really don't want this to come across snoody, but [laughter] >> you know I mean that's the kindness that I share back to other people in their hobbies.

>> Yeah, this is this is definitely I think for anybody I think that's that is known for being a fan of board games, you know. Um Oh, you I've heard you like board games. I do. I really do like board games. The only thing I like better, it's cold and it's hard. It's cash. That's what [laughter] I That's what I say.

Yeah. No, the >> I once received two copies of Muppets Monopoly one. [laughter] >> Well, two different copies. >> You've got the Muppets thing and the board game thing. So, yeah. >> Yep. >> All right. >> All right. My number five is a general category and I just feel that you're asking for trouble when you gift anybody.

And this is just this is just a free piece of advice to all of you watching as we come up on this holiday season. Anybody who gifts clothes of any type is asking for trouble. Clothes rarely work, folks, because they often don't fit either size or stylistically, right? Clothes are a very personal item.

Look, look at me. You know, by looking at me so much about me because I am somebody who's very interested in fashion and I feel like I express myself through my clothing, right? And so, >> um, you're looking festive green today. I got to tell you, you know, I spent, if you know how long I took to to choose my outfit today, how many times I changed, you know.

Um, look, no, I am not a fashion icon, but even still, I know what I don't like, and it's usually something that somebody else got me. And so, while I appreciate the sentiment, once again, I must say there's nothing better than cold hard cash as a gift for [laughter] for the holidays. I may even use them to buy a shirt.

Who knows? I buy clothes maybe once every year or two. >> Yeah. And when you find something that fits, I have that temptation to buy eight of it because it'll never be available again. >> Right. The exact [laughter] thing I want. >> Yeah. No, I just um I just don't think clothes are a good idea. I just don't.

Sorry. Every year I order >> I'd get a large uh a shirt from one of my my aunts and every year it would be returned in some way. >> I didn't know as a kid that you could return things. I had a lot of like Tommy Hilfiger sweaters [laughter] in the '9s. >> Yeah. >> And I was like I will never wear this thing.

It just it's >> once again I'm not snoody but I just I don't want to walk around with a gigantic hill figure on my sweaters, you know? So >> yeah. Yeah, >> returns. That would have been a great idea. >> It would have been good. It would have been good, [laughter] but uh yeah. >> All right. All right.

Uh back to me. Uh so back to the uh the market at the school. Um my my eldest presented me with a box that looks like looked like this. Champion Dad. Um it uh it's a magnet. Um, except the problem is not not not the fact that I'm not really a sports guy, so it's sort of marginally applicable, but still nice thought.

The problem is this is not what I got that year. I got a box that looked like that on the outside and was empty. The box had no magnet in it. [laughter] >> Oh god. It was just a box that was wrapped up very nicely. And then I opened it up and there was there was a a nothing in I think it maybe some bubble wrap inside the box.

And I looked at my kid. I was like, "What?" And he's like, "What? I thought there was something in there." Like they the magnet had fallen out at the store and he wrapped up the empty box [laughter] and gave it to >> Well intentioned. Um >> and somehow I have the magnet now. So somehow we got the magnet.

Maybe they found the one on the floor or whatever, but I I now have it. Um I don't think I kept the box, which was probably the better gift. >> Wait, so this wasn't an intentional trolling. He thought that he wrapped the thing, but it fell out of the box, >> right? So at some point the magnet disappeared from the box, and so he wrapped the empty box and presented it to me like, "Dad, you're going to like this." And I, you know, [laughter] >> I can't wait to use this excuse.

The the only thing I'm disappointed about is that once he realized that the box was indeed empty, he could have said anything was in there, right? >> It's a box this big. I guess he could have said it was a gift card. >> It's a Rolex. [laughter] This is a Rolex >> I got from the student store, Dad. >> Somehow I got my hands on a Rolex and I thought of no one first but dad.

And so I put it in I'm so sorry. Somehow between there and here something happened to this Rolex. >> I I mean he he this was a few years ago. He's gotten a little better with the grift. So [laughter] >> all right. Well, yeah, it's true. They've got to grow into it. >> Oh my goodness. All right. Number three from me here is uh when I was a kid, my my passion and my love for nerdy things was wellknown.

I loved Star Wars. I cannot tell you how much time I I spent pretending, imagining I was in Star Wars, playing Star Wars video games, watching Star Wars movies. I really loved Star Wars. And uh I I very embarrassingly dressed up as Luke Skywalker in my fifth grade Halloween. Uh we were able to wear costumes to school.

>> I didn't have a Luke Skywalker costume. >> Oh yeah. So, I just wore a a black ninja costume inside out and then I put a a like gym lifting workout glove on my right hand. >> Yeah. >> I didn't even own a toy lightsaber. So, I just walked into school wearing all black and one glove and people who are Luke Skywalker >> in Return of the Jedi.

He wears he wears black and he has a glove. >> So, my love for Star Wars was pretty well known when I was a kid. And so I opened up a gift from a friend of mine and I saw across the top of this box Star Wars. And I thought, "This is so exciting. >> That's a good start. >> This could be anything." As and I my excitement my my my heart is palpitating.

It's growing. Is this a board game? Is what what is this thing? And as I finish opening up wrapping unwrapping the bottom part, it's turned out to be a Star Wars puzzle. Woohoo. I was sorely disappointed. [laughter] I don't like puzzles. I I derive very little satisfaction out of doing a jigsaw puzzle.

>> Uh but this did have interlocking technology at least. >> Oh, >> were there puzzles before that that were just squares? Like good luck. >> You just had to line them up. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Oh. Oh, I'm glad I at least got the interlocking kind because uh >> this was this was a dis >> Let me ask you this.

Would you have been less or more disappointed if it was a calendar? >> I might have used the calendar more than I use [laughter] a puzzle. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> At least there's a purpose. You can hang it up. Yeah. >> Right. Yeah. That's disappointing. >> Yeah. Could have been a toy. It could have been a game.

Anything. Yep. >> Anyway, still always remember this particular puzzle. >> Uh, all right. Well, there you go. That's my biggest disappointment. It's been good to vent these out. Uh Mike, you're bringing us home and then we're going to the chat. >> Like therapy here. Yeah. Um my my number two here is um and this happened on more than one occasion surprisingly.

You would think this would be a very niche thing, but it happened more than once and and it was well intentioned because it's almost always going to be some type of technology, right? But there were several times that I was given a gift that required a paid subscription to be actually usable. [laughter] >> I was thinking to say batteries, but yeah, this is >> No, no, not Yeah, batteries I can live with, right?

You know, although the flex back in the day was you give people a gift and then you wrap a thing of batteries and you stick it on top and then you're really excited about that gift. Oh, it requires batteries. This is going to neat. >> Oh, this is going to be good, right? And then it's a puzzle. Um [laughter] but um yeah, there were several times >> give my kids ideas.

They're going to do that. >> Yeah. Where where I I got something and I'm like, "Oh, this looks really cool." And then I open it up and I start reading through it and I'm like, I need to pay 19 bucks a month for this thing [laughter] to actually work. I'm poor. This is why I'm asking for gifts. 19 bucks a month.

you might as well tell me it's $1,900 a month. I don't have $19 a month. I don't have $19. And so, yeah, there were several gifts that I just literally couldn't use because I either a didn't have a credit card at the at the time or any means of accessing $19 a month. Um, so yeah, these were kind of bummers.

They may have been great gifts. I don't know because they were basically just bricks uh that I looked at and thought of what could be. Imagine having to write a paper check every month to serious [laughter] XM radio. >> Right. Right. Something along those lines. So, yeah. Yeah. This the these were always disappointing.

>> All right. So, I'm going to the chat. I'm going to go to Mike Heler uh for our number one. And this is sort of in honor of Wendy not being here. I have to give one that I think she would have chosen as well. Uh Mike says, "A snack or food you are extremely allergic to [laughter] by someone who 100% knows better." Oh yeah, >> Peanut of the Month Club.

>> Yeah, the Peanut of the Month Club. Handing a whole big bag of sugar to a diabetic. Um or or you know, all sorts of homemade baked wheat filled treats to someone who has a gluten allergy. >> You get that? That's not the one. >> That's [laughter] not the comment I was looking for. >> Eric, I saw this gigantic bag of cotton candy and I thought of you.

>> Yeah, I thought this would be perfect for you to share with you and yours. I'm just like, "Okay, this [laughter] goes on the >> mostly yours." >> Mostly yours. This is just going to other people now. [laughter] Okay. >> Good time. >> Oh, Ly has a good one, too. Slim fat shakes. I think that would not have been a great gift.

>> Oh, [laughter] I thought you would enjoy these. [laughter] >> Fantastic. >> Oh, yeah. Make sure you check the uh the uh what are they called? the serving requirements on those cuz you can't eat drink four of these Slim Fast shakes. It's only one. Oh, >> no. That's not not how it works. >> Signed you up for the Slim Fast of the Day club.

All right, folks. We're going to jump to some contributors here and then we'll be back with our old school game and that'll be the last segment here as we get ready for the rest of the spectacular. >> This is a segment we take a look at a board game based on an IP and I tell you the IP and the mechanisms match.

Today we're looking at Black Christmas. to win the game. What you're going to need to do is get all seven phone numbers on here. You'll win that. You will be able to do that by when the phone calls come up, you'll go to one of the locations with the phone and you'll be able to trace it by rolling the dice and having four of a kind.

So, if all that occurs, you can put a number out. And you'll need to do that seven times in order to win the game. You will lose the game if the event deck goes out or all of your characters die. And you can see here each character has a number of health. Once they have that reaches that number, they will die.

And once all the characters are gone, you will lose the game. So Black Christmas has a few things going for it. It's cooperative game. It has a holiday theme to it. It's got a horror theme to it. It's attached to a fairly famous be movie in the horror genre. Now, this game brings in a lot from the film into the game.

All the characters with unique powers and unique stats. You have the the different rooms inside of the plays and you have the whole idea of trying to get to the phone and trace who's calling from you. I won't spoil the movie here, but the game might. So, you might want to watch the movie before you play the game.

So, all that atmosphere is in there. It's not the strongest of games. I feel like the event deck just beats you up over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. And it's extremely hard cooperative game. It's not the most strategic one with the options that you have to do and the actions you'll be taking on a term, but if you're a fan of the movie, yes, this really does bring the board game uh into this really does bring the movie into your board gaming world and gives you the aspect of being inside the film and making those decisions that possibly the characters would do.

So, if you're a fan of the movie, I think it's a pretty good um depiction of the film into a board game format. And for that, I would say the IP and the mechanisms do match pretty well. [laughter] >> Hey, Nate. What are you doing? What are you watching? Oh, I'm watching this new Dicey Plus. Oh, good.

I I heard it's a good deal. Like, it's like what? $39.99 a month. >> Oh, it's like $49.99. IT'S SO GOOD. >> STILL GOOD. I LOVE IT. GOOD QUALITY STUFF. And so, I don't know what to do here. We got to do an intro for beasts, but I can think of anything. >> Oh, I know. What if we don't do an intro? No intro.

>> No intro. No intro. I love it. >> But isn't that an easy WAY OUT? >> ABSOLUTELY [clears throat] LOVE IT. [screaming] [laughter] [music] >> [music] >> Beast is a cooperative card game where players alternate turns playing cards from their hand on three different digit cards with the rule that they always have to play a higher number, create a higher number until either they run the deck out and win the game or they cannot play cards and lose the game.

The unique twist is that there are some beast cards that prevent players from playing certain type of cards in certain spots, but that player can manipulate, can trying to startle away from the place where they want to play cards. Plus, players have three discard tokens that they can use to discard one card from the hand at the right time.

Nick the dragon, how do you win beasts? The biggest strategy is to conserve those discard tokens. You only get three throughout the game, so you got to make sure that these last until the very last turn. Uh, the other thing is to make sure to engineer your hand so that you have a wide variety of of tactical decisions in order to respond to to the beasts that are out there.

Your decisions are going to get tighter and tighter, but you have to communicate with with the people around the table to make sure that the best decisions are being made. Thank you, Nick the Dragon. That was amazing. That was pure wisdom. [laughter] Beast and with a unique twist that there are some so bad.

So bad. So bad. That's so bad. I'll do it again. >> What we do here is go back, back, back, back, back, back, back. [music] It's old school game time. This is going to be our last segment today as we preparing a few things for breakfast. But uh Eric, before we jump into the old school game, is there something that you wanted to get off of your chest?

>> Uh about my children? >> Yes. I mean, more than you already have. >> I I I mean, no. I I was going to redeem my eldest uh because we this weekend we went to an audition at the University of Maryland. Go Turpps. >> Um to uh to audition for a music education program and uh you know, there was a singing part.

We had to sing. Uh but then they wanted him to teach something to a group of his peers uh that wasn't musical and he chose to teach Happy Salmon uh the the classic party game speed game. Uh and I could hear the uproorious laughter in the hallway and and screams OF FISHBUMP FISH BUMP HAPPY SALMON HAPPY SALMON happy salmon.

It was epic. Does does your son often teach games or is this kind of a new because people I don't know when you play games a lot growing up you don't realize until you're in the driver's seat you're like oh okay I have to really explain a lot of things. Oh I have to make sure this is not confusing whatever.

Yeah he he he's done a lot at like little mini conventions uh local stuff that's sort of been a hobby of his he wanted to start teaching games to people. So he's had a lot of practice making that work. I think it went well. Well, I'm glad that he chose to teach a board game instead of woodworking. >> Indeed.

[laughter] >> Uh yeah. Yeah. You got to play to your strengths. >> So, we're talking about an old game today. Uh and uh originally when uh Chris and Wendy and I were talking about uh this game, neither of the two of you had played it, but Mike, you have played the Pathfinder Adventure card game. Is that correct?

>> I have. Um, you and I were both mentioning that the cover you're seeing now, this is, I guess, what the core box looks like. But the one that Eric's showing in his little window, that's the one that I That's the one that I played as well. I played it with my primarily with my oldest son, although I actually played a little bit of this with my wife Tiffany too back in the day.

Um, so yeah, I I it's not the type of game that I play nowadays as much, but I do remember getting a fair number of plays out of it when it first came out. >> So, the the structure of the game is that it's a it's based on Pathfinder, so a role- playinging universe. Pretty standard uh because Pathfinder is a spin-off of Dungeons and Dragons, so a lot of the same tropes exist there.

Um, you have a character, you've got a deck. Uh, so this is the Valeros deck. Um, and it contains a certain number of cards that represents your weapons and armor and spells and uh, companions and all sorts of cool stuff. Um, and that deck is also your life. >> Uh, it's it's your life force. Uh, and the more damage you take, the more cards you're going to discard.

And if you ever run out of cards entirely, you're dead. Um, and you can't continue. And you're going around exploring little clusters of cards that are locations. and you're trying to find the bad guy hiding in one or more of those locations and then ultimately defeat them. The what makes the game interesting is that you've got let's see if I can lift this up here.

This this organizer full of cards that represents all those different things that you might you might look at that. Um and you're going to acquire stuff as you go. You might flip up a new sword or a new spell to learn as you explore, but then you may have more cards in your deck when you're all done.

Say your limit is 15 cards and you have 17 or 18 by the time the adventure is done. You now need to callull down to your limit of how much you can store. And so the bad cards, the simple cards leave your deck and the good cards enter your deck and you gradually get stronger and more powerful and more synergistic and and then you [clears throat] explore new locations with new decks.

Um, in fact, this one's sealed. I haven't even opened it yet. And just keep working your way through and getting stronger and stronger. So, what I like about it is the progression of your character, that sort of slow motion deck building aspect. Um, I started playing this as a solo game, uh, playing just two characters and then my eldest wanted to join and then my younger child wanted to join and so I brought it back with the younger child who's a, uh, a D&D fan.

Um and and so now we've been playing a four-player game, but this same adventure has been sort of joined and departed [clears throat] and added to uh throughout the past several years. >> And there are some people in the chat who are apoplelectic because they're seeing 2019 as being old. No, 2019 is not old, but that's the that's the date of the reimplementation.

I think it was 2013 is when the original base set came out. Those that's when Eric and I >> first first got into it. Yeah. I remember at the Gen Con that this was released. That booth was humming. Piso had a big big booth at that at that time in the corner of the Gen Con exhibit hall. And I remember that that was one of the most >> popular booths that year.

Yeah, they still have a a big presence, but more from the role playinging aspect than than this particular this this sort of bridged the gap between role players and board gamers or card gamers. Um, and sort of made that that foray into a more structured adventure. And some people complain cuz it's it is pretty much a big old string of checks of skill checks as you're rolling a lot of dice.

You're rolling a ton of dice in this game and and just triggering effects and getting through, you know, obstacles. There's not a lot of roleplaying in here. Uh but mechanically it's really really cool. Uh I've I've really enjoyed the game and uh then they came out with a whole bunch of other core sets and I have yet to purchase any of those.

I think there are two other core sets and then they rejiggered it into this 2019 uh package. Um but I still am working my way through the decks of Rise of the Rune Lords and so I haven't felt the need to buy anything else. >> That's interesting. So yeah, when when I pulled up the page originally, I was like, I don't remember looking like this because I never not played it, but I remember seeing the box that you have, the the Rune Lords box.

>> And uh and I was like, oh, they must have made a new edition. And to see that the new edition was actually from six plus years ago. >> I was, okay, this is uh I clearly missed the boat on this completely. If they're like, oh, here's the, you know, the the new version of it with better art and apparently more Spanish.

[laughter] I could not find an English picture of that edition to save my life. >> Yeah, >> I wonder if it was maybe primarily published in a in a in a Spanish-sp speakaking country or something like that. >> I know that it was very very popular and I'm sure it was translated into many languages. I mean, this this was a big release for a number of years.

>> Do you uh do you think it still holds up like for someone to jump into it brand new at this point? >> It I mean, it's a dense game. There's a lot of rules and rules interactions and and timing of stuff, but there's a community that has really, you know, solidified the rule set and made it easier to understand.

I think they clarified a few things in this new core set, but even if you have this old older box, um there are people who will explain your rules questions. Um and so I think it is possible to jump in. Um, I was wondering when we pulled it out just a month or two ago whether it would still hold up.

And yeah, the the thrill is still there, working your way through those adventures, solving the puzzle of how to find the bad guy, making your deck work, and then you sort of do the it's like the end of the old school Wheel of Fortune where you have all of these things you can spend your prize money on and and trying to decide what stays in your deck and what doesn't.

Ooh, did this I got this really cool spear. Is it better than the broadsword I'm holding? Uh, let's see. Do I want to keep this? Get rid of it? Oh, this is garbage. This is going away. Um, fun stuff. >> You've basically th this whole show now has become now a chance for me to mourn what used to be with the Wheel of Fortune.

I used [laughter] to love the Endgame of the Wheel of Fortune where, you know, Vanna would walk through the different areas and it's like, oh, and and here's you can you can get this, you can get that. That was the best part of that show. forget the words. >> Oh, yeah. Then you take the rest as a service merchandise gift certificate.

>> As a service merchandise certificate. That's correct. It's like you'd get the pen set. I'll get the pen set and I'll get the rest in a service merchandise certificate. If you don't know what we're talking about, folks, that's what YouTube is for. >> I once won a service merchandise gift certificate on a game show.

It it was it was presented as a like $200 worth of wallpaper, but they they realized the way I responded to the wallpaper. They're like, "You win wallpaper." And I was like, "Thank you." And they gave me a gift certificate instead. [laughter] >> Wow. >> That didn't make your top 10 worst gifts uh gifts list.

>> You're right. I probably should have thought of that. >> Wallpaper. >> I can't believe I'm just learning you were on a on a game show, but okay. >> What game show? >> It was a call-in game show. It was It was on the early game show network. you could call in and they would do live shows and uh and one Christmas break I was off and I was a college student.

I had no nothing to do and so I just started calling into this live call-in show and eventually I got on and I won wallpaper. >> I do remember these shows. Yeah, there was a Lingo was one of those shows early on. >> That was that was one. Yeah. >> Yep. Okay. >> This whole episode's basically been a therapy session.

It's going to bring up recessed memories. This is not just old school games seg old school breakfast right here. [laughter] >> Let's break out the malted wheat. I >> tell you, I'm getting some gray hairs in little by little along the side as you saw. >> I got plenty to offer. So, >> I'll fit in >> if you need any.

Yeah, I'm I'm good there, too. >> I'm graying into my personality. I got [clears throat] my Spotify rap for the for the year. So, you appear to be geriatric. [laughter] >> So, >> I don't know about you guys, but this breakfast was pretty spectacular. I I think so. A little bit aided by our our new penguin buddy over here.

This is >> that penguin is epic. >> Yeah. Just a little preview like it of upcoming stuff here, but um that's that's something to look out for in the future. >> Yes. >> But in the meantime here, we're going to go ahead and wrap up the show so we can get the next stream prepared and all ready to go. We're going to be playing Tend from IV Studios.

So once again, thank you to them for being the overall sponsor here of this spectacular. But we have tons of great uh great companies that are sponsoring live plays. We have top 10 lists playing >> galore. >> Galore, including one by Mr. Eric Michael Summer. >> And that's that's airing today, Eric. >> Later today after which live play is it, Chris?

I think it's not the first game, but the second game that >> Shallow Sea, maybe. That's the one that I'm going to be running after. >> That's right. >> Mhm. >> Yes. Yes. So, right after Shallow Sea. >> Uh after Shallow Sea >> and then my top 10. >> Yeah. Your top 10 of the year. All Eric all the time today.

>> I'm frontloaded on Monday. You won't see any of me for the rest of the week. >> Correct. Eric doesn't exist after Monday. >> He'll be too busy uh applying the wallpaper. [laughter] >> All right. Well, good show everyone. Thanks for coming out. Make sure to jump to the next stream here. We'll be playing uh Shallow Sea uh Attend and Off with Their Heads from uh from Druid City Games as well.

>> So until next time folks, I'm Chris. >> I'm Mike. and I'm Eric. We'll see you. [music] [music] Hey folks, I'm Tom Vassel. Thanks for watching this video. Check out our channel. We have a lot of videos on our channel. We have [music] live videos that go up each week from live Q&As's to videos where we take a look at the newest stuff on Kickstarter [music] crowd surfing to top 10 lists and more.

There's lots of stuff on [music] this channel. We encourage you to explore it. You can find out more at our website dicetowwer.com. I'm Tom Bassel. Thanks for watching another video on the Dice Tower. [music]