Board Game Breakfast 135 - Old is Worse (Usually)

Tom Vasel takes a look at the news of the week, joined by a host of friends.

0:20 - Intro
1:46 - Board Game News
4:27 - Crowdfunding Round-up with Suzanne
9:26 - Whitleypedia
11:37 - The Board Game Makeover
13:49 - Q & A with Tom and Jason
16:31 - Robert Presents: Painting Miniatures 101
18:36 - Dice Tower Productions
19:58 - Head in the Clouds with Chaz Marler
22:59 - Board Gaming with Colleagues
14:52 - Dead Last
26:49- Tom Thinks (Old is Worse. Sometimes)
31:07 - Playing the News
33:16 - The Best and the Worst
35:06 - Board Game Social
38:51 - Good Games, Better Gamers
40:59 - Snakes and Lates
44:27 - Closing Thoughts

[Aeravon]

Snakes and Lattes continues to be a stand out, amazing segment. Good job guys!

[jeffwmoore]

Wow, Dave! You just keep raising the bar with every "Playing the News" segment. Simply phenomenal.

[ramonosuke]

Man, Playing The News segment was awesome :)

[jdiron]

Dave Luza, that was awesome. I'd be thrilled to hear more of that singing! Your voice is super good!

[lastburning]

13:49 (Q&A) One argument for why games should have only one winner:
If there are different placings in a game besides the winner and losers, the goal of the game is muddied.

For example, you are currently in the third place in a 4-player game and you can either execute a risky strategy or a safe strategy. When using the risky strategy you will almost certainly end up in the 4th place but you also have a small chance of getting the 1st place. On the other hand, when using the safe strategy you will almost certainly end up in the 2nd place but you have no chance of getting the 1st place. Which strategy should you choose?

The right answer will depend on what is your goal. If there is only one winner, the goal is clear and you should obviously take the risky strategy. But if there are multiple placings, the goal in unclear and you have to decide what you value more. If the player has to decide the goal of the game, they are put in the role of a game designer.

[PonSquaredJapan]

Thank you S&L. Some great ideas there!!!

[Nubbins]

Great episode today. I really enjoyed Playing the News. Get that guy to DTCon for the musical episode!

[aeglosux]

Playing the news was amazing, greetings from the homeland (Groningen to be exact)

[brandobond]

Well done Luza. Proof of concept for board game musicals has been provided, lol!

[VictorDiGiovanni]

I'd love to see a Top Ten about the top ten games to be a completest for. These are games that it's worth your while to get everything because you'll actually use everything. And this includes all the promos, and maybe even the box inserts or deluxe boards or pieces.

[wroot_lt]

I don't know why, but it was so amusing when Tom repeatedly said that it is great to play Loopin Chewie with 6 rather than 8. And also, CHIKENS :D

[matthewpenner]

My comment on Tom Thinks is in relation to Tetris. Really, Tetris is the video game equivalent of an abstract game, which to me is one of the main reasons it stands that test. It realistically will never get outdated from an art standpoint. That's one of the major leaps the industry continues to make is improvement in components, whether it be better art, miniatures, chipboard, card quality, graphic design. There's a much higher standard due to the amount of games out now.

[bastien-]

That's weird. The suitcase in the Snakes & Lattes segment looks almost identical to my suitcase...which is actually where I store my game collection!

[paupertim]

13:55 I have a question that dives a little further past this one that might be a great one for the show. It kinda involves playing for second or playing just to get a higher place than others, often for bragging rights.

How do you feel about a specific action in a three player or more game, if the current third place or lower player does an action to restrict others from catching the leader, essentially giving the leader the win, just to have a chance to get a higher place?

I know in certain games that it has happened in my group of friends and some people can really get upset about it.

[dcnole]

On Tom & Jason's Q&A: I think the 2nd place issue is a little more complex than they made it because there's no fixed meaning to "doing your best." Imagine a 5 player game where you current sit in 2nd place near the end of the game. It's your turn and you have two options: (1) you can take a risky move that would vault you to the win if it works out but would send you down into 3rd or 4th place if it fails, or (2) you can do something far more conservative and lock down 2nd place without challenging the leader. By taking which choice are you really "doing your best"? Recognizing that the circumstances of the game, the particular game mechanics, and the relative probabilities of success/failure will always factor into such decisions, I do think gamers and game groups can have differing philosophical views on the merit of playing it safe and/or the integrity of taking all-or-nothing gambles and which type of action is really "doing your best." Some may reasonably feel that passing up a viable chance to win merely to ensure you beat a few of your friends is a silly way to play a no-stakes board game that saps the experience of fun and laughs. Others may reasonably feel that players who throw chaos into games by making reckless choices (that they would never make if they were actually a general commanding an army or a Mediterranean ship captain trying to run a successful business) have the effect of harming the thematic/RP experience of the game. I'm not really picking a side here, but I do think there are multiple sides to the discussion. It's not all about being an overly-competitive jerk.

[nicoboggs]

Dave! That segment was amazing! I'd watch a musical based on M&M if you started in all the roles! Lmao. <3

[BlimpMcGee]

Hey Mike noticed you seem much more relaxed in front of the camera now, kudos great work

[KabukiKid]

In our Xia games, we implemented a house-rule where you roll two of the same dice (at least for engines) and take the higher score as your movement roll. It helps you avoid getting a terrible movement roll. I guess you can do it for everything, but we felt only movement was important enough to "fix" a bit. I did see that the expansion has something that will help with this, as well.

[Andromedax]

Tom seems to really have a bone to pick with Magic : Arena of the Planeswalker. It's pretty funny. As for me, I'm pretty excited ! I thought for a moment the game was dead. But no, it's back, with an ENTIRE NEW STARTER SET. Awww

[puracy]

The irony of having this video on, while my 4 year old son is playing super mario bros on the nes :p