Decision Space

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast!  Episode 134 - Ark Nova Ark Nova anyone? Maybe you've heard of it? This week, the Interdecisional Spaceships embarks on a journey to explore the decisions in the highest rated game that we've ever dared to cover on this humble podcast. That's right, folks, today we are covering the 4th greatest game of all time (by BGG rating). We will center our discussion on the novel and intriguing action selection mechanism... hey wait, is this thing a rondel?!   Pre-Planners Hey pre-planners, in the next two weeks we will be doing a design focused episode on playtesting and prototyping and discussing the top 10 games we have been enjoying most in 2023. As for games, we are playing a lot of Santa Monica and Torres on Yucata right now, and down the line, we will be covering Food Chain Magnate and also social deduction games.    Timestamps    Intro - 0:00 Ratings and Reviews - 2:37 Game Background - 5:46 Rules Overview - 12:56 Deep Dive - 16:17 Preplanners - 1:03:27   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Instagram @DecisionSpacePod and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast!  Episode 133 - LTF Con Recap Last weekend the infamous Laughing Table Friends -- Charlie, Jake, Jared, Luke, and Tyler -- got together for the first ever LTF Con. The 5 person con took place over an unforgettable day and a half as the crew played 13 unique board games. It was a mix of new games and old favorites. Today, Jake is here to recap 9 of those plays (only the most interesting one) for your in flight entertainment, complimentary while on board the Interdecisional Spaceship. LTF. If you don't know, now you know.   Pre-Planners Hey pre-planners, get those plays in of Ark Nova and Food Chain Magnate while the playing is good. Other games we are considering for a deep dive right now are Torres and Santa Monica.   Timestamps    Intro/Housekeeping - 0:00 The Hunger - 2:21  D.E.I. (Divide et Impera) - 12:17 Beowulf: The Legend - 22:21 Clockwork Wars - 37:08 Viking See-Saw - 40:38 Ninja Master - 45:11 Cockroach Poker - 48:37 Robo Rally - 52:54 Antike II - 57:47   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Instagram @DecisionSpacePod and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast!  Episode 132 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Games That Play Fast Good luck keeping up with the conversation in this week's throwback WWTA episode, because things move fast. If you don't believe me, then check the timestamps. We throw out games quicker than you can say, "I miss old school board games where you had to wait 20 minutes between turns!" In this week's episode we discuss, broadly, games that play fast, what that means, and what we perceive as a growing appetite in the board game hobby for this titular phrase. Ready or not the Interdecisional Spaceship is taking off right now! (Wow! That was fast.)   Pre-Planners Hey pre-planners, get those plays in of Ark Nova and Food Chain Magnate while the playing is good. Other games we are considering for a deep dive right now are Torres and Santa Monica.   Timestamps  Intro - 0:00 Housekeeping - 2:48 Main Topic - 6:10 Battlestar Galactica - 8:54 A Feast for Odin - 11:37 Ark Nova - 11:55 Wingspan - 14:47 Gloomhaven - 15:12 Castles of Burgundy - 19:34 Torres - 20:16 El Grande - 20:20 Tikal, Cuzco - 21:34 Cascadia - 26:06 Five Tribes - 29:09 Keyflower - 31:01 Carcasonne - 32:48 Broom Service - 33:28 Sheriff of Nottingham - 34:29 Findorff - 35:17 Ticket to Ride - 36:17 1849 (We're the train game podcast) - 39:05 Ra - 39:54 Architects of the West Kingdom - 42:07 Tricktaking Games - 43:54 Challengers - 47:54 Spades - 49:13 Caesar! Sieze Rome in 20 Minutes - 49:35 Azul - 49:55 Kingdomino - 50:49 Millenium Blades - 53:00 Sidereal Confluence - 53:20 Guards of Atlantis II - 55:26 Barrage - 56:43 Hey, That's My Fish! - 58:47 Living Forest - 1:00:01 Isle of Cats - 1:00:02 In the Year of the Dragon - 1:00:48 Bonfire - 1:01:21 Earth - 1:03:47 Mask "Trilogy" Games - 1:05:33 Acquire - 1:09:09  Final note (Thanks Aurore) - 1:09:54 Oops - 1:10:39 Preplanner Stuff - 1:11:40   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Instagram @DecisionSpacePod and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast! Episode 131 - Pushing Your Luck Feat. Spots and Can't Stop Today we consider the push your luck mechanic in board games, highlighting Can't Stop and Spots for short reviews. In the second half we touch on a bunch of games that stick out to us as examples of what push your luck is, what it's not, when it works, and when... it does not. Please silence your cell phones and quiet small children, because the feature podcast is about to begin.   Pre-Planners Hey pre-planners, get those plays in of Ark Nova and Food Chain Magnate while the playing is good.   Timestamps  Can't Stop - 2:20 Spots - 16:45 Push Your Luck Discussion - 29:07 Bruges/Hamburg - 34:10 Incan Gold - 37:26 Ra - 38:37 The Castles of Burgundy - 41:45 Enchanted Plumes - 42:09 Rapido!/Excape/Exxtra - 46:49 Deep Sea Adventure - 50:41 Quacks of Quedlingburg - 52:00 King of Tokyo 52:20 Claim It! - 53:33 A Feast for Odin - 54:17 Living Forest - 55:38 Samurai Spirit - 57:26 Catan - 1:00:43   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Instagram @DecisionSpacePod and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast! Episode 130 - Recent Plays at Gamers Ranch This week's impromptu episode features Jake regaling Brendan with stories of his recent plays at Gamers Ranch -- Heat, The Search for Lost Species, and Earth to name a few. Brendan gets in there too with some plays of his own! It's a rough cut but a really fun episode. I hope you enjoy it Interdecisional Spaceship passengers.  If you are interested in Gamers Ranch (not a sponsor), you can find more info here - https://gamersranch.com/    Pre-Planners Ark Nova, Can't Stop!, Spots, and more will be covered on the show soon! 👀    Timestamps  Intro - 0:00 QE - 8:28 The Search for Lost Species - 14:23 Challengers - 20:56 Equinox - 26:06 Castles of Burgundy - 29:57 Paris Connection - 38:23 Earth - 45:31 Torres - 48:14 Arcana Rising - 53:20 Jekyll vs. Hyde - 56:35 Nokosu Dice - 1:02:08 Heat - 1:09:01   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Instagram @DecisionSpacePod and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast! Episode 129 - Challengers! Donald X. Vaccarino's Dominion famously popularized the deck building mechanic, forever changing the landscape of board gaming. Is it possible that a silly little card game called Challengers! will do the same for auto battlers? Buckle up Interdecisional Spaceship passengers because on this special episode of Decision Space we cover this Kennerspiel nominated game and ask ourselves, do we have a classic on our hands?   Pre-Planners Ark Nova, Can't Stop!, Spots, and more will be covered on the show soon! 👀    Timestamps  Ratings and Reviews - 0:00 Game Background - 6:20 Rules Overview - 11:37 Challengers! Deep Dive - 13:49 Strategy Section - 49:48   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast! Episode 128 - If We Can Only Keep 10 Games Thought Experiment ERROR! ERROR! Something has gone horribly wrong in the Interdecisional Spaceship. The only way to correct course is to dump cargo out of the storage bay. We ran the numbers, and there is only space left on this ship for 10 games each! In this episode, we decide, from our entire collection which 10 games we'll keep.   Pre-Planners Challengers!, Ark Nova, Can't Stop!, Spots, and more will be covered on the show soon! 👀   Timestamps  Intro - 0:00 6:55 - Main Topic Keyforge - 7:16 Babylonia - 9:42 Ra - 10:35 Cascadia - 12:13 Arkham Horror: Living Card Game - 13:49 Just One - 17:18 So Clover - 20:38 Broom Service - 22:40 Isle of Cats - 24:59 Keyflower - 27:40 Bonfire - 29:46 The Fox in the Forest - 31:53 The Castles of Burgundy - 33:03 El Grande - 34:45 A Feast for Odin - 36:25 Azul - 37:56 Renature - 40:09 Ra - 43:10 Challengers - 44:56 The Resistance - 47:24 Surprise Segment! - 51:39   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast! Episode 127 - Chicago Express/Wabash Cannonball Choo Choo! The Interdecisiona Spaceship is now officially a train because we are now officially train game guys (some of the biggest ever)! Today, Brendan and Jake chugga chugga choo choo their way deep into the heart of Chicago Express/Wabash Cannonball's decision space. This game is designed by John Bohrer and published by Winsome and Queen games.     Pre-Planners Challengers!, Ark Nova, Can't Stop!, Spots, and more will be covered on the show soon! 👀   Timestamps  Intro/Ratings - 0:00 Game Background - 7:30 Rules Overview - 15:39 Deep Dive - 18:36   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!  

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast! Episode 126 - Answering ALL of Reddit's Board Game Questions In this bonus episode of Decision Space, we answer questions found on r/boardgames.   Pre-Planners Chicago Express (Wabash Cannonball), Challengers! are in our hopper. Ark Nova is also going into the queue.   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!  

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast! Episode 125 - Designer Space on Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling For the first time, Decision Space attempts to explore the ludography and design ethos of a famous board game designer. We are nothing if not ambitious, so perhaps unwisely, this first effort features two designers - Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling. We'll start with a mini review of Tikal, then dive into what the history and games that make these designers great. Buckle up Interdecisional Spaceship travelers, this trip will run a smidge longer than normal.   Pre-Planners Chicago Express (Wabash Cannonball), Challengers! are in our hopper. We are also considering adding Ark Nova to the queue. Timestamps Intro and Housekeeping - 0:00 Tikal - 4:33 Five Tribes - 14:30 Heimlich & Co - 24:15 Downforce -  24:44 El Grande - 30:55 6 Nimmt! - 33:22 Colloseum - 33:52 Princes of Florence - 35:11 Heimlich and Co. - 35:48 Azul - 36:36 Azul Stained Glass of Sintra - 36:47 Azul Summer Pavilion - 36:57 Azul Queen's Garden - 36:59 Bamboo - 37:27 Vikings - 39:49 Heaven and Ale - 41:03 Miyabi - 45:34 The Mask Triology (Tikal, Cuzco, Mexica) - 47:24 Cuzco - 47:42 Torres - 50:30 Joraku - 52:14 Palaces of Carrara - 53:08 Renature - 54:00 Savannah Park - 57:35 Maharaja - 1:00:07 Coal Baron - 1:00:13 Linko! - 1:00:38 Imhotep - 1:08:06   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Twitter @DecisionSpa and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!