Decision Space

Click on the link to join our active and welcoming Discord community !    Episode 42 - Objective Versus Subjective Decision Space (WWTA) For the first time, we revisit a topic discussed on our 3rd ever episode, decision space. (Yeah, like the name of the show.) Specifically, we try to add nuance to the original discussion with something that has been coming up a lot in our game discussions, the su...

Click on the link to join our active and welcoming Discord community !    Episode 41 - 7 Wonders Duel Jake, Brendan, and Jamey Stegmaier hop in the Interdecisional Spaceship to talk 7 Wonders Duel on this week's episode. We talk about the way that three truly viable win conditions and the many simultaneous games of tug-of-war shape the decision space in this powerhouse Bauza and Cathala team-up de...

Click on the link to join our active and welcoming Discord community !    Episode 40 - Race for the Galaxy Race for the Galaxy , designed by Tom Lehman . Enough said. Get in here!   Preplan Your Next Turn Next time on Decision Space we explore the decisions in Seven Wonders: Duel!   Music Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the fu...

Click on the link to join our active and welcoming Discord community !    Episode 39 - 10 Decision Spaces We Want To Explore ASAP (Mission Planning #1) For the first time, we discuss games we haven't played. That's right. We are trying out a brand new type of episode that we are tentatively titling Mission Planning. In this episode, we discuss 10 games (5 each) that we can't wait to get to play. T...

Click on the link to join our active and welcoming Discord community !    Episode 38 - Spirit Island This week is Spirit Island by designer R. Eric Reuss . A serious game for serious gamers that defies expectations in the best possible way. Here's an admission, we were a bit nervous to cover this game and its mammoth decision space. As we explored the game in preparation for this episode, t felt a...

Click on the link to join our active and welcoming Discord community !    Episode 37 - Praga Caput Regni We discuss designer Vladimir Suchý's follow-up to Underwater Cities, Praga Caput Regni , where instead of building underwater cities, players will build one on land city! This is a heavy euro game with tons of decisions centered around an innovative action selection mechanic that encourages pla...

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community !    Episode 36 - What We Talk About When We Talk About A New Way To Talk About Theme In this week's episode, we go old-school Decision Space and hit you with a new framework for discussing themes in board games. There is an environmental theme, a mechanical theme, and, of course, a decision space theme! We explain the framework and then pu...

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community !    Episode 35 - Kingdomino Zany kingdoms, quirky art, and dominos make Kingdomino one of the warmest welcomes to the board game hobby we've ever come across, but could there be a demanding competitive experience hidden beneath this apparently simple game? You'll have to hop in to find out, the Interdecisional Space ship takes off in 3......

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community !    Episode 34 - Imhotep This week on Decision Space, Imhotep ! Designed by Phil Walker-Harding and a 2016 Spiel Des Jahres Nominee is a game about placing rocks, sailing boats, and getting in each other's way all the while. There isn't much more to it than that in this incredibly simple poached egg. I mean game. Will Jake and Brendan find...

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community !    Episode 33 - What We Talk When We Talk About Our Top 10 Games After 32 episodes Jake and Brendan break down and give you the board game content that you want and deserve. In this very special episode, we each share our personal top 10 games as well as a few honorable mentions. What are your top 10 games? Who's list is better? Jump into...

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community !    Episode 32 - Jaipur Jaipur is a widely revered, frequently recommended two-player set collectin' card game designed by Sebastian Pauchon and published in 2009. We give Jaipur a bath in the Decision Spa and then take it out back and give it what for as we discuss its decision space and some of the design choices that we don't agree with...

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community !    Episode 31 - Villagers Villagers is a 2019 game with art and design by Haakon Gaarder and published by Sinister Fish. To be frank, we go all over the place as we discuss this lightweight tableau-building card-drafting game. The free-flowing conversation takes us through rigidity in combos, satisfaction in decisions, frustration in limi...

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community !    Episode Thirty - Positive and Negative Feedback Types In this "What We Talk About Episode" Jake and Brendan reveal our new intro and outro music courtesy of Hembree . After that we discuss the various types of feedback in board games. This includes positive feedback, negative feedback, positive agency loops, incremental victory conditi...

Click on the link to join our Discord community !   Episode 29 - The Sport of Kickball In this week's episode, Jake sits down with two friends in Lawrence, Kansas to talk about the sport of kickball. Special guest hosts Angela Finch and Simon Skinner share their passion for the game and knowledge about the decisions you'll make in kickball on and off the field. Just because it isn't a board game,...

Click on the link to join our Discord community !   Episode 28 - Bruges In this week's episode, Brendan is back! If that wasn't good enough news, we are also covering Bruges by Stefan Feld, the point salad game where you pay people to live in your houses. Never mind the thematic disconnect because these mechanisms are just, chefs kiss, amazing. We have a great discussion and we hope you will join...

Click on the link to join our Discord community !   Episode 27 - Jake and Paul Volume 2 Congratulations to Brendan on the birth of his child! We are so happy for him and his family. In his stead, friend of the show Paul Salomon (Honey Buzz designer) is here again to talk with Jake about a few recent plays including new hotness, Ankh! Interdecisional spaceship, set a course for fun!   Preplan Your...

Click on the link to join our Discord community !   Episode 26 - Keyflower Today on Keycision Space, Keyflower! Keyflower is design by Sebastian Bleasdale and Richard Breese and published by R&D games in 2012. This game is a tangled web of auctions and logistics. Fun! Fun? It depends who you ask, but one thing is for sure, this is the 78th best board game of all time at the time of recording on BG...

Click on the link to join our Discord community !   Episode 25 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Being Good Jake and Brendan are back together on the microphones doing what we do best, talking about games and game peripheral things. Today's episode is a "what we talk about episode" where we talk about being good at games. This episode is a companion to a prior discussion on getting good. Onc...

Click on the link to join our Discord community !   Episode 24 - Paul and Jake Talk Games When Brendan is away, Paul comes in to save the day. On this episode, I'm joined in studio (my house) by Paul Salomon (Honey Buzz and Genotype) to talk unscripted about our recent plays. We talk about Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition, Summer Camp, Juicy Fruits, Fireball Island, and more. Hop in the Interdeci...

Click on the link to join our Discord community !   Episode 23 - Hey, That's My Fish Hey, That's My Fish! takes one minute to learn. In today's episode, we dive deep into that simple ruleset and emerge into a decision space larger, richer, and more interesting than we could have possibly imagined! There's nothing left to do now but to fire up the Interdecisional Spaceship and set a course for fish...

Click on the link to join our Discord community !   Episode 22 - The Castles of Burgundy Today, friends, feast your ears on one of tastiest point-salad morsels ever served up by the master chef himself, Mr. Stefan Feld. The Castles of Burgundy is a great, great game. Quite possibly the best board game ever made by the tastes of one of our hosts. But why is it so good? What is it about the decision...

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community !    Episode 21 - Mistakes in Board Games Why did I do that? I'm such an idiot. Can I take that back?! Mistakes are all around us in the world of board games, or are they the game itself? In this episode we talk about the act, experience, and impact of mistakes in board games. This episode also features a mini-review of Dune Imperium in com...

Click on the link to join our Discord community !   Episode 20 - Carcassonne The big episode 20 is here and with it a game that is 20 years old. Wow! That works so well that you'd think we planned it, but as you are likely well aware, this isn't really that kind of show. Hop into the interdecisional spaceship and travel with us to a time long ago, the year 2000. Specifically, we'll travel to a tim...

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community !  Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games and now on YouTube .   Episode Nineteen - Grand Austria Hotel Welcome distinguished guests to this week's episode of Decision -Space. Our Interdecisional Spaceship has taken us straight into the service industry of the Viennese modern age in Grand Austria Hotel, a board...

Click on the link to join our brand new Discord community !    Episode Eighteen - What the HECK are Signposts in Board Games In this "What We Talk About Episode" Jake and Brendan discuss signposts in board games. We ask important questions like what are they even? And further, what do they do? To this end, Jake becomes increasingly more confused. Fortunately, we eventually come to some steady foot...