The Spiel - MP3 Version

Patrick Nickell is off the leash! He joins us to chat about 3 games from Crash: Where Art Thou Romeo?, Council of Verona: Corruption & Pirate Den.

Phil Eklund's games emphasize scientific & historical simulation with layers of detail. Phil chats about this unique approach to game design and his latest game, Neanderthal. Guide 1 of 3 human species through the Ice Age to shape human culture.

Italian company Post Scriptum publishes games in-house & works as a freelance developer. Founder Mario Sacchi chats about this dual approach to game development. Designer Luigi Cornaglia discusses how Post Scriptum helped publish his first game, Zena 1814

Jana Zemankova chats about several new releases from CGE from heavy strategy to party game and everything in between including: Through the Ages, Prodigal's Club, Codenames and expansions for Tash Kalar and Galaxy Trucker.

Stephen Buonocore is joined by his podcast pal, designer Ignacy Trzewiczek, to talk about their co-production of Ignacy's game, Stronghold. Then we delve into several new games including: 504, Porta Nigra, The Golden Ages and New Dawn.

Polish designer Ignacy Trzewiczek chats about crafting a new streamlined edition of his first design, Stronghold, a game about a castle under siege. We also discuss his love asymmetrical games like Stronghold and another new title, Convoy.

Designer Friedemann Friese​ chats about the inspiration behind and development of 504, a modular game system that can be combined to create 504 different games.

Dieter Strehl from Piatnik chats about Pacal's Rocket, a family game based on the notion that Mayan civlization was built by alien technology. Move your starship around the city in order to place energy stones in a pattern to build pyramids and score.

Moritz Brunnhofer chats about two new editions of Carcassonne. Star Wars adds factions and dice combat to the tile laying classic. Over Hill & Dale was commissioned by the Bavarian Ministry of Health. Send your meeples on hikes and harvest food to score.

Matthias Nagy is the creative force behind the Board Game Advent Calendar. Behind each door is an original expansion for a game. 24 in total from 21 different publishers. Matthias chats about making this ambitious project a reality in less than a year.

Portuguese designers Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro and Paulo Soledade chat about the inspiration, research and development behind Nippon, a game that depicts the rapid industrialization of Japan in the late 19th century.

Minwoo An from Korean board game publisher Deinko chats about the growth of gaming in Korea from an educational activity for children to the spread of game cafes. We also discuss two new titles from Deinko, Chronicler & Double Mission: Beyond the Object.

Yang and CC from Big Fun Games chat about the state of games and gaming in Taiwan We also discuss two new titles: one serious (EU: The Board Game) and one silly (Butts Away! Heroes).

We chat with the founder of Japon Brand, Takerube Nobuaki, noted designer Seiji Kanai and translator Simon Lundstrom about Hanafuda, a classic Japanese card game. Hanafuda has a fascinating history including Portuguese missionaries, gambling and Nintendo.

Kumo Hogosha is an abstract strategy game from French publisher Morning Players. Your warriors (wooden Sumo dice) try to push the Stone of Balance off your opponent's side. Beware, the arena itself can rotate and quickly change the tide of battle.

Dan Yarrington​ chats about the new edition of Poseidon's Kingdom, an undersea strategy game with amazing sculpted figurines. We also discuss Area 1851, a Wild West/Alien Encounter mash up and an expansion to the medieval crafting game King's Forge.

Konstantinos Kokkinis chats about a bevvy of new titles that demonstrate Artipia's broad, innovative spirit including: Dice City, Project: Elite, Pursuit of Happiness, Stellar Conflict and Among The Stars: Revival.

Ted Alspach chats about the challenges of updating and adapting previously published titles like Terra and To Court the King (now Favor of the Pharaoh).

Matthias Wagner chats about a deluxe edition of the popular classic card game Tichu and a 3-player variant, Chimera. The bulk of our conversation focuses on upcoming releases for 2016: Micro Robots, Leo the Long-Haired Lion and Food Fight.

MAGE Company's Alex Argyropoulos chats about three new scifi games. Raid & Trade is a post apocalyptic original design; Res Publica 2230 is a space opera reboot of a Knizia classic & Aether Captains is a steampunk adaptation of a print-and-play game.

Agniezska Kopera and Blazej Kubacki chat about Mistfall and Simurgh. Mistfall is a cooperative deck-building game with roots in role playing adventure. Simurgh is a tile laying game about rival clans who breed mighty dragons, inspired by Persian myth.

Designer Cedrick Chaboussit chats about Discoveries: The Journals of Lewis & Clark. The game focuses on scientific knowledge gathered during the journey West. Players try to compile the most information on plants, animals and geography in their journals.

Geek Nation Tours organizes trips around a theme for people with a shared passion. We chat with Zak Gucklhorn who led a gaming trip through Germany, including castle and brewery tours, a Rhine cruise and culminating with a stop at the game fair at Essen.

We chat with Rob Dougherty from White Wizard Games about the runaway success of Star Realms and how this success has enabled them to launch new games like Epic, a fantasy card battle game, built around the same philosophy.

We chat with Spanish designer Jesus Torres Castro about his deduction game Watson & Holmes. Step into the shoes of Doctor Watson and work with Sherlock Holmes to solve a series of 13 unpublished cases.