The Spiel - MP3 Version

The Spiel is one year old! To celebrate, we roll our way through two games with loads of dice: Battleground Fantasy Warfare, and To Court the King.

Business in the front, party in the back. We plot and scheme to elect the Pope in The Prince, spaz out combining cornrows in Wig Out, and nibble our way from plankton to sharks in Chomp.

Driven to abstraction. From archaeology to pachinko in less than two hours, we play Mykerinos and Marvin Marvel's Marvelous Marble Machine, two fast fun abstract strategy games.

I didn't know Gloria was sick. Ancient Rome is crumbling as the Goths swarm down from the north. We play Senators racing to escape the Eternal City in Gloria Mundi, the first collaborative effort from James Ernest and Rio Grande Games.

Cue the laugh track. We play Conquistadors in Pizarro & Co. and Capitalist pigs in I'm the Boss, two games that lead to big deals and big piles of cashola.

Bet like an Egyptian. We get a good dose of corruption, cash, and deadly crocodile gods playing Wits & Wagers and Cleopatra & the Society of Architects.

Lou Ferrigno, eat your heart out! It doesn't take gamma rays to make us see green, just two sets of horribly organized rules. We play Shear Panic and Marvel Heroes. One's a keeper, the other's a dud.

Chock full of goobery goodness! We click with Lexio, a Korean tile game with Chinese roots, and charge head long into Battle Lore, waging table top fantasy battles with hundreds of miniatures.

Recycle, reuse, replay! We warm up with a Mah Jongg variant called Forbidden and then tap into Power Grid, a game where garbage and wind can lead to vitctory.

A special holiday game gift guide! Over 50 game recommendations for gamers of all ages and games of all flavors.

All class, no bums. We play two prize fighting games: Buccaneer and Aqua Romana, both runners up for the 2006 Spiel des Jahres, the German Game of the Year.

Shuffle up, and deal! We look back 400 years to play Scopa, a classic card game that feels modern and then play Parlay, the secret love-child of Scrabble and Poker.

George Romero would be proud. First we hack our way through waves of the living dead in Zombies Widescreen Edition and then we play poker as zombies in Dead Money. Just remember to aim for the head!

Grab your garlic and wooden stakes, we take a trip through Transylvania to play Vampire Hunter and Dawn Under. Who says the undead are no fun?

But wait, there's more! Our first all expansion edition. We play cards with green haired punk hobbits in Blue Moon and take on a weather changing beaver in Spirits of Niagara.

Strap on the mailbag and hitch up the wagon! We deliver our verdict on Thurn & Taxis, the 2006 Spiel de Jahres winner, and Big Top, a circus themed variant of a card game classic.

A Rio Grande Games extravaganza! Listen for a play test report on five new games from Rio and then our interview with Jay Tummelson, the founder of the company and architect of the euro game revolution.

Nerd up! Put on your badges and head for the dealers room, we're going to give you a geek's eye view of Gen Con, the world's largest game convention.

Release the Kraken! We take an in-depth look at Mare Nostrum with the Mythology Expansion and go for a short cruise with Reiner Knizia's Loot.

Put on your Deerstalker and massage those grey cells, we dive into three mystery games: Inkognito, Mystery on the Nile, and 221 B Baker St.

Serfs up! Get ready for guild power struggles and try to keep your farmers our of prison. We take on Flandern 1302 and Carcassonne: The Tower, two medieval themed games where the peasants, the meeples, take center stage.

Two bargains, one steal. From the high seas to ancient jungle temples, we fight our way through Tortuga and strike gold with Monkey Mission.

We play our way from the past to the future, covering Klaus Teuber's Anno 1503 and Richard Garfield's Rocketville. Two great designers, but alas, only one great game.

We circle the wagons to play Go West and then head for Sid Sackson's Bazaar. The title, you ask? Dave has a Lactaid moment discussing dice games.

Let slip the dogs of war. We play a card game that combines an early Renaissance war with poker. Seriously. We're not kidding. We also play Clippers. Be glad it was us and not you!