Eat Lunch and Board Game

I wish that I could say that I bought just a few games that came to my attention via Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop on YouTube, but that would be a lie. What I can say though, few games have come to my attention and immediately jumped into my top 5, if not top 3, like Champions of Midgard. Ole Steiness’s worker placement game made an immediate impact on me. I love worker placement games, yet there was something different about this game. Something about the way it played. Something about the interaction between players. Something about the overall feel of the game. It didn’t hurt that the episode featured an actual Viking playing the game. Well, ex-Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. Close enough. I held off buying it as it was a play and win game at Geekway to the West, the local game convention here in St. Louis. So, I went to the convention, learned to play it, loved it, and hoped I would win the game. Sadly, I did not. Even sadder, Grey Fox Games, the St. Louis based game publisher that publishes Midgard in the US was at the convention, but they sold out. So, I went to my friendly local game shop and purchased Champions of Midgard. It has since seen plenty of table time.

In Champions of Midgard, you and your fellow players are Viking warriors who are vying for the spot of the recently deceased Jarl, leader of the clan. The creatures in area know of his passing and are coming to terrorize the village. You are trying to prove that you are the worthy successor by defeating these enemies and collecting glory (points). Over 8 rounds, you and your opponents will collect warrior dice, food, wood, get blessings, and fight enemies to prove once and for all, you are the Champion of Midgard!

I wish that I could say that I bought just a few games that came to my attention via Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop on YouTube, but that would be a lie. What I can say though, few games have come to my attention and immediately jumped into my top 5, if not top 3, like Champions of Midgard. Ole Steiness’s worker placement game made an immediate impact on me. I love worker placement games, yet there was something different about this game. Something about the way it played. Something about the interaction between players. Something about the overall feel of the game. It didn’t hurt that the episode featured an actual Viking playing the game. Well, ex-Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. Close enough. I held off buying it as it was a play and win game at Geekway to the West, the local game convention here in St. Louis. So, I went to the convention, learned to play it, loved it, and hoped I would win the game. Sadly, I did not. Even sadder, Grey Fox Games, the St. Louis based game publisher that publishes Midgard in the US was at the convention, but they sold out. So, I went to my friendly local game shop and purchased Champions of Midgard. It has since seen plenty of table time.

In Champions of Midgard, you and your fellow players are Viking warriors who are vying for the spot of the recently deceased Jarl, leader of the clan. The creatures in area know of his passing and are coming to terrorize the village. You are trying to prove that you are the worthy successor by defeating these enemies and collecting glory (points). Over 8 rounds, you and your opponents will collect warrior dice, food, wood, get blessings, and fight enemies to prove once and for all, you are the Champion of Midgard!

Who doesn’t love a good pun? I know I do. Also, who doesn’t know some form of rummy? I believe most people that have a grandma have been exposed to rummy. My grandma, my aunt, my cousins and siblings, and I used to play rummy all the time. There were stenographer notebooks filled with scoring tallies. Not just scores for their games, but also tally marks for the wins. My grandma recently passed, and a scorebook was buried with her.

So, when Turn for the Wurst came out by Wam Wam Games, I had to give it a try. I had Phill Wamser on the show back in May 2022. This was his company’s first game. He and his brother Jake took the idea of rummy, and instead of making runs or sets of numbered cards from a standard deck of cards, you were trying to collect hot dog toppings to complete recipes. I was intrigued, of course, so I sat down, at lunch, to play Turn for the Wurst.

Who doesn’t love a good pun? I know I do. Also, who doesn’t know some form of rummy? I believe most people that have a grandma have been exposed to rummy. My grandma, my aunt, my cousins and siblings, and I used to play rummy all the time. There were stenographer notebooks filled with scoring tallies. Not just scores for their games, but also tally marks for the wins. My grandma recently passed, and a scorebook was buried with her.

So, when Turn for the Wurst came out by Wam Wam Games, I had to give it a try. I had Phill Wamser on the show back in May 2022. This was his company’s first game. He and his brother Jake took the idea of rummy, and instead of making runs or sets of numbered cards from a standard deck of cards, you were trying to collect hot dog toppings to complete recipes. I was intrigued, of course, so I sat down, at lunch, to play Turn for the Wurst.

It is no secret that I love racing games. I have many racing games in my collection. I have talked about many racing games on this show. I love them! Whether I am racing cars, postal vehicles, boats, bikes, chariots, or even camels, I am drawn to a racing game like a moth to the flame. While perusing the used games section at the local Half-Priced Books, I saw Asger Harding Granerud’s cycling racing game, Flamme Rouge. The Son and I have wanted this game for some time. It goes in and out of production. So, I took the opportunity to purchase it when I could.

In Flamme Rouge, you are a team of cyclists trying to strategically and tactically maneuver your riders to victory playing cards from an ever depleting deck. Can you out-race your opponents?

It is no secret that I love racing games. I have many racing games in my collection. I have talked about many racing games on this show. I love them! Whether I am racing cars, postal vehicles, boats, bikes, chariots, or even camels, I am drawn to a racing game like a moth to the flame. While perusing the used games section at the local Half-Priced Books, I saw Asger Harding Granerud’s cycling racing game, Flamme Rouge. The Son and I have wanted this game for some time. It goes in and out of production. So, I took the opportunity to purchase it when I could.

In Flamme Rouge, you are a team of cyclists trying to strategically and tactically maneuver your riders to victory playing cards from an ever depleting deck. Can you out-race your opponents?

I am very active with the public library systems here in St. Louis City and County. I have taken many courses through them online. I have taken the kids to events. Heck, I took my kids to every single St. Louis Public Library branch. That was 15 branches. A let me tell you, some of those buildings were absolutely stunning.

During the pandemic, I used the library to print off many print and play games that I downloaded. When the restrictions lifted, I found out that the public library system offered even more services. They had a recording room, 3D printers, plotters, and now, at one location, a Glowforge.

Anyway, I saw that there was going to be a presentation on making a board game. So, you know I signed up and went. There, I met Ana Gomez. She is the Creative Experience Specialist, and a board gamer. She encouraged me to do a presentation at the library on Board Game production. I then encouraged her to be a guest on my show.

She joins me in this episode to talk about her gaming habits and how to utilize your local library to feed your board gaming addiction. Thanks for listening.

I am very active with the public library systems here in St. Louis City and County. I have taken many courses through them online. I have taken the kids to events. Heck, I took my kids to every single St. Louis Public Library branch. That was 15 branches. A let me tell you, some of those buildings were absolutely stunning.

During the pandemic, I used the library to print off many print and play games that I downloaded. When the restrictions lifted, I found out that the public library system offered even more services. They had a recording room, 3D printers, plotters, and now, at one location, a Glowforge.

Anyway, I saw that there was going to be a presentation on making a board game. So, you know I signed up and went. There, I met Ana Gomez. She is the Creative Experience Specialist, and a board gamer. She encouraged me to do a presentation at the library on Board Game production. I then encouraged her to be a guest on my show.

She joins me in this episode to talk about her gaming habits and how to utilize your local library to feed your board gaming addiction. Thanks for listening.

A few months back, like six or more, I sponsored a design competition on past guest JT Smith’s The Game Crafter. The competition was to design a lunchtime game. It had to be playable in a lunch hour and appropriate for work. There were 77 entries! Of those, seven were selected to be finalists. Those seven were then shipped to me to playtest. I took all of these to work to play with my coworkers. I mean, that was literally the purpose of the competition.

So, with the help of 2 or 3 of my coworkers each day, we played all seven games. Some were instant successes requiring another play, hopefully with a different player count. Some were not so lucky. As a group, we narrowed down the finalists to the top three. In the end, we made the decision to award Locked Out by Little Rhombus Games as the winner.

In this episode, I am joined by René Uittenbogaard, the designer of Locked Out. We talk about the usual questions, but also about his game.  He also had a lot of great game suggestions.

Stay tuned for future updates for the publishing of Locked Out by Bearded Board Games

Design Competition
Locked Out

A few months back, like six or more, I sponsored a design competition on past guest JT Smith’s The Game Crafter. The competition was to design a lunchtime game. It had to be playable in a lunch hour and appropriate for work. There were 77 entries! Of those, seven were selected to be finalists. Those seven were then shipped to me to playtest. I took all of these to work to play with my coworkers. I mean, that was literally the purpose of the competition.

So, with the help of 2 or 3 of my coworkers each day, we played all seven games. Some were instant successes requiring another play, hopefully with a different player count. Some were not so lucky. As a group, we narrowed down the finalists to the top three. In the end, we made the decision to award Locked Out by Little Rhombus Games as the winner.

In this episode, I am joined by René Uittenbogaard, the designer of Locked Out. We talk about the usual questions, but also about his game.  He also had a lot of great game suggestions.

Stay tuned for future updates for the publishing of Locked Out by Bearded Board Games

Design Competition
Locked Out