Welcome back to the newly named board game podcast from the duo at No Pun Included! In this new iteration we're starting small and building up each episode, so if you've enjoyed this - there's more to come every second Friday. Today we're taking you through Efka's most anticipated board games of 2023, four board game reviews and lots of words from our listeners. If you'd like to write in about any of the games discussed or any topic that's dear to your heart: elaine@nopunincluded.com On to the timestamps: 2:13 Scout 19:14 Evergreen 29:03 Efka's Most Anticipated Games of 2023 45:13 Artisans of Splendent Vale 1:02:47 Write-ins 1:15:52 Ostia

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Hey everybody - it’s a calculator party! Bring out your Casios and we’ll get down with spreadsheets like it’s 1799. On today’s podcast not only do we tackle the mini-beast that is Arkwright: The Card Game but give an early scoop on Mind MGMT and a brief glance at Murano: Light Masters. Timestamps: Murano: Light Masters - ( 03:04 ) Arkwright: The Card Game - ( 20:00 ) Mind MGMT - ( 37:35 ) If you enjoyed this episode, leave a comment on https://nopunincluded.com/podcast

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Three board games enter, one board game leaves. But only having endured the harsh nature of Elaine’s and Efka’s critique. That’s the No Pun Included podcast and it’s back once again for the twenty ninth time. Timestamps: Dinosaur World - ( 06:50 ) Exit Advent Calendar: Mystery of the Ice Cave (no spoilers) - ( 28:31 ) Magnate: The First City - ( 41:16 ) You can find more of the No Pun Included podcast, and leave a comment on nopunincluded.com/podcast

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Cult of the new? More like “cult of the game that I’ve already played but haven’t played in ages and now there’s a new version so I bought it again just so I could play it and not play the copy I already had!” That’s right, today we discuss three board games that are renditions, re-editions, reimplementations or maybe just second editions. Timestamps: A Brief Note on our Too Many Bones Video - ( 00:55 ) Dinosaur Island: Rawr'N Write - ( 07:56 ) Mobile Markets: A Smartphone Inc Game - ( 30:59 ) Great Western Trail: Second Edition - ( 45:53 ) If you enjoyed this episode and would like to discuss any of the games featured on this episode, you can always leave a comment on our website: https://nopunincluded.com/podcast

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Ah, rulebooks. Don’t you just love sitting down with a cup of hot beverage and an arcane manual written by what you assume is a “game wizard” and spend four hours of your day trying to understand what exactly phrases like “spend your faucet token to activate the hyrdraulics action space” actually mean, to only inevitably give up and desperately search YouTube for a Watch it Played video? Well, this episode of the No Pun Included podcast is delivered to you by this exact feeling. Not all games in today’s episode have bad rulebooks - but the ones that do excel at it. Timestamps: Sheepy Time - ( 04:00 ) Beast - ( 18:21 ) The Great Wall - ( 40:19 ) For more of the No Pun Included podcast visit https://nopunincluded.com/podcast where you can leave a comment if you'd like to discuss any of the games featured in this episode, or any terrible rulebooks you've encountered in your life.

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What two things would you miss if you were to live on the moon? That’s right, it’s coffee, and the ability for sound to echo whilst you’re doing a moonwalk in vacuum. With that tenuous link between this episode’s board games established, I can tell you a little bit more what to expect from each. Luna Capital is yet another spin on the tableau building formula, Echoes brings something fresh by giving us our very first audio mystery game, and Coffee Traders is this episode’s chunky boy, giving most euro games a run for their money in terms of complexity. Timestamps: Luna Capital - ( 08:35 ) Echoes - ( 24:23 ) Coffee Traders - ( 38:45 ) You can find more episodes on https://nopunincluded.com/podcast

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Toot toot, the No Pun Included boat has docked, ready to unload three stormy board games into your harbour. Are these board games fresh as the fruit of the sea, or do they perhaps smell a bit fishy? Quick, someone take away the analogies from me because I’ll starting waxing on about how we spill the board game guts. Oh no. It’s too late - the board game guts - they are everywhere. Timestamps: Fleet: The Dice Game - ( 02:39 ) The Crew: Mission Deep Sea - ( 19:59 ) The Adventures of Robin Hood - ( 36:05 ) For more of the No Pun Included Podcast visit our home - https://nopunincluded.com/podcast

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Following from our Reiner Knizia Special video, here's more Knizia games, this time, all out of print and all (hopefully) coming back soon. 07:51 - Tigris & Euphrates + Yellow & Yangtzee 32:57 - Ra 43:24 - Winner's Circle For more No Pun Included, visit https://nopunincluded.com

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In todays episode we'll talk about two games that share a common ancestry: Destinies and Descent: Legends of the Dark. Fun fact, we mention comparing these two games at the end, and then totally forget to do that. But the comparison points should be clear as we go along. Timestaps: Destinies - ( 02:43 ) Minor Mechanical Destinies Spoilers - ( 16:29 ) Spoilers end at - ( 17:50 ) Descent: Legends in the Dark - ( 41:24 ) If you enjoyed this episode, visit https://nopunincluded.com/podcast

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Today we discuss one game and one game only - Sleeping Gods. For more information, or to leave a comment, visit: nopunincluded.com/podcast A review copy of Sleeping Gods has been provided by the publisher Red Raven Games

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In this episode we’ll discuss Overboss, a tile laying city builder masquerading as a pixelated fantasy game, Cubitos, a psychedelic game about racing cubes on an alien cube planet, and My City - a Reiner Knizia polyamino tile-laying legacy game. Overboss ( 02:48 ) Cubitos ( 20:50 ) My City ( 35:30 ) If you enjoyed this episode, leave a comment at https://nopunincluded.com/podcast

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In this episode we’ll seize the farm in Carpe Diem, freeze on an alien world in Cryo and lay some track in Iberian Gauge. Carpe Diem ( 06:45 ) Cryo ( 23:18 ) Iberian Gauge ( 37:14 ) If you enjoyed the podcast and would like to leave a comment, visit its home at https://nopunincluded.com/podcast

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In today's episode we discuss: Mandala ( 01:27 ) Honey Buzz ( 18:29 ) BattleCon: Remastered ( 35:16 ) Find more of the podcast, or leave a comment at https://nopunincluded.com/podcast

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In this episode Elaine and Efka go over Hallertau, a game about rural hop farming, Nidavellir, a game of recruiting a fantasy dwarf army and Beyond the Sun, a game about space. 02:44 - NPI News 04:51 - Hallertau 27:46 - Nidavellir 42:58 - Beyond the Sun

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On today's episode we have: Games We’ve Been Playing: Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game ( 7:44 ) Marvel Champions - A Brief Mention ( 11:15 ) Oceans ( 11:50 ) Curious Cargo ( 25:09 ) Under Falling Skies ( 36:20 ) Bonfire ( 43:01 ) Point Salad ( 53:21) Games We’re Looking Forward To ( 58:00 ) Efka Grumps A Game - Cartographers ( 59:22 ) Elaine Ungrumps A Game - Special Grump Edition ( 1:05:34 ) Puzzle Deduction One and Done Escape Room Segment IDVentures - The Unsolved Case of Holmes ( 1:13:53 ) Feature Review - The Search for Planet X ( 1:23:41 ) If you would like to get in touch with us or leave a comment - you can visit our podcast home on https://nopunincluded.com/podcast

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For more info on the No Pun Included Podcast - please visit our homepage at https://nopunincluded.com/podcast Timestamps: NPI News ( 1:08 ) Games We’ve Been Playing ( 02:48 ) The King is Dead ( 03:32 ) Super Skill Pinball 4-Cade ( 08:26 ) Calico ( 22:57 ) Too Many Bones: Undertow ( 33:23 ) Games We’re Looking Forward To ( 43:51 ) Efka Grumps a Board Game ( 46:58 ) HeroQuest Elaine Ungrumps a Board Game ( 54:21 ) Puzzle Deduction One and Done Escape Room Segment ( 58:55 ) Star Wars Unlock Feature Review - Iwari ( 1:12:10 )

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Wow, have we got an episode for you. Not only are we travelling in time (thematically, not literally)… not only are we discussing the Lithuanian word for ‘yuk’…not only are we escaping a rabbit hole…but we’re also having an argument. Actually, more than one. And Efka says the word ‘’ at some point too. What more could you want? NPI News ( 03:02 ) Games We’ve Been Playing ( 06:15 ) Tellstones: King’s Gambit ( 06:35 ) Root Digital ( 19:03 ) The Loop: Dr. Foo Strikes Back… Back… Back… ( 24:41 ) Glasgow ( 39:34 ) Mariposas ( 49:21 ) Efka Grumps About a Game ( 1:05:51 ) Meta Narratives Elaine Ungrumps a Board Game ( 1:12:39 ) Puzzle Deduction one and done Escape Room segment ( 1:17:30 ) In Pursuit of the White Rabbit Feature Review - The King is Dead - Second Edition ( 1:30:51 ) You can find Elizabeth Hargrave’s website at: https://www.elizhargrave.com/

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Today’s episode is a little different. We recorded this one live as part of Virtually Expo, the online only version of UK Games Expo. Since we had a very strict one hour time slot, we had to truncate our longer format and revert to our previous “here’s three games we played, let’s talk about them” version of the podcast. Ah, but what games were discussed in this episode you might ask? Here’s a list with some time-stamps that will work perfectly with the video version and will be a little early for the audio one: Project Elite ( 4:27 ) Escape Room in a Box: Flashback ( 16:43 ) Oath ( 28:26 )

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If someone had said to me I’d be able to visit a Tokyo fish market, a quaint English village green, New York, and Sherlock Holmes all in one day I’d have thought they were doing a silly. But you can - and from the comfort of your own living room - by listening to our latest podcast episode. And who knows, maybe in the future we’ll really be able to visit all these places in a day - or at least go to the pub again. NPI News ( 03:03 ) Games We’ve Been Playing ( 08:11 ) Tussie Mussie ( 08:20 ) Vilage Green ( 14:02 ) Tokyo Tsukiji Market ( 22:37 ) Fort ( 36:09 ) Gaslands ( 40:17 ) Highrise ( 53:44 ) Terramara ( 59:11 ) Edge of Darkness ( 01:07:51 ) Games We’re Looking Forward To ( 01:15:26 ) Efka Grumps About a Game ( 01:17:53 ) Ride the Rails Elaine Ungrumps about a Game ( 01:26:14 ) Puzzle Deduction one and done Escape Room segment ( 01:31:07 ) Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective - The Baker Street Irregulars Feature Review - Targi & Targi: The Expansion ( 01:42:06 )

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Today’s episode is a treat because Undaunted: North Africa is just about the cleverest game NPI has put their mits on in a very long time. NPI News ( 04:40 ) Games We’ve Been Playing ( 06:43 ) - including Forgotten Waters, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, High Rise, Empyreal: Spells & Steam and Sprawlopolis. Games We’re Looking Forward To ( 36:41 ) Efka Grumps About a Game ( 41:33 ) Plastic inserts Elaine Says Something Nice About a Game ( 47:25 ) Acquire retooled Escape Game of the Episode ( 51:46 ) including Unlock: Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet Thread Murder from Heroic Adventures Feature Review - Undaunted: North Africa ( 1:02:33) If you enjoyed this episode, leave a comment below. Unlike our YouTube videos, there’s no other sensible way for you to have a nice chat with us, or maybe even some other listeners. Who knows? You might even find a friend.

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