Shelley and I attempt to make the best of our tea plantations in

Ceylon by Chris and Suzanne Zinsli from Ludonova

and then expand our reach in the solar system with colonies in

Terraforming Mars: Colonies by Jacob and Jonathan Fryxelius from Stronghold Games

Shelley and I have some fun building rival zoos, then attempt to make the best of a BAD situation as the lights go out and stay out in Hong Kong!

WonderZoo by Florian Fay from Djeco

and

Blackout: Hong Kong by Alexander Pfister from eggertspiele

Shelley and I have a great time rolling dice and creating frescoes for our competing Viking clans, then have a LOT less fun competing to grow veggies in Iceland.

Lindisfarne by Damien Fleury and Alain Pradet from RUNES Editions

and

Reykholt by Uwe Rosenberg from Frosted and Renegade Games

Shelley and I plant rival gardens this week, hoping our neighbors don't disturb our crops too much, then build sections of Rome in two games that involve player building their own tableau.

Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden by Todd Sanders from LudiCreations

and

Great City of Rome (or City of Rome depending on the publisher) by Matthew Dunstan and Brett J. Gilbert from Z-Man (if it's Great) and Abacusspiele (if it's just a City).

Shelley and I get rolling BIG time on two fantastic Essen releases. The first is a small-box game with a BIG box feel

1906 San Francisco by Perepau Llistosella from Looping Games

followed by a double rondel card management game

Crown of Emara by Benjamin Schwer from Pegasus Spiele

Shelley and I get our party hats on as we organize a cool party in Portugal Tetris-style, then work with our glaziers to make the most beautiful stained glass windows!

Arraial by Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro and Paulo Soledade from Mebo Games

and

Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra by Michael Kiesling from Next Move/Plan B Games

Shelley and I work hard to rebuild our reefs with cool plastic Duplo-like blocks, then attempt to be the best sponsors of classical composers!

Reef by Emerson Matsuuchi from Next Move/Plan B Games

and

Symphony No. 9 by Frank Liu and Hung-Yang Shen from Moaideas

Shelley and I check out the new Knizia game that's a cousin to Through the Desert, then try the second BIG game from Hungarian publisher A-Games.

Blue Lagoon by Reiner Knizia from Blue Orange Games

and

PreHistory by Attila Szogyi from A-Games

Shelley and I tackle two sequels of sorts this episode as we recover from Essen by adding this quick episode to the feed (recorded back in September). This time it's the recent releases

Lost Cities Rivals by Reiner Knizia from KOSMOS

and

My Little Scythe by Hoby and Vienna Chou from Stonemaier Games

Shelley and I have great fun with the latest alea/Stefan Feld release, and enjoy figuring out color percentages in Wolfgang Warsch's latest card game

Carpe Diem by Stefan Feld from alea/Ravensberger

and

Illusion by Wolfgang Warsch from NSV

Shelley and I have some fun with two more Stronghold releases, then go through the second half of the 1000+ games on BGG's Essen Preview (M-Z).

Paper Tales by Masato Uesugi from Stronghold Games

Terraforming Mars: Prelude by Jacob Fryxelius from Stronghold Games

Shelley and I have fun with the third game in Uwe Rosenberg's Tetris-piece trilogy from Stronghold Games

Spring Meadow by Uwe Rosenberg from Stronghold Games

and then dive into BGG's Essen Preview list for a look at what's piquing our interest from publishers A-L.

Must Haves:

Carpe Diem - Got a chance to play this and we review it on Ep. 643

3X8 - Amigo card game that I already got through amazon.de

BiberClan - Amigo card game

Karate Tomate - Another Amigo card game!

Lifestyle - cards, dice & tokens from Amigo (already got it)

One Week Ultimate Werewolf - Played once, look forward to more!

Ultimate Werewolf Legacy - Seen it, but haven't played. Gorgeous!

Newton - Great buzz/Tzolkin designers

Underwater Cities - Vladimir Suchy, designer of Pulsar, etc.

Altiplano: The Traveler - Expansion for one of our favorites from 2017

Manitoba - More dlp goodness

Valparaiso - Designer of Altiplano

Dixit 10th Anniversary - New Cards!!!!

Shelley and I have a great time building Roman numerals in the fun 'end of the night' title

Roman Poker by Johannes Krenner and David Parlett from Amigo

and then scramble for building sites that others will then pay to use in

Little Town Builders by Shun from Studio GG

Shelley and I have a wonderful time making bus routes, then a less than wonderful time sailing down part of the Mississippi, and end with a reflection on a great area majority under-appreciated classic.

Let's Make a Bus Route by Saashi from Saashi & Saashi

Broadhorns: Early Trade on the Mississippi by Jim Harmon from Rio Grande

and

Kreta by Stefan Dora from Goldsieber - a classic that would be a solid choice for re-publication

A great way to end the Meeplefest episodes!: Analysis Paralysis, should BGG have an ability to rate other gamers? Denis gets in a rant or two, and then games we loathe and love.

Our second to last part of the conversation of the gang around the table at Meeplefest 2018. The Hunt family, Tom Lehmann, Mark Johnson, Denis, Ric, Shelley, Candy, Doug R. and the gang discuss information placed on boxes and dealing with analysis paralysis.

Along with the usual crew of Ric, Doug R., Shelley, and Denis, designers Tom Lehmann, Candy Weber, Simon Hunt, John Shulters and Sarah Graybill join the gang at the table as the conversation turns to where and when we play, thoughts about design and analysis of the choices designers make.

Concordia

Quacksalber von Quedlinburg

Japanese games, origin stories of newbies around the table...it's all here for Night 2 of Meeplefest, Part 1.

Let's Make A Bus Route

Metro X

Ticket to Ride

Settlers of Catan

Grackles

Azul

Matt Leacock joins the table as we continue our discussion of games we've been enjoying (or not), along with comments on the SdJ and KedJ winners and nominees. Some of the new Roll and Write (or Draw and Draw) games also get a mention.

Pandemic Legacy Season 2

Forbidden Sky

The Mind

Quacksalber von Quedlinburg

MetroX

Welcome to...

Let's Make a Bus Route

The gang is once again around the table at Meeplefest for the first of multiple conversations about the games we play and the hobby we love. This week we focus on some of the fun titles we've been playing, as well as talking about Kickstarter (a perennial topic). Join Ric, Joe, Doug R., Candy, Denis and Shelley for this first 1/2 of the Night 1 conversation.