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.
Steffen Muhlhauser is fueled by a passion for abstract games. His company, Steffen Spiele, publishes games that are equal parts art, strategy and fun. Our conversation explores his dedication to beauty in all aspects of a game, from components to gameplay
Designer Dennis Kirps chats about Insect Hotel. It's a little known fact that beneficial garden bugs love to spend time in hotels. It's your job to fill as many rooms as you can, while keeping pesky spiders and cockroaches away.
Cubiko is small company that makes handcrafted strategy and dexterity games. Gavin Biernbaum talks about how he taught himself carpentry in order to bring his designs to life. We also chat about Jam Sumo, which is two flicking games in one.
Markus Nikisch is the creative director for HABA. We chat about the loud and crazy process of developing dozens of new titles for kids. We also discuss Spookies, Karuba and Adventureland, a new line of family games geared toward older children and adults.
Small companies, big fun. We review two small press games: Lift Off & Letter Tycoon. In Lift Off you use rockets & trampolines to get aliens off an exploding planet. In Letter Tycoon you build words to earn money & buy letter patents so you can cash in.