Punching Cardboard

You want a game you can bring home to your spouse and play on a cold snowy evening, just the two of you, a nice fire going, a little wine. When things go good, shall we say.

But you also want that game to shine when you have company, when you slap it on the table, when you show your friends just who's daddy you are. Yep, you want a game that covers the range of players indicated on it's enticing linen box, a game that does more than sit on your shelf, taunting you over the money you spent, knowing that . . . um . . . um, yeah.

Well, we discuss scalability and let you know about 19 games that fit the bill. Listen forth.?

TIPPING THE SCALES

02:47 -- Ardbeg Again
05:30 -- Music Reviews (Cracker and Blue Rodeo)
13:40 -- Playing New Games in Old Fun February -- Super Motherload
17:40 -- Railroads and Peppers
20:25 -- ZhanGuo
24:30 -- Eric Won't Play Dungeon Petz!
27:50 -- Scales Defined
30:00 -- Up the Scale
46:48 -- Down the Scale
60:45 -- Working Across the Player Count (Games listed in the Tags)

Direct download: PCP_061_final.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 1:26am PDT

You asked for it, and you got it. We take a deep look at Deus in this episode, a game that has divided our opinions like no other before it and quite possibly none that will come after. And then we go deeper, exploring the depths of Stefan Feld's oceanic research labs in Aquasphere, because we all live in some sort of colorful submarine. With robots. And Crystals. And a laser barrier between us and our point salad.

TIMES:

06:45 Deus (review)
42:25 Aquasphere (review / impressions)

Direct download: PCP_060_final.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:42am PDT

Welcome to this week's episode of Punching Health Care. We get all medical in this bad boy, finding cures for what ails you with Bad Medicine and saving the world (not) in Pandemic: the Cure. We also toss in some musical cures for KatyPerryItis that will have Kanye West's head spinning (there's probably a cure for that too). It's all about theme, baby!

APPOINTMENTS:

06:50 -- Bad Medicine (preview)
37:08 -- January's Music Selections
41:45 -- Pandemic: The Cure (review)
58:00 -- Co-ops and Difficulty

Direct download: PCP_059_final.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 10:42am PDT

Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in two weeks but Baseball Highlights: 2045 reported to Punching Cardboard yesterday, so we're getting a jump on the action. We've got cyborgs, we've got robots, we've got naturals, and we've got a card game with a fairly unique take on the sport of baseball that should allow access for anyone with even a passing interest.

We also discuss (ahem!) the avalanche of games either hitting the table or pending, and whether this is a good thing or not (Eric: Yes! - Jim: NO!). All this and a short preview of 1714: The Case of the Catalans lie ahead. Tread carefully (except with the Baseball part because that is a gentile, pastoral sport).

INNINGS:

00:42 -- Powers, John's Lane Release
05:18 -- They Were Just There Not to Get Fined
14:49 -- Too Many Games (Argue: Fight)!
31:09 -- New Dice For Quantum
33:45 -- Game Weight. 1714: The Case of the Catalans (preview)
39:16 -- Baseball Highlights: 2045 (review)
75:42 -- The Two Stories of Kickstarter

Direct download: PCP_058_final.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 3:45pm PDT

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