Sometimes you just can't get things right. You find a ghost in the signal chain and try to fix it only to find you've made things worse. Apologies in advance for all the pops and clicks.

Among the noisy abberations you will find a fair amount of game discussion and enough salt and vinegar to properly dress your chips.

POPS & CLICKS:

00:09:49 -- Drinkin' and Vaxxin'
00:20:06 -- The Long and Winding Railroad
00:35:05 -- Kickstarting, Streaming, and Video Gaming
00:52:13 -- Freedom: The Underground Railroad
01:00:07 -- Last Will
01:04:03 -- The Sands of Time (Joe's visit)
01:22:15 -- Apocalypse Road
01:42:55 -- The Red Cathedral
01:57:36 -- Nidavellir
02:27:53 -- Of Golden Eagles and T-Shirts

This is a pretty rough and raw episode. We're fighting off the depths of despair, the height of a Pandemic, and an attack on our way of life from the people who are sworn to protect it. Can a two-mile high frog be the hero we need to get us through this episode. Tune in and find out.

DESPERATE MEASURES:

00:03:02 -- Polis, Fight for the Hegemony, 2nd edition
00:10:26 -- Siena
00:25:05 -- Angola (session report)
01:00:15 -- Cosmic Frog (in-depth)
02:07:25 -- Resolutions
02:09:05 -- Call to Post is a Dead Parrot
02:27:48 -- No More Windmills

It's almost over. This . . . year.

Nothing much to do other than gather up some lists of the things that got us through. We hope you dig it.

COUNTDOWN:

00:05:14 -- Best Games we played for the first time.
01:48:20 -- Whiskies of the Year
01:58:32 -- Best of the Book Club
02:06:37 -- Cat Intermission
02:08:15 -- The Music That Got Us Through the Year

This episode marks the beginning of our 8th year ranting and raving about games (and books (and music (and life))).

We kick it into gear with some heavy discussions of almost all of the above. Pretty much, if it ain't broke. . . . or, if it is broke, lean into it.

TOAST:

00:19:09 -- Whiskies
00:22:48 -- Giving Thanks
00:26:36 -- Our Once and Future Books
00:33:13 -- On Listening
00:44:24 -- The Crack of Destiny
00:58:03 -- Hallertau Almost Got Me
01:02:10 -- Viscounts of the West Kingdom (in-depth)
01:46:33 -- The Cost (in-depth)
02:24:23 -- Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman

Favorite mechanics? Nah.

How about a discussion of a bunch of games and the one thing each of them offers to stand out from the crowd?

One thing in one game!

Yeah, we can get into that. Follow along, if you please.

THINGS (Not just One and Two):

00:04:22 -- The Election of the Century
00:26:45 -- A Brief Musical Interlude (technical difficulties)
00:28:39 -- Argent: The Consortium (a session)
00:32:20 -- Game news?? Terra Mystica Adjacent
00:38:09 -- One Thing in One Game (a list)

We're keeping it simple as we're back to remote recording. One Game. One book. One in-depth discussion.

Still over two hours of quality goodness. Enjoy.

CHAPTERS:

00:05:39 -- Tekhenu (in-depth)
01:21:39 -- Short takes: Smartphone Inc. expansion and Pax Porfiriana
01:32:51 -- Deacon King Kong by James McBride

To hell with the experts, if just for one day. Travel happened. Games were played. Most importantly, human contact was regained, if just for 9 days.

ITINERARY:

00:17:00 -- I Did a Bad Thing
00:54:30 -- The Games
01:03:21 -- The Capitals
01:15:20 -- Die Handler
01:23:33 -- Joe's Confession
01:25:05 -- Founding Fathers (2007 ed.) and Gandhi
01:40:22 -- Overcooked (video game)
01:42:53 -- Call to Post

It was a lovely evening away from the maddening crowd so we decided to do a show. Just like the 181 times before, we gathered with some microphones and chatted about board games and other things. Even our special guest, Chip, the cricket, seemed to approve.

CHIRPS:

00:09:49 -- Celebrity Boardgame Deathmatch
00:12:47 -- The view from 30,000 feet
00:25:46 -- Cooper Island (in-depth first impression)
00:59:23 -- High Rise (in-depth first impression)
02:07:12 -- Clonakilty Bordeaux Cask Edition
02:13:21 -- Jim Goes to the Record Shop

Well, you caught us on a nice summer evening, sitting outside, sippin' whisky, and talkin' board games. It's the best we can do in this paranoid pandemic times. Maybe the closest we've come to the old days in a while. The most human the interaction has been. Whatever the case, we think we did alright with this one.

FIELD RECORDINGS:

00:07:19 -- The Taverns of Tiefenthal (in-depth) with a side of Nusfjord
00:51:50 -- It's a Wonderful World (short take)
00:56:13 -- In the Hall of the Mountain King (in-depth)
01:18:42 -- Is this the Real Life?
01:22:03 -- Coal Country (short take)
01:28:48 -- Gaming Refresh
01:45:30 -- Literature vs. the World
02:00:45 -- Glen Scotia Single Malt
02:09:25 -- The Gloaming
02:12:00 -- Stillwater: encores

And on and on and on.

Joe returns from his long, strange trip and we slowly get back into the socially distanced swing of things.

PRATTLES:

00:03:07 -- Life During Wartime
00:38:57 -- That's a T-Shirt!
00:45:00 -- Clonakilty Irish Whiskey & Loch Lomond 18yo Scotch
00:55:15 -- The Ramshackle Game Parade
00:56:04 -- The Gaia Project
01:12:10 -- 18XX Family Time
01:29:12 -- Memoir '44
01:36:10 -- Madeira
01:39:00 -- Antiquity
01:44:08 -- Baseball Highlights 2045
01:45:29 -- Guildhall
02:00:35 -- Upcoming Games
02:09:53 -- Gabriel Bump's Everywhere You Don't Belong