Welcome to the PCP Magiporium, performances every Thursday through Sunday. We have mechanics and mystics, apprentices and assistants. Escape artists are chained in tanks of sea water. Illusionists will conjure impossible creatures. Rabbits will pop from hats. Monkeys will fly. Minds will clash. Look! What's behind that cloud of smoke?

You'll want to see a show every week, so arrive early for the best seats. This week, Trickerion! All secrets will be revealed. 

TRICKS:

06:30 -- Port Charlotte Heavily Peated Single Malt
13:07 -- Trickerion: Legends of Illusion (in depth)

Scotland or Japan? It's the question on everyone's minds. Who's minds, you ask? Where ya been? No one's talking about Kardashians or Trumps or hunky Canadian dudes who somehow get to run countries where people eat poutine and slide rocks across frozen, swept water. Nope, it's all about a place full of craggy rocks and craggy people vs. the land of Hello Kitty and Karaoke.

And like Chris Hardwick after The Walking Dead we're here to talk you through it, to lend support as you try to sort out your feelings about those places and some games based on them. It's a tough one, too. Do you lightly follow a path through the windswept shores, rocky hills, and green pastures on The Isle of Skye in search of sheep and fine whisky, or do you build and run factories in Nippon, spreading your goods, and ships and trains out across the whole of Japan? Who knows? We don't, but were gonna talk about it anyway.

DESTINATIONS:

04:29 -- Some Games We Encountered
13:30 -- The Joy of Rockin' Live
23:57 -- Isle of Skye (in depth)
73:34 -- Nippon (in depth)

I'm sick, and it's difficult to come up with a clever paragraph or two to introduce our 85th episode, so I'll just lay it out in a simple fashion.

On this podcast you will hear our interview with Mercury Games' Richard Diosi, who will be giving you the lowdown on the reprint of Princes of the Renaissance. You will hear a lot of game talk, including an in-depth examination of Pax Pamir. And of course, we have a dram and a little fun along the way. Please excuse the coughing and enjoy.

TIMETABLE

08:52 -- Princes of the Renaissance (interview and specifics)
36:24 -- Park Safely (rant)
40:15 -- Games and our Dynamic Ratings?
57:55 -- Can a Game be too Heavy?
68:46 -- Connemara Peated Single Malt
76:06 -- Pax Pamir (in-depth)

Welcome to our first episode in 2016. We seem to have settled into a pattern of releasing a show just about once a month. We can sustain this, I think. And maybe add a few more into the mix when time allows. So consider this the first of about 15 for 2016

In this episode we take on a couple of your questions and answer them with a fairly lengthy discussion, trying to turn over every stone in the sandbox. We also take an in-depth look at The Gallerist, including an amazing two-minute drill from Eric (He got the ball all the way to the twelve yard line before the clock ran out).

We throw in a little talk of whisky and philosophy, but games come under a great deal of scrutiny in this one.

ATTRACTIONS:

04:04 -- A Question of Questions
07:04 -- A Question of Balance and Weenies
31:30 -- A Sandbox named Absurd
46:40 -- Horrible Bosses
51:55 -- Oban, Distillers Edition: Distilled 1999, Bottled 2014
61:03 -- No Fun February
62:55 -- Kickstarter Dos (Millennium Blades) & don'ts (Thrash 'n' Roll)
71:56 -- The Gallerist (in-depth)
131:38 -- Russian Railroads: German Railroads (a quick word)
135:50 -- Secret Question

Just because it's a thing you do, we  offer up our 2nd annual discussion and ranking of the games we encountered for the first time this year, along with the best whisky and music enjoyed whilst playing.

You'll hear thrilling descriptions of game from two lists, each 17 games long. Why 17? We don't ask "why" here at the PCP, we merely forge ahead and trounce the Goblins. We also add in top fives (or more) in whisky and music. We suggest you sample the wares and create your own pairings.

Also, since this is a spoiler free time of year, individual games will not be listed in the times below. However, in the next few days we will post our lists in our BGG Guild (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/1805) which you will be able to peruse at your lesiure.

SECTORS:

05:57 -- Games 11-17 (or so), and disappoinments
40:48 -- Whiskies of the Year
52:01 -- Games 6-10 (or thereabouts)
90:16 -- The Albums You Need to Hear
110:05 -- Games 1-5 (exactly)

It's Splotter time on the old podcast. We've been spending quite a bit of time organizing and reorganizing our fledgling food empires and we're taking a little coffee break so we can tell you how it's all going. Join us and find out if schlepping drinks and flipping burgers is more fun than you remember.

MENU:

07:47 -- 2015 World Whiskey of the Year: Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye
17:43 -- Neanderthal, et al.
21:10 -- Food Chain Magnate (in-depth review)
77:03 -- Music (Samantha Crain, City and Colour, Joanna Newsom)
85:40 -- The Gallerist Postponed (we need another hour on this one)

And as promised, part two of our Essen games extravaganza; AKA, the good stuff. Nothing more to say than listen in and hold on to your wallets.

INGREDIENTS

01:03 -- The Bloody Inn
08:05 -- Grand Austria Hotel
16:53 -- 504
21:28 -- Shakespeare
31:33 -- Food Chain Magnate
45:42 -- Bretagne
60:55 -- Lignum
80:18 -- Nippon

Despite the prospect of ever orbiting schedules we have somehow collided for a long moment to record another installment of As the Podcast Turns, Essen edition. Yea us! In fact, what we recorded was so long that this will be the first of two concurrent releases today. And yeah, we know you know how to use the pause button, but it actually makes the editing job easier.

Last week we attended a small con in Bellevue that focuses on getting the most recent Essen releases to the table. A couple hundred folks attend and there seems to be at least one copy of each Essen title available to play. Much cheaper and more intimate than a trip to Germany

Between us we put in over 80 hours playing our most anticipated games. We then rushed home through a torrential downpour to tell you about it (or was it to get soaked taking our kids out Halloween night?). Anyway, sit back and enjoy the first half of our Essen game coverage. Maybe grab some strudel while you're at it.

We have come to the crossroads here at the 'cast. The external forces of life, real and imagined, have conspired against us. We are against the ropes and down on one knee, a significant cut upon the brow, bloodied, the referee close to the end of his count.  We're not sure there's anywhere to go from here and you can listen in as we consider our options.

We also get to a good selection of games, getting in depth on a few, but quick and concise overall, back in the land of reasonable show lengths

TIMES:

02:15 -- The Hard Stuff: Down for the Count???
23:30 -- Furniture for Games
27:28 -- Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game
32:58 -- Istanbul
42:20 -- Roads & Boats
48:25 -- Clinic
54:25 -- The Voyages of Marco Polo
58:19 -- Murano
62:37 -- Gold West
67:40 -- Steampunk Rally
75:23 -- The Secret Question
77:30 -- Kickstarter Grumbles