We just finished Halloweeeen! What are your favorite board games for spoopy season? We ask Creepshow: The Suspense-Building Game co-creators Ben Kepner and Dan Stong about what they like to play during this holiday...plus how they feel about designing while working in-house at a publisher compared to working independently.

Timeline:

• 3:45 - Going Analog's game pick: Babyon.
• 9:46 - Ben & Dan's game pick: Rattus.
• 21:19 - Ben & Dan's topic: spooky games.
• 45:40 - Going Analog's topic: indie vs. in-house design work.

Publisher Bitewing Games has a thing for designer Reiner Knizia (most recently with Zoo Vadis and the Mythos Collection's Illiad and Ichor). Now they're back at it with a new three-part, big-box, Knizia-palooza Kickstarter campaign. We had the opportunity to play one of those parts, SILOS (Secret Interlopers from Outer Space), a retro sci-fi (with cows!) rethemed version of Municipium...and we instantly fell in love. So we invited Bitewing founders Nick Murray and Kyle Spackman to chat about SILOS, other great area-control games, and board game series and franchises.

Timeline:

• 3:25 - Going Analog's game pick: Magic Maze Tower.
• 11:22 - Bitewing's game pick: Moonrollers.
• 19:48 - Going Analog's topic: SILOS and other great area-control games.
• 47:57 - Bitewing's topic: gaming series and franchies.

Tired of hoarding resources, majority-ing areas, and adding up victory points? Want to make your frenemy continuously act like they're milking a cow instead? Then let's talk party games!

Shoe and Christina run through a bunch of new big-group activities to help you with your next big game night.

This episode was sponsored by Magic Mind, our favorite Mental Performance Shot. As a special offer for our listeners, they're giving 40% off the next 10 (and only 10!) uses of this promo code. Go to https://magicmind.com/ANALOG40 and use our code ANALOG40 to get this deal.

Timeline:

• 1:09 - Christina's game pick: Minos: Dawn of the Bronze Age.
• 6:09 - Shoe's game pick: Nature.
• 12:44 - Games that tweak party game formulas: Sync, Rabble, Lovestruck.
• 24:59 - Team games: Belratti, Blank Slate: Challenge, Mini-Game Party.
• 35:27 - Drawing games: Caution Signs, Speed Colors.
• 42:37 - Quick hits: Task Team, Ultimate Dibs, I'm Kind of a Big Dill.

We were thrilled to meet Ben Rosset, co-designer of our favorite deduction games The Search for Planet X and The Search for Lost Species (as well as the classic Between Two Cities), at Gen Con 2024. Find out why that first meeting was ridiculous (in our eyes), what's Ben's creative process on his deeply thematic designs, and how we feel about the various types of second-edition board games.

Timeline:

• 2:58 - Christina's game pick: Kronologic: Paris 1920.
• 9:58 - Shoe's game pick: Sacred Valley.
• 14:58 - Ben's game pick: Century: Spice Road/Golem Edition.
• 23:05 - Going Analog's topic: designing board games around interesting themes.
• 34:13 - Ben's topic: the good and bad of second editions.

Board games = cardboard. It's in the name of the material itself! But...what about An Age Contrived, a new Euro-style, action-programming strategy game designed by Chris Matthew of indie publisher Bellows Intent? It has magnetic bits, chunky Azul-style tiles, and in the Founder's and Collector's Editions, the player boards are set into solid metal frames. What? And you can shoot those tiles out with a spring/lever mechanism. Whaaaat?   We had to bring Chris on to ask how he balanced the component "wow" factor with manufacturing affordability -- and as a big gamer himself, Chris wanted to talk about how games have surprised and delighted us. We were delighted to chat with him, so give us a listen!   Timeline:

• 4:05 - Going Analog's game pick: Open Season.
• 9:40 - Chris's game pick: Revive.
• 16:36 - Going Analog's topic: An Age Contrived, balancing cool components with high costs.
• 41:20 - Chris's topic: how games can surprise and delight us.

Last episode, we gave a quick recap of North America's largest board game convention, Gen Con 2024. But what everyone really wants to know is, what was best in show? We did our due diligence, played as many games as we could during and after the con (we know -- our lives are so hard), and are ready to report back. Plus, we tapped Twitch streamer Amanda Panda for her top picks, too, so listen up! 

Timeline:

• 5:48 - 2024 Party Games of Gen Con.
• 10:33 - 2024 Light Games of Gen Con.
• 17:59 - 2024 Medium Games of Gen Con.
• 27:30 - 2024 Heavy Games of Gen Con.

We're back from Gen Con! North America's largest tabletop gaming convention is now behind us, but our coverage is just beginning. In this episode, we share our stories from the massive show, plus a few impressions of our favorite games that we got to play. Stay tuned for lots, lots more.

And make sure to check out Magic Mind, the "Mental Performance Shots" that we took to keep us going through the long days and nights in Indianapolis. Our sponsor is offering our listeners up to 48% off a monthly subscription! You'll get Magic Mind delivered right to your home, and you can cancel at any time. Find energy for your long gaming sessions -- plus, you'll be supporting Going Analog! Just go to magicmind.com/ANALOG20 and use promo code ANALOG20 to save up to 48% now.

Timeline:

• 2:13 - Stories from Gen Con 2024.
• 16:57 - The Gang.
• 23:37 - Seers Catalog.
• 30:26 - River of Gold.
• 37:10 - Flip 7.
• 41:36 - Rebel Princess.

It's almost time for North America's largest board game convention, Gen Con! We've been frantically trying to cram in all the hot new games on our shelf of shame/opportunity before we discover...even more hot new games at the big show. We ask the busy Ruel Gaviola (board gaming showrunner, producer, podcaster, and host of several YouTube and Twitch channels) to tell us what he's looking forward to at Gen Con and which cool games he's been playing lately.

Timeline: 

• 1:44 - Gen Con preview.
• 17:51 - our thoughts on a bunch of new board games: What On Earth Are You Talking About?, Landmarks, Biomos, Finca, Clash of Magic Schools, Archeos Society, Evenfall, Pax Pamir: Second Edition, The Search for UAPs.

What's your favorite movie genre? And which board games can you play to relive those feels? We ask performer and board game writer Mx. Tiffany Leigh to chat about this. As someone who worked in movie production and a real-deal old-school video store, she has fantastic movie and game recs! (We got so into the movie topic that we ran out of time for Tiffany's topic -- raincheck!)

Timeline:

• 3:51 - Christina/Shoe's game pick: Galactic Renaissance.
• 14:30 - Tiffancy's game pick: The Taverns of Tiefenthal.
• 24:24 - Christina/Shoe's topic: games for movie lovers.

We were sitting on a new stack of word games, so we asked our editor Mike Zipkin (he of fancy game upgrades and beige game tastes) to join us in covering Word Traveler, Illiterati, Mind Map, and ContraBanter. Plus, upgrading your board games is old news -- how do you upgrade your entire game room?

Timeline:

• 2:00 - Christina/Shoe's game pick: Captain Flip.
• 9:13 - Mike's game pick: StreetCar (San Francisco).
• 16:28 - Christina/Shoe's topic: new word games.
• 48:14 - Mike's topic: upgrading your game room.

Who doesn't love a beautiful nature game? Shoe doesn't, the grump. He just hates nature. But did he like the upcoming Everbloom, designed by our guest Ian Moss (Bunkers & Badasses, Dinosaur Island, Wonderland's War), from publisher Nerdvana Games? (Check out the Kickstarter!)

We also discuss what makes a new deluxe or big box edition of a game worth a purchase.

Timeline:

• 2:50 - Going Analog's game pick: Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy.
• 8:06 - Ian's game pick: Canvas.
• 15:30 - Going Analog's topic: favorite nature games.
• 39:53 - Ian's topic: deluxe and big box versions of games.