Draft Mechanic

Draft Mechanic Episode #69: Gaming on the Go! Travel Games & Gaming Apps; Island Hopper on tap; The Palace of Mad King Ludwig; Ponzi Scheme; Traveling with Beer Secure that seat belt low and tight across the hops, because it’s time to travel! Our feature today is a discussion about gaming on the go, both in terms of travel games and gaming apps. We’ve got the dexterity pick up & deliver game Island Hopper on tap, plus we talk about recent plays of The Palace of Mad King Ludwig & Ponzi Scheme. We hope you enjoy your flight today with Draft Mechanic! 01:00 Show Intro 03:00 News Bits: Expansions! 10:29 Tantrum House & TantrumCon 12:37 Kickstarter Updates 13:09 Kickstarter: The Big Score 14:29 Kickstarter: Edge of Darkness 20:46 Recent Plays: Ponzi Scheme 33:14 Recent Plays: The Palace of Mad King Ludwig 43:32 Recent Plays: Island Hopper 55:06 On Tap: Island Hopper 58:44 Grey Fox Games Sponsorship Spot 59:42 Gaming on the Go! 70:40 Our Six Favorite Board Game Apps 84:36 Traveling with Beer 91:45 T

Draft Mechanic Episode #68: Agra (High Gravity Review); 7 Ronin; Flee the Scene; Bock Beers & the Weight of Games Today on Draft Mechanic, we take a big deep-dive into the latest heavy euro release from Quined Games, Agra. This game’s a beast and we’re kicking off a new kind of review called “High Gravity” so we can feature big, complex games like this on the ‘cast. We’ve also got a look at some new Kickstarters, recent plays of 7 Ronin and Flee the Scene, plus a beer primer on beers in the Bock style and sub styles. Enjoy! 01:00 Show Intro 02:27 News Bits 07:42 Kickstarter: Updates from Last Episode 08:40 Kickstarter: Fields of Green “Grand Fair” Expansion 12:48 Kickstarter: Page Quest Season 1 / A4 Quest 15:20 Recent Plays: 7 Ronin 28:04 Recent Plays: Flee the Scene 34:24 The Beer Primer: Bocks 49:38 Grey Fox Games Sponsorship Spot 50:47 High Gravity Review: Agra 52:21 Agra: Gameplay Overview 59:45 Agra: Discussion 106:14 Agra: Final Thoughts 108:28 The Final Round: Heavy Games 116:53 Outro We hope you

Draft Mechanic Episode #67: Expandapalooza! Scythe: The Wind Gambit; Terraforming Mars: Venus Next; Tash Kalar Expansions We’re back, and we brought expansions! In today’s expandable episode, we’re looking at expansions for Tash Kalar, Scythe & Terraforming Mars. And as our own personal expansion, we’re expanding our On Tap beer selections for Scythe and Terraforming Mars as well with a few beers to pair with the new content in these two list-topping games from 2016! Our Slack chimes in on the expansion conversation by sharing their Essential Expansions. All this, plus a ton of Kickstarters, news and a Beer Primer on milk stouts! Enjoy! 00:55 Show Intro 03:13 News Bits 05:07 Upcoming: Clank “The Mummy’s Curse” 08:05 Upcoming: Great Western Trail “Rails to the North” 10:52 Kickstarter: Endeavor, Age of Sail 13:40 Kickstarter: Herbalism (Deep Water Games launch) 15:29 Kickstarter: The Art of Tokaido 17:41 Expandapalooza: Tash Kalar “Nethervoid” and “Etherweave” expansions 31:16 Grey Fox Games Sponsorship sp

Draft Mechanic Episode #66: Fog of Love six-pack & on tap; Favelas; Illimat; Great Western Trail; 2018 Gaming Challenges On today’s episode, we dig into the 2-player romantic comedy board game Fog of Love! We give it the usual Draft Mechanic double-feature with a six-pack review and on tap beer pairings. In recent plays, it’s the abstract tile-placement game Favelas, the Decemberists-inspired card game Illimat, and the cow-moooovin’ eurogame Great Western Trail. Danielle runs down the details about low-alcohol beer, and in the Final Round we asked the Slack about their 2018 gaming challenges! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 03:13 Upcoming Conventions 04:18 Kickstarter: Tokyo Series, Pat 1 08:59 Recent Plays: Favelas 16:41 Recent Plays: Illimat 23:54 Recent Plays: Great Western Trail 34:50 Grey Fox Games Sponsorship spot 35:42 Six Pack Review: Fog of Love 36:20 Fog of Love: Gameplay Overview 44:53 Fog of Love: Discussion 68:08 Fog of Love: Final Thoughts 70:51 On Tap: Fog of Love 74:11 Low-Alcohol Beer 82:12

Draft Mechanic Episode #65: 2017 In Review Happy New Year! We’re back once again with our first episode of the year and our customary recap of the year that was. We take a look back at the biggest news stories in gaming and beer in 2017, share our favorites in a pile of categories, discuss our six favorite beers of 2017, and of course our top six games of last year as well. We’re tying this episode up with responses from our new DM Slack channel’s “Final Round” topic: What was the biggest surprise in gaming for you in 2017? Enjoy! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 02:32 Announcing the Draft Mechanic Slack Channel! 05:27 Meta Mechanic, 2017 by the numbers 08:27 Preface to the Superlatives 11:43 Biggest News Stories of 2017 25:10 Superlative Categories 55:34 Our Top Six Beers of 2017 71:20 Grey Fox Games sponsorship spot 72:08 Our Top Six Games of 2017 96:48 Final Round: Biggest game surprises 103:41 Outro We hope you enjoyed today's episode! Send us some feedback at draftmechanic@gmail.com and visit us on the web

Draft Mechanic: Spoiler Episode Eta T.I.M.E Stories: Estrella Drive, 1982 NT WARNING! This episode contains MAJOR, MASSIVE, COMPLETE SPOILERS for the T.I.M.E Stories scenario “Estrella Drive.” Due to some complications, Spoiler Episode Zeta for Lumen Fidei never existed. But that doesn't stop us from picking apart the latest scenario where we dig into a potentially haunted mansion in 1982 Los Angeles! Both team Alpha and Beta sat down with the recorder right after finishing to share their thoughts, and we present them to you unedited and complete. Want more discussion? Join our new Slack channel! Sign up at http://www.draftmechanic.net/slack for games, beer and more! We hope you enjoy today's spoiler episode! Send us some feedback at draftmechanic@gmail.com and visit us on the web at draftmechanic.net! Join us at the local, our BGG Guild (#2470)! We’re also very active on Twitter and Instagram - follow us at @draftmechanic! Also, Like us on Facebook! Our spoiler episode theme music is “Rinse/Repeat” by the L

Draft Mechanic Episode #64: Variants: Queendomino v Kingdomino; BONK; Clank! Sunken Treasures It’s the final episode of the year! Today we bring you a Variants discussion with Queendomino v Kingdomino: which do we prefer, and which one’s for you? In recent plays, we discuss Tumblin’ Dice, BONK, Sons of Anarchy and the Sunken Treasures expansion for Clank! We put Queendomino on tap, and Danielle’s beer segment is a followup to last week’s Barleywines discussion. And in the Final Round, we answer some very important food and beverage questions from listeners! Thanks for joining us in 2017 and we’ll see you again on New Year’s Day! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 03:44 News: Downforce expansion! 06:25 Kickstarter Updates 07:35 Recent Plays: Tumblin’ Dice 11:32 Recent Plays: BONK 19:48 Recent Plays: Sons of Anarchy 28:45 Recent Plays: Clank! Sunken Treasures 36:11 Grey Fox Games sponsorship spot 37:20 Variants: Queendomino v Kingdomino 63:42 On Tap: Queendomino 68:45 Barleywines v Old Ales 75:20 Final Round 79:26 O

Draft Mechanic Episode #63: Azul six-pack review & on tap; Alien Frontiers, Harvest Dice, Go Nuts for Donuts!; Listener Q&A; Barleywines It’s December, but don’t feel blue - unless you’re talking about today’s six-pack review feature, Azul! We’re looking at Plan B Games’ newest family-weight abstract games and also sharing a handful of thematic beer pairings. In recent plays, we talk about games we played at the fourth quarter MooseCon game day: Alien Frontiers, Go Nuts for Donuts & Harvest Dice. Danielle’s beer segment is about barleywines, and we wrap up this episode with some quick listener Q&A. Enjoy! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 02:30 FBGL Championship & Wrap-up 04:58 Games News 07:42 TIME Stories News 13:24 TIME Stories: A note about Estrella Drive 16:41 Kickstarter Updates & New Projects 21:48 Recent Plays: Alien Frontiers 31:44 Recent Plays: Go Nuts for Donuts! 36:47 Recent Plays: Harvest Dice 46:10 Grey Fox Games sponsorship spot 47:20 Six Pack Review: Azul 48:06 Azul: Gameplay D

Draft Mechanic Episode #62: Six Tasty Games; Caverna on tap; Book of Dragons preview; Gamers for Cures marathon I hope you’re hungry, because this one’s stuffed full of flavor! Today we’ve got a six-pack of tasty games for the Thanksgiving season, plus Danielle’s got a beer segment on cooking with beer! Our on tap game today is Caverna, and we recap our recent plays at the Gamers for Cures charity gaming marathon last weekend in Cary, NC. We’ve also got a Kickstarter preview of Robert Burke’s Book of Dragons! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 02:45 Games news 08:27 FBGL Championship Update! 12:46 Kickstarter: Bushido 15:15 Kickstarter: Book of Dragons 20:21 Gamers for Cures Marathon 21:15 Recent Plays: Shadows over Camelot 30:33 Recent Plays: Cytosis 39:17 Recent Plays: Mission: Red Planet 49:55 Recent Plays: Problem Picnic: Attack of the Ants! 54:39 Grey Fox Games sponsorship spot 55:29 Six Pack: Tasty Games for Thanksgiving 73:52 On Tap: Caverna 82:09 Cooking With Beer 89:54 Outro We hope you enjoyed today's ep

Draft Mechanic Episode #61: Downforce review, Exoplanets on tap, Extra Life Game Day: Hotshots, Dragonfire & more! Just like Extra Life, this episode is marathon-length! We played for 15 hours straight and turned around to record this episode with our recent plays plus a review of Downforce from Restoration games and an on-tap segment with Exoplanets. Danielle wraps up this episode with a discussion of various packaging strategies: what’s the difference between bottles and cans? Find out this answer and much more in today’s Draft Mechanic! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 03:34 Among the Stars app! 10:55 FBGL Update - 3 Weeks left! 14:38 KS Preview: Mars Open 21:26 Extra Life Game Day 23:00 Recent Plays: Hotshots 32:03 Recent Plays: Camel Up! 37:47 Recent Plays: Police Precinct 46:23 Recent Plays: Dragonfire 56:38 Grey Fox Games sponsorship spot 57:29 Six Pack Review: Downforce 57:55 Downforce: Rules Overview 62:19 Downforce: Discussion 73:45 Recent Plays: Exoplanets 85:13 On Tap: Exoplanets 88:25 Canning ve

Draft Mechanic Episode 60: Fast Forward! Fear, Fortress & Flee; Matryoshka on tap; InBetween; Best Treehouse Ever: Forest of Fun! Essen is just around the corner and we’ve got a few of the hot hot releases to talk about! Our big feature today is the new Fast Forward series from Friedemann Friese - three new ‘fable’ games that you learn as you play and change with each game. It’s a wild new idea - did FF pull it off? We’ve also got a look at the latest from Board&Dice - InBetween - a tight two-player battle over a quiet suburban town. We’re also going to share a Kickstarter preview for the latest Green Couch Games title - Best Treehouse Ever’s standalone/combinable expansion Forest of Fun! Spoiler: it’s FUN. Our on tap is one of our recent plays - the small-box card collecting and trading game Matryoshka - and we share four beer pairings worth hunting down for your collection if you can! Danielle’s got a beer primer on the difference between Scottish and Scotch ales to wrap the episode up. But what’s t

Draft Mechanic Episode 59: Six Spooky Games for the Season; Summit on tap; Flamme Rouge, Blood Bowl: Team Manager, Insider; GABF 2017 Recap In today’s episode, we lean into the spooky season with a six-pack of games for your Halloween festivities. We’re also putting Summit on tap with six thematic beer pairings to help you get up the mountain safe and sound. In recent plays, we talk Flamme Rouge, Blood Bowl: Team Manager & Insider, and wrap it up with a recap of the 2017 Great American Beer Festival. Excellent, let’s get to it! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 02:18 FBGL Week 4 Recap 05:30 [Essen Intensifies] 07:03 Kickstarter: Near & Far: Amber Mines 09:15 Kickstarter: Zero Hour 11:16 Kickstarter: The 7th Continent follow-up 15:29 Recent Plays: Blood Bowl: Team Manager 21:43 Recent Plays: Flamme Rouge 33:03 Recent Plays: Insider 41:03 Grey Fox Games sponsorship spot 42:12 Six Spooky Games for the Season 66:28 On Tap: Summit, The Board Game 75:57 Quick notes on Summit hops 78:19 2017 Great American Beer

Draft Mechanic Episode 58: The 7th Continent review, Part 1 & On Tap beer pairings; Photosynthesis; Lazer Ryderz; Raiders of the North Sea; FBGL Update and Understanding Yeast in Beer In today’s land-mass sized episode, we dig in deep to The 7th Continent for the first of what will be several reviews of this mammoth card-based exploration game. How is it holding up after ten-plus hours of gameplay? Judging by the length of this episode, we had a lot to say! We’re also giving it the On Tap treatment with five great beers for your next continental exploration session. In recent plays, we look at Photosynthesis, Lazer Ryderz, and Raiders of the North Sea. Danielle wraps up this episode with a discussion of a history of our understanding of yeast in beer. I hope you’ve got plenty of durability left on your podcast player, because this episode’s a big one! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 02:57 Kickstarter: Stellar Leap 05:43 Fantasy Board Game League Update 12:40 Recent Plays: Photosynthesis 23:12 Recent Plays:

Draft Mechanic Episode 57: Second Podiversary! The 2017 Fantasy Board Game League! The Networks: The Executives preview! Magic Maze! Indulgence on tap! Welcome back, dear listeners! It’s time for our second Podiversary - and with that, it’s time for the second season of the Fantasy Board Game League! We’ve teamed up with board game content creators across the boardosphere for this season and it’s time to kick off the first week of matchups! We discuss the Top 10 draft picks and look back at the Year Two state of the podcast in our feature segment. But we’ve also got a big feature at the top of the show - a Kickstarter Preview of the new expansion for Gil Hova’s The Networks - The Executives! We dig this expansion (currently on Kickstarter!) so much that we made it into its own feature. We also look back at recent plays of Magic Maze, Eminent Domain & Illimat and then put Indulgence on tap! Thanks again for listening, enjoy the show and don’t forget to vote for your favorite FBGL teams each week at draftme

Draft Mechanic Episode 56: Ex Libris six-pack review and on tap; Codenames: Duet; Custom Heroes; Seikatsu; The Beer Primer: Cream Ale We’re wrapping up our Summer of Hot Games bonus episodes with the hottest, freshest batch of games around! Our six-pack review for this episode is Ex Libris, the hot new release from Renegade Game Studios that will be hitting FLGS shelves soon! We’ve also got three smaller hot new titles to talk about. The first is our yearly check-in with Codenames - how does Codenames: Duet adapt and improve on the system? Second is Custom Heroes from AEG - a new ladder-climbing card game that adds Mystic Vale’s Card Crafting system to create cards that are constantly evolving throughout the game. Finally, we’re looking at Seikatsu from IDW Games, a three-player abstract game that will leave your brain fried right out. Danielle’s putting together a Beer Primer on the Cream Ale style today, and we’ve got some final thoughts from Gen Con 50 as well. Sit back, relax, and enjoy Episode 56! Intro

Draft Mechanic Episode 55: Gen Con 50 Wrap Up! Hey all! Episode 55 is going to be a little different! Each day during Gen Con 50, we sat down with our buds (Shane, Tamara, Steven, Dan) and talked about what we saw at the biggest con of the year (and the biggest Gen Con in history). I’ve assembled those recordings chronologically just like last year for over an hour of extra content! We really hope you enjoy our wrap-ups, and we’ll be back next Monday for another episode and a more in-depth look at some of the hottest games of the year, fresh from Gen Con 50! We hope you enjoyed today's episode! Send us some feedback at draftmechanic@gmail.com and visit us on the web at

Draft Mechanic Episode 54: The Gen Con 50 Hype List & Vegas Wits & Wagers! The Hype List is here! The Summer of Hot Games wouldn’t be complete without our exhaustive look at a big pile of games we’re excited to learn more about at Gen Con 50 this week in Indianapolis. In addition to that big feature, we’re also busting out our Kickstarter preview of the upcoming Vegas Wits & Wagers from North Star Games! But one feature isn’t enough for an episode this big - we’re also putting Vegas Wits & Wagers on tap, we’ve got a special guest popping in to talk about Fantasy Flight Games’ big announcement, and we’ve got a discussion with two of our game group about their plans for their first trip to Gen Con. I hope you’ve got a long drive, because this super-stuffed episode is just brimming with HYPE! Intro 00:00 Show Housekeeping 03:20 Corrections from Episode 53 05:19 Kickstarter Preview: Vegas Wits & Wagers! 16:48 Gen Con events roundup! Punchboard Media meet up! 18:47 Sun King Brewery events at Ge

Draft Mechanic Episode 53: Dice Forge; Pit Crew on tap; Terraforming Mars: Hellas; Wordsy & Word Domination Welcome back to another Draft Mechanic! It’s the summer of hot games, and in today’s bonus weekly episode we look at the new dice crafting game Dice Forge from Libellud. Do the parts add up to more than just a pretty package? We’ve got the new real-time racing game Pit Crew on tap with some speedy beer choices, plus first impressions of the new Hellas map for Terraforming Mars. Also in recent plays, we talk about two new word games hitting the table this summer: Wordsy and Word Domination! Danielle’s beer segment is the positive side of last week’s segment as she talks about what foeders are and how they help brewers make exceptional sour beer. Enjoy the show and don’t forget to come back next week for our Gen Con 50 preview episode! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 02:46 Looking forward to Gen Con 50 04:54 IndieGoGo: Watch it Played Season 7 Fundraiser 08:07 Con Report: MegaMooseCon 12:46 Recent Plays

Draft Mechanic Episode 52: RAXXON review; Century: Spice Road review & on tap; Spires; NMBR 9; Unearth It’s week 3 of our Summer of Hot Games! Today we’ve got another exciting Kickstarter preview: Before the Earth Explodes from Green Couch Games! Also, we’ve got another special Double Feature review for you this week of two hot, hot games. First up, we look at the (finally released!) Century: Spice Road, the debut title from Plan B Games, and then we back it up by putting it on tap with six beer pairing choices. We’re also going to do a full review of RAXXON, the secretly-released new [REDACTED] from [REDACTED], which features a [REDACTED] that we didn’t expect. In recent plays, we’ve got Spires, NMBR 9 and Unearth. And going on the theme of RAXXON, Danielle’s got a beer segment in which she talks about the different kinds of things that can spoil your beer and cause some very unpleasant side effects. Don’t worry, though, because RAXXON is here to help! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 02:37 Con Watch: MegaM

Draft Mechanic Episode 51: Sentient & Barenpark double feature review! Barenpark on tap; Medina; Fields of Arle; Stockpile; Can Beer Quench your Thirst? The Summer of Hot Games rolls on! We’re ramping up with a big double feature of Sentient and Barenpark, and we swing back around to put Barenpark on tap. We talk recent plays of Medina, Fields of Arle and Stockpile. Jake ends out the episode with some discussion about whether beer can actually quench your thirst! You’re gonna need it, because it’s a hot one! Intro 01:00 Show Housekeeping 02:42 Con Watch: MegaMooseCon August 4th-6th! 04:04 Contest: Best Treehouse Ever! 05:42 Kickstarter: Star Scrappers Cave-In update 06:20 Kickstarter: Star Realms Frontiers 10:58 Upcoming: Fast Forward - Fear, Fortress & Flee 16:28 Recent Plays: Medina 23:15 Recent Plays: Fields of Arle 36:01 Recent Plays: Stockpile 45:01 Review: Sentient 57:41 Review: Barenpark 75:42 On Tap: Barenpark 83:27 Can beer quench your thirst? 92:08 Outro We hope you enjoyed today's episode!