29 Fresh Plays from France, with Pénélope from Penelope Gaming

In this episode, I kick it with my good friend Pénélope from Penelope Gaming for a massive debrief on many of the games we played in Étourvy at Bruno Faidutti's annual gaming gathering. If we had another hour, we could've legally titled this episode "40 Fresh Plays from France", but we were too excited and spoke about some games for a while...and then crammed as many as we could when we discovered how long we were recording. We hope you enjoy!

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:08:09 Fresh Plays from France
  • 00:10:11 Rocket Rollout
  • 00:11:43 Citadels Duel
  • 00:14:52 Cardia: Tide & Storm
  • 00:20:59 Things in Rings
  • 00:28:27 Giants Moving Tiny Furniture
  • 00:37:14 ARCTICA
  • 00:47:26 Koro
  • 00:50:49 The Happiest Cat in the World
  • 00:54:51 Got Five!
  • 00:59:42 Amarok
  • 01:04:45 Ill-Illan
  • 01:10:17 Gaudi
  • 01:13:33 Botswana
  • 01:18:36 Minikin City
  • 01:24:07 Tea & Rum
  • 01:33:39 CATsle Builders
  • 01:39:57 Back 2 Back
  • 01:49:53 Excalibur!!!
  • 01:57:16 FaeKin
  • 02:02:11 Cheese Thief
  • 02:07:21 French Toast
  • 02:10:30 The Silver Bayonet: A Wargame of Napoleonic Gothic Horror
  • 02:12:37 Ofrenda
  • 02:16:11 Seashells
  • 02:18:52 Fruit Cocktail
  • 02:21:05 Moon Colony Bloodbath
  • 02:24:12 Vroom
  • 02:26:20 Fetching Feathers/Peacock
  • 02:27:03 MON: Emblems of Sengoku
• 02:29:37 Sign-off

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Hello and welcome to episode 11 of the Kickin' It Creative Podcast, where we geek out about board games, the mechanisms behind them, and the people who create them. I'm your host, Candace Harris, and I am so stoked to be here. I am in Belgium right now, and I am here online with my good friend Penelope in France from Penelope Gaming. How's it going today, Penelope? International podcast. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:01

Moving everywhere. Yes, I'm okay. I'm so glad to be with you today. And it was so great to see you again past few days.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Yeah, I feel really lucky that since we met, like almost about just a year ago, that we've gotten the chance to see each other a couple times a year.

SPEAKER_05 1:24

Yeah. You become French.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah. Still a little more Italian.

unknown 1:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

There's too many creamy sauces in France for me just yet.

unknown 1:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

But yeah, it is it is awesome to uh see you this morning. And we got to spend five days together in Ettervi. And this time I was in Ettervi the whole time, which was really, really exciting. Yeah, because last year it was we were only in we were only there for the first yeah, like two days in the walk and wine. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 2:06

Yeah. A little bit short at the at the Ludopatik.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Exactly. And ever since that, you know, we were in Ettervian had that little teaser. I have been wanting to get back. And I'm really grateful to be able to get back. And you know, right now Matt and I are in the midst of a Euro trip adventure. And we've been with no ticket. No ticket. With no flight back. I know. Still no flight back. Correct, correct. So we left Los Angeles on April 29th. And today it's May 19th that we're recording together. And yes, still no ticket back. Um tomorrow we head to Germany to visit friends in Munich, and then we visit friends in Hamburg, and then question mark.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Amazing. There's talk Teddy at some points, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Probably not this time because we've been a couple times. And so we might try to get to Portugal, but you know, now that we know you and so many awesome friends in Paris, Petty. Who knows?

SPEAKER_05 3:21

Like, coming back to Paris.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

You're welcome. Thank you, thank you. Yeah, yeah. We'll see, we'll see.

SPEAKER_05 3:31

But there are good restaurants here too.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Yeah, oh, I know, I know. Good food. Oh my gosh, the food in Europe.

SPEAKER_05 3:38

Not at the Ludopathic.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

How is everything going with you, you, and your channel? Oh, nothing special for the moment.

SPEAKER_05 3:50

I'm I'm making uh tons of videos as usual and uh and posting constantly on my channel, but uh but that's the time of the year with a lot of festival uh also, and I'm going everywhere on gaming festival and events like uh Etour V. We I had uh another event that you might like, uh where I've been going a few days before the ludopathic, that's that's called Les Vieux Conludiques, which is cursed words. But that means that it means that we are we want to play only games that are more than uh uh 20 years old. Oh and we are not allowed allowed to play games that are newer from newer, yeah. Yeah, exactly. And that's very strict, you know, and it's very funny because we discover a lot of classics and and everything. That's why we are View Pong, because uh you know you know we that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I actually when we were in Ettervi, I was talking to Stefan Brunel, and he told me about one of his favorite games, and it was an older game that I had never heard of. Yeah, not not quite 20 years old because it's from 2008, but have you ever played a game almost called Giants? Giants, no, it was a it was a Madago game, and it's something that has like you're you're kind of like building roots and you have to use other people's roots, and uh I I don't know, but I'm gonna try to get a copy of it.

SPEAKER_05 5:34

Yeah, yeah. I will check it.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yeah, yeah. But since considering we both just spent five days binge gaming and uh trying a bunch of drinking, also, uh drinking wine, sometimes gin.

SPEAKER_05 5:53

Yeah, lots of cheese. Lots of gaming, lots of gaming, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Yes, yeah, lots of gaming. So today we're just gonna do a extended fresh plays episode where we're gonna talk about a bunch of the games we played in Eturvy, and we were in Ettervi for Bruno Faduti's gathering.

SPEAKER_05 6:16

Uh yeah, yeah, that's the equivalent of the gathering of friends uh of friends that you that happens in America. I have heard that the Eturvy one, the French one, is older by one year. Oh just one year older than than the gathering of friends. Ah maybe who knows?

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Who knows? Who knows? How long have you been going to Eturv?

SPEAKER_05 6:45

Four or five years, I think. Ah one of the first time I've been going to is maybe 2021, I think. Not I'm not an old um I'm not that old in the business, so yeah, and it's not that easy to be invited.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Yeah, yeah. And that's why when I was invited back, I'm like, I must go. And I I think I'm getting I'm gradually getting better at French speaking, understanding, definitely more like getting the culture. Like, I definitely kissed, did the double kiss on the cheek thing to way more people than last year.

SPEAKER_05 7:25

So okay, so you catch it. Yeah, you have it.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 7:32

Great improvement.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

We have a long list of games we want to mention and talk about a bit. So let's just jump into long, very long.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Just 41. I don't know, I don't even come down. There's too many of them.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Yes, yes. Oh, so let's jump into our fresh plays from France. I think the first one we have to talk about is probably both of our favorites from the weekend.

SPEAKER_05 8:18

Okay, we have to say something. This is a a professional event with a lot of designers and editors, and so we we are it's uh it's possible for us to play a lot of prototypes and exclusivities, and it's great because we are not allowed to speak about them. That's so convenient for some podcasts and some media to not be able to speak about talk about it. So thank you very much to the designers that makes us discover their games. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

So so we we were uh fortunate enough to get to play a up an upcoming release from Days of Wonder, and it's super cool, and I think it's due to come out at CAN next year.

SPEAKER_05 9:13

Next can, I think so also, 2027, and and so this was really an exclusivity to to be able to play it. I think that was the first time I saw the the box, yeah. And maybe it was at Cannes also, like very uh undercover, right? Right, right. In English, but yeah, the the cover has been shown on some of the French websites. Websites, yeah. I think we we will not be um nobody will uh uh scream at us if we say the the the title of the game that is. Yeah, okay, you do it. You do it. So I do I do it, I take the chance. So this is rocket rollout, and uh it's great. Okay, yes. That's that's definitely the best game I've played at Itov during those five days, and I'm very excited about it. It's it's it's really like Days of Wonders knows how to play it's it's amazing how Days of Wonders knows how to play, how to do some really uh completely I don't know how to say but finished games. It's it's really yeah um there is nothing too much, nothing that lacks its perfect yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

There's like there's no fluff to it, yeah. Like it's just a very clean, fun design. Exactly. And yeah, it has I ended up playing it twice, and so yeah, I I came in second place when we played together, and then I came in first place the next time, and I was impressed with how many different like strategies you can pursue. But okay, we'll we will stop teasing, we will stop teasing, but we had to like at least say it because it definitely excited us both.

SPEAKER_05 11:10

Oh, oh, of course, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Yes, and then a game that we are allowed to say because it exists on BGG and it's out there that we did not get to play, and we both have regrets that we missed playing it, is uh we missed the chance, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

Citadel's duel.

SPEAKER_05 11:28

Yeah, and I don't have a fucking idea of how it it plays. No, it's such a shame. The the game was up on the on the on the on the shelf in front of everyone to see, and and the the designers uh were there to explain the game to us, and they say, come, we will explain the game. And I never managed to play it because I at uh at a certain moment I I I took the game in my uh to to play it, and there was no rule book in here in it. So yeah, it wasn't possible to play it by ourselves, so we had to to go and and and I didn't want to bother the designers when they play they were playing or doing something else. So next time. But uh this is this is I think this is Citadel for two players.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yes, yes. I think we both can deduce that even though we haven't played. But actually, I thought because I was at the table when you brought it over, and I thought you didn't didn't play it because we had so many players, and it was like, oh not the right opportunity. My excuse is that it was in French, and a lot of um the tiles and cards had language on it that I would not be able to understand. So I would have needed you or someone else there to walk me through it, or to use Google Translate, and uh which actually I would like to bring up that Matt and I both used the conversation feature of Google Translate a lot, and it's works surprisingly well, especially if you're not in like a loud environment with tons of people talking. But like you just sit your phone on the table, you say put in conversation mode, and when you speak French to me, it shows me in text in English, and then when I speak English back to you, it shows you in text French. So it was that was pretty cool. This is the end of everything. I know.

SPEAKER_05 13:44

We are not going to learn foreign language anymore.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

No, and and next year, yeah, exactly. Next year, I'll probably have like like a like my phone will just be able to like do all my thinking and talking, and uh yes, yes, robots are taking over.

SPEAKER_05 14:01

We we don't need to to to to speak anymore.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Uh but yeah, Citadel's duel would have been cool to play because uh Citadels is actually one of Matt's favorite games. It's it's I I always enjoy playing it too, but it's like often when we have new gamer friends over, Matt's like, ah, let's play Citadels. Well, it'll be out eventually. What's one of the games that you got a chance to play?

SPEAKER_05 14:27

As a as an exclusivity, there were cardiac. I don't know if you know cardia.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Is it like duel for cardia?

SPEAKER_05 14:35

Duel for cardia.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Yes, and I I don't think I've actually played it by my friend. Yeah, now like I'm I'm I'm gonna check my log plays, but tell me what did you what did you play?

SPEAKER_05 14:50

A new version of it, or yeah, the the the designer was there and uh he he made me uh uh play the the the following uh games uh in the cardia uh universe and which is called Cardia, Tide and Storm. This is the sequel to Cardia. And so this is basically the same core mechanics, but there is uh brand new decks and and really uh interesting new power on the card. If you've never played cardia, it's a very, very, very good game. So the system of the game is quite simple. You have the same uh deck as your opponent, uh and we're gonna shuffle our decks, uh, draw three or four cards and play, I think it's three cards, and play one face down simultaneously than your opponent. Okay we we put them face up, and then the stronger value of uh the the card with the strongest value wins the trick. The trick. It's not really a trick. The trick and wins the point, and the other one is able to I don't know how to say to trigger the power effect of the card he's playing.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Ah the card that they okay, okay, gotcha.

SPEAKER_05 16:08

And the goal of the game is to have five points first, and you let the card you've played on the table, so the effects continue to have uh to chain to combo and chained with the other cards. It's very, very good, very simple, but very, very good. And there is the the follow-up games that is coming, like uh Tide and Storm. And I I it it's basically as good as the first one because it's the same thing, but different with new power, new cards, new effects, and there is a small board with little boats on them that we will make them move with one of the deck, and it's not it don't add too much rules, it just adds new new kind of fun, I think. And I you I think you will I I'm I'm I'm a little bit sorry that you didn't try this one, but because I think that we that would have pleased you very much.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Yeah, yeah. I mean, even so so my friend Tim in Los Angeles, one of my good friends, we have very similar tastes, and he was trying to show me Duel for Cardia a bunch, and I had heard really good things, but you know, we're in this lovely world of tons of games and just have not gotten a chance to play it. But I will try to play both when the minutes, yeah. I I don't have that kind of time, Penelope.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah, I know. You're you're a busy girl. Fighting lift is too much.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

You know, if I get this game and Matt's gonna be like, oh, you have so many games, but but I do, I will put hey listen, if if we make it.

SPEAKER_05 17:52

Remember the designer in in in Ato V, it was Matthew Rivero.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Oh I didn't know that Matthew designed like I knew he was doing expansions for Veil of Eternity.

SPEAKER_05 18:08

Maybe I know he's doing another thing that we can't talk about.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Okay, let me let me see.

SPEAKER_05 18:16

Matthew now Matthew Rivero, R E R Yes, I V E R R O.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

Yes, yes, he because last year when I met him for the first time, he was showing the I think the artifacts expansion for Veil of Eternity, which he co-designed, I believe. I'm looking on BGG, and I see his name there. So I did not realize that he was the designer of Duel for Cardia.

SPEAKER_05 18:51

Yeah, uh, with another one of the one of the designers with Fausie Bugida, but I know Matthew better.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah. Ah very cool, very cool.

SPEAKER_05 19:04

So you've met him, you've played with him, I think. Uh even uh you played with him during the those five days.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

I'm trying to think, I don't think I played with him this year. Uh and uh okay, I I thought so. He has a good English. Yeah, miss it was a missed opportunity. We saw we caught we sat near each other a lot at meals, but I don't think we actually got a chance to play anything.

SPEAKER_05 19:32

He's he he also worked for uh a French channel, French media who's called Ludovox, and and and does a lot of video explaining video in five minutes.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Cool, cool. Yeah, I'll connect with him because last year he was one of the people who messaged me on geek mail after, and we were like chatting for a little bit, and yeah, so I'll have to see if he wants to like record sometime or but I think he would be happy to. Very cool, very cool. One of the first games I played. Yeah, I think it was like the first game I played on the first day. Uh, you I don't think you know which one I'm gonna say. Things and rings. No, no, that wasn't the one I was gonna talk about. Jumping around, but now I'm gonna talk about things and rings. Okay, uh yeah, I'm I'm going all over. I gotta keep you on your toes, Penelope. So I'm not gonna just go straight down the list. I'm jumping all around. But yes, let me just talk briefly about things and rings because this is a game that's been around for a while. And last year in Etter V, we had a very unique experience of playing Things and Rings gigantic with humans being the th the things in rings outside. Bruno ran a game that was like a big team game, and it was it was super cool, but like looks like Bruno's yeah, but like prior to that, I think I had played it once, and I like I I wasn't like, oh, I love this game. And I knew a lot of people are like Things and Rings is so good. This year, I think I played it about four times, and each time I play it, I appreciate it more.

SPEAKER_05 21:31

Yeah, I think even one time with me. I was there for one time. Oh, yeah, that's right. You can't with the game where we didn't understand a thing about the the the cards that we're putting on the table. We were like, I don't know. Every word works in that category, but not in that one. So let's try it by chance. Maybe it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it is very challenging. So if you're not familiar with Things and Rings, it's a game where you have three string circles. And so you have a blue one, a yellow one, and a red one. And they all overlap slightly so that one represents something about the word. Like it could be like all words that have an R, or all words that start and end with the same letter, or words that have three vowels. Like just something related to the word would be in the yellow area. But then you have context, which I think was the red one. Context is like, oh, mostly found outside. Um other stuff like that. Then what is the last one? Attribute?

SPEAKER_05 22:50

Attribute. Like uh is made of wool or of wood.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So you have these three big categories, and you you have a hand of cards that have words on them with an image, too. And at the beginning of each game, one person is going to be the knower, and they're gonna have to put out three of their cards to give some information to all the other players, and the other players are competing to be first to get rid of your cards. Oh, yeah, it was you that came in and made us realize that we were playing it wrong. Where if you are if you place one of your cards in the correct area, like let's say it meets the word criteria and the attribute, you have to place your card in the area that where the yellow and blue circle overlap. Yeah. And if you are correct, you get to go again. Yeah, you're allowed to play again.

SPEAKER_05 23:52

That's that's how you can finish the game. Because if you don't do that, the game is infinite.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Yeah, our prior games were a little bit long because we we missed that rule. But uh to be fair, I think someone taught us and then walked away.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

Well, it's always like that.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

I think it was Bruno.

SPEAKER_04 24:15

It's always like that. We all make mistakes.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Yeah, yeah. But if you guess it wrong, let's say Penelope takes her card that's like banana and puts it in Word, and I'm like, as the knower, I take her card and I say, ah, it is this actually fits the word and the context. So then I move it, and then Penelope would have to draw another card, and then it goes to the next player. So you're doing this, and but you're getting more information as more cards get placed in rings, and you can also, there's a none area, meaning it doesn't fit the context attribute or word, and you put it outside. One thing I really love about this game is how challenging it is for both sides, you know.

SPEAKER_05 25:03

Oh, it's very challenging.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Yeah, it's like in a game. I'm of course, I can't think of an example right now, but like you have to kind of make some interpretations sometimes. Like, uh, I think one of mine was like, oh, weighs more than a chair. And it's like, well, what what size is the chair? What is the chair made of? So you, you know, as you're deciding, huh, does this fit the context? Yeah, also you yeah, you kind of have to like just make a call.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

And it I love that it's we're clearly cheating with putting the card under the the small ring to say that, yeah, it could be this, but it could also be that. Make your decision, Matt.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

I actually you don't actually I actually am the one who started that that whole technique of like if it like uh it sort of fits, we put it on the edge of the circle to get more info. So that was me.

SPEAKER_05 26:08

The thing that I like about this game is that it's kind of meta. I I think it's not a party game for early gamers at all. It's very difficult to to grasp and to understand. And yeah, it will plea it will it will suit to already uh gamers that are used to yeah, experienced gamers that that are used to some kind of mechanics, and so the game is meta. You don't have to understand to to find the word, you have to find the the the prerequisite of the of the circle, and that's so hard to understand and to and to catch. And so it's really it's a party gamer for me. Party game for gamers. Yes, not really a party game, it's not very uh very easy to catch.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

No, no, it's very, very thinky. Yes, that's a great way to describe it. A party game for for for gamers, but yeah, this is a good one. Like again, the box is small. Take it to uh park, brewery. Well, I guess not a park if it's windy, but so that's things and rings. That is an older game, couple years old, but I think I'm now convinced that I want to add it to my collection.

SPEAKER_05 27:18

So we we are not going to speak about only the games we've like we we we'd like we we've loved.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

We can speak about the game we've we had we had bumpy experiences with. Should we should we talk about moving furniture?

SPEAKER_05 27:33

Ah I think I think it's a great idea because it was a great experience and the worst scoring system ever.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Worst scoring. Okay, so we we played a game called Giants Moving Tiny Furniture. And uh Exploding Kittens.

SPEAKER_05 27:55

It's exploding kittens, okay. So I so I understand the the scoring system. The scoring. Okay, that's the reason why.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Okay, Penelope, do you want to describe how it works?

SPEAKER_05 28:09

Oh, maybe for the for the rules you can explain because you brought up words and things.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Sure, I got it. I got it. Oh, okay. So in this game, Giants Moving Tiny Furniture, we are the players are the giants, and you have these tiny foam, like foam pieces of furniture. You have like four chairs, you have a sofa, you have a table, you have a lamp, and it's like it's made of the that like foam core material that when you get a foam core insert, it's like that kind of thing, but they're tiny, and you will have a partner in the game, so everyone will pair up with someone, and there's a deck of cards, and you'll reveal a card, and the card will give you some like threshold, like, hey, you need to move these five different pieces of furniture in three trips in two and a half minutes. Now, I where are you moving them, right? Okay, so you have three locations that you're playing with, and one ends up being like pretty close, like it's like on the same game table that you're playing on. But then when you place the other two locations, I don't know what the rules exactly say, but you put them further away. So we had them on other game tables. Yeah, I've seen that and then the other side of the building, yes, yes, and so when you uh play, you are going to you're gonna basically you're making a bid on who whoever bids the least amount of trips and the least amount of time are going to have to do the challenge.

SPEAKER_05 30:02

Yeah, and here's the thing you can go lower and lower and lower and network stop.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could be like, okay, we'll be like, we'll we'll do it in three trips and a minute and a half, and then Penelope's team says, we'll do it in two trips in a minute and a half. And then my my team it comes back to us and we say we do it in two trips in a minute and 25 seconds, and nobody wants to push. So then we have to do the challenge. And the challenge is we need to move this furniture, but we can each only use one pinky, one pinky finger. So me and my partner, player per player, per player, yeah. Oh my gosh, it'd be impossible. Two pinky fingers. So you really have to like kind of plan it out. Like I was with Timothy, and thankfully, he was very good at being like, okay, maybe we should we should stack this chair like this. Yeah. We I think in the game that we played, we were the only ones to successfully move the furniture in the time that we committed to, but you end up just having people trying to get the furniture and then, oh no, you knocked it on off the uh off the table. Okay, now we need to try to use our pinkies and and get it again, and the time is running out, and the other players are laughing at us, knowing that we're probably gonna fail. And if you fail, Penelope's favorite scoring. If you fail, the team to your is it left or right?

SPEAKER_05 31:49

Your left, just the team to your left, not the next team to to in the bid. Yeah, not just to your left.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Yes, the team just to your left, just they they maybe didn't even bid at all, but they get the point. That's the best part.

SPEAKER_05 32:09

And there is two things that doesn't work in this game. The the scoring system is quite meh, meh. But but also that if I want to play, I have to go down because in the bid. Because if I don't bid lower, I will never try, I will never be able to play. So I was thinking, okay, I will go down and down and down. So the same players were always playing because we were you wanted to play. Yeah, okay, one trip, 50 seconds. I don't give a I don't give a I don't care. I will I want to play, so I will not play long, but I will play. And the other were getting points because I was uh we failed because it was not enough time, but they were bidding points, they were not playing. So we thought with Johan Levet, which is a very famous uh designer in France, and of uh and we thought that it it there will have been a best system for the game. So if you're playing this game, you could take some paper and do uh an auction uh bidding, but blind, you know. Everyone is putting a time.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Didn't I say that then when we were playing?

SPEAKER_05 33:27

No, I I don't remember, but maybe you've said it. Yeah, I said simultaneously make a bidding, whoever that would be so much better, and then you reveal, and then the lowest try, and if you don't succeed, the next one person gets yes, of course, because you're taking the risk.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Yes, yes, okay, so would be so much better, yes.

SPEAKER_05 33:50

So much better, so easy to think. What were you thinking when you were doing this game?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Right. People who made this game, and then the the other thing is is like, okay, let's say again the card set starts at three trips, two minutes and 45 seconds. If someone says, okay, two trips in two minutes, let's say, and if you want to go down in the amount of trips, you you don't have a new like starting point. You know what I mean? Like if I'm doing one trip, I maybe should get to say two and a half minutes. But if the last bid was two trips and one minute and 15 seconds, uh yeah. If I want to reduce the trips, I have to start there. I don't know. And we could have gotten, yeah, I don't know if any of us.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

Yeah, but you will still able to play.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Yeah. But but it was it, it is definitely the the silly kind of game that when people saw our group playing it, like you know, a half an hour later, I see other people doing it, and there's lots of like laughter, and it's very silly.

SPEAKER_05 35:00

Very silly, very fun. The the the the components are great. The components are very cute, and and you want to play this game, but yes, too much time during the bidding phase, and not enough during the the playing phase. So exactly just do as we said before.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

And yeah, yeah, and then do you remember the best part of our game too? Was you remember the Italian couple? They came and we were like, come on, you can join in our game. And they literally like came up to our table, didn't do anything but just like stand there like they were and then they got a point. They scored more points than you, your team, I think. Oh, we've won. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 35:47

Thanks for that. Um yeah, that they are friends, and they are um they are members of the Italian Gioco dell'Anno. Um members of the jury. So that's how I've met them.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Very, very that was just so funny to me that you can win the game without ever moving furniture. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:12

Such a good system, really. Yeah, yeah. Okay, we have a winner here.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Moving on, we played an upcoming Game Found release together.

SPEAKER_05 36:25

Yeah, oh, this one.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

Heavier game. Uh Penelope has thoughts.

SPEAKER_05 36:30

Yeah, yeah, I have some thoughts about it, but I I I think I have to play it one more time for sure.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Yeah, so we so we played a game called Arctica, and it will be coming to Game Found, I believe, in September. And this is a heavier game in the vein, I would say, of something like Arknova.

SPEAKER_05 36:53

Yeah, I think we can do the the comparison. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

Yeah, because it has like a huge deck of cards, but all the animals in the game come from like Antarctica, Alaska, cold climate areas, and you have a giant circular board with a very cool action selection system where you're like moving these poker chips around. So when it's your turn, you place these poker chips in a space that is empty, and whichever two actions are chained to it, you get to take both those actions, and all the other players can take one of them. And a lot of what you're doing is oh, I should also mention each player has this board that has these gears that rotate to replicate time. If you produce a new animal, you put it on this in a space on one of these gears, and during the game, you get opportunities to rotate the gears, and then eventually a baby pops out. Not an easy game to pitch, eh? Yeah, not an easy game to play.

SPEAKER_05 38:00

There is a lot going on. There is a lot of mechanics mixed in this game with worker placement, but it's not really workers, it's the the right that pile of of chips of chips and like a card-driven game, a majority on the player on the board.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

Yes, there's a area majority score.

SPEAKER_05 38:21

Events, multi-use cards, simultaneous action selection, because when we use use two actions, the others are playing one follow. Yeah. Um a lot of things, a lot of things, but and the card cycle too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

So you display the cards, and when you use a card, you cycle it to the back.

SPEAKER_05 38:40

Yeah, like an engine building, in fact. And yes, and and and maybe that's the main part of the game, this engine building with the card cycling and the reproduction of the the ecosystem and the fauna.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

But brain, our brains were melted a little by all of the decisions and not knowing exactly like what was best. You also have in the center of the board, you have ice melts, and you have to migrate your species around the outside of the board. You can only place certain babies certain places with one particular action. There was a lot going on. I think we we know it's still in development, and we we made some, I think, really good suggestions to help the graphic design. The art was really cool.

SPEAKER_05 39:35

Also, the the um the animals were I think pastel uh by I'm not sure, but Christine Obertin, maybe it's her name that I saw on BGG. And she she um she has been nine days on each card, I think. On each on each card, and it's a passion, it's a really for passionate work that we we've seen. That's great. Unfortunately, the the graphic part of the game, the illustrations are great, but the graphic part, the iconography is a little bit too much, and there is a lot on on everywhere to look at. And I had some issues with with that because I don't think the the game was readable at the first at the first glance. So you you have to to be very um concentrate, not to understand what you're doing. I I won the game, but I don't even know how. But yeah, yeah. The thing is, I think they wanted to do a very thematic game with a lot of logical choice. And yeah, but there are too many things to to to stay thematic. You're maybe at a certain point I was just on the mechanic, you know, right. Putting things here to make points and everything. I I I was forgotten it was babies and and and animals. Mike, I'm I was I was just looking at the iconography on my card, uh, trying to to to do some good decision, but it was not that easy. And I think they can they can I don't know how to say it in English. It's épuré en français, more clean, more clean. Yeah, streamline.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Yeah, yeah, to to streamline the gameplay a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 41:22

Exactly, streamline, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

And it even have some of the mechanisms that were in there could definitely be like variants, advanced variants that you add later down the line, because it seemed like, I think, like as we were learning, it seemed like a lot of it was gonna be about the area control on the board and what you're doing with these two card uh card lanes that you have. Because you have some animals that kind of produce babies faster, and then you have a a stack of cards, and it seemed like it was incentivizing you to get more cards and you know put them, but then you can't cycle through like we didn't have a whole lot of control. That all being so oh, yeah, and in the very first round, we did the area control scoring, and none of us scored.

SPEAKER_05 42:17

And at the end, Marjorie, who were playing with us, made 24 points just putting one baby's on baby on one area, and nothing, and and none of us were uh with her, so she does a lot, she she did a lot of crushing crushed it, yeah. She crushed it, but very easily.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

So I think yeah, we have to play it again, but she does win, but she did not win, but you both beat me, so and it definitely needs a little more development, but even with the bumps that we experienced, I am not someone who is like gaga goo goo over Arknova. And there was something more appealing about this whole system to me than that. Like I love the winter theme, I love the idea of what you do with the cards, like how you splay them and tuck them in the back. But like we were saying, like you need a little more, you need more opportunity to manipulate that, and you need more opportunity to put pieces on the board. I I feel like we were starved for that that one action to put pieces on the board, but there is a lot of like cool stuff.

SPEAKER_05 43:26

Yeah, there is a lot of good ideas in it. Yeah. Rémi Mathieu, which the designer and who learned the game to us, taught the game to us. Taught the game to us, sorry, was also the designer of Ancient Knowledge, which is a game I I I love. And the thing I love in in this game in Arctica and in Ancient Knowledge, that it is the the timing is very important. You have to really think about the the move you're doing in the right order and in The right time. And that's that's the very, very good the idea of the game with the cyc the card cycling. Yes. But I hope it will be a little more clear and clean on the next version I will play.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

Yeah, and if it if it stayed exactly as it was, and maybe even the iconography got cleaned up, I think it's definitely one of those games where you can't do everything and you might need to. But like when you're first starting, like, yeah, we were all not really sure sometimes like what was better to do. But when you see this game, because I will eventually put a video out on a lot of the games that I played in Etter V, when you see it, the table presence is really, really awesome. The cards, like I just love the the cold animal theme to it. If you're someone that likes nature games, every card has facts about the different animals and everything. I think it I think it will really do well, um, especially after a little more development.

SPEAKER_05 45:05

And and it's a good game. Don't don't misunderstood uh me if you were listening. I think it's a good game, but sometimes I'm meaner with the game. I want it, I want them to be perfectly perfectional.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

Yes. When you see it has that potential, yeah, and it's like oh, it's a little bumpy, it's like ah, fix the bumps. Exactly. It can be so great, yeah. But yeah, definitely keep an eye out for it. Subscribe on BGG, or just look out for that campaign later this year, Arctica.

SPEAKER_05 45:39

I can speak about an exclusive game I I was about to play. Another one of Johan and Céline Levet with uh Johan Levet that you know who are the designer of Turing Machine and also Gat5. That I think you're gonna speak about.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

Oh, I didn't know that that I didn't know that Johan also designed Turing Machine.

SPEAKER_05 46:03

Yeah, it's the same one.

SPEAKER_00 46:04

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 46:06

Dediction game lover. Yeah, that that tracks. And he's doing some game now with Céline, which is his wife, and they're making game together. And I uh a few games are coming out, uh like Sunfield Valet, but uh I didn't see it at Etourvi, but I think it was there, it it was there also. But they they've made me play Koro, which is a brand new uh upcoming game for the I think the end of the year or maybe next year, but I think this is uh the end of 2026. It's a tileing game that uh on the surface can feel very classic. Uh you take a tile from a market of three pies of tile, and uh and you put uh the tile you take on your core coral coral coral reef. Not easy.

SPEAKER_00 46:57

No, you're doing great. You're doing great.

SPEAKER_05 47:00

And you build and and uh in this way, you're building patterns of colors and lines aiming for bigger or more ambitious goals. You can do small patterns and score quickly or make bigger patterns and score late bigger uh as the game goes by. At the end of the game, there is um a big scoring phase with the line you you've managed to connect, uh forming uh links between small symbols that score in an expon expansion exponential, exponential way.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

Yeah, there you go, cool.

SPEAKER_05 47:36

And um that's it. That's it is a very simple game, you know, with a very simple system at its core, but the the scoring part, it's your you you see that's when there are real designers. Yeah, the scoring is a very important thing.

SPEAKER_00 47:52

So you're saying it doesn't use the unique scoring of uh giants moving tiny furniture.

SPEAKER_05 47:57

Okay, that's that's uh the the scoring part is very solid, so the game is challenging, even if it's easy to to catch. So uh you I don't think you're you you can find photo of Koro on internet for the moment. I have some if you want me to show you to give you to see it, and but it it was a very, very good experience, very uh comfy game, you know, that kind of game that you play. It's not too heavy, it's it's and and I love tiling system. I mean the kind of girl who likes to put some tiles on things.

SPEAKER_00 48:36

I feel like you need a t-shirt that says that. Yeah. The kind of girl that likes to put some tiles on some things. To put some tiles. We can okay.

SPEAKER_05 48:47

Just yeah, place some tiles. And construct uh and you you do your construction, and there is not not no not really interaction between players, but there is a some some kind of a race between the the players because you are going to as you take the objectives, you're going to um trigger the end of the game.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

So ah, I like that.

SPEAKER_05 49:10

Koro. K-O-R-O. K-Koro.

SPEAKER_00 49:15

Okay, cool. I'll I'll look out for that. And I do want to talk about Gap 5, but first, just because we're talking about tile laying, we got to play like what two rounds of another tile laying game. It's basically played two rounds, two time of this game because it's I I call it Dune Imperium with cats and tiles. Yeah, of course. That's exactly that. We can deck building here.

SPEAKER_05 49:43

Tile building, tile deck deck tile building. I don't know how to say it.

SPEAKER_00 49:48

Yes, what was it called?

SPEAKER_05 49:49

Happiest cat in the world or the happiest cat in the world. In French, it's gonna be it au bonheur des chats. It's a game of Usama Khalifati, and I don't know, I I I don't remember the other designer, but uh Oliver Sipier. Yeah, Olivier Sipier, exactly. And Oussama Kalifati was the designer of Duck and Cover.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

Yes, yes, yes, with ducks in it. Yeah, so the this game is adorable, especially like cat lovers are gonna love it. It is everyone starts with a like a piece that has like more or less four tiles and a cross at the beginning, and you have your own like little cat meeple, so cute, they were all so cute, and you are going to have a deck of tiles, okay, and you'll have five in your hand at the start of your turn, and you'll pick one. Oh, you'll move your cat uh one or two spaces, and then you put a tile orthogonally adjacent to it, and the different tiles have different effects, which I think are variable depending on which different scoring setup, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 51:05

It's mostly to make points. Every time you place a tie, you do points, and that's the the good idea of the game because uh every system, every scoring system when you put a tie, it it adds to the previous tile you've put. So if you put your your first chair, you add you add one point. If you put a second one, you have two points, etc. etc. So it goes expon exponential.

SPEAKER_00 51:31

Uh and what my what my favorite strategy was in the two turns that I took of this game was the mouse. There's there's one type of tile that lets you first place a mouse on the board, but then you move the mouse, and the next time you place a tile with a mouse, you move the mouse from where it was to the next tile, and you get one point per. And where besides the the deck building aspect of it or tile deck, tile building, the the other part that made me make the Dune Imperium joke was that whichever tiles you don't play on your turn, you use them to buy a new tile. Just one tile or a yeah, it's just Dune Imperium with cats. So but yeah, I just had I I wanted to mention that one. So you almost played it twice, huh?

SPEAKER_05 52:25

Yeah, I I I I had two beginnings of the game, and the both uh begin uh both party I've both both plays I've made uh are were uh cut by the dinner or the or lunch or something. So I I never finished my game, but I thought immediately that we had the feeling of the game. It's not difficult to understand. And the feeling of the game is very, very pleasant. It's uh it's very uh it's really uh a pleasure to to buy some new tile that you put on your deck. Uh not like me on my Discord pile. No, it's on the deck. Oh, yeah, yeah. You you take five new tiles and you put your tile and you buy some new tile. It we all like I think we all like deck building. Yeah, yeah. It's my favorite mechanic ever. And this game is not very it's not heavy, it's not really finky, but it's very very satisfying and very cute. So I think it's a good game.

SPEAKER_00 53:33

Yeah, and the the other thing that we didn't mention is that the different types of tiles have like a color, a background color. And whenever you make a row or column that has three of the same color, you get to take another turn.

SPEAKER_05 53:50

And you're going to make combos this way. Yes, not combos because cat combos. You can do another turn and another turn and uh oh and another turn, and always doing the points of those tiles so it can do uh a long turn.

SPEAKER_00 54:06

Yeah, I just thought of something maybe they should have called it kitty combo.

SPEAKER_05 54:11

Yeah, kitty combo instead of the happiest cart in the world.

SPEAKER_00 54:16

Kitty combo imperium, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:20

Yeah, June Kitty Combo, yeah. Yes, yes, kitty combo imperium is the best name, I think. We we oh kitty imperium insurrection insurrection.

SPEAKER_00 54:33

It's okay, yes, yes, yes. But going back to Johan Levit, when I arrived in Belgium, one of the first, I think the first game that Cedric from Captain Games showed us was Got 5. And we we ended up playing it back to back, partially because Cedric was crushing us. But Got 5 is a really, really nice, lightweight, easy to learn deduction game with really nice, like these Pac-Man looking pieces. Yeah, these Pac-Man looking pieces that are like acrylic, like the Azul pieces. And everyone's gonna have, yeah, everyone's gonna have, and there are five different colors. Everyone's gonna have one of each color in front of them, but they'll be in different orders because you will not be able to see the numbers that are on your board, but they will be in order from lowest to highest, and you will get some information because there's only one number of one copy of each tile. So you'll mark off on your little board everything that you can see because you know it's not in front of you, and you're trying to throughout the game, you're gonna reveal more information, and you will flip a tile and choose one of the face-up tiles to have someone place in sequence on your board to give you some information, and it's very I like it a lot. I like it a lot because I know I can play it with so many people. You always like it's a race to figure out yours before someone else. It's easy to just set up and play it again. And Penelope, have you ever played Code 77?

SPEAKER_05 56:27

Uh no, not this one. Okay. Um, I'm a deduction game lover, but I don't know about this one.

SPEAKER_00 56:33

I just kind of discovered it earlier this year because I bought a copy from someone. Code 7-7's this game deduction game.

SPEAKER_04 56:42

7-7.

SPEAKER_00 56:43

Oh, it's three sevens. 7-7-7, sorry. Okay, uh, yeah, that's been it's been around for a while. And I I kind of bought it because I was like, I like deduction games, or I'm getting more into them. And this particular version that someone I knew was selling is like the best version of it, and I played it and it's cool, but I feel like this game, Got Five, like does this same thing in a more streamlined package, and yeah, so I really like it. And I I uh thanks to Johan for bringing me a copy because um Cedric sent him a picture when we were playing it, and I was like, Candace likes this, and he's like, Oh, I'm gonna bring her a copy, and he did, and so that I'm excited to have this game.

SPEAKER_05 57:33

Yeah, Johan is kind of a genius when it's about deduction game. He's uh kind of an obsessive, kind of obsessive about this. He plays deduction game, he makes deduction game, he he thinks, he sleeps deduction games. Really, it's it's it's kind of uh a way of life for him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's why the his game about deduction game are so uh smart and so clean and so uh when you're playing one of his game of of uh deduction of deduction type, you you can't help, you can't you have to think that you're thinking that it's kind of oh my god, nobody thought about this before. And yeah, and it's so pure and it's so easy to to grasp and it's so uh logical. Um I love got five. The gut five had had a very interesting interesting aspect that is you can play got five on different level. If you're an early gamer, you will ask some easy question and and it will you can play the game. Maybe you will not win, but you can play the game, it's easy to understand. But if you're an a professionals like us, professional like us, you know that you can do some deduction really early in the game, really fast. Oh yeah, and so you can learn to be better and better as you play the game. And uh that's a thing I love uh with this game. It's uh I I can bring this game with early gamers with my family, with and they're they're going to improve themselves from game to game.

SPEAKER_00 59:25

Yeah, yes. We get smarter from it, definitely. Speaking of deduction, another one that was new to me that Cedric initially taught, and I wanted to keep playing. I know you've played it also, Amarok. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because I don't know when exactly it came out, but I I really like this game too. More chaotic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I like what I what I like about it is that so it with Amarok, you have cards that are two different colors. So you have some blue cards and some red cards, and a couple of them have like us an effect that they trigger. But at the very beginning of the game, everyone has two cards that are in their hand that they can see. And you on your turn are going to play one card in front of you, but you can play it from your own hand, you can play it from any other player's hand, you can play it blindly off the top of the deck, you can play it from one of the two cards like face up on the table. And what you're going for is after everyone has two cards played in front of them, you either want to have the highest sum. Sum? Uh yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:50

I think so. If the card says so in the middle of the table.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:54

Yes. Yeah. So the highest or the lowest or the lowest. And there's there are two cards that can change that. So maybe at the beginning of the round, I play a nine because we're going for the highest. So yes, it is more chaotic. And then and then someone plays something that flips it, and now we only care about the lowest card. Meanwhile, two like four cards have hearts. So if you're able to get two hearts, you automatically just end the round and win the round. But the thing that I like about it the most is that each time you score a point, you're at a slight disadvantage. Yeah. Because once I score, let's say I win the first round. Now, when I get my two cards, I can only look at one of them. The other one is flipped around so everyone else can see it but more and more cows. I'm a chaos demon. But then I score another point. So now I'm one away from winning. And when I get my two cards, they're both facing away from me. So I can't see my cards, but I can possibly see other people's if they've scored some point. Make some deduction. Yeah, it it's it's it's some deduction, some chaos, and I I push your luck.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:14

Also, it's kind of you try it, maybe it will success. It's not really push your luck, but it's a gambling gambling game. You you yeah, you're thinking, okay, there is a chance that the card I want was there because I have made some deduction, but I know there is a lot of change that there's not. But I will try. You take the risk, and that's the funny part of the game. Maybe for me, too chaotic. Sometimes I'm I I I have made some games with friends, and they were always winning with that blindly luck, yeah, flipping off the top of the deck. Oh, okay. I won't. Oh I could have killed them. I was like, okay, that's not really a game for me, but I see the the interesting part of it because it's also very it's cool with early gamer, but there is a little part of fun of um of of bluffing, of fun, yes, of chatting around the day table. You can go and and it's you have to remember that board game is about having fun around the table.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:20

Yes, yes, yes. But I was like God, always but but it's but it's not the worst scoring ever because the furniture game took that for you.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:32

It's okay. I can play a marocal on uh on I can play again to um of Amarok. The the game work, yeah. It's working, you know, it's not broken.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:43

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:44

We don't have to to to to to um to um to change the rules, households, and yeah. But um, but uh yeah, if you're like me and you don't really like the lucky part of the blinding blind blind yes, blind drawing of the card draw, yeah. Sometimes it's not that easy to to look.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:09

Yes, yes, and I think like I I definitely have like learned about myself that I do like games with like bluffing and mind games because one of the other games, did you get a chance to play Il Ilan? No. Okay, this one is it's from a Japanese designer, but there was a company there that is doing a new version of it, and I don't know if this is one that I'm allowed to say who's doing it, or and I don't know what they're gonna call it, but I will just tell you about the existing game, Il Ilan. Okay, it is like Flip 7. So Flip Seven is this like very simple push your luck game. Okay, you can play with a lot of people. Okay. This game is very similar where you're gonna like play cards in front of you, and then if you play the same number, ah, that's bad. And in this game, you would get a bomb. So if I had a five in front of me and play another five, I I flip them over and that becomes a bomb. And if I have two bombs, I lose the game. But what's awesome about it is that on my turn, unlike flip seven, I draw a card and I do not get to see it, and everyone around the table gets to see it, and they will vote. You have this little coaster that says receive or refuse, and so they go around and say, Oh no, I won't take that. I refuse, oh, I will take it, won't take it. And so you're kind of looking at the cards that are in front of them to try to deduce what this card might be. But any so anyone who says yes, you can give it to them or you can keep it for yourself. Okay, if everyone says no, we don't want this, you can give it to anyone. Of them. Okay. But you could also still keep it for yourself. And if you're able to get five different cards in front of you, you win the game. But it it just I played it quite a few times and it had so many really fun moments. And to me, I would play this game over Flip Seven any day.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:22

That's exactly the kind of game I could have loved. So sorry I didn't see it in in Etur V. Exactly the kind of game I like. Because you're making deduction based on the reaction of the others around the table. Yes. That's I what I understand. Yeah. Fun. Read it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:40

Yes. It is it's very good. I definitely recommend looking out for that.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:45

Remember me a um a little bit about Cado. I don't know if you know this one. Cado, Antoine Bozat, small box game in a gift. I don't know the name in English, so I I can't help you, but there is some similar aspect.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:03

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:06

Is that how do you spell it? Card C-A-R-D-O-T?

SPEAKER_05 1:07:11

K-A-D-O. It's a small package, like looks like a gift, and it's Antoine Boulevard. I've never seen it. It's funny. You have to make gift to people around the table, and they can say they want it or not. You see, and that's the part that reminds me of the other one. And yes, as they as they say yes or no, you you're you'll be able to take a card for you also, and you're thinking do I want to keep this one for me or to give him to give it to the others? So there is some but without the deduction part. Ah, cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:55

No, I've never even heard of that.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:59

It's uh I I will try to find uh some for you. I think when you were coming to Paris last year, Z took one. I'm not sure, but I oh really oh maybe. Ah cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:13

Okay, what's on your what else is on your list?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:15

What's on my list? There is a game I can't be I can't talk about. But I I I I can speak about the the name of the game and then the and everything that's on BGG, and I was able to play Gaudi, you know, the next Devia game that is coming for the end of the year. Oh right, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:36

G-A-U-D-I.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:38

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:39

Which is coming oh yeah, oh David Garcia at Devia.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:44

I think it will be released during Essen at the Devia booth. So I was kind of very excited to play it because it means that I will not have to do the queue at Essen. Yeah, yeah. I'm not to wait to play it, so I'm pretty happy. So no, it's a Danny Garcia's game, and I'm not a found, I'm not fond of about Danny Garcia's game usually because I found them to be the exact opposite of streamlined, and yeah, too much bonuses everywhere. It's yeah, uh we say in France bonus land, it's bonus land, you know, and yeah, bonus land, love it, and so and they're always looks great, and they're always a great theme and everything, and I always want to love them, but they're always too heavy, too much. I like heavy games, but not because they have too much bonuses. I like heavy games to be because I have choices to make, yeah, but not just because of bonuses. And sometimes I think Danny Garcia is too much into that kind of games, yeah. But this time it's uh a lighter one, and it's more than 45 one-hour games for one to four players. I think the difficulty will be around three on BGG's ladder and on complexity rating, and it's not written already, but I I I think it will be between two and a half and three. And it's quite it's kind of easy to understand. It's it's it's very it's more streamlined, it's more light, it's more con I don't know how to say condensed, confined, yeah, yeah. But there is still some very good IDs, and there is uh still some bonuses, but it's not in it's not in in this game, it's not it doesn't bother me because it stays like a compact experience like compact exactly compact experience of a Danigarcia, and I think I liked it a lot. I'm not sure about it. I have to play it again. Yes, yes, yes, but uh you're going to manipulate some ties and put them on your personal tableau, and I can't say more, but it's yeah, pretty cool now and and really good looking. So it was great to be able to play it. So if you're going to SN next year, this year, you can go to the get in line, get in line at the beers booth.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:34

So I will check out Gaudi at um or Gaudi, however they pronounce it, at Essen. But one of the games that I was happy to finally have tried that you taught me is Botswana, an old Reiner Kenizia game from 1994 that has been re-implemented quite a few times.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:02

The deficiency the definition of simplicity, yes, yes, so clean, so streamlined, very, very clean.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:10

Actually, I ended up taking a copy of it from the prize table. So now I have it, and yeah, it has these fantastic animal meeples and and and cards, and so I think you have like five different types of animals, and you have for each animal cards numbered zero to five. Yeah, six cards, yeah, six cards, and you shuffle all the cards, deal them out to everyone, and all the cards are in play, right? Yep, all the cards. Yeah, all the cards are in play, and it's we were playing at five, so all the cards were in play. I don't remember if there is change, yeah, yeah, it might change at different player counts, but yeah, we were playing with five players, and on your turn, you play an animal card from your hand, and then you pick up any animal, the actual meeple, and you take it into your area, and we keep going around the table doing this, like play a card, uh pick up a meeple. But then when any of the columns of cards has six cards, that triggers the end of the round. And I always love games where players you know have control over when the round ends. And as you saw, I you were demoniac during this game.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:37

You were kind of a demon. Okay, I'm finishing the game. BAM! Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:44

Oh, yeah. But but as you play cards, you're you're splaying them, and you're basically saying, like, if currently the own the top card on the giraffe is a three, that means if the round ended, every giraffe meeple is worth three points. Exactly. And so you see where you can do some spicy things where if somebody's like collecting a lot of mirrors or something, and you could try to at the very last minute change the value of them to zero. You could uh Yeah, you could have you could collect hippos very uh unassuming, and then change the hippo value to five and in the round, and then and then the the meta develops around the table, and then for the next round, people might think you're gonna do the same thing when you take something, and then uh, I don't know. It's just yeah, it's a really, really clean, simple design, and it's very, very fun. And I have the French edition, but the I just need to make sure I know the rules, which are the English rules, have to be out there somewhere.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:01

Yeah, yeah, they are, and the the the cards and everything have no text on them, so you're it will be okay. Yeah, yeah, exactly. This version has an amazing artwork uh from Webersod Santiago, which is one of my favorite illustrators ever, artist ever. And and and and I think this is one of my favorite games ever in that type of game, the that that economic type of game, in fact. And it's there is interaction, there is uh speculation, there is yes, you're all you're all looking at each other during the game, thinking, oh maybe she has that because she has to take a shit. Yes, but not true, maybe it's just she's just bluffing me, but yeah, and everything, and it is so simple to understand, so simple to play, and there is so much going on. Yes, it's like a masterpiece for me, just a small game that everyone has to play once in a lifetime, yeah. Kind of game that impressed me a lot.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:10

Yes, yes, definitely like another, yeah, you know, not that surprising, it's Renner Kenizia, but yeah, it is a really, really great game.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:20

Oh he had an he he he made sometimes not that that that good game. Yeah, that's true. He has a lot of bad games, but when he's doing the good ones, um wow, they're so good, yeah. They're so good, but when you do 900 games, um you you can perfectly they're not all gonna be exactly, they're not all gonna be bangers, but that's one of the perfect ones, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:44

And so thank you for teaching it to me, and I'm glad I have a copy of it.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:49

I can speak about Minikin City, yeah. Minikin City. You don't you you don't play this one.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:56

I did not play it, I saw it on the table a couple of times, just the box, and I kept thinking it was saying munchkin city, but it's minikin city.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:08

It's the next game of Simone Simone Luciani and Mathieu Verdier. Oh, yeah, another one, and it's illustrated by Kerry Atkin, and it goes, it will be uh I don't know if it's already uh available or if it's gonna be out some someday. And I think it's not available right now, not sure. Okay, and it's from uh and it will be released by Cranio Creations, maybe tricks.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:37

You you I'm looking on BGG right now. That's all that's all I know.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:41

Of course, and and and it's uh it's uh it's like an um an hybrid game between a multiple uh kind of game, like a little bit of faraway, a little bit of a trick-taking game, a little bit of some some objectives you have to to trigger. So yeah, the game will be played in eight rounds, and each round there is a card, a card with uh that determines the color that is the strongest color uh during this trick, and some points and and bonuses that you're gonna have if you're the best, if you win the trick, or if you are the second and the third, and etc. So at each round you play a card from your hand, if it matches the the color, the strongest color of the the round, you will and if it's the strongest value, you will win the trick. And then there is a second one with if it's the same, it's the good no, you know, the second in the same color. Yeah, but if it's another color, it's just the value that we're looking at. And then we do a ranking of the player, and we put our tokens on the card to get the points or bonuses and everything, and the card you've played, you put it in front of you, it will be uh it will bring bring you some bonus, some points at the end of the game, some objectives to trigger, and uh you are going to manage to have the because for example, there is a card that you put that says you will do five points if you have five uh little hearts on your card, uh and uh this card has no as one heart, and you have to put cards with more, yeah. So at you are you only have eight rounds, so you will only be able to put eight cards. But the thing is that the if you're the winner of the trick, you will have more points and more bonuses. But if you are the lower on the trick, the least, yeah. The least on the trick, you will uh choose because there is a market of cards, you will choose, and this is the faraway part, you know. You will choose the your card first for to add to your hand, and at every turn you will add a card in your hand, and so you will construct your your your tableau, yeah, like in Faraway, but with a trink taking aspect in the game. Cool, it's kind of cool, and uh there is also minikin because to trigger the objective, you have to win some minikin, and the minikin are small, I don't know how to say, but some some small creature that like look so cute and uh really really little and wood, and you have to put them on your card because the card represents some tiny houses in which you're going to put the small creatures, and it's very, very, very cute. And I like my my my game, yeah. It mixes some things I like in other games. I know that you you are a trick ticker.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:48

Yes, yes, I love taking tricks. Yeah, that seems cool. I I definitely regret not trying it. Yeah, it's one of those, it's one of those games again. I I saw it on the table and I was just like, eh. But now that I like know what it's about, I'm like, oh yeah, I would like to play. Yeah, then we'll play it.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:11

I will make you play this one. And it's okay. Kind of a good one. And and it's it's tricky, it's not easy to win. It's very hard to win because you have to in the same time think about the the cards that can make you win some points. But is it do it doable? Is it it can you trigger the objective that you're putting on your the table? You it's it's gonna be hard. You have to take some risk and some and gambling on the next card that will show up. I don't know if I'm clear, but the game is hard to win, very easy to learn, but hard to master, as we said.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:49

I love that. Ah, cool. I have a duh. So many to mention. Okay. Man, I'm just so I'm just playing Yeah, we played so many cool games. Okay, okay. I'm gonna, since you just told me about one I didn't play, I'm gonna tell you about one you didn't play. Uh uh TN Rum. Okay. T and Rum. The big one. Yes, yes. So in Etter V, a medium weight Euro game is like heavy, like a big monster. Like, I feel like a lot of people are playing smaller games that take maybe an hour, maybe 90 minutes. Because T and Rum.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:34

You can't lose your time. It's very precious time.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:39

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Which I I loved because I got to play so many different games this way because we're playing some slightly lighter stuff. But T Rum was, I would say, the next biggest game, but under Arctica. This is an upcoming Essen 2026 release from Captain Games, oh, made Duck and Cover, and last year Mapmasters, also Mapmasters. But T and Rum is a pirate-themed game, very like across the line, like medium. I think it's gonna be the if we're talking weights like 2.85 or 3.0. Okay. I get it. Yeah, but it has a couple clever things besides being a really cool little pirate game. It is a worker placement with an unworker placement mechanism, which I feel like we're starting to see a little more here and there. Because I feel like there was some other game that someone said that's an unworker placement game. But you basically you play five rounds.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:51

An excellent it it makes me want to play the game instantly. Yeah, yeah. It is very worker placement game is a very catchy phrase.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:00

Yeah, yeah. So everyone starts the game with four meeples that are on these four action boards. Okay. So you have one of your meeples on each one. And whoever, like the the meat and potatoes of the game is this action phase. So when it's my turn in round one, I'm gonna pull back one of my workers and put it on my player board. If, depending on the number of other meeples there, when I pull back, that is the action that I will take on that board. And so each action board, I'll say, has four different actions: number one, number two, number three, number four. So if I pull back first and there are four meeples there, I I do whatever the the slot four effect is. But maybe I wait because I want to do you know the slot two, so I pick up a different meeple somewhere else. So they are not necessarily stronger, they're just different or they're different. They're different, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:04

Interesting part.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:06

Yes, and also in the next round, so we go around like during the action phase. On the next round, we're going to place our our meeples, and it's the same thing based on after I place it, the number of meeples there, that's which action I take. So that's like the the the back and forth, the main part of when you're you're performing actions. And before that, you get some income and you can bid on these. There's like a there are all these ship cards in every game. You play with the same like nine ship cards, might vary for player count, I don't remember, but you play with these nine ship cards, and in turn order, you get to spend money to you know, basically flip over one of the cards and get one of the rewards on it. So you you get some resources. I think there are like six or so different types of resources, maybe eight, I don't know. I forget how many, but like maybe I spend eight dollars because I really want a cannon and two gray cubes. I forget. I don't remember all the exact uh resources, but then it goes to you, Penelope, and you could say, Oh, I'm gonna spend three dollars and take this ship, and we flip that over. And it keeps going around until you pass. So there's a whole like little mini game here of like, how much money do I have? What do I really want? Because if somebody takes it before me, they might leave me in a position where I can't afford something or whatever. So you do that and it kind of like sets you up a little bit for that action phase. But what's the goal of the game? The the other, like kind of unique thing about this game is that there are two different ways you could potentially win the game because we are pirates and we are going to some new island and they're looking for a new governor. So there are blue victory points. So whoever has the most blue victory points at the end will be the governor, but then there are also red victory points, which are pirate points, meaning like you're the best pirate. But there's even a twist with that in that as you gain points from different actions, you know, there's things you can recruit pirates, hire pirates, which are cards that usually give you an immediate effect. And then if you spend a cannon, you get some other effect, and then you just flip it over. You can build different types of buildings, which sometimes give you immediate effect or ongoing ability. And then some of them have these flags, which at the end of each round, it's like, oh, who had the most of these flags? And of round two, who had the most of these? So you have that kind of like end of round competition. But as you're collecting points, all of your point total. Are public until you get eight blue tokens. The minute you get eight blue tokens, you then put them into your pirate chest. Everybody has their own chest. And now all your points are gonna be like every time you gain points, they're secret. But the other thing is when you get to that point where you're like, okay, I can hide my points, you have to take one of the available like blue special objective cards. And if you don't fulfill that objective by the end of the game, you cannot be the governor. So your blue points pretty much kind of don't matter. So you so in order to even like be in the running for the governor, you have to like fulfill that objective at some point. And the sooner you can do that, the more options you have to pick something that you're like, okay, I know I can work towards this. Oh, I need to have six pirates or whatever. At the end of the game, you're gonna tally up your points for both. And assuming I met that blue objective, your points have to can't be more than a difference of 10. So if I have 60 blue points and 40 red points, I bring my blue down to 50. Okay. Because you have you can only have a margin of 10. And then we score. So so there's some like kind of very interesting ideas and and points in this game.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:32

I I think uh it it seems like very ingenious and and original, as you as you can say, and makes it play.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:41

Yeah, it's it's very nice. It takes two hours, maybe less when everybody knows, maybe less when everybody knows what they're doing. And it's it's the kind of game that when it's set up on the table, it's like, oh, there's so much. But the iconography is like super clear, and there's you know, there's just there are a lot of like cool ideas, and you will get the flow of it immediately. And I love the worker placement or worker unplacement, then we're placement, then unplacement. So, yeah, so this is a game that'll be out at Essen 2026. Definitely. This is my that was my second time playing it, and Matt, Matt loved it because we got to play a prototype of it when we came uh to stay with Cedric in Belgium after Essen last year, and like on our way, like as we were like almost coming to Cedric's this year, Matt's like, oh, he loves pirates also. But he's like, Oh, yeah, I can't, and he won. So he has a pirate bias and he won the first game that we played. But yeah, we we've in we've enjoyed it both times that we played it, so yeah, check it out at lesson.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:53

Yeah, for sure. May maybe I will not wait until Essen because it's a French publisher, so I will exactly play it before. Yes, yes, I'm sure it's true that at Et or V we want to. I I'm not going that easy in in big games because I want to to play with a lot of different people and game. And you see, it's always uh sad. At the end of some et or v I was looking at at uh some people and thinking, oh, we didn't manage to play together. So I'm playing a lot of games. I am thinking about a game that I think you don't you you've not played, and I know that you like trick-taking one.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:37

Searching the box to show you. This is Castle's Builder. Did you play this one?

SPEAKER_00 1:31:43

Or I've never played it. I feel like I've seen it. Yeah, I feel like I've heard of it, but I don't know it.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:51

This this is the French version which is charpentier, like charpentier, but with chat. Uh charpentier. The English version is cats catsel builders, yes, cats at the beginning. And I think you you will love this one. It is a small trick-taking game, very easy one, with a card with colors. It's a must follow. There is cats on the cards, of course, and they're building some building, uh, for sure. And uh the the game is really uh pretty, and there is, I think, maybe four or five color different colors with cards from one to nine, etc. Okay, classic, yeah, and maybe more than four colors. It's it for sure. There is, I think there is a five. Five. We're looking at the back of the box. And there is one, two, three, four, five. And uh when you're playing, it's a must-follow. So uh everyone is playing a card, and at the end of the trick, we're doing a ranking, like the game we've talked earlier in the podcast. And we are doing a ranking. If it's the the the color of the trick, we are ranking the first and the second one, and and etc. Yes, then the other colours, etc. And when the trick is is finished, the winner takes first a card between the card that have been played.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:25

Ah, okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:27

Took a card, and then the second took a card, and then etc. And it's a collection game. You put it on your tableau under a small tableau, uh small board that says in this column you can put one card of the same color. In this column, you can put two cards of the same color, etc. And so four cards of the same color in the last column. You can put more. You can't put more if in the in the last column where you can put four cards, for example. If I put a fifth card, it will give me minus points at the end of the game. So I have to be very uh careful.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:05

Careful about what you're taking. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:08

When I take cards to not ex um to not go over. Exceed like go over the amount of chinkle, exceed the the the limit. The limit. And uh and there is fifth color, and you only have four columns, so you understand that there is a you don't want one color at all.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:29

Exactly. Oh yes, I'll love that.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:31

You will love that, and it's uh and it's very simple. I'm not very I'm not really into trick taking myself because I think that that is the kind of game when you don't play trick-taking game in the right way. There are always people that are shouting at you, telling, why have you played this one? Why would you play? You don't know how to play, you're the baddest player in the world, and I don't like that at all. But there is some kind some trick-taking games that I love because they are more cool. Yeah, maybe there is some kind of another aspect, and this one has the collection part of it that is makes it more fun, maybe for um family, family weight, maybe yeah, cool to play. And it's very, very good, in fact. It's very it's it's smart and in and it's light, but it's very good. Yes, builders, castles builders. I think it's uh it's a Japanese game at the beginning, but I'm not sure. Yeah, it's a Japanese game.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:35

Yeah, yeah. And like I said, yeah, I had seen it before, but I've just never tried it. But I love games like that where number one, I could try to screw you over if I'm like, oh, I know, I know you don't want a red card, so I'll take this, so you're forced to take that. I know you were a mean girl. Only when it comes to trick taking.

SPEAKER_05 1:35:59

You remember me of Bruno Catala, which is the the French designers, is known for to be to to do only mean games with a lot of interaction that is very mean in mean. Yeah, yeah. I I think you love those kind of games, but this one you can be very mean because ah, you don't want that blue cards.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:20

Okay, yeah, and I don't care, so I'll take this one instead. This one's for you. Thank you. That's cool. Yeah, I will definitely be down to play that one at some point. Also, just as an aside, I've never met Bruno Catala.

SPEAKER_05 1:36:36

Oh, ah yeah, he's not uh he's coming at Etourville, I think one year on three or two. Okay, and you last year he was not there, also.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:47

So yeah, so maybe if I come next year, I'll be able to go to Essen?

SPEAKER_05 1:36:54

Three years ago, he came with the new version of uh, you know, ah, the very classic with the heart the King Arthur and the name of the game. Yep, I'm gonna big classic of Bruno Catala.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:09

Oh, is it Camelot?

SPEAKER_05 1:37:11

Camelot. There is a new version coming.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:14

Oh, Shadows over Camelot. Yeah, and I I've yeah, yeah, yeah. I've never played it.

SPEAKER_05 1:37:22

A new version with new art and new new new mechanism. It's it's not the same, just it is it it's not just a reskin. It will be in available, I think, this year or next year. And okay. We will talk about it next year when you come.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:44

Very, very cool. Yeah, let's talk about real quick back to back. Uh yeah. So, first of all, play punk. The lunch game. Yeah, play play punk started with Captain Flip, yeah, a banger. And then there was Zenith, a banger. Banger of the banger. Banger, yes, super banger, and zenith. Did you get a chance to play the giant version? No. Somebody had a giant version of Zenith.

SPEAKER_05 1:38:15

I've played Zenith so many times that I didn't play it at the TV because okay, I know this is the bang version, but I have so many new games to try.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:25

So I I I just loved seeing it because at some point I walked up to a table and I could clearly say, because I've played Zenith a bunch, also, and I'm like, oh yeah, they're playing Zenith. And then I start asking whichever one I had to ask a question, and then I like my eyes like lit up. I was like, those cards look huge, those those tokens look huge. And I realized the box is huge, and so anyway, but but play punk has a new game. Obviously, play punk has a new game coming to Essen this year that we both got an opportunity to play, not at the same time, though, that's called Back to Back. And it is a cooperative party game, word guessing game that it surprises me that people keep finding clever ways to make games like this where we need to work together and guess a word. But in this one, everyone gets a hand of five blank cards, and then you get like a card that has clues on it, and you can all you pick one of the clues, like, but there are different levels of difficulty. And you know, for example, let's say my word, what was my first word? My first word was ladybug. So I need to write on these five cards that I have five words that are hopefully gonna get everyone to guess ladybug. And of course, I can't use lady or bug in my um yeah, yeah, normal word game rules here. But the trick is after everyone's doing this at the same time, we shuffle the five cards. And so let's say I'm starting and I flip one card, and maybe the card was small, you know, maybe my and then everyone has to try to yeah, very large. Yeah, so everyone has to now think of well, what could the word be? I mean, it can be a million things, so they'll they'll likely guess wrong. And then I flip a card, and maybe it's spots, yeah, and then they're like small spots, okay. Yeah, still, uh, don't know. But then I flip my card that I wrote insect on, and I'm like, okay, now they're starting to put it in the cloud. The lights were on. Oh, yeah, yeah. So it's really clever because you're trying to pick five words that no matter the order they come up, that everyone's gonna be able to guess it. But it's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_05 1:41:16

And it's only the first part of the game because that's the way you're gonna have one point if you find the game. Yes. But the trickiest part of the game is that if you want a second point, you have to guess which one of the words that are still in your in the hand of the Yes, the the the person.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:36

So, yeah, so let's say you guess after I flip three cards, you guess ladybug, and I'm like, it's ladybug. Small for sure. Duh duh. Uh, but then yeah, but then you have to guess what one of the other cards in my hand is to get the other point, like fly, for example. Yeah. And then I say, uh no, I didn't put that.

SPEAKER_05 1:42:01

And so we don't have the second points. But that's I I think that's my favorite part of the game. And and yes, to to and the those kind of games are always fun because you're always around the table saying that for sure she has put fly. Yeah. Who who would who wouldn't put fly for a ladybug? Because it's flies, you know, so for sure there is fly. No, no, that's not what I was thinking. That's the thing I like in those kind of games. It's surprising to see play punk play punk coming with that kind of game after the game they've made. But if you think about it, it's not that surprising bit because Thomas Provo, which are half of the playpunk, is from was one of the owners of Robo production.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:56

Reaple, yes, with just one. So Clover, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:42:59

Exactly. That's also in his uh in his ADN. I don't know how to say it in in English, but it's also the kind of games they want. They they love. Yes. They always say when you're going to when you ask them uh what kind of game do you want to do, they always answer good ones.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:19

Yeah, and I mean that so so far their play pump is kind of yes, they're all pretty good, and they all, yeah, it's like Captain Flip was probably a little lighter than Zenith, so Zenith went a little more complex complex, but then we go like a little more in the direction of like anybody can play this, and now we have a cooperative game. I love that Zenith can be played with teams too. Like that the first like four or five times I played Zenith was two v2. I only started playing one v1 and on BGA.

SPEAKER_05 1:43:56

I've done the exact opposite, and I I used to think but it's better one versus one, for sure. It's so good, it can't be better than this, right? It could be better than that. And then you play two versus two, and you you're thinking, oh my god, this is better.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:15

And they're both so good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:44:19

It's one of my favorite games ever, I think. And it blows my mind when I uh tried it for the first time. And of course, back to back is not the kind of game that I'm going to say it blows my mind, but right, it's really, really, really good. It's really good, it's clever. At every lunch, everyone was playing it around the table. It was so easy to to to bring and to play, and we wanted to play again and again and again and again.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:48

Yes, yes, and it and it's the kind of like word guessy game that word guessy, word guessing game that I love because there's no there's no downtime, right? Like we're all writing and like at the same time together, and then we're all thinking together, yeah. So I I really like that.

SPEAKER_05 1:45:10

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Condemisi is a great game, but there is so down time, so much downtime in it.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:17

Yeah, sometimes when someone is thinking, you're like, uh Yeah, and the other people are just sitting there, yeah. Just watching, yeah, exactly, exactly. So, yeah, so that's back to back. Another one coming uh to SN22.

SPEAKER_05 1:45:32

I know they're working on other games also, but we are not allowed to speak about oh yes, just know that more games like are coming in play punk, but nobody's surprised.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:44

Yeah, okay. Well, here's a game we played together. Oh, Excalibur!

SPEAKER_01 1:45:53

Excalibur.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:56

I was actually just telling Matt was watching some video today with a lady who has an accent, and I was like, I was like, I love like Marjorie's accent is so like unique. Yeah, and he's like, You mean when she says Excalibur? And I and he's like, that's all you'll ever think of when when with uh because Marjorie started that, so yeah, anyways, we played a game called Excalibur.

SPEAKER_05 1:46:22

Marjorie says that in England they thought she's American, and in America they thought she's English. She has a strange accent between the two of them.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:32

Yeah, and I was even gonna say, like almost like like from New Zealand or something. I will tell her. Yeah, but remind me, like, where where does her accent come from?

SPEAKER_05 1:46:45

No, nowhere, she's from France. She but she's lived she's lived in in England for a few for a few years. For two years, she has lived in in London. Maybe that explains something.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:57

Ah, it yeah, it's it's very uh unique.

SPEAKER_05 1:47:00

But she grows up with American American series and everything. She she's kind of an American girl in her heart.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:09

Yeah, yeah. So live uh from France, speaks French, but then also lived in England, but also watched a lot of American culture movies. Yeah, yeah, and has this fusion. And so we got a group of what seven of us, six or seven to play a new rock. School experience of the game. Yes, Excalibur! Uh this is a game that if you saw it sitting on a shelf because of the packaging, the presentation, you would probably pick it up instantly. For sure. It it has it's a small, long- It's so sexy to look at. Yes, yes, with a sword in it that you just like you want to grab that sword. So you want to grab the box. And so we played it, and when you open the box, you have three swords. Apparently, there is a a version of it that has like metal components.

SPEAKER_05 1:48:11

Yeah. Little whip.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:14

Yeah, don't bring that in your checked luggage. Uh but but even the the cardboard version that we played was like very premium, and then you have all these like chips that are like shields, more or less, and they have different characters, and some of them are swords, and one of the swords is Excalibur! And and then there's also a cursed sword. Well, the cursed one that you gave me uh several times during the game. That pass so a lot of what you're doing in the game is like, oh, well, you're simultaneously picking one of these shield chips in your hand, and we all reveal and then we just like resolve them in turn order. But like often it's like, oh, draw two chips from the center of the table and pass one on, or steal a chip from someone, or whatever. You're manipulating your hand of these chips, these shield chips, and you when the game ends, you do not want to be the player that has the cursed sword. And so when you pass that cursed sword to another player and you get to watch their reaction as they take it, because they don't want to be obvious that they took it, because then nobody will want to take chips from them. It reminded me of that feeling of in if have you ever played pit? Pit? Yeah, it's like you're trading like stock market wheat and flax. I got two, and then but there's a bear and a bull. And you don't want the bear or the bull, but sometimes the bull can be wild if you have it. So when you pass someone the bear, you're just like giggling, like yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:50:12

It's the kind of look you you look each other in the eyes, telling, I know that you know. That I know you know that I know that you know, and it's yeah, yeah, and and you want to laugh so hard when you get the card, but you have to to not show the ones around the table to show nothing, and it's kind of a feeling that I love too. It's very there is a lot of complicity during those moments, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:42

Yes, it was a fun game. I would say at our player count, and maybe because it could be just a first game thing that it felt like it ran a little long, like yeah, I wanted to get to the punchline sooner.

SPEAKER_05 1:50:57

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, five players. I think it's is is the sweet spot. Five at seven or seven, it it it it lasts a little bit too long. And yeah, for what it is. When do I play? When oh, it's my turn.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:12

Okay, I was just having a nap. Exactly. And it's like ultimately, it's like you're not doing anything that like strategic. We're like passing tokens around and ha ha oh, you have it now, follow it around.

SPEAKER_05 1:51:26

At some point, you're trying to do some deduction because you know that someone took your your your sword and sword, and and then you say you know that someone takes some uh chip to to to the people the person who would stole them from you, and so you think you're like he has my sword. One of them has it, yeah. Right. It it it goes really, really quick, chaotic, and then you can't do any deduction at all. So the game has to be shorter than we we had it was too long at seven players.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:04

It was it was yeah, it was too long with us. But yeah, one of the cool effects of the characters is that everyone who has a sword must like give them their sword. So that means the cursed sword, the excaliber, and then sometimes it's like, oh, they shuffle them all and hand them back out. I think probably with less players, but this is another like easy one that you could break out just with anybody, take it anywhere.

SPEAKER_05 1:52:32

I will I will play it with people that told me that uh uh oh we love uh were wolves. So do you have something in the same kind of feeling? Correct. And yeah, I I I got this one. I it it reminds me also about uh sneaky soup song, don't know the word in in English. It's uh sneaky charm, sneaky charmers, maybe. Snake Sharmers.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:54

Oh, snake charmers! Snake Charmers, ah someone told me about that.

SPEAKER_05 1:52:59

Easy to to to learn to to people and to play, but funnier than that snake charmers, maybe with Excalibur. Mostly if you played with Marjorie. If you're playing with Marjorie, it's very fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:12

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 1:53:14

She's not a good bluff bluffer, so she I think she shot out Excalibur every time she take she was taking a chip just in order to cover up, yeah, cover up exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:30

But that kind of made it funny because we all then start shouting Excalibur, and then so we don't know who has it for real, yeah. And yeah, but yeah, it was it's it's a cute game. Definitely want to play it again, and very curious to see that premium version of it.

SPEAKER_05 1:53:45

Yeah, it's not the kind of game I will maybe say that it's the best game ever I've played for that kind of game. And in those days, sometimes I I've seen a big video has been made on this game in in English with uh people and everything, and a lot of um costumes and everything.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:06

Oh yes, the random.

SPEAKER_05 1:54:07

I'm not sure that that it maybe it it it it could make think that the game is better than it is in fact. In reality. The game is not bad, it's a pretty good game, but okay. Yeah, it's a little bit long, it's a little bit repetitive, it's uh play it at five with people who never play this game, and it will be a great time.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:31

Exactly. I feel the same way, and if you don't mind, I'll mention quickly two games that I actually enjoyed a little more that give me that same kind of like uh social deduction feeling. One is a game called Faken. So Faken is a game that I played, I'm trying to think if it was like after right at like the same night that we played Excalibur. It might have been, or maybe the next night. And it it had some graphics issues that confused us. But once we got the swing of it, like I loved it and we played it multiple times. And the premise of this one is that everyone gets a hand of three cards, they're two different color cards, just like Amarok, sort of, but you have a mix of cards. So you might have either two white cards and a black card, or two black cards and a white card. You always will have a mix in your hand. Whichever card is the highest, not like, oh, I have two white cards, so I'm on the white team. Okay, but whichever card is the highest is the team that you're on. So maybe I have two white cards and a black card, and my black card is a queen, and the cards go from one to ace being the highest. So I know I'm on the black team because I my highest card in my hand is the one of my dark cards. Now, if for some reason I had a tie, like maybe I had a white queen and a black queen, then I go with which color card do I have the most of? So then I would be on the white team. I'm trying to figure out which team everyone else is on, number one, but then I need to figure out who the captain of my team is, who let's say I'm on the black team, which player has the highest black card? It might be me with the queen, you know? But if someone has an ace, then they're they're gonna be the leader. And so the way you play your turn is on your turn, it's very simple. You pick someone and you exchange a card with them, and you simultaneously like exchange. So I don't see what you don't see what I'm passing you and then decide. It's like okay, I'm passing Penelope a card. Penelope's passing me a card. We look at the card, whichever card is lowest, that player is gonna have to reveal that card and play it in front of them, and they point it at me. So let's say you played, it doesn't matter which color, but let's say you you played a white three, and I showed you my queen, and so I take my queen back. You know I have a queen, but nobody else does. Okay, you and then you point, yeah, you point your three card at me with the little black dot that's facing me, so that everyone knows, okay, Penelope played a three, and Candace has a higher black card in her hand. They don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_05 1:57:37

Do you have a higher than the three?

SPEAKER_00 1:57:39

But so there's so you're kind of like collecting information, and then when one player feels like they have the solution, they say, okay, haha. I'm, and then they say, I like I would say I'm on the black team, and I think the captain of the black team is Marjorie, and I think the captain of the white team is Matt. And then we discuss, and the people who are on my team, we want to be successful because I can then slide it around if we're like, okay, no, but the other team is also trying to mess with your information, and then whenever you lock it in, if you're right, your team scores. If you're wrong, the other team scores. So it's it's very, very interesting. I think the way the the original game works, I didn't like the scoring, but it was not, it wasn't furniture scoring, tiny furniture. But it didn't really make sense because I got to a point where I was on the last round, I had no incentive to help my team win because that meant meant another player would win, not me. So I was like, either the scoring needs to be done like mustache, where if you're on the winning team, yeah, you get a token secretly, or just make the game end. Say, like, whichever team won, you won a game and just play a second game instead of making it based on rounds. But the the deduction, the social discussions and like something very interesting in in what they're saying.

SPEAKER_05 1:59:14

Yeah, yeah. Very original.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:16

Yes, so I definitely recommend checking that out. Faken, F-A-E-K-I-N. I'll eventually post this on BGG and tag all the games. So hopefully we can people will comment with more information of how to get it or get the new version. But the other game that I played with the same group after the first fake in, which was our a like we played multiple games, is Cheese Thief. I've seen you. I love this game, it's so silly. You have a sponge, a slice of cheese that's a sponge piece in the center of the table. Everybody gets a card. Most of you are sleeping mice, but one of you is gonna get a cheese thief card, and you're gonna have a cup and a D6 die, and everyone secretly rolls their die under their cup and you take a peek, whatever your number is, that's your wake up time. And so there's like a moderator, kind of like in Avalon or something. Everyone close your eyes. Okay, all mice that have a one o'clock wake up time, meaning you rolled a one, open your eyes. If you are the only mouse that wakes up at one o'clock, you can peek under someone else's cup to see what time they wake up.

SPEAKER_03 2:00:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:00:37

And you're also paying attention to is the cheese still there? Okay. Then one o'clock, close your eyes. Two o'clock, open your eyes. Sometimes there are gonna be multiple mice that are opening their eyes. One of them might be the cheese thief. They take the cheese, maybe, and then you know, you go through and you seem taking the cheese. Yes. So after you go through six o'clock, everybody gets a chance to open their eyes. Then everybody closes their eyes, and then the cheese thief can be.

SPEAKER_05 2:01:08

That sounds really fun.

SPEAKER_00 2:01:09

Yes, and then the cheese thief can pick an accomplice. So, so basically they pick someone to say, this person who gets their hand tapped has to basically protect the cheese thief, and now you're on the same team. Then we all open our eyes and we talk and we say, Oh, I had I woke up at three o'clock at three o'clock and there was no cheese. Uh yeah, yeah, or the cheese was still here, and then I woke up at four and it's gone. Well, this, oh no, I saw your cup and you did not wake up at three. You're lying. And you're trying to find the cheese thief, and it's hilarious, and so so good.

SPEAKER_05 2:01:53

It's so it's it it sounds good because it sounds really uh logic, it's very thematic. So you you it's very organic, like uh, you know, the cheese is here. So okay, I I there is something very thematic in the in in the game that helps understand what you what what you're doing. Yeah, and it makes me want to play it very badly. I because it sounds really fun and and also at the same time, really.

SPEAKER_00 2:02:23

Oh, I think there will be a lot of chat chit chat around the table, and you have to be a good liar because I'm not, but yes, yes, and it sounds good, it it's very good, and at some point, like we like half of the group that played the one night were playing again with like three new people, and one of the new people was Matt, my Matt, and then we had the guy named Rudolph, and Rudolph, bless his heart, was a very like kind of soft-spoken, nice guy, and we had this weird situation where four of us rolled sixes, and I'm the cheese thief. We all open our eyes and I take the cheese so everyone sees me, but I could only pick, I think with with the player count, I think I could only pick one person to be on my team. And of course, I'm gonna pick one of the people who had their eyes awake, but then the other two are seeing it. So then when we all wake up, you know, I'm trying to I got the cheese hidden, like they know I took it, but we talk our way out of it somehow because the person who's working with you can kind of corroborate your crazy story. Like, no, it had to have been Matt because you know, I woke up at this. So it's it's fantastic. I I'm I'm gonna buy this game.

SPEAKER_05 2:03:51

Better than Excalibur, I think, and simpler, in fact. Yes. Ah, yeah, it it it sounds very great.

SPEAKER_00 2:03:59

It's great, it's great. You you will love it. So check that one out. So between like Excalibur, Facen, and Cheese Thief, I I had such a good time playing these like social deduction type games.

SPEAKER_05 2:04:11

That's the perfect place to play that kind of game. People you you don't really know. Yeah. I know in the board game industry, so everybody's going crazy.

SPEAKER_00 2:04:25

Yes, yes, yes. Um, and I know we're we're pushing our time here, and I know we can talk forever. Yeah, but I do want to squeeze a few more in. So, how is French toast? Oh, French toast. You don't know French toast? No, just the just the breakfast.

SPEAKER_05 2:04:43

Okay, I can speak about French toast very quickly. One minute per game. Okay, one minute per game. French toast is a game from All Play. That was the art that makes me want to try the game. I don't know if you see the art on BGG. Yes. So crazy cute. Yes, I love it. And that's just a party game from Peter C. Award that uh in which you're gonna make the others guess a word, that it's a word game, that you're gonna make them guess a word with a semantic, a semantic way. I don't know if the you you understand uh if it's semantic, the good word to use.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:22

Uh do you mean uh like where you're similar to similar, like yeah, you're comparing it hot and cold system.

SPEAKER_05 2:05:32

At the beginning, I say French toast, then you're saying because we always begin with French toast. With French toast, of course, yes, but I I want to make you uh guess the word I don't know uh lamp because I see a lamp in my yeah, yeah, and then you begin and you say your first word to guess, so you say plain. And as plain is not is very different from very different from lamp and more different from lamp than French toast. French toast say French toast, and I will enter French toast as long as you don't find a word that is uh nearer than what I've closer, yeah. And when you say a word that is closer, I will repeat the word you say, and we are going like this. Then you say, I don't know, uh a table, and I will say, Yes, table, and then you will say uh door, and I will say, Yeah, but oh table, and I will continue until you find the good word. Uh, there is that kind of word uh of a word game exists on the internet. Um there is a lot of application for this, but I didn't know there was there were a game that were using that system. There is a scoring system and everything and and a system for to to give some uh clues and everything, but it works and it's pretty it's the art is really great. It's not a great game, but it's fun to to play and it's cute to look at. So I'm happy to have it in my collection. That's all that's it. One minute, love it, maybe two.

SPEAKER_00 2:07:08

Okay, yeah. I looked up the art and it's like this like really colorful, hand-drawn style. It's very cute. I love the colors and style.

SPEAKER_05 2:07:18

Cool, and it's completely silly. Uh it's not a serious game for sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:07:23

Okay, well, you want to know a game that's nothing like French toast? The Silver Bayonet, a war game of Napoleonic gothic horror. I've I've I've seen this one on the table. Okay, so um, actually, no, no, you you saw Onward. Onward was the game that the prize game, the MOBA game that I got. Yeah, because we played Silver Bayonet in a different room. But Dylan brought this game and it's a book game, so you it's like a miniatures war game. And Dylan is from Canada, and this game covers like Canadian history, so he's very excited to like he 3D printed minis, he painted them, he 3D printed these really cool boxes, terrain, everything just to show other people this cool game. And we played, there were six of us playing at once, and Dylan was like running it like a college professor, but it's a like kind of a skirmish game that's a war game, but there are monsters also, and it was very cool. And my first time kind of playing a miniatures war game where you sometimes need to measure and you're rolling dice, and there it I got annihilated, but I it made me so intrigued. And Dylan sent us home with the minis, so I'm not gonna have room in my suitcase for clothes at this point because I took the miniatures and everything, and now I want to get uh I think he said you can go.

SPEAKER_05 2:08:58

We'll never move back to America.

SPEAKER_00 2:09:00

I know at this point. Uh, but you can get this. This is the truck. This is a game that you if you get the book from Osprey games, it's very cool, but you can also just download the PDF apparently, and you make your own minis or buy minis or whatever and play it. And I really liked it and like the experience. Now, this story of Dylan presenting it to us. I'm gonna try to get a copy of the book because the book looks really cool. There's like blood on it, and uh, it's not real blood, hopefully. But just the fact that it's like this war game with the monsters and like supernatural creatures that are impacting the game is very cool. And it was a unique experience. So that is the Silver Bayonet, a war game of Napoleonic Gothic horror.

SPEAKER_05 2:09:53

Okay. I got a minute for Ofrenda. Did you play?

SPEAKER_00 2:09:57

Oh, that's also Osprey, right?

SPEAKER_05 2:09:58

Yeah, it's also Osprey. That's why I'm going doing the link. I think I love Osprey games. I think they have amazing components each time, and and and they're the the games are always very uh beautiful to look at and beautiful to play with. And and ofrenda is the kind of game, uh, the the illustration is the art is very beautiful, and the theme is is really beautiful too because we are we are going to play people during the Mexican Day of the Dead, the Dia de los Muertos. Yes, and we are going to build an altar, an altar altar, yeah, altar with the portraits of our family members. And we have a double-layered player board in front of us with uh beautiful, beautiful double-layered board in which we are going to put cards that we are gonna draft in the center of the table with a simple system like in Agricola. You the first not Agricola, so sorry, Acropolis. Oh you take fun. And you take the the first one is uh free, and then you have to place some chip to take the other the one that are far farthest. And you take a card, each turn you you're going to play a card in your tableau and take a new card, and then the the scoring is just coming from the fact that the people of your family, the dead people of your family, don't want to be near other people, certain so you have to agents, you have to put the the cards in the right order so that they will uh score and and a c and so they have they have conditions, all cards have conditions to be uh triggered so they can score at the end of the game. And and it's a really easy game at its core, but the puzzling part is really difficult. All the cards uh uh want to be on a place that is not compatible with your other cards, so you have to make choice. every time and and it and it's fun and the game works very well i like my my game a lot i love the art i love the theme i love the what it's it it's it it tells in fact theme is cool yeah but the there is a big problem in the game that's the scoring phase because you have to score each card and see each card will bring you two points for each card that is that will score around around it so this card will bring me two two plus one plus okay this one will bring me 11 points so next card and you have 12 cards in your tableau and you have four players around the table so it it took so many times and I was a little bit sad because the game is very very good but the scoring part is far too long for the game. Okay so how does it compare to the scoring of like castle combo where you have nine cards castle combo is really easier to to score than this one because when the the the tri the the twist that is cute and fun is that the cards were first are first put in your tableau are first put face down so they're not lit because uh they are in grey tones and then when you trigger the the conditions you flip them over on their lit face on their lit face yeah and uh and then you will be able to score them and each card will bring you two points by adjacent card that are lit and one point by adjacent card that are not lit so you see the difficulty of the scoring yes yes yes it's it's just boring to score at the end and there are some cheap also that will score and everything but the game is good so if you have it keep it if you are able to play it play it but that's too bad okay so that's ofrenda I will in my minute I'll bring up the two new Bruno Faduti games seashells from KTGB KTBG kids table board games cute game where you have all these sea animals like starfish and snails I don't know coral pieces you have different color bits that are different shapes and you put them on this board that looks like the beach like the sand and it's cute.

SPEAKER_00 2:14:31

You on your turn are gonna move this pail to a new spot and you're gonna collect a piece and you put it on your board. And so you can only move the bucket in this same column or same row to a new piece. Yeah and we're collecting different pieces and then at the end of the game you're scoring majorities based on color and also the type so there's different majorities you're scoring and also there's like fish heads that you can collect if you have a fish head in the body it gives you points and there's certain pieces you can collect like a bottle and the bottle gives you an extra turn. So it's very light but like also very strategic quick and cute very cute.

SPEAKER_05 2:15:20

Yeah yeah and I I I I I had the chance to play it when it was all still a prototype and I have a good remember of the game like it's not that original or anything but it's really satisfying to play and it goes really it's it's really well made yes yes it's very well made it plays well and it's it's it it's a it's a good puzzle game in fact yes yes not that easy to to to win right exactly but yes definitely something you could I think I prefer the the other one I I think I prefer fruit cocktails that you're gonna speak about.

SPEAKER_00 2:15:58

Yes and then there's fruit cocktail which is a new card game from Bruno that he had copies to give to everyone as a gift and so he bought them all.

SPEAKER_05 2:16:07

Oh wow he bought them all at two euros each it there they were a price but he bought all the games to give to people that's so cool okay so that was actually the first game I played the night before like the Ether V gathering officially started very simple card game where you have fruit cards and some of them are hidden and some of them are revealed and each player will have some knowledge of some of them but then you're gonna put three cards in a column underneath each and players are just gonna draft one at a time and whenever there's only one card left in the column that is going to determine the value of a certain fruit okay bananas are worth three points blueberries are worth negative two points each and the cards you're collecting in a way similar fashion to Botswana exactly yeah you're gonna score I was gonna uh I was you're gonna make the same word in English i'm I'm getting tired but uh I was about to to tell the same thing I I think I prefer botswana for sure it's pr it's more impressive but uh fruit cocktail is a is a very is is not it it's pretty good in fact yeah yeah for something like simple to just bust out but yeah like Botswana I like that you the players control the timing of the end of the round and everything but yes check out fruit cocktail for a a quick card game with like the kind of market manipulation I turned it into a negotiation game like hey you should take this card so that so that we make the strawberries negative three points because Matt has three strawberries game you can do some some chit chat yep yep okay so that was fruit cocktail and seashells yeah I can't do just one minute on moon colony bloodbath it it will be I just know that you've not you haven't played moon colony bloodbath yet yes I have not played it just to see it in one minute this game is about building a colony on the moon and everything goes well and but it will end in a bloodbath and that's the funny part of the game it's a game that you're um in which you're you're you're trying to build your own colony with uh cards that you are going to put in front of you and in that kind of game usually usually uh the your tableau is going stronger and stronger but in this one at every turn there is deck that is revealed and we are resolving each card one by one and some cards are saying okay you can you can play it this is your turn this is the work turn and there is four cards like this in the deck all the other cards are events and mostly of them are bad events sometimes it's just a a little bonus for you and uh and a little development for the the the crew but mostly it's bad events and bad news and robots that wants to kill you and at the beginning there is not that much of bad cards but at every turn you will add bad cards in the deck and the more the game will go the more you will lose and the more you will die you have each of the players have 30 uh human 30 people to to protect and uh the the winner will be the one that has the most people still alive when the end game is triggered and the end game is triggered when one of the players has nobody left no building no people nothing or if the game is triggered the end game at the it means the 13 I think the 13 uh round i've never seen I've never seen the 13 round the bloodbath takes over before that happens yes always for the moment always and there is a lot of things that I've I haven't said about the game but I have just one minute and I and it's uh already more than one minute but the game is so cool so great I love that game so much because this is so fun to think that you have the time so okay I have my building is okay oh I will and when the second round begins it's already a nightmare already you're skinning people already you're in the a bad situation and yeah that the thing that is funny is that it's a competitive game so you want to be the last survivor but as everything goes wrong for everyone there is something like I don't know between us around the table we're kind of supportive for each other like oh no not this oh no we are all yeah yeah fun to see we're in competition but we're supporting each other in the hard times and you have to try moon colony bloodbath it's okay I will try moon colony bloodbath and I will see your moon colony bloodbath and raise you with a vroom vroom vroom is a game I have to mention very quickly it is a racing cooperative game that gives you the feel of something like the gang because thank you yes yes I I say thank you because when I say in France when I say this is like the gang people say no it's like the mind no it's like the gang you have to order each other it's each one of you thank you exactly exactly because then the mind is more the hey we're trying to figure out when to play the rhythm yes but the gang is we need to work together to make sure we're doing something in the right order and vroom is a game where you are racing you have all these different conditions everyone has a and you get a you nobody sees the card that you have but I think they go from one to seven and so you have to move your car you know kind of estimate how far to move it based on like oh it's a two I'm only gonna move it a little bit oh it's a seven I'm gonna move my car really far and we say vroom when we move our cars but by the end of everybody playing five cards secretly we need at least one of us to have crossed the finish line and all the other cards and the player who crossed the finish line must have the highest sum of all their cards and then the person who's furthest behind needs to like once we reveal our cards and total them up have the lowest number and we have to go up in incremental order in the way that the strength of your poker hand works in the gang.

SPEAKER_00 2:22:53

So I completely agree with you it's like a racing game twist with the gang vibes cooperative but with different scenarios that you kind of play through I thought it was really really cool. It's really original it's really fun to look at you you you you're you see those kind of a small small car on the on the on the table and you want to play yes yes yes yes and then last two I'll say fetching feathers or what's going to be called peacock card drafting game where the season matters and you're trying to put these birds that have these crazy looks like the art is so cool on this and this is Chris Prescott's game. Okay yes so I know it'll be at UK Games Expo like he'll have a booth there and there's a version coming in France and I think also in the US and it's whatever the translation of peacock is but it's a real puzzly kind of card drafting game where you're building a tableau and then the last one I want to just throw in is Mun Emblems of Senjoku. Did you get to play this one? No this one is going to be coming from Don't Panic games and likely will be at Gen Con to try maybe to buy but it's a card game where all the cards you have three different color cards and you are trying to play cards in an order such that you score the most points because different cards have a different amount of points but when you play cards we're playing them into rows and like let's say the first card in the top row is a four and if the next card you play is a 10, you place your 10 there with your scoring token. Okay. But then if I have a card that's in between I can then play it and basically remove your points and then I am now scoring two cards and there are ways that you're like cleverly playing your cards to score more points essentially I'll probably like it'll be easier to show this one in a video with examples but I enjoyed it quite a bit and I love card games and this is another one that's you can play with anyone but it has some real strategy to the order in which you play your cards and yeah I think those were the last two that I wanted to squeeze in. Penelope I'm so glad I know we could have continued talking for hours for hours really we are and we we get excited about games yeah and we're both chatty. Yeah both chatty we both want to speak about 40 games so yes maybe we will do the the rest in another uh life yes yes exactly no we we should do a follow-up at some point later later this year or yeah if it's okay with my so so English uh you crushed it you want yeah yeah no you crushed it very much because last time we recorded together you had Marjorie with you just in case you had challenges and I I I commend you because I could not sit here and talk about games the way you do in a language that's not my you know primary language so thank you for being down to record with me. I love your accent too and um yeah and that's the French one yes we will for sure do this again so thanks again thank you uh Candice you've been listening to the Kickin' it creative podcast produced and edited by Candace Harris special thanks to Matt Ponda and Logan Staley for editing and mixing our music be sure to visit us on the web at kickin'itcreative.com and on YouTube for even more kicking it creative content crafted by Candace. Thanks for listening and happy gaming