Top 5 Games With Animals

Transcript

[0:00] Music.

[0:06] Welcome to the Chasing Meeples podcast. If you want a lighthearted take on board games with a sprinkling of hilarity, you're in the right place.

[0:13] Music.

[0:20] On today's episode, Chris and Angie discuss their top 5 games with animals in it.
This is gonna be awesome. I ain't lion.

[0:28] Music.

[0:37] The banter starts now. Hello, everybody. This is the Chasing Meeples podcast.
I'm your host, Chris. And as always, I am with my lovely co-host, I'm Angie.
All right. How's it going? And apparently my mic was a little too loud for you, huh?
Well, it was, you were a little enthusiastic, I think.
I like enthusiasm. I do. I do.
Except when it's coming through my ears at 80 decibels. 80 decibels?
I don't know. I just grab, I'm just grabbing random numbers.
80 decibels straight into your ear holes.
Grabbing random numbers and throwing it out there, seeing what sticks.
Hey, that's fine. Whatever. 80 decibels it is.
How's it going? It's going good. I'm fine. Do you do you know we are in double digits, double digits, double digits.
Well, I know that because it's sitting here right in front of me on my computer.
Episode 10 of the Chasing Meeples podcast. We are on 10. We're on 10.

[1:45] You know, you think back, we've been doing this since November, right?
So we haven't been doing this very long.
So 10 episodes since November. It is now March 19th on the day that we're recording it this episode, and I believe it's March 19th. Is it?
Yeah. Oh, I got it right. Nope. March 19th, Sunday, March 19th, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.
So I think we're doing pretty good.
We're doing okay.
Okay, we've pretty much stayed on schedule to a month.
Two episodes a month. We had, because we had stuff going on, we were late one week and then made up for it, stayed on time, made up for it the next week. Yeah.
So what is your favorite thing about this whole podcasting thing?
10 episodes in. Oh my God.
Oh, put you on a spot, right? This episode 10 is going to be all about putting you on the spot.
Oh my gosh.
It was hard enough for me to come up with five animal-themed games.
Suddenly, what's the best?
It's you.
Oh, it's me and the golden voice. Yes, it is.
What if I would have said anything else? Anything else? I would have said anything else than that.
I would have been like, no, I want your honest thing. What are you enjoying the most out of this chasing meeple's journey?

[3:11] Crumony. Crumony. Crumony. Would you like me to go first? We'll take the pressure off.
Yeah, we're going. Okay, if we are. Or if that's so if this is a back and forth thing, absolutely.
OK, so what I am enjoying the most about our chasing meeple's journey, other than the fact that it's allowing me to relive my youth.

[3:30] Messing with the audio stuff and just creating content, I guess.
It brings me back to the 90s.
I've been thinking about this.
So I was talking to somebody and I was talking about how cool it is that.
Not only do we get to just sit and chat about something that we enjoy, collaborating or being able to talk with other content creators.

[3:54] Now, we haven't really done any collaboration, but just the interaction and so far every interaction I've ever had with a content creator has been positive.
And I made the comment to this person that I will wear a t-shirt, I will, and I was talking about All Aboard Gamer, I will wear their t-shirt, we bought their t-shirts, you know we watch their live stream on Thursdays whenever we get a chance and I just I like that so I made the comment that I was taking it straight back to the 90s, back when I was in a punk band and it was all about wearing you know everybody else in the scenes shirts and whether you personally got along with them or not you were just you know you're wearing their shirts and all that fun stuff. So word of mouth now, it is 2023.
Don't necessarily know if there's a better way to do it, which I'm sure there is.
But I like kicking it old school.

[5:06] You didn't see that. And you have no idea how hard it was to keep a straight face.
And you did not see that. I didn't see any eye rolls.
I'm very proud of you.
I didn't even get the I was so shocked by what I was seeing.
What me just beatboxing.
But it was the whole movement that was going along with it. There was a whole movement.
There was a whole you got to get them. Yeah. You can say what kind of movement that was.
It was it was the beat.
I don't know. It was just your I'm so shocked that movement had me shocked.
Speechless. Okay. Speechless.

[5:46] Okay. So now I went, so what, what are you enjoying the most?
So like, I can tell you one thing I am super proud of you for, but I want you to answer my question.
I feel like you've been tiptoeing around it. I appreciate talking about board games because it's something that, something that I love to people that are interested in board games.
I can talk.
About board games to people who will just glaze over. If I even remotely mention something, I mean, I don't even have to mention a board game term, but I know when people start to gloss over, you know, what do you did? I said, oh, great. You know, I don't even go into, oh, I played a game.
I just said, yeah, we had a good time. You know, we did our usual, because if I get any more in depth to that.
That's when the glossing over. Oh, do you mean the standard?
Hey, what did you do this weekend? Yes. OK, got it.
Yes, that's standard. What did you do this weekend? It's like you really don't want to.

[6:48] I think it's really cool that you have somebody that works at where you work, also works in a game shop or game store.
Well, I have a toy store in the basement. So when I want to talk about Favorite Game, Friday, when I want to show up for my videos, when I talked about the Kickstarter, I would go down there when she comes upstairs and we'd share all that kind of stuff.
I tell, you know, I tell Pam and she gets all excited for me and stuff like that.
Um, yes. And, um, Faith works upstairs in our yarn store and she works at one of our local game stores in town here.
So it's, you know, fun to talk to her about it. And I talked to her about that convention that would just went on.
And so, yeah, there is somebody, it is, it is. And we, and we went there today.
Yeah, we did. We went there today, made a purchase and she even mentioned that she's going to ask me how I like it.
Yeah. So you will have somebody to talk to other than me.
I feel like we've gotten over the save it for the podcast discussion because this morning we were having a good discussion, I think on the way when I was bringing you into work about Tyletum. Yes.
And I think that was a good game.

[8:01] Yes. going to be my, I was going to ask you, it was a Euro game, so I made a comment, I did, a video, and I talked about Teletum, and I said, I think, I don't know how I worded it, if I worded it like, um, Chris isn't going to like it.
I did say Chris isn't going to like it. In a nutshell, in a nutshell.
But I didn't use those words.
No, but in a nutshell. I don't think Chris is going to have the stamina for it.
The stamina. Stamina. Stamina.
Stamina. Challenge accepted. Challenge accepted. That is actually, before we talk about Tyletum, I want to tell you, I am very proud of you. That's what I was saying. I'm very proud of you for that YouTube video.
So, I wake up in the morning and my day starts between 1.30am and 3am everyday to go to work.
And then I'm usually working until, you know, three, four o'clock in the afternoon.

[9:04] So anyway, my day starts very early. I wake up and I look at my phone.
And there's a text message from Angie that I wake up to. I uploaded a short and a video. I'm sorry.

[9:21] Of course, I'm paraphrasing, but that is essentially what it said. Essentially, yes.
And I'm like, OK. So I responded with, you don't have to be sorry.
And then I went on with my day.
Me. And my day was like, you know, I walked into work and it was like I stepped on that conveyor belt and boom, it was four o'clock and I don't even know what the heck I did.
But I know I did something because lawnmowers were made. I finally get a chance to sit down and I see board games and banter with Angie. Is that what you called it? I think so. And I'm like, this is not a short.
It is 20 minutes long, but it was filmed in the vertical. There was a short.
But there was a short, which I did see.
I'm like, oh, boy. So I click on it and it's got intros and intro video and an outro graphic.
And I'm like, way to go. I was really proud of you.
I was really proud of you. I still am proud of you. I can't wait for the second episode, of board games and banter with Angie. I think that would make a perfect live stream.
People can commenting and you just interacting. You got that. You've got that.
You've got that. That's you.

[10:44] So, yeah, so so let's get back to stamina. Let's get back to stamina.
Chris's stamina. So last night.
When we played it. I walked in there and I really wanted to play it.
I didn't mean you're setting up a game.
So I asked if I could play, can you teach me? First of all, did you think I was going to?
I don't know if I thought you were going to, but I was prepared to play it regardless if you were going to.
Okay, you were- I was waiting for you to- Did you hand it?
No, I was actually gonna go through the solo rules. Oh, okay.
But if you wanted to play it, I was setting it up And, you know, it was, I'm setting it up.
So if you wanted to play it, then I was easily just, it's ready.
It was ready for you.
So I am, so I sit down, I'm ready for this and I've got, you know, got some green tea, trying to get some energy going and I'm perfectly awake.
And I look at this board being set up.

[11:53] And holy cow, when you said there's a lot to manage or a lot going on in that game, I'm just watching you put stuff out and I'm like, geez.
But most Euro games in my mind kind of look a little bit more intimidating than they actually are once you learn how to play them, which was also the case with Tylenum.
But. All of a sudden, as soon as you started, as soon as you started explaining the rules, I felt my eyelids getting heavy, you know, I thought I did it really well. I did. I was listening to somebody on how to how to teach a game. And it was it was what is your theme?
Yeah. How do you, why are you winning? How, how do you win?
You know, what's your end game scoring? How do you go back and how do you get there?
And I, you know, when I started talking actions, I said, do you want to learn the actions as we go along? Or do you want me to sit there?
If I would have sit there, if I would have sat there and listed every action and then the three ways that what you can do on each action and then the task.
Oh, I would have been out.
You would have been out. I would have been out.

[13:14] Yeah. But. But you stayed awake to the whole thing. No, you did a great job.
And you won. So I'm not saying that your teach was horrible.
I'm just saying that, holy cow. Yes, I need to know theme.
Right. That that must be the the Ameritrash player in me coming in like the theme.
What's the theme? You know, flavor text, all that.
Right. So you tell me that. All right, I can see that, but then I look at this Rondell or this action wheel or whatever you want to call it.
And it's so far away. It actually is just it's so far away from me. And I am not.
I'm sorry. I'm not going to stand up in the middle of a game.
This is not like calisthenics or the whole time I'm waiting for you to stand up and I'm pointing out things.
You're not moving. moving. And so I literally have to take the tile off of here and bring it to you and say, see? Yeah, you're standing, you're sitting closer to it than me. Give me that blue number five.

[14:18] Whatever that is. Exactly. What resources do I get iron or do I get wool? But I figured it out.
You did. By the third round, you were, you were cruising through there and you're like, I'll do this and I'm going to take here and then I'm going to take this one and I'm going to get those points and then and literally I'm still looking at what am I going to do? And you're like, I'm going to do that and that. I'm like, is your turn over with yet?
It's not like I'm questioning what you're doing, it's like I was so completely...

[14:49] You had it. There was like this one turning point where you were like, what's that?
What's that? Now, what do I do here? And it was like in an instant, suddenly you're like, bing, bang, boom, this, this, point this, self this. I was just like back and forth. And you did, seven actions back to back. And I'm just sitting here going, oh, I need a pillar.
How am I going to move back up to London and I'm counting my action points?
How do I get back to that merchant action?
I don't have gold and I'm looking here and you're like, here I go and I'm going to fulfill this contract and oh, I'm going to take this task and I'm going to exchange gold for wood and oh, I'm going to go over here to this cathedral and.

[15:40] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It clicked. And then when I what what were you doing?
Was it you're buying you were I think building to buy the cathedrals or something.
And you got so bummed out when.
No. So at the start of the game, I went to London because London was the last location for the festival.
That was a good move. And so I agree.
I agree. That was a good move.
But I screwed up the iconography. And that was probably when my eyes were like getting heavy.

[16:13] It was fulfilled contracts and built cathedrals. Yeah.
And I, for some reason in my mind, kept seeing the the slash and or slash.
And I was just like, wow. And then at the end, when we started to score or when it clicked, I just remember giving you that look like, oh, yeah, Yeah, because here you had like 20 contracts fulfilled.
I'm looking over at you and that's all your pillars are off there and you've got all your contracts on here.
And then I realized, no, you never got any cathedral. So, you know, when I'm looking at quite a lot, one contract and one cathedral here, I got this one. And so I had the, you know, the even numbers.
Yep. But yeah, that was that was the one the one thing that bummed me out. But you are right.
Eighty nine to eighty two, I believe, was the final score.
You know, I think it was higher than that. No, ninety eight to ninety two. That's what it was.
Yeah, I was so close to one hundred. Anyway, yeah, that is a good game.
I'd like to play that again. It is very beige.
I'm talking beige.

[17:26] If I didn't have a green pillar or a house, it would be beige, the whole thing, beige.
But it's a good game. I mean, I enjoy Euros. I like the point salad things. I like, being able to do something and feel rewarded for doing it.
And I think that's why games that only have this track where you go up to 20 points and you got the winner. I feel I feel cheated, feel cheated. I feel cheated.
I want to be able to get 135 points in a game.
All right, Angie, I want to try something new. Oh, don't have a name for it.
But as of right now, I'm going to call it things that I found interesting.
Yeah, you need a new name.
I thought you were going to say like things I found on the Internet or something, but things I found interesting.
Yeah, you need a new name. I want to do a little bit of a news segment, maybe once once a month or something.
Maybe every episode, just some quick blurbs of things that I found that I thought were interesting.
Okay. Board game related? Of course, board game related. No cryptids, just board games.
So Angie, did you know that there is a new Catan expansion coming out?

[18:42] No. Catan is getting a football themed board game expansion. Oh, I knew that.
Yeah. It's called Catan Soccer Fever and it is supposed to be released sometime this year.
Now I am not 100% convinced that this is actually a thing seeing as that it is so close to April 1st.
Yeah. I'm wondering if this is a April Fool's thing. So it's supposed to be an expansion or a new like retheming of it.
No it's an expansion.
It's an add-on essentially. So what I've gathered.
That doesn't make sense that I could see if they're retheming it like they did the Star track Catan, but how would you just do people settling farms over here, suddenly they're playing soccer in the fields?
That's pretty much what it is. So every time you claim an area, you have these balls and there's literally a, it's like a dexterity game.
There's literally like a paper goal and you play a flicking game where you make a goal.

[19:44] So not only are these people settling a new land, apparently they have some sort of love or obsession with soccer.
And to celebrate taking over land, they play a game of soccer.
I thought that was interesting. Very interesting. I thought that was interesting. That's interesting.
So the next news that I have, I'm going to say is some kind of sad news, but I see why it must be done.
Restoration Games has announced that they will not be reprinting two of the unmatched sets.
Do you know which sets those are?
Bigfoot. Robin Hood vs Bigfoot is one of them. do you know what the other one is?

[20:28] Cobble and fog. Yep. Cobble and fog. So thankfully, we found that one.
Yeah. Right. So anybody that's listening to this, that wants to get them but has not yet, you might want to snag them up next time you see them because they might not be around very much longer.
So they don't want unmatched to be this big glob of.

[20:50] Thing that just takes up store shelves. And because a lot of their a lot of their sales comes from brick and mortar. And I was reading this article. OK. And a lot of their sales come from brick and mortar family game stores. And they don't want to be you know, you walk into it like I'll give you a really good example. We walk into a game store. You see a whole shelf full of nothing but smash up or a whole shelf full of nothing but munchkin. I was thinking that.
Yeah. They don't want it to be that. OK. Right. And they're they've got some new licensing deals apparently they're gonna be coming out with some more Marvel sets and they, just released the digital version of that game on the switch which has some DLC probably so you could probably I'm assuming they'll probably have those digitally okay now they're saying that those other two sets that they are going to discontinue they're not saying that they may not be resurrected in the future yeah however they're saying just not gonna to print them. No plans to reprint them. Makes sense. And then I sense and that makes that.

[21:59] I think as a business owner, you feel somewhat compelled to offer complete sets, creating that where I'm going to put out as much as possible. I'm going to get everything in.
And yeah, then you're going to congest the shelves at which you could then turn off maybe, a business owner saying they have too much content that we just can't keep up with at all.
Yep. I don't know. Don't have a game store. All right.
And the final piece of news that I found exciting is Angie, there is something that is scheduled for release in September of 2023 and it happens to be a game.
We own the game that it is like a, not an expansion, but it's a standalone too.
Do you know what that is? If I can give you a couple hints, you could figure it out.
Well, I won't be able to figure it out without a hint. All right. No kidding. A game that we have.
A game that we have. Yes. OK, that's that's that was an on the level of an Angie quiz question right there. Oh no! No way!

[23:06] No way! A game that we have. Get out of here.
A game that we have with a letter on the cover in the title. That is bad.
I mean, you could even say a game we have that's rated six point six and I'd have at least a better chance of guessing it.
Oh, yeah. All right. So here is the first hint.
It is published by Brotherwise Games.
I need another one.
All right. It's not coming, but I can. I'm it's right there, but I can't. Pixel art. Overboss?
Ding, ding, ding. Woo.
September 2023. Overboss duel is scheduled to come. Really? A two player version of the game.
Oh, OK. It looks really neat. Cool. Yeah. So anybody that yeah, anybody that likes overboss and strictly plays games, two players like Angie and I, two player version game and that that's a good piece of news is stuff that I found interesting.
I don't know what we'll call this. I did not hear that one. Got to make some sort of jingle.
Jingle, jingle, jingle. stuff that Chris finds interesting.
Now you're gonna have to work on that title.

[24:23] Music.

[24:45] For the most part, our quiz has been something that has to do with our name, either chasing or meeples, and I bring it back to a board game.
It was a little bit loose last week. This one still does that.

[25:01] But coming up in the future, I've already written quiz for next episode.
You're going to have to kind of go away from that a little bit, and it's going to be more thematic to what we're talking about.
I'm really losing things.
There's only so many things quiz wise that match up with the word.
I mean, I could do meeples.
We could have quizzes about meeples coming out or yin-yang, but...
Coming out or yin-yang. It's not flowing as well as it did in the beginning.
But this one is still, still does it.
That's all right. And to remind everybody, I never am allowed to see these quizzes, these questions.
Angie forbids me.
She keeps them so secret and locked away. I have no idea what she's going to ask me.
So the reaction that you hear is pretty much the truth. There is not a lot of editing except for a lot of the ums and the breathing and the long pauses.
This one has seven questions. Seven questions and that gives me what for max points?
Seven. Oh, yeah. No bonus questions. No, that's what I'm looking through here.
And I don't think I have one.
I could probably create one. No, I don't do it.

[26:17] OK. Don't do it.

[26:19] Are you ready? Always. An animal that is a pursuant predator is a predator that actively gives chase to the prey.
Chase.
The chase. No, I don't explain it a little bit. Chasing meeples.
Oh, OK. All right. Chasing meeple. You totally didn't catch the sarcasm on that, did you?
No. OK, I can tell by the look on your face.
Chase. Get it? No, I didn't. A predator chasing its prey. Okay, I'm back in.
Oh, see how hard it is, people. See how hard it is.
The chase can be initiated either by a predator or by the prey if it is alerted to the predator's presence and attempts to flee before it gets close.
What is the fastest pursuit predator?
Cheetah. You got that right with a running speed of 61 to 64 miles per hour.
Oh, I paid attention when I was watching TV growing up as a kid, apparently.
I don't know. OK.

[27:42] I can't wait for this one, because your eyes are going to glaze over. Oh, good.
What is the title of the girl group formed in 2003 with the word cheetah in its name?
Oh, isn't it the Cheetah Girls? Oh, damn it!
Is that the... Is that the? Yes, it is.

[28:00] Don't you wish your boyfriend was hot like me? I don't know. I don't know if I don't think they sing that.
I don't think they sing that. They're they were real young girls.
I don't have no idea. Oh, no, no, that wasn't the Cheetah Girls.
Yeah, it was. That was something else. You were right about the Cheetah Girls, unfortunately.
That's where Raven-Symoné played the Cheetah Girls in the Disney show or whatever, the movie. And then. Yes.
All right. I got the cheetah girls. You did. That's why I didn't think you were going to get these.
You're going to have you probably going to get most of you. I think there's one that you.
Oh, I'm feeling max points.
If you thought Cheetah Girls was the. I thought I did. I thought it was going to be the summer. I did. I did.
What snack food has a cheetah for a mascot? Cheetos. And what's his name?
Chester Cheetah.
Four. You're up to four. It ain't easy being cheesy.
There are one hundred and twenty six flavors or types of Cheetos, which is not an official Cheeto flavor.
OK, which is not OK. Cheeseburger.
Korean pepper and garlic. Brown sugar cube.

[29:19] Sweet teriyaki rice or shrimp Thai brown sugar cube, that's one.
I gotcha. I gotcha on that one. I bet you it was the rice one because your inflection and your voice was a little bit different when you read it.
That's right. Sweet teriyaki. I was just going to say sweet teriyaki and I did because some of the words here were rather big, but yeah, sweet teriyaki rice.
I was thinking about, you know, like they get some really good flavors in some other countries, but brown sugar cube just doesn't really do it for me. What country is that in?

[29:56] Oh, I don't know. I didn't look that up. I didn't look. I was looking at them, but I didn't look to see which country. Somewhat was obvious which countries they were from. But, so you have four. You got four. You're still on four.
What is the one game that we own that has a cheetah in it?
Hold on a second before I even answer that question. How did you think that the cheetah girls was going to be the one that stumps me, but not the Cheeto flavors.
I'm just going to because that was multiple choice.
But still, that's multiple choice. Come on. Come on. That's like a one out of five chance still.
Oh, so disappointed in myself right now.

[30:43] I wanted Max points. All right. Back to the game.
Back to the game. The one game that we own that has a cheetah in it.
Yes. I'm going to say it's ARKNOVA. ARKNOVA is in the BGG top 100 as of 316. What is ARKNOVA ranked?
Four. Did you look over there? Do you have it written down? I'm good. You have. You should.
I mean, they've been talking about it lately as you're talking about news. Actually, I have it it on my list. I knew it was ranked. It's ranked four, isn't it?
It is. Four on the BGG. As of 316, we have no idea because that top 100 seems to be shifting daily.
You should look on it and see what it is. It's still ranked four.
It's still ranked four. Because I was just on there today.

[31:36] All right. So you got six out of seven. That is the only time I will ever get what a game is ranked on BGG.
Boom. And it just so happened to be because I wrote it down from my list.
So what did I get? 8?
6. 6 out of 7. Oh, that's right. I thought I was getting bonus points.
For what? For being me. Oh. All right, six out of seven.
I'll take it.

[32:04] Music.

[32:13] Games. Angie and I want to talk about our top five animal themed games.
I don't know why.

[32:28] Why not? Oh, God. Why can't go there? Why not?
I don't know. Because it matches the quiz. Just OK. Did you write the quiz first?

[32:41] Or did you make the quiz after you came up with the top five animal games?
No, I had the quiz first. I had to get chasing.
And so Cheetah question came first. Okay, love it.
Love it. Now I know because it was very random. Like, what are we talking about during our podcast?
I get a text top five animal games.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. The cheetah question came first. Okay. All right.
What came first? The cheetah or the top five list?
Exactly. The chase.
All right. So we're going to get this started now. When I wrote my list, I basically wrote my list as games that I like and in the order that I like them that happen to have animals in them.
I did.
I did. Things have animals in it. so they won't, my list has how animals, how strongly the animal is in the game.
Is it the whole game? Is it just there? Is it just theming?
Is it, there's just animal part of it? So that's kind of how I ranked it, not by how much I like the game.
My number five animal game is hive.
Why is hive so high on my list, you say? Well, actually, it's last, but it.

[34:05] Yes, it is.

[34:12] So, no, no one's going to say it.
You're listening, it's the last one.
OK, what I should have said Why is Hive in my top five?
That game has gotten Angie and I through a lot of sitting in restaurants and we got Hive Pocket.
It stays in its pouch.
It's in the Jeep all the time and we will take it out when we go to restaurants or it got us through like the longest wait at a Wahlburgers ever.

[34:58] It went with us to Red Lobster, just recently went with us to Perkins, and man, oh man, that game is great. So it's tiles and that's it. Tiles in your imagination, pretty much. You don't have a board. You have to worry about keeping the tiles together in some orderly fashion.
Yeah, they like to slip around.
Yeah, but each bug, you know, you've got ants, mosquitoes, young beetles, bees, spiders, all this kind of stuff and each, each, it's very abstract. It's almost like an abstract version of chess.
If you want to get, that's the way I think of it. Each bug can move in its own way.
And I used to win all the time. And the last couple of times we played, Angie has crushed me in like record time.
I came up with the dung beetle bomb. I don't know what I'm gonna call that maneuver the beetle bomber I don't know, But I discovered that you know if according to the rules you can put the beetle on top of the bee and, and the queen can't move.

[36:16] And Angie's been using that against me. I used that once. What?
Now, you said twice. Now you just use it once. Well, you smoked me last night. So then.
That's because I plopped it right on top of the queen. Let it sit there.
I had that was interesting because you were bragging. I'm going to get this game in two moves.
I got in two moves and I move. I had our I had our queens next to each other, which was unusual.
You should never do that.
And I moved mine out of the way. and it left this hole and I moved it.
I thought, oh, dang it. I moved it and there was nothing.
How am I gonna get something in there, right?
Well, here I am sitting on top of the queen. All I had to do is fall off the queen right into that space and- And you did. And I did it.
I was trying to get into your head. It didn't work.
I was trying. I was trying to get into your head.

[37:18] What happened? You're like two moves, two moves. I got it. I made my next move.
You're like, no, I don't got it.
So then second game, I'm like, all right, this is going to be the most aggressive strategy ever. And I had to look at you and go now. Remember, Angie, you cannot move your bugs until you place your queen.
Yeah, because it was like I was going to put the spider down.
Then I was going to put the queen down and then it was going to be like, bam, bam, bam, bam.
And I, in my mind, I thought I was just going to be able to like rush ya.
And I didn't. I lost that one too. I usually get stuck on the whole, um, keeping the hive together.
I want to move the queen and I can't because you're like, you can't break apart the hive.
So I still really haven't found my mind the right way. I am looking for it now when I'm placing tiles that, OK, this is going to keep the hive connected if I move it.
Right away looking at, I'm going to put this here and put this here to keep everything connected.
I can't do that. I can't see that in my mind's eye.
Sure. So that is my number five. Hive, also pretty much Hive Pocket, and it is ranked 276 on BoardGameGeek.

[38:43] Did you put that on there on purpose? Uh-huh. Put that on purpose. I did. there.
I think we're going to have some crossovers with this list, but my number five is Endless Winter Paleo America by Stan Krodonsky.
We've reviewed the game, so we have talked about it a lot because so I know everybody listening has already heard that, so I won't go into incredible detail, but while animals are not the focus of this game, and that's why this is down to number five, they do play a strong role in the scoring.
One of the possible actions available to players is the hunt action.
And when you choose to hunt an animal, you go over to the hunting board and you're going to collect an animal and there's two ways to use it.
You can use them for endgame scoring because you're going to collect sets of animals or, you can kill it and eat it's meat.
So I usually... Meat is a resource. Yeah. So you can basically keep it as a pet, eat it.
In my mind, that's what you're doing when you're not eating it.
You're keeping it as a pet. Yes, I have three saber tooth tigers.
My number four happens to be rated number 25 on board game geek.

[40:06] And that is wingspan. Wingspan's number four on my list because of the wingspan Asia.
Good game. I have the app version that I play on my Nintendo Switch.

[40:19] But this game, like I said, in our feature review in what was the last episode, it has now moved into a game that.
I want to continue to play. It'll be a regular two player game for us.
So that is Wingspan Asia.
Good game, good game, good game. It is not on my list.
Oh, it's not on my list. Number four, I think you're going to be surprised by this one.
And I know it's not a crossover.
That's Queens by Bruno Cathala.

[40:56] Queens, that's an R.A. game. It is a 2019 game, which is the oldest game on my list, then Queens is an abstract strategy game, just like Hive is.
So it is an abstract game with the B theme slapped on it, really.
But it is a peaceful, thinking, as if you're sitting under a tree on a sunny day, contemplating the clouds in the sky.
In Queens, there is a, stop laughing, it is. And this is what I thought of when I came, oh, is that work?
That was great. Very poetic.
There is a grid, and it is, I don't know if it's eight by eight, I was gonna look it up, I'm not sure if it's a step five by five maybe it's a six by six it's good so, there are different colored flowers in each row some of them have bees on them some of them the majority do not and then there's a gardener path all around and when the gardener walks around the flower on the path walks around the path.

[42:05] He will stop. I think you have one, two, or three steps you can take. The gardener stops. You can choose from that row or column, you can choose three flowers if they're all different colors, you could choose two flowers of the same color, or, you could choose one flower with a beat. Now you're going to take them and put, them on your personal player board in front of you and the goal of the game is to create your own garden. You will take a polyomino shaped tile and place a hive on it and that won't be the last time you're going to hear me say that word and then you're going to start to grow your garden and you have to put I believe it's at least four flowers of the same color and your point is you're going to try to score your largest contiguous group of flowers that are, connected to that hive.
And then you will also score the bees at the end of the game as well.
And there's a little bit more involved in that, but you get the general picture of how it plays.
So it's a fun game. It's a peaceful game, sitting underneath a shady tree, looking at the clouds game.

[43:20] And that's the way I'm going to just start describing games.
My number three is Everdell.
I just think to myself, that game cannot not be on this list.
So Everdell was one of the first games that we, when we started playing.
I remember you, I remember you bringing it home. Yeah.

[43:44] I remember you bringing it home with the tree. Yeah. Bringing together that first tree and.
Oh, so beautiful. Yeah.
It was so beautiful when we first set it up. I was like, this is so cool.
Yeah. It's one of those games that sometimes you would have set up when I get home from work.
Yep. Like on a Friday or something like that.

[44:01] Squishy Berries. We played at a game hall con with a stranger.
Everdell currently ranked 31 on board game geek and my number three.
Alright, my number three. In 2020, another bee game was developed called Honey Buzz.
I chose to put it at three because there are both bees and bears in it, but it is essentially a market game that could probably be rethemed pretty easily. In Honey Buzz, you're going to create a hive by using hexagonal tiles in different shapes. How you put together your hive determines what kind of honey it produces and then you will forge for the appropriate honey tile or the center of your hive. You'll take your bee workers and place it on different worker spots around the hive and take various actions. You can reproduce a baby bee, you can take the forge action, a, a production action in which you take the honey and put it in your personal supply.
You can take a market action, which will allow you to sell honey to fulfill a large or small order, or you can buy honey at the market.

[45:25] There's another action that allows you to gain money from the banker.
And then I think the last spot is a wild spot.
Is there another action I'm forgetting?
I don't, I don't think so. I think that's all of them.
The game ends when there's only one group of orders because there's, there are different, piles of small orders and large orders.
So when there's only one stack of orders left, you end game or if you've depleted all the market supply of honey.
So the game ends when there's only one group of orders left or you've depleted the market supply of honey. I will always enjoy Honey Buzz because when I sit underneath a shady tree and I hear, that sound you have in summer and you think I need to crawl out of here really fast, I mean, you can cut it out.

[46:25] I made that up right now. I just made it up. My sentence was I will always enjoy Honey Buzz.
I will play it eagerly, even though I always lose. No, that's staying in.
That is staying in.
Jeez, Honey Buzz would have been my was my my honorable mention.
I had a feeling because you were you had this look on your face when I said Queens and you're looking at your phone like what game is that?
Yeah, Queens not I mean, decent game, right?
But out of the two bee themed games, I like Honey Buzz. I like that game a lot.
Yeah, you always win.
My number two is currently ranked number four on BGG, and that is Ark Nova.
So the comparisons when the game first came out were Terraforming Mars.
That was the big comparison, I think, because it had that all those cards and it has Terraforming Mars vibes to it.

[47:33] Yeah, you're building, you're building a zoo in Terraforming Mars.
You're building, you know. and all the tags on the cards and everything that plays into it.
It's a great game.
It took us like five hours to play it the first time.
So there is no problem with my stamina. And in my mind, I keep telling myself, I need to upgrade that coffee cup.
But anyway, we do have map packs for that. We do. We need to play that.

[48:03] What I like about that game is the like the action selection, like the cards, how you can pick a card and then when you pick it it slides over to the first spot and then everything else goes.

[48:17] I like that a lot. So, Ark Nova, you are making a zoo. You're running a zoo.
You're collaborating with other zoos. It's good stuff. And that is definitely why it is number two, on my list. My number two is Llama Land by Phil Walker-Harding.
This is another game I frequently lose, but the point of this game is to build a pasture for your llamas using surprise surprise surprise polyamino tiles and once you build a decent base you start building upwards.
The interesting thing about this game I feel are the end goals that everybody chooses in the beginning.
Each of these cards are laid out, they have different levels on the goal cards.

[49:19] And players in the beginning are going to go back and forth, placing their workers on the goal cards.
So we might have some of the same goals. I might be at level 15 and you're on level 10.
So when I finish the card, I'll get 15 points. If you finish it, you would only get 10.
A lot of times, we'll have separate goals. We won't be on the same card, but sometimes, about 50-50, I think a lot of times we're grabbing different goals, but it kind of depends on how high, how, you know, if they're easier goals, we tend to kind of fight over it.
So the first to choose a goal, obviously choose the higher scoring level in that card.
And for an example, some of the goals might be have the most llamas on level 4 of your, pasture or just have the largest group of llamas.

[50:20] So, it's a fun game, it's a tile lane, polyamino, the llamas are adorable, but I really, really lose this game a lot, but I really, really enjoy it.
So Llama Land is my number two. Mr. Phil Walker-Harding.
All hail, Phil. My number one is currently ranked 126 on the BGG on the BGG ranking.
I sound like such an old man when I say that.
I got to stop saying it that way. You do it so sarcastically because you know, I use it on every quiz.
So you're like, oh, on the BGG, it's 166.
Oh, when I say it, I sound like I feel like old man Lauren.
My number one.

[51:23] Is ranked 126 on the BGD.
Back in my day, we didn't have no the BGD on the Facebook's and the my spaces.
All right, anyway, 126 on the BGG ranking system. And if you ask me, it is a little bit too high. It should be down.
It should be lower.
Let's get into the double digits, people. Your number one, you think, should be lower on the list?
Like it should be like 200? Like higher on the list, double digits.
All right. Not triple.
Okay. That's the second time today.
Let's get these rankings boosted, Meeple Chasers. Let's boost it. Boast it. All right.
See how much clout I have in the world. Get this game to the top 10.
Kill them old man Lauren sent ya.
I didn't even say the name of the game.
So that game, it's simple.

[52:37] It is easy. I mean like the mechanics are just beautiful in this game and it just it blends well with the beautiful artwork and that is Parks. When we first got parks. I was...

[52:54] It's elegant. I don't even know how to put it. Like the table presence is just gorgeous.
And the gameplay is seamless. It just seamlessly, you talk about a game that, that the theme matches the game. It is definitely Parks. So in the game, you take the role of two hikers as they trek through the different trails across the four seasons of the year.
Year. And while you're on the trail, you're going to collect memories of places that you visit. These memories are represented by various resource tokens like mountains and forests.
And you collect these memories and sets, and that'll allow you to trade them in to visit a national park. So each trail represents one season of the year, and each season the trails will change and grow longer. And your trails are represented by tiles or essentially cards that get added to the trail. Yeah, it's good stuff.

[53:58] That's a very nice game. It is. That's a very nice game.
It is. So, and that is why it is my number one on the top five games that have animals in them. And it is one twenty six on the BGG ranking system.
I don't know how to say it. One twenty six on BGG. Meeple chasers. Get it up there.

[54:31] Oh, Chris, Chris, Chris, you got to love you. Number one, my number one.
And for an animal themed game, there can be no other number one, but Ark Nova.
Ark Nova is the uncontroverted 2020 smash hit about building a zoo.
Of course, you will collect animal cards and score points based off of them, but Ark Nova, has a few unusual mechanics.
The first one is the player action boards, which is what you were talking about, but get a little bit more in detail what makes a game so different is how these actions are chosen and played.
Each board has slots 1 through 5 and these are values essentially.
At the start of the game, you're going to decide which card goes in which position.
And during the play, you're going to play a card.

[55:29] In the slot number five has a greater benefit than what's going to be in slot number one but after you play a card and this is what you were talking about you play the card it moves down to number one and everything else moves up changing the worth on subsequent turns and each player has the same five cards you have an animal card which allows you to put your animal in the zoo you have a build action card which lets you buy an enclosure. There's a sponsor card which lets you raise money or play a sponsor. And these people are like environmentalists and scientists so they get you a lot of times their end game points. There is a card card which lets you buy more cards and an association card and that allows your association workers to carry out various tasks.
At the start of turn you'll place your cards on a different number of slots in, any order so you are going to determine the starting values of your cards. The, next unusual thing about this game is the scoring. There are two scoring tracks, and the first will be your in-game points. So you get from your action cards or you know your animal cards and then the income you get. The second is from your conservation.

[56:56] These points start slowly and then they're gradually going to accumulate faster and faster towards the end of the game and when these two tracks converge or overlap any player that is when the end game is triggered and then players add their final points and your final Final score is based on the difference between the two scoring tracks.

[57:23] I think that's one subtracted from the other, okay, because, well, I usually make you do that.
Yeah. It's like, Chris, what's our score?
So sometimes there's people, sometimes we've had negative scores, and sometimes, you know, you're looking at that big track going, well, I have this high, high score, and then when, it actually gets figured out at the end, you're like, oh, 25, 25 to minus three.
But you know what? What? It doesn't hurt as much as patchwork.
I'm telling you, patchwork just sucks the soul right out of you.
It's just soul-sucking. So on the top five quilting-themed games, where would patchwork be?
It wouldn't even be on there.
Billion, be number billion, nowhere near, wouldn't even be on my list.
I think that's our only quilting themed game, so that we won't have a quilting themed list.
Well, not to railroad this, but there are other quilting games.
But we don't have other quilting games. You're right.
That's what I said. And that's probably because they're bad.
I don't know.
I don't know.

[58:44] Well, Ark Nova was my number one. All right, Angie, that was a great list.
Now, now, what do you think the meeple chasers, what do you think the meeple chasers of this world, what do you think their top five list is?
Oh, you want me? I thought you were gonna say their number one.
I have their top five list. It is right here.
Oh. I went on BoardGameGeek and sorted games by animals and sorted that by ranking.
And now I have a Meeple Chasers top five. Number five is Everdell.
Number four is Root.
Number three is wingspan.

[59:31] Number two is Great Western Trail. We'll see about that.
And you, my dear, have a crossover with the meeple chasers.
Ark Nova is number one. Well, that's interesting. That's really interesting.
That is Great Western Trail is on there.
Yeah. I mean, you do. You're selling the cattle.
Yeah. But you I would not think right away. That's not the first thing I would think of.
As a game with animals in it, yes. So, all righty. All righty.

[1:00:08] Well, that about wraps up another episode of the Chasing Meeples podcast, episode 10.
Ah, double digits, can't get over it. Double digits.
All right, on our next episode, Angie, what are we gonna talk about?
We're gonna have a full review of Beer and Bread by Scott Alms.
Scott Alms Beer and Bread.
That is a game that came out of nowhere for me. Angie was excited about it.
It was on her anticipated list for 2023.
For me, nowhere on my radar.
I'm a little ashamed that it wasn't. And Angie, Meeple Chasers, old man Lauren has a message for you.
Keep chasing them meeples. Night, everybody. Thank you, Old Man Lawrence.
Ha ha ha ha ha! Get out my lawn! Get out my lawn!
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