Deciding What's Worth the Shelf Space Part 1

 We're pulling back the curtain and letting you listen to us decide which games to keep and which ones to let go. 

Get ready for a wild ride as we relive our recent adventure to PhoenixCon, where we played Wingspan with Rob and Julie (and narrowly avoided a disastrous pothole!). Also, we'll reveal how Chris ended up in an asteroid belt with a talking toaster and Zork the alien during a game of Galaxy Trucker. 

If you've ever found yourself overwhelmed by your growing game collection, join us for some honest discussions, a few laughs, and a lot of board game banter.

Transcript

Announcer Dude: 0:06

It's time for another episode of the wildly popular podcast Chasing Meeples. On today's show, Angie and Chris start clearing off the shelves, starting with numeric titles through the A's. With each game they discuss, the stakes rise. Favorites will be praised, others will face the culling blade. Just one disagreement, and who knows what will happen. So, without further ado, let's cut to the chase and get this banner started now.

Chris: 0:39

Hello everybody, this is the Chasing Meeples podcast. I am your host, chris, and as always, I am with my lovely co-host.

Angie: 0:49

Hello, hello, it's Angie.

Chris: 0:50

Hey, Angie, how you doing today?

Angie: 0:52

I'm good.

Chris: 0:53

You're good.

Angie: 0:54

I'm okay.

Chris: 0:55

Just okay, why.

Angie: 0:56

Just okay, lots of stuff. Yeah, there's lots of stuff going on, lots of stuff going on.

Chris: 1:01

Lots of stuff going on. Lots of stuff going on. How about we talk about some board game related?

Angie: 1:05

stuff. That would be a good idea.

Chris: 1:07

I didn't need that life stuff.

Angie: 1:09

Yeah, none of that. That's exactly right. Let's get rid of that. Let's just forget all about that for a while.

Chris: 1:15

Nobody wants to hear Krabby Chris.

Angie: 1:19

No, you don't want to hear Krabby Angie, that's for sure.

Chris: 1:23

I agree Bander banter, bander banter.

Angie: 1:26

Bander banter.

Chris: 1:28

Well, apparently we're not in the mood for banttering about life stuff, so what else do you want to talk about?

Angie: 1:34

So what has happened to us recently? We were featured. We were part of Oliver Reed's YouTube channel Don't Be Bored. He has a segment of episodes where contributors from around the globe are going to tell him why he was wrong on his top 100 list. And Chris and I chose we each chose a separate game. I chose Watergate, chris chose Galaxy Trucker. Now I think my segment runs pretty normal. I think I did it pretty normal, pretty average. I cheated a little bit, got a little excited about some produce. But Chris, chris, what did you do? What did you do?

Chris: 2:36

Well, what did I do we?

Angie: 2:38

were a little over the top.

Chris: 2:40

Well, you know that happens, that happens. I took Oli's suggestion to play Galaxy Trucker a little bit too seriously and I got myself into a situation where I ended up. Well, we all know how Galaxy Trucker is right, so Galaxy Trucker is one of those games where you have to lay tiles. Everybody is picking a tile and laying it on their board and they do their best to make a spaceship. That is not a piece of garbage, and maybe I'm just bad at that puzzle, but Oli ranked that game number 29 on his list, so I'm like all right, I respect Oli. Oli's got a lot of good opinions. I think I'll give that game a shot. So here I am playing Galaxy Trucker and, wouldn't you know it, I somehow managed to get trapped in space. So in the video.

Chris: 3:34

You can see me in my pod that I have left.

Angie: 3:39

Chris, were you all alone in your pod?

Chris: 3:41

No, I was not all alone in my pod. When you're trapped in space, you have time, and I had a toaster and time. So happened to make a robot which I so cleverly named Toasty.

Angie: 3:58

And I think Toasty's an ass. He's very pompous.

Chris: 4:04

I don't know. Sorry, I programmed him that way. And then Zork, zork the alien. You know Zork caught a ride on my galaxy ship. He was in the alien pod. He happened to make it to mine in time before the asteroid hit us in back.

Angie: 4:19

Zork cannot read.

Chris: 4:21

Well, Zork doesn't read English. Well, he had the rule book.

Angie: 4:24

Why would you give him a rule book if he can't read English?

Chris: 4:27

He wanted to know he was trying to help me get back to Earth.

Angie: 4:30

But he can't read.

Chris: 4:31

Well, zork is this man of few words, but when he does speak, you listen.

Angie: 4:35

He listens there you go. That was all that was important, right? He listens.

Chris: 4:40

He was a confidant, yeah he listens, but when he does speak he does say some pretty profound stuff.

Angie: 4:47

Okay, okay.

Chris: 4:48

If you do want to check out my Adventures in Space, you can go to the Don't Be Bored YouTube channel and who knows, maybe, maybe, angie, in our Board Game of the Month we got to finish that story. We got to tell people how I got home back to Earth, and maybe we'll finish that story in our Board Game of the Month segment, I think, board Game of the Month.

Angie: 5:11

Chris is going to have to be chained to his seat or something. He came home and he's not leaving.

Chris: 5:18

I don't know I wanted to be clever and I wanted to be creative and if you think back to the first couple episodes of our podcast, I threw some stuff at the end of the episodes where I'm traveling through time with future Chris.

Angie: 5:34

I know and you haven't done that kind of stuff.

Chris: 5:36

I haven't, and I want to get back into it, so I figured I would start doing the storytelling in video form. Okay, and then, who knows, maybe we can bring it back to the podcast.

Angie: 5:47

Okay, that would be a good idea.

Chris: 5:49

I was a big fan of episode continuity when we first started right Tell a story.

Angie: 5:54

Yeah.

Chris: 5:54

Have a story arc, bring it to a peak, bring her down, start a new story arc. Well, you know, and that's what it is.

Angie: 6:02

Get off track sometimes and things don't always work out.

Chris: 6:06

True.

Angie: 6:08

True. That's why, in life, you start a new story.

Chris: 6:11

Oh yeah, a new story and I'm back on Earth.

Angie: 6:14

There you go. That's all. That's important, right? We're back on Earth to play games with me and I don't have to deal with that dang talking toaster anymore. Anyhow.

Chris: 6:29

So yeah, that's what it? Was. It was pretty awesome. I really like what Ali's got going on with the Don't Be Bored YouTube channel. I see great things in its future. I can see it growing you can do it, yeah, I can see it growing and I'd love to be a part of helping it grow.

Angie: 6:45

Cool, I think so. I think there's a lot of potential and I think it can do a lot of good for him and for everybody that's helping out and making a contribution.

Chris: 6:59

Yeah, you know, speaking of contributing in collaboration with other content creators, I think I briefly mentioned my idea to you in passing, while we were driving.

Angie: 7:11

Oh my gosh.

Chris: 7:12

I think it was pre-pot hole.

Angie: 7:18

Oh, the pot hole the pot hole. The pot hole, oh boy.

Chris: 7:22

No, that's a story in itself, right.

Angie: 7:24

That's a story.

Chris: 7:25

There's a lot I could be wrong. So, meeple Chasers out there, if there is already a podcast that does this, let me know, because I would love to listen to it and see what they're doing. I was thinking, maybe facilitating a group podcast, so maybe once a month, maybe it's its own entity, maybe it's a special episode of the Chasing Meeple's podcast. Once a month, we get content creators from all over the world, different podcasts to contribute. I edit them and make one cohesive story. Maybe we pick a topic of the month, maybe it's just free for all, maybe it's interviews, maybe it's a whole bunch of cool stuff. I think something like that would be really neat and that is something I'm thinking about doing in the future.

Angie: 8:12

Yeah, something you have to figure out how you would want to structure that. You see that a lot with videos, panel videos. You don't see that a lot of podcasts. So that would be interesting.

Chris: 8:24

So please, anybody that's listening to this, don't steal my idea. If you want to do it, get a hold of me. We'll do it together, and that's all I'm going to say about that Pre-pot hole. What does pre-pot hole mean? Right Does?

Angie: 8:37

pot hole mean pre-pot hole was Phoenix con.

Chris: 8:40

Yeah, pre-pot hole was on the way to Phoenix con. Pot hole was the way home from Phoenix con.

Angie: 8:48

Because Chris did not want to take the detour.

Chris: 8:53

A little bit of backstory. Yes, so the route that we needed to take to go to Phoenix con is essentially the same route that I take to work every day. Two days before Phoenix con I discovered another route that is quicker. I work about a half hour away from home. Basically it's pretty much country driving from the big metropolis of Manitowoc, wisconsin, to the tiny, tiny little rural community of Brilliant, wisconsin, and well, there's a stretch of highway that's closed off. It's been closed off for about a month and a half. We're doing some work on bridges and culverts and all that fun stuff. Don't really know. All I know is that it causes me to go a different way to work.

Chris: 9:39

So I took the detour for a while, but I'm the type of person that's a little bit adventurous. So get in, tell GPS, get me to work, and then, when GPS tells me to go straight, I turn left and see what happens. So did that, found this really cool way to work and I was like all right, this is the way I can go to Phoenix con. So we take that. Well, on the way back, I was so in in deep in conversation with Angie I missed the turn. I needed to turn right and instead I went straight and I'm cruising down this country road at like 60 miles an hour and there was this section of road and I'm talking like we're talking country road, no line in the middle of the road, Very narrow, Like you almost feel like you had to ride the shoulder if somebody was coming towards you. And up ahead I see this section that literally looked like it was like black top.

Angie: 10:45

That's exactly what I thought it was. I thought it was something. They repaired a piece of the road there and just black topped it, you know, or gravel or something. Yeah, Cause it was dark. That's exactly what I thought. Yeah, I was getting dark and the road was dark the road was dark the rest of the road, so I that's why I was thinking they tarred over. Yeah.

Chris: 11:07

So here I am, cruising 60 miles an hour. I see that I'm thinking, oh, I'm just going to have you know whatever. And then, as we get close, it was like last second, like no time to react I realized that that is a pothole, and when I say pothole I mean chunk of road missing.

Angie: 11:26

Yeah.

Chris: 11:26

Almost like a sinkhole.

Angie: 11:28

Yeah, I mean like and there was one of those that there was no easement to it yeah, no, it was, there was no. Like you know, gray, that you're going down and coming up, it was a straight like fall, like it looked like a foot, I don't know if it was that, but it was just huge. You just went down and then, like I said, there was no easement coming back up, so your tire had to, you know, went right over that like ridge or sharp ridge, and the whole time we're driving and Chris does not know where we are and all I could think is, oh my God, I'm waiting for the car, the wheel, to start wobbling or something. And here we are in the middle of nowhere with a tire that wants to come off and it wasn't dark yet, so because we could see the road, but oh my gosh.

Chris: 12:11

Yeah, it was definitely a wake up.

Angie: 12:14

It was just like oh my gosh yeah.

Chris: 12:17

Well, so so, first of all, I have a Jeep, so they can take a pound. Second of all, we weren't, like Angie says, middle of nowhere. There's literally farmhouses all around us.

Angie: 12:34

Well, no, actually there wasn't anything right around there was a.

Chris: 12:37

You must have been in so much shock that you didn't see that that pothole was almost directly across from a house.

Angie: 12:43

Oh, I see yes.

Chris: 12:45

What threw me off, though, why I was distracted from the pothole, is the person who lived there, or somebody must have had fun squealing their tires, because there was tire tracks all over the road.

Angie: 12:59

So I could. Maybe they avoided the pothole.

Chris: 13:01

No, no, it was, like you know, somebody's laying on the, on the on the brake and watching their tires spin. However, those people do that right. Not that we were in the middle of nowhere, but we were definitely probably in those, those of you that are old. It was a wooded stretch.

Angie: 13:14

Remember how I talked about that, those one areas that we were driving by a real flat, we had the farm line. This was all wooded. It was just kind of interesting because you went to this flat land and you turned on this road and suddenly there was just no trees and that's why I probably didn't see the house there.

Chris: 13:29

So those of you that are old enough to probably remember this reference weren't in the middle of nowhere, but we were probably in hazard county, so they're very friendly though. I've watched the show plenty of times, so I wasn't too worried. I know we're. We're heading east. We needed to head east. All I needed to do was get my bearings because there was no signal, so GPS was not helping me out.

Angie: 13:57

And when GPS finally tried giving us directions, they they were going to have us turned down a road that was under construction that we get to that intersection. It's like turn right and like, nope, can't turn right. Close, oh close.

Chris: 14:14

Oh well, gps doesn't know you know it's not the all seeing eye, can't see the road, don't know when Boss Hog closes the road for the Duke boys.

Angie: 14:26

But we had a great time at Phoenix con.

Chris: 14:28

Yeah, all Phoenix con.

Angie: 14:30

That that kind of. I don't know if I made it worth, but it we had a. Really it was a really great day.

Chris: 14:36

It was.

Angie: 14:37

I really, really enjoyed that day. It was a good time.

Chris: 14:41

We had a lot of game playing that we got in. We got a, we got a good game of earth in, got to meet two, two really nice people that just approached our table and we said, hey, you guys are welcome to play, but they had a scheduled game at one o'clock and it would have been an hour and we wouldn't have finished because Angie and I were trying to refresh ourselves on the rules.

Angie: 15:02

Yeah, yeah.

Chris: 15:05

So that that game took us a little bit longer than it normally would. I think it took us like two and a half hours to play.

Angie: 15:10

It took us at least two hours. Yeah, you know, it took you know a while. You get to the setup and then refreshing your memory with the rules and stuff like that, and we weren't in a rush, so there was no reason to rush through the game. It was just a nice relaxing day and we didn't have to be anywhere until later. And it wasn't too, and I may have drug out the last round, but the thing we needed to do was go do our podcast, because we had did the vendor halls and we wanted to do some recording. And then we had a game at five o'clock scheduled game.

Chris: 15:50

Yeah, the one thing we didn't do is is I made these microphone flags with the JC Meeples podcast on there and I had a microphone and I was going to walk around and do some some interviews with people that were at the con. I totally chickened out I was like eh not going to do that, so maybe next year I can do something like that.

Chris: 16:12

You know, I don't want to talk too much about it. Like Angie mentioned, we had a podcast we wanted to record. We actually live streamed while we were recording on Instagram, because apparently we are not cool enough to go live on. Youtube yet. So those that are listening, please give us some likes and some subscriptions and go home and put on a chasing Meeples video playlist on repeat and just let that sucker play all day long at work.

Angie: 16:39

I'm fine with that. Give us a comment. Just, you know just throw the letter K up there or something.

Chris: 16:43

Watch hours and subscribers. That's what YouTube needs from us. I'm asking nicely, please, please, please, do that. Anybody that knows how to live stream on YouTube without meeting that silly criteria also please contact me. Chasing Meeples at yahoocom. We did go live, we talked, we talked about our day pretty much on that episode.

Chris: 17:04

So if anybody wants to hear about our day, but they okay and see our day check us out on YouTube or listen to the episode, because both those episodes are on those platforms. I was able to basically download the Instagram live stream and post it on YouTube. Unfortunately, it is filmed in vertical, but that's what happens when you're allowed to do it on Instagram Quiz time, quiz time.

Chris: 17:45

Angie, what did we talk about today? You know, we never even talked about what we're going to talk with this whole episode, what our main conversation of the episode is Well, we are going to discuss some games we have played and that is called GACPAN.

Angie: 17:58

If you remember games Angie and Chris played at night GACPAN. And these won't be all at night, but that's what I named the segment, because I had to have a name for it.

Chris: 18:09

But that's what the quiz is about.

Angie: 18:11

No, there's Meeples quiz, there's GACPAN and then there is we're going to keep or cull through letter A. So when I organize our games, when I have them listed in my little Excel file there, I start with numbers like seven, wonders, dual, and then I go through ABC. So we are going to start with our numbered games and then through letter A.

Chris: 18:39

Like the guy we played Airdale with at GameholeCon.

Angie: 18:45

The smelly guy.

Chris: 18:46

Yeah, that's not uncommon for the way people to log stuff in an Excel document would say yeah. So yes, today, yes, the main theme of, or the main main thing, the big thing, whatever I want to say of our episode, is games, that we are going to cull and we're starting with the numerical titles through A. Okay, but that's besides the point. The reason why I asked that Angie is, is that the theme of the quiz no, it is not the theme of the quiz.

Angie: 19:29

The theme of the quiz, it is called Nipple Quiz, kenitia.

Chris: 19:36

Oh God Kenitia.

Angie: 19:38

Kenitia, all right, okay, because it rolls into GAC pan.

Chris: 19:44

No, you're good. I don't need a reason why. I just know that I need to get. I'm going to bomb this one already, but that's all right, Kenitia.

Angie: 19:55

So three points available for you, chris. Each answer is two points. So my first question has three answers. We own three Reiner Kenitia games that all involve a city. What are they?

Chris: 20:12

Oh, gosh Well, blue Moon City, my city. I almost said a Stefan Feld game. Now do I get before I screw this answer up do I get points? Am I getting points for the ones I am getting right, or is it like?

Angie: 20:32

all or nothing. Yeah, yeah, you got four points so far it has similar elements to the other games.

Chris: 20:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's tiling. I want to. There's a name. Oh, this is going to be wrong Acropolis.

Angie: 20:55

That's wrong.

Chris: 20:56

Okay, the Quest for El Dorado, oh oh yeah, that is a Kenitia game, okay.

Angie: 21:05

So you got four points. Number two and this is only one answer to this question All three games have an aspect or component in common. What is it?

Chris: 21:19

They're all designed by Reiner Kenitia.

Angie: 21:22

That's true, that's true. Oh, baby, I didn't see that. Yeah, actually I did. Actually I did. To tell you the truth, I did, oh, all right, and I thought I thought, no, he's not going to go for the cheap shot. But hey, that's true, that's true. That's not what you were thinking, that's not what I was thinking and actually you've already had it on your mind.

Chris: 21:43

It's tiling.

Angie: 21:44

It's tiling. That's right. They all have tiles involved. So I don't know. Did I mark you down for that one? No, you get to two points, so you got six points. Okay, six points. My City has two other games in the same universe. What are they?

Chris: 22:05

My City has two other games in the same universe. What are they?

Angie: 22:10

Yes.

Chris: 22:11

Well, there's that new my City rollin' right.

Angie: 22:15

That's one.

Chris: 22:16

I have no idea what the other one is. My City's a role-playing game.

Angie: 22:20

I don't know my Island.

Chris: 22:23

Oh, oh, really, there was a my Island, my Island, yeah, is that a new one?

Angie: 22:29

Relatively. Yeah, I think it's just. Yeah, I don't think it's much. I don't think it's two years old. I think it's a year old. Maybe my Island Number four which game is the most expensive on Amazon? The Quest for El Dorado, my City, or Blue Moon City?

Chris: 22:46

Well, Blue Moon City.

Angie: 22:48

The Quest for El Dorado at $39.99. Oh, really. Yes Huh.

Chris: 22:57

But that's such a yeah. Okay, that's a common game.

Angie: 24:13

Number five, which is higher rated on Board Game. Geek, not ranked rated. Quest for El Dorado, my City, or Blue Moon City.

Chris: 24:25

Oh, rated, I would say, then that's my City.

Angie: 24:30

Quest for El Dorado. I want to say that, angie, is that $129? Why would you do that? What? Why?

Chris: 24:36

would you put a question with the same answer as the last question right after that question?

Angie: 24:45

Because you're overthinking it, angie, you're overthinking it and out of school. Everybody, everybody adores Quest for El Dorado. I would have to have changed the question.

Chris: 24:56

Every game from now on, and every question that you ask is Quest for El Dorado. Don't even ask those questions. Mark me wrong or mark me right, and done with it.

Angie: 25:05

Came up with the questions before the answers.

Chris: 25:08

It only took like three questions, and now I'm getting mopey.

Angie: 25:15

Is Blue Moon City ranked 219, 840, or 736?

Chris: 25:23

What is Quest for El Dorado ranked?

Angie: 25:24

129.

Chris: 25:25

Okay, I just needed to know.

Angie: 25:29

Okay, what 219, 840, or 736. Ranked oh, I'm sorry 763.

Chris: 25:40

Blue Moon City.

Angie: 25:42

Yes. Say it again Is it ranked 219, 840, or 763?

Chris: 25:52

763.

Angie: 25:54

You got it, you got it, you got 10. So you're batting 50%, yeah well it's not max points? No, it's not, but let's see, I can okay tell you what I'll increase.

Chris: 26:06

No, don't modify the scoring system.

Angie: 26:11

The last question Dr Reiner Konitzia is a PhD in what?

Chris: 26:20

Isn't he a mathematician?

Angie: 26:22

Yes, he is. That is, in mathematics, 12 out of 20. 12 out of 20 is about 60%.

Chris: 26:33

Yeah, that's about right 60%, I guess.

Angie: 26:37

Sorry, you're going to have to take it.

Chris: 26:40

Well, I have to take it and I'm really sorry. I let down. I let you down, Dr Reiner Konitzia, the one listener that we have in Germany. I'm sorry.

Speaker 4: 26:52

I know he's never going to listen again.

Chris: 26:57

I'll do better next time, I promise.

Angie: 26:59

We're going to have to play Quest for El Dorado again.

Chris: 27:03

Yep 60%, I'll take it.

Angie: 27:34

Jack can. What have we played lately? So you know what? I think we should take this because we haven't talked about it. We have not talked about the game we played at PhoenixCon because we recorded before we played it. So here comes the time to talk about playing wingspan with the expansion, with Rob and Julie.

Chris: 28:06

Yeah, for sure.

Angie: 28:09

I had a great time. I am sometimes nervous about meeting new people, but they were wonderful people. I enjoyed playing the game with them. I think maybe Rob was sorry that he mentioned something about the nectar to me at one point, because I think I did well after that.

Chris: 28:34

Oh, so he regretted it.

Angie: 28:35

I think he regretted it he regretted it.

Chris: 28:37

Well, I don't think it had anything to do with him reminding you of how to use the nectar, reminding you of the nectar. I think it has everything to do with the fact that you got every bonus, every bonus. You got every end of round bonus.

Angie: 28:58

You mean all my bonus cards.

Chris: 29:00

Every end of round bonus.

Angie: 29:02

Yeah.

Chris: 29:03

You got every end of round bonus.

Angie: 29:05

Yeah.

Chris: 29:06

That is what was crazy. You played the best game of wingspan you've ever played with Stranger.

Angie: 29:20

Things I know. I usually lose. I usually lose.

Chris: 29:23

And what happened last night when we played it again.

Angie: 29:26

I won the night before.

Chris: 29:27

Yeah, you won, I won it's crazy.

Angie: 29:31

It's like you lost your mojo that day.

Chris: 29:33

I think that was the day I lost my mojo.

Angie: 29:36

That could be the day you lost your wingspan mojo right there.

Chris: 29:40

I know I was doing everything I could to win, but I couldn't.

Angie: 29:44

Well, and I thought about it, and it was exactly what Rob had said at the beginning of the game when he talks to people about it you have to play what you get. You have to play the birds in your hand. Essentially, I had a lot of bonuses. I had one card that every time I was activated I could get another bonus card. So I scored off all my bonus cards. I managed to create a very, very large aviary, which is a little bit unusual for me, but I really had that thing chocked full. I didn't have it complete, but I had a lot. I had a lot. I was keeping my eye on the goals. I was keeping my eyes on the goals.

Chris: 30:33

So before we go any further, though, now, granted, those who listen to this podcast probably have a clue what wingspan is. I think you and I need to do a better job elaborating for those who don't know about the games. So you'd think you're listening to a board gaming podcast. You know what we're talking about. However, some of the feedback I have been getting from people that listen to our podcast is they don't know the games that we're talking about. So for those of you that don't know what wingspan is, taken right off of the StoneMayer Games website. So it's basically here it is. It's a competitive, medium weight card driven engine building board game, so that adds a whole lot more it does, because if you don't, know board games, talent people.

Angie: 31:31

It's engine driven really helped.

Chris: 31:35

So, basically, basically, it's a beautiful game designed by Elizabeth Hargrave. It won the Kinderspiel Desires award again.

Angie: 31:45

Again, you probably don't know what that is. Nobody understands what that is.

Chris: 31:49

Let's just say it's good and basically, if we're talking theme, you're a bird enthusiast, you're a watcher, bird watcher, you just love birds, and you are basically trying to bring birds into your like a hat, each like three different types of habitats. You have a forest habitat, you have a wetland and you have a grassland or a prairie, and the board in front of you represents that. And basically what you do is you gather food, you play birds in your habitat, you lay eggs to play more birds, you do a whole bunch of other stuff and at the end of the game, the person with the most points wins. And I'll do better next time. Ladies and gentlemen, that's wingspan.

Angie: 32:46

And the first time Chris and I played it it kind of felt a little flat for us, probably because we do play a lot of board games.

Chris: 32:54

Well, it did fall. I don't mean to cut you off, I'm sorry. It did fall flat for us. Now, if you listen to, if you did catch our conversation when we were live from PhoenixCon, we avoided wingspan for quite some time. We avoided the hype. There was actually a point in time and you know, angie, it's 2023. I think it is safe to say where you couldn't say a word negative about wingspan in any way, shape or form, or you, as a content creator, would get blasted by what we jokingly called the cult of wingspan.

Chris: 33:39

Um, but now I'm proud to say that I drank the Kool-Aid and now I'm in that cult, so I really enjoy that game. So when we first played it, we actually I don't think we even gave it a chance and I think we did talk about this in a previous episode, but we didn't really give it a chance. We were just like I don't even know why, why you bought it.

Angie: 34:06

It was. I go away from business. I go away for business several times a year and I normally take a coworker with me and it came to a point where I started to go alone and I got a little bored. So I wandered into the small town that neighbors where I stay and I found a little. I think I was looking things up online. I kind of look up restaurants and coffee shops and I find a board game store.

Chris: 34:35

That's where you found that hero is. I don't know, not here. No, labrith Labrith.

Angie: 34:40

So I wandered in there and I do that, and I said this before when I walk into a small business, I want to make sure I make a purchase. So ever since then, every time I go into Labrith games, I buy something, whether it was an expansion to the Bloody Inn or Explorers. Roland Wright from Phil Walker Harding Search for.

Chris: 35:01

Planet X.

Angie: 35:02

Search for Planet X. So I've bought several games there and I was looking, and you know, at that time now it had gone through a little bit of a and I don't know the right word from when I went in there. I think like the next year they upped their game when it came to board games. There were a lot more kick starters in there and they had like a few extra shelves of board games. Everything wasn't so old. So when I went in there I didn't really know what to buy, to tell you the truth, and it was a spur of the moment that said heck with it, I'm buying it.

Angie: 35:48

So I bought Wingspan and I brought it back to my room and I was going to play a solo version of it, and that night we were doing a lot of like FaceTiming and I had the game and I think I gave you like zero clues. I think it was something like Chris had bought a game, the box is blue and you like Wingspan, and I have no idea you do that and how you come up with that, considering it's a game we don't like, it's a game we don't talk about. Why I have the blue when I go buy a game like that that would have to be like the least obvious thing, that had to be like furthest. And I don't know if that is the reason why you guessed that, because it was like the furthest possibility or anything, but I think I gave you one silly little clue. Like that it could have been. The box is blue.

Chris: 36:40

I'm just good.

Angie: 36:41

And you just said Wingspan, once again, you take the thunder out of it. Here I'm going oh, he's never going to guess this and you're like Wingspan, what?

Chris: 36:53

Yeah, well, see, I do better at that than I do at these quizzes that you make.

Angie: 36:57

You do, you do. I should give you a quiz with no answers and no questions, and you'd be like I got it. It's Reiner Kinnizee. He's a mathematician.

Angie: 37:09

Yeah, well so what really brought it to life was the fact that Wingspan Asia came out. Wingspan Asia is another expansion for Wingspan. It is a two player version of Wingspan it is. You can buy Wingspan Asia and it is playable out of the box. You do not need the base game.

Angie: 37:34

The wonderful thing about that is not only do you get the cars, the eggs, the whole base game, you can play it like it is.

Angie: 37:42

But you have a duet board and that's something that you're going to play back and forth with your partner.

Angie: 37:49

When you lay a bird, when you're going to pay for and play a bird card into your aviary, you're going to take a little token and you're going to play it on the duet board, and on the duet board you're going to choose a space that is the same terrain type and you're going to choose a space that has something to do with the card you play. Well, at PhoenixCon we were playing with an Ocean expansion. Ocean expansion has another little twist to it. There are something called nectar tokens, which are essentially a wild token, but when you return that, you don't return it to the supply. What you do is you put it on the board in the territory or terrain area that you played it and at the end of the game those accumulate and you may get points off of it. So these are just little tweaks to wingspan that have really made it a much more interesting game than the base game, and that's what I'm going to say about that.

Chris: 38:50

Oh yeah, so Asia, asia was good.

Speaker 4: 38:57

It's good.

Chris: 38:58

That it was is right. Yeah, when we first played wingspan decent game kind of forgettable in my mind right Once we got Asia that solidified as a keeper and a game I'd like to go back to all the time. Now the addition of it sounds so silly when you think about it wild tokens.

Angie: 39:22

But it's the interesting thing where you put it back on your board. Right, you don't give them back.

Chris: 39:27

You get points for it. So you're incentive to use a wild token is not just to use it as that wild token, but you get points the more that you use.

Angie: 39:35

And if you put it, if you don't use it, that round you lose it.

Chris: 39:38

Right, so it's, it was good.

Angie: 39:42

It's just a little thing that just just elevates it a little bit Right.

Chris: 39:47

So awesome Good stuff, yeah, um, the addition of the ocean experience expansion to the wingspan Asia game, which we played the other night, just makes that game, oh, love it. So let's talk about another game that we played.

Angie: 40:06

Which one do you want to talk about?

Chris: 40:07

I want to talk about flip ship Um. Dice Tower just recently put out a top 10 list of um Dexterity games. Camilla Clegghorn, uh, put that as one of her. You know top games. I don't remember what number was that. Hi, it was higher up on her list. Um, and it was one of those games that I've seen the box often. But the site of the box and the way flip ships is written, the font just kind of I don't know there's something about it turned me off, right.

Chris: 40:43

Had I known I so we don't have a lot of Dexterity games. Had I known it was like a Dexterity game, I probably maybe would have picked it up. But just that little bit of blurb that Camilla gave about the game was like oh, I should check that out. I know I've seen that somewhere when Right I've seen it. I remember it wasn't that expensive of a game, so essentially it's not an original theme but it works. So the game is pretty much Tiddlywinks and it's got a very it's well.

Chris: 41:21

It's got an awesome theme pasted on it. So think, think the game space invaders and that's pretty much what it is. It's space invaders, and you know there's other games out there that are like that.

Chris: 41:35

Like you said, under falling skies there's actually a space invaders game that was released which is pretty much just a reskinning of flip ships, but so the theme, you know, I think it's awesome and that's just because I grew up in arcades and played a lot of space invaders. But what this game is is you've got, you've got a board and the board represents the essentially the different height or you know like we'll call it zones or areas. You've got your atmosphere of earth and you've got space, and then a farther, deeper space and deeper space, and there's red lines that go across that. You lay out alien cards.

Chris: 42:26

So the alien cards are like your ships, your alien ships that are coming to attack, and you lay out a row, two rows of that, and then behind it is this big mothership and each person has a you know a set number of tokens or I was calling them POGs Talk about dating myself that you basically put on the table and flick, you put them on the table, or there's a wooden a wooden brick which I believe Gabe had plenty of those when he was a baby, and all the brick things.

Chris: 43:04

You throw some details on it. Now it looks like a really cool game component, but anyway. So you put that in there, you set your token on that, or you set your token on the edge of the table and you flick it, you can, and the object is is to get the token to land on the cards or in the mothership. So it sounds at a very simple level. That's what it is. Yeah, right, but each ship has special powers.

Chris: 43:30

You have cards off to the side, like if you have one ship, for example, that doesn't land on a, on a, on another enemy card, and it just lands somewhere. You can choose to well you can. If there's a laser card and that laser card, if you can reach another ship, you still get a hit on it. There's another one that, if you don't land on anything, you can put the launch pad out and now you have a chance to aim at the mothership. So a lot of cool stuff, a lot of cool powers for the ships. It's a quick game but it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. And we don't have a, we don't have a lot of dexterity games, so to me that was a breath of fresh air. Didn't really have to do much thinking, didn't really have to, you know, sit and strategize. It was just basically flick a ship. So yeah, flip Ship. I really enjoy that game. Flip ships, flip ships, flip ships. I really enjoy that game.

Angie: 44:28

Sounds like lip ships.

Chris: 44:30

Yeah, lip ships, ship shape.

Angie: 44:34

You know what I think is neat? Turn over the box. Turn over the box and it says Flip Ships.

Chris: 44:41

Oh really, I did not know this.

Angie: 44:41

Yeah, that's why it font looks so weird. You flip it over, it says Flip Ship.

Chris: 44:47

Still don't like it.

Angie: 44:51

Okay, last but not least, the whole reason why Meeple Quiz was the Meeple Quiz Konitia, blue Moon City.

Chris: 45:02

Yes.

Angie: 45:02

Yes, blue Moon City is very interesting, actually because we bought it at Stockpile Games. Why did we go to Stockpile Games? They had everything 50% off.

Chris: 45:15

Yes, at.

Angie: 45:15

PhoenixCon, phoenixcon Everything 50% off. Afterwards we went to Stockpile Games, which is here in our hometown, and I was so excited about Oceana. I was very interested in the nectar. I was gonna order it online but I thought, hey, let's check it out, let's see if they have it. And they have it. So what do you Chris find? That is where he found Flip Ship.

Chris: 45:43

Yeah, Flip Ships.

Angie: 45:44

Flip Ships. Well, so Blue Moon City. We got at PhoenixCon. It was 50% off, so that made me say, okay, grab it. I know it was highly regarded by a few of the Dice Tower contributors so I have to try it. There's an interesting little story with it. It was originally made by Fantasy Flight. It has been reprinted by Seaman Games, the Seaman game. It has a poor quality to it than the original. You would think, with everything Seaman does, that theirs would be a little bit better, but it's not.

Chris: 46:23

You're talking about the color palette.

Angie: 46:24

The color palette, even the minis, and that's what Zia said. He said why were the minis just gray with that little color at the bottom? Why did they kept with the multicolored?

Chris: 46:35

ones and stuff Sure interesting?

Angie: 46:38

And the color palette? It's not the palette, so much is that the brown looks like the red and the gray looks like the black.

Angie: 46:46

You can't tell the difference between some of the colors and that makes it more difficult. But I mean, it's a great game. You lay some tiles, you are trying to rebuild the city. It has been destroyed and as you flip over the tiles you're rebuilding the city. It plays pretty simple. You get a deck of cards. You can play the cards for a special power or you can play it for points. The points are all on the board On the tiles. They're not worth I don't know what would you. You can make offerings and there's a different cost to offerings that you can make on the tile. You want to complete the tile and then you can flip it over. So you are trying to collect a number of cards to total up to an amount that you need to make an offering and if you finish it out you can get the bonuses. So it is pretty simple to play.

Angie: 47:50

Some of the cards may be a little bit difficult to understand. What were the yellow ones? Some of them had a little bit different rules that we had to figure out a little bit, but otherwise I think it was a good game. I enjoyed it. It's a race game. Yeah, it's not total up the points at the end of the game. It's a race game. Whoever gets six tokens on the obelisk wins. So it's not points. There's no adding up your cards at the end of the game. It's just make an offering. Put your token on the obelisk and the first one to have six on there wins.

Chris: 48:27

Yep, so cool. Yeah, it was, I guess, lighter. It was a lighter game than I expected, but it was quick and an easy teach it was. You were able to teach me that game very quickly and we got into it. I mean, it was like go, go, go. Yeah. So, and who won?

Angie: 48:51

You did your first turn in. I know you kept questioning me a little bit, a little bit. And then your first turn in, boom, you had it and you were flying and I'm like oh boy, and I felt like I was racing to keep up with you. The whole game. It felt like a race game, that's cool.

Chris: 49:06

I didn't. I'm okay. I didn't know I made you feel that way. I'm not gonna feel bad about it.

Angie: 49:13

You don't have to. That's the game, and I didn't end up. I had five when you finally got your sixth one, so I was there. It really was very tight. I could have won in the next turn. So it is one of those comes down to the wire games. It was interesting, sure Cool. All right, are we getting?

Chris: 49:31

into it. Yeah, we had some pretty good, pretty good game. Now, we didn't play as much as I guess I would have liked to, but the games we did play were good games.

Angie: 49:44

Yes.

Chris: 49:45

Call it that.

Angie: 49:45

Yes. So, I'm glad we got Earth replayed because I did like it better than the first play because we played with everything. Yeah, I'm glad we got some new games. Blue Moon City was a new game. Sometimes we get new games and they sit. We got that Oceana, so we can. I like the way we had the game. I like that they were new games, they expanded games that we played.

Chris: 50:10

But you know what, Angie?

Angie: 50:11

What Chris?

Chris: 50:14

We got new games, so you know what that means. We don't have room on our shelves, so we're gonna have to do a little bit of culling, okay.

Speaker 4: 50:24

Chris and Angie. They said the culture with the question is there? Some give mistake, some must depart. Yesterday I should go. Now this decision's got found everywhere. Now games, they love Games, they know Should they stay, should they.

Angie: 50:50

Okay. So, as I said before on our Keeper Coloss, we are starting with our numeric games through A. I'm glad you said that, because I didn't know how to say it. I'm glad you the word numeric. So yes, so let's get her. I know you have prepared more. I am fly by the seat of my pants. You are once again prepared. Now I feel a little bit better because you don't have a lot prepared.

Chris: 51:22

I have enough prepared.

Angie: 51:23

But I do have some notes, so I did take notes.

Chris: 51:28

I like your notes, notes work.

Angie: 51:29

I do have notes.

Chris: 51:30

All right, so we're gonna go. I'm gonna go through the list. I think the best way for us to do it is for me to go through the list of games. So there are 20 games on this list. I'm shocked to see that we only have three games that start with a numeric in the title. Are you sure that's correct?

Angie: 51:51

Unless there are newer ones that I haven't put in there.

Chris: 51:54

Well, that's fine, I'm not complaining, I was just a little bit shocked.

Angie: 51:57

Like the game. I just got the 10, it's written out 10, the word 10. So it went under T.

Chris: 52:03

That works for me All right. So, like I said, 20 games, and I guess we'll start with the first one. So I think the best way for us to do it is just go down the list. And Now Angie and I have not discussed which games we want to keep, which ones we want to call, so that's what's going to make this interesting, this is going to make this interesting, so all right.

Angie: 52:31

So if we don't agree on it it's going to be put on the side and then you know it'll come back around to it.

Chris: 52:39

All right. So how would I kick this one off?

Angie: 52:42

You kick it off All right.

Chris: 52:45

So the first game on our list keep or call is Seven Wonders Duel Angie. Seven Wonders Duel keep or call.

Angie: 52:55

Keep.

Chris: 52:57

Well, I said the exact same thing. Keep the second game on our list is 51st State Angie keep or call.

Angie: 53:13

This one is the difficult one because we have two 51st States. We're going to keep the ultimate edition and call the master set.

Chris: 53:27

Yeah, I put keep with an asterisk. Yeah, keep the ultimate edition, yeah.

Angie: 53:34

We have two. Yeah, because we got the Kickstarter. So obviously we're going to keep the Kickstarter as your favorite game ever. And then we'll call the. Yeah, we'll call the master set.

Chris: 53:44

All right, so far, this is not engaging content. All right, five minute dungeon Angie, keep or call.

Angie: 54:02

It's installgic, we're keeping it.

Chris: 54:05

I do have keep on there on my list as well, for the same reason.

Angie: 54:11

I mean it's also good. We played it at Christmas with your nephew. It's fun, it's a, it's a raucous time.

Chris: 54:17

Raucous. Yes, yes, it is Okay. All right, Angie. Now we are moving out of the numeric titles into the our first title with an a and that title.

Angie: 54:31

Why don't I go?

Chris: 54:32

Sure, absolutely.

Angie: 54:33

I'm going to keep or call, keep or call.

Chris: 54:36

Oh, Angie, that's a call.

Angie: 54:37

You know, yeah, yeah, I was ahead of my maybe, but since you're at the call, okay.

Chris: 54:44

Do you want to know my reasons for for the call?

Angie: 54:46

I mean I did spend a lot of time writing Sure. It's a Ryan Lockett game. Tell us why.

Chris: 54:50

Okay, so Ryan Lockett, right yeah, talented guy man, that guy, he you know, he draws, he designs, he makes music. I'm pretty sure he does other things, he probably does the dishes too. Oh, are you trying to say I don't do the dishes Cause I filled the dishwasher today? Say, that.

Chris: 55:14

Anyway, no one is denying how talented that guy is, However, so my initial attraction to this game was it was it was, it was it's. It's basically how can I put it? It's a storytelling game with Euro game elements, which, to me, that drew me in, Okay. So I was like, oh, this has got to be a good game. I wanted to try it out, Although I think the problem that the game has and you can tell me if you agree or not I think the dual nature of above and below actually is its downfall. So it's, it's. It's not a great Euro game, it's a basic, it's just a, it's a plain Euro game and it's not like the thing that should be, the thing that should, the thing that should shine about this game is the storytelling side of it, and even that is not that good.

Angie: 56:28

It's okay game, okay storytelling. It's not like a good game, bad storytelling, great storytelling, bad game. Both of them kind of fall flat. If somebody wants to play it, I'll play it. They're copy, you know. I'd be happy to play it with somebody, but I don't see keeping it in our collection.

Chris: 56:52

You know, you think you think the game, that going out and adventuring on quests should be the selling point for that game, should be the key point of that game. But in actuality that that and the storytelling side of it to me is secondary of what's going on on your board and your Euro game, the Euro game, part of the game. Do you know what I'm saying? So you couldn't, I could go out and spend the entire game adventuring, doing stories, but I'm not going to win.

Chris: 57:21

You're going to win because you're staying back and you're building your buildings, and you're building your area right yeah. And I think, I think you know, there was a lot of potential in that game. It almost feels like almost feels like that game was a rough, rough draft.

Angie: 57:43

Probably.

Chris: 57:44

Like a near and far.

Angie: 57:46

Yeah, above and below, yeah.

Chris: 57:47

No. And it's far here and there later, now or never. Now or never. I again, I'm not saying it's a bad game, but I think it's not a game for me, which is why I want to call her.

Angie: 58:09

I agree, all right, cool, okay. The next game on the list is anacrony. We've never played it. Yeah, not just bought it. We've never played it. It's here because it's an A, but we're not getting rid of it, not applicable.

Chris: 58:24

We haven't played it yet. Not applicable, that's right, not Actually. We're getting rid of above and below, so anacrony has a room on our shelf.

Angie: 58:32

There you go. So then we have agropolis, agropolis.

Chris: 58:37

So we're talking about the button shy game. Yes, oh, that's definitely a keeper that keeps us entertained.

Angie: 58:42

I keep, I take that with me when I go away, so that's definitely not going anywhere.

Chris: 58:47

So there's a couple of games that go with us everywhere Hive, pocket, agropolis or agropolis, and I'm blanking on it.

Angie: 59:01

You're craft, you're crafty Orbecious, orbecious, orbecious pocket, yep.

Chris: 59:07

And those games go with us everywhere. Never know when you have a table and some time to kill Yep.

Angie: 59:13

Yep. All right so what's your name, acropolis?

Chris: 59:20

Ooh, angie, I'm sorry, but that's a cull.

Angie: 59:23

No, that's a cull. No, no, no, no. That's a good game. There are so many choices in this game. It is thanky, but you have like a dozen different ways to have variants.

Chris: 59:40

Okay, I'm listening. I'm listening and you, you make your case, you change my mind. But I've come. I knew this was going to be a sore spot, so I came with prepared statements.

Angie: 59:54

Okay, let's hear it, let's hear it.

Chris: 59:57

And it's very short.

Angie: 59:59

Okay, the statement.

Chris: 1:00:00

All right, angie. This is the reason why I would like to call Acropolis from our game collection. To me, this game lacks distinctiveness. What separates this game from other games? Why would I want to play this game when there's plenty other games that we own that are basically better at what it did, what it does? Let me finish my prepared statement, please, and then you will have time for a bottle.

Chris: 1:00:43

The reason why why would I want to play Acropolis when we've got a game like Cascadia or King Domino? They present a simpler, quicker and, to me, better option. Whenever I have the itch for a speedy tile-placement game, I will go towards those two options. So, like you said, even though Acropolis has good things it's a solid game, it's got an easy teach to it because you can get off and running I do think the three-dimensional stacking does put something you know, does separate it a little bit, sets it a little bit apart. However, I think the scoring is wonky, and I think I do. I think the scoring is crap. I said it. I think the scoring is crap and I think the fact that you have to cover up you at some point in time have to cover up a good scoring tile to sacrifice enough that's the game.

Chris: 1:01:48

New.

Angie: 1:01:50

That's what makes it a game is having to make that decision, chris. Am I going to give up yellow in order to expand my purple? Am I going to, you know, cover up my red, which has to be at the, you know, on the outside? That is what that gives you the game. It is a simple entry-level game. You are building a civilization. It is a tile laid, simple tile drafting, with a ton of rules. You can choose which rules to play with.

Chris: 1:02:29

Excuse me, it is my time. It is my time. I've never been beat before. That is enough of that. You will have your case when I am. You have simply-.

Angie: 1:02:42

I'm going to sit over here and think the ball moves. I will just be right over here when you need me.

Chris: 1:02:50

Alright, although let me finish and then you can have your rebuttal. It's obvious that we do not agree on this one. So, basically, this game does not simply pack and have punched a secured spot in my collection, angie. Instead, I would choose to play a game like Cascadia instead of this game.

Angie: 1:03:14

They are not the same games at all. Just because something has tiles, let's say, a carcassone doesn't pack a punch. I mean, carcassone is just a nice relaxing. Hey, let's play a game, let's get our mind, you know, smoking a little bit, but it's a tile laying game and you're worrying about adjacencies. It is not Cascadia, it is. That is a different game. I don't know why you even compare the two. These are different games. I'd rather play Cascadia. Why Everything with tiles?

Chris: 1:03:52

I would rather play Cascadia.

Angie: 1:03:54

So you're going to have one tile game in your collection? No, so we're going to have one worker placement, one tile lane, one roller right, one engine builder, one deck builder, one dice placement, one game with a rundown.

Chris: 1:04:10

Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say this I am not suicidal.

Angie: 1:04:14

If we use the tiles, the tiles still being played.

Speaker 4: 1:04:20

One can game game.

Angie: 1:04:28

One game with negative points, one abstract game, one game with zombies, one game with the apocalypse. We're going to table it. We have to come back. So we're going to go okay, keep or call, and if there it's a discussion, one have a discussion. Okay, we'll call the ones that we agree on and then maybe, if we need to come or come back, no, I'm hot, I'm hot, I'm hot, I'm fired up, I need a drink. One dexterity game, one dungeon crawl.

Chris: 1:05:36

One game of all birds, one game about racing.

Angie: 1:05:42

One game with wrestlers.

Chris: 1:05:43

I got it. I see your point. Still, it's not. You're not making a valid argument here, You're just literally saying it's a tile laying game.

Angie: 1:05:53

No, you're comparing it to any random tile laying game. I'm comparing it to. I mean, we just talked about three games right here. That just had tiles.

Chris: 1:06:02

You're seeing so red, so much I am comparing it to Cascadia and King Domino.

Angie: 1:06:09

They're not the they're okay.

Chris: 1:06:12

Excuse me, I would. I'm going to come back to that at a later date. I will give you my I. You know what I'm going to give you, not right now. I'm going to work on all the reasons why Cascadia and King Domino are a far superior game to Acropolis. All right, what's next? Oh, that's a keep.

Speaker 4: 1:06:52

Yep, it's a call.

Chris: 1:07:26

Yeah, yeah, why yeah, and that's initially why we bought the game.

Angie: 1:07:45

The best part of that game is when you create a character. I can't create a character with with a darn, but you so funny Rufus. Yeah, that was a lot of laughs when you created that character.

Chris: 1:08:01

So that was good, like there's an emphasis on humor on that game. But how often do we play a storytelling game? Like, like storytelling games, you have to be in a certain movie, you need to have a certain, a certain group of people, and to me I think that's, you know, that's another reason why it can go. I'm not saying it has to go, but it sounds like you're on the same page, you know. I think by all means it's not a horrible game, but yeah, okay, we're on the same page. I almost feel bad saying that. I feel more bad saying that than I do for Acropolis.

Angie: 1:08:51

All right, All right what's next? Arianne. You've never played Arianne.

Chris: 1:08:59

Yeah, I'm not going to. I don't have.

Angie: 1:09:01

It is an omniverse game, so it is a solo game. It is probably, of all the omniverse games, the one I like the most, but truthfully I have a lot of other games I could play solo, so it's kind of just taking up space. So I would call that game.

Chris: 1:09:23

Okay, next.

Angie: 1:09:27

Architects of the West Kingdom Keep, keep, nefset.

Chris: 1:09:32

Next.

Angie: 1:09:33

Agricola.

Chris: 1:09:34

Not applicable for me. What would you?

Angie: 1:09:39

say Not going to be applicable. Okay, yeah, we have to play it.

Chris: 1:09:46

And Agricola, too, player is also. I guess I would keep that in there. So we got that as a gift. Have not had a chance to get that to the table yet, so we're going to have to withhold judgment on that.

Angie: 1:09:57

Arc Nova.

Chris: 1:09:58

Oh, that's a keep.

Angie: 1:09:59

That's a keep. Yep, Welcome to our LCG.

Chris: 1:10:04

That's a call. I'm over it.

Angie: 1:10:06

Yeah, me too. So my next on the list is Aquatica.

Chris: 1:10:12

All right, aquatica is a call. What?

Angie: 1:10:15

What you liked when we played it. We even have an expansion to it. What are you talking about?

Chris: 1:10:34

It's a call until we get it to the table with the expansion. So here's my problem. Okay, so it was too fast. Yes, so that's exactly what I got here. So here's the reasons why it was it was. It felt like the game was short and not in a like nail biting like oh God, I got to, I got to do this, otherwise the game's going to end. It just felt like it just ended before I had a chance to accomplish anything I wanted to do. It was it was it was less about almost there, I'm almost there, I'm almost there. And at the end of the game I just felt well, I barely started.

Angie: 1:11:20

It doesn't have a giant arc. You're playing because you enjoy playing, you enjoy building. It's like building. You're building an engine. You want to. You know, bring cards and you want to be able to. You slip them up and down to get bonuses and stuff like that. You try to. You have to buy I don't know what they're called, they're fish people. So you're buying different characters, but there it ends. When there's only so many characters left in the deck, you run out of this deck. If you buy too many people and put them in your hand, the game ends. So it's like they don't have enough people to. I don't know. You know, sometimes they see you know games and they say sometimes engine builder said something to you once about engine builder. It was. I don't remember what game it was.

Chris: 1:12:20

I'm thinking it might have been. It's a wonderful world.

Angie: 1:12:22

Wonderful, I said. You just got your engine started and you go.

Chris: 1:12:26

Well, that's an engine builder.

Angie: 1:12:29

You build it that's the point and not to keep it running, and so I think that's the theory behind this, although I would have liked to played more of it. So in my mind, it should have a bigger, a bigger jack. There should be more to it.

Chris: 1:12:49

So this is where you know our listeners can call us hypocrites, because we just said that. You know, as we add more pieces to wingspan, it becomes a better game for us, and that's what I hear about Aquatica. I hear that that expansion makes it a better game. What I am saying, and what you are saying about the game feeling too short is what a lot of other people say on BGG. So my problem is my problem with that is is the game should be able to stand on its own merits, and it does. But to add, to be able to make a game better, oh, that's wingspan Right.

Angie: 1:13:30

That would have been. We would have been culling wingspan.

Chris: 1:13:33

We would have.

Angie: 1:13:34

We would have culling wingspan.

Chris: 1:13:35

And that's why I'm saying I'm really reserving my total final call for cull until we get it played with the expansion.

Angie: 1:13:41

Okay, that's what I said you didn't hear that part. I did, but you're like call After we play the expansion, maybe not.

Chris: 1:13:53

No, and and but. Here's the other thing, too, that makes me feel like two. Two more things I want to say about this right when, when we go through our AP, moments of AP, when we're staring at our game shelf.

Angie: 1:14:09

Yeah.

Chris: 1:14:10

And we're trying to figure out what game we want to play. Oftentimes my eyes will go on aquatica and then I'll just go internally and move to the next. So to me that's kind of like eh eh, not saying there's other games, that that's the only game that I have that does that. But here's the. Here's the last thing that I feel I'm going to say. I think if we get a bis to the table, aquatica goes away for both of us.

Angie: 1:14:36

I don't. Is there? Are they similar? I think we've never played a bis.

Chris: 1:14:40

We have no idea if they are or if it's the underwater theme, I don't think a bis is is almost the same thing as aquatica, and I could be wrong. I could be wrong, but I feel like aquatica is like a bis light and a bis just doesn't better. Okay, so I could be wrong, so again we have two games.

Angie: 1:14:57

We have the boys.

Chris: 1:14:58

This is a call with an asterisk.

Angie: 1:15:02

We'll see about that. Next Autumn Harvest, a Tea Dragon Society. I agree, I agree it's a nice little quick card game. Um, simple. We know it is not something we have to really have to. We never have to refresh our memory on it how to play it. We've played it in restaurants before, so it's a definitely keep for me. The last games here are a trio of games. It is the Azul games. We have the standard basic Azul, we have Azul stained glass, a Cintra and Azul summer pavilion. Yep, how do you feel?

Chris: 1:15:54

Do you want me to go?

Angie: 1:15:57

There's. Yeah, I want you to go you want me to go first?

Chris: 1:16:00

What if I want you to go first?

Angie: 1:16:01

Oh, I'll go first. You want me to go first. We keep Azul stained glass of Cintra and get rid of the other two.

Chris: 1:16:11

All right, that is exactly what I was going to say. Out of those three games, stained glass of Cintra is one.

Angie: 1:16:19

That's the one we always go back to, yeah.

Chris: 1:16:23

You know the first Azul base Azul. Now I again I'm going to put an asterisk on this there's that travel Azul that came out. I would potentially get that so we could bring that out with us. But as far as base Azul, when I look at the three Azuls, base Azul.

Angie: 1:16:40

I can't remember the last time we played base Azul it's beautiful it's, you know it's, I don't know.

Chris: 1:16:52

It's a good game, it's just I don't know. It's not the better of the three. And then when you look at so like summer pavilion, feels like it is. I don't want to say Azul watered down, but it feels like it's. They even took regular Azul so they went up to stained glass of Cintra. They made it more of like a game or e game.

Angie: 1:17:21

Yeah.

Chris: 1:17:21

So they found a to summer pavilion and it just feels to be to me like a step back. Right, I do have some statements, but we're in agreement. So, but yeah, I agree, get rid of the other two. Keeps, keeps, stained glass of Cintra, okay.

Angie: 1:17:47

So then we have call, call, it's two, astrix, call three. What do I have there? Keep, keep, keep, call. So that's four, five, six, area on adventure zone six, seven above and below, eight, the fifth, the 51st date the master set so then 20 games we're going to call 20 games yes.

Chris: 1:18:19

So are you counting the? Are you counting Acropolis and?

Angie: 1:18:23

No.

Chris: 1:18:25

So it's technically 10.

Angie: 1:18:27

No, I didn't count them.

Chris: 1:18:28

You didn't count a, so out of the because those are like maybes.

Speaker 4: 1:18:32

Okay, those are think about, so those are in a think about.

Chris: 1:18:36

Eight for sure.

Angie: 1:18:37

Yes, okay, so they may be. We'll go in when we go through letter B, when we get through the alphabet, and now we have to revisit. We cut down our shelves, okay, so we cut them down significantly and now we're going to get. Okay, now we're going to go another round, what do we need to get rid of? And then we can do a battle royal. We'll have charts and graphs and stuff.

Chris: 1:19:02

All right, now you're speaking my language.

Angie: 1:19:04

But Just a little battle dice or something. But no, we'll right now first round. It stays in.

Chris: 1:19:14

Sounds good. Well, Angie, I think that about wraps up this episode. What a battle royal we are. I can see coming in the future when we start getting a little bit deeper into our games list.

Angie: 1:19:31

I don't be interesting. I think eventually we start getting a little bit more. We were, we were good. There was only like two games on here.

Chris: 1:19:41

Yeah, we're really just the yeah, the games that we have a. And what both of them elicited a very, very passionate response from.

Angie: 1:19:55

I know there's going to be a couple other ones that I'm going to end up trying to fight for, but and that's okay.

Chris: 1:20:01

That's why we're doing this right.

Angie: 1:20:03

I think, I think, yeah, I think, eventually there might be a few that you will have to do some, yeah.

Chris: 1:20:09

There's going to be some fighting. Some fighting.

Chris: 1:20:11

Fighting, all right. Well, we're going to continue this culling fun in the next couple of episodes, so hang on tight. And I know everybody's on the edge of their seat, but, angie, it is getting late and we have to eat some supper. We got to, we got to do all that stuff and I got to get ready to go to bed because I got to get ready for work. So one last thing for you, meeple chasers please like, subscribe, comment, share all that fun stuff on our, on every podcast provider of choice that you can think of on our YouTube, on our Facebook, on our Instagram. I know what sounds like. Oh, I'm getting a thing from Angie. What am I missing?

Angie: 1:21:02

Twitter and thread.

Chris: 1:21:03

Twitter and thread. I forgot about those and but I know, I know I feel like I'm begging, I feel like I'm pleading. If you guys like what we do, please share it with people that you think are going to like it as well. It would mean a lot to us. Check us out at our Etsy store.

Angie: 1:21:23

Chasing Meeple Co.

Chris: 1:21:24

You can find some Chasing Meeple's merch. It would be really awesome to see other people out in the world wearing Chasing Meeple's shirts. But it's not just Chasing Meeple's merchandise that we have. We also have some prequel board game related merchandise as well, and there is some other cool stuff in the pipeline. And bias a coffee. We got a bias a coffee page. The link is in the description of this podcast. Please, if you enjoy what we're doing, bias a coffee All right, I'm up early every morning. I need a cup of coffee. So thank you for listening everybody. We will be back with another episode before you even know it. Take it easy, have a great night. Keep chasing those Meeple's.

Angie: 1:22:08

Bye.

Speaker 4: 1:22:12

There we go. We should be able to listen to the podcast now.

Chris: 1:22:29

Sorry, I'm not sure what you're saying.

Speaker 4: 1:22:33

I think it's time, so I happen to make a robot which I so cleverly named Toasty, and I think Toasty's an ant. Ha, ha, ha, ha, very pampers.

Speaker 5: 1:22:42

Pompers. Is that what she thinks of me? Zork, ease off Toasty. Humans have a different perspective, one we may not always understand you, but it was Angie who called me pompous, not Chris. We're heading back to Earth.

Angie: 1:23:13

That was all that was important. Right, he was a cop for that.

Speaker 4: 1:23:46

Star.