Top 5 Write Games

On today's episode, Chris and Angie share their top 5 and write games! Chris gets Max points on Angie's Meeple quiz.  

Get comfortable, this is gonna be a good one!

Transcript

#007 Top 5 Write Games

Chasing Meeples
Transcript

[0:00] Music.

[0:06] Welcome to the Chasing Meeples podcast. If you want a light hearted 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 share their top five and right games. Chris gets max points on Angie's meeple quiz.
Get comfortable, this is gonna be a good one.

[0:31] Music.

[0:40] Hello everybody, this is Chasing Meeples. I am your host Chris and as always I am with my lovely co-host. Hello, hello, it's Angie.
So we are on episode 7. That's pretty exciting.
Oh, it's very exciting. Did you think that we would make it this far?

[1:01] There are days that I did not. Why is that? Oh, things we won't go into on air.
It's me, isn't it?

[1:11] It's not you, but you know what? Before we get into that, you dropped a bomb on me before we got on air. I did.
Dropped a bomb on me. What was that? I think it's something we need to discuss. Oh, okay. I like this. Is this like therapy? Well, this is like therapy.
Therapy. First you pressed the button that gave me something like a dog whistle and then we had a conversation that talked about broadcast television and you dropped the bomb. I dropped,
the bomb. How do you know how they warm up an audience? Well because I was in an audience.
Which I said what are you talking about? Well okay. So if you want to call it a TV show right? So because it was on TV I guess. I was in the audience and I had the,
possibility of being a participant or contestant in the Wisconsin Money Game TV show. How did I get there you ask? How did you get there? All right perfect. I,
got there because one night I was over by my friend Aaron's house and we were playing believe it or not Dungeons and Dragons and before I went there I stopped,
at my traditional quick trip run and I grabbed my snacks and my cappuccino and,
and I figured I would buy three scratch off lottery tickets.

[2:41] The first two were losers and the second or the third one, I'm sorry, the third one was a winner and it was, it was the cosmic cash lottery ticket and I'll never forget the name.
Wasn't the second chance. Nope. The second chance. Cosmic cash. And at the time I remember scratching it off and I scratched it and I went, huh, three TVs and everybody at the table stopped.
And they looked at me and they went, what? And I just got three TVs, what does that mean? Like you're going on TV.
So I was like, that's cool. It was filmed in Madison, I think. Yeah, it was filmed in Madison.
Or Milwaukee, I don't remember. Gosh, so long ago. Anyway, I remember spending the night in a hotel.

[3:34] And going there and they warmed us up and somebody came out and they're like, all right, When everybody comes out, there's an applause sign here and there's this and that, we need you to clap and the hosts are coming out and you know,
you had to get everybody all excited and you have to make TV personalities feel good for who they are and otherwise, they can't perform apparently, right?
And I did not get picked to go on the stage but you wanna hope that the contestants on the show win big because you get a percentage of what they win.
Well, no, when he won big, but I came home with $740 some total. So with the a hundred dollars that I won, it was like $800.
Oh, cause you watch, you want a percentage of what everybody else won. What the three contestants went like the top winner.
You won. Yeah. You got a percentage of that and the, Oh my God, the people out there were just horrible, horrible. You're literally like picking letters.
Did they ever tell you that my cousin won $10,000? You never did. Really, on the Money Game Show? Yep. That's awesome.

[4:40] That's cool. I wish your cousin was there when I was, because- But a percentage of it. I got more than $745.
Anyway. Okay, $745.
As a 20 year old kid, I'm gonna say kid,
as a 20 year old person, whatever I don't care kid I was a freaking kid that was good money oh yeah that was good oh yeah.

[5:09] Whatever. It was cool. So there's the bomb.
Okay. There's, yeah, oh yeah, you're welcome.
I thought the bomb was gonna be that I wanted to rehearse something before we started recording.
Well, I wasn't gonna call it that, but now that you brought it up. The look on your face was priceless. You're like, what?
You literally want to go through this before we record? I have to listen to this twice. Yes.
Don't make me listen to this again. It's either Chris sits up here for four days editing or we do a little bit of reversal. You should have said it that way.
I know you said one take, but you should have said it that way.
Or I'm waking you up in your chair going, Chris, Chris, what do you have to do right now? What are you gonna do?
Edit. Yeah, just be glad. Just wake me up in five minutes.
Just glad you haven't come up here yet and seen me dozing out in the chair. Yeah, that's happened. That's happened.
That's happened, yeah. Here I'm editing next thing I know the podcast is over and I wake up.
What?
Oh God, I gotta go all the way back to 20 minute mark.
Okay.
Oh, I just bumped my mic. Oh my gosh. I was crying. That was good.

[6:34] So let's talk about some cool gaming related stuff. Did we get any new, we did get some new games to the table. We got Wingspan Asia.
We did.
That is good. Well we'll talk in depth about it. Oh yeah.
Podcast but and as I told you that I had gotten onto live chat with Jamie Stegmeyer and had asked him if he had gotten feedback that base game wingspan,
was weak at two players I feel kind of bad that I asked him that because he seemed to like really like it too clear. So I actually wanted to actually I was,
going to because I felt so guilty I wanted to get back on there and tell,
Hey.

[7:28] Knocked it up. It really went up a notch. Wingspan, Duet, adding that Duet board.
Yeah, I mean... I'm gonna give it at a boy. Yeah, I like the... I like the addition of the Duet board.
I didn't think, unlike you, I did not think base wingspan was weak at two players, but the Duet board does make it better. And we'll talk more about that when we do our feature review,
in the next episode. As far as first impressions of the game, I like it. And that's all I'm going to say. What else? I feel like we, I feel like there's been more excitement in the world of,
Chasing Meeples. You mean when I won a game from AEG? Oh yeah. Tell everybody about that.
Well, I was on Facebook and I was watching a live play of Tiny Towns by Bozenator and of course they had a little contest and no I think I had to,
tag people or something like that something pretty simple and Chasie,
Meals won. So I got a copy it just got it in the mail. Yeah came in the mail today from the sitting on the garbage can.
Mr. garbage delivery mailman.
Old wallpaper? No, that I think it's called that that old wallpaper. Yeah.

[8:54] Small box game. So we'll have to break it open. I know there is a memory component to it.
Oh, that's gonna rock. Or so for you, maybe it will definitely be a brain This little box will probably just like completely destroy me.
That's funny. Memory, that's not my strong suit. Me either lately.
I swear the older I get, the less technologically inclined I become. Suddenly you're like, where's that share button again?
Yeah, what the heck? I mean, maybe it's just because my phone just goes through all these updates and they throw these curve balls at you. There you go.
There you go. But like all I wanted to do was upload that video to YouTube for Gabe and I was just like, I knew where my gallery was yesterday.
What the heck? They do, they move things around on you. Oh, yeah, I hope it's not that.
I hope it's not like a thing where the older you get like, what, huh, what's this thing?
Yeah, I don't think the moving a window on your phone means that you have Alzheimer's.
No, not Alzheimer's, just like, you know?
For sure? No, you're going there. Don't go there. I'm just talking about like, you know, when I grew up, whether I was playing Sega or...

[10:17] PlayStation or whatever, it was always Nintendo to my dad. No matter what it was, it was Nintendo.
Yeah. And, you know, game controllers were not game controllers. They were remotes.

[10:32] Shut up. I call it a remote. Like you also use the term Davenport and Den.
Do you know what a Davenport is? I had to tell you what it was. It's a brand name of a cabinet, right?
I had to tell you that because you did not know that. Well. Famous lazy boy. Because it is not the era of the Davenport anymore. It is not. Have you ever heard anybody use the word Davenport?
Only you and Donna Reed.
Donna Reed used the word Davenport? Sure, why not? Sure, why not? You? You or Perry Mason or somebody from like some classic television show used the word Davenport?
My grandma used to use the word Davenport. So I looked it up one day.
I mean, my grandmother could have been saying Davenport every day, but she was saying it in Polish. So I had no idea.
I don't know what the Polish equivalent of Davenport would be. Well, you can ask your buddy Ignacy. Yeah, well, yeah.
I got a question for you.

[11:37] Oh, Ignacy, I love that guy. I love that guy. How do you say dab and pour in Polish?
Of course you could just ask your mother too. I would, and then she would say there is no such word And that would be the end of the conversation.

[11:54] In the last episode we talked about going to the noshery or happy place and boy, oh boy, that day became an adventure.
It sure did. Like it was a great day.
I mean, we had our breakfast, we left there and the breakfast there, the food is just amazing and the drinks.
How to get there early for, I don't know, There's not a better blueberry French toast.
Another bacon is always a tad crisp, but you know.
I like Kit, so I don't wanna tell her that she burns.
Well, hopefully Kit listens to this, no.
But, because there's usually, there's usually always one listen from Egg Harbor whenever I look at the stats. There's your face.
Sorry. No, don't be sorry. I mean, we're not paid to talk about the noshery. We are not affiliated with them whatsoever, but that place is the best.
When I said, when I would talk to you about Board Game Cafe, that is what I imagine. I don't imagine it as a coffee shop,
where you can play a game. Or they even have a library. To me, what they built there with this coffee shop, this excellent cafe with good food, and then he's literally has a game store in back. Yeah.

[13:16] That was that's like that's ultimate yeah that's like ultimate I don't know I I see pictures of other board game cafes and I'm looking going.

[13:27] Well, yeah, it's not really you really I mean he could improve it obviously you could have more gaming room more tables, but um What he you know,
That did a really Really, you know superb job. Yeah for sure,
Yeah, that was a great day, you know, we got our breakfast in and we walked out with some with a pretty good hall And the, and the fun didn't stop at the noshery. It was drive from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Appleton, Wisconsin.
And then we, we ran out of time. We were actually going to swing through green Bay on the way home to where we live.
And, uh, yeah. So we're talking like quite some driving because where we live is about hour and a half away from Sturgeon Bay.
From Sturgeon Bay and then Appleton is probably about another hour away from Sturgeon Bay so yeah but anyway oh that reminds me of,
Orlandia I did the squeal when I saw beer and bread being held for somebody else and James whoever James is that nice young man sent me the email telling he was holding that game for me. Oh, that's my phone. Rule is mount mute everything.

[14:54] Hi this is Chris from the Chasing Meeples podcast recording live from upstairs. What's going on? Um, uh, I can't feel asleep on the phone.

[15:06] All right, hey, while I got you on the phone, our listeners want to know what is the Polish word for Davenport.

[15:18] Yes, Davenport. Like a coach? Yes. Or a captain. A captain. Alright, thank you. The Meeplechasers of the world, thank you.
Okay. Alright, bye bye. I can't believe you did that. Oh, that's funny.

[15:46] Do you answer the phone? Put your mother on speaker. Well, I actually, if this thing was hooked up to the Bluetooth, I would have just put her on, put her on the podcast. I should have did that. Calling it.
Hey, we got a call on our listener line.

[16:02] What can I help you with? You know, your son is sleeping. I'm going home. No. going home.

[16:11] Well, thank you for calling.

[16:13] Music.

[16:24] You know, I like this. So first quiz that we had, I actually hated. I'm not going to lie to you. And I hate the fact that you were asking me questions that I don't see. I really look forward to every quiz, so well done.
Oh, thank you. Well done.

[16:43] You.

[16:43] I think. No, that's a compliment. Well done. You've won me over with the Amiibo's quiz. Just beware. I am gonna do a Amiibo's quiz someday. Yeah, good luck.

[16:56] And my mind's not gonna have like the rules. So for our listeners, let's go over why, what my objectives are for this quiz.
Well, I usually start with something that has to do with our name chasing meeples and then I take it back to a,
board game. Look and see if I actually did it that way. But you'll see why it this really won't matter. Okay. Because the quiz is called meeple. It is an actual meeple,
quiz. Oh it's called meeple. Meeple.
Alright. Right there on top of my paper. quiz slash meeple. So first question on the original YouTube show called Meeple People about a board game group in Cleveland Ohio. What four board games are used in the opening scene? I was not paying attention to that. It's a good if,
anybody out there if they haven't watched it it's a good little thing I mean the episodes are maybe like two minutes long but it is funny. Yeah it's funny I didn't get a chance to finish watching the whole thing so hopefully,
there's not any more questions but I know ticket to ride was one of them.

[18:14] Because they were talking in a elevator in the first episode this is all right in that origin the very oh in the whole episode no no no in that when they first,
introducing the show they have those games that they're bringing on the shelves and putting on the table. That's the games I'm talking about.
Opening the opening scene.

[18:39] Get to ride. Right about that one. Arcosone? No, I mean, Ketan?
No. I don't know then. I give up. I give up. I'm not going to get that.
That one. I can't hear you over the sounds that the tables are making. I know. I tried grabbing the pen and it made a sound and suddenly it was like, oh!
I'm trying to pretend like I didn't grab that pen. Like maybe you didn't see that.
Oh no. I heard it So you got ticket to ride right I got ticket to ride oh I can see the answers right now I'm gonna move it. Oh, I know what they are. I just looked at your paper.

[19:20] They're like right in front of me in bold writing Not you I cannot use number 11 not 11 font It's number 16 bold, but I did not realize that that one was in there. So all right lords of water deep,
Yeah, I never got it blender. Yeah, and this is what I saw,
Birlandia Kingsburg Oh Kingsburg. Yes. Yes. That's why you said that at the game going. Where did I see this?
Where did I saw that game work? Chris? Where did we see Kingsburg? And suddenly I'm like, oh That's right. It's on my quiz Nothing. Forget it. Forget it. I,
Yeah, so that's why I was so confused. You were like what I was like what we didn't see we weren't talking about it We didn't see it anywhere.
However, Kingsburg is on the top 100 list of Tom Vassel. Is it really? Yeah, and it looks good.
I've never looked at it. So I didn't even hear anything about it until that show. And then when I saw it at Bordlandia, I thought it was an older game like Lords of Water.
It is. Kingsburg is an older game, yes.
I really, I had no idea. Yeah, and I guess the version they have at Bordlandia has like the expansions that they added to it to make it better.
So that's like the addition to pick up. Okay.
So, but it's a dice plays my game. Okay.
Oh, I like that.

[20:43] All right, next question. So I got one point. You got one point.
I won't write it down because I'll make noise. So we're just keeping it up there in the noggin.

[20:55] We'll write it down. I can edit noise out. You're fine.

[21:04] On the BGG search engine, how many games have the word meeples in that? And that's plural.
M-E-E-L-E-S. LES.

[21:25] So you are saying if I go into the GG search engine and just type in the word meeples, how many games will show up?

[21:39] And you've done this? Have. What do you mean? I'm writing the quiz.
Like I ask you a question I don't know the answer to?
Well, I don't know. Here's my quiz.
Those of you that are listening to this clip from the newest episode of Chasing Meeple's podcast, here's my quiz for you.
How many of you have actually thought, go on, BGG, type in the word meeples. Well, you know, maybe if they were looking for a game that had the word meeples in it,
they would do it because they're looking for one of how many games?
I, okay. I will answer your question in a minute, but I must be an odd duck.
You are. Because when I do a search term, I never look at how many results it produced.
So I'm just gonna throw a number out of there and I'm gonna say out of all of the games on BGG, hold on, let me do my best channeling Professor X psychic ability.
Some people do watch BGG on a weekly basis.
Here we go. The answer has come to me.
And the answer is.

[22:54] Now before you tell me the answer. I am looking at you. I am just looking to see what your lips are gonna do.
And I'm gonna try to keep it calm. Cause if you get it right, you know there's gonna be a screech you're going to have to edit out.

[23:11] Okay, let me can I can I try to narrow it down because this is a huge range of all the games that have ever been released Is it.

[23:26] I mean For me to pinpoint in this okay,
Now, okay. Now guess what we're looking at how many came up on that search Could there be something? Cause their search engine is not always the best.
If anybody's used it, you have to be very accurate.
You have to capitalize. It does not, you can't just like write half a word and think it's going to pop up like Google does, it doesn't.
Okay.
No, that's okay.
Is it, can I ask for like a higher and a lower? Can I do that?
Is it higher than 6,000?

[24:11] Oh, okay, I'll give you this clue. No, no, no, no, no. I wanna find the clue. Is it higher than 6,000?
Is it lower than 4,000?
Yes.
Okay, well, listen, for me to be able to get the exact number, I need to do some deduction here. No way.
I feel like we're on the price is right. than 1000? No. Okay, it would have been wrong. Now, is it higher than 500? No. Is it a triple digit number. No!

[25:00] Angie, I would have been wrong. Okay. I know. Oh well. Is it a double digit number? Yes. Okay, the answer is 32 Answer is 15 But I would accept 13 because two of them are expansions,
Okay, and the 13 games are next question how many of these games,
That's it. We're just moving on to the next question. Oh Oh boy.
It took you 12 minutes to answer that question.
You couldn't just randomly guess the number like 1200.
I would have been wrong. I want to win. I so far have won every quiz that you have given me. It's not a win or lose. It's how many points you get.
You don't win. I win. You're like, I win five points or I win eight points.
It's not like, bam, I won. win. All right. Yeah. How many of these games do we have? And name them?
All of them.

[26:09] Well, okay. If you think we own 15 games, we, I think we own more than 15. Okay. Okay. How many games with the word meeples.
We own.

[26:24] And we own lords of water. and.

[26:33] The name title is meeples? Oh. Oh, we don't own any.
You didn't realize that's what it was? I was talking about the title. Now what has meeples in it? No wonder you're thinking 6,000.
How many games have meeples in them? I said no, the word meeples with an S, not meeple. Yeah, but I'm thinking when you type in the search engine meeples, it could show up anywhere in that search engine.
Is it the title of the game? Or is the description of the game the title that pops up you'd have to go into advanced search Oh type in people and component or something. I'm gonna say I'm gonna say you just weren't specific enough When asking your question and I should get a mulligan,
But we don't own any of those games zero.

[27:24] Really we have a game with meeples in the name What's that? In meeples and monsters, train the village. We do have that one. Protect it from monsters. What's the name of the village?
Meepleville? Kingdom? I'm so defeated right now I don't even want to play. I'm sulking. Oh you better get that thinking cap back on because the last question is a good one.
Ladies and gentlemen, you can now see Angie's pet peeve of Chris sulking because he's not winning.
He's not winning, exactly. I don't want to play anymore.
I don't want to record anymore. I'm taking my computer and going home. I'm just gonna edit this right out.

[28:18] The next 10 minutes of this episode is going to be nothing but music. Okay, you got that one wrong.

[28:28] Did I tell you the answer? Meeples and Monsters. No, no. In the village. You did not tell me the name of the village. Rowan. Rowan.
R-O-W-A-N.
Next question. Meeples and Monsters ranks 5629 on BGG. Does it rank higher or lower than Breakdancing Meeples?
Higher. Lower. What? Breakdancing meeples.
That was funny. Breakdancing meeples is 5543.
So not much, but it's still lower than breakdancing meeples. I thought that was.

[29:22] A funny one. Alright. Your final question but not your final answer. Alright.
We know meeples is a combination of my and people. Yes. My review of Flamecraft I called the Dragons Dripels.
How many meeple hybrids can you come up with in 30 seconds? If I ask you to name, if I ask you the name of the game it came from you have to tell me. You gotta get your timer set. My timer set. Okay you gotta give me a clear start time. So,
now I want to make sure that I've got this right. I just literally you just want me to start throwing up meeple hybrids?

[30:05] Yeah, like characters. Like I said dragon, I said dreeple. Yeah. So what am I supposed to do? Say like dragon, dreeple. That's what you want me to do?
Say dreeple and then you could tell me the game. What game? It was in flame crap. If I ask you what game it is because it seems obscure, like... Oh, so I'm not just supposed,
to make stuff up. No. Really names games. Oh see I would have been wrong. I would have been all like cheese pull. Cheese pull. That's from cheese and meat pull. People always say
sheeple from. Yeah okay. You just took that one away. You're up here going sheeple. That,
was the first one I was gonna say. Angie. I'll give you a point. You mean one point for sheeple one point but if I think it's a weird thing then you're gonna,
have to tell me which game you got it from okay well cuz I only got one all,
Alright, I had two.
Thinking cap on. It's on, okay, and...
Go.

[31:09] Music.

[31:28] I don't see you checking. I don't see check marks. I just got a bunch of points.
I just got tons of points. Hiker pole. Parks.
Hiker pole. Come on, Hive. This is my fault. This is completely your time's up.
Tenth pole. This is so my fault. I worded that wrong. I was thinking I was gonna say animals.
I thought it was obvious. Cause I said dragon.

[31:59] I call. I call bear pole elephant. Yeah.
Bear pole. That one. It made sense. You're like, oh, roll call.
I guess. Here is one in the up. Yeah. We'll see.
I see that's it. I originally yes. And I did. I bought the people upgrades and they're shaped like wizards. I mean, so I'm taking.
Yes, you're right. No, you are right because Gpull, I thought about GPS, the Gpulls and Dinosaur world, but then you start with the Rolpull and Wizard. It took me a while. You said Wizardpull and I'm like.

[32:39] And it would be nice if you did the hybrid of the name So that would be... Whistle? Whistle!

[32:50] Roguepull? Alright, let me do that again. G-Pull. Whistle.
Fight-Pull.

[33:03] Cleric-Pull. Cleric-Pull.
Cleric-Pull. Bear pole? Hike pole?

[33:14] Hiker. Hiker's still a meat pole. He's not a- He is, cause he's a person, so he would still be- My definition of a meat pole is the standard classic shape.
Anything else? Is a hybrid.
That's it. End of discussion.
No, no, no, no. If you throw that question out and I don't get points for it, That is foul.
That is foul play. We're just gonna cancel that one. No, I get max points then.

[33:47] Stay on the... She just fell out of her chair. I'm gonna buy you a better chair.

[33:56] So why do you think we're playing Max points and writing these things on a paper with a sharpie? Max points. I don't even know what Max points are. Oh my god.
I was just gonna you start saying like dog pull or something like that. That's all. I was gonna give you points. No, I am creative. Oh, I'm creative. I came up with wizard pull and hike,
pull a hiker pole tent pole.

[34:29] There's a tent in. Okay. What made you in your mind go to lords of water deep in parks? Why are those two the two games that you went to?
Because that's what popped into my head for meeples.
Oh, okay. I mean, we own 300 games. I was just wondering why that's where it went. Like I'm thinking Everdell. I'm thinking they have like 900 animals.
And there. I'm like, people and spider pol- you know what I mean? They have like 900 animals in there and I was even going parks with the bears and stuff and- But they don't- but here's the thing, they don't call them-
Well, no one calls flamecraft dragons, dweeples, except for me.
Now, it should be a thing. Well, now- There's another t-shirt. Now we've got whiz pulls.
Yeah, whiz pulls and- Oh, we could have a whiz pull and a dreeple like battling each other. Oh my gosh,
Who's gonna win was poor oh my gosh, we've got another t-shirt side I gotta write this down,
Where's my pen I don't know it probably flew somewhere when you way over there injected yourself out of the chair I'm gonna pick up my papers now.

[35:44] All right. Well Chris, you did really well with that quiz. I will tally up the...
Tally up max points. I will tally up max points and I will tell everybody on Instagram which you want.
Are we going to tell everybody what our five, top five, in-right games are? We are.
Before we do that, I just want to let everybody know, Max points, I'll take it.

[36:14] Music.

[36:24] In right games. Hey Angela, where's my dry erase marker? My number five is Zombicide Gear Up. Zombicide Gear Up is a cooperative flip and right game set in the world of Zombicide. Players take on the role of survivors who must work,
together to defeat waves of zombies using weapons that hit in a certain type type of shape to fill in the outlines of their zombies.
So think Polyamino, I guess Flippin' Right, right?
It's Flippin' Right. Yeah. Yeah. So the game is set up with a certain level of difficulty and players are given numbers of regular and special zombie cards that they place on their third street level.
And on each turn, players reveal a turn card which shows which color weapon they can use and then the zombies will advance towards them.
So players must spend their ammo and armor to defeat the zombies and upgrade their weapons as they progress through the game. It also has a solo mode.
I don't play a lot of the solo games, but the difference is you have companion cards in addition to their own weapons, which kind of allows you to have a chance. Because let me tell you, this game is challenging. The difficulty ramps up quick.
We've never won. Let's just put it that way. We've never won. So that's my number five pick.
Zombicide. Gear up. Find number five is Railroad.

[37:49] Railroad Inc. is a multiplayer puzzle game. Your goal is to connect as many exits on your board as possible. Each round a set of dice is rolled in the middle of the table determining which roads and rails are available to them. You must draw these routes on a dry erase board and create,
transport lines and connect your exits. Additional symbols are available for a one-time use in which,
you try to optimize better than your opponents. Originally the game came in just a blue and red edition but now they have a yellow and green challenge edition as well as a multitude of expansion dice. We have the blue edition,
also for bodies of water if you'd like to play with an additional challenge. My,
My number five is Railroad Inc. Blue Edition.
Number four.
Hey there, Meeplechasers. Are you ready for an epic Roll and Ride adventure? Well, get ready because Fantasy Flight Games is bringing you my number four choice.
And it's a game that takes place in the Twilight Imperium universe, and that is Twilight Inscription.
So this game is nothing like Fantasy Flight Games has ever done before.

[39:05] It was a huge task that they brought on. So it's a massive roll and write game that's one to eight players and they are trying to take all of the epic game Twilight inscription and put it into a roll and write form.

[39:22] And let me tell you this game is not for the faint of heart. You have a limited pool of resources.
You have four boards to choose from.
And you have to amass victory points and earn your right to the throne on mechatol rex.
So you're going to get 24 factions to choose from. Each faction is going to have their own unique abilities and you have to figure out which one is the best for your playstyle.
And once you've chosen your faction then you get to take each of one of the four player sheets. Navigation, Expansion, Industry, and Warfare.
And get this, each sheet has eight different versions, so no two games will ever feel the same.
It's like playing a different game every time.

[40:15] But that is not all. So every round starts with an event card. These events can grant you resources,
but they can also trigger wars or council events events where you're gonna need to have a strong fleet or enough votes to be able to win criteria on the card. And trust me, you don't want to be caught without,
either of those. So are you ready to write your own legacy to be the ruler of the galaxy? Will your empire fade into obscurity? So the choice is yours. So,
So there's one thing that is holding that game back from being higher on my list.
That is the fact that when you play with two players, you have to have an AI opponent. Don't like that.
I understand the reasons why they need it.
But that is probably the reason why I also don't like solo games. It's just that whole AI opponent. I understand it's supposed to be there to take away choices and take away things like that from you to simulate another opponent.
However, I think it's, I just want to- He's not an AI opponent. He's your opponent. He's not a... It's not the same. Not the same.

[41:31] You don't think so? You don't think it's like an Atoma? Because that's what it is.
No. He's the big bad guy. And that's the way I feel about him. Oh, okay. I feel like because...
I kind of look at it like this. This is like this epic battle. This is...
What is his name? Megatall Rex or whatever? You have to get to mechatal Rex mechatal Rex is a place. It's a planet. It's like.

[42:06] Yeah,
No, well that that just kind of blows that game for me because I was thinking it totally meant some I'm thinking mechatal Rex was a person and he was the bad guy and you're trying to take the throne and take him
out and and usually when you're an AI anything else that's your I didn't really ever see that as.

[42:36] Nope, you're competing with them. Now that whole game is just kind of blown for me now. I'm sorry to hear that. Anyway, Meeplechasers, grab your dry erase chalk markers and let's get writing.
Number four. This is a game by one of your favorite designers Ignacy Trevichek.
Imperial Settlers Roll and Write, a 2019 game by Portal.

[43:06] It's a standalone game set in the Imperial Settlers universe. It's an engine building game in which you construct different buildings and earn bonuses.
At the beginning of your turn you shake four dice. Three of them are going to have different resources that you need.
Fourth die determines how many actions you can take with those dice on your turn. This keeps you on your toes because you might need to switch strategies,
midstream for what you want to get done on your turn. You may want to get a bonus building a constructed building but you end up with three apples and how are you gonna build a building with three apples. It is the unexpected that,
has me hooked on this game. That is why Imperial Settlers Rollin' Right is my number four.
Number 3 My number 3 is the game Welcome To.
It's a flippin' right where you get to live out your dreams of becoming the best suburban architect in the United States in the 1950s. As you fill in your streets with houses in numerical order, you'll want to take advantage of the unique actions that come with each card flip.
From increasing point values of derivatives you build, or scoring points for building parks and pools, there's always something to keep you on your toes.
And with the options to either alter or duplicate your house numbers, the possibilities are endless.

[44:30] But be warned, be warned, Meeplechasers, you're not alone in this race to be the best suburban architect.
So there's simultaneous gameplay and it supports large groups of players. They claim up from one to 100 players, which would be pretty insane.

[44:53] Everyone is fighting for that top spot. And with completely randomized action sets, no two games are gonna feel the same.
So grab your blueprints and get ready to build the town of your dreams in Welcome 2.
Isn't that crazy that you can play a game like that? I think that's kinda neat. I like Welcome 2. It didn't make my list. it probably would be my number six.
Yeah. But I think, you know, because if people had lockdowns and over Zoom, people were able to do that. I actually think...
A few cartographers for sure you could do a couple of rolling rights that you could do that too you could do cartographers you could do I mean anything,
which anything that's just has sheets and just you know some somebody's there rolling dice and flipping the cards and well tiny towns it's not a rolling,
right but you could do it with tiny towns because I've seen it done right you go to conventions they have big giant tiny towns things you can you could,
actually play it live on YouTube which is what we probably saw and I think That's probably what maybe your, the live stream was on Facebook.
Yeah.
But there's a lot of games out there. I think that's, that's really cool.

[46:04] I think, um, yeah, definitely. My number three is Cartographers. I'm not going to talk about it because I know it's higher on Chris's list.

[46:13] My number two happens to be Angie's number three Cartographers. A role player tale is a board game in which players compete to earn the most
reputation stars by the time four seasons have passed. Players take on the role of cartographers in their service of Queen Gimnax, who has ordered the
reclamation of the Northern lands. Players draw on their map sheets claiming land for the Kingdom of Nalos. Player with the most reputation stars at the
end of the winter wins the game. And Cartographers is fantastic, which is why it's my number two it's also published by Thunderworks Games a local Wisconsin,
based company my number two cartographer is a role-player tale my number two is,
explorers look and write game published by Ravensburger and designed by Phil,
Walker Harding. You play an explorer traversing your way over lands searching for lost treasure. As explorers you are following a map and along the way you might,
find gems, provisions, and keys to unlock a temple. The thing about this game is that,
it has modular boards with all the possibility that holds. Each player.

[47:43] Receives a frame and four terrain tiles that fit into this frame. Along the top there are two sided scoring tiles for your provisions, your gems, and an end,
game town bonus. Each temple you find is worth points based on the order they were unlocked. For example, the first person to unlock a temple in the first,
quadrant case.

[48:10] 10 after that 8 and then 6. Explorers lasts for 4 rounds and it offers a lot of variability depending on which map tiles you use, which side of the goal tiles you're using, and even in addition to that,
each map tile is two-sided. The opposite side has an additional end game scoring conditions.
Wish to challenge yourself a little bit you can add those in. That is why explorers is my number to. Number one. Angie, do you think we're gonna have a crossover on number one? I have,
a feeling I have that gut instinct. I do, I feel like there is only one option for number one, I really do. Yeah, one option. So how do we want to handle this if we think we got
a crossover? Oh, you talk about it. All right. For the honor. Okay, well, we'll see. We'll,
see if we got a crossover. My number one and right game is Super Mega Lucky Box.

[49:19] Are you ready? Are you ready for the ultimate bingo experience? Well here comes Super Mega Lucky Box. The game that combines the excitement of bingo with,
strategic thinking and decision-making. Once again a game designed by the talented Phil Walker-Harding is on one of our lists. Again, again can he do no wrong? I have no idea. I don't know you'll find out when we play Monolith. This.

[49:53] Game is published by Game Right Games and it's perfect for players of all ages.
Not only is it a blast to play but it reinforces important math and probability concept for kids so why am I saying that so Angie and I have an autistic child and we homeschool him and we have been trying to get him to play,
board games with us for a very long time now he loves things like don't wake daddy and he loves things like those activity games. However we want to try to introduce him to modern board gaming and he's just not having any of it. So,
one day I'm at work and I get a phone call from Angie, not a phone call, a text message from Andy, Andy, my new friend Andy. One day I'm at work and I get a text message from Angie saying that she has got Gabe playing super mega lucky box.
Tell us about it. I mean how did that go down, right? So like you're doing math class.

[51:00] And you bust out Super Mega Lucky Box. I, you know, I don't even kind of go and tell them what, you know, what subject we're going to do. It's like we have so many things to do that day and I just bring it out and I had it set up in front of them.
And I said, oh, you're going to have to do this, you know, cross off some numbers and we're going to play this. I didn't say play because he's got an issue with playing.
Yeah.
Not that he doesn't have an issue with doing math, but I didn't use the word play.

[51:31] And I started putting the cards and turning and I had him he chose where to put them and then I showed him when he got.

[51:42] In a row that he took Bonus he took and made it through two rounds. He did get tired. Mm-hmm. He does get tired a lot, but um But he did not know he was playing a board game.

[51:57] That is great. Or a card game. He had no idea. I love it. And he did not argue about it. So.
So once again, Phil Walker Harding. Cool points in my book.
So let's get back to Super Mega Lucky Box. So it takes a classic bingo formula and adds a twist. Players have between three and six cards in front of them at any time.
With a 3x3 matrix of numbers on it, and on a turn a number card is flipped, and players cross off one instance of that number on their cards. Well it sounds simple right? That's just the beginning. With every row or column completed,
players receive instant rewards such as crossing off another number, earning points or collecting tokens. But the rewards don't stop there. Players can use lightning
bolts to alter the value of the cards they just flipped, giving them more control over their luck. And with knowledge of what numbers could come up, players are always on the edge
of their seat hoping for their number to come up. That's not all. Players can also choose which cards to keep and which to discard, ensuring they have a spread of numbers and bonuses that will help them towards victory.

[53:17] Points are earned for completing cards, marking stars, and collecting moons. And at the end of the game, the player with the most points wins.
So Super Mega Lucky Box is a game that leans heavily into luck.
But there are ways to mitigate it and constant positive reinforcement. So every time you complete a row you get a reward for it.
Is awesome. It's just plain fun to play and the designer Phil Walker-Harding has done an amazing job making it accessible for children. Gather your friends and family and get ready for an exciting game. Our number one super mega lucky box.

[54:01] There's two things about this game that I love. Okay, there's more than two things. Two things that you didn't mention.
One, we did take this to a family gathering and it was a hit.
Two, this was another game.
When I brought home, you gave me that look and you said, super mega lucky box?

[54:27] What is this? And you need to play it the first couple times that I played it. I know you I actually had to sit on a table and you walked by went to the refrigerator to get a water or something to eat and you looked at me and went oh and that's it.

[54:48] That's it. And once you start playing you're crossing up numbers and then you're starting to hit those combos and you're like, oh, oh, I can do that. I can do that. I can do that.
Oh, I can do that. And when you hit that first combo, you, you were set. That's it. It sucked you in. First time you were able to cross off a five and then get a six over there. Oh, and that got you another bonus. Oh, that hooked you. Mm-hmm.
To a simple little game with absolutely no theme whatsoever. Yep. It's amazing. It's a masterpiece. You know what? And when I bought it I had no idea who the designer was. That's funny isn't it? I saw this game on Foster the Meeple I think.
They had it on there. And when I saw it at the Red Apple I bought it. Had no idea what it was and then I was looking and you really if his name is really small,
print like in the book or something I don't think it even is on the box so.

[55:59] It's it's a good game. Great game and that's why it's our number one. Well that about wraps up this episode what are we gonna talk about next time?
Wingspan Asia. Wingspan Asia. A game by StoneMayer Games. Right? That's the publisher, StoneMayer.
I always want to say StoneMeyer, but it's StoneMeyer isn't it?

[56:29] Everybody says stone. I think they say stone mayor,
Mayor I think it's it's like pronouncing Schraders or Schroters or Bernstein or Bernstein Holy cow, we just had a man tell anyway.

[56:48] So we're gonna do We're gonna do that and then I'm sure there's gonna be tons of hilarity Tons of greatness, tons of awesomeness, because we are the Chasing Meeples podcast, and you are the Meeple Chasers.
So you know what, everybody, let's keep chasing those meeples. And Angie,
why do you always roll your eyes at me? My goodness, my goodness.
I thought you were gonna say, keep chasing those dreams, Meeple Chasers.

[57:21] Chasing those, even better. people chasing them. Chasing your dreams. Ay yi yi.
If you guys, we, I need to set up a camera next time we record and that is definitely gonna be almost out there. So you guys can see the faces that she makes at me. She was talking about me making faces at her during the quiz.
I was sulking and she gives me faces like I'm an idiot. Like she's just waiting to, ay yi yi.

[57:50] Anyway. Wingspan Asia, check it out later this month when we release our next episode. Until then, chase those dreams.
Yeah. Okay. Have a good night, everybody. Take it easy.
Thanks for listening to episode seven of the chasing meeples podcast recorded on January 28th, 2023. To those of you who listened while washing the dishes, great job multitasking!
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