Vlog Ep. 324: The Star Trek Deck Building Game

After a short break, #BaduyPride was back with a new tabletop game episode. In honor of First Contact Day, we decided to talk about one of the Star Trek-related games in our collection - this being the Star Trek Deck Building Game. We only have the Original Series edition of the game thus far and maybe we'll get lucky and find the Next Generation episode eventually. This is one of those out-of-print franchise curiosities that we're lucky that Tobie was able to find for us.

While not the most polished deck building game around, it still has a charm of its own. It uses different production stills as card art and managed to capture pretty much every single TOS story to some degree. The weird conceits of the game where everyone is in charge of a starship and recruiting very diverse crews from the Starbase isn't the greatest, but it works well enough to keep things going. And still play the game from time to time regardless.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 322: Reflecting on Canvas

Today's episode of #BaduyPride was all about the beautiful and creative card game that is Canvas. This 1-5 player game was designed by Jeff Chin and Andrew Nerger and published by Road to Infamy Games. The base game first went to Kickstarter and was released in 2021 and the expansion, Canvas: Reflections officially came out this year.

The core mechanics of this game are pretty simple to learn (and equally simple to teach). The individual aspects of the game also seem familiar as we've seen a lot of these ideas in different games. But how everything comes together to create a brilliant game experience is the true genius of the game. Just because it's family-friendly doesn't mean you shouldn't underestimate the game's potential for strategic play or at least very interesting game runs. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 321: King Arthur Pendragon RPG

This episode of #BaduyPride is all about the brilliant RPG system that is King Arthur Pendragon as currently (and originally) published by Chaosium Inc. This game allows players to play the roles of knights back in the age of chivalry (actually a little before it) and really asks the question of whether they have what it takes to live up to the ideals of the period. And this goes beyond just role-playing, but the very system itself was designed in a way to creatively encourage players to be true knights.

This franchise has lasted over the years because of its ability to tell these stories so well. It celebrates those who love the Arthurian myths but it also enables the less familiar to experience these stories in an entirely new way. A friend on the stream mentioned that the game, especially when you play the longer-term Great Pendragon Campaign. becomes a character study of the players. And I totally agree with this sentiment. If you want a deep role-playing game experience that will test your characters on so many levels, then this is truly a game worth exploring. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 320: Wacky Races: The Board Game

Tonight's episode of #BaduyPride is all about a crazy cartoon that got translated into an equally crazy board game. This is Wacky Races: The Board Game, a 2-6 player game based on the 1968 animated TV series of the same name. This game designed by Andrea Chiarvesio and Fabio Tola is a fun little romp that has players racing against the other racers while trying to survive the traps set by Dick Dastardly and Muttley. 

This is a great example that a game designed from the ground up with a focus on trying to capture the essence of the source material, even if it's just a cartoon with only 17 episodes. And this is a great example off what you can achieve with what we term as a franchise game that is still family-friendly but still offers a lot of fun for a lot of different people. And we'll never get over how cute the little cars are.

If only we knew how to pain them to be cartoon-accurate.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 318: 51st State: Master Set

Today's episode of #BaduyPride was all about the brilliant card game 51st State: Master State. This 1-4 card game was created by Ignacy Trzewiczek and published by Portal Games. We figured it was a great time to feature the game given the closing of the Gamefound campaign for the 51st State Ultimate Edition. Plus it's a really solid game and definitely one of the best parts of the Portal Games family.

I love the setting. Tobie enjoys the gameplay challenge. We both wish we could play the original Neuroshima RPG that this and other Portal Games are set in. And we love how the core engine that drives this game resulted in other amazing games including our much-loved Imperial Settlers, Alien Artifacts, and more recently Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 317: Celebrating Game Masters

Today's #BaduyPride episode is our contribution to celebrating International GM's Day, which is celebrated on 04 March every year. Game Masters are the brave souls who have helped many players (old and new) discover new game worlds and craft some amazing stories together. And given all the work that running tabletop RPGs involve, it's only right that we invested some time in celebrating this essential aspect of the gaming hobby.

Tobie got me into the hobby by including me in his ongoing campaign and has run so many, many games for me since then, so this episode had a bit more of a focus on his experience as a GM and all the adventures in running games. But he has also inspired me to try to run games as well and I was glad to be able to contribute something to the discussion as well. 

Happy International GM's Day!

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 316: Adventures Above and Below

We wanted to feature a more narrative tabletop game for #BaduyPride tonight and we decided to talk about Above and Below created by Ryan Laukat and published by Red Raven Games. This 2-4 player game has players put in charge of different sets of villages who have an opportunity to explore underground caverns, find unique resources, build out the village and find more villages to aid in future explorations.

The exploration action as tied to the book of encounters is a central part of the game as a lot of resources can only be found through such explorations and you won't be able to build underground outposts without earning empty caverns. And this is really where the game shines and most of the fun is to be found. The other systems around it can feel a little complex in the beginning, but they call come together in the end to make for quite the unique game experience. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 314: Brass: Birmingham

Today's episode of #BaduyPride is about the complex strategy game Brass: Birmingham. This 2-4 player game was created by Gavan Brown, Matt Tolman, and Martin Wallace and published by Roxley Games. Games last at least an hour and it is one of the highest-rated games on BoardGameGeek.

We had heard a lot of good things about this game together with its consistently high BGG ratings. And when we finally got a copy of the game for ourselves, it did make for an interesting play experience. And while we sort of explain most of the rules in this video, the main goal was to just explain enough in order to be able to talk about what we like about the game.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 313: The Jurassic Park Franchise

This episode of #BaduyPride was all about the geekily epic Jurassic Park franchise. Most know it mainly for the movies, but we did our best to cover all forms this franchise has taken starting from the novels and even the few games created based on the stories. It was quite a colorful discussion and there's so much to celebrate about these dinosaurs and the people constantly trying to escape from them.

I think the biggest revelation is just how much we love the original movie over pretty much everything else in the franchise. And that says a lot about the visionary work that crafted that movie experience. And while it feels like a no-brainer that a movie about dinosaurs would be popular, the fact that it was done so well is what has helped it become the juggernaut that it is now. And this is a large part of the reason we love Dinosaur Island so much. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 312: Dinosaur Island Rawr 'N Write

Today's #BaduyPride featured board game is a clever adaptation of a game we already love. This is Dinosaur Island: Rawr 'N Write, which obviously shares the same DNA (get it?) as much beloved Dinosaur Island. This 1-4 player roll and write game was created by Brian Lewis, David McGregor, and Marissa Misura and published by Pandasaurus Games.

We love the original Dinosaur Island and it kind of amazed us how much of the original game was still present here. There's no denying this is a fun roll and write experience on its own, but the fact that it captures a lot of the same elements of the core game while still embracing the genre it tried to capture here. It's fun how the developers have adapted the game to different play styles, but this is definitely one of our favorite interpretations of the base game concept.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 310: Fog of Love

In preparation for Valentine's Day next week, this episode of #BaduyPride was about one of the most "romantic" games in our collection - Fog of Love. This 2-player game was created by Jacob Jaskov with the tagline of being a "Romantic Comedy as a Board Game". And it may live up to that moniker given its clever use of layer game systems to guide the players through the telling of the love story of their characters.

It's not the most brilliant game out there from a pure gaming level, but the way the game translated the push and pull of people figuring out their relationship is where it shines. While the game is very narrative, it still involves a lot of interesting systems that strongly influence your decisions and make it hard to just surrender to the relationship that is forming between you.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 308: Escape Simulator

For this week's game-related episode of #BaduyPride, we went digital for a chance to talk about Escape Simulator by Pine Studio. We've already established on the show that we love tabletop escape room experiences like Exit: The Game, Unlock!, and Mystery House, but this time we have a digital effort to provide a digital version of such puzzle games. And given how much time we've lost to this game over the weekend, we couldn't wait to talk about it on the show. 

This first-person puzzle game allows 1 or more players to explore different escape-room style levels and puzzle their way to freedom. Very much like in-person escape rooms, you'll find yourself opening drawings, breaking codes, finding hidden keys, and all that good stuff as part of the experience. But on top of providing a solid game, it also comes with a level creator, which has empowered the community to create even more escape rooms for people to try. So the amount of content you get for buying this game is pretty crazy.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!    

Vlog Ep. 306: Raiders of the North Sea

This episode of #BaduyPride is all about another clever worker placement game - Raiders of the North Sea. This 2-4 player game was created by Shem Phillips and published by Garphill Games. It's part of a rather expansive franchise of games all focused on this medieval period and they all feature some innovative gameplay styles.

This game's big revelation is the impact the whole place a worker, take a worker mechanic is. The addition of this game mechanic into the mix of things doesn't just solve the challenge of limited action spaces but also adds a whole other layer of strategy as you figure out what moves to make and what moves to risk leaving for your opponents. We really do enjoy this game and we hope our little discussion helps others discover the joys of this game as well. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 304: Deckscape: Test Time Escape Room Game

After a brief hiatus, #BaduyPride is finally back with new geeky content. And for our first episode for the year, our featured tabletop game is another line of escape room-inspired games. We recently got to play Deckscape: Test Time, the first of a line of puzzle games created by Martino Chiacchiera and Silvano Sorrentino and published by dV Giochi.

Unlike other games of this genre, Deckscape does not rely on an app or website to act as a gating mechanism for its puzzle solutions. So you literally only need the 60 cards in the deck to play - it doesn't even include a rulebook! And the simplicity of this game design is where its brilliance really lies and provides a lot of potential as a travel-friendly escape room experience.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 302: Favorite Games of 2021

Because it's time for end-of-the-year wrap-up stuff, this gaming-centric episode of #BaduyPride was all about our favorite or most-memorable games of 2021. We didn't limit ourselves to board games that were published this year or anything like that. Instead, we tried to cover all sorts of games that we've played this year regardless of their time of initial release across all different channels. 

We played a lot of different games this year whether board games, card games, computer games, role-playing games, and other interesting stuff. So it was hard to just come up with an arbitrary list of top 5 or 10 games per type, so instead, we just did what we also do and gushed geekily over all the games that we enjoyed this year. And no regrets there - we had a lot of fun revising all the different games we experienced this year and we have so many others to look forward to in the year to come. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 300: Dead of Winter

This episode of #BaduyPride was our attempt to tie into this being Christmas week by finding one of the few games that we have that include an actual Santa Claus. Surprisingly, this is the semi-cooperative zombie game Dead of Winter created by Jonathan Gilmour and Isaac Vega and published by Plaid Hat Games. This 2-5 player game is the first to use their now-signature Crossroads game system to add a strong narrative to an already very strategic game.

You can feel that a lot of thought went into this game given all the different moving parts that come together to create a very immersive experience. The Crossroads cards, while rather random, really do give a strong sense of tension that helps build a unique game atmosphere for the game. We also go into which of the expansions may be worth your time in this episode, so be sure to check it out!

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 298: Exit: The Game - Advent Calendar

This is a special episode of Baduy Pride that goes beyond our typical board game discussions. This video is three different types of content in one - first, it's a discussion video about the Exit: The Game series, escape room games, and advent calendars. Second, it's a bit of an unboxing video as we open up this advent calendar game for the first time on camera. And finally, it's a playthrough session of the first "day" of this advent calendar of puzzles. And we totally had a LOT of fun with this. 

This was a different sort of episode, but thankfully escape room puzzle games like this are pretty easy to jump into quickly. There aren't many games that we can quickly determine how to play right of the box to the point that we can immediately do a demo for everyone. I don't think we're going to be able to do this on a regular basis, but we'll certainly revisit this whenever we have a game that supports the episode format.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!    

Vlog Ep. 296: Talisman: Kingdom Hearts

Today's episode of #BaduyPride was focused on a surprising franchise board game - Talisman: Kingdom Hearts. While we do love the Kingdom Hearts franchise, the game Talisman isn't the greatest one around as it still reflects a lot of the design elements from the period of its release. But there was clearly a lot of love for the video game franchise in this game and the result was a beautiful marriage of the two elements.

While it's still not the best game ever, but there's a lot to love here. The game components are beautiful and the attention to detail is very impressive. The gameplay moves steadily along, especially when compared to older editions of Talisman. But all the pretty Kingdom Hearts bits help distract players from the lengthy playtime. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!    

Vlog Ep. 294: Developing With The River

This Game Day Monday #BaduyPride discussion is all about The River, a 2-4 player board Sébastien Pauchon and Ismaël Perrin, and published by Days of Wonder. This is a game that involves both tile and worker placement but combines the two game mechanics in a way that results in a game with only moderate difficulty. And that's a gift in itself.

The River fills that niche of moderate games that could lead to more complex ones. It's not entirely gateway, but it's something quick that you can bring in between other games and still have time to teach it and play it a few times. The core mechanics are some pretty popular ones used in different games and you can totally help newer players discover more games of interest based on how they respond to this game.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!    

Vlog Ep. 293: Doctor Who: The Card Game

In honor of TARDIS Day being this week, this episode of #BaduyPride is all about one of the better Doctor Who tabletop games around, this being Cubicle 7 Entertainment's Doctor Who: The Card Game. Designed by Martin Wallace, this game supports 3-4 players (ideally) in a time-traveling adventure to conquer one another's locations or successfully defend your own locations from incursion. The game features a generous amount of images from the show depicting the different characters whether these are just different incarnations of the Doctor himself, his companions, and of course his diverse collection of enemies.

It's hardly the greatest card game out there, but it's one whose main reverse drafting mechanic nicely fits with the theme of the series. That plus how this second edition of the game nicely spans a lot of the Doctor Who adventures we think of most fondly, and this game still has a valued place in our collection. And at the very least, it generates some very interesting scenarios that may never come up in the actual show.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!