Episode Nine - Space, Cats, No Turtles

Boy what an episode. It features smells, mold, nightmare hotels but it also features some board games! Today we’re discussing such cardboard delights as:

• The Crew ( 02:53 ) - You might have heard about trick-taking (and if you haven’t - we got you covered) but what if we told you: trick taking BUT CO-OPERATIVE?! Up is down, left is right and the world of cards is forever changed and nothing will ever be the same.

• Isle of Cats ( 21:23 ) - Talking of spins, we take a brief dive into the world of cats as envisioned by our friend Frank West, designer of Isle of Cats. If you had the chance to play the lovely drafting game called Bunny Kingdom, you might find a lot that’s familiar here, except this time cats. And we all know that cats are polyominoes.

• On Mars ( 39:20 ) - What’s bigger than big? Mars big. And finally we have the biggest most complicated Mars game ever. Is this something you wanted? Well, Vital Lacerda’s On Mars is here and it’s gravitational pull will demand your attention whether you like it or not.

• Mailbag ( 1:00:35 ) - Listener Jake asks us what we think about games like Gloomhaven and Cloudspire that focus on emulating video game experiences in board games and whether they go too far.

Want to send us a question? Fire it to efka@nopunincluded.com

If you enjoyed this episode, drop a comment below. Unlike our YouTube videos, there’s no other sensible way for you to have a nice chat with us, or maybe even some other listeners. Who knows? You might even find a friend.

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Episode Eight - Twentieth Anniversary Edition

Come one, come all - today is truly a celebration of cardboard as we anniversarize not one but two board games that are twenty years old. Except we also have a board game that’s a brand-spanking new baby and also one of the twenty year old board games is a nine year old board game. What happened? Has it faked its drivers licesne? Has it dilated time? You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out.

• Castles of Burgundy: ( 02:32 ) - How more burgundy could the Castles of Burgundy get? There’s hardly any more room for anything burgundier. But should the new edition of this classic pry itself into your collection?

• Wavelength: ( 18:47 ) - Close your eyes. Listen to my voice. Raisins are a horrible horrible fruit. You are of course allowed to disagree, but if you want to win a round of Wavelength with me, you better get on board.

• Bus: ( 30:16 ) - What if we told you that there is a game that has ‘Vrrooomm!’ (with exactly those letters) action spot and if you want to win Bus you better Vrrooomm! well. And what if we told you that in Bus you build transportation links and dilate time?

• Mailbag: ( 44:26 ) - Listener Jeff asks how to downsize their collection. We asked friend of the show Matt Damon but sadly he downsized himself and is no longer available so Efka’s advice will have to do.

Want to send us a question? Fire it to efka@nopunincluded.com

If you enjoyed this episode, drop a comment below. Unlike our YouTube videos, there’s no other sensible way for you to have a nice chat with us, or maybe even some other listeners. Who knows? You might even find a friend.

You can also subscribe to the Podcast via:
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Episode Three - Eighteen Sofa Wars

Alert! Alert! The sofas have run amok and it is up to our heroes, Efka and Elaine, to put all the sofa pieces back together. What treasures will we find in the crevices? What hidden board game gems are gathering dust under those pillows?

• Star Wars: Outer Rim ( 03:55 )- How did an ENTIRE galaxy get lost in the folds of our sofa? We will never find out, but at least we can tell you if this Star Wars themed bimble bimbled our fancy.

• Undaunted: Normandy ( 17:44 ) - The definitive accent pillow of today's podcast is this WW2 themed deck builder. And here’s us telling you why we think it's great and… why Efka just doesn't get on with it.

• 1846 ( 34:16 ) - Rounding out our game discussion is the one game that is definitely bigger than any sofa - 1846, which is just one flavour of the multifaceted genre of 18xx games. Find out how we felt about our first sit down onto board gaming's hardest cushions.

Want to send us a question? Fire it to efka@nopunincluded.com

If you enjoyed this episode, drop a comment below. Unlike our YouTube videos, there’s no other sensible way for you to have a nice chat with us, or maybe even some other listeners. Who knows? You might even find a friend.

You can also subscribe to the Podcast via:
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Episode Two - Blood on the UK Games Expo

Cripes. Elaine and Efka are back and they have hash browns - the scariest potato based substance. But you’re not here for hash browns (unless of course you are, in which case we direct you to your nearest cafe that serves a full English), oh no, you are here for board games. Hold on to your pants - we’ve got board games.

In our second episode we discuss a slew of games we played at UK Games Expo 2019 and there’s quite a few goodies we can’t wait to tell you about:

• Pandemic: Rapid Response (2:22) - finally the answer to the question: what if Pandemic, but MORE stress? Does it need more stress? I don’t think I can answer that question before I chew on some valerian root.

• Copenhagen (17:40) - Choo choo, a new train has come to town and its name is Copenhagen. And also the town’s name is Copenhagen. Everything is Copenhagen and here at NPI we are OK with that.

• Letter Jam (30:00) - Letters are so yesterday so how about some letters that you would hate? Yes please, because let us tell you right now, Letter Jam is GREAT and you’re going to want to hear about it.

• Blood on the Clocktower (38:57)- Closing out the episode is our discussion on our first game of perhaps the most ambitious social deduction game ever made.

And on a final note we’ve received quite a question in our mail bag but we’ll leave that for you to discover.

If you enjoyed this episode, drop a comment below. Unlike our YouTube videos, there’s no other sensible way for you to have a nice chat with us, or maybe even some other listeners. Who knows? You might even find a friend.

You can also subscribe to the Podcast via:
RSS, iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher.