Trailblazers, Isle of Trains: All Aboard, Beast

Everybody always says, “Talk Cardboard is paving the way in board game podcasting!” and this episode it’s certainly true. We have biking, hiking, kayaking, train-ing, and hunting (along routes), which is the most path in any board game podcast ever.

On today’s episode we’ll cover the cute but deadly Trailblazers, the old fashioned but sleek Isle of Trains and the gorgeous, voluptuous and strange Beast.

If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: elaine@nopunincluded.com

If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded

On to the timestamps:

6:12 Audience Correspondence: Methods of Teaching Games

9:32 Trailblazers

29:53 Isle of Trains: All Aboard

47:11 Audience Correspondence: Imperial Onions

52:26 Beast

1:17:15 Elaine hates Hidden Movement games

Undaunted: Battle of Britain, Hamlet, Autobahn

Sometimes you sit down to play some board games for a future podcast episode and you find yourself not particularly digging any of them? It happens. It’s a thing. It could happen to you. This week it happened to us.

Whilst we weren’t especially jazzed about Hamlet, didn’t find Undaunted: Battle of Britain worth the trouble and at least one of us really didn’t get on with Autobahn, that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t like them either. Or maybe you’ve already played them and disagree - dear listener, you should write in.

If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: elaine@nopunincluded.com

If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded

On to the timestamps:

5:55 Audience Correspondence: Past Games

10:21 Undaunted: Battle of Britain

33:44 Hamlet

46:17 Audience Correspondence: How do you learn games?

51:07 Autobahn

Next Station: London, Skymines, Maquis

Welcome back, welcome back, it’s like we’ve never been gone. After a brief interruption Talk Cardboard returns to your ears and consequentially to your brains to deliver all the board game that it needs.

Today’s brain ticklers include drawing a map of the London Underground in Next Station: London, a dose of helium 3 in Skymines and some good ol’ fashioned resisting in Maquis

If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: elaine@nopunincluded.com

On to the timestamps:

2:12 Audience Correspondence – Crispy Pancake Foods

10:37 Next Station: London

28:39 Skymines

58:36 Audience Correspondence - Board Game Canon

1:08:26 Maquis

Distilled, Worldbreakers, Res Arcana

Every Talk Cardboard episode is a journey, and in this episode that journey is competitive card games, competitive card games with engine building and destroying the engine with hard alcohol (not necessarily in that order).

Today we’re taking a look at Distilled, an aspirational game about being a small time distillerer in a world of big alcohol, Wordlbreakers: Advent of the Khanate, a magic the gatheringalike card battler that’s punching very far above its weight and Res Arcana, a distillation (no pun intended) of Race for the Galaxy style card engine building with the world’s smolest deck.

If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: elaine@nopunincluded.com

On to the timestamps:

4:14 Audience Correspondence – Past Games

23:13 Res Arcana

42:25 Worldbreakers: Advent of the Khanate

1:03:05 Distilled

You can find the study on game component rolling probabilities here https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/12119/components-dice-tossing-meeples-houses

Adrian Tchaikovsky, Horseless Carriage, Rolling Heights, Ginkgopolis

Building building building. If you like building (or buildings) you will enjoy at least one of the board games covered in this episode in which you build buildings, buildings and also cars. How's that for a build up? No? Let me construct some clarity.

Today we'll talk about Ginkgopolis, a tile laying city building classic hidden gem, Rolling Heights, a city building game where you roll meeples and Horseless Carriage, a car constructing game from famed board game publisher Splotter Spellen. And finally, a real treat, an interview with famed speculative fiction author Adrian Tchaikovsky who reveals which modern board games he wrote into his novels.

If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: elaine@nopunincluded.com

On to the timestamps:

2:49 Audience Correspondence – Past Games

18:04 Ginkgopolis

34:48 Rolling Heights

52:40 Interview – Adrian Tchaikovsky

1:08:09 This is the timestamp to avoid the spoilery question (it will make sense when you listen)

1:15:53 Horseless Carriage

Episode Thirty - Mindwright

Hey everybody - it’s a calculator party! Bring out your Casios and we’ll get down with spreadsheets like it’s 1799. On today’s podcast not only do we tackle the mini-beast that is Arkwright: The Card Game but give an early scoop on Mind MGMT and a brief glance at Murano: Light Masters.

Timestamps:

• Murano: Light Masters - ( 03:04 )

• Arkwright: The Card Game - ( 20:00 )

• Mind MGMT - ( 37:35 )

If you enjoyed this episode, leave a comment below.

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Episode Twenty Nine - Dinosaur Building Blocks

Three board games enter, one board game leaves. But only having endured the harsh nature of Elaine’s and Efka’s critique. That’s the No Pun Included podcast and it’s back once again for the twenty ninth time.

Timestamps:

• Dinosaur World - ( 06:50 )

• Exit Advent Calendar: Mystery of the Ice Cave (no spoilers) - ( 28:31 )

• Magnate: The First City - ( 41:16 )

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Twenty Eight - Reimplemented

Cult of the new? More like “cult of the game that I’ve already played but haven’t played in ages and now there’s a new version so I bought it again just so I could play it and not play the copy I already had!” That’s right, today we discuss three board games that are renditions, re-editions, reimplementations or maybe just second editions.

Timestamps:

• A Brief Note on our Too Many Bones Video - ( 00:55 )

• Dinosaur Island: Rawr'N Write - ( 07:56 )

• Mobile Markets: A Smartphone Inc Game - ( 30:59 )

• Great Western Trail: Second Edition - ( 45:53 )

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Twenty Seven - Ambitious Kickstarters With Bad Rulebooks

Ah, rulebooks. Don’t you just love sitting down with a cup of hot beverage and an arcane manual written by what you assume is a “game wizard” and spend four hours of your day trying to understand what exactly phrases like “spend your faucet token to activate the hyrdraulics action space” actually mean, to only inevitably give up and desperately search YouTube for a Watch it Played video? Well, this episode of the No Pun Included podcast is delivered to you by this exact feeling. Not all games in today’s episode have bad rulebooks - but the ones that do excel at it.

Timestamps:

• Sheepy Time - ( 04:00 )

• Beast - ( 18:21 )

• The Great Wall - ( 40:19 )

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Twenty Six - Coffee Coffee coffe coffee

What two things would you miss if you were to live on the moon? That’s right, it’s coffee, and the ability for sound to echo whilst you’re doing a moonwalk in vacuum. With that tenuous link between this episode’s board games established, I can tell you a little bit more what to expect from each. Luna Capital is yet another spin on the tableau building formula, Echoes brings something fresh by giving us our very first audio mystery game, and Coffee Traders is this episode’s chunky boy, giving most euro games a run for their money in terms of complexity.

Timestamps:

• Luna Capital - ( 08:35 )

• Echoes - ( 24:23 )

• Coffee Traders - ( 38:45 )

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Twenty One - Sleeping Gods

Today we discuss one game and one game only - Sleeping Gods. But wait a minute, hasn’t NPI already done an excellent review of Sleeping Gods on their YouTube channel? Why yes, hypothetical questioner - we have. However, we had so much to say about this wonderful game that we thought it was worth tackling from a second angle.

Review copy of Sleeping Gods has been provided by the publisher - Red Raven Games.

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Twenty - My Cheese City

Hello everyone and welcome to the podcast description. In your average peas and potatoes board game podcast description, you’d normally have a list of games we’ll be talking about and maybe some words about them. For example, I could say: in this episode we’ll discuss Overboss, a tile laying city builder masquerading as a pixelated fantasy game, Cubitos, a psychedelic game about racing cubes on an alien cube planet, and My City - a Reiner Knizia polyamino tile-laying legacy game. Then there would be a sprinkle of a witticism, perhaps a meta joke. Sadly, at NPI we have run out of all creativity and instead of a good description of what things are all you’re getting is this brief sad note on what it isn’t. Hope you didn’t enjoy this. On to the timestamps.

• Overboss ( 02:48 )

• Cubitos ( 20:50 )

• My City ( 35:30 )

Review copies for Overboss and My City have been provided by their respective publishers.

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Nineteen - Seize the Freeze

What’s cold, old and trainy all over? It’s the No Pun Included podcast covering not one, not two but three board games - one about cold, one about old and one about the industrialization of the Iberian peninsula. Today we’ll be taking a look at Carpe Diem, the new-ish tile laying spiky point salad from Stephan Feld, the resource optimization via dying on an inhospitable planet conundrum called Cryo and the newest entry in the Iron Rails series - Iberian Gauge. Are they good? Are they fun? Are they maybe a bit of a let-down? The NPI podcast has all the answers.

Review copies for Cryo and Carpe Diem have been provided by their respective publishers.

• Carpe Diem ( 06:45 )

• Cryo ( 23:18 )

• Iberian Gauge ( 37:14 )

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Eighteen - Smellovision

Look at that! Or should I say, smell at that? The podcast, for the first time in a long time is precisely on time. And with not one, not two but three very fragrant board gamers plucked from the musky shelves of No Pun Included. Today we plunge our olfactory senses into the sweaty world of fighting games, the scent ambivalent kaleidoscopic paterns of coloured sand and dip our schnozzes into the tangy gloop of selling honey.

• Mandala ( 01:27 )

• Honey Buzz ( 18:29 )

• BattleCon: Remastered ( 35:16 )

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Fifteen - Iwari

Is The King is Dead so good that we’re really looking at it again? Who knows? Well, you will after listening to our latest podcast. We’re also delving into the ping-tastic world of pinball, learning how to quilt for cats, seeing why the Too Many Bones storage box comes with a strange tap-like artefact, escaping Star Wars, and last but not least teaching you about British 90s pseudo-quiz shows via Iwari. Oh and Efka gets finger-waggingly annoyed as he grumps about yet another thing that pops his balloons..

• NPI News ( 1:08 )

• Games We’ve Been Playing ( 02:48 )

  • The King is Dead ( 03:32 )

  • Super Skill Pinball 4-Cade ( 08:26 )

  • Calico ( 22:57 )

  • Too Many Bones: Undertow ( 33:23 )

• Games We’re Looking Forward To ( 43:51 )

• Efka Grumps a Board Game ( 46:58 ) HeroQuest

• Elaine Ungrumps a Board Game ( 54:21 )

• Puzzle Deduction One and Done Escape Room Segment ( 58:55 ) Star Wars Unlock

• Feature Review - Iwari ( 1:12:10 )

You can find the BGG Distance Gaming Guide at: https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Distance_Gaming_Guide

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Fourteen - The King Is Dead

Wow, have we got an episode for you. Not only are we travelling in time (thematically, not literally)… not only are we discussing the Lithuanian word for ‘yuk’…not only are we escaping a rabbit hole…but we’re also having an argument. Actually, more than one. And Efka says the word ‘fart’ at some point too. What more could you want?

• NPI News ( 03:02 )

• Games We’ve Been Playing ( 06:15 )

  • Tellstones: King’s Gambit ( 06:35 )

  • Root Digital ( 19:03 )

  • The Loop: Dr. Foo Strikes Back… Back… Back… ( 24:41 )

  • Glasgow ( 39:34 )

  • Mariposas ( 49:21 )

• Efka Grumps About a Game ( 1:05:51 ) Meta Narratives

• Elaine Ungrumps a Board Game ( 1:12:39 )

• Puzzle Deduction one and done Escape Room segment ( 1:17:30 ) In Pursuit of the White Rabbit

• Feature Review - The King is Dead - Second Edition ( 1:30:51 )

You can find Elizabeth Hargrave’s website at: https://www.elizhargrave.com/

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Twelve - Targi and Targi: The Expansion

If someone had said to me I’d be able to visit a Tokyo fish market, a quaint English village green, New York, and Sherlock Holmes all in one day I’d have thought they were doing a silly. But you can - and from the comfort of your own living room - by listening to our latest podcast episode. And who knows, maybe in the future we’ll really be able to visit all these places in a day - or at least go to the pub again.

• NPI News ( 03:03 )

• Games We’ve Been Playing ( 08:11 )

  • Tussie Mussie ( 08:20 )

  • Vilage Green ( 14:02 )

  • Tokyo Tsukiji Market ( 22:37 )

  • Fort ( 36:09 )

  • Gaslands ( 40:17 )

  • Highrise ( 53:44 )

  • Terramara ( 59:11 )

  • Edge of Darkness ( 01:07:51 )

• Games We’re Looking Forward To ( 01:15:26 )

• Efka Grumps About a Game ( 01:17:53 ) Ride the Rails

• Elaine Ungrumps about a Game ( 01:26:14 )

• Puzzle Deduction one and done Escape Room segment ( 01:31:07 ) Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective - The Baker Street Irregulars

• Feature Review - Targi & Targi: The Expansion ( 01:42:06 )

Dave Luza: https://www.twitch.tv/luzapalooza
Girls Game Shelf: https://www.twitch.tv/girlsgameshelf
Bez: https://www.twitch.tv/stuffbybez

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Eleven - Undaunted: North Africa and Plastic Inserts

Today’s episode is a treat because Undaunted: North Africa is just about the cleverest game NPI has put their mits on in a very long time. North Africa is a sequel to last year’s hit Undaunted: Normandy that seemingly changes very little, but much like a classic car that had all its inards taken out and replaced with modern gubbins, it blasts away with alarming speed and precision.

• NPI News ( 04:40 )

• Games We’ve Been Playing ( 06:43 ) - including Forgotten Waters, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, High Rise, Empyreal: Spells & Steam and Sprawlopolis.

• Games We’re Looking Forward To ( 36:41 )

• Efka Grumps About a Game ( 41:33 ) Plastic inserts

• Elaine Says Something Nice About a Game ( 47:25 ) Aquire retooled

• Escape Game of the Episode ( 51:46 ) including Unlock: Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet Thread Murder from Heroic Adventures

• Feature Review - Undaunted: North Africa ( 1:02:33)

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 Ten - Teotihuacan and Changes

Welcome back! If you’ve been enjoying the No Pun Included podcast - get ready for something bigger, faster, better. Actually, it’s not faster, it’s comparatively much longer. But much like a Toblerone, it’s better if there’s more of it.

We decided a few months ago that we wanted to change the podcast around and make it more structured and more in line with what we want to get out of it. One of the main changes is that from now on we will feature only one game per episode. I could go on a lot about why and how, but I think it’s best if you just give it a listen and see for yourselves.

• NPI News ( 11:16 ) What is the No Pun Included podcast without No Pun Included? This is the segment that brings all things NPI right to the doorstep of your ears.

• Games We’ve Been Playing ( 19:53 ) - Lament not the absence of multiple reviews per episode as there’s plenty of discussion on what we’ve been playing, and what we’re looking forwatd to, including 18 Chesapeake, Barrage, Undaunted: North Africa and Concordia.

• Efka Grumps about a Game ( 42:10 ) - What a segment. Finally, an outlet for a grumpy man to grump some more. This episode Efka grumps about Paladins of the West Kingdom and Euro Games that prioritise action selection over more variable outcomes.

• Escape Game of the Episode ( 50:39 ) - Did this segment get born out of our desire to have an excuse to play more escape room games? 100% yes, and we’re not ashamed of it. Join us for a discussion on Exit: The Game – Theft on the Mississippi.

• Feature Review - Teotihuacan: The City of Gods ( 59:00)

If you enjoyed this episode, leave 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 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.

You can also subscribe to the Podcast via:
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