May 102012
 


The most recent episode of Table Top was an intriguing one for they departed from the standard format of playing a large box game in favor of playing through three quick but different games. Tsuro, Zombie Dice, and Get Bit.

Tsuro is a tile laying game whereby players create paths on a game board which their Dragon Stones follow. The more tiles that are laid the more difficult it becomes to keep the paths from leading the stones off the edge of the board so the challenge is to become the last player remaining.

Zombie Dice is, as the name suggests, a dice game where players take on the role of brain munching zombies. The dice represent The Living whom the Zombies are chasing and rolling the dice determines whether that particular surviving human gets their brains eaten, shoots the zombie in the face, or manages to temporarily run away.

Get Bit is a simple yet devious game where the objective isn’t just avoiding getting eaten by the Shark, but more about letting your friends get eaten. You play one of several (apparently waterproof) robots swimming in the ocean when a shark starts chasing all of you. You play cards to see who is outswimming whom and the slowest robot loses a limb as it gets chomped by the cusinart-like jaws of a shark with an apparent iron deficiency.

Watch the Full Episode Here!

For me I found this episode truly delightful. Each of the games were delightful little gems, though your mileage may vary in regards to which one you enjoy most. I personally favored Tsuro so perhaps I am biased towards the episode because I felt it started off with the game that caught my attention most. The demos of the three games were timed very well and gave the pacing of the entire episode a very good feel.

But of course the entertainment value of the episode would be nothing without Wil Wheaton’s guests! This week we were treated to the likes of Ryan Higa, Rod Roddenberry, and Freddie Wong.

Continue reading for the extended TableTop Interviews.

Apr 212012
 

The Settlers of Catan is, as Wil Wheaton notes, a Modern Day Classic. He also notes how it is an Infection Vector and honestly I must say this is also an accurate description. For many gamers The Settlers of Catan has served as a gateway drug to the world of German Style Board Games. It is an iconic example of just how great well-designed board games can be compared to many of the ones that a lot of us Americans grew up on. So I have been looking forward to this week’s episode of Table Top with great anticipation.

Watch the Full Episode Here!

I would rate this episode favorably but it does lack a bit of the charm from the SmallWorld episode because the game is heavily dependant upon Trading with other players, and the thought processes that go into this trading strategy is a little more difficult to bring across to a spectating audience. In many ways though this is made up for by the numerous jokes involving trading wood for sheep, and of course the pun on Wheaton’s own name when the Wheat Resource is brought up as the focus of trading.

Now I feel slightly remiss in that in my previous article highlighting the joys of Tabletop’s first episode I failed to give proper coverage regarding the various celebrities that joined Wheaton. So for this article here’s a brief rundown on the folks that have graciously joined Wheaton for a night of building roads and playing with sheep…

Continue reading for more info on our celebrities and their related TableTop Interviews.
Continue reading »

Apr 052012
 

Wil Wheaton brings us a surprisingly delightful twist on board game reviews and web-based television through his new show, Table Top.

When I first clicked this link I was mired in a few layers of doubt.  The clip length read as 30 min.  Half hour TV shows aren’t even a full thirty minutes due to commercials, yet somehow I was expected to buy in to the premise that Wil Wheaton could deliver to me a 30 min segment in which he and three other celebrities would introduce us to a single board game… without getting bored (no pun intended).

I love Wil Wheaton so I decided to at least chisel off five minutes of my life to see if he could hook my interest, and by the time those handful of minutes were up I had been thoroughly snagged.  He reeled me in slowly, and when at last I realized that half the segment was over, I was already wishing it could be longer.

With new episodes coming out every other Friday on the brand new geeky website “Geek and Sundry”, it feels as if I’ll be breaking my life down into two-week segments of eager waiting as I anxiously look forward to each new episode of this delightful web-show. Due out April 20th is Episode 2, Settlers of Catan, and I can’t wait to see him and three more of his compatriots delve into the wonderful past time of board games 🙂

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