Great Big Table podcast - Episode 004 - Extra Life Wrapup

It's over six months late, but we finally get around to wrapping up our Extra Life weekend long board gaming event that raised money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. We played twenty four hours of board games across three days and raised over two thousand dollars for charity (over $2000!). We're very proud of what we accomplished in our first year and are looking forward to more success as we continue this annual event in our community.

Mostly, Jim spends this episode grasping for that word for the structured play mat that you play cards to in popular hobby games and stages an intervention for Adrienne's recent addiction.

Thank you to all our Extra Life supporters. We have amazing and generous friends, fans, and family members. We wouldn't have been successful without all of your support.

Some of the games we talk about this episode include:
7 Wonders
Action Castle and the other Parsley games (they're like $5 a piece)
Are you a werewolf? (the cheaper, basic verion) / Ultimate Werewolf (the more expensive deluxe version)
Alien Frontiers
Can't Stop
Cosmic Encounter
Downfall of Pompei
Eleminis
Escape: The Curse of the Temple
Fill the Barn
Flash Point: Fire Rescue
Flower Fall
Glory to Rome
Got 'Em!
Liar's Dice
Monopoly Deal
Perudo
Pit
Pitchcar
Race for the Galaxy
Rattle Snake
San Juan
The Secret Garden (out of print, Board Game Geek page)
Therapy
Wits and Wagers: Party
Zooloretto


Download the episode: GBT-EP004-Extra-Life-Wrapup-Final.mp3


Subscribe to the podcast: via RSS
Subscribe to the podcast: via iTunes

Send us an Email: podcast@greatbigtable.com
Follow us on Twitter: @greatbigtable
Leave us a voicemail: (401) It is big or (401) 484-7244


This episode of the Great Big Table is released under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives 3.0 license.

The My favorite game console is a table and chairs image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license by Daniel Solis. If you like the image, head over to Daniel's blog, danielsolis.com, and buy the t-shirt. If you buy a t-shirt, tell Daniel that the Great Big Table podcast sent you. Daniel has an amazing blog with many interesting thoughts about gaming. Check it out.

The music for this episode is "Vox vs. Uke" by unreal_dm (featuring Mind Map That!) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. You can hear more of unreal_dm's wonderful music creations at ccmixter.org/people/unreal_dm.


***Great Big Table is a late-night conversation between two Midwestern geeks with dreams of world domination through board games. It's not a great plan, but it's our plan and we're sticking to it. Join as we plot to put a meeple in every pot- or at least on every table. We slipped the bonds of our robot masters, so the only opinions represented here are our own. We are however in league with Amazon, so a percentage of every purchase made through our links goes into our onshore accounts (thanks!). Some games have been provided by publishers for review while we picked up others for a buck or two at a thrift store or yard sale. Others are from our own collections or games we played with friends and strangers. You should be proud of yourself for reading all this small print- we are!

Extra Life: Playing board games for 24 hours across three days to help sick kids

The Great Big Table / Saint Peter's Game Night Extra Life weekend is this weekend. We're playing 24 hours of board games across three days to raise money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

If you're up for some board gaming in service of Children's Miracle Hospitals and you'll be in the Southern Indiana region (Evansville, IN, to be exact) this weekend, then consider stopping by:

When:
October 19th, 6pm - 9pm CST
October 20th, 7am - 9pm CST
October 21st, noon - 8pm CST

Where:
Saint Peter's (Highland) UCC
7014 Darmstadt Road
Evansville, IN 47710

Phone: 812-867-5271
Email: stpetersdarmstadt@att.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stpetershighland

If you can't make it, please consider supporting one of our Extra Life teams.


Extra Life Teams:
We are coordinating two Extra Life teams this year. The first is affiliated with our Great Big Table board gaming podcast, greatbigtable.com. The second is affiliated with the monthly community game night that's hosted out of our church on the third Friday night of the month from 6pm - 9pm (and where our three days of gaming will be held this weekend).

Great Big Table Extra Life team: http://www.extra-life.org/team/greatbigtable

Saint Peter's Game Night Extra Life team: http://www.extra-life.org/team/stpetersgamenight


Many of our team members are raising money for Riley Children's Hospital in Indianpolis, Indiana. Many of the members of our church have a personal connection with Riley as they have had family or friends that have required its services.

Our own family owes a debt of gratitude to the staff and services of Riley when they saved our infant daughter's life with a cranial reconstruction surgery last Winter. Participating in Extra Life is our way of giving back to this amazing facility.

Good luck to everyone participating in Extra Life events this year and thank you.

Great Big Table podcast - Episode 003 - Finding a Game Group

It's been a long time coming (sorry about that), but we've finally been able to edit the episode that we recorded over two months ago. In this episode we talk about our new voice mail system (401-ItIsBig), about our Extra Life team, about some of our thrift store finds and flops and we run down some of the games we've played.

The Great Big Table Extra Life team page can be found at www.extra-life.org/team/greatbigtable . Please spread the word about what we're doing, join the team, support a team member or start a team of your own with your family, gaming group, co-workers, church, or friendly local gaming store. 

All that and we harness the Internet to brainstorm ways to find, or create, gamers with whom to play more games.

So, saddle up and check out the show.

Some additional links from the show:

The Ted Talk (about the enthusiastic follower) that we discussed: Derek Sivers' How to Start a Movement.

Chris Norwood (aka Gamer Chris): gamerchris.com
Chris' Extra Life team: Exploring Games with Kids

Paul Owen's Man Overboard blog: paulowengames.blogspot.com

Jason Moslander's Games with Two blog: gameswithtwo.blogspot.com

Legends Family and Hobby Games (Vincennes, IN) facebook: www.facebook.com/legendsgames

Some of the games we talk about this episode include:

Battle Line
Can't Stop
Dixit
Dominoes
Double Discoveries (Trap the Cap / Game of Goose) - Out of Print, link goes to Board Game Geek page.
Eleminis
Got 'Em
Hike
Identik
Jungle Speed
Leader 1
Lost Cities
Monopoly Deal
Pit
Rallyman
The Resistance
Reverse Charades
Save the Whales -  Out of Print, link goes to Board Game Geek page.
Say Anything
S'getti Scatter
Therapy - Out of Print, link goes to Board Game Geek page.
Times Up: Title Recall
Werewolf
Wise and Otherwise
Witch Trial -  Out of Print, link goes to Board Game Geek page.
Wits & Wagers


Download the episode: GBT-EP003-Finding-a-Game-Group-Final.mp3


Subscribe to the podcast: via RSS
Subscribe to the podcast: via iTunes


This episode of the Great Big Table is released under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives 3.0 license.

The My favorite game console is a table and chairs image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license by Daniel Solis. If you like the image, head over to Daniel's blog, danielsolis.com, and buy the t-shirt. If you buy a t-shirt, tell Daniel that the Great Big Table podcast sent you. Daniel has an amazing blog with many interesting thoughts about gaming. Check it out.

The music for this episode is "Vox vs. Uke" by unreal_dm (featuring Mind Map That!) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. You can hear more of unreal_dm's wonderful music creations at ccmixter.org/people/unreal_dm.


***Great Big Table is a late-night conversation between two Midwestern geeks with dreams of world domination through board games. It's not a great plan, but it's our plan and we're sticking to it. Join as we plot to put a meeple in every pot- or at least on every table. We slipped the bonds of our robot masters, so the only opinions represented here are our own. We are however in league with Amazon, so a percentage of every purchase made through our links goes into our onshore accounts (thanks!). Some games have been provided by publishers for review while we picked up others for a buck or two at a thrift store or yard sale. Others are from our own collections or games we played with friends and strangers. Our church also received donated games to its community game collection from Legends Family and Hobby Games.  All of which are disclosed as such in the podcast. Give yourself a pat on the back if you've made it this far. You should be proud of yourself for reading all this small print- we are!

Upcoming Show Topic: Finding Other Gamers

A tip of the hat to guild member, Art V. (pirateart on BGG) for this upcoming show topic.

So you've just discovered hobby board games and you are now hooked. Maybe you are lucky enough to play with your significant other, spouse or roommate or maybe now you want to expand social circle of hobby game players.

How do you go about finding those other players?

If you are a veteran gamer that now plays with a regular group, how did you go about finding other players?


Any suggestions, tips, or tricks for our next episode?

Update: The episode that partially resulted from this discussion is here: Finding a Game Group

Great Big Table podcast - Episode 002 - Good Games with Kids

It's been a heck of a week filled with three kids with strep throat, but Great Big Table hosts Jim and Adrienne have persevered and were able to carve out enough time to record our longest episode yet.

Sorry about that.

Really.

It shouldn't happen again.

This week we cover games that work well with kids and some tips for raising gamers. We still have listeners (I know, right) and they were kind enough to join in the conversation.

Also, Jim details all his victories over the last couple of weeks.

It's a short list.

And we talk about why scary movies are best to view with Jim, point out that Elmo is the best fantasy artist in the world, and hack a Fisher Price game to make it truly awesome.

Like we said. It's been a heck of a week.

Here is the Kickstarter link to Tsuro of the Seas. It is funded and has a couple days left, so get in on those stretch goals.


Also, we were mistaken that Story Realms currently has a Kickstarter campaign. They are in the development phase of their design and hope to have a campaign before the end of the summer. They are looking for playtesters, so check out Escapade Games' project page.

Finally. here's a link to the post "The Positive Benefits of Gaming with Kids" from the Growing Up Gamers blog that we mentioned in the episode.

So, now it's your turn.

What do you think? What makes a good game for kids?

What games would you cross off our list?

What games would you add?

What are your tips for raising gamers?

What do you see as benefits? What are your drawbacks?

Let's continue the conversation here.

Some of the games mentioned in this episode include:

Barnum Crackers
Blokus
Bug Out
Button Men - Available for download from Cheap Ass Games' site.
Carcassonne
Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers
Catan: Junior
Catch the Match
Chore Wars - Get loot drops for taking out the garbage!
Doggie Doo 
En Garde
Eleminis
Fealty
Flash Duel
Flash Point Fire Rescue
Forbidden Island
Froggie Boogie
Go Away Monster
Lego Heroica
Hopp Gallopp - Out of Print, link goes to Board Game Geek page.
Hula Hippos
Incan Gold
Kids of Carcassonne
Kill Doctor Lucky
Liar's Dice
Los Mampfos - Hard to find in the US, link goes to the Board Game Geek page.
Lords of Waterdeep
Mad Magazine Game
Magic Labyrinth
Mille Bornes
Minotaurus
Monopoly
Monopoly Deal 
Oh Gnome You Don't!
Pitchcar
Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age
Save Doctor Lucky
Scrabble
S’getti Scatter - Out of Print, link goes to Board Game Geek page.

Seven Dragons
Ship Ahoy! - Hard to find in the US, link goes to the Board Game Geek page.
Sorry! Sliders
Ticket To Ride
Tsuro
Uno
Uno: Roboto
Wallamoppi
Werewolf - A cheap basic set, Ultimate Werewolf - All the bells and whistles
Wise and Otherwise


Download the episode: GBT-EP002-Good-Games-with-Kids-final.mp3

Subscribe to the podcast: via RSS
Subscribe to the podcast: via iTunes


This episode of the Great Big Table is released under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives 3.0 license.

The My favorite game console is a table and chairs image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license by Daniel Solis. If you like the image, head over to Daniel's blog, danielsolis.com, and buy the t-shirt. If you buy a t-shirt, tell Daniel that the Great Big Table podcast sent you. Daniel has an amazing blog with many interesting thoughts about gaming. Check it out.

The music for this episode is "Vox vs. Uke" by unreal_dm (featuring Mind Map That!) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. You can hear more of unreal_dm's wonderful music creations at ccmixter.org/people/unreal_dm.


***Great Big Table is a late-night conversation between two Midwestern geeks with dreams of world domination through board games. It's not a great plan, but it's our plan and we're sticking to it. Join as we plot to put a meeple in every pot- or at least on every table. We slipped the bonds of our robot masters, so the only opinions represented here are our own. We are however in league with Amazon, so a percentage of every purchase made through our links goes into our onshore accounts (thanks!). Some games have been provided by publishers for review while we picked up others for a buck or two at a thrift store or yard sale. Both are disclosed as such in the podcast. Give yourself a pat on the back if you've made it this far. You should be proud of yourself for reading all this small print- we are! Again. Sorry about the length on this one. It shouldn't happen again.

Great Big Table podcast - Episode 001 - Good Games for Couples

It's a bit late, but we're back in the saddle with Episode 1 of the Great Big Table podcast!

In this episode, we learn that we have listeners and, not only that, but they have offered feedback and contributed our first audio segment.

Yeah, we're as shocked as you.

We also discuss what traits make up good, and bad, games for couples. Then we dive into our list of games that have worked for us, as a couple, and may work for you.

Some of the games mentioned in this episode include:

1960 Making of the President
Balloon Cup (out of print, so here's the Board Game Geek page for the game)
Battle Line
Carcassonne
Carcassonne: The Castle
Cathedral
Haba Bear Dominos
Haba Bock-Springen (Jump-A-Sheep) (out of print, so here's the Board Game Geek page for the game)
Haba Catch Me Game
Jaipur
Lost Cities
Pandemic
Puerto Rico
Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age
Rook
San Juan
Small World
Sorry Sliders
Therapy
Ticket to Ride
Tobago
Zooloretto


Adrienne also found that the Mazes and Monsters DVD is available from Amazon. Enjoy the horror, folks. Enjoy the horror.

Download the episode: GBT-EP001-Good-Games-for-Couples-final.mp3

Subscribe to the podcast: via RSS
Subscribe to the podcast: via iTunes


This episode of the Great Big Table is released under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives 3.0 License.

The My favorite game console is a table and chairs image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike by Daniel Solis. If you like the image, head over to Daniel's blog, danielsolis.com, and buy the t-shirt. If you buy a t-shirt, tell Daniel that the Great Big Table podcast sent you. Daniel has an amazing blog with many interesting thoughts about gaming. Check it out.




***Great Big Table is a late-night conversation between two Midwestern geeks with dreams of world domination through board games. It's not a great plan, but it's our plan and we're sticking to it. Join as we plot to put a meeple in every pot- or at least on every table. We slipped the bonds of our robot masters, so the only opinions represented here are our own. We are however in league with Amazon, so a percentage of every purchase made through our links goes into our onshore accounts (thanks!). You should be proud of yourself for reading all this small print- we are!

Episode 1 Delayed

Our Games for Couples show will be delayed a week due to family illness.

No big deal. Now it will be a week better than before.

It should be recorded tonight, edited by Sunday and out by the end of Monday.

Plan on it.