1 00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:06,240 Hey guys, and welcome to episode 110 Two by two, a complete 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,880 Valentine's game night. It is Valentine's Day, a 3 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:13,160 Valentine's special, hence the red backdrop behind me. 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:16,840 As always, I remain PJ, and with me today is Kristen Mott. 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:19,720 Kristen, how are you? Hello, I am excellent. 6 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:21,680 How are you? I'm excited. 7 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:24,600 I'm excited to talk about this. You're a real sport. 8 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:27,560 I appreciate you joining me for this conversation. 9 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,520 To contextualize a little bit, we're just going to talk about 10 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,880 some some of our favorite two player games to play on 11 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:40,160 Valentine's, as well as any games that just play well at two 12 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:42,880 players there. Yeah, I know you've got quite a 13 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:47,400 list of games that play more than two, but play really well 14 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,320 at two players and are great for Valentine's Day. 15 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:52,040 And it's Valentine's Day, so this is great. 16 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,560 Perfect. And then I want to talk about 17 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,200 hopefully, if we've got time, we'll get to it. 18 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,000 I want to talk about the the recent news of some of the new 19 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:08,080 two player games titles that we can look forward to this year, 20 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,640 which is. Yes, it's certainly a trend that 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,960 it seems like the duels and. Duels, the duels, duos and 22 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:17,200 duets. That's. 23 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,880 Right, so with that in mind, I want to talk about my first 24 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,240 title, my first game for Valentine's that we're going to 25 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:26,760 play. My wife and I are definitely 26 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:28,360 going to play this. We play it all the time anyway 27 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,360 but and won the Spiel the Yard this year and that's Sky Team. 28 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:36,200 Oh, yes, right. That's a good choice. 29 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:39,200 Oh yeah. Yeah, that is So what I love 30 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,080 about Sky Team is it forces you and your partner, spouse, 31 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:47,920 significant other to sit next to each other and play a game. 32 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:50,600 Silently. Silently. 33 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,200 Well, partially right. You can plan first, but once you 34 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,720 roll the dice. That's it, yeah. 35 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,920 I will say however, with my wife, sometimes she gets mad at 36 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:02,720 me. That's all right. 37 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,280 My husband gets mad at me too. So you go first. 38 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:06,360 Tell me. Why? 39 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,120 So I roll dice and I either make. 40 00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:12,440 I will tell you when the when the game first came out, it blew 41 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:16,880 my mind, this concept, I really struggled, right? 42 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,840 I mean, I'm, I've been playing games since the 80s, right? 43 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,960 So I should understand. But I'm like, OK, so I roll the 44 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:28,520 dice, but I can't tell you. I can't talk to you. 45 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:30,520 I'm like, So what am I supposed to do? 46 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:32,360 And I'm trying to do landing gear. 47 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:34,560 You're trying to do flaps. What what? 48 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,600 I don't what is going on. And inevitably, I'd always play 49 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:43,520 the wrong die in the wrong order or I put it in the wrong 50 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:48,960 position at the wrong time. So early on, Katie wanted 51 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:51,240 nothing to do with this game. She's like what I plan. 52 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:54,800 But I learned how to play. I was like, I figured it out. 53 00:02:54,960 --> 00:03:00,560 And now it hits our table. We have gone through, for those 54 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,120 of you who haven't played it, there are levels, right? 55 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:06,360 There's there's airport approaches that are green for 56 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,200 easy, yellow for medium and red for hard. 57 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,440 And I think there's even like black for like ultra hard. 58 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:17,320 Super difficult. Yeah, we played our first 59 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:24,160 difficult approach just the other night and we screwed up 60 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:27,520 once because, you know, the dice. 61 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:29,320 It happens. It does. 62 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,480 And then we managed. The second time we got it, we 63 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:34,560 were successful. So it's really interesting. 64 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,280 Katie either is very angry with me or she is in love with me. 65 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,400 There's no it is like hot or cold. 66 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,400 I don't know if you experience the same thing when you play Sky 67 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:45,960 Team, but. That's very interesting. 68 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,800 So my husband, he would get mad at me because he would play a 69 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:54,120 die first and then I would have a die that worked with that if 70 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,040 it was one of the communal slots where you had to have a point 71 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,400 from each side. And so I would finish that slot 72 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:02,640 like, oh, you put the five here, I'm going to put the three 73 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,160 there. And then it worked because in my 74 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:08,400 mind, I've just completed that objective. 75 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:10,000 Now we're ready for the next one. 76 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,720 And he's like, no, you have to put one of your die, one of your 77 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:18,360 dice in another slot. So I know where to put my next 78 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,200 eye. And I can sort of, you know, 79 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,320 puzzle it out. You know, my brain is like, no, 80 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:25,840 we have to get it done like in order. 81 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:27,920 And so we lost a few times that way. 82 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,680 And now, now I play his way and and you. 83 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,040 Figured you figured out, yeah. It does work better. 84 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:37,200 I've heard people complain or not complain. 85 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:41,640 There's been a lot of joking and jesting and memes about Sky Team 86 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:46,800 and to be fair they're justified because it's absurd. 87 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:49,960 It is absurd that a captain and a copilot are like. 88 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:52,480 Let's see if we can land this way, it'll be fine. 89 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:54,720 We're not going to talk to each other. 90 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,400 I'm just going to do things or the axis is leaning this way. 91 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,920 That's fine you. Know I'm sure it'll level out. 92 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,320 Yeah, yeah. So it is kind of a it's an 93 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:09,400 absurd concept, but it's the only way that the game works. 94 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,160 And it's still fun. I mean, as a, as a game concept, 95 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,360 it works and it's it's unique and it's fun. 96 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:19,520 It's also also an excellent game to play on BGA. 97 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:20,960 Really. I haven't played at BGA. 98 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:24,320 I've I've played it with some friends in Europe that I don't 99 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,680 get to play with my very often and it works well. 100 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:29,480 Not everything works well on BGA. 101 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,600 That's true. But this one's really good. 102 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:36,840 So Sky team, guys, Sky team. OK. 103 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:41,080 Landing planes with your spouse since 2022. 104 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:43,160 It can be fun. We probably. 105 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:45,760 Hey, it it won the game of the year, right? 106 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:49,200 That's I think it was the first, the first two player game to 107 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:53,280 ever win the Spiel, the Yars. I think so, yeah. 108 00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:56,680 Which is huge. It's a. 109 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,400 Pretty big deal. And I think maybe that's part of 110 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:06,080 the what has sort of paved the way for all of the two player 111 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,320 games that we're seeing coming out now that have been announced 112 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:12,680 recently because it's like we said before, it's definitely a 113 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:15,720 trend. I think that all of these games 114 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:19,080 seem to be getting a two player variant, our standalone game, 115 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,440 not a variant. Oh yeah, definitely. 116 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:25,800 So what's what is top of your Valentine's Day list for you and 117 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,040 your husband? OK, so one of our all time 118 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:31,520 favorites is this little card game. 119 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,200 I actually it's the only one I have here with me Stellar from 120 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:37,640 Renegade. This is, we actually haven't 121 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,440 played it for a while, but it's an awesome two player card game. 122 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,400 It's pretty simple, but very puzzly. 123 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:46,920 It's, you're putting these cards out into like a telescope board 124 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,000 and then some are going into your notebook. 125 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,400 And there's different ways that you're multiplying those 126 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:56,280 planets, asteroids, like black holes, all those things, you 127 00:06:56,280 --> 00:06:59,000 know, but the way that the multipliers work is very 128 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:01,760 interesting. And we've played that one for 129 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,120 several years now. It's, it's really good. 130 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:06,240 I like it. That's that's cool. 131 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,800 Is it a cooperative like Sky Team or is it? 132 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,480 No. OK and one thing to know about 133 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,440 me, I really don't care for cooperative games much at all. 134 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,760 I will play Sky team, but I, I don't like people telling me 135 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,320 what to do. I like making my own decisions 136 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,480 and so I we, we don't play a lot of cooperative games unless it's 137 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:27,680 with our kids. I just can't handle it. 138 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:29,480 I want. To make my own decisions. 139 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:31,840 You want to make your own decisions and it's OK. 140 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,840 You're the one telling everyone else what to do, right? 141 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:39,560 But I don't like, I am not. I'm not an alpha gamer. 142 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:41,440 I don't want to tell anybody else what to do, and I don't 143 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:42,720 want anybody else to tell me what to do. 144 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:44,880 I'm going to sit quietly and I'm going to do my puzzle. 145 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:46,720 I totally get that. And you're going to leave me 146 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:47,920 alone? I get that. 147 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:53,640 I think that's why Sky Team is so good is it's it's 148 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,920 cooperative, but with the communication restrictions, you 149 00:07:57,920 --> 00:07:59,800 really, you know, you've got to work it out. 150 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:01,520 Like not to take away from Stellar. 151 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,880 I'm not playing it. So I have questions with with 152 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:06,920 Sky Team, you're planning ahead of time. 153 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:08,480 It's like, oh, we got to go slow. 154 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:13,480 Be sure to assign your slow numbers to the engines so that 155 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:15,960 we don't go too fast, right? So you can you can kind of prep 156 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:19,840 ahead of time which is not table captaining like you just 157 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:22,280 described. Yeah, and I don't mind the pre 158 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:27,120 planning phase of that, but in the moment if I'm gonna make a 159 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,800 decision and someone else tells me Oh no, we should we should do 160 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:33,559 this instead. I just can't. 161 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:35,960 I can't. I don't like doing that. 162 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:36,960 We're. Going to have to play some 163 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,520 cooperative games because yeah, we've got. 164 00:08:41,039 --> 00:08:42,880 I will be fair, I will be honest. 165 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:44,400 I will be fair. I'll be honest. 166 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:48,240 I was a kind of a terrible table captain. 167 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:52,160 I was. I was in the day. 168 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:55,200 Yeah. Katie really kind of tempered 169 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:56,680 me. And I'm like, you know, I got to 170 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:59,080 stop. And The thing is, is I got a lot 171 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:01,280 of friends here in the Springfield area who were new to 172 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,800 gaming, not anymore, but at the time. 173 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:07,160 And I was like, I want to let them make their own decisions. 174 00:09:07,560 --> 00:09:09,840 Right. Yeah, I'll give you options 175 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:13,640 about look, you could do ABCD, you could take this action, do 176 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:15,960 whatever you want. And I'll, I will. 177 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:20,840 I'm not afraid to let my teammates make a less than 178 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:25,680 optimal decision, you know, you know, yeah, like it may not be 179 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:28,400 the best one, but because you want to have that freedom. 180 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,120 And I would do that with you because I want to play more 181 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:33,480 games with you and I love cooperative games. 182 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,880 So. OK, so tell me more about 183 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:39,280 Stellar. It's not cooperative, obviously 184 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:40,400 it's. Not. 185 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:43,920 Is it 2 player exclusive? Or yes, it's only A2 player 186 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:48,240 game. OK, And now that I'm trying to 187 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:52,680 think about it like so you get 2 cards or you're playing 2 cards 188 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:56,800 on your, it has this really cool system where you each card has a 189 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:01,240 number and there's actually a display that's numbered and you 190 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,560 play one card into one side of your board. 191 00:10:04,680 --> 00:10:06,920 Either it's the notebook or it's the telescope. 192 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:11,400 And then based on the number on that card or where you play it, 193 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,960 I can't remember which one, you take from the display and put 194 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:17,920 that in the opposite space, either the notebook or the 195 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:20,480 telescope that you just played. And so there's this like 196 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,680 incredible sort of duality going on throughout the whole game. 197 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:27,920 And it's super crunchy, but the idea is fairly simple. 198 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,120 It's just it's tough to execute well and. 199 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:33,920 I'm looking it up on Board Game Geek right now. 200 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:38,880 I'm like, OK, this is cool, OK. Yeah, and it's just cards. 201 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:41,440 There's nothing else. Nice. 202 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:45,640 So yeah, so it's got just enough of a table presence that the two 203 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:47,880 of you could play it for Valentine's Day after the kids 204 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,040 have gone to bed or something. Yeah, and it's not super long, I 205 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,520 mean half hour, which is. Yeah. 206 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,080 Honestly where most of our games have to be at this point. 207 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:00,760 We have 3 kids so we don't generally get to play till after 208 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:03,760 bedtime and it's got to be short. 209 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,960 If I can't learn, teach and play the game in like 90 minutes for 210 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:09,920 all of that, sure it doesn't happen so. 211 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:16,400 I get that, get that. I wonder if that's why, aside 212 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:20,360 from Sky Team success, if that's why there's this trend of new 213 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:23,400 two player games or two player versions of games coming out 214 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:25,640 this year is. Because they're shorter. 215 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:31,560 Because I'm thinking the game designers are recognizing the 216 00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:37,440 reality that there's a a whole generation of gamers who have 217 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,520 children and have the time constraints that you just 218 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:41,760 described. Yeah. 219 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:45,000 And so that's a reality. Never mind the designers 220 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:49,400 themselves are gamers who have children and sure, experience 221 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:51,160 the same thing. So. 222 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:55,040 Yeah. I think that's it's a trend more 223 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:57,800 coming from publishers that they're like, well, you know, 224 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:02,960 they see that this is where sort of the sweet spot with games is 225 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,840 going is into lighter games. And so that's what they want. 226 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:07,080 So that's what they're asking for. 227 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:09,480 Yep. Well, I hate to burst your 228 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:14,160 bubble, but my next title #2 it's another cooperative. 229 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,960 All right, let's hear it. OK, so and you and I talked a 230 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:19,880 little bit about it right before the recording. 231 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:24,400 That is Isoparian Guard by Sky Kingdom Games. 232 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:30,560 Guys, this game is incredible. It is a exclusive 2 player 233 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:37,720 cooperative open world multi narrative campaign game. 234 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:39,640 I've talked about it on the show before. 235 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:44,400 It is just incredible. Also, it's got audio narration 236 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,760 that you can get on forteller.com. 237 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:50,640 So plug for Forteller. There it is. 238 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:55,240 It's so good. It is incredible and it's got a 239 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:59,280 beautiful chips. So you put in your bag to 240 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:02,600 trigger. You have guard cards, what they 241 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,400 call guard cards, which are like your human abilities. 242 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:09,640 You slash, you stab you Perry. And then the whole thing is 243 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:13,720 surrounding the stonebound. There's these mystical stones 244 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:17,600 that speaking stones. They speak to you through the 245 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:19,360 narrative. You uncover all this. 246 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,720 There's a darkness over a safar, which is the Kingdom. 247 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:26,000 And you know, it's very, very DND ish, right? 248 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:29,600 In terms, in terms of theme, but it's really cool. 249 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:31,560 Like I said, it's cooperative. So you're just running through 250 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:34,640 this narrative together and you're either either fighting 251 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:38,760 together or you're listening to audio narration as the story 252 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:43,840 progresses, or you're fashioning equipment to better your, your 253 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:46,000 characters and your characters are linked. 254 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:49,720 So each campaign, there are 5 campaigns, there's 10 255 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,880 characters, but they're paired together, right? 256 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,720 And even even their miniatures probably shouldn't go off 257 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,200 screen. But so here's the miniatures, 258 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:00,280 right? Yeah. 259 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:01,040 So it's. Wow. 260 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:04,520 So this is basically moves around the map. 261 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,240 So you have Catherine and Yuri. And so the whole campaign is 262 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,680 Catherine and Yuri working together, and it's represented 263 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:14,800 in the miniature. And I know if anyone's watching 264 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:18,280 and sees this, no, we did not paint these minis. 265 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:19,720 I don't know why we haven't painted them. 266 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:22,280 The beauty is that the miniatures actually come apart 267 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,400 on the base so that you could paint them and then when you're 268 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,480 done, you can put them back on. But it's just just beautiful. 269 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:34,400 It's this beautiful narrative. Like I said, it's, you know, two 270 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:36,520 player cooperative. You don't, you know, I mean, 271 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:40,440 guess you could play it alone, you could play it solo, but you 272 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,440 have to manage both characters, right? 273 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:47,480 So it's one to two player essentially, right? 274 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:51,000 If you don't have a partner, you can still play it, enjoy it and 275 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:54,440 embrace the world. The chips, so you have like 276 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:57,960 ability chips that trigger the guard and stonebound cards. 277 00:14:58,200 --> 00:14:59,960 They're black, which means they're permanent. 278 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:04,360 They'll go back into your bag. There's purple chips that will 279 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:09,480 they can come out, but they do go back into your bag at the end 280 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,040 of each combat. But then there's green, green 281 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:14,800 ones which are temporary. Once you pull them out, you 282 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:17,640 trigger their effect. They will not go back into your 283 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:19,120 bag. And then the red ones are 284 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:21,280 negative that your enemies can do too. 285 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:24,320 So it's beautifully designed, beautifully constructed. 286 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:29,040 The box is too large to fit in a single Cadillacs cube. 287 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,160 That's too much. That's too big. 288 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:34,160 Each. Each. 289 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:36,560 Campaign has its own spiral book. 290 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:38,960 We've been through the 1st campaign, we're in the second 291 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:42,760 one right now and probably after a few games of Sky Team we will 292 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:45,640 play Isafarian Guard on Valentine's. 293 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:47,440 It's going to be great. Nice. 294 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,160 So yeah, that is. Isoparian Guard. 295 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,000 So check it out if you can. It's really, it's cool. 296 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:58,120 You know, it's, it's, it's not like Bloomhaven or Frost Haven 297 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,360 where you know, you can play it at 2:00, but you need, you need 298 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:05,160 a three or four or, or if you're in a campaign where someone 299 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:07,640 can't show up, well, you can't play this week. 300 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,360 Yeah. We can always play this, right? 301 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:13,480 Yeah. We, we keep it set up on the 302 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:17,080 table. It's got it's, it's not designed 303 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,000 by Game Trays, but they partnered with Game Trays. 304 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,440 OK. So there's a lot of game trays. 305 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,240 Trays. Game Trays, trays with lids. 306 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,480 So if the cats come downstairs in the basement and you jump on 307 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:29,720 the table, they're not gonna know. 308 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,640 You know, it's fine. So Isafarian Guard, Sky Kingdom 309 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:35,440 Games. Check it out. 310 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:38,120 Yeah. So what's what's your second? 311 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:41,160 So we recently discovered, let's look at my list here. 312 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:45,800 So I recently introduced my husband to BGA probably within 313 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:48,360 the last month. I've only been playing on BGA 314 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,040 for two or three months. And then I finally talked him 315 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,480 into starting it. And now we do that a lot in the 316 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:56,200 evenings where we'll just like we're going to play this game, 317 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:59,440 do it on BGA. It's so fast, so easy. 318 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,800 But we discovered Donuts, the two player game. 319 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:06,520 What tell? Me No. 320 00:17:07,079 --> 00:17:11,400 Tell me about this. It's like you're placing 321 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,160 doughnuts. Somebody is all the, you know, 322 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:16,280 cake doughnuts, somebody's all the chocolate doughnuts. 323 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:21,200 You put your doughnut out onto a board and each square that you 324 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:25,119 can put it on has just a line on it, whether it's diagonal or 325 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:27,800 vertical, horizontal. And so wherever you place that 326 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:32,080 doughnut, the next player has to place their doughnut in line 327 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,000 with that line. So if I put one that's on on a 328 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,200 diagonal going this way, now Phil has to put one of his 329 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:42,520 Donuts on this line diagonal, any space in that line. 330 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:45,920 And once you, if you are able to place one of your Donuts in the 331 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:50,120 center, like between two of an opponent's Donuts, then they 332 00:17:50,120 --> 00:17:54,560 flip and to your color. And so you get 5 in a row, you 333 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:58,560 win. But it I don't know, we love it. 334 00:17:58,560 --> 00:17:59,760 We're a little bit obsessed with it. 335 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:04,360 It's so thinky and just fast to play on BGA especially. 336 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:07,200 Sure. So it's it's good. 337 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:10,320 I like boop. I like that well enough. 338 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,840 But it feels feels different and like thinkier than boop. 339 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:16,920 OK. I mean, it is different because 340 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:19,760 that's three in a row you're making turning kittens into cats 341 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:22,360 and all that. But yeah, we like that one a 342 00:18:22,360 --> 00:18:23,600 lot. We like Donuts. 343 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:28,440 Donuts, yeah. I don't think it really gets 344 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:31,080 enough love. I don't know that I have ever 345 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:34,800 seen anybody talk about it really, but we found it. 346 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:36,600 Never heard of it until today. So. 347 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:39,240 It's great, check it out. Donuts. 348 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:39,840 Donuts. Yeah. 349 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:42,120 And that's another two player exclusive. 350 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:44,760 Yep. OK, because somebody's always 351 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:47,400 the cake Donuts, somebody's always the chocolate Donuts and. 352 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:53,160 It sounds like slightly slightly like Othello with the black and 353 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:58,440 white, the not marbles, but you if you get in between you flip 354 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:00,720 them over or something like. That that's. 355 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:02,880 That's great. But it's Donuts. 356 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:08,120 It's Donuts. Yeah, I love that. 357 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,280 I love that. Oh my God, Donuts. 358 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:12,720 Oh yeah. That's that is fun. 359 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:13,560 That's. Cool. 360 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:16,520 Do you know who published that by any chance? 361 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:17,800 I don't. I'd have to look it up. 362 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:19,600 You talk about one and I'll look it up. 363 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,880 OK, I'm going to do that. So my next one, you're going to 364 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,560 like my next one because it's not a cooperative game. 365 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,680 OK, good. And that is Jaipur. 366 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,400 That's a good one. Yes. 367 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,240 So this one, I'm going to put an asterisk by it. 368 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:39,320 This was before recording. This is what Katie said you 369 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:40,840 should talk about. I don't like, so I'm going to. 370 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,400 So this is Katie's choice, wife's choice. 371 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:45,720 She said Jaipur. And I was like, you know, 372 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,240 Jaipur's good. We've been playing that. 373 00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:51,240 There's a whole new version. There's like an updated version. 374 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:53,840 I we still play the old original version. 375 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,280 I don't really know the difference, but yeah, that's a 376 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:02,400 really fun 2 player game that I can't seem to win. 377 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:09,160 Oh, what's up for Katie? Yeah, she manages to. 378 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:11,200 So it's it's two out of three, right? 379 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,160 Or best 3. Yeah, or you can get those 380 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:15,240 tokens. Right. 381 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:18,200 I can always get one of the three. 382 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:23,480 We usually always go 3 rounds, but she comes out with a win. 383 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,520 I just can't, I can't, I can't win with her. 384 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:31,040 You know, it's a, it's a beautiful set collection and you 385 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:35,080 turn them in for chips and, you know, it's a simple game, but 386 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,120 it's really good. I think I focus on the camel 387 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:42,200 cards a little too much because if you have, if you have the 388 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:45,640 most camels, you get the bonus five points for the round. 389 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,320 And Oh yeah. But Jaipur, that is my third two 390 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,480 player game for Valentine's Day. Yes. 391 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:55,280 I didn't even think of that one, but that's good. 392 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,560 But you should be proud of me. It's not cooperative. 393 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:04,600 Yeah, good job, PJ. What about Donuts? 394 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,120 Did you figure out the? Oh yeah, I found it. 395 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:12,360 So it was fun Forge. But it's by it's designed by 396 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:14,680 Bruno Kathala. Oh yeah, it's very good. 397 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:19,640 His games are so accessible and fun, so yeah, that's cool. 398 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,200 Donuts by Bruno, Yeah. I love it. 399 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:25,280 I love it. This is, yeah. 400 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:27,360 This is the Bruno we can talk about, right? 401 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:29,800 We can talk about this Bruno. Yeah. 402 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:36,080 OK, so how about #3 for you? So #3 this was Phil's 403 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:39,600 suggestion. Was patchwork very classic? 404 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:42,680 Good one. Yep, we don't play that one that 405 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:48,760 often because we usually go for SO in that sort of vein of 406 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:54,320 games, uve games, we play New York Zoo and Tangram city more 407 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:59,160 frequently than we play patchwork, but which I they both 408 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:02,000 play great at two players. So you know. 409 00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:05,560 Yeah, no, their patchwork is good. 410 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:10,600 And Huey Rosenberg, so amazing designer and polyomino. 411 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:12,960 Polyomino, right? Polyomino, yeah. 412 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:17,280 Yeah, and it's the first game on our list for this episode that 413 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,560 has a Valentine's Day version. It does. 414 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,640 It's got a every holiday version. 415 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:25,560 It does, I mean. Yeah, so we have one of the 416 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:31,360 early versions of the original and the, the tiles aren't cut 417 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:34,080 very well. It's, I don't know if it, if 418 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,160 it's a, you know, it's a production error, whatever it 419 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,200 is, whenever you're trying to place them on your quilt mat. 420 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:42,600 Sometimes they don't fit very well. 421 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:47,400 Yeah, we, we, we've taken an exacto knife and shaved off to 422 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:52,520 try to get them to fit. We we debate about getting a new 423 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:57,600 version because it seems like from everyone we've talked to, 424 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:00,560 they don't have this problem. And so I don't know. 425 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:01,880 I don't know. OK. 426 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,320 But it's like, what do you get? There's Halloween, there's 427 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,200 Valentine's, there's Americana, There's yeah. 428 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:09,480 And I don't know is there a difference? 429 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,320 Like is there any variation in gameplay between those or is it 430 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:15,200 just strictly? Not from what I it's not. 431 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:17,080 In my understanding, they're the same, it's just. 432 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:20,280 OK. Different holiday skins, which 433 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,960 is OK, that's fine. Because we've only ever played 434 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,360 the original. So I don't Yeah. 435 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:30,600 So patchwork, that's good. That's a good one. 436 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:36,120 That's a solid, that is a solid two player choice, man, Our 437 00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:38,360 spouses, they really chose well, right? 438 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,640 Of course they did. They make excellent life 439 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:44,920 decisions. Oh absolutely. 440 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:50,280 My wife is never wrong, so going to say that right here now. 441 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:51,760 She's never wrong. I am. 442 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:55,560 Listen to the podcast Does She? She won't. 443 00:23:55,560 --> 00:24:00,040 She she doesn't listen anymore. It's at some point I lost her. 444 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:04,720 I don't know when, but she she used to listen and give me notes 445 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,960 as every Good Wife does. And as a good husband, I would 446 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:09,440 listen. OK. 447 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,320 Yeah, at some point I lost her and it's fine. 448 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:17,240 That's OK. You know, so I usually ask like, 449 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,080 hey, what do you want to what do you want me to talk about on the 450 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:20,800 show? You know, and it's usually like, 451 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,240 and I do it and I should know better. 452 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:27,120 I should know better. This is Valentine's Day. 453 00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:29,560 So we're going to talk about this is like couples therapy 454 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:33,760 session here. I should ask her several days in 455 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,080 advance rather than 5 minutes before I'm going to go on air 456 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:40,320 and be like so. What do you think? 457 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,640 Yeah. She's gracious enough to give me 458 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:48,200 one, and I mentioned her often on the show, but I have a 459 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,400 tendency I know better. But I'm like, I should have 460 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:54,120 given you more time, but I didn't. 461 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,560 Yeah. So I'll probably always. 462 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,880 Have good ideas? They do, and I will probably. 463 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:03,560 I will probably learn my lesson in another We've been married 15 464 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,240 years, so another 15 years I will probably have finally 465 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,440 figured. Figured it out OK. 466 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:13,240 So I want to mention another one and this is maybe it's a good 467 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:18,880 segue into the the two player versions 7 Wonders Duel. 468 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,000 It's a classic. I know it's a little cliche. 469 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:26,480 It's still on everybody's top two player game. 470 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,800 It seems to be, you know, it's a it is. 471 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:35,120 It is definitely better than its larger multiplayer counterpart. 472 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,120 I enjoy it more, yeah. Right. 473 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:43,440 And we find that's true of a lot of two player games. 7 Wonders 474 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:45,920 Dual we have talked about on the show a lot. 475 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,040 I'm not going to say a whole lot about it, but it's a classic and 476 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,840 we want to mention it. But recently Lord of the Rings 477 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:56,200 Dual, which uses the Seven Wonders engine, we played it at 478 00:25:56,200 --> 00:26:00,640 Geek Way Mini just about a month ago and it was fine. 479 00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:06,480 It was similar enough. Neither one of us, Katie and I 480 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,800 are not big Lord of the Rings fans, so I don't I don't. 481 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:15,080 The theme did not grab me. And because we already own 7 482 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:17,520 Wonders Duel with all the expansions, we were like, well, 483 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:26,400 OK, we you know, but to not reskin but use the Seven Wonders 484 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:31,160 Dual machine or engine or module and do a Lord of the Rings 485 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:32,760 version. It's different enough. 486 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,800 Lord of the Rings Dual is just different enough. 487 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,960 But Seven Wonders Dual is definitely we will play on 488 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:42,600 Valentine's Day for sure. Yeah, we'll, we'll definitely do 489 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:43,520 that. Do that. 490 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,480 So should we talk about the two player versions for me? 491 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:47,880 Do we want to? Do you think we should talk 492 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:49,680 about that for a few minutes? Sure. 493 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:51,800 Yeah. You mean just all of the 494 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:53,640 announcements and things that have come out recently? 495 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:57,760 Yeah. So there's there's one that just 496 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:03,000 came out and there's two that were recently announced, right. 497 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:06,240 OK. So I figured we'd start with 498 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,160 Evidel. Duo, right? 499 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,800 The duo, right? Two player version. 500 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,600 Yeah, two player version of its big sister Everdale. 501 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,600 But just what this week? I think it was this week. 502 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,080 Today. Even one of them, right? 503 00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:22,680 I think it was today. So I think or maybe last week. 504 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:26,480 White Castle duel. Oh, I did see that one, yeah. 505 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,960 By Devere Games, I think that was released last week, but then 506 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:33,720 today, I don't know if it was today, but I saw it today for 507 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,800 the first that's Flame Craft dual. 508 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,200 I saw that one too, right? Right. 509 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,800 Is there another one? I feel like this one I'm missing 510 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,680 that just was. Was announced, but that one I 511 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,280 think is actually almost out right. 512 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,920 Maybe it is out. And then there was a King of 513 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,240 Tokyo Dual. King of Tokyo just came out as 514 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:59,400 well, yeah. And yeah, Everdale and yeah, 515 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:01,520 King of Tokyo, I remember seeing that one. 516 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,520 And but I think that Splendor Duel was kind of one of the 517 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:09,680 first ones that I remember seeing them make an actual and 518 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:11,720 I'm sure there have been others before that, but that's the 519 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:14,840 first one that I remember as like interesting that they're 520 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:20,320 taking a full two to four player game, pairing it down, changing 521 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,680 it, whatever to make it a better two player experience. 522 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:28,720 And I've see a lot of people actually prefer Splendor Duel to 523 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:31,960 the big game. I haven't, not one of them. 524 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:34,560 Are you not? I haven't played it so I don't 525 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:38,040 know, but I like Splendor well enough, but I would be 526 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:39,720 interested to see how they changed. 527 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,880 You are absolutely right. Everyone seems to prefer 528 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:50,000 Splendor Duel over Splendor. I agree that that is correct for 529 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:52,520 for Katie and I, we sold Splendor Duel. 530 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,040 OK. To keep splendor, it's the one 531 00:28:57,040 --> 00:28:59,800 off. So 7 wonders Duel is better than 532 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:07,080 its big sister. 7 Wonders Imatep Duel is so much better than its 533 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,160 counterpart Imatep. And if people feel that way 534 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:13,600 about Splendor, of course we'll see. 535 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:18,880 Everdel Duo looks like it's better King of Tokyo. 536 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:22,640 I've heard mixed reviews. I'm interested to see how that 537 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,240 one changed too. I haven't really read anything 538 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:28,600 about it, but. Our friends across the pond, 539 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:30,840 Craig and Becky from get into Games. 540 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:35,600 They they said that King of Tokyo is great and that the dual 541 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,600 version is not as it doesn't do anything new. 542 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:41,760 OK. And if you like King of Tokyo, 543 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,280 then just keep your King of Tokyo. 544 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,600 If you like King of Tokyo but you don't own King of Tokyo, get 545 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:53,640 the two player version. So it's kind of a mixed bag. 546 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,560 Just recently Isle of Cats duel. Well, that's right, yeah. 547 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:04,680 Which it's better than. Really, you have to teach me all 548 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,960 of these games, PJ, all of these two player games, because I do 549 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:09,520 that. I will happily do that. 550 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:13,320 I just haven't. Isle of Cats duel blew us away. 551 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,320 We played it. We were like, OK, no Isle of 552 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:21,880 Cats is a solid game. Plays well at 2 all the way to 553 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,600 at 5 right? It's it's amazing, but the dual 554 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:31,920 version is so it's so tight. The action economy, everything 555 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:36,360 is just perfect. Tokaido Duo is better, better 556 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:39,560 than the big version. We sold Tokaido and kept the 557 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,080 Duo. And I don't know anyone who 558 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:45,200 disagrees with that. Maybe they don't want me to. 559 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:45,920 They won't. They don't want. 560 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:47,560 To they won't tell you that they disagree. 561 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,680 Well, no, tell me, Tell me, you know, But yeah, dude, that's 562 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:53,880 another one. So these two player games just 563 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:58,280 keep coming out. Yeah, and seem to be better. 564 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:01,680 White Castle Duel, I'm going to tell you right now, surprised 565 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,520 me. That is a that's a solid game. 566 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:08,200 It's a solid title that just came out by Devere Games just, 567 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,760 what, a year? Two years ago, Yeah. 568 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:14,240 Hasn't been out long. We have a Cadillacs cube, a 569 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:17,600 completely devoted to devere games because we have so many of 570 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,000 them, right? And they fit well in the cube. 571 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:23,000 And I'm like, do they need a two player version? 572 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:29,440 I'm going to buy it. So yeah, flame craft is a huge. 573 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:33,600 My wife loves flame craft. We recently picked up the 574 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:36,800 upgraded wooden bits for all the food and resources. 575 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,960 Now there's a dual version. You got to try that one too. 576 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,640 We're going to get that one. Too, we will probably end up 577 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:48,920 with the Azul 2 player because we love all of the Azul games. 578 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,440 That was actually on my list of games to talk about that play 579 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,720 well at two players. Like it goes up to four but it 580 00:31:55,720 --> 00:32:00,600 plays perfect at 2:00. What do you think? 581 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:04,680 What do you think for you, for you and and your husband? 582 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:10,600 What's the appeal of Azul right? They so like we will play them 583 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,480 sporadically and we always choose a different one. 584 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:15,960 We have all four of them and we choose a different one because 585 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:19,520 they all are unique in their own way and they feel unique, but 586 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:22,760 they also feel familiar in the way that you're drafting and the 587 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:25,280 way that you're placing, even though there's so many different 588 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:28,280 ways that you're paying for the tiles or you're not paying for 589 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:30,280 the tiles and the way that they're going and you're bored. 590 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,120 But there's sort of this universal appeal to us that 591 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:36,880 it's, it's different every time. It's a great puzzle. 592 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,400 They play in 30 minutes for the most part. 593 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:44,880 And you know, we can play it with his parents. 594 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,160 We can play them, especially the original. 595 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,000 We can play with just about anybody, but it's still a great 596 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:54,080 puzzle for us too, every time. So what do you, what do you, 597 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,480 what's your take on the all the different versions, right, You 598 00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,960 said you have them all. I. 599 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:01,920 See. Are they necessary? 600 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:08,280 Probably not, but to me they are different enough that I like to, 601 00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:10,800 I like to analyze them, especially as a game designer, 602 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,880 and I like to just see how different things are working in 603 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:17,280 different versions of the game. Like the original game, you are 604 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:20,160 paying to put your tiles there, but it's different than the way 605 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:25,040 that you're paying for your tiles with Queen's Garden, which 606 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:26,680 is my favorite. I love that one. 607 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:34,080 OK, so I don't know. It's just that puzzle that I I 608 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,840 love because it's different for every version but feels the 609 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:39,120 same. I feel like I'm repeating 610 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:42,480 myself, but it's that's what appeals to me, right? 611 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:48,840 And you, I think you said this, it plays really well, two 612 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,440 players. Yeah, it scales very well. 613 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:56,440 Do you think it needs a dual? Do I think it needs it? 614 00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:59,400 Yeah. I mean, probably not. 615 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:05,520 But I love Michael Keasling's games, so I am just whatever he 616 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:07,840 wants to come up with, I want to play it because. 617 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:09,880 OK. I don't know. 618 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:13,840 They feel so mathematically based that I just, I don't know. 619 00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,840 They blow me away every time I play them and we recently played 620 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:18,920 Paris. I don't know if you've played 621 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:21,000 that one. It's big, huge. 622 00:34:21,159 --> 00:34:25,040 It's got the monument in the middle with the keys and. 623 00:34:25,679 --> 00:34:28,159 The the triumph. Yeah. 624 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:33,920 And it, it was awesome. Burned a hole in my brain, but 625 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:36,320 it was great. And as I was playing that game, 626 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,480 I just kept thinking over and over like how all of his games 627 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:43,719 feel so based in mathematics. And I know that's sort of that's 628 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:46,800 true for every game. Yeah, but some more than others, 629 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:50,480 I think. But it just everything feels so 630 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:55,040 tight and it's just, I don't know, OK, you know, it kind of 631 00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:56,960 blows my mind when I play some of his games. 632 00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,280 So I'm interested, I think, all that to say, I'm interested to 633 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,880 see what he would do with A2 player only game. 634 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:06,440 What about the Azul mini? Do you have that? 635 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,920 Oh, like a travel version? Yeah, it's a travel version. 636 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:11,120 And. It's poor. 637 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:16,000 So it's unique in that you've got a plastic grid is your 638 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:20,120 player mat, so the tiles fit neatly. 639 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:21,960 So if you knock them around, they don't. 640 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:24,720 Yeah. We really like that too. 641 00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:27,440 And we're like, do we need a dual version? 642 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,880 But. But does that one does it plays 643 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:32,280 exactly the same, right? It does, yeah. 644 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:34,800 It's two to four players and we're probably going to get the 645 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:36,600 dual version as well. Good for you. 646 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:43,680 Take my money, take my money. So I know that you've got a 647 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:46,080 fairly long list. What else did you want to talk 648 00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:49,840 about that are great games for couples to play on Valentine's? 649 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:57,080 OK, so Wingspan was also on my list, but that one, we play that 650 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,760 one a lot too. And I think it plays great at 651 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,080 two players. But we also own Wingspan Asia, 652 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,200 which is the two player only stand alone game and we've only 653 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:10,240 played that a handful of times. And it adds this really 654 00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:13,440 interesting. Have you played it where you are 655 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,920 putting those your black and white tokens onto the board 656 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:18,680 based on what you've just played right. 657 00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:23,840 And I don't know that it was needed, but it's kind of a cool 658 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:28,600 variation on Wingspan. But we generally will just play 659 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:32,720 the original base game rather than getting out the the stand 660 00:36:32,720 --> 00:36:36,760 alone the Asian version but. Thank God. 661 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,120 For exists. Yeah, thank God for the nesting 662 00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:45,400 box that we could do that, because if we wanted to play 663 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:48,640 like before the nesting box, we were just like, here are the 664 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,760 cards we're going to play Wingspan, you know? 665 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:56,560 So now if you want to play just the bass, it's all sorted out 666 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:58,480 and we can get the necessary cards. 667 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:03,560 I think the my one criticism of Wingspan is just the sheer 668 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:06,280 volume of cards. Of stuff, yeah. 669 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:09,960 Yeah, I get it. There's a lot of birds, you 670 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:13,080 know. So have you upgraded your cubes 671 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:19,440 to wooden birds? Yes, but I don't do that for 672 00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:22,040 very many games. But games that we play over and 673 00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:27,200 over, I have, yeah. We, so I've got the, I got the 674 00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:29,840 Pelican because that's the state bird of Louisiana. 675 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,680 And and then we got the cardinal obviously, because in the 676 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:36,200 Midwest it's common. We've got a friend who loves 677 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:38,120 purple. So we found a purple bird 678 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:41,200 because we want, because I think The thing is, if you're going to 679 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,000 upgrade, upgrade it for everyone because it's really terrible. 680 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,560 If you have friends over, you bring out Wingspan, you're going 681 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:50,280 to teach it to here. You get the little wooden cubes, 682 00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:52,280 I get the big fancy bird. Yeah. 683 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:54,880 You have to have enough for everybody. 684 00:37:55,240 --> 00:37:58,560 You really do, You really do. But Wingspan, See, I would not 685 00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:01,480 have thought about that. Wow, it plays well at 2. 686 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,120 That's not that's not one I would have thought about. 687 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:06,880 But then of course I got big Isafarian guard for. 688 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:09,400 About yeah, right. So that on my list come. 689 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:13,440 On exactly what else do you have on your list? 690 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:19,280 So one that we also enjoy at two players is Mist Wind actually. 691 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,360 So that's a new one that just came out this year and it's a 692 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,680 big pick up and deliver game with the whales that are, you 693 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:29,280 know, floating in the islands and they're delivering different 694 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:30,440 things. It's great. 695 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:35,480 And so I one thing that I don't like in bigger games when when 696 00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:41,160 it requires an AI player that you have to deal with at two 697 00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:43,840 players, I do not like that. There's a couple games we've 698 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,600 played the fox experiment was one. 699 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:50,480 I really liked that game a lot, but it was so much upkeep with 700 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:55,040 the third AI player that we only played it once because we don't 701 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,320 we don't have three players to play with very often. 702 00:38:57,320 --> 00:38:59,480 So we just haven't gotten it back out anyway. 703 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:03,680 So Miss Wind, you do have to do that, but it's so easy to 704 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:07,520 operate good flipping over tokens and we can play, you 705 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,720 know, whole board, it's just us, but then you're flipping over 706 00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:14,760 these tokens for the AI players, it's so easy. 707 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:16,640 All they're doing is blocking different spaces. 708 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:20,040 It is, it's great. It's a big pick up and deliver 709 00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:23,840 game. So yeah, that would be. 710 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:28,800 Yeah, that that third player, third ghost player, really kind 711 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,400 of ruins an experience for Katie and I. 712 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:35,000 Yeah, it can. If I know ahead of time that it 713 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,040 has that. I generally won't buy a game. 714 00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:41,800 But I didn't read about it with the Fox experiment, especially 715 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:46,320 until I cut it out to play and I was like, Oh no, we have so much 716 00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:49,560 to keep up with. Yeah, because that's, that's a 717 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:52,280 problem I noticed a lot of publishers, they will print on 718 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,600 their box 2 to four, two to five, two to six. 719 00:39:55,880 --> 00:40:00,400 But it's really not two. It's 2 + a ghost third. 720 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:05,160 Yeah. That's not the same as a two 721 00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:09,200 player, you know. I don't want to spend my turn 722 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:10,960 like my. I don't want to spend my brain 723 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:12,880 power keeping up with something else. 724 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:16,120 Yes, yeah. But I also understand as a 725 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:18,680 designer why sometimes those things have to be in there. 726 00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:21,680 So it's not anybody's fault, I guess. 727 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:24,400 It's just that's how it is. But it can be a. 728 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:26,520 Deterrent. It is very true. 729 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:30,000 We played Arc Nova the other day. 730 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:33,960 That plays really well at two players. 731 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,640 It does, yeah. I would not be surprised if 732 00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:42,800 there were not a Duo version of that to come out right. 733 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:46,320 May not be necessary, but I wouldn't be surprised if it came 734 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:48,520 out right. But I think, I think you could 735 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,680 streamline it. I think you could tighten it for 736 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:53,200 two players. I don't know what that would 737 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:55,400 look like. That's why I'm not at the game 738 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,560 designer. Yeah, I'm. 739 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,320 Just a podcaster who talks about all the games y'all make. 740 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:04,640 That's what I do. Well, you're very good at what 741 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:06,120 you do. Well, thank you. 742 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:08,320 Thank you so much. You know what, you're not so bad 743 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:10,200 yourself. Some of your games are pretty. 744 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,720 Your games are pretty fun. You know what, Speaking of your 745 00:41:13,720 --> 00:41:18,080 games, I'm going to tell you one that plays at two players really 746 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:23,080 well and hits our table all the time is Dinosaur Exhibit. 747 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:25,360 Really. You guys still played it? 748 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,880 Oh. Gosh yes guys, if y'all have not 749 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:31,040 y'all need to find a copy of Dinosaur exhibit. 750 00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:34,880 It is an amazing rolling right? That is just I don't know what 751 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:36,560 to say. It's just really good and plays 752 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:37,760 well at 2:00. Thank you. 753 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,200 We kind of fudge it and play it at a higher player count than 754 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:43,240 you intended it to be. Oh yeah. 755 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,520 Yeah, because everyone loves that game and our friends who 756 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:51,720 have kids love that game. So yeah, so there we go. 757 00:41:51,720 --> 00:41:53,920 We're going to plug Kristen's game a little bit there. 758 00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:55,520 That's right. At the end, well. 759 00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:59,200 Yeah, well, we originally bonded over that game. 760 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:01,680 Like that's How I Met you for the first time in person. 761 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:02,240 It's. True. 762 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:04,400 It is. It is very true. 763 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:09,360 I think at one point, like I, I had, I had five copies in my 764 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:12,840 possession, right, Right. I think so, yeah. 765 00:42:13,240 --> 00:42:17,440 So we bought a copy, I think, actually, I think when it came 766 00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:21,000 out, we bought 2 copies because we knew we wanted to give it 767 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:25,200 away as a gift. And then we gave another copy to 768 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:27,840 another friend and then we met you. 769 00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:34,120 You gave us a copy to give to, like, our boss who's got six 770 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:35,560 kids. That's right. 771 00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:37,200 Yeah. They loved it, right? 772 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:39,600 Oh yeah. Because they took pictures. 773 00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:41,720 And so I. Took that the other day I was 774 00:42:41,720 --> 00:42:44,880 going through my files and I found that picture of them and 775 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:46,960 the thank you note and it was so sweet. 776 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:51,720 And while it's multiplayer, that is a great two player game and 777 00:42:51,720 --> 00:42:55,560 quick and quick. So it's scale, scales, scales 778 00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:58,280 really well. Yeah. 779 00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:01,760 So, Kristen, thank you so much for joining me for episode 110 780 00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:05,200 and celebrating Valentine's Day. I hope that you and Phil have an 781 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:09,600 amazing day to gather and that the kids, the kids are quiet so 782 00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:13,040 you can play games. And I know that's a time 783 00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:14,840 constraint, but, yeah. But thanks. 784 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:17,400 You want us again? Happy Valentine's Day everyone. 785 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:20,920 Do not forget to like and subscribe to the channel. 786 00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:23,520 Please leave comments, I'd love to hear them. 787 00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:27,760 We're going to keep going. This is the plan while gas out 788 00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:29,800 right now. I'm just going to have people 789 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:33,120 filling in and we're going to continue to unite players around 790 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:34,760 the world. Thanks again guys.