Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast!  Episode 139 - Torres So we may be a little obsessed with Kramer and Kiesling games, but we felt compelled to share our thoughts on Torres -- a spiel winner and honorary 4th game in "the mask trilogy." In this episode, we return to our classic deep dive format where we share ratings and reviews and then get down to business breaking down the decision space. We try to think about what separates this game from some of the other K&K action selection/territory control offerings, the action economy, and a very cool card system that drives the whole thing forward. And with that, the Interdecisional Spaceship is off!   Pre-Planners New to the list Taverns of Tiefenthal! Santa Monica, Food Chain Magnate, and social deduction games et. al remain in our backlog. Santa Monica will likely be the next deep dive we do!   Timestamps    Intro - 0:00 Ratings and Reviews - 3:20 Game Background - 5:47 Rules Overview - 11:00 Torres Deep Dive - 12:47   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Instagram @DecisionSpacePod and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at [email protected]. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast!  Episode 138 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Balance, Part Two ...And we're back with part two of the balance what we talk about episode. This time we dive into questions of perceived balance vs. objective balance, and do we really want an objectively balanced game? If so, who is that really serving? We talk about the ways designers might choose to balance the game, and *gasp* how they even use players to do this dirty work for them. Of course we give examples, and wrap up with a discussion of so what, why is it that we even care about balance, and what are the consequences of an under- or over-balanced game. Sheesh! That's a lot, we hope you enjoy it as today's in flight entertainment aboard the Interdecisional Spaceship!   Pre-Planners Santa Monica, Torres, Food Chain Magnate, and social deduction games et. al are coming up in the relatively near future!   Timestamps    Intro - 0:00 Discussion Start - 2:53 A Few Acres of Snow - 8:45 Citadels - 12:24 BattleCON - 13:39 Findorff - 15:16 Player Balance vs. Designier Balance - 17:30 Root - 18:00 Cosmic Encounter - 20:43 El Grande - 23:49 Zoo Vadis - 25:44 The Castles of Mad King Ludwig - 28:50 Isle of Skye - 30:33 Keyflower - 31:14 Bruges - 34:16 Magic: the Gathering - 35:10 Why do we care about balance - 36:10 Innovation - 44:10 Imhotep - 47:47 Diplomacy - 51:51 Freedom: The Underground Railroad - 52:58     Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Instagram @DecisionSpacePod and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at [email protected]. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast!  Episode 137 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Balance, Part One There are no rules on the Interdecisional Spaceship. We break from tradition and declare that "What We Talk About" episodes can be two parters. Today, we deliver the first part of our topical episode on balance in board games. We attempt to define balances versus fairness; we discuss assymetric balance and strategic balance; and we ask for whom thy balance tolls for. It's a robust and, at times, unhinged conversation that we hope you join us for!    Pre-Planners Santa Monica, Torres, Food Chain Magnate, and social deduction games et. al are coming up in the relatively near future!   Timestamps (Spoilers)   Intro - 0:00 Defining Balance and Fairness - 4:23 Asymetric Balance and Player Order - 14:30 Who Is This Game Balanced For? - 21:09 Strategic Balance - 22:04 Azul - 22:33 Guards of Atlantis II - 27:32 Keyflower - 31:45 The Unstoppable Board Position (Come Back Mechanism) - 32:40 Bruges - 35:12 Variable Set Up and Variance - 39:11 Catan - 39:41 Innovation and Imhotep - 42:56 How Often Should the Better Player Win - 45:32 Next Week on Decision Space! - 49:12 Patreon Plug (Join the Crew!) - 49:57     Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Instagram @DecisionSpacePod and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at [email protected]. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast!  Episode 136 - Top 10 Games We Are Enjoying in 2023  In this week's episode we count down the TOP 10 board games we are enjoying, so far, in 2023. This is distinctly not a discussion of games released in 2023, rather it is about the games that we are playing, that are hitting our tables this year. Also, Jake wants you to know that technically kickball and disc golf are essentially board games and remain as perpetual #0 on the top of his list. Okay, with that important clarification out of the way it is time to hop aboard the Interdecisional Spaceship and launch into this fan-favorite episode format!   Pre-Planners Santa Monica, Torres, Food Chain Magnate, and social deduction games et. al are coming up in the relatively near future!   Timestamps (Spoilers)   Intro - 0:00 Honorable Mentions - 3:00 Sports - 3:58 Can't Stop - 5:15 Barrage - 5:19 KeyForge - 5:22 Crokinole - 5:33 Coloretto - 5:52 District Noir/Throne and Grail - 6:32 Barrage - 6:53 TOP 10 - 8:46 Imperial 2030 - 8:59 Magic: the Gathering - 11:54 Renature - 14:45 My City - 16:36 Zoo Vadis - 18:13 Findorff - 20:53 Chicago Express - 24:49 Savannah Park - 27:10 Azul - 29:25 Bonfire - 32:57 TOP 5 - 36:00 Tigris & Euphrates - 36:11 Torres - 39:07 Cuzco - 41:50 Renature - 45:25 Challengers! - 47:52 Trajan - 49:33 Ra - 51:49 My City - 55:45 Challengers! - 59:16   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Instagram @DecisionSpacePod and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at [email protected]. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you found this podcast!  Episode 135 - Playtesting and Prototyping Welcome to Decision Space, the only podcast that takes place right here before the turns of your favorite games (someday, we hope). Anyways, this podcast is very different. Today, Brendan and Jake put on their game designer hats and share some of their experiences and lessons learned with playtesting and prototyping board game designs. We hope you enjoy this educational flight aboard our sister ship, the InterDesignonal Spaceship.    Pre-Planners Santa Monica, Torres, Food Chain Magnate, and social deduction games et. al are coming up in the relatively near future!   Timestamps    Intro - 0:00 Prototyping Discussion - 2:10 Playtesting Discussion - 26:20   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Rules Overview Music:  Way Home by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/tokyo-music-walker-way...​ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/pJThZlOuDtI Contact We can be reached individually on Twitter at @jakefryd and @burnsidebh. You can also follow Decision Space on Instagram @DecisionSpacePod and talk to us there! If you prefer email, then hit us up at [email protected]. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!