Daniel (00:04.482) The Top 5 Games of Geekway 2025 on this episode of Play Saves the World, the ongoing conversation about the meaning of play for human flourishing. Daniel (00:37.196) Hello everybody and welcome to Play Saves the World. My name is Daniel Hilty. Kevin (00:43.539) and my name is Kevin Taylor. Daniel (00:46.946) And we are so grateful and glad that you have decided to join us today on this episode. It's an honor and a privilege and a joy. Thanks for making time to spend some moments with us. And Kevin, it is an honor and a privilege and joy to see you. How are you doing? Kevin (01:06.99) I'm privileged and honored, Daniel. Truly. Daniel (01:10.183) I, that's awesome. You have that sense to you. That's great. That's great. Kevin (01:15.48) Yes, yes. Well, it's partly you and it's partly that we have a heat dome, which yeah, there's that. Isn't it funny the labeling heat dome sounds terrifying? Yes. So it was somewhere in the middle part of the United States and now it's in the eastern part of the United States, the heat dome. Daniel (01:19.127) Well, no. Daniel (01:27.382) Yeah, it does sound terrifying. Kevin (01:39.47) It's kind of like swine flu. know, swine flu sounds terrible. Bird flu sounds like, it can't be that bad. They're little birds. And then swine flu sounds terrible. So heat, yeah. Daniel (01:39.596) So part of. Daniel (01:47.596) Yeah, that's right. That's right. So part of your mystique, your glow is the result of the heat dome right now. It's dehydration. That'll do it as well. I'm sorry. Kevin (01:55.254) It's dehydration, that's correct. That's right. It's severe dehydration. I've seen little angels and bunnies hopping everywhere. The angels are hopping and the bunnies are flying. So we've had it wrong. We've had it wrong for so long. Daniel (02:07.81) You know something is amiss when that's, yeah, yeah. We might be under the same heat dome here too. I'm not sure. It's unusually hot for this time of the year in our part of the world too. Well, I... Kevin (02:19.085) Mm. Kevin (02:23.073) Yeah. It's like negative five Celsius, I think, which is really hot because it's the Kelvin, it's the Celsius Kelvin scale. Daniel (02:30.508) That's right. That's right. That's right. It gets really hot. Daniel (02:37.248) Yeah, a negative five Celsius, which is, I believe, 110 Kelvin. No, which is, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know how to say it either. You can't get negative on Kelvin, right? Because like the absolute Kelvin zero is absolute zero. It's like when all motion stops. So Kelvin still did get negative from. Kevin (02:42.786) I self-see a sign that sells this. I don't even know how to say it. Kevin (02:59.765) I think he still had some bad days though, Lord Kelvin. He still got negative occasionally. It's all Kelvin's emotional scales. Daniel (03:06.678) from time to time. That's great. All of his friends are like, you know the great thing about Kelvin, he's never negative. that is family's like, no, you just haven't seen him. Kevin (03:18.285) All it takes is one bad day Daniel (03:27.618) Just bring up Celsius. Daniel (03:35.671) Celsius got all of the all of the glory Kevin (03:36.621) You What it reminds me of, remember the karate kid? There's like the one day where Mr. Miyagi hits his wife's, the day of her death or something, and he gets really drunk and he's so weirded out. Because Mr. Miyagi is, yeah, so it's like one day. Daniel (03:56.426) One day, one day you're allowed to be upset or grieve or dis-Celcius. Kevin (04:00.555) Right, that's right, that's right. Can no longer catch a fly with a chopstick. That's the one day he can. Daniel (04:09.27) I assume that there's more to be said about Celsius and Kelvin, we're here for a different purpose today. Kevin (04:18.829) We're here to speak of Greek Ray. Daniel (04:22.018) Greek Ray. Greek Ray? Kevin (04:23.542) Ray. No, no, no, I got it. I'm sorry. I wrote it down wrong. Geekway. We're here to talk about Geekway. Daniel (04:29.334) Geekway! Geekway, but Greek gray would also be interesting, you know? Kevin (04:33.901) Greek gray. Sounds like an int's name, tree beard. Greek gray. Daniel (04:38.688) The older I get, I'm getting more Greek gray. Yeah, I love it. We're talking about geek way. Kevin, what is geek way for our dear listeners who may be unfamiliar with it? Kevin (04:45.761) Geek way. Kevin (04:50.797) Geek Way to the West is a board game convention, which means people gather to play board games for several days, like many conventions. And there's all sorts of conventions for all sorts of things, but board game conventions are happening all the time. So if you've never been to one, look in your area, check it up, do some searching, ask at the board game store, and find out if you're interested and go, because that's where you can make friends. They'll have a board game library. You can try some interesting games. I guess the main thing is just having time and availability to game. I mean, it's at the whole point. You've blocked out. You're paying for a hotel. Yeah, you're carved out time. You're not at home. You can't vacuum. You can't load the dishwasher. So you just game for four days or so. So Geekway is based in the gateway to the West, which is St. Louis, Missouri. There. Daniel (05:30.786) Right. Yeah, you kind of have to plan for it. Carve out some time. Yep. Yep. Daniel (05:50.508) St. Louis, Missouri. Kevin (05:50.862) which was the gateway to the Western Trail and the Gold Rush and all that stuff. So yes, that is an annual convention in... when is it? It's in May, right? Was it last month? It's May. Daniel (06:02.466) It's in May. Yeah, it was May. I had to look it up too. It was May 16 through 18 this year, 2025. Kevin (06:10.337) and there were Stegmeyer Daniel (06:13.48) Yes, it's the local convention for Jamie Stegmeier, the owner, producer, publisher of of StoneMire games. And yeah, that's always kind of a neat. Kevin (06:25.089) which and the hits of Stonemaier games include. Daniel (06:28.95) Wingspan, scythe, tapestry. Kevin (06:36.439) Yeah. Yep. And some wingspan offshoots. Daniel (06:36.564) expeditions, castles of, no, between two cities. Yeah. Kevin (06:44.417) between two cities and some off-shoot, some side projects from Wingspan, Wormspan, and Thinspan. Daniel (06:52.406) Yeah, A lot like make a lot of good games. And we were grateful to have Jamie on our podcast in its earlier incarnation board game faith a year or two ago. Yeah, yeah. So so, yeah, so we sort of people get together, we play games and Kevin, it's always another it's a highlight of the year for me as we get to see you in person. And that's amazing. You come out and it's just wonderful. And and so Kevin (06:56.727) They do, they do. Kevin (07:02.775) That's right. That's right. Kevin (07:15.969) Yes. Yes. Yes. Daniel (07:22.114) We thought for this episode that we would list the top five games for us personally that we played at Geekway. And I'm doing it like new to me games, right? Like I guess I played a few games that I played before, but yeah, yeah. Great, great. Kevin (07:30.156) Mm-hmm. Kevin (07:35.149) Okay, yep, me too. All of mine are new to me. Some are new this year. Most of them are new this year, but a few were oldie goldies. For me. Daniel (07:45.312) Okay, okay. That's one of the joys of a convention is rediscovering old games that have been out for a while, but you get to try them for the first time. Yep, yep. Kevin (07:55.17) Or maybe games that friends own that they don't know how to play so they bring it to you for a teach. I'm thinking a particular game. In theory that could happen, you don't know. It's not your convention, it's my convention. It could happen, you don't know. Daniel (07:59.306) Right, right. That's that in theory in theory that might happen. So yeah, yeah, it's a hypothetical. Yeah, that's right. I know. That's good. It's good. I I know you're you must be alluding to the that that deck of Uno I brought that I've been trying to figure out for the last and you're like, Daniel, here's how you play Uno. My problem was I shouted Uno when I had three cards left. Kevin (08:16.929) That's right, that's right. That's right. God, I've been playing that game for wrong the whole life. Yeah. Finally read the rules. Daniel (08:27.49) And I thought that's how you're supposed to do it, but it was wrong. Kevin (08:30.519) But your Spanish teacher in seventh grade is just really bad. It's really bad Spanish. Daniel (08:33.762) That's right, that's right. I don't know if you did this, I didn't mention it to you ahead of time that I did, but I counted how many games I played at Geekway over those four days. I played 22 games, distinct games, and I played some multiple plays of each of those. So I imagine you played... Kevin (08:45.101) Hmm. Kevin (08:55.533) It says 22 games with multiple playthroughs of some of them. Yeah, yeah. Daniel (08:58.23) Yeah, I imagine that you probably had a similar number. You get to play a lot of games during those four days. Kevin (09:02.635) Mine was lower because I don't actually don't have the stamina you guys do. I sat out a few times. had to, I had to, my brain, my fragile brain. Yeah. Daniel (09:12.042) I admire that though. think that was a good strategy. Kevin (09:14.889) Well, it's just different strokes for different folks type thing. Daniel (09:17.184) Yeah, I played some games with my brain shot and I just in retrospect I shouldn't have I should have sat out. Kevin (09:23.309) I saw one game you were involved in and you looked like you really wanted to melt. were just so, you were just like, I gotta get out of here. You were just, the brain fog and exhaustion kicked in. But it's hard because we are a noble legion of gamers and you have to finish the game, right? No matter what. Daniel (09:43.5) You don't want to let the game pantheon down. Yeah. No, they might smite the... Kevin (09:49.995) No. No. Kevin (09:54.113) Yeah. Daniel (09:55.146) So we have some honorable mentions. I have some honorable mentions, you have some honorable mentions. Before we get to the top five, may I share my, I've got three honorable mentions. Is that okay? Okay. Kevin (09:57.549) We do. Kevin (10:03.083) I want to hear them. Number one, your first HM. Daniel (10:07.476) Okay, is in no particular order my three honorable mentions of games I've played at a Geekway that didn't quite make the top five, but I really enjoyed them a lot. First one is Come Sail Away! It is a game, I think the publisher is Hayashi, and I played it mainly because I really like this publisher. It's a Japanese board game company, Hayashi, and... Kevin (10:21.439) Okay Daniel (10:35.278) I've liked a lot of their other games and so I want to try this one. And it was really fun. It was you play the role of a kind of a bellhop. I don't know what the word is on it a cruise ship, but like you're welcoming guests and Porter. Yeah, Aqua Porter. And you're as the Aqua Porter, if you will, you're welcoming guests and you're taking them to their room and sometimes delivering their luggage. Kevin (10:49.505) Yeah. Porter. Maybe. Daniel (11:05.106) and you have to get the right certain guests go to certain rooms, certain other guests go to other certain rooms and you also kind of just trace this path through the rooms of the ship and it's modular so you're always no one game is over the same. It was a lot of fun. I really liked it. Come sail away. Kevin (11:05.239) Mm-hmm. Kevin (11:18.731) I want to play this game. sounds, you had me at Porter's organizing. It sounds really fun actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Daniel (11:23.564) could I'm glad. Yeah, I bet you'd like it. I bet you'd like it. My. Yeah, OK. Yeah, it was good. My second my second order I will mention is Fin Span, which is in the wingspan universe, as you were saying, Jamie Stegmaier, the Stonemaier. I heard that we have. Kevin (11:29.695) I saw some folks playing it, yep. Kevin (11:40.991) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We saw him lose at the game at the convention. It was very strange. It's like, why, how can you publish this game? And anyway, that's not true. I just made that up, but it would be funny. Daniel (11:54.306) We have friends of the podcast, Sam and Becky, actually are kind of do some help out with Stonemaier games and come to their play. Anyway, so one of them, Sam helped me learn, Kristen and me learn FinSpan. And it was a lot of fun. I have to say of the Wingspan family of games, Wingspan, Wormspan and FinSpan, I think FinSpan is my favorite. I really liked it. Kevin (12:21.605) Okay, I've not played it. I wing spans fine. I really liked worm span I've not tried fin span but worm span added added enough interesting things that I was like, that's kind of cool But I've not played wingspan in a long time. So I have to admit I may be totally wrong Daniel (12:22.273) Yeah, it's wingspan but with fish. Daniel (12:34.646) Yeah, yeah. Worms Night was a lot of too. Daniel (12:40.62) No, no, I hear ya, I hear ya. FinSpan, I like it, it just... Kevin (12:43.607) The worm span was cool. I mean, it's not just because of dragons, but it's mostly because of the dragons. But it's also, yeah, you get to go in a cave and stuff. caves are awesome. Daniel (12:50.85) That is neat. That is neat. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Yeah. Caves and dragons. You can't go wrong with that combo. Yeah. And then my third honorable mention is Nekojima. think the sub which is a dexterity game where you are. It is. I think thematically, you're building electricity poles on Nekojima, this island of cats in Japan. Kevin (12:57.079) Yeah. Kevin (13:03.262) Mmm. Kevin (13:08.759) Boy is it ever. Daniel (13:19.968) But, and then hanging cats from some of the electrical wires, in practice what you're doing is stacking thin wooden poles with strings connecting them and hanging these cardboard cats from the strings. And you're trying to see how high you can get them as a table before everything collapses, a la Jenga. It was a lot of fun and it's been a big hit here. Kevin (13:39.319) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Did I play that with you? I played it with someone. Daniel (13:47.074) That's a good question. I don't know. I will look that up while you... Okay. Yes. Kevin (13:50.188) I did play Nekojima. Well, on my honorable mention is scribbles furiously Nekojima. Yes. Yes. I mean, it's the yes. I think it's refreshing that was just kind of cool. And, know, at some point you're going to it's all going to break and it's kind of fun to see when that happens. But I like that it was it's just different. It was different. Yeah. You're trying to hang. Daniel (13:59.402) Really? Kevin (14:19.725) You can place these little power poles with a sort of thick string and they're going to hang down and then you've got to not touch anything that's already on the board and then carefully place the cat somewhere. So yeah, that was pretty neat, pretty fun. Yeah. Did I play with you or no? Daniel (14:35.202) Cool, I'm having some technical difficulties. I want to keep trying. I'll let you know when I find out. I'm sorry. Kevin (14:43.885) There's a board game app that's, I decided not to use it. It just felt like, I don't know, I wanted to be non-conformist. didn't like, it felt like homework or something, but everyone else uses it. So I think I'm just wrong, but yeah, everybody likes to log their plays and where they've played and with whom and stuff. And so that's what Daniel is consulting now, board game stats game. Daniel (15:08.674) I'm going to try a different way. Kevin (15:12.831) Anyway, honorable mentions there, Nekojima, also, Fado, which I had never even heard of, but a beautiful game by the great, famous designer whose name escapes me now on Mars. Daniel (15:29.754) the Cerda, Vital the Cerda. Yeah, yeah. Kevin (15:30.328) something something and yeah Vidal Asserta, Vidal Asserta that's it but the art's beautiful it's one of his simpler games but it's cool and it's your it's work replacement so you're putting people to do things but I'd never seen a game that's worker placement without a refresh stage because basically you're always bumping people out so it's kind of always refreshing the board so you don't have to do a bit wherever you take everyone down Daniel (15:51.359) really? Daniel (16:00.044) So you can go someplace where somewhere else is. Kevin (16:00.685) Although, actually, Galactic Cruise may have that as well, a version of that where, Like, by warrant of displacing someone, you refresh your workers. I think it may have that as well. But yeah, I really enjoyed that. And Fado is a Portuguese style of music. looked it up. It is, I mean, I already knew all about it because I know everything. But just to confirm that Wikipedia was right, I looked it up. And it means fate. Daniel (16:06.772) Interesting. Daniel (16:23.999) Yeah, I like that about you. Yeah. Kevin (16:27.949) Fado F-A-D-O and so it's music that tends to be about, you know, sad things like I was fated to have her break my heart. So it has a singer and usually guitar music and it's from the 1800s. So in this game you're building a cafe and you were trying to recruit Fado musicians and then make them famous to get victory points and I did terribly and like, yeah, and but it was still awesome. Yeah, you have to really be a Euro gamer. But it was cool. I really enjoyed it. Fado. Yeah. And my other one is a game that I'd always heard about and we managed to get out from the library. It's an older game and it is called Ready Set Bet. It is famous because it is a much loved game of Tom Vassal of the Dice Tower. And it was fun. We did it wrong. So I still want to try it and play it correctly. There is a line. It's like two thirds of the way down the the Daniel (17:00.364) Nice, nice. Daniel (17:10.988) Yes! Daniel (17:19.158) How did we do it wrong? Kevin (17:27.457) Board and when one horse gets there the game ends versus having them all get to the finish line So we just missed that bit and thought you had to race them all but if you recall when we played it seemed like it took forever and that's why So clearly that's why that rule is there so you don't have to get them to the bitter end But yeah, you have a collar and people place bets on certain horses and it's just dice and randomness and it was really fun Yeah, there's a lot of energy behind watching Daniel (17:32.226) right. That's a better ending. Daniel (17:41.152) Yeah, cool. Daniel (17:54.464) You really seem to love it. I thought that might even make her top five. Yeah, that's a, you were a good caller. Yeah. Kevin (17:59.126) It was close. It was close. Yeah. And I think maybe if I play it some more, I do need to get a copy of that. do. Yeah. Ready? Set. Bet. John Sinclair or John DeClear. John DeClear. Yeah. Yeah. Daniel (18:08.322) Yeah, yeah. I looked it up. Yes, you did play Nekojima. It was one of the games we played at the Geekway house with Jordan and Chelsea and Kristen. okay. Okay. Kevin (18:14.145) That was me. Kevin (18:21.483) No, no, I played it at the convention center. You may have played it again, but I remember being at the tables. And I thought Kristen was there. I thought I remembered you being there. Daniel (18:30.164) Okay, okay, all right. One way the other, it got played. Good. Okay, okay. I'm sure you're right. Kevin (18:34.209) Yeah, or I'm wrong. Kevin (18:39.757) I'm always right unless I'm wrong, General. Okay, well, number five. Give me your top five board gaming experience from Geek Way to the West 2025 in St. Louis, Missouri. Me. Daniel (18:43.562) I don't know. five. Daniel (18:53.628) My number five, for me personally, that's a beloved favorite game played at Geekway 2025. It's a very light game. It was actually nominated for the Spiel des Jahres, the Game of the Year award. Kevin (18:58.401) for the universe. Daniel's top five for the universe. Kevin (19:06.901) Everyone agrees. Daniel (19:15.253) is Captain Flip. Kevin (19:18.581) And we played that together. Daniel (19:20.258) Yeah, Captain Flip. Captain Flip is like, it's a really simple game. It's so simple. You have a, in the starting board, you have a pirate ship and you're just trying to build up your crew by building up columns of tiles. And the, the, the genius of the game, the, the, the trick of the game is you take a tile out and the tile has two different kinds of crew members, one on one side, one on the other. And they will score each the, each crew member scores differently, but you have to look at the side of the tile that you pulled out. And if you choose to use it, then you use it. If you choose not to use it, you turn it over and you have to use the other side no matter what. So that might give you not as good a deal. And sometimes you might even, it might even have a bad thing that happens and you wipe out. So it's kind of this nice push your luck element. I love push or let games. so yeah, yeah. And one thing I've liked about it is I've played it a lot with my family and our church group here. And it kind of fits that really light game category box that makes it just accessible to a lot of people. And a lot of folks have really enjoyed it here. So yeah, Captain Flip. Kevin (20:20.459) Yeah. dear. Fine. Kevin (20:41.633) Yeah, yeah. It's a cute little theme. Yeah, and the rules are very simple. And what I think the genius of it too is all the characters combo really interestingly. So if you get so many swabbing boys that are gonna swab the planks or whatever, swabbies, then there are so many monkeys. And so you're hunting for certain things, but they combo in fun ways. And so watching how that plays out. Daniel (20:52.705) Yeah. Daniel (20:56.396) Swabby. That's right. Kevin (21:07.443) And you know, it's kind of a luck game and there's some strategy, some thought, but there's a bit of luck, which I think is great because it means the little seven year old at the table can win, you know, and that's kind of always fun if they genuinely just get, you know, have a good game going on. So yeah, it's fun to try to figure out if you can, find that other monkey to score 20 points or something. Yeah. Daniel (21:12.524) Yeah, yeah. Daniel (21:33.556) It's a good game. It's a good game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kevin (21:34.251) What's in the box, right? Will you flip it over? What's in the box? That's cool, that's cool. Daniel (21:40.01) What's your number five? Do we want guess how many crossovers we have? I didn't know that. I'm guessing two. Kevin (21:41.389) Number five. Yeah Kevin (21:47.583) Okay. Okay. Kevin (21:53.803) I would guess two as well. Daniel (21:55.458) Okay, okay, all right. All right, I'm sorry. I interrupted you. Kevin (21:57.228) I guess I should say, I'm gonna say one, to make it more interesting, one, one crossover. Daniel (22:02.784) I could say three. Kevin (22:05.901) Between one and three. How about between one and five cross or zero to five? Okay, that sounds good. All right. My number five. I played storm Raiders, which is a Shem Phillips game. And it was kind of, I mean, it's always great to play a Shem Phillips game and I wanted to play it and I almost backed it and decided not to because I was like, Oh, I got too many games. And so it was just. Daniel (22:06.114) If you'd like to stay with two. OK, OK, that sounds good. OK, we'll see. We'll see. I interrupted you. I'm sorry. What's your number five? Kevin (22:31.703) By luck that I think I had passed on a game you all were playing and then some people we kind of vaguely knew through some other people were there that we just met and they were starting this game. I was like, can I get in? And it was just awesome. It was really fun to try. Daniel (22:41.665) Yeah. Yeah. Daniel (22:46.708) so great. What's the theme of Storm Raiders? Kevin (22:52.599) The theme of Storm Raiders is kind of a Mad Max type thing where you're captain of these three things. You've got like a motorcycle, a helicopter, and a vehicle of some sort, a trucker type thing. And it's pick up and deliver. So you have to fit, it's Euro type thing where you are, there's some dice roll, but based on that, it decides your movement and you can try to get certain things and get them somewhere else. But there's a storm that can come and you can sort of decide which route the storm. goes through depending on the turn order and you take damage on your stuff because of it being Mad Max so you get damage to things and your damage fills up your cargo hold of what you can collect. So then you have to find ways to remove the damage so you can collect the goods. But you can decide which vehicle to go where and yeah, it was really neat. It looked great. It had a cool design. I enjoyed it a lot. Yeah, it was fun. Daniel (23:49.622) Nice, Cool. Kevin (23:50.446) It wasn't super long. It was a little bit of a challenge, it wasn't a super long game either. It was kind of a lighter Euro, Shim Phillips game. So yeah, that was a good time. Daniel (23:59.974) Phillips is another one that just really just consistently makes really good games. And another former guest of our, of the podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kevin (24:05.747) Absolutely, a former yes a guest of the podcast and friend of the podcast and yeah and And also you can tell a shim philips game because he always gives you a lot for It gives you a lot of bang for your buck like the games there's just enough in it to be nice, but he's You get a lot of game for 50 or 60 dollars in us dollars, right? So and I can tell that's because he thinks about that Daniel (24:35.5) That's great. Kevin (24:36.663) So it's not gonna be real cheap, like a bunch of little cardboard. There's gonna be some stuff in it that's nice, but he's not gonna, it's not gonna be a $250 production either. It's gonna be in a really nice price point. So I appreciate that. Yeah, Storm Raiders. Daniel (24:55.23) Well, my number four was a game I had heard about, I was not expecting to play, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this game. It is a game unlike any other game I've ever played. Kevin (25:09.357) Hmm. Kevin (25:15.085) I said it two words. Daniel (25:16.618) It is, and they both start with, they both start with W's. Wilmott's warehouse. Kevin (25:18.593) to both ends start with W's. This is, yes. It is unlike any game, correct. Daniel (25:28.174) It is unlike any other board game you will play. It's based, it was inspired by a video game. I guess there's a Wilmots Warehouse video game, which I've tried and I don't, I didn't really, it didn't connect with me. And it's thematically similar, but different in lot of ways too. But it is a cooperative game where you're placing... Thematically, what you're doing is you're working in a warehouse with a team of others. It's a cooperative game and you're placing these items in the warehouse to be purchased later on. But what these items are, they're square tiles that are kind of these abstract images. you place the abstract. That's right. That's right. And you place them on a grid in this warehouse and you place them face down. So once you place them down, Kevin (26:11.981) Very open to interpretation. Daniel (26:23.714) In the warehouse, you don't see the image anymore, but before you place them down, the whole table generally helps you come up with a story to remember that tile and where you're placing it. And the first tile is not much of a story, but then where the real story comes is you're making up a story about where you place these tiles in relationship to the other tiles. And so this thing kind of looks like a, a corn. a corn on the cob and this thing kind of looks like Santa Claus. And so you say, well, do you remember you put it next to it? Hey, how Santa Claus ate that corn on the cob and then, and this looks like a raindrop. And there's really storming outside when Santa Claus ate that corn cob. And you go around the table doing that and then just have this ridiculous, silly story, multiple stories at the end of it. And then the players, the buyers come in, which is basically people who other square tiles that you're trying to match. to the tiles you put face down and you try to see if you can successfully match all of the tiles I put face down and how quickly you can do that and how quickly you can do that. Again, cooperatively is your score, the lower the time, the better the score. That has also been a big hit with a lot of people and it's just such a unique, it's a unique experience. Kevin (27:41.174) It's a cool experience. Everyone needs to play this game at some point just because it's, yeah, totally agree. Very rewarding. It's, there's hundreds some tiles in the bag, but you're only going to play 35 of them. So part of it is when you get the orders, you have to know which ones are kind of fakes. Like they're ones you didn't actually lay down, but you have to remember the story and then it will mess with you some and some of the, like after the first Daniel (28:03.894) Yeah, right. Kevin (28:11.041) Five then there's going to be special orders. You have to do it in a certain way You can only use certain syllables when you talk or you have to change seating order So it messes with your spatial memory of where you put things and yeah, it's just it's just delightful It's more fun with more people. We've tried it with three and my my oldest son Cameron tried it with one other person once and it's harder with less people Because you it you it's you have to remember You have less people to depend on but yeah Daniel (28:14.625) Yeah. Daniel (28:33.465) I bet that is hard. But that is hard. Yeah. Kevin (28:40.317) I agree Wilmot's warehouse is very cool. And it's just fun to see people get it and they start like, what are we doing? They're like, and then they get totally absorbed into it. Daniel (28:43.458) That's awesome. Daniel (28:48.578) Yeah, yeah. And it's so neat. It's like it accesses this part of the human brain that I wasn't even quite, like I didn't even know it was there. But if you describe the game, remember where 35 random images, abstract images are, you think there's no way to do it. But the power of a cooperative, collaborative story to help us all remember things is so cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway. Kevin (29:13.697) Yeah, yeah, yeah, We are narrative creatures. That's awesome, that's awesome. My number four is a great card game that's winning a bunch of awards and it is, you wanna guess? Daniel (29:18.262) That's my number four Wilmott's warehouse. Kevin (29:31.469) has a number in it. Daniel (29:34.05) Is it flip7? It's flip7! Yay! Kevin (29:36.342) It is Flip 7, yeah. Flip 7 is great. I'm terrible at it, seemingly, but it's just a lot of fun. It's a push your luck type game and it's a deck of cards and there's some special cards and there's only so many of each number and it's actually pretty simple to remember. There are 12, 12s, 11, 11s. They have points, but by the nature of the clever design, you can take as many cards as you want, like Blackjack, but what you don't want is a pair. A pair will... Daniel (29:56.534) Yep. Yep. Kevin (30:06.061) means you bust. So you're more likely if you have a 12 to draw another 12 unless you've cleverly counted cards. But there's some cards that mitigate that that show up and yeah it's just a really funny game and you do it of course watching other people bust can be hilarious or yeah it's a really and there's a fair bit of strategy to it. Not that I've succeeded but I can see how it could be. Daniel (30:32.364) Are you one that counts the cards, that can remember how many cards have been played? I'm not either. Yeah, yeah. Kevin (30:36.127) No, no, but I've not tried. mean, I get the thought, but yeah, I don't think I care enough to win that much. I mean, if we were betting money maybe, but I'm not playing for Daniel (30:47.852) Yeah, that is a great game. Yeah, yeah. Kevin (30:49.149) Yeah, yeah, I really like it. It's small. It's probably one of the best card games that in Scout. Daniel (30:53.92) Yeah, Isn't it? Yeah. Scouts. Amazing, too. Yeah. Isn't it up for? Yeah. Do you say like it's up for Game of the Year award? The Spheal Desiurus or something? Yeah. Kevin (30:57.837) Mm-hmm. Kevin (31:03.339) Yeah, yeah, it's nominated for seven and should be because it's just so simple so clever three minutes to explain it and and you're just cracking up so Yeah, that's my number four Daniel (31:08.992) Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a great one, great one. Well, Kevin, the name of that game is Flip 7, and it was your number four. I'm about to announce my number three. If you add four and three. Kevin (31:26.669) Mm-hmm. Kevin (31:30.221) And that is... Daniel (31:36.29) What are you? That's a horrible transition. My number three is also flip seven. So yeah, yay. Yeah, just for all the reasons you already said, it's just it's a great game. And yeah, we just yeah, similarly here. It's just been a hit with everybody that we've tried it on at a church group and at the house and everybody loves it. It's fast, simple. Yeah. Kevin (31:40.257) That's terrible. Yay! I knew you Kevin (32:01.805) Yeah, I mean you can put it in your back pocket just about, so it's a very portable, quick, yeah it's just a good time. Daniel (32:07.074) Yeah. Daniel (32:10.646) Yeah, so surprisingly, I think not quite as easy to find as there's. mean, it seems to be at least for a while there, it felt like these were they were kind of running out because it's a really popular in demand game. But yeah, but anyway. So, yeah, my number three, like you. Flip seven, what's your number three? Kevin (32:16.717) Hmm. Kevin (32:24.429) The buzz is out. Yeah, yeah. Kevin (32:31.565) Mm-hmm. That's great. My number three is if you play the French version it is warehouse du Wilmot. It is Wilmot's warehouse. Yes. Yes. So everything we said about before just so creative so much fun and another bit little pieces you can decide which orientation which helps you decide like it could be a foot or it could be Daniel (32:41.57) You Yay! Great, great, great. Wonderful, wonderful. Good, good. Kevin (33:01.045) Mickey Mouse ear like how you turn it could be a coffee cup could be a stop sign like you you can kind of pivot them and yeah, it's It's a really fun game, especially to watch people They're like, well it was and then they remember and you get that eureka moment of like no no No, this was this and that led to that. You're like, yeah. Yeah, and everyone then agrees like yeah, of course And so they rediscover the game together. It's just really energizing Daniel (33:03.094) Yeah, yeah. Daniel (33:18.412) Yeah. Daniel (33:23.468) Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that that's on your list. Have you played with any of the, like you said, there are those little cards that bend the rules. And I didn't realize at first there are like normal cards that bend the rules and then there are like extra hard cards that bend the rules. And yeah, yeah. They have like an angry face on them. And we tried one by accident and it was, it just was so hard. We decided not to do the extra hard rules. Yeah, yeah. To avoid the angry face. Kevin (33:44.149) No, I didn't realize there's some hard one. Kevin (33:54.392) Did you get your angry face? It's how have you beat like we've gotten four minutes and a half. That's about the best we can do, but some of them are talking like two minutes to complete all the orders. Daniel (34:06.422) Yeah, yeah, we may have gotten in the two minute range at some point. I forget exactly, but... Kevin (34:07.405) would have to be just fine. Kevin (34:11.914) Okay. Daniel (34:17.154) again, but I think it was just maybe a group that have played a lot. We've already, you know, we've played Star Wars. I will say we did have one night that was it was not quite as much of a hit. And I think that was because we were all too tired. And so it's maybe it's not a great game to play when you're when you're feeling kind of brain dead, but. But it's really too tired. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yay. Wilmots Warehouse hit all around. Kevin (34:28.589) Hmm. Yeah. Kevin (34:36.801) Yes, I can see that. Yay. One month's warehouse. Yes. Number two. For you. And me. Not three. Daniel (34:45.515) Number two. Kevin, I'm about to announce number two. And if you squared, if you multiplied two by two. Kevin (34:52.149) Number two, Casey Cason. Kevin (35:00.461) 15,000 Kelvin. Daniel (35:01.858) Yay! 15 Kelvin, which in Celsius is 4. Kevin (35:08.262) is four square. Daniel (35:13.79) And seven years ago, our, yeah, so four, is such a horror, I'm horrible at transitions. Kevin (35:15.638) Really? Kevin (35:24.16) You're a dear friend and I love you, but yeah, you're not doing so hot today, but there's tomorrow It's okay It'll be sweeter when you knock them out of the park Daniel (35:27.202) No, that's right. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Yeah, no, that's fine. That's fine. Daniel (35:35.33) Twilight Imperium 4 is my number two. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was a great game. That was a great game. You're one of your one of your beloved games. Yeah, yeah, it was new to me. It's been out for obviously a while and it's it's I know it's one of your most beloved games ever. Maybe your maybe your most beloved game ever. Yeah. But I brought my copy. Kevin (35:38.847) Really? That high? I wondered. I didn't know if it would... didn't know you're... Interesting. I didn't see that coming. Kevin (35:56.258) Yeah, it's it's up there. Yeah, it's definitely top five. Daniel (36:04.802) that, again, a friend of the podcast, Sam, was kind of to give me a year or two ago. And you were kind enough to teach it to us. And by golly, that's a great game. And it looks so overwhelming and huge and massive, but you did such a great job of teaching it and just kind of really helping us to see that it's not, I mean, it's a lot more straightforward than it seems at first. Kevin (36:23.967) thank you. Kevin (36:30.273) Mm-hmm. Daniel (36:34.262) and just a very epic sense to it. We didn't get to the end of it, but we played what, good four, five hours or so? You were close, but it didn't feel like four or five hours. The time went by very quickly. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, so I... Kevin (36:42.305) We were close. Yeah, we were close. Kevin (36:47.329) Did and did it. And so what did you like about it? You like the sprawling aspect? You like the... Daniel (36:55.706) did I? Yeah, I do like one of the things I liked about it was the surprise of how straightforward it was. Yeah. You that it's you just once you get to the basic actions, you just kind of do the basic actions. And so it's not as complicated as it looks. I like the idea of I like upgrading your technologies. I always like Kevin (37:12.813) Mm-hmm. Daniel (37:23.242) that in a game where you feel like you're becoming more powerful over the course of a game. So there's definitely that feeling that I enjoyed. I like the interactivity as well. And there could be some negative interactivity, but that was okay. I like the race to mechatol Rex in the middle. And yeah, the voting was such a cool, it's such a nice unnecessary twist, but it just adds a nice little sense of drama to it. Kevin (37:33.793) Mm-hmm. Kevin (37:41.612) Hmm Kevin (37:47.181) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. This is a space opera game that's, yeah, it's just a... Daniel (37:53.568) Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you vote on laws for our listeners who haven't heard of it and the laws change the rules of the game. Yeah, so. Kevin (38:02.477) and it's based on how many planets, certain planets give you a certain number of votes. So some people have more votes than others and then you can bribe them and yeah, yeah. Oh, it makes me so happy. Daniel (38:11.744) Yeah, yeah, that was really a special memory and a really good game too. So thank you for providing that for us. Kevin (38:19.533) Yes. Yeah, we were playing at the house and we had sprawled out there and everyone was very nervous. I could see it. And I was just like, y'all have just it's in your head. Like, believe me, it's going to be fine. And I dialed up even some background music. There's some YouTube channels just dedicated to Twilight and Period music and just let it play. And it's very luxurious. You take your time kind of thing. Hopefully no one's too sped up. No one was too slow on their actions. Everybody was zipped along and Daniel (38:34.412) You did. You did. Kevin (38:48.705) You see your little empire grow and you may or may not win, but there's a lot of fun decision points, usually a lot of hilarity because something happens with the... someone attacks with a huge fleet and has bad rolls and gets crushed and it's kind of funny. And everyone's laughing because you're like, that shouldn't happen, but it's so Twilight Imperium. Or the rules, you get outvoted and you're like, well, you guys, you closed my wormholes. Daniel (38:56.738) Yeah. Daniel (39:10.306) Right, right. Kevin (39:17.911) That's awesome, that's awesome. And I especially love that it was your copy of the game. So it's like, I redeemed your game. That was your, what's the thing, your... Daniel (39:23.81) It was those. was, it was great. Kevin (39:31.713) What's the poor goat? The scapegoat. That was your scapegoat. He went out of the city and then he came. Daniel (39:36.316) yeah, yeah, yeah. Came back and bringing with it all the sins of the board game convention. And it was cleansed. was brand new. No, I loved it. I also loved that. I think I would have done much, much worse, but I felt like players that had the capacity to crush me felt sorry for me. And so that was great. Kevin (39:39.423) came back with a game. Kevin (39:45.207) But he was all cleansed, was white as snow, he was white as snow. Daniel (40:05.986) I will I will always take pity in a board game. Kevin (40:14.925) I have to remember that if we play again. Daniel (40:17.248) You Kevin (40:19.703) Well, my number two is another good memory and that is a terribly titled game, but a beautiful fun game and that's called Rebirth. And it's terribly titled because when we play it, we just call it the castles game because you put out these little castles. So it's like, why did they not have a clever name? And it's supposed to be that it's Scotland or Ireland and they are being reborn after a, you know, disaster to their infrastructure and you're rebuilding. Daniel (40:27.97) yeah, rebirth. Daniel (40:35.062) That's a much better game. Kevin (40:48.333) the castles and the churches, guess, and energy and farm plants. you know, I've played it actually a bunch. My family really likes it. It is fun. I wonder how much it rewards multiple plays, because after a while it's a little thin. Like, you can only do so many things. Like, you just put out three different types of tokens. But it's still really pleasing and trying to come up with ways to score points. Daniel (41:06.966) Right. Right. Kevin (41:16.127) And there's an interesting decision of do you try to stop someone from making mega points because they combo a bunch of farms together or do you keep trying to make your own points? And I think I usually choose badly on that one, but that is kind of fun. Like, do I stop you or do I make points? Like what will, what will win me the game? Stopping you or making myself. Yeah. Daniel (41:33.174) Yeah, yeah. How much do you get in the way and how much do you? Yeah. Have you tried both sides of the board? The Ireland and Scotland? Kevin (41:41.291) I have not tried Ireland. The kids did. I set it up for them and explained it. We were going to play and then something that I had to go somewhere and so they played. Have you? Have you? Daniel (41:49.858) Sure, sure, I did the Ireland side. I did a solo two-person learning game of it, you know, where I was just kind of playing myself and... Kevin (42:01.165) Did you win? Daniel (42:05.026) I lost. Both versions of me lost. Kevin (42:10.507) He was on the forums all night trying to figure out. Daniel (42:12.002) It doesn't seem possible, but I did. I think I preferred the Scotland side, they're both fun. Kevin (42:24.161) Right. That's what the boys said. Ireland, there's like eight different public objectives, which is a lot more to remember, like which ones you're trying for, I guess. Daniel (42:32.096) Yeah. Yeah. I kind of like the private objectives of Scotland. Yeah. Kevin (42:35.757) Yeah, versus private. One of our family joke bits is, say, because if you chain the same types of farms, you get basically additive points. So Daniel's making a break for it with his farms. And we're always telling someone else, oh, you should do something about that. You should do something about it. Because none of us actually wants to take the turn to stop Daniel. So try to get someone else to do something about Daniel. Stop Daniel. Come on. Somebody do that. Daniel (42:58.498) Right, right, right. Come on, come on, somebody. Kevin (43:04.173) I would, but I can't. So I need you to do it. So we think that's hilarious. That comes up a lot. You should really do something about Jenny. Yeah, it's beautiful. Great colors. Yeah, it's a great cancer. Reiner, can it see a rebirth? Nothing to do with it's not. It sounds like a cool Hindu game or something. Daniel (43:06.284) That's right, that's right. Come on, take one for the team. That's great, that's great. I'm glad your family likes it so much, that's great. Daniel (43:19.67) Yeah, yeah. Cool, cool. Daniel (43:26.304) Yeah. Rebirth, you're number two. Kevin (43:28.555) rebirth. number two. Yes. Daniel (43:31.414) All right, well time for number one. Kevin (43:34.081) nine for number one. There can be only one. Unless there's two ones. Daniel (43:36.642) So Kevin, you just announced your number two. If you take the number two and divide it by itself. Kevin (43:44.129) Hope springs eternal, surely it does. One. Daniel (43:47.01) Rebirth is my number one as well. My my rebirth is number one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I just I really love that game It's just a great just for all the reasons you said It's so simple. You just do one thing on your turn. You just do one thing you just place You place a tile. That's it. Yeah and and Like you said, I just it's I think it's a beautiful game. It's just it's a Kevin (43:51.007) Is it number one? Kevin (44:03.895) You can place one token, one or three types of token tile, yeah. Kevin (44:13.769) It is beautiful. No, it's the colors. No good decisions. Daniel (44:14.262) The art is beautiful, the sculpts are beautiful. Yeah, it's quick. It's just... Kevin (44:21.325) Do feel like it gets a little thin over after replay though? Daniel (44:24.439) I can see it. honestly haven't done that many replays of it yet, but I could see that that would happen. Yeah. Kevin (44:27.445) Okay. Because by the end game, there's only like four places you can go. So last few turns are like... Daniel (44:34.786) Yeah, yeah, no, I could see that it might kind of get repetitive after a while, but we ever anyway, but it's it's it's a great game. I really like it for all the reasons you said. Yeah, rebirth. Plus, plus there's a nice, a nice another nice memory that you and I played it together. And I think about I think about that as well. Yeah. Kevin (44:52.887) Yes, I was just going to say that. You taught me the game and we had it was just a 1v1 and you let me win, which was sweet. And yeah, that was really special. So I used to say, I told people this is the Daniel game. Daniel taught me this game. So yeah. Daniel (45:02.882) I'm. Daniel (45:06.561) Thanks. I'm grateful for my Kevin memories from that too. Thank you. And I tried my best. I was trying to crush you, but it's just your superior skill. It's shown through. All right. That's my number one. What's your number one? Kevin (45:11.103) of the rules. Kevin (45:17.249) That's right, that's right. Yeah, exactly. I cheated. cheated. My number one is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And by that, yeah, it would be the Twilight Imperium. Yeah, yeah, that was my favorite. And I didn't, I mean, I hate to be the I told you so guy, but I actually really don't know. It was just very, just felt very luxurious. Like, and that's how it should be. We actually played it at the house that we had rented. Daniel (45:28.706) Nice, Great. Kevin (45:44.236) with folks and not at the convention center. So we got to relax a bit more. weren't in this crowded space and it just felt very indulgent and yeah, and I could see everyone having a good time and get into it. And our friend, Sam, friend of the podcast was seated beside me and he would occasionally be like, wait, so this will, if you do this, this will happen. And I'll be like, yeah. And he's like, I get it. Like he would not, cause he would, he saw that this is a lovingly crafted game through four. Daniel (46:07.516) Okay. Daniel (46:11.756) Yeah, yeah. Kevin (46:13.971) major revisions, know, 10 years of development or something crazy, it's like all the rules are consistent, but there's always a way to break every rule somehow, and you just kind of start to see how it is this mechanism that fits together. So yeah, yeah, that was a really special time. Daniel (46:30.902) Yeah, it's, it's, you got well said it's really, it's a well thought out game after years and years of refinement and evolution. And it's yeah. Yeah. You can, like you said, lovingly crafted that does shine through. Kevin (46:39.607) Mm-hmm. Kevin (46:44.417) Yeah, and you think it's gonna be like risk dudes on a map and battling out, but it's really not. It's more of a, it's not actually how you win the game. You have to win these objectives, which are often technologies. And every race is, every person is very different. So they're all asymmetrical. So everybody plays different. So next time you can play different people and it's a whole different experience. Daniel (46:55.83) Yeah, yeah. Daniel (47:06.677) In that respect, mean, in the respect of it's not like dudes on a map, it reminds me a little bit of Scythe, the Jamie Sagamari game that, you you look at it and you think it's a game about crushing each other and you can do a little battle, but you can win in other ways too. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's... Kevin (47:12.705) Yes, yes. Kevin (47:19.467) You are supposed to attack a little bit, yeah. You won't if you run around attacking inside a lot, you're not going to win. You'll lose a bunch of stuff. Daniel (47:29.43) Right, right, yeah. Kevin (47:31.181) You only want to attack judiciously. And same thing with Twilight Imperium. If you're busy getting in battles, then Daniel's sitting over there winning, because he's not losing troops to stupid battles. So yeah. Daniel (47:44.986) else is involved in battles I'm just slowly edging my piece up the score track where people can that's that's yeah we're looking well I we should he said Sam was in that game I sort of give credit to Jordan and Kristen also friends of the podcast who were took part in that that that adventure as well it was it was great yeah Kevin (47:51.133) Exactly, Kabam! Kevin (48:05.89) Mm-hmm. Kevin (48:13.047) Yes, yes, yes. Excellent, excellent. What a great. Daniel (48:16.566) Well, we were wrong. It wasn't one overlap or two overlap or three overlap. We had four overlap. Yeah, we had four overlap. Kevin (48:23.115) Are you serious? So the ones we didn't, I picked Storm Raiders and you did not play so you couldn't have picked it and you picked... Daniel (48:33.164) Captain Flip. Kevin (48:35.991) but I very much could have put Captain Flip on here. I don't think I enjoyed it as much as you, but I only played it the once, so maybe more. I mean, I definitely like it. I would play it at any time, but it's not one that I'm just josing to play, but it is cool. Daniel (48:46.114) Sure, sure, sure. Daniel (48:50.048) and we had one overlap in our three honorary mentions. Kevin (48:55.341) Correct? So that is five overlaps time. Daniel (48:56.044) So. Daniel (48:59.746) So that gives us 11 unique games. No, Yeah, 11 unique games, I think, if our listeners are trying to find some games that hopefully one of those unique games, 11 unique, maybe spoke to you. And if so, if you give it a try, let us know. We'd be interested to hear. Yeah. Kevin (49:11.469) Yeah. Kevin (49:17.73) Mm-hmm. Kevin (49:22.509) Yeah, that's right. And if you want me to, if I own it and you want me to autograph it, I'm glad to do that at a four times markup of the sale price of the item plus shipping. It's a special deal for our listeners. So a $50 game, if you give me $200 plus shipping, $220, I will sign the game and send it to you. Daniel (49:33.76) of TI4 especially. That's a great deal. Daniel (49:45.708) That's very generous of you, Kevin. You know what you get if you anagram the name Kevin Taylor. You get, I always give. You're just a very giving spirit. Kevin (49:45.879) You love that. It's very meaningful. It had nothing to do with any of the games. Kevin (49:58.702) You Daniel (50:01.378) You're just a very giving spirit. Kevin Taylor, anagrams. I always can't. Well, if you turn the K upside down, like on its back, it forms the W. Kevin (50:03.467) Not a W in Kevin Taylor. Kevin (50:12.205) What K doesn't take a nap now and then? That's my Daniel (50:17.602) That's very, very generous of you. Well, that was great. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks for sharing such good games and listeners. Thanks for tuning in. And we hope maybe you heard some games that interested you that might be of something in your universe that you would like. And maybe you got an interest in attending a board game convention sometime too. Kevin (50:19.522) Yes. Good times. Kevin (50:41.249) That's right. if you have been to a favorite one, you got a favorite one, email us as well as email us some of your favorite games of the this year. Let us know what you've played in the past few months and we will share them online. So just drop us an email. What is that email, Daniel? Daniel (50:57.078) Yep, that would be great. Our email is playsavestheworld.com or info at playsavestheworld.com Kevin (51:11.725) There you go. Daniel (51:13.07) We'd love to hear from you. We really do love hearing from our listeners. Well, Kevin, great to see you. Thanks for hanging out and sharing some great games. Kevin (51:14.603) And we're on Instagram. Look for us. Yes. Kevin (51:20.845) Same here. Yeah, yeah. Always a good time, Daniel. Take care. Talk to you soon. Bye. Daniel (51:27.49) Alright, take care, thanks, bye bye.