151 – Origins 2019 Interviews – The Family Gamers Podcast

Join us for interviews from Anitra’s trip to the Origins Game Fair.

0:00:40 Play to Beat Brain Cancer

Derek Miller and Jake Miller show us there’s more than one way to be family gamers. Find and support them at PTBBC.org.

0:02:45 Blue Orange – Once Upon a Castle, Panic Island

Brandan tells us about Once Upon a Castle (roll-and-draw) and Panic Island (cooperative memory race). Find out more at BlueOrangeGames.com.

0:09:47 Mayday Games – Isle of Monsters

Jondi shares how to play their new game, Isle of Monsters. It serves as an introduction to deck-building and card drafting game. Capture monsters, feed them, and pit them against other monsters in the annual “scare fest”. Find it at MaydayGames.com.

red and green figures on a board, tokens and cards visible at the edges of the picture.

0:13:00 The OP – Die Hard: The Nakatomi Heist

Sean Fletcher, one of the designers, tells us about this one-vs-many game that recreates the classic action movie. Die Hard; The Nakatomi Heist plays over three acts, and should be available in July.

toy echidnas; the one closest to the viewer has a red ladybug riding on its back

0:15:45 Wattsalpoag Games – Echidna Shuffle

Kris Gould tells us about his game Echidna Shuffle, the cutest game at Origins. It also happens to be this year’s winner of the Origins Award for “Fan Favorite” Family Game. Find it at the Wattsalpoag website, or ask at your local game store!

Dice, plastic gems, and wooden chicken meeples

0:17:50 Social Sloth – Gem Hens

Pat Marino tells us about his game Gem Hens – what if chickens actually laid decorated, jeweled eggs? Roll the dice, and use them to move your chicken, pick up jewels, and place them onto your egg board. Find it at the Social Sloth Games website.

0:21:00 Intex Entertainment – King of the Castle, Pirate’s Plunder

Ken Tinner tells us about a few family games available from Intex Entertainment. In King of the Castle, race your knights up the castle wall and drop them inside the castle. Move the knights based on the number on their card.

Pirates’ Plunder, which Ken and his brother designed, is a press-your-luck game of treasure collection. Jump overboard with your treasure before you get exploded!

Dinosaur meeples on a board that looks like an amusement park

0:25:25 Luma Games – Draftosaurus

Billy Chandler (from Into the Meepleverse) tells us about Draftosaurus. Choose one dinosaur meeple out of a handful, then pass them to the next player. Place dinosaurs on your boards and choose how they’ll score. Quick to play and easy to learn. Look for it soon from Ankama Games and Luma Games.

4x4 grid of dice, showing blue and red symbols. Pile of blue and red tokens. Sheet of paper with multiple 4x4 grids on it, along with more red and blue symbols.

0:27:50 The OP (part 2) – Dungeon Academy

Ross Thompson shares how to play Dungeon Academy – a roll-and-write where the dice form the gameboard. Race to make the best path through the 4×4 grid formed by the dice. A highlight of the convention! Find out more at TheOP.games.

0:30:40 Pegasus Spiele – UNDO

Nathan tells us about this new series. You and your friends are time travellers, seeking to undo a tragic event. One time use for each group, but reusable in general. Topics aren’t terribly family friendly, but they sound very interesting if you’re a fan of choosing your own adventure. It ties loosely to Adventure Island, which is a choose-your-own-adventure board game that has more of a legacy-game feel (play multiple times with lasting effects). Find out more on their website: Pegasus.de.

Cat robot on a shiny spiral bound notebook depicting a room

0:33:11 Asmodee/Plaid Hat – Quirky Circuits

Work together to program a robot, by playing cards from your hands. You’re only problem to complete this task is that you aren’t talking to your partner(s)! You only know if their played cards move the robot or rotate the robot – but not in which direction. Thankfully, you have several rounds, and usually can recover from problems. There are 4 different robots and over a dozen different scenarios.

Everything plays right out of a spiral-bound book, with minimal setup. Find out more at PlaidHatGames.com.

0:36:45 Stronghold Games – Brikks, Second Chance

Stephen Buonocore tells us about Brikks, a Tetris-themed roll and write game from Wolfgang Warsch (who also designed Ganz Schön Clever). “Drop” your pieces and fill levels to score the most points.

Second Chance is a flip-cards-and-write game from Uwe Rosenberg. Flip two cards and pick the shape on one of them to add to your grid. Run out of room for either shape shown? You’ll get a “second chance”. Pick one last card – if you’re able to add that shape to your grid, you can stay in the game!

Read about these roll-and-writes and more at StrongholdGames.com.


The music between the interviews is from Magellan, provided by You Bred Raptors? Thanks for listening, and until next week, play games with your kids!


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