Talk Cardboard

Just for reference, the population of Klaipėda, the third largest city in Lithuania is approximately 161 000 people. The number of attendees in this year's Spiel Essen was 220 000 people, meaning they managed to cram the entirey of Klaipėda and much more into just eight convention halls and every one of those people were buying board games. I appreciate that that is maybe not everybody's jam, and aspects of it are not our jam either. But getting our mitts into a jar of Bonne Maman filled with gooey new board game releases - put a bib on me and fire up the toaster! In this special joint episode of No Pun Included and Talk Cardboard we cover 16 new releases from Spiel Essen 2025, which you can either listen to here or partake in the video version https://youtu.be/NHVLn-ZxVWs If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded SHIRTS! Find them on https://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/ On to the timestamps: 0:00 Cold Open 2:46 Intro 5:42 Night Soil (Unranked) 9:11 Bouba Kiki 14:14 Nocturnis 17:56 Formidable Farm/Formidabel! 22:00 Tax the Rich 27:44 Echoes of Time 36:30 Fearless 41:30 National Economy 48:23 Thesauros 1:00:34 biD Coin 1:07:20 Kikai/Bricolage Heads 1:16:46 Tag Team 1:26:59 Recall 1:36:14 ??? 1:56:10 ?? 2:03:33 ? 2:14:53 Outro

Spinning pandas, evolving primates, and... Capitalism! We have all three for you in this episode - thankfully not all in the same game. We could have had three games about mammals, but we didn't think this through.  If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded SHIRTS! Find them on https://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/ Onto the timestamps: 00:00 Cold open 02:09 Intro 03:45 Panda Spin 18:34 Primates 32:51 Tycoon: India 1981 48:25 Correspondence

Only three games this episode? What gives? Well, in the tried and true brand tradition, we decided to go back to our original formula. But no sad trombone noises please - we're really, definitely, honestly going to make it work this time... On this episode, we have Identity - a trick taking game that promises personality, Out of Sorts - a game of inventing a cataloguing system for books in an alien library, and Magical Athlete - a game of racing a banana, a giant baby, and various other quirky things round a track. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded SHIRTS! Find them on https://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/ On to the timestamps: 00:00 Cold open & intro 05:50 Identity 14:16 Out of Sorts 28:57 Magical Athlete 42:03 Correspondence 

There are episodes where we bring as much knowledge as we can about whatever board game we are talking about. And then there are episodes where we just want to share why something didn't click so much that we didn't want to go beyond game one. Apropos of nothing, today we'll be chatting about Brink, a "trading cubes in space" game that conceptually riffs on Catan but in execution whiffs on us. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded SHIRTS! Find them on https://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/ On to the time stamps: 00:00 Cold Open & Intro Work in Progress:  2:08 Tenby 7:26 Railroad Tiles 10:42 Rumble Nation 18:53 Winter Rabbit Audience Correspondence: 25:05 Vantage, Neurodivergence in Board Games Main Feature: 31:23 Brink

Well, Hot Dog! Do we have an episode for you! We peruse the lofty promises of Vantage, try to keep ourselves on track in Railroad Tiles, discuss whether selling doughnuts at night is really worth your time in Taiwan Night Market, and Efka tells us about angry dice you can chuck about in the bath, in Wroth.  But wait! That's not all! The main game on our podium is Hot Streak - which not only has a hot dog, but also a fish, a bear, and HM the Queen herself in a game of racing, falling down, getting back up again, and trying all over again. Phew.  If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded SHIRTS! Find them on https://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/ On to the timestamps: 00:00 Cold Open & Intro Work in Progress:  00:54 Vantage 19:14 Railroad Tiles 25:01 Taiwan Night Market 28:26 Wroth Audience Correspondence: 36:19 Gaming Tables Main Feature: 41:23 Hot Streak

Pew pew kaboom! That's the sound of every child's living nightmare - their toys coming to life and unleashing an arsenal of deadly weaponry in their bedroom. Many a sleepless night I've had in my youth with this vivid imagery - blood, guts, plastic viscera strewn across my chewbacca rug - which might I add, also comes alive and eats the other toys... anyway, turns out they made my nightmare into a board game and you can now play it. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded SHIRTS! Find them on https://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/ On to the time stamps: 0:00 Cold Open Work In Progress 0:56 The Old King's Crown 6:24 Ensemble 12:19 Haggis Audience Correspondence 16:14 Trick Taking Main Feature 27:51 Toy Battle

Good news, we're still on holiday. Better news - we're still doing the holiday cast, which means more free podcast more delivered to more you. Moorish! You know what else is moorish? Trees! Just can't get enough of those suckers. And you know where trees live? That's right, in Germany. And you know what Germany has? Autobahns. But also forests. Apropos of nothing, let's talk about a board game called Black Forest which is about a forest in Germany. Once again, no timestamps because we're still on holiday and it's still just one game in the episode. You'll be fine. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded SHIRTS! Find them on https://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/

Good news, we're on holiday. Better news, we're not leaving you without podcast. It's a smaller episode, yes, but it is Talk Cardboard delivered right to your door, for free! Mmmmm, free podcast, what could be more delicious? Oh, I know, human suffering! If you feel like what you need more in your life is a cardboard simulation of robots slaughtering endless amounts of flesh bags on the moon, Moon Colony Bloodbath has got you sorted.   Not doing timestamps cause we're on holiday. Also, it's just one game. You'll be fine. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on http://patreon.com/nopunincluded SHIRTS! Find them on https://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/

Sharpen your papercuts because it's time to put cards face down in front of you and simultaneously flip them face up! The Old King's Crown is maybe the year's most exciting game and we've got an exciting early scoop! If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded SHIRTS! Find them on https://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/ On to the time stamps: 0:00 Cold Open 1:40 Intro Work In Progress 2:08 Emberleaf 11:19 Hot Streak 22:00 Project L 26:24 Survive the Island Main Feature 31:06 The Old King's Crown

Efka opens our review of Eternal Decks with "This is the main candidate for Game of the Year 2025" and if you need a better endorsement to learn about a cool new board game, I can't think of one. And I'm Efka. This and more in this week's Talk Cardboard. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on http://patreon.com/nopunincluded SHIRTS! Find them on http://no-pun-included-shop.fourthwall.com/ On to the time stamps: 0:00 Cold Open 1:30 Intro Work In Progress 1:59 Barony: Royal Edition 6:25 In the Shadows: Resistance in France 1943 - 1944 (DNF) 10:08 Emberleaf 14:32 The Old King's Crown Audience Correspondence:  21:34 Blue Prince Main Feature 28:46 Eternal Decks  

You want me to do what now? Play a board game on the TV? Using my phone? Never! *shakes fist at cloud* *shakes more fist at cloud* *picks up phone and starts playing* Wait this thing is good! Like, real good. Okay, I guess today we're talking about a board game that's also a video game that's also a phone game. And you're going to listen and you're going to enjoy it. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 00:00 Cold open 01:24 Intro 02:03 'Work In Progress"; Fruit Fight 03:50 Tenby 08:10 Deep Regrets 15:57 Correspondence 20:01 Sunderfolk

Why duel with silly weapons when you can duel with whole cities? In Rival Cities, Hamburg and Altona go head to head to see who will be the city anyone's ever heard of. I think you probably know who pulled that off IRL.  But if you'd rather fight with fruit or sausages, fear not because we have those for you too - in our Work in Progress. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a Patreon supporter on patreon.com/nopunincluded   On to the timestamps: 00:00 Cold open 01:41 Intro 05:18 Work in Progress 06:05 Sausage Sizzle 08:17 (Reiner Knizia's) Fruit Fight 14:47 Corps of Discovery 25:46 Correspondence 27:16 Rival Cities

Get ready to flick your way to victory, or get the flick out of here because it's time to play Ascending Empires: Zenith Edition - a 4X game - but iiiin flicking spaaaaace!  We also have the games we've been playing this week in our new segment: 'Work in Progress', where Elaine compares Eternal Decks to being back at school, and Efka tells us about under-salted negotiations in Moonrakers. Bonus Episodes on patreon.com/nopunincluded Eternal Decks tutorials mentioned in the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT1d_lHw4yM On to the timestamps: 00:00 Cold open 01:40 Intro 02:10 'Work In Progress"; Eternal Decks 08:09 Joyride 11:52 Moonrakers 16:01 Correspondence 24:44 Ascending Empires: Zenith Edition

Have you ever wanted to be a poorly paid miner? What about on an Alien Planet? Whilst being bothered by swarms of beasties? If you answered yes, yes, and yes, then get your drills and ziplines ready for our deep dive into  Deep Rock Galactic: The Board Game,  If you answered no, then luckily we also have a whole host of other games we're talking about in our new segment "Work in Progress", where we give a quick look to the games we've been playing this week.  If you'd like to support us, head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/nopunincluded , where you'll get access to all of our bonus episodes, plus our lovely Discord server.   Onto the timestamps: 00:00 Cold open 01:14 Intro & "Work In Progress" brief 01:34 Nokosu Dice 03:25 Eternal Decks 07:36 Elden Ring: The Board Game 11:34 Flow 17:20 Dune: Imperium - Bloodlines 22:43 Correspondence 23:12 Deep Rock Galactic: The Board Game

Talk Cardboard returns tomorrow! Meanwhile, enjoy a mini psa on the format change and why the hiatus happened.

Get your engines warmed up, your fishing rod at the ready, and your knee-pads on as we delve into a crash, bash racing game in Thunder Road: Vendetta, freeze our fingers building a village in Saltfjord, and co-operatively fight for the freedom of Kaan in Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the time stamps: 00:00 Cold open 02:31 Intro 03:39 Correspondance regarding board game libraries 04:56 Thunder Road Vendetta 22:24 Correspondance regarding learning games 25:23 Saltfjord 44:52 Correspondence regarding games made of chocolate 49:40 Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan 1:22:49 Outro

One thousand five hundred plus games released over four days is a HOT WEEKEND in board games and the Elaines and Efkas of this world were in attendance. Did we play all 1500 games? No. Did we play the hot ones? Yes. Did we play the weird ones? Yes. Did we play the good ones? Oh my yes yes yes. So grab a warm beverage, plonk yourself into a comfy chair and write off the next hour and a half because we bring you informed coverage of all the games that we played and what you should be on the lookout for in the next three months of board games. What a time to be alive. You can now watch a video version of the episode on YouTube - link here If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 0:00 Cold Open 1:40 Intro 4:15 15 - Milkuro 6:44 14 - Rock Rubber Scissors 8:58 13 - Potato Tomato 11:18 12 - Bomb Busters 17:45 11 - Overparked 21:09 10 - Big Two 26:17 9 - Bottle Imp 30:50 8 - Civolution 41:33 7 - Altay: Dawn of Civilization 49:56 6 - Seas of Strife 53:36 Joint 5,4,3 - ??? 1:01:29 Joint 5,4,3 - ??? 1:06:14 Joint 5,4,3 - ??? 1:18:55 2 - ??? 1:24:32 1 - ???

Folks, folks and folks, please come join us for a marvelous carboard celebration through time, energy and cities. Gaze your eyes to Paris in 1920 and marvel at the deductive action of Kronologic. Now turn those eyeballs further east towards Germany and amaze yourself with the fantabulous power of Nucleum and finally, fly up and up and up and then look down for a birds eye view of cities in Cities. It’s a show like no other and that show is called Talk Cardboard. For more NPI please visit https://nopunincluded.com If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 0:00 Cold Open 2:48 Intro 3:42 Audience Correspondence: Convention Demo Learning 8:45 Kronologic: Paris 1920 19:52 Audience Correspondence: Board games in libraries 25:29 Nucleum + Nucleum: Australia 1:09:31 Audience Correspondence: Wilmot's Warehouse 1:13:26 Cities 1:25:40 Outro

Vroom vroom it’s time to kaboom! Or something along those lines because today’s feature game is all about smashing cars into other cars. It feels like we’ve seen this type of game over and over through time, from Rock’n’Roll Racing to Mario Kart to Twisted Metal to Carmaggedon - the world is full of games that let you cause car accidents on purpose. But let me tell you, it’s never been done like that in cardboard. Joyride is a delight! And there’s other games too! We take a look at the somewhat bland and reliable Invincible: The Hero-Building Game and the charming Wilmot’s Warehouse in its new board game incarnation. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 0:00 Cold Open 0:39 Intro 1:44 Audience Correspondence: Qualia 5:29 Joyride: Survival of the Fastest 30:58 Audience Correspondence: Standardized Size 34:29 Invincible: The Hero-Building Game 53:19 Audience Correspondence: More Haggis Letters 55:29 Wilmot's Warehouse

Cute, but deadly! We used to dance under that name but you could also use those three words to describe today’s selection of games. Harvest is a farming worker placement game so cloyingly sweet you could squeeze condensed milk out of it. Is it good? Jury’s still out. War Stories: Occupied France is the unlikely combination of Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective and Undaunted - how does that even work? We’ve got the scoop. And finally… Dorfromantik: The Duel. Last year’s adaptation of Dorfromantik to board game form was low key our favourite light tile layer. But now naturally come the spin-offs and we’ve got some takes. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 0:00 Go Listen to So Very Wrong About Games 1:34 Cold Open 3:35 Intro 4:30 Audience Correspondence - Horror Games 12:25 Harvest 28:30 Audience Correspondence - Haggis 30:44 War Story: Occupied France 48:40 Audience Correspondence - More Haggis 51:26 Dorfromantik: The Duel 1:00:24 Outro

Hello boardgamers and boardgamees, how are your MEEPLES? Do they need feeding? Watering? Some TLC? Or do they just need a good dose of the Talk Cardboard podcast to refresh that wooden noggin? Well worry not young meeple trainer, we’ve got a new episode digitally bumbling its way to you right now. A real smorgasboard of delights this week as we take a look at three very different games to suit very different needs. Spectral is a strange melange of deduction and Keyflower style bidding? Does that even work? Does it make sense? Is Ryan Courtney the only designer that can pull this off? Talking of designers that can pull things off, how about none other than Reiner Knizia himself, who, believe it or not, designed another game. Except he designed this one quite a long time ago and also made a very fresh expansion for it right now. Through the Desert is a mean mean classic and Bazaar is a mixed bag of modules to add some zest. And finally, a board game based on a beloved video game (unofficially) that doesn’t just work but maybe even surpases its insipiration? Leviathan Wilds is the tabletop version of Shadows of the Colossus and there are moments when it towers above it. Find more episodes on https://nopunincluded.com/podcast If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 0:00 Cold Open 1:05 Intro 3:03 Spectral 30:25 Through the Desert (+Bazaar Expansion) 56:55 More letters on Salton Sea 1:01:40 Leviathan Wilds

I don’t know about you, but I think there’s something special about the momentum of two player games. The tension, the back and forth. The sensation of making a clever move is so much more palpable than in any other player count. Today we’ll take a look at three two player games, each interesting in its own way, and also two more on our bonus episode. Our friend Jon from JonGetsGames has designed a game called Spring Cleaning, which we mention in the episode, you can pre-order it here: https://www.newmillindustries.com/store/p/spring-cleaning-preorder or you can play it online on boardgamearena. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 0:00 Cold Open 2:04 Intro 4:08 Run 24:31 Haggis 37:07 Harrow County

Dear listeners, it’s never been clearer to us that board games have entered into a new era - the era of the size race. Each month publishers are competing to release a bigger campaign game than the one before and in terms of scope, Agemonia is definitely in the running for the lead. In terms of box size it’s no slouch either, looking eerily similar to that 32 pound Frosthaven box. To provide some contrast and levity, the second game on this episode is Terra Nova, a sleeker, slimmer, smaller and shorter version of its big sibling - Terra Mystica. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 0:00 Cold Open 1:46 Agemonia 41:34 Agemonia content warning start 45:49 Agemonia content warning end 48:22 Audience Correspondence - Salton Sea 55:52 Terra Nova

There is a duality in first time plays, at least when you’re playing with a mind to reviewing. One path leads to potential, the other to the bin. A first time play can reveal quirks and kinks that promise an interesting second or third or fourth and beyond plays; exploration and indulgence. It can equally reveal a design you never wish to revisit. On today’s episode - two board games. Arcs and Salton Sea. A remix of space board games and a trudge through the bleak world of mining lithium. Each a representative of both polar opposites of first impressions. Articles and websites discussed in the episode can be found here: Vote for your favourite podcast in the BGG Awards: https://boardgamegeek.com/geekawards/boardgame From Wingspan to Wyrmspan: An Accesibility Journey - https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/157687/from-wingspan-to-wyrmspan-an-accessibility-journey Rolling with Two: Wyrmspan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifMREbPv1Zk Colorbling Games - https://colorblindgames.com/ If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 0:00 Cold Open 1:46 Intro 2:49 Flavor Text 9:13 Salton Sea 41:46 Weight vs Subject 45:02 Arcs 1:15:03 Outro

This episode we only cover two games, but we had so much to say it ended up being a full length episode anyway. Which isn’t a surprise really when you end up with two follow ups for two massively succesful games. It’s the follow-up episode! And if you strain your thinking really hard, you could even argue that this very episode is a follow up to previous episodes, and thus thematically represents the games themselves. It’s nice when things like that line up perfectly. Please enjoy our chatter on 7th Citadel (sequel to 7th Continent) and Wyrmspan (sequel to Wingspan). If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded 0:00 Cold Open 0:38 Intro 2:44 7th Citadel 34:15 Wyrmspan

“What’s good?” you might ask me. Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Just board games. Three specific board games that are, in fact, good and COINCIDENTALLY are all featured on this episode of Talk Cardboard. What a treat! A threefer. A co-op boss battler that’s good, a solo deck-builder that’s good and, wait for it, a EUROGAME that is very good! It’s good games vibes only. Enjoy! If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded 0:00 Cold Open 2:00 Intro 3:17 Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze 22:08 Witchcraft! 38:41 Revive

A remake, a new take and an expansion walk into a bar. The barman says, “what’ll it be?” They all reply “something fresh.” Was that too mean? I think that was too mean, especially since at least (and also at most) two of the games discussed in this episode are pretty great. And one of them is okay. We revisit the classic Terra Mystica in it’s new more thematically demure incarnation, we explore how Raising Robots riffs on Wingspan and Efka finally gets to play the expansion to his favourite game of all time - Sidereal Confluence. Let me tell you folks - it’s been bifurcated. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded 0:00 Cold Open 2:48 Intro 3:43 Age of Innovation: A Terra Mystica Game 33:22 Raising Robots 53:23 Sidereal Confluence: Bifurcation

More and more board games are adopting eco themes! Whether it’s Daybreak and it’s simulation of climate change or Dune: War for Arrakis and Dune’s enviromental themes and… uh… one or two plastic miniatures or Ticket to Ride Legacy and… um… all the railroad constru…. You know what nevermind, welcome to board games! It’s board games everyone, aren’t they good? So good those board games. Are they good? It depends on which one it is. And thus enters the board game reviews. They’re here. Enjoy it. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 00:00 Cold Open 1:27 Intro 2:30 Audience Correspondence: Green Appreciation 6:08 Dune: War for Arrakis 38:26 Daybreak 59:07 Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West

Can you believe it’s been a whole year of Talk Cardboard? Incredible! What’s a better way to celebrate the end of the year than by revisiting where we began? On the very first episode Efka talked about his most anticipated games for 2023, so today we’ll take a look at how those panned out and also take a peek at his most anticipated games for 2024. Plus we’ll talk about Dune: Imperium - Uprising, Efka’s game of the year and share some of Elaine’s impressions of it. Finally, we saved something a little special for the end of the episode, but you’ll have to listen to find out what that is. Thanks for sticking with us for a whole year! Here’s to another one. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 3:35 The Ones that Got Away 20:47 Dune: Imperium - Uprising 44:09 Most Anticipated 2023 Revisited 54:15 Most Anticipated 2024

Winter months are here and a deep chill is setting over the world. A chill that can represent only one thing - Elaine and Efka’s disappointing week of board games. That’s right, it’s one of those episodes - where no one game is a standout and all of them feel like they’re missing just a little warmth. So grab a cup of hot cocoa and settle in for a grumpy cast of some grumpy cardboard talk. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 2:08 Audience Correspondence - Contentification (for the last time) 8:16 Sail 32:23 Thank you to Mark from So Very Wrong About Games https://www.sowronggames.com/ 37:46 Trolls and Princesses 55:45 Evacuation

It’s a new episode of the Talk Cardboard podcast and I feel great! Rejuvenated even because today’s games are light, breezy, quirky and fun. And what’s a breezier topic than the collapse of an empire? Just the thought of that warmed something inside of me, like a cozy blanket gently touching the fireplace and setting aflame. If you too would like to partake in some famine, pestilence, war, etc. you might want to give Empire’s End a spin. And if that wasn’t cozy enough, how about some real time horse gambling? Honestly, all that cozyness put my brain in a twist. Thankfully, we’re also covering Mind Space. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 1:16 Audience Correspondence - Singapore 1819 3:33 Empire's End 13:17 Audience Recommendations 14:49 Ready Set Bet 26:06 Rob Daviau Talks Legacy Games 45:00 Mind Space 56:40 Audience Correspondence - All Time Favourites

Every year in board games there’s a new fad. Legacy, polyominoes, roll and writes and trick takers. This year’s fad seems to be less genre based and more societally concious. Here at NPI every week we encounter more and more board games that reduce their use of wasteful material such as plastics. On this episode alone two of the three games discussed are 100% recyclable (if you ignore the stickers that hold the lid on the box). And the third one is themed around enviromental issues. How amazing is that? But on top of that, they’re really interesting games in their own right. Honestly, this feels like a celebration. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 1:43 Audience Correspondence - Contentification Part One 3:51 Earthborne Rangers 27:52 Audience Correspondence - Contentification Part Two 36:32 Forest Shuffle 59:10 Sonny Liew and the Two Board Games Called 1819: Singapore 1:25:31 Planta Nubo 1:42:06 Audience Correspondence - Contentification Part Three

What’s the biggest event of the year? That’s right, it’s the DFS Winter Mega Sale! But right after that comes Essen Spiel, or as it is now known: Spiel Essen. Every year, just under two hundred thousand board gamers flock to an industrial city in Germany to partake in a mass consumption event where over a thousand board game titles are released over the course of one weekend and this year we have played ALL OF THEM. Or at least tried to. We played twenty five, ate a kebab and fell asleep. But now, on this one and only episode of Talk Cardboard, we’ll rank them from worst to best and talk about each one a little bit. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 0:56 Intro Unranked Games: 3:13 Karvi 4:02 El Grande 5:30 Bruxelles 1893 7:30 Nana/Trio Ranked Games: 10:25 Here Comes The Dog 12:00 Stich für Stich 13:59 Sunrise Lane 16:32 Couture 20:19 Ninja Masters 23:19 Havalandi 27:55 Tangram City 32:30 Quicksand 36:15 Extravaganza 39:14 Nuts a Go Go 43:50 Viking Sea-Saw 47:28 Tiger and Dragon 51:23 White Castle 55:55 Come Sail Away 1:00:41 The Top 3 Games from Spiel

Tell me something, which other board game podcast episode can claim to contain the entire gamut of board games in one episode? Antropomorphic animals? Check. Weirdly themed euro? Check. Fantasy campaign game? Check. Real time? Check. Randomness? Check. Strategy, tactics, abstractification? Check check and check. In this episode we’ll take a long overdue look at Vindication, a game where you gather cubes to kill monsters, Fit to Print, a cutesy real time newspaper assembly simulator and Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall, a fantasy campaign game that signals the arrival of everyone’s most dreaded season - Campaignmass. Find the video we mention in the discussion on contentification right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMqtgN82fUY If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 2:48 Fit to Print 29:07 Audience Correspondence: Board Game Fan Fic Trivia 31:48 Vindication 46:51 A Discussion on Contentification 59:47 Kinfire Chronicles: Night's Fall

Are games even real? According to Kieron Gillen, they certainly bleed into reality and reality bleeds into them. According to Great Western Trail, New Zealand isn’t even real. So who’s to say? On this episode of Talk Cardboard we review Schadenfreude, the little trick taking game that could, chat about the absurd comedy that is Freelancers, take an early peak at Great Western Trail: New Zealand and chat to Kieron Gillen about his comic book and role-playing game DIE. For more on DIE, here’s the links provided at the end of the interview in clickable form: Kieron’s Newsletter - https://buttondown.email/KieronGillen DIE RPG - https://diecomic.com/rpg/ Rowan, Rook and Decard - https://rowanrookanddecard.com/ If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 00:59 Intro and Audience Correspondence - Review copies 6:32 Schadenfreude 19:31 Freelancers: A Crossroads Game 37:07 Audience Correspondence - Dinged up Cards 39:56 Interview: Kieron Gillen and DIE 1:07:53 Great Western Trail: New Zealand

From Earth to Space to the abstract void in between, this episode has a little bit of everything, including a game that made Efka feel like he had to give a rating. That’s right, a bona fide numerical value asigned to the perceived quality of a game. What will they think of next? Verdicts? Comparisons? In the future, anything will be possible. On this episode of Talk Cardboard we review the many many card game Earth, the impossibly adorable abstract two player only game Lacuna and share our first impressions of the heaviest euro game of the year - Voidfall. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 0:00 Review Copies and NPI 6:13 Earth 25:20 Audience Correspondence - Game Wear and Tear 31:01 Lacuna 45:21 Audience Correspondence - Aeon’s End 52:16 Voidfall First Impressions

What if we don’t make games that last forever is the question Andrew Navaro, head of Earthborne Games is asking us. His answer is Earthborne Rangers, a game that will perish, but not before it lands on our doorsteps. On this episode of Talk Cardboard we interview Andrew about Earthborne Rangers and his vision for a more eco-responsible board game scene. We’ve also got reviews for Spiel des Jahres winner Dorfromantik: The Board game that’s all about a chill time laying tiles, Ancient Realms - a little game that fits in your pocket from the designer of Sprawlopolis and Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold - big legacy campaign deckbuilder that’s more ambitious than it is impressive. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 5:16 Audience Correspondence: Obsession 13:59 Ancient Realm 28:02 Dorfromantik: The Board Game 39:53 Audience Correspondence: NPI Directed by 43:43 Sustainable Board Games with Andrew Navaro (Interview) 1:15:09 Aeon's End: Legacy of Gravehold 1:40:46 Audience Correspondence: Rulebook Assessment

It’s time to get schooled! Always wanted to say that and finally I have a good reason because today’s guest on the show is none other than Zoe Bee who’ll teach us about board games as educational tools. Oh but wait, there’s also board game reviews. A hot new release that asks us to save cats (again) - Race to the Raft, a hot old classic that’s got a shiny new coat - Ra, and a hot hidden gem that we finally got around to playing - Obsession. If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 00:00 Cold Open 3:01 Audience Correspondence - NPI Geometry 8:28 Race to the Raft 31:08 Audience Correspondence - Hidden Movement 33:24 Ra 45:59 Board Game Education with Zoe Bee 1:12:47 Obsession: Pride, Intrigue, and Prejudice in Victorian England

Everybody always says, “Talk Cardboard is paving the way in board game podcasting!” and this episode it’s certainly true. We have biking, hiking, kayaking, train-ing, and hunting (along routes), which is the most path in any board game podcast ever. On today’s episode we’ll cover the cute but deadly Trailblazers, the old fashioned but sleek Isle of Trains and the gorgeous, voluptuous and strange Beast. If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: [email protected] If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 6:12 Audience Correspondence: Methods of Teaching Games 9:32 Trailblazers 29:53 Isle of Trains: All Aboard 47:11 Audience Correspondence: Imperial Onions 52:26 Beast 1:17:15 Elaine hates Hidden Movement games

Sometimes you sit down to play some board games for a future podcast episode and you find yourself not particularly digging any of them? It happens. It’s a thing. It could happen to you. This week it happened to us. Whilst we weren’t especially jazzed about Hamlet, didn’t find Undaunted: Battle of Britain worth the trouble and at least one of us really didn’t get on with Autobahn, that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t like them either. Or maybe you’ve already played them and disagree - dear listener, you should write in. If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: [email protected] If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded On to the timestamps: 5:55 Audience Correspondence: Past Games 10:21 Undaunted: Battle of Britain 33:44 Hamlet 46:17 Audience Correspondence: How do you learn games? 51:07 Autobahn

Welcome back, welcome back, it’s like we’ve never been gone. After a brief interruption Talk Cardboard returns to your ears and consequentially to your brains to deliver all the board game that it needs. Today’s brain ticklers include drawing a map of the London Underground in Next Station: London, a dose of helium 3 in Skymines and some good ol’ fashioned resisting in Maquis If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: [email protected] On to the timestamps: 2:12 Audience Correspondence – Crispy Pancake Foods 10:37 Next Station: London 28:39 Skymines 58:36 Audience Correspondence - Board Game Canon 1:08:26 Maquis

Oh dear, oh dear, it looks like this week's episode is missing. We'll resume our schedule next week. Until then!

Every Talk Cardboard episode is a journey, and in this episode that journey is competitive card games, competitive card games with engine building and destroying the engine with hard alcohol (not necessarily in that order). Today we’re taking a look at Distilled, an aspirational game about being a small time distillerer in a world of big alcohol, Wordlbreakers: Advent of the Khanate, a magic the gatheringalike card battler that’s punching very far above its weight and Res Arcana, a distillation (no pun intended) of Race for the Galaxy style card engine building with the world’s smolest deck. If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: [email protected] On to the timestamps: 4:14 Audience Correspondence – Past Games 23:13 Res Arcana 42:25 Worldbreakers: Advent of the Khanate 1:03:05 Distilled You can find the study on game component rolling probabilities here https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/12119/components-dice-tossing-meeples-houses

Building building building. If you like building (or buildings) you will enjoy at least one of the board games covered in this episode in which you build buildings, buildings and also cars. How's that for a build up? No? Let me construct some clarity. Today we'll talk about Ginkgopolis, a tile laying city building classic hidden gem, Rolling Heights, a city building game where you roll meeples and Horseless Carriage, a car constructing game from famed board game publisher Splotter Spellen. And finally, a real treat, an interview with famed speculative fiction author Adrian Tchaikovsky who reveals which modern board games he wrote into his novels. If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: [email protected] On to the timestamps: 2:49 Audience Correspondence – Past Games 18:04 Ginkgopolis 34:48 Rolling Heights 52:40 Interview – Adrian Tchaikovsky 1:08:09 This is the timestamp to avoid the spoilery question (it will make sense when you listen) 1:15:53 Horseless Carriage

Has it been two weeks already? Time flies when you’re reviewing board games. Or when you’re riding whales for that matter. In real life and also in the game! Does it fly when you’re under Soviet occupation or working for Mr. Carnegie? Who’s to say, but we can at least tell you whether the games based on these events and/or entities are any good and/or bad. If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: [email protected] On to the timestamps: 8:57 Wir Sind Das Volk! 30:17 Whale Riders 40:38 Audience Correspondence: Fueling Consumerism 1:01:12 Carnegie

There are many famous Paul Deans in the world, but today we’re only interviewing one of them. Maybe one day we’ll get a chance to talk to some of the others, but honestly, why bother, we already got the best one. We got a chance to talk to Paul about what it’s like having left the board game industry and how he feels about board games right now. This is far from the end though. Brace yourselves because you are entering the land of numbers, voxels and vertices and you can only emerge by listening to us review three abstract board games (which may or may not be card games). If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: [email protected] Our patreon campaign can be found on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded and our pledge drive video can be found on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrhnOHw-akc On to the timestamps: 5:53 Audience correspondence - GWT: Argentina, Aeon Trespass Publisher Write-in, Colour Vision Difference 16:06 Wind the Film! (Photograph) 31:11 That Time You Killed Me 44:16 Intereview Guest: Paul Dean 1:19:56 Koi Koi 1:43:48 Audience correspondence - Torturing Efka

This episode is jam packed with exciting board games and has a reference to clotted cream - that's right - it's the scone episode! A tasty delicious dessert for your ears full of rich indulgent cardboard. What's especially exciting is that we've got a little bit of everything for everyone - from very light to very heavy, all pretty great in their own ways so if you're looking to enrich your collection - this week is definitely full of good recs. Enjoy! If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: [email protected] On to the timestamps: 4:00 Audience correspondence - Historical Wargames and MILDA MATILDA 13:02 Yokai Septet 23:23 Audience correspondence - Rulebooks 30:10 Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game 44:58 Great Western Trail: Argentina 1:04:12 Aeon Trespass: Odyssey (first impressions)

Every day people stop us on the street and say “But, Elaine and Efka, why did you rename the podcast?” What an excellent question real person on the street - we renamed it because Talk Cardboard is all about talking to OTHER PEOPLE about cardboard. All kinds of cardboard. Flat, corrugated and even board game. So we talk to you, dear listeners, especially when you write in. But we also talk to our guests! And today’s episode features our very first and so far very best guest. That’s right, it’s Jessie Gender, you can find more of her things on https://www.youtube.com/@JessieGender1 Also in today’s episode: Heat, Votes for Women, Turncoats and Canvas. If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: [email protected] On to the timestamps: 4:53 Canvas 14:06 Heat: Pedal to the Metal 38:24 Jessie Gender a.k.a. Jessie Earl Interview 1:03:35 Turncoats ( https://mildamatildagames.wordpress.com/turncoats-2/ ) 1:20:17 Votes for Women

It’s so great to be behind the microphone again talking about something you love! Especially when the thing you love is pancakes. But we also spend a good amount of time talking about what’s fresh in board games, including a sleeper solo hit Resist! from the people that brought you Undaunted, the little asymmetric arena battler Knight Fall and the somewhat sprawling choose your own adventure on a map game Lands of Galzyr. Today’s bonus feature is the three contenders for Efka’s game of the year title that didn’t quite make the cut. If you have personal experiences to share about any games discussed in this episode or any topic that's dear to your heart - we’d love to hear from you. Please write to: [email protected] On to the timestamps: 9:00 Resist! 32:52 Knight Fall 48:30 Meaty Questions 1:04:18 Efka's Runners Up for GOTY 2022 1:12:22 Lands of Galzyr 1:27:26 More Write-ins

Welcome back to the newly named board game podcast from the duo at No Pun Included! In this new iteration we're starting small and building up each episode, so if you've enjoyed this - there's more to come every second Friday. Today we're taking you through Efka's most anticipated board games of 2023, four board game reviews and lots of words from our listeners. If you'd like to write in about any of the games discussed or any topic that's dear to your heart: [email protected] On to the timestamps: 2:13 Scout 19:14 Evergreen 29:03 Efka's Most Anticipated Games of 2023 45:13 Artisans of Splendent Vale 1:02:47 Write-ins 1:15:52 Ostia