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We’re back! It’s been almost a year since our last episode. What did we miss? We’ll just say the first 30 episodes were Season 1, and like any TV show worth its salt, we wanted you to wait a year for the next season. Ok not really… we got busy, things got crazy, 2020 happened, but here we are and we’re looking forward to talking with you again about wine and board games! This week’s featured game is á propos, Second Chance , a flip-and-write tetris-fest by legendary game designer, Uwe Rosenberg. What started as an impulsive beach-week purchase turned into a game we’ve played an awful lot over the past month. Are we still eager to give it a go or ready to bury on the back of the shelf? We discuss this, as well as our recent foray (along with the rest of the world) into online gaming including our experiences playing 18xx games online with 18xx.games. All this while enjoying one of our favorite wines of the quarantine, the Paris Valley Road Founders’ Blend. Connect with us: Send us a tweet @boardandwine, follow us on Instagram @cardboardandwine, or join us in our BGG Guild! If you’d like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon. We appreciate the wine money!

One of our most pleasant surprises over the past few months is discovering Button Shy Games, producers of microgames that consist of 18 cards (or fewer) and come in a minimalistic bi-fold wallet. Certainly the small footprint of these titles is welcome for those of us whose Kallax shelves runneth over. But how much gameplay and fun could really be packed into only 18 cards? This week on the show, we discuss our time with Circle the Wagons and Sprawlopolis. We can fit them both in our pocket, but would we want to carry them around? Also, we discuss recent plays of Container, Fabled Fruit, and Shipwreck Arcana while “enjoying” a red wine blend, fermented with a special ingredient! Connect with us: Send us a tweet @boardandwine, follow us on Instagram @cardboardandwine, on Facebook, or join us in our BGG Guild! If you’d like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon. We appreciate the wine money!

When you pop the shrink on a Stonemaier game, you know you will be treated to premium components and thoughtful game design. Pair that with a quirky, unique dystopian theme, and we are certainly intrigued! In this episode, we share our thoughts on Euphoria and break into the cellar to take a look back at … Continue reading 29 | Euphoria (Dystopian Bliss)

When we saw the box art and components for Tiny Towns, it just looked like our type of game. There are plenty of wooden bits, oversized cards, friendly and approachable artwork, and a rulebook that’s streamlined and to the point. Maybe this game could scratch the same itch that Kingdomino scratched a year ago. Don … Continue reading 28 | Tiny Towns (Regular-Sized Meeples, Tiny Towns)

Who doesn’t love a peaceful game of economic development set in the Mediterranean? Find out if we do, this week on the show as we dive deep into the quintessential eurogame, Concordia! We also discuss the most recent version of the game, Concordia Venus as well as the expansion, Concordia Salsa. Also on the show, we enjoy a random Pinot Noir that we found in a box at our house (seriously). Lastly, check out this amazing wine stopper etched from a Napa Valley wine barrel stave sent by our amazing listener and patron, Kyle! Thanks for the awesome gift, Kyle! Connect with us: Send us a tweet @boardandwine, follow us on Instagram @cardboardandwine, on Facebook, or join us in our BGG Guild! If you’d like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon. We appreciate the wine money!

If we look back over our gaming stats, most of our board gaming happens during the week. However, after a long day of work, dinner, and kid bedtimes, your brain and energy tank might be running on fumes. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing left for gaming though! In this episode, we explore some the best … Continue reading 26 | Favorite Weeknight Games (Most Days are Weekdays!)

There are few game mechanics more satisfying than trading sets of cubes for more better cubes. Even more fantastic is trading them for victory points! On a previous episode, we discussed our enjoyment of the cube-trading, perfect-for-a-weeknight, card game, Century Spice Road. Based on this, we couldn’t wait to get our hands on the Spice … Continue reading 25 | Century Eastern Wonders (Different, Yet Similar, Cube Trading)

The thing about Arboretum is that everyone seems to like it. We have friends who would rather walk across hot coals than play a Splotter game who rave about it. We’ve also received recommendations for Arboretum from some of our heaviest gaming partners. On top of this, the fact that it’s a small box card … Continue reading 24 | Arboretum (A Soothing Path of Tension)

We love birds. We also appreciate games that are beautifully and thoughtfully produced. So when Wingspan by Stonemaier Games was announced, we were all over it (meaning we broke our pact to not buy new games in 2019). This game has engine building, it’s a nature documentary, it has a giant dice tower shaped like a bird feeder (seriously). … Continue reading 23 | Wingspan (Bird Facts and Candy Eggs)

We’re still basking in the glow of four days of gaming at the Whose Turn Con in Durham, NC – and what a great time it was! In this episode, we discuss many of the great games we played there including: Dominant Species Concordia Space Base Trellis Sidereal Confluence Wingspan Keyforge Welcome To… Root Teotihuacan … Continue reading 22 | Whose Turn 2019 (A gaming con in our own backyard)

We played a LOT of games in 2018, which is great in so many ways. The only downside is that it makes choosing the top 5 REALLY HARD! This week on the show, we share our five favorite “new to us” board games of 2018… and there were a lot to choose from… so these … Continue reading 21 | Top 5 Games Played in 2018 (Simply the Best)

In our last episode of 2018, we try something new – the collectable card game, Keyforge! Neither of us have the time to track down the best cards and combos for traditional deck building games, but Keyforge suggests the promise of just purchasing a deck, opening it, and playing. Does it live up to the … Continue reading 20 | Keyforge (A Procedurally Generated Episode)

It’s the holiday season! We know the best (and most stressful) aspect of this time of year are showering the people you love with just the right gifts. And what better gift than sharing something YOU love – board games! With so many games out there, finding just the perfect one for the person in … Continue reading 19 | Cardboard and Wine Holiday Gift Guide 2018

If you’ve been within 10 miles of any board game media over the past several months, you have undoubtedly heard of Root, a game of war and direct conflict disguised by the most adorable meeples you’ve ever seen. Seriously – we never thought, in 2018, we could be wow’d by meeples, but these somehow are the … Continue reading 18 | Root First Impressions (Toast Warriors)

With Halloween fast approaching here in the United States, here’s a scary scenario for you: Take a look at your board game collection. So many great games and memories shared playing them. Now imagine you could only keep FIVE of them! That’s what we discuss on today’s episode. These are the five games we would … Continue reading 17 | What if You Could Only Keep Five Games? (A Frightening List!)

With a podcast called “Cardboard and Wine”, it was just a matter of time before we discussed Viticulture. In this episode, we dive deep into our thoughts on this gorgeous wine-themed game. We also spend some time comparing and contrasting Viticulture with the subject of our last episode, Vinhos. In addition, we share our favorite … Continue reading 16 | Viticulture (Just Add Wine)

Having a podcast called “Cardboard and Wine”, we often get asked when we are going to review Viticulture. Well, not this week (that’s next week’s show), but instead we take a deep dive into the “other” wine-themed game (that actually came first), Vinhos by Vital Lacerda. Like a fine Cabernet Sauvignon, Vinhos is beautifully complex, … Continue reading 15 | Vinhos (The “Other” Wine Game)

The Mind – is it a game? an activity? an experience? an experiment? It’s a game… it’s definitely a game. But with that out of the way, is the insane amount of buzz for such a simple card game justified? With the imminent Pandasaurus release of The Mind here in the United States, we place … Continue reading 14 | The Mind and Illusion (Why Didn’t I Think of That?)

We love a good theme, and New York Slice by Bézier Games may be the best, most thorough implementation of theme in a board game that we’ve seen. In this case, it’s pizza! From the awesome, photorealistic pizza tiles (thin slice, of course), to the menu rulebook, to the guest check scorepad, it’s pizza from … Continue reading 13 | New York Slice (Don’t Play When Hungry)

In this episode, we give a report from our first Dice Tower Con. In short, it was amazing. We met so many great people and played so many games! On this show, we’ll discuss 15 games from the con that were new to us including Ticket to Ride: New York, Giant Azul, Fox in the … Continue reading 12 | Dice Tower Con 2018 (Board gaming paradise!)