Episode 112: Grind Joints

112: Grind Joints

Release Date: Oct. 4, 2010

Running Time:  116 min.

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Luck, be a lady tonight. We put the sin in Sin City, rolling dice to build casinos along the original Strip in Lords of Vegas.

News & Notes: Resident Evil Deck Building, Dice Tower Secret Santa, Spiel-a-thon
The List: Lords of Vegas
Truckloads of Goober:  Deuce Backgammon Set
Back Shelf Spotlight: Odds'R
Game Sommelier:  5 books that should be games

Complete Show Notes continue after the break.

News & Notes

Ex Illis Free Trial Link

Try this digital-minitaures hybrid for 30 days free.

Resident Evil Deck Building Game Link

Bandai jumps onto the deck building bandwagon with a zombie themed game which debuts this November. 3 modes of gameplay sets this one apart.

Game Salute  Link

New board game community site features news , reviews and forums.

Board Game Exchange Link

A new subscription board game rental service.

2010 International Gamers Awards Link

Winner, 2-Player Strategy: Campaign Manager

Winner, Multi-player Strategy: Age of Industry

The Dice Tower's Secret Santa Link

Full details listed on our show and The Dice Tower #184

Spiel-a-thon 2010  Register Now

Friday, November 19  1:00 - 4:00 PM

BoardGameGeek Con Dallas, TX

Irving Lecture Hall DFW Westin

The 4th annual fundraiser for The Spiel Foundation is coming soon.

We're looking forward to a great event full of fun and games.

The List

Lords of Vegas Official Site | BGG

Roll your way to prominence as a Kingpin on The Strip.

Back Shelf Spotlight

Odds'R Link

Party game with trivia and gambling in equal measures

Truckloads of Goober

Deuce Backgammon Vega Link

Thousands of years of history, we knew backgammon was missing something.... stereophonic sound.

The Game Sommelier

The Challenge: 5 books that should be made into games

The Dresden Files

The Dispossessed

Huck Finn

Little Brother

Tom Jones

Gulliver's Travels

On the Origin of Species

Red/Green/Blue Mars

Neuromancer

King Lear

Next Challenge: 5 ultra-short games to play to decide which game to play

Mail Bag

Drakkenstrike's Components Breakdown Video Series Link

Jeremy Salinas is producing a web series unboxing new board game titles, displaying all components and giving a brief rundown on gameplay.

Go Forth and Game Link

Spiel interview featured on Tom Gurganus' blog

Board Games in Blighty Link

Spiel interview featured on Mark Rivera's blog

Miscellany

Music credits (courtesy of IODA promonet) include:

"Luck, Be a Lady" by 3 Men and a Baby Grandbuy the track

"Cocktail Hour"  by Luxurious  -  buy the track

"I Want to See Las Vegas"  by Jim Silver  -  buy the track

"Any Time At All" by Peter Blair Big Band  -  buy the track

Errata

I'm sure there are some goofs in there somewhere. Let us know if (when?) you find one!

Comments

Great list, Stephen!  The one that popped into my mind right away, however, is Ender's Game.  Heck, it even has the word "game" right in the title!  I thought it would be interesting to take on the role of the various battle-schoolers in their wargames and other interactions.  Plus, it's a book that I'd imagine most gamerly-types have read, so you wouldn't be hurting your marketing with the theme.

Anyone else have any good suggestions? 

Bugger all, that's a great suggestion.

Battle school with  the various teams and tactics seems tailor made for a board game, doesn't it? I'd love to see an adaptation.

I listened to the whole Ender saga (thank you , Audible) in 2009. Very enjoyable. Speaker for the Dead is my favorite of the bunch. Really compelling characters and ideas.

 This would be a cool co-op of trying to survive on the island plus get off.  Build, defend and escape with a lot of roles.

 

This off course gets me to think of the Gilligans Island Co-op of getting off the island, fighting natives, etc.  No traitor as in Shadows or BSG just someone is Gilligan

 

 

I like the idea that one of the players isn't really a traitor but adds an element of chaos and disrupts the game, even though he/she is still ultimately trying to help win the game.

Reminds me a bit of Groo the dice/card game. Although no one plays Groo himself, it's fun to try an figure out ways to send Groo to your opponent's village to mess things up.

 when I went to my local restaurant, this evening, I could not decide what to drink with the meal.

I asked the sommelier to recommend a fine wine; so imagine my surprise when he brought twelve bottles to the table. As he proceeded to open them I exclaimed that I only wanted one - the perfect vintage to match my meal. 

He explained that he he could not choose, between the ones he had thought of, and so he decided to serve me the lot.

there's a moral in there somewhere but I am very drunk.

The moral is ask for the Sommelier every time you're at that restaurant!

When Steven mentioned Hitchhiker's Guide in the Sommelier, David said the game's objective being 42.  I realized that is really not a bad idea.  Something like a puzzle objective where you manipulate the board to make a certain set of symbols (example, the number of Vogons on the board) equal to exactly 42.  But that's just a thought.

Love the show, btw.

Two problems here though. First, to really win thematically you'd have to not only arrange the board to bring the number to 42 but also to say why you'd done so.

Secondly, as soon as you'd done so, the game would immediately disappear to be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.