Fun begins at the ends in Butts on Things. Collect as many cards with keisters by pairing posteriors on the tails of any row or column on the table. It might be a juicy set of peaches, a burger with a nice set of buns, or a cactus with a caboose that cant stop. You’ll be over the moon when you find a way to cap off any line with a nice set of cans.  You should also be on the lookout for the dumptruck. When it shows, get off your duff and snag a buttload of cards.

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Waves of folded paper are calling… come play! In Sea, Salt & Paper players create an origami seascape by assembling a tableau of ocean themed cards, some with special abilities, each with its own way to score. When you reach the limit, bet on yourself for a chance to grab a big lead or play it safe and bank your points. Be warned, though. Four mermaids could undo your best beachside plans.

ALSO featured in this episode

Paco Garcia from GMS Magazine and So Play We All joins us for a Meal segment, providing a delicious recipe and game recommendation for a night of delicious fun.

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Thistleville is a small place, but there’s something newsworthy happening around every corner.

Authorities Suspect Fowl Play in Missing Hen Case

Foxes Trot at Local Dance

Rats Ruin Restaurant Rep

Local newspapers are scrambling to scoop the up the latest stories and bring daily editions to critter citizens from all across the town.

You are an editor of one such paper, working hard to layout your edition and get it onto newsstands with the best combination of stories, photos, and ads. No layout will be perfect but you have three days and three editions to publish, grabbing the best tiles from a sea of stories on the table hoping to fill each front page with all the news that is Fit to Print.

ALSO FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE...

Listener Matt Kelly powers up the Wayback Machine to  tell us about his favorite game, a timeless classic from Avalon Hill, Advanced Civilization.

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The tower has cleared your aircraft and it is time for the final approach.

You and your co-pilot have walked through each step on this checklist a thousand times: adjust speed and altitude, level the plane, deploy the flaps and landing gear and be ready with the breaks when wheels hit the runway. But there’s no such thing as a routine landing. Every airport and every day presents a new set of variables and challenges to overcome. Each of you must do your part to bring this bird home.

Sky Team is a co-operative game for two players who must plan and then alternate placing dice in order to land a commercial airliner at airports around the world.

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Sides is a hilarious cooperative party game. In many ways it is the love child of Name That Tune and Password.

Playing as a team, how many magic words can you all score before you run out of letters? You do this together… but you do it by picking sides.

A line of seven letters sits before you. One side is a team of two, the Investigators. They must guess a magic word based on clues the Witnesses give. Only only clue is allowed at a time and the clue must begin with the letter at the end of either side of the line.

Investigators who listen closely each round have access to way more information than that one single clue, though, because the witnesses must openly discuss and debate whose clue works best.

Two groups, one team. Two letters, one magic word. Do your best to see things from many different sides.

ALSO FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE...

Bruce Voge joins us for another installment of Flickin' Around. We learn all about Biñho, a game where players score goals through a gauntlet of pegs, across a pitch covered with artificial turf.

***

We live on a planet whose average temperature is rising. Climate change is happening all around us and the rate of that change is sure to bring far reaching and often catastrophic consequences on a scale humanity hasn’t seen or dealt with before.

But all hope is not lost.

If the collective will, intelligence, and resources of societies around the globe can be marshaled to confront the overlapping challenges posed by climate change, we can create a path to brighter days ahead.

Daybreak is a cooperative board game about stopping climate change. It is an unapologetically hopeful vision of the near future, where you and your friends create the technologies, policies, and resilient societies we need to sequester more carbon than we collectively produce.

ALSO FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE...

Daybreak designers Matt Leacock and Matteo Menapace join us for a Meal segment. We discuss the development of the game and then Matt and Matteo give us a recipe and game recommendation for a great night of food and fun.

and

We chat with T Caires (Hachette Board Games US) about the Green Games Guide, a best practices document looking at environmental impact and sustainability in the board game industry, whether you are a publisher, retailer, or player. Then we learn about a couple of T's favorite games.

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Japan is home to at least fifteen different cat islands called Nekojima. On each island, there are hundreds of frisky felines for each handful of people.

In this game, our Nekojima is very small and the people there need power. Can you install power lines across four districts? One by one poles with colorful power lines go up and up, over and through.

The crowds of curious cats, though, can’t resist strolling along the wires, threatening to short circuit your plans. It will take excellent balance and teamwork to light up the island. Try your best to not bring the whole network crashing down.

***

ALSO FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE...

Lucio Rodriguez joins us to explore fun facts related to Japan's many cat islands and several other cat islands around the world.

My Favorite Game features a visit from Gubbins. He tells us about My Farm Shop from noted designer Rudiger Dorn.

A crowd of onlookers packs into the kwoon. Today, Kung-fu masters are sparring to hone their skills in a grand melee. Each is trained in two schools: Tiger & Dragon. They trade blows with lightning quickness and precision. Raw strength is almost never the winner in battles like this. Knowing when to strike is key.

Tiger & Dragon is a climbing game based on the Japanese classic Goita, using two suited Mah Jongg style tiles. Attacks are offered and countered with matching tiles. Then a new attack begins. The first player to go out wins the round but HOW you win will ultimately determine your score.

ALSO FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE...

Bruce Voge drops by with the latest installment of Flickin' Around. We learn about Hamster Roll, a game where you stack crazy wooden pieces inside a giant wooden hoop.

We step into the Wayback Machine for a My Favorite Game segment with Mike McMann. Mike waxes nostalgic about Succession Wars, a game of grand strategy from the 1980s set in the Battletech universe.

To round out the show, I take a deep dive into the history of Mah Jongg - its origins, how it became a worldwide phenomenon, and all the different materials tiles are made from.

***

There are dog shows and cat shows, but have you ever heard of a fish show? Goldfish fans from across the land compete each year to display the most sensational swimmer. It takes talent and planning to create the most pleasing arrangement of colorful scales. Can you win Best in Show with your finest fish?

***

ALSO FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE...

Lucio Rodriguez, The Spiel's resident biologist, stops by to deliver fun facts and debunk several myths related to goldfish (and sing us a fishy-funeral song).

Erwin Susara helps us launch a brand new segment: My Favorite Game! He tells us about one of his favorite games. We hope you'll join us this season and tell us about a game you love.. and why!

In our season finale, two award winning games earn our Meeple Crown for 2023. These games embody the essence of Major Fun and our Spiel of Approval. Congratulations to Votes for Women and Thunder Road: Vendetta!

ALSO FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE...

Game Night Grab Bag with noted designer (now publisher) Antoine Bauza!

A Meal segment with Paco Garcia from GMS Magazine with holiday treats and games to go with each one.