I chat with Matt from Mountaintop Games about his first game design: The Primary, which is a light area control game based around the US primary election

Marc, Matt, Orion, and Ben join up to talk about two of their favorite real-time games: Space Alert and Captain Sonar. What makes them so

Greetings! I’m here with another quick update on what games I’ve been playing recently and what’s in store in the next couple of weeks. Get

This week’s podcast is a wonderful discussion with Jason Perez, a psychotherapist from the Every Night Is Game Night podcast, about depression and mental health. We

Longtime listeners will know that Matt frequently tries to sabotage this podcast by talking about hockey. Well, back when me, Orion, and Matt were doing

Join Marc, Orion, Matt, and Wes in a hidden movement cage fight! The old Fantasy Flight standard goes up against the new hotness. Which one

Hey, all. This one’s me talking about how I’ve organized my life recently to be more productive. I also discuss some very early first impressions

This is an odd one. Marc, Orion, Matt, and Wes talk about the differences between board games and video games as media and how their

Marc discusses his experience with Twilight Imperium 4th Edition and goes over the news of the day, which includes why bad graphic design led to

Marc and Orion are on an island. They’ve also been playing a lot of Spirit Island. Chill with the sounds of the ocean and people

It’s a MEGA-PODCAST where Marc, Orion, and Matt look over 2017 and all of the great (and not so great) games we’ve played. We’ve had

Sometimes weeks are hard. This has been one of those weeks. But I want to try to turn it into something positive. If you want

Marc quizzes his wife Amber on her theory of “social manipulation” in board games, which desperately needs a new name because that sounds really evil.

No specific theme this time, just some thoughts on Patreon, Gloomhaven, The Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Terraforming Mars, Hollandspiele, social deduction games, and board

Marc and Orion talk about, perhaps, their favorite genre of board game, the illustrious card-driven wargame (CDG). From 1993’s We The People to 2016’s Star

Marc, Matt, Orion, Ben, Wes, and Bubba reminisce about PAX Unplugged and all of the great games they played and great times they had. I

The Thoughtful Gamer heads off to PAX Unplugged tomorrow morning, and we’d love to see you there. Marc talks about his plans at the convention,

The group finds themselves in a gun and axe fight. Matt tries to reign in Marc, Ben, Jeff, and JR as they nagivate the difficult

Marc, Orion, Matt, and Wes talk about five different board game themes and ideas that may be impossible to design. Can they be done well?

Our plans come to fruition! Matt tries to reign in Marc, Ben, Jeff, and JR as they nagivate the difficult terrain of the outer rim

The pinnacle of Dominion week at The Thoughtful Gamer. Join Marc, Matt, Orion, Ben, and Bubba as we count down our collective favorite 10 dominion

I sit down with Luca from Board To Death to talk about his new 80’s cyberpunk racing game – Neon Knights. It’s a mid-weight racing

Marc, Matt, and Orion answer some questions from listeners. Learn about our favorite movies, how we see The Thoughtful Gamer fitting into the board game

Join Marc as he discusses the near future of The Thoughtful Gamer. October and November are shaping up to be a very exciting time. If

In this episode, Michael and I confront the age-old question: how much of a podcast can be made up of tangents before the tangents become

A continuation of the last episode!. Matt tries to reign in Marc, Ben, Jeff, and JR as they nagivate the difficult terrain of the outer

(Apologies for the audio quality. I’m investigating what went wrong.) Marc, Matt, and Orion discuss what makes co-op games unique, what problems can show up

Matt GM’s a game of Fantasy Flight’s Edge of the Empire Star Wars RPG system. Marc, Ben, Jeff, and JR nagivate the difficult terrain of

We’ve got a beast of an episode today! Inspired by GenCon, the game conference behemoth, Marc, Matt, and Orion discuss some of the games announced

Out of nowhere, Fantasy Flight announced earlier this week that Twilight Imperium 4th edition would be released later this year! Obviously I am very excited

We’ve got a fun one for you today as I talk with Emil Larsen, designer of Burning Rome, a short tactical card game set in

I get a little fired up on this one. Recently I found out that some reviewers are charging money for reviews, and I make the

Our most heated debate yet! Join Marc, Matt, and Orion as we discuss the merits of Vlaada Chvatil’s massive adventure game: Mage Knight. Is it

Come hang out with Marc as he chills in the office and talks about what he’s been playing lately, what he wants to play soon,

Our friend Bubba stops by and we play two massive games with him! Falling Sky and Twilight Imperium are both great, very long games with

Come, relax, and hang out with Marc as he talks about what he’s been playing recently and what’s in store for the future of The

  Marc and Matt got to play some unpublished and indie games, and they’re here to tell you all about them! We’ve got some good,

  It’s finally here! Our biggest podcast ever, and for good reason. Marc, Matt, Orion, Ben, and Amber discuss Marc’s 10 favorite games of all

In this episode, Marc and Matt discuss one of our most anticipated games of 2017: Near and Far. We give our first impressions of this beautiful

Almost to the end! Marc, Orion, Matt, Ben, and Amber discuss Marc’s 20th-11th favorite games of all time. It starts with a shocker and ends

Come on in, take your coat off, and chill for a bit. Listen to Marc, Matt, and Orion talk about the games they’ve been playing

  The journey continues. Soon we will arrive at the peak–those top 10 magnificent games, shrouded in mystery and emblazoned with greatness. For now, join

  Join Marc and Orion as they discuss the newest deluxe expansion for Netrunner: Terminal Directive. They begin with a discussion of Netrunner itself and

  The countdown continues! Marc, Matt, Orion, Ben, and Amber discuss Marc’s 40th-31st favorite games of all time. They’re all slightly better games than last

  Marc, Matt, and Orion dive deep to compare and contrast these two amazing games to find the areas in which they succeed, as well

Join Marc, Matt, Orion, Ben, and Amber as they discuss Marc’s 50th-41st favorite board games of all time. There’s some heated disagreement here, but mostly a

Marc and Matt discuss a situation that happened in a recent game of Dominant Species where Matt missed a very obvious play to his detriment.

Get Scythe’d! Marc, Matt, Orion, and Ben discuss three of the hottest board games of the past couple of years. Will we feel the Rage