Episode 18: The Struggle of Scaling to Two Players

In episode 18, Craig and guest co-host Duke discuss the struggle of scaling their four and five player games down to a two player format for spousal gaming: What games do it right? What games do it wrong? How can designers better figure in scalability?

They also discuss a number of games including Deus from Pearl Games, XCOM The Board Game from Fantasy Flight, and Star Realms from White Wizard Games. They talk some kickstarter games such as Vault Wars from Floodgate Games, Entropy from Allen Chang, and Valeria Card Kingdoms from Daily Magic. In their What the What?! segment, Craig defines what a 4x game is and what must exist for a game to be called a 4x game. Lastly, they recap some local gaming events with the grand opening Pi day celebration at the Malted Meeple, and the Board Game flea market at Underhills Games before subjecting Duke to a little game of Know Your Podcaster Lightning Round.

Show Times:

Deus (Pearl Games): 2:15

XCOM The Board Game (Fantasy Flight): 9:15

Star Realms (White Wizard): 19:45

Entropy (Allen Chang): 20:45

Vault Wars (Floodgate): 22:45

Valeria Card Kingdoms (Daily Magic): 25:45

Castles of Mad King Ludwig Expansion (Bezier): 27:30

Malted Meeple Opening and Underhills Games Flea Market: 30:45

What the What?! 4x Defined: 43:15

Topic: Scalability of Games to 2 Players: 46:00

Know Your Podcaster Lightning Round: 1:26:00