The Dice Tower

Julie's out this time, so Tom and Eric spend time looking back at Epic Game Events that they've been involved with at conventions over the years. What worked well, and what did not? Plus, a question from the mailbag about digital vs. in-person gaming, and Tom and Eric each present a full set of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:47 - No Julie, February Lull 01:35 - Live Show at Dice Tower West (Friday 3pm) 02:42 - Groundhogs and Polka Interlude 03:21 - Dice Tower East and Curling 06:14 - Epic Game Events 36:37 - Question: Live vs. BGA? 42:33 - Age of Galaxy 46:05 - A Message from the Stars 50:06 - Trasteros/Storeroom Inc. 52:56 - Nuns on the Run (2nd Edition) 56:05 - Suds and Malone 1:00:49 - Lords of Worlds Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

Tom and Eric are back from the Dice Tower Cruise, trying not to make Julie jealous, but failing miserably. We talk about games played, ports visited, and flights cancelled. Plus, we dive into the listener mailbag, and gather a new round of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:54 - Dice Tower West and The Library 02:33 - Merchant of Venus in The Library 04:26 - Dice Tower Cruise - Pre-Cruise 10:50 - Cruise: Most Checked-Out Games 21:57 - Cruise: St. Thomas Game Day 25:02 - Eric's Travel Woes 27:26 - Jibber Jabble 29:44 - Julie's Cruise Contribution 30:47 - Question: Too Social? 38:33 - JiSoGi: Anime Studio Tycoon 46:07 - Eternal Decks 49:44 - Ham Helsing 55:11 - Cosy Stickerville 59:03 - Fest Season Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

This time, we look at what happens when a production error is found in a game after it has reached the wild. What should producers do to make it right, and can they do anything at all? Also, a new dramatic Tale of Boardgaming Horror, and a new collection of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:50 - Storytime from Tom: Loading the Cruise Library 04:16 - Announcements: Gamefound (supportdicetower.com), Dice Tower West, East, and Vacation 06:33 - Dealing with Production Errors 39:14 - Tale of Boardgaming Horror 47:55 - Wingspan: Americas 50:19 - Sanibel 52:44 - Harmonies 55:27 - Nocturnis 57:43 - Lairs 1:00:45 - Cookie Run Braverse TCG Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

We kick off 2026 by looking back 20 years to 2006. What were we up to, and what were we playing? Plus, a question from the mailbag, and a new collection of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:50 - Busy January - SupportDiceTower.com 03:07 - 2006 Memories 05:09 - Where Were We In 2006? 18:50 - The Games of 2006 27:44 - Which Games Are We Still Playing? 31:30 - Listener Question: Game Replacement 42:07 - Add to Playlist 47:06 - Galactic Cruise 48:06 - Zooloretto 50:47 - Merry Murdle 53:52 - Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 57:10 - Heroes of Timeline Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

It's time for our look back at the games of 2025. Highs and lows, heavy and light, thorny and rosy and hoopy. 01:20 - Top Tens on Video 01:51 - Year as a Whole 07:49 - Convention/On The Go Game - Hot Streak, Light Speed Arena, Ghost Lift, Ito, 1AM Jailbreak 12:07 - All-Day-to-Play - Regicide Legacy, My Father's Work, Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era 14:48 - Best Theme - Luthier, Flow, Storyfold: Wildwoods 20:06 - Guilty Pleasure - Deep Regrets, Moon Colony Bloodbath 24:38 - Favorite Classic - Race for the Galaxy, At The Gates of Loyang, Sentient, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, You're Bluffing 27:22 - Stand-Out in Our Favorite Genre - Bohemians, EXIT Advent, Threads of Fate, Rove 32:48 - Hoopiest Hula-Hoop - Spooktacular, Oddland, Zenith 37:05 - Thorniest Thorn - Feel Like a Fool, Lynx, Donald Duck in Happy Camper 41:38 - Rosiest Rose - Vantage, Formaggio, Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread 47:42 - Looking Forward to 2026 - Use Up All Your Sick Days, Vegan Cafe, Sail Legacy, Floe 50:35 - Announcements:

This time, we continue our discussion of RPGs by suggesting Role Playing Games that share popular boardgaming mechanisms, as well as giving Tom tips for getting a game started. Plus, we have a new Tale of Boardgaming Horror, and we close the show with some Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:50 - A Story About Mail 02:22 - Eric at PAX Unplugged (inc. Hot Streak) 06:50 - Gift Guides, Dice Tower West and East 08:02 - RPGs for Boardgame Fans (detailed notes below) 37:55 - Tale of Boardgaming Horror 43:03 - Formaggio 48:35 - Gnomic Parliament 52:13 - Carnuta 54:49 - Magic Number 11 56:54 - Insurrect10n -- Julie's Notes Where to go to get core book pdfs? DriveThruRPG https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/  Itch.io https://itch.io/  Cooperative play (yes the overwhelming majority of TTRPGs are cooperative) some extra cooperative leaning  Heckin' Good Doggos https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/405426/heckin-good-doggos  Teatime Adventures https://www.snowbrightstudio.com/teatime-adventures  D

This time, we go fishing for Role Players, linking some popular aspects of RPGs to our favorite boardgames. Plus, our latest collection of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:47 - Getting Cold 01:45 - Eric at Pax Unplugged 03:47 - Games at Tom's Daughter's Wedding? 05:10 - BGG Con, Dice Tower East, West, Cruise 06:37 - Fishing for Role Players 14:58 - Stat-Heavy Games: Pathfinder ACG, Mage Knight 17:48 - Character Building: Origin Story, Elder Scrolls, Too Many Bonews, Artisans of Splendent Vale 20:12 - Story-Based Character Progression: Call to Adventure, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Near and Far 22:17 - Campaign (Descent) vs. Combat: Wrath of Ashardilon, Wander the Cult of Barnacle Bay, Massive Darkness, Monster Hunter 27:36 - Silly: Dungeon Fighter, Dungeon Quest, Cora Quest, Munchkin, Talisman 30:31 - Exploration: Mansions of Madness, Clank Catacombs 32:57 - Storytelling: Mice and Mystics, Stuffed Fables, Tainted Grail, Oathsworn, Agemonia 35:03 - Video Games: Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Skyrim, GWENT 37:38 - I

Tom, Julie, and Eric are back from Germany and ready to talk about games, food, crowds, and everything else they saw at Spiel 2025. 00:44 - Tired 01:50 - Official Numbers/Crowd Flow 07:09 - Travel Adventures and Weather 08:46 - What Was Different for Eric 11:31 - Food 13:35 - Eric's Birthday 15:44 - Julie's Author Signing 21:16 - Tom's Live Show 25:22 - Big Games 31:14 - How To Stand Out 35:51 - Limited Stock and How To Deal With It 40:17 - What Did We Go Home With? 44:12 - A Carnivore Did It 47:25 - Flow 50:50 - Ghost Lift 54:48 - Formidable Farm 58:22 - Leaders 59:52 - The Old King's Crown Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

Tom, Julie, and Eric run through their game plan for Essen Spiel 2025, including where they'll be, and what games are on the internet's radar, as well as trying to narrow down what three games are of the most interest to them personally. 00:59 - Bookkeeping: Dice Tower East, West, Cruise 01:57 - The Weather in Germany 03:12 - Eric's First Time Back Since 2019, What's Changed? 07:18 - Where Will We Be? Dice Tower Booth: 3 R315 Van Ryder Booth: 2 E280 Live Show, Sunday 1:30pm: Hall 4 09:30 - Dice Tower Essentials Interlude: Aquatica Duel, On Stage, Raas 11:44 - Live Plays 13:47 - Warning from Julie 14:38 - Sunday's Live Show 16:35 - Eric's Growing Wishlist and Shipping Woes 22:20 - The Games of Essen - So Many 28:20 - Orloj 29:27 - Recall 30:07 - SETI: Space Agencies 30:32 - Feya's Swamp 31:51 - Nature 33:15 - Covenant 35:00 - Ada's Dream 35:43 - Sanctuary 37:16 - Coming of Age 38:55 - Castle Combo: Out of the Oubliette! 39:08 - Echoes of Time 40:52 - White Castle Duel 41:33 - The Voynich Puzzle 42:15 - Underwa

Tom is stuck in traffic, so Julie and Eric take control to discuss what it takes to setup a booth at Essen. How do you get all that stuff overseas, and how do you minimize what has to come back? And of course, there are Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:45 - Where is Tom? and Julie's Work Trip 03:56 - Dice Tower Cruise and Dice Tower West 05:07 - Moving a Booth to Essen 35:50 - Tiletum: Prospect for Silver 41:20 - I Made You a Mixtape 45:12 - High Tide 50:00 - The Yellow House Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

Tom begins by recapping his adventures at the Dice Tower Retreat, and looks forward to the World Series of Boardgaming, before turning to the topic of figuring out what to do with your game collection after you're gone, and why it might be a good idea to make some choices sooner rather than later. Later, we share a new Tale of Boardgaming Horror, peek into the mailbag, and gather a collection of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:51 - Tom at the Dice Tower Retreat 02:25 - The World Series of Boardgaming 04:58 - Dice Tower Cruise, Dice Tower West, Spiel 06:03 - Planning for the Future of your Collection 24:58 - Tale of Boardgaming Horror 31:22 - Question: Co-Designer Credit 38:16 - A Place for All My Books 44:04 - Knitting Circle 48:18 - Endangered Rescue: Lemur Leaf Frog 51:21 - The New Year's Nightmare 54:55 - Firefighters on Duty 57:07 - Blood on the Clocktower Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

Tom sits at the small table. Eric's parents make friends on a cruise. Julie travels the country spreading boardgames wherever she goes. We also talk about what surprises await in those little pockets of games in places where you don't expect to find them. We delve into the mailbag for some pertinent questions, and we gather a new crop of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:50 - School Has Started, Dice Tower West, Cruise 02:40 - Eric's Parents on Alaskan Cruise 03:19 - Spiel Plans (Booth 3R315) 05:02 - Game Shelves in Unusual Spots 20:43 - Question: Playing With Bob 29:30 - Question: Storing Games While At College 34:30 - Tag Team 36:52 - Journey to Tir na nOg 41:50 - Cat Sudoku: Summer Festival 44:18 - The Four Doors 47:22 - Regicide Legacy 52:43 - Tenby Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

Eric starts the show by sharing tales of his European adventures, which leads Tom to share some of our plans for Spiel in October. Then, we discuss the process for adding art to your game. How do you find an artist? How long does it take to draw a picture of a horse? What if the horse is holding a corn dog? Later, we share a tale of horror and a question, and move on to our Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:48 - Middle of the Year? - School Starting 02:23 - Eric's European Adventure 09:25 - Spiel Plans 12:14 - Art in Games 34:56 - Tale of Boardgaming Horror/Question 46:32 - Sancturary 48:42 - Vantage 56:21 - Bomb Busters 58:37 - Menagerie 1:01:44 - This Game is Killer: Frozen Horror 1:05:12 - Potion Explosion: The 6th Student Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

We are back from Gen Con, and ready to talk about our adventures! We discuss the crowds, the events, and the games we enjoyed, and maybe a little about the food we ate as well. We also share a new Tale of Boardgaming Horror, and share our latest crop of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:46 - Announcements: Dice Tower West and Dice Tower Cruise 01:40 - Gen Con: Crowds and Fans 10:25 - Gen Con: Sales and Sellouts 12:50 - Gen Con: What Did We Buy? 16:20 - Gen Con: Tom's Trends 20:42 - Gen Con: Dice Tower Awards 23:27 - Gen Con: Food 26:36 - Tale of Boardgaming Horror 37:25 - Giraffe Raffe 40:13 - Tag Team 43:24 - Oddland 44:50 - At The Gates of Loyang 47:27 - Fliptoons 49:35 - The Four Doors Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

We're on our way to Gen Con! And here are the games we're most excited about (as well as the ones that are getting the most buzz online). You'll also here where to find us in Indy, where we plan to eat, and how we plan to survive the Best Four Days in Gaming. 00:45 - Releases in the second half of the year. 02:23 - Preparing for Crowds at Gen Con - New Cart Policy 08:15 - Food Trucks 11:15 - Where Will We Be? 19:59 - The Games of Gen Con (BGG Preview: https://boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/77/gen-con-2025-preview) 20:54 - Vantage 23:27 - Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor 23:54 - Lost Ruins of Arnak: Adventure Chest 24:23 - Gwent: The Legendary Card Game 25:26 - Lightning Train 26:32 - Sea Salt and Paper: Extra Pepper 27:11 - Luthier 28:00 - Fliptoons 28:36 - Ruins 30:10 - Nature 30:53 - Rebel Princess Deluxe: Happily Never After 32:00 - Ace of Spades 33:35 - Galactic Cruise 34:31 - Pirates of Maracaibo: Commanders 34:43 - Soda Jerk 36:25 - Point Galaxy 37:04 - Compile Main 2 38:08 - Star Wars Battle of Hoth 38:41 - Gal

It's time to recap our adventures at Dice Tower East 2025. We discuss the games we played and events we ran, and you also get to hear what Eric and Julie got up to when working at the Dice Tower Booth, which includes brainstorming ways to get Tom to remember the difference between Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:46 - We Didn't See Each Other 01:45 - Gen Con is Around The Corner 03:26 - Dice Tower East: New Space 05:40 - Eric and Julie: How Do You Spend Small Amounts of Free Time? 09:28 - Library Checkouts: My Father's Work, Hot Streak, Bomb Busters, So Clover, Cretaceous Rails, Fromage, River Valley Glassworks, Lord of the Rings Duel, Toy Battle, Castle Combo, Sky Team, SETI, Galactic Cruise 16:26 - Eric and Julie: Favorite Old Game To Teach? - Fearsome Floors, Ra 19:05 - Variety of Games Played: Space Base, Ready Set Bet, My Father's Work (again), Merchant of Venus, Cosmic Encounter 25:33 - Missing Deep Regrets 26:16 - Eric and Julie: Game To Make Tom Play? 28:34 - Events: Parsely, Andrew Bosley Can't Draw

Today, we discuss our recent travel adventures. Eric has returned from a Ninja Escort Mission and ran into gaming opportunites at every turn. And Tom and Julie have the full scoop on the 50th Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH. Then, we finish the show with a gathering of our latest Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:48 - Convention Season - Dice Tower East 01:53 - Playing Only Older Games 04:01 - What We're Doing at Dice Tower East: Parsely, Wits and Wagers 06:48 - Dice Tower Awards at Gen Con 08:11 - Eric's Ninja Escort Adventure 13:22 - Origins with Tom and Julie 14:32 - Origins: Special Events for 50th? 18:28 - Origins: Game Debuts and Exhibit Hall 28:31 - Origins: Board Room and Open Gaming 33:59 - Origins: Tom as Special Guest 35:28 - Origins: Julie's Adventures 38:06 - Origins: Lessons Learned 40:02 - TowerBrix 44:29 - Square One 48:57 - Apothebakery 53:48 - Kabob 57:42 - Orbit 58:59 - How Many What? Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

This time, Tom gives us an update on his replay of the Catan expansions before we take a big look at small games. What are the pros and cons of games that can fit in your pocket? Also, we share a new Tale of Horror, as well as our latest batch of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 01:03 - Summer: Origins, Dice Tower East, Dice Tower Cruise, Gen Con 05:03 - Catan Update and Chess 07:10 - Small Games 36:41 - Tale of Boardgaming Horror 40:06 - Hot Streak 44:22 - Rhymes with Duck 47:08 - Lynx 51:11 - Endeavor: Deep Sea 54:51 - Fate of the Fellowship 58:21 - Tower Up Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

Tom, Julie, and Eric run through the nominees for the German Game of the Year awards before focusing on the episode's main topic: box covers. How does what you put on the front of the box attract a particular audience? We also have a tale of horror? as well as a question from the mailbag, and of course our usual assortment of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 00:50 - Summer is Here? 03:07 - Spiel des Jahres Nominees - Bomb Busters, Flip 7, Krackel Orakel 10:04 - Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominees - Endeavor: Deep Sea, Faraway, Looot 12:03 - Kinderspiel des Jahres Nominees - Cascadia Junior, Le Clan des Souris, Top die Torte 12:53 - Box Covers 31:32 - Tale of Boardgaming Horror? 39:12 - Question: Message to Past Self? 44:11 - Cretaceous Rails 47:59 - Hexpath: Detour Deluxe 50:32 - Fromage 53:44 - Wondrous Creatures 56:33 - Innovation Ultimate 59:46 - Ziggurat Questions? Tales of Horror? tom@dicetower.com

This time, Tom gives us an audio tour of the new Dice Tower Studios in Ft. Myers, with tales to tell about the adventurous move. We present a Tale of Amazement and delve into the mailbag, and we close the show with our Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops. 01:09 - Moving to Ft. Myers 04:51 - The New Studio 23:04 - Tale of Amazement 28:55 - Question: What to do with a whiner? 34:16 - Linkx 37:18 - Primates 41:18 - Deep Regrets 46:33 - Cat Crimes 48:49 - The Ministry of Lost Things: Lint Condition 51:39 - Zenith Questions? Tales of Horror or Amazement? tom@dicetower.com