We discuss Yuen Woo Ping's Iron Monkey. Listen as we theorize on the elasticity of the human body, wonder at the house cleaning possibilities of kung fu magic, and sit in awe of a slap so hard it can poison someone's whole blood. On the pod: Colin https://letterboxd.com/MoxBagel/ Jai https://www.youtube.com/@LowercaseJai https://www.patreon.com/low…

We discuss Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Listen as we discuss the elemental craft of face acting, woolgather about the nature of anti-heroes, and wonder together if we will ever awake from the misty dream of war. On the pod: Colin https://letterboxd.com/MoxBagel/ Jai https://www.youtube.com/@LowercaseJai https://www.patreon.com/low…

We discuss Juzo Itami's Minbo! Listen as we break down the mechanics of japanese extortion, marvel at the utility of playgrounds as an emotional set-piece, and posit theories about the hair aspirations of a 22-year-old Tetsuya Nomura. On the pod: Colin https://letterboxd.com/MoxBagel/ Jai https://www.youtube.com/@LowercaseJai https://www.patreon.co…

We discuss 1979's Being There, a dark and somewhat magical comedy with Peter Sellers. Join us as we wonder aloud if any satire is too far flung to become reality, marvel at the islands of wealth that make up society, and wonder aloud about techniques to alpha the President. On the pod: Colin https://letterboxd.com/MoxBagel/ Jai https://www.youtube.…

On the pod: Colin https://letterboxd.com/MoxBagel/ Jai https://www.youtube.com/@LowercaseJai https://www.patreon.com/lowercasejai/ Bryan https://twitter.com/bybryanrollins https://bryanrollins.itch.io/ Email us at labyrinthofcinemapod@gmail.com with feedback or suggestions.By Labyrinth of Cinema

We discuss 1983's Hong Kong magical masterpiece The Boxer's Omen, the seemingly limitless possibilities of goo, alligator's dining preferences, and which specific synths and effects the Shaw Brothers kept around the studio. This one's a bit of a bonus as these may not be strictly weekly. On the pod: Colin https://letterboxd.com/MoxBagel/ Jai https:…

In our first episode we pitch and discuss The Lion in Winter (1968), our larger relationship with the stage, and why succession dramas work. No spoilers first 15 mins! On the pod: Colin https://letterboxd.com/MoxBagel/ Jai https://www.youtube.com/@LowercaseJai https://www.patreon.com/lowercasejai/ Ryan https://vacantworld.substack.com/…

Draft Mechanic Episode #124: Return of the Randowriters Roll ‘em! It’s time for another round-up of Randowriters, still the hottest craze in lil’ games with pencils, pens, dice and cards. We’ve got four of ‘em (one is an app). Oh, and just in case you don’t want to be random, we’re also talking about the new word deduction game Decipher. Plus a few…

Draft Mechanic Episode #123: Bargain Quest I sure hope you like value! In this episode of Draft Mechanic, you get not just ONE game in the feature segment, but ONE and a half! An expansion too! That’s such a steal! But don’t steal Bargain Quest. But if you want to steal, your dexterity is probably high? Right? Is that a good segue to three games th…

Draft Mechanic Episode #122: Hats, Chai, Traintopia, Arkadia, Sabro hops Hope you’re thirsty, because it’s tea time! We’re maneuvering hat cards in teams or individually in Hats, we’re opening our own tea shops in Chai, and… ok, that’s where the tea metaphors run dry. In other recent plays, we go back to 2006 for Arkadia and back current for Traint…

Draft Mechanic Episode #121: High Rise; Roar & Write; Stay Cool; Carcassonne: Wheel of Fortune; Black is Beautiful beer initiative Your eyes don’t deceive you, it is for sure a new episode of Draft Mechanic! Thanks so much for sticking with us, and we’re glad to bring you a feature review of High Rise, the latest from Gil Hova’s Formal Ferret Games…

Draft Mechanic Episode #120: Mystery House; CYOA: House of Danger; Captive; Crusoe Crew; Summit Hops #stayhome and play some of these mysterious games about houses! It wasn’t intentional, we swear. Mystery House, CYOA: House of Danger and Captive all take place in houses. And the Crusoe Crew - well, it starts at home, so that qualifies too. Serious…

Draft Mechanic Episode #119: In the Hall of the Mountain King, Lions of Lydia KS preview, Zoned Out, Felix the Cat in the Sack, Mosaic Hops, House Rules Hello again! In this new era of staying at home, why not make that home in a mountain? We’re excavating a mountain cave in our feature review today with In the Hall of the Mountain King. It’s the f…

Draft Mechanic Episode #117: Mechanica; Draw Your Own Conclusions; Ecos; Thunder Alley; Galaxy Hops; Culling It’s episode beep, beep boop! Or rather, 118, in which we talk about Mechanica, and the bots we make along the way. Plus: Drawing in Draw Your Own Conclusions, Continenting in Ecos: First Continent; and racing down Thunder Alley. Danielle’s …

Draft Mechanic Episode #117: Atlantis Rising, Gorinto, Tumble Town, The Isle of Cats, Huell Melon hop primer Do you think you have what it takes to save the people of Atlantis from the wrath of the Gods? No? Well, how about in a co-operative worker placement game? We sure hope so because we’re going to talk about Atlantis Rising from Elf Creek Game…

Draft Mechanic Episode #116: The Taverns of Tiefenthal; Azul: Summer Pavilion; Dizzle; Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers; Strata Hop Primer; Convention ‘Must Haves’ It’s an early episode of the year, and that apparently means a Wolfgang Warsch game! Today we sidle up to the Taverns of Tiefenthal and talk about Warsch’s latest big box game from North…

Draft Mechanic Episode #115: PAX Unplugged & 2020 Convention Outlook Hey, we promised a PAX episode and here it is! There’s a big ol’ list of games we played, and we just got some of them in this episode. Look for more as we work into some reviews in the next few episodes! Danielle also continues on her hop research trek with Columbus, the workhors…

Draft Mechanic Episode #114: 2019 In Review Oh hi there! Good to see you again! We’re back from our 2019 Winter Break and ready to talk about our favorites of the year. We’ve got our usual superlative categories, our favorite beers of 2019, and our six favorite games of last year to serve up for you. Thanks so much for sticking around, we’re excite…

Draft Mechanic Episode #113 and a half: Draft Mechanic’s Winter Break Hey all, just dropping in a quick note to share what we’re up to in December. See you at PAX Unplugged! 00:10 What’s a Winter Break 04:35 “Superpower of Choice” by The Liberation Jumpsuit We hope you enjoyed today's episode! Send us some feedback at draftmechanic@gmail.com and vi…

Draft Mechanic Spoiler Episode Omega In this spoiler-filled episode of Draft Mechanic, we look back on the final TIME Stories scenario of the “White Cycle,” Madame. If you listened to our review/discussion in Episode 100, you might know how this one turns out. We have mostly everyone from Team Alpha and Team Beta here for this discussion that clock…

Draft Mechanic Episode #113: Fantastic Factories, Haven, Cartographers, Trapwords, Cascade Hops Factories are all about efficiency, and this episode is gonna be an efficient punch of board game info! We’re reviewing Fantastic Factories in the feature segment, we’ve got the beer pairings as we do; plus a pack of others: Haven, Cartographers and Trap…

Draft Mechanic Episode #112: Tapestry, Escape Tales: Low Memory, Quacks of Quedlinburg expansion We’ve got three heavy hitters in this episode! First, the hottest of the hot with Jamey Stegmaier’s new civilization game Tapestry as our lead feature. Second, the follow-up to our number one game of 2018 with Escape Tales: Low Memory. Third, the highly…

Draft Mechanic Episode #111: Welcome to Thematic Neighborhoods; The Search for Planet X; Slyville It’s all about the future on Draft Mechanic 111! We’ve got a Kickstarter preview of The Search for Planet X, plus a look at Slyville coming at Essen from Hexy Studio. Our main feature is five (five!) new neighborhoods for Welcome To! And later in the s…

Draft Mechanic Episode #110: Letter Jam, Las Vegas Royale, Lanterns Dice, Keyforge Blue Happy birthday, us! It’s the start of Season Five and our fourth anniversary, and we’ve decided to be pretty business-as-usual about this one. Especially after that Episode 100 blowout! So we’re reviewing Letter Jam, the delicious, delectable new word game from …

Draft Mechanic Episode #109: Sessionable Games Six-Pack; LOTS & Calico We’re dressed to the nines! Episode 109, that is. Releasing on 9-9-19! It’s a coincidence I’m sure. Anyway! On with the show. We’ve got a double six-pack of sessionable games (30 minutes or you’re play’s free!), a double Kickstarter preview with LOTS & Calico, Slide Quest on tap…

Draft Mechanic Episode #108: Imhotep: The Duel Hello there! It’s been a minute, but we’re back and ready to board game podcast. This one has games for all: one player, two player, three and four player, old, young, really that covers everything I think. But yeah! We’re talking about Imhotep: The Duel today - how does it translate to a two-player co…

Draft Mechanic Episode #107: Gen Con 2019 Recaps That was Gen Con - and this is the Gen Con recap! Look, I’m sorry, I’m not getting more specific with the timestamps below because then I’d have 100,000 entries. Wait - you actually look at those? Well. I guess. But you asked for it - we talk about a lot of games. Also, there’s two special guests on …

Draft Mechanic Episode #106: The Hype List 2019! Gen Con 52 Preview IT’S TIME, DEAR LISTENER. TIME TO EMBRACE THE HYPE. LET IT WASH OVER YOU. GEN CON IS HERE. 01:00 Show Intro, News & Updates 03:05 Gen Con Meetup Plans 07:02 Games News: Raiders of the North Sea digital! 08:10 Kickstarter Updates 10:36 Kickstarter: Chain Mail 13:32 Kickstarter: Chis…

Draft Mechanic Episode #105: Blue Lagoon Ahh, hear that? The relaxing waves, the ocean crashing, yes, you’ve found yourself at a review of Blue Lagoon. It’ll be nice to relax a minute before we fall into the rapids of Gen Con! We’ve got Blue Lagoon on tap and in the review zone. We’ve got solo games with Proving Grounds and Aerion. We’ve got a mass…

Draft Mechanic Episode #104: 2018 Redux There’s no better time to look back on a year than halfway through the next one! In our mid-year tradition, we take a second look at our Top Games lists of the previous year and discuss how they’ve changed since January. There’s new games, moved games and all sorts of movement on the list! We’ve got a kicksta…

Draft Mechanic Episode #103: We’re Doomed, Favorite Taprooms, Origins Recap Today’s episode comes right from the source! Jake went to Origins, we talk up our favorite brewery taprooms, and there’s a selection of fresh new games! We pair beers with Board & Dice’s new butterfly-fluttering abstract Dust in the Wings, and review the fifteen minutes of …

Draft Mechanic Episode #102: Variants: Uwe Rosenberg’s Puzzle Trilogy Today we’re taking a look at not one, not two but three polyomino-based games from Uwe Rosenberg as we compare his Puzzle Trilogy: Cottage Garden, Indian Summer and Spring Meadow! Plus, we’ve got a few recent plays from years past - Reef stacks big chunky coral, Lotus grows beaut…

Draft Mechanic Episode #101: The Geekway Experience I! Hope! You! Are! Ready! To! Hear! About! Some! Games! We’re back from Geekway and fully recovered and comin’atcha with over two hours of Geekway recap. It was a whirlwind of cardboard and wooden bits with a stop or two for a brew. Ok, maybe more than two. We talk up the games we played, what roc…

Draft Mechanic Episode #100: Our Top Tens & Listener Q&A Now we’re really old! In this centennial episode of Draft Mechanic, we’re looking at our Top 10s, we have a Listener Q&A segment, Danielle tackles the biggest Beer Primer to date, Jake talks about going to Chicago for the Gaming Hoopla, and Danielle talks about more games played at our local …

Draft Mechanic Episode #99: Hero Realms v Star Realms It’s the last two-digit episode of Draft Mechanic, and we’re sizing up a pair of deck builders in our Variants feature of Hero Realms and Star Realms! We talk about Bosk, the latest from Floodgate Games, go 15 years back to St. Petersburg, and dive into the Gold Rush in the CarcaZone. Danielle t…

Draft Mechanic Episode #98: Otys Sometimes, you’re able to dig up a gem - and we’ve gone sea-floor salvaging to pull up today’s review of Otys. The Kickstarter wave continues to crest and we’ve got a preview of Freshwater Fly; and in recent plays it’s Pikoko, plus an odd detour into the CarcaZone with The Ark of the Covenant. Jake also recaps his t…

Draft Mechanic Episode #97: Coimbra Today on Draft Mechanic, Jake gets to play his most-wanted game from 2018, Coimbra! Does it live up to the hype, or will it fall short of expectations? We also look at the new rondel-icious Winterborne from Brian Suhre and Talon Strikes Studios, plus a pair of Button Shy wallet games and the solo space adventure …

Draft Mechanic Episode #96: Expandapalooza 2 They said an Expandapalooza couldn’t be done, but we proved them all wrong. Now Draft Mechanic is back for round 2, Expandapalooza 2 that is and we are ready to look at expansions to a new crop of games. Euphoria? We got it. Altiplano? No problem. 5 Minute Dungeon, Imhotep, and not one, but two Terraform…

Draft Mechanic Episode #96 Taster: Euphoria’s “Ignorance is Bliss” expansion Join us for this mini-episode as we look at the new “Ignorance is Bliss” expansion for Euphoria, from Stonemaier Games! Join us on Monday for the full episode #96, Expandapalooza 2! We hope you enjoyed today's episode! Send us some feedback at draftmechanic@gmail.com and v…

Draft Mechanic Episode #95: Keyforge Each episode of Draft Mechanic is just like a deck of Keyforge - they’re all unique and have their own special content! This one, thankfully, is reviewing Keyforge, so that metaphor was applicable and totally called for. We’re also going on a weird unique detour in the CarcaZone… the Card game? Plus Herbaceous g…

Draft Mechanic Episode #94: Wingspan I don’t mean to preen but you’d be crazy to pass up this episode in the hand. We have a Six Pack Review of Stonemaier Games’s new title Wingspan and we’ve put it On Tap as well! We’ve also got a nest full of games news, kickstarters, Twin It!, Doppler So Clever, and we fly into the CarcaZone to check out Carcass…

Draft Mechanic Episode #93: The Quacks of Quedlinburg I promise, this episode is made with only 100% the finest, realest, and bestest of ingredients! No filler here - that’s what you get with today’s feature review of The Quacks of Quedlinburg from North Star Games. We’re even putting it on tap, what a deal! We’ve got a helping of games news, kicks…

Draft Mechanic Episode #92: 2018 In Review It’s the first episode of the year - and you know what that means! It’s time for our fourth-annual-recap-of-last-year! We’re bringing back the usual superlative categories, plus our six favorite beers, top six games and a huge final round of everyone’s most memorable gaming moments. Thanks so much for join…

Draft Mechanic Episode #91: City of Gears review & on tap; Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra; Songbirds; Gizmos; 2019 Gaming Resolutions; Biere de Champagne Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! For our final show of 2018, we’re checking out City of Gears, and we’ve got some mechanical beer pairings as well! We also talk about the new Azul: Stained Glass…

Draft Mechanic Episode #90: PAX Unplugged recap; Trellis on tap; The Stars Align; Drop It; Beer Dating; Jake Makes a Graph Convention season is finally over! In this episode, Jake & Danielle are joined by Eric Buscemi of the Cardboard Hoard and Eric & Jake recap their visit to Philly for the year’s last big board gaming convention. We cover three n…

Draft Mechanic Episode #89: Pasaraya review & on tap; War Chest; Impact; Carcassonne: South Seas; Winter Warmers; Deck Builders Welcome, shoppers! On today’s episode, we hit the retail sector with a review of Pasaraya: Supermarket Manager! Don’t pass up great savings on recent plays: we’ve got a three-pack of them featuring Impact, War Chest and an…

Draft Mechanic: Spoiler Episode Theta T.I.M.E Stories: Brotherhood of the Coast, 1685 NT WARNING! This episode contains MAJOR, MASSIVE, COMPLETE SPOILERS for the T.I.M.E Stories scenario “Brotherhood of the Coast.” This was probably our most divisive scenario yet, and the segments in this episode are not presented in chronological order. We’ll hear…

Draft Mechanic Episode #88: Gamers for Cures Gaming Marathon; Atlantis Rising KS preview; Burnpile Harvest Festival In today’s episode, we’ve gamed for 24 hours straight and, well, that’s a lot of games to talk about! So here’s our recap of what we played at the Gamers for Cures marathon, plus a Kickstarter preview of Atlantis Rising, and a look ba…

Draft Mechanic Episode #87: Cryptid six-pack review & on tap; Terraforming Mars Digital Edition; Carcassonne: The Catapult; Orbis; The Beer Traveler: Seattle Today’s featured game will require your full attention and a little bit of reasoning: it’s Cryptid, the new logic deduction game from Osprey Games! Are our brains up to the task? If not, we’ve…

Draft Mechanic Episode #86: Legacy of Dragonholt six-pack, Catch the Moon on tap, Dreams of Tomorrow preview, River Dragons, Rauchbier Hello again! We’ve been adventuring, and we’re back with tales from the Legacy of Dragonholt. We’re also checking out the upcoming Dreams of Tomorrow from Weird Giraffe Games (on kickstarter now!), we play River Dra…