“I just can’t wait to be king!” We all know that catchy musical number from the hit 1994 musical “The Lion King.” But Sima wasn’t able to become king on his own. It took a bit of king making from his evil uncle Scar. Just like the Disney animated classic; board games have king making too (just usually less inspired by Hamlet). How do designers leve…

In board gaming, collections can range anywhere from 1 to 1001 (anything after 1001 will cause an explosion). With such a wide swath of options there has to be a perfect number, right? A “goldilocks zone” if you will? Today on the show Robert, Evan and Steve endeavor to find out! Want to ask a question or give us your two cents about the state of e…

Perhaps it’s Evan’s Irish heritage or the secret ancient amulet beneath the studio, but we’re big fans of luck at Cardboard Philosophy. We’ve talked a lot about it over the last year too! We’ve talked about how the luck can feel and how it’s generated. This week, we’re talking about both of those things as well as why it’s used the way it is by des…

There ain’t no party like a board game party! But board games to take to the party? There is a whole world of party games, but where is the line between “game” and “party game?” Never ones to back down from a challenge, our brave hosts Evan, Robert and Steve endeavor to find out! Want to ask a question or give us your two cents about the state of e…

Every game is a chance for a designer to pull another trick out of their sleeve. But for a lot of designers, that new trick can often feel like the same trick with a new coat of paint. Not to say that’s a bad thing, it’s one of the things that keep us coming back for more! But what are some of these tricks? How do designers keep them fresh? Why do …

If it’s been a while since you’ve listened, you may need to catch up on past episodes! That can be a bit time consuming, but worth it if you like the show. If it’s been a while you’ve been in first place… well… that can be challenging to fix! Catching up in games can be like climbing a mountain, but designers have catch up mechanics up their sleeve…

Our hobby is constantly evolving! Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Euro-games are frequently at the center of this discussion. Are they getting too complex? Too solitaire? Are they even good any more? This week on the show, Evan, Robert and Steve chat about the shifting euro landscape, the past, the future and how we feel about it…

If you’ve been around the internet for a while; you’ve probably seen a debate around whether something is art or not. Are video games art? Is modern art, art? Is Taylor Swift’s music art? But what about board games? Are they art? Better yet; who is the artist? The player the artist or the designer? Evan, Robert and Steve endeavor to find out togeth…

At the center of gaming is… well, gaming. It’s kinda in the name. But around the sweet, gooey center that is gaming a whole world of external factors exist! How do those factors effect our experience with games? Can a good game get ruined by bad factors and vise versa? This week on the show, we plan to find out! Want to ask a question or give us yo…

You may have noticed this, but we like Reiner Knizia. Like a lot! He’s Robert’s favorite and second favorite designer after all! This week on the show, in celebration of all things Knizia, we break the rules and go off script to talk about the genius of Knizia’s auction trilogy. What makes Modern Art, Ra & Medici so special? So different? Should th…

It’s been said that “all good things must come to an end.” And it's true! If it wasn’t I would still be in college. But how those good things come to an end can vary wildly - especially in board games! So how do designers pick a way to end the game? How do those decision change the game feel as a player? Should all games end the same way? Evan, Ste…

Games are full of aids, references and prompts for how to play, but how can a game imply things without being in your face about it? Forget the player aid, this week Steven, Robert & Evan talk about the implicit rules of the games we love! (Thanks to Peter McPherson for the question!) Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at c…

A mysterious stranger walks up to you. You are nervous. They present you with a bouquet of roses. Are you still nervous? Intrigued? Terrified? Romanced? First impressions can be everything! With board games they can even be the difference between a second play and an unfinished first play… but what makes a first impression impress? This week on the…

Elegance is a fancy word for fancy people, but does that translate to board games? We’ve heard reviewers use it, we’ve seen the backs of boxes use it and heck, we’ve maybe even used it to describe a favorite game… but what does it actually mean? Better yet… what actually makes that game “elegant?” Steve, Robert & Evan aim to answer just that on thi…

It’s game night. Your friends are all gathered around and you stare in wonder and excitement at your shelf of games. What are you going to play? An old favorite or the new and shiny hotness? Come to think of it, you’ve played your old favorite 20 times but you still want to play it more. Why? What makes that game repayable? Good question (or at lea…

Some call it the “X factor,” some call it the “it factor” and others call it the “toy factor!” But where do we draw the line between practical, cool and just a plain ol’ toy? Join Robert, Steve, Evan and special guest host Zac Dixon from IV Studios (Moonrakers, Veiled Fate, Fractured Sky) as they look at the toys that make up our favorite toys – bo…

Tastes change! Old favorites just feel old and shiny new games can feel… well shiny and new, but what causes those shifts? What makes that old staple fall out of favor? Join Robert, Steve and Evan as they look at our ever-evolving tastes and the reason for these shifts are front and center on this week show! Want to ask a question or give us your t…

“No luck gameplay,” “strategic decisions,” and “no luck!” are all common phrases on both Kickstarter and BGG store pages for some of our favorite games! But why is that? Why is there a stigma around luck in games? Should there be? Is luck a boon in game design or a bust? Join Robert, Steve and Evan as they roll the dice on how we perceive luck in g…

Does a mechanic a board game genre make? We talk about how a game is a “deck builder” but does that actually answer the question of what genre the game is? Or is it merely one of the mechanics that makes up the game? This is certainly sounds like a weird philosophical question the Cardboard Philosophy boys would tackle… Join Steve, Robert and Evan …

Board games are basically just paper video games… right? RIGHT? While I don’t think anyone will agree with that, I think we can all agree that there sure are a lot of board game adaptations of video games floating around these days! Why? And more importantly, what makes them work? What separates video games from board games? Evan, Robert and Steve …

Board game rules are all made up! It’s true! I read about that in a rule book once. But how arbitrary are those made up rules? Are some rules more inherently intuitive and less arbitrarily than others? What makes those other rules feel arbitrary? This is certainly sounds like a weird philosophical question the CP boys would tackle… and would you be…

Art is everywhere! From the screen on your phone to the paintings in a museum. It’s also all over the board games we know and love! It’s also more than just something pretty to look at… but how far can art in board games take us? How much does it effect our enjoyment of the game? Can there be too much of it? This is a big subject, so who better to …

From the “winner take all” to the “second place is the first loser” people really like to win! But why is winning so important? Is winning actually a key ingredient for enjoying a game? This week on the show the boys dive into the highs and lows of winning! Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at cardboardphilosophypod@gmail.…

We’ve all been there. Everyone sitting down to dive into a board game, excited at the prospects before us. After 3.5 hours the dreaded sentence is uttered “this game is too long.” But what makes something too long? What makes it too short? This week on the show, Steven, Evan and Robert aim to find out! Want to ask a question or give us your two cen…

From the flip of a card to the roll of a die, there is a lot of randomness in games! But is all randomness created equally? Why do some things feel more random than others? Is one form of random number generation better than another? This week on the show: Steve, Robert and Evan are getting random and diving deep into all the nitty gritty of what m…

At some point in all of our lives here at Cardboard Philosophy - we’ve been called squares. So today, we lean into it by talking about the squarest part of our hobby – box sizes! What is the perfect box size? Why so much empty space and are boxes really the optimal way to store games? All of that and so much more on this week’s show! Want to ask a …

Game weight has been a discussion in board gaming for as long as Board Game Geek has been on the internet! Today, this topic is usually based on how much the latest Kickstarter box will weigh during shipping, but in yesteryear it was all about that difficulty. Crunch. Brain chew. This week on the show Steve, Robert and Evan flex their brains to tal…

This week on the show we review our thoughts on reviewers… or more specifically… should we really care what they say? Or shouldn’t we? Does length of time in the hobby matter? And who are these people anyway? I don’t know, I just write these episode synopsizes. I leave the philosophizing to Evan, Robert and Steve! Want to ask a question or give us …

House rules are everywhere from the tables of aspiring game designers to the most casual of hobbiests. But why? Are they a way to give a game more of the player’s personality? To fix broken mechanics? And when does that fun little rules twist change the game enough to become something more than what is printed on the box? This week Steve, Robert an…

Interaction! All games are built on a foundation of interaction… well, most games. With multiplayer solitaire style games becoming more and more popular, how do you define interaction? At what point does something make the jump from solitaire to interactive? What makes interaction anyway? Evan, Robert and Steve dive into this and more on this week’…

We LOVE board games! We love them so much we talk about them and what makes them tick on a weekly basis! But we’ve noticed a weird trend in society which begs the question - why doesn't EVERYONE love board games? This week on the show Evan, Robert and Steve try to get to the heart of the issue! Is it a lack of minis? Too much beige? Or is there som…

You are on a long and winding trail and you come to a fork in the road, but unlike most forks, this one has 36 different tines! All the tines lead to the same place – a cabin filled with modern euro games… which path do you take? This week on the show Evan, Robert and Steve choose which path to take and get to the nitty gritty of multiple paths to …

Today on the show, the boys celebrate making it to 6 episodes without a single table flipped by digging into the mystery and magic of “the teach!” Or more specifically - what separates a good teach from a bad one? We’ll find out how they approach teaching and the reason a good teach is good and a bad teach is… well, generally a good way to have a b…

Where do board games go when they die? Better yet; can they go anywhere other than a recycling center? I guess the nicest way to put this is – do games have a soul? Better yet, what gives a game "soul?" What makes a game feel "soulful" versus "soulless?" Those are just some of the questions that Evan, Robert and Steve tackle on this week’s show! Wa…

They say knowledge is power… but what if you have too much knowledge? Does that mean you have too much power? If absolute power corrupts absolutely will this power from knowledge corrupt you? Will you become some sort of unhinged board game demigod if there is too much information given to you on the table? We’ll never know! What we will know by th…

For years mankind has pondered and debated the question – Does size matter? Perhaps you have sized up this discussion for yourself. In fact, it has many branching thoughts: How does component size effect our emotional response to a game? Do certain sizes imply certain complexity levels? Is CMON overcompensating for something? Today on the show, und…

For years we've been told that space is the final frontier, but who decided that? This week Evan, Robert and Steve discuss what decision space is, how important it is to the board gaming experience and why some spaces feel better than others! Join us at the table, share your thoughts and ask your own question at cardboardphilosophypod@gmail.com! Ga…

Robert, Steve and Evan take a deep dive into the world of being mean in games! Take that, social deduction, war games... Is it fun to be mean? Should it be? Join us at the table, share your thoughts and ask your own question at cardboardphilosophypod@gmail.com! Games Mentioned - Age of Steam - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4098/age-steam Azul…