Podcast
Eat Lunch and Board Game
Hosted by Adam F Collins · EN
Need a better lunch break at work than just occupying yourself on your phone or surfing the internet? Why not start a board game group? Adam started a gaming group at his office. He also reviews games on their lunch time playability among other attributes.
12episodes
Episodes
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Finspan with Expansion Sharks & Reef
3w ago00:15:16Tap to summarizeA lot of past guests have mentioned Elizabeth Hargrave’s Wingspan as an answer to a question. Whether as the current game, 60 minute game, or just in passing, there is no denying Wingspan’s impact on the industry since its debut in 2019. It was nominated for, and won, lots of awards that year and in 2020. It has had four expansions so far with a fifth in the distant queue according to the Stonemeir emails.Its deeper impact came in 2024 with the release of Wyrmspan, a reimaging, or reimplementation, of Wingspan, by Connie Vogelman with additional development by Hargrave. In this version, dragons replace the birds. Wyrmspan has an expansion as well.Then, last year, a third game entered the Span world, Finspan, and that game is the focus of this episode. Finspan was designed by David Gordon and Michael O’Connell. In this rendition, the birds and dragons have been replaced with fish. Each of the games in the Span world have varied the mechanics of the original.In Finspan, you are, according to the BGG page, a marine researcher seeking to observe aquatic life. You place fish in one of three zones, in one of three tracks, to dive down and observe. The marine researcher with the most points at the end of four weeks (or rounds) is the winner.Gather your fellow divers, and let’s take a look at the Rule Clarity for Finspan.
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Catch 33 by Buddy Pal Games
Apr 2200:08:15Tap to summarizeWell, Facebook ads’s algorithm targeted me perfectly, again. While doomscrolling (which I have tried very hard NOT to do lately), an ad for a new dexterity game came across my feed. It was for a game called Catch 33, published by a company called Buddy Pal Games. So, of course I hit the notify me button and backed it on Kickstarter, probably on day one. What caught my attention were the ramps. Yes, ramps.In Catch 33, you and your opponent are ramping dice up and into the bottom of the box trying to land it in the center cup. When it arrived, close to on time as any Kickstarter lately, my kids and I sat down, read the rules, and proceeded to play it. So, let’s see how it went.
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Sorry! Sliders
Dec 1800:09:11Tap to summarizeIs there any better feeling than a great Goodwill find? Probably, but Edward and I were pretty satisfied with finding Sorry Sliders, opened but unpunched on the shelf for $3.02. We took that evening to the family dinner at my in-laws, punched it out, and prepared to play all four games the box bragged about. We even got The Daughter involved. Let’s see how it went and how it compares with Sorry Spin.
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Pictureka! & Rivals Edition
Dec 1100:09:47Tap to summarizeWhile collecting the Rivals Editions, a Hasbro game called Pictureka came up. Turns out, this 2006 game by designers Glenn D’Hondt, Arne Lauwers, and Sylvia Meert, two of which also did the artwork, fits the profile of what I am researching. It has multiple versions, including a card game, a Kube game (not dice), and even a few Intellectual Properties thrown in for good measure.What struck me was, I had never heard of this game, and it is almost 20 years old, and I did not recognize the box art once I looked into it.In Pictureka, you and your opponents race to find things in the very busy tiles that make up the board. The game’s tagline is: Find it Fast! Find it First! I procured both the original game and the Rivals Edition, to see what I had been missing.
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Sub Search (1973)
Dec 400:13:13Tap to summarizeI cannot remember exactly how I heard of Sub Search, a 1973 Milton Bradley release by an uncredited designer and artist. I am sure it was some book I was reading that talked about games that are similar to Battleship. Anyway, when I looked into it, Sub Search looked like a 3D take on the beloved classic. Battleship is a staple in my family. We even have a travel version or road trips. I scoured the internet, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to pull the trigger. Then, my game dealer (like a drug dealer, but not as unhealthy or illegal) got a copy, and I couldn’t resist.Oddly, it sat unplayed for months. After Edward and I played through the entire Rivals Edition series, we needed a break from the classics. Yet, Sub Search, in its overly large box, stared at us until we gave in.In Sub Search, you and your rival naval commander are trying to rid the other of their fleet of either the boats or the subs to claim victory in the seas. Launch torpedoes, drop depth charges, and place your mine on your quest for ocean superiority.
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Clue: Rivals Edition
Nov 2700:07:15Tap to summarizeEdward and I have continued our quest to play all the Rivals Editions. This time, we sat down to solve the famous murder of Mr. Boddy, with Clue: Rivals Edition. There are few changes from the original game. Some for the two-player rework, some for…no apparent reason.In Clue: Rivals Edition, you and your Rival are trying to solve the same mystery that has been happening for close to 80 years. Mr. Boddy has invited six people over to his mansion, and one of them has killed him. As usual, you must figure out who did it, with which of the six weapons, and at which of the seven locations in the one room. It sounds weird, but let’s see how it went.
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Sorry! Spin
Nov 1300:08:44Tap to summarizeAs Edward and I have worked our way through various variants of mainstream, mass market games, we have found some gems and some stinkers. Yet, we have not slowed down. The latest game to reach the table was 2010’s Sorry! Spin, by Hasbro.Sorry! debuted back in 1929, making it darn near 100 years old. Now that is some staying power. Sorry is one of many variations on the same mechanics and gameplay in games like India’s 4 AD Pachisi, the Westernized Parcheesi, 1962’s Aggravation (with the marbles instead of pawns), 1965’s Trouble with the Pop-O-Matic, and the like.Sorry has many different variants out there, and hopefully with your support, Edward and I will be able to procure more of them. With Spin, the game board is a series of gears that rotate, or spin, affecting the gameplay and decision making. Believe it or not, we got The Daughter and The Wife to sit down with us and play. Let’s see how it went.
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The Game of Life: Rivals Edition
Oct 3000:07:35Tap to summarizeThe Game of Life is one of my least favorite games to play. It has zero strategy and few decisions. And, with these decisions, you must make the most optimum one, or risk (another classic game) losing the game. One of the later editions adds in the gambling aspect, but still, it is not enough to save this 1960 Milton Bradley classic.I begrudgingly bought The Game of Life: Rivals Edition. I was not looking forward to playing it. After the modestly entertaining Monopoly Rivals Edition, I had a little more interest in playing Life: Rivals Edition.So, I grabbed Edward, who likes The Game of Life, and made him sit down and play the Rivals Edition with me. Let’s see how it went.
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Tecmo Bowl: The Board Game
Oct 2300:11:05Tap to summarizeI don’t want to say that Edward is all in on this IP book, but as we were strolling through Target, he spotted a game. His pitch, “It’s an IP, Dad. We need it for the book!” So, without hesitation, we added Buffalo Games’s Tecmo Bowl to the cart. It wasn’t that hard of a sale for me though. I loved this Nintendo game back in the day. While I prefer the Tecmo Super Bowl to its predecessor, I was not about to let this chance at nostalgia pass me by.In Tecmo Bowl, which came out this year, 2025, you and your opponent manage football teams in an effort to outsmart, outthink, and outscore them. We got home that evening, put on Sunday Night Football, sat down, selected our teams, and flipped the provided coin to start Tecmo Bowl. Let’s see how it went.Trophy Idea
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Monopoly: Rivals Edition
Oct 900:08:37Tap to summarizeAnother fun series of games that I discovered through my research was the Hasbro "Rivals Editions." In this series, Hasbro took one of its classics and boiled it down to a two-player, mano y mano showdown. I was interested in how you could boil some of these games down to two players, for sure. So, first up, Monopoly! Grab your biggest rival and let’s battle it out over Monopoly: Rivals Edition!
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