Eight races down a metal cone stand between you and marble racing immortality. Secretly choose how many of your marbles to risk on each race, then load everyone’s marbles into the launcher and let them fly! They will spin around and around the metal disc until one marble drops through the center hole and wins the race. Finish first second or third and you get to claim a trophy and score points. Be careful as you spend your marbles, though, because you lose them as you use them. And even if your marbles are slow, there’s an underdog bonus that will keep you in contention. Whose marbles will score big and rule over the Whirlyverse?

Read on to discover why we love Whirly Derby!

The Boomburg Battlesports Arena is home to the wildest televised tank competition in all the land. Animal crews from far and wide come here to compete for the coveted Carnage Cup. 

Captain Rosie Rhino pounds a path of destruction with her ramming charge. Captain “Scrappy” and team Trash Pandas can use anything as ammo, including their own tank. Captain Hare-Brain’s tank can hop its way out of trouble. The Sloth Brigade leaves the fighting to others and searches the battlefield for gold. Tiberius Rex of the Thunder Lizards doesnt even need a tank to cause major damage. Wander too close, and he’ll chomp your tank in two! 

The battlefield is littered with buildings which could contain weapons or conceal traps. Blow up tanks, gather gold, or gain glory to collect the most medals over a few brutally short and crazy rounds. The tank team with the most medals will cement their legacy as champions on the latest season of… Boom Patrol!

Read on to learn why we love Boom Patrol.

It’s 1977 and you’re living the dream : a crappy job to pay the bills and a band playing gigs in seedy bars. One day soon, you’ll be discovered. You’ll score a record deal, sell albums, and tour across the country. Screaming fans will fill arenas and buy your merch. They’ll sing out with your anthems and make sweet love to your ballads. But for now, there’s rent to pay and songs to write. The future is so close you can taste it. Can you become a rock star for the ages? 

Rock Hard 1977 places players in the roles of struggling musicians hoping to find a road to fame and fortune by rocking out. How you spend your time in pursuit of this dream will shape the course of your career. Do you spend your time promoting the band, booking more gigs, rehearsing, or writing new material? Do you hang out after hours hoping to make the right connections, record a demo tape, or hire extra crew? There’s always pressure from the real world - the job gives you money, but takes precious time away from the band. And there’s always the temptation of candy. It could give you extra energy in the short term but ultimately put you on a path to ruin.

Read on to learn why we love Rock Hard 1977

A minor nobleman from La Mancha, having read too many medieval romances, loses his mind and dubs himself Don Quixote, a knight errant bound to revive chivalry and serve the crown. He sets off with his horse Rocinante and his loyal companion Sancho Panza to right wrongs in the world. Problem is, Don Quixote doesnt see the world as we do. He sees giants where we see windmills. Inns become castles and flocks of sheep armies. This is a story of the tension between imagination and reality, of loyalty, love and the nature of hope. It’s also one of the first novels ever written. 

In the game, players guide Don Quixote through a series of adventures over two chapters, hoping to shape his character and the outcome of the story to match your goals. Can you influence the votes each round to create one of literature’s most iconic heroes?

Read on to learn why we love Don Quixote: The Ingenius Hidalgo!

Rick Hammerle and Katherine Rosland join the show to chat about our experiences at the world's largest game fair, plus a side quest to Scotland.
 

Chelsea Steenbock, Chair of Play with Your Food, joins me for a wide ranging conversation. We talk about how games have shaped our lives and how our passion for play enables us to build community and serve others far beyond the game table.

Then we dive into a Game Sommelier segment. Our challenge: select 3 games that connect with characters from The Bear TV series.
 

It’s 2050 and most of the citizens of San Lazaro have become techno-zombies, infected by a virus in their gadgets and implants. Stupid humans! Only your ragtag team of sentient cyber pets can save the day! Jane the cat, Clay the dog, Freya the raccoon and Roman the goose must search the city hoping to find their friend Howard the Scientist who vanished suddenly and mysteriously.

Over multiple chapters, your team will explore and investigate new locations, overcome enemies and solve puzzles. Your choices will advance the story and level up your abilities and equipment. Can your bionic brains band together to outwit these many dangers? Adventure is calling. How will your quest unfold?

Read on to learn why we love Cyber Pet Quest!

Lost for Words is a game about describing emotions. Structure for the game is provided by a deck of 350 cards each with an obscure word for an emotion and its definition and an icon. Select a card from your hand and read it aloud, then share with the group a memory or an experience or a story from your life or the life you might want. A simple scoring system is in place if you care about that sort of thing, but really lost for words is an invitation to explore how language shapes our feelings, and our ability to connect with and share them. Sometimes it takes just the right word for us to not feel so lost.

Read on to learn why we love Lost for Words!

Canadian Spielers Matt Robertson and Roger Leroux join us for a rousing chat across many topics, including the awe-inspiring story of Play with Your Food, a gaming charity in Regina, Saskatchewan. We also learn about one of Matt's favorite games and Roger gives us a delicious recipe and game pairing.  

Later, Erwin and Gubbins join the fun for a recap of the greatest spectacle in gaming... GenCon 2025.

Assembling fruit salad is a collective effort in Combo. Each turn you will offer a single face up fruit card, hoping it will be part of the strongest combination created by all player’s face up cards at the end of the round. Combos are ranked like Poker hands from Super Slushie (a straight flush) down to the Sweet Scraps (high card). High cards have a better chance of counting in the winning combo but score the least points. Low cards are worth the most points but harder to score. And beware of the dreaded tie! Truly tied cards in a winning combo have their score sliced in half. Add up all your winning fruit after a few short rounds, and the player with the highest score will savor the juicy taste of victory.

Read on to learn why we love Combo!