Episode 388: Holiday Party

Release Date: Dec. 20, 2020

Download:  Enhanced  | MP3

Running Time:   221 min.

Subscribe:  Enhanced  | MP3 | RSS

 

Join our party of misfit nerds for fun, games, and freewheeling conversations spanning the wide world of geekdom.

We hope you'll be in a festive mood for the season after being part of some Grade A goofing around.

Guests: Francie Broadie (Indianapolis, IN) Erik Bussé (Hasselt, Belgium) Ezra Denney (Alameda, CA) Alex Despres (Arlington, TX) Suzie Despres (Arlington, TX), Dave Eckard (Lebanon, IN) James Engelhardt (Greenville, SC) Gubbins (Indianapolis, IN) Max Michael (Indianapolis, IN) Darrell Ottery (Reading, UK) Mark Reed (Atlanta, GA) Mark Rickards (Hobart, Tasmania) Katherine Rosland (Stavanger, Norway) Mark Smalley (Indianapolis, IN) Erwin Susara (Indianapolis, IN) Bruce Voge (Baltimore, MD)

Complete Show Notes continue after the break.

Cast of Characters     

 

Francie Broadie

Francie Broadie lives in the padded cell with her partner in crime, Stephen. She loves cats, cooking, knitting, folk music and makes beautiful beaded jewelry.

franciebroadie.com

Erik Bussé

Erik lives in Hasselt, Belgium. He is a lifelong player and collector of games. He's also a lover of wine, Belgian beer and Genever. He also is an expert quiz master!

Give each of Erik's Quizzes a Thumbs up on BGG here!

Oberonn Game Store  |  Spellenspektakel

Ezra Denney

Noted wallflower Ezra Denney is a theatre nerd, power forward, lifelong gamer, Giants and Warriors fan. He works in the non-profit sector. He plays games at a regular meet up in the Bay Area where all are welcome. Ezra is also hosting playthroughs of board games and rpgs for the fine folks at Quests & Chaos.

Alameda Board Gamers  |  Quests & Chaos | Keep The Game Moving

Alex Despres

Alex Despres is the reigning 2021 Spiel-a-thon Champion! He is an aviation engineer and project manager in Fort Worth, TX. He has been an avid gamer since a chance encounter with Axis and Allies on a picnic table in the woods in the late 80s. Alex is always ready for an 8-hour strategy game but will also get down with party and dexterity games.

Suzie Despres

Suzie Despres enjoys board games, knitting, and drawing. She has been playing board games since age 5 when she started playing Spiel des Jahres winner Rummikub. She likes drawing and knitting so much that she has created five related coloring books.

They can be found here "Blank Hanks: A Coloring Book for Fiber Lovers: Sarah, Suzanne: 9781540394163: Amazon.com: Books"

Dave Eckard

Dave is a card carrying member of the Rat Bastards. His two beagles, Vi and Maddie, are his constant companions. Dave enjoys poetry, jazz, community theatre, bourbon, board games, and basketball. He is part owner of the Lebanon Leprechauns, a professional basketball team.

Lebanon Leprechauns

James Engelhardt

James Engelhardt wrangles words at Swamp Rabbit Editorial and teaches writing at Furman University. You can find him at game tables or in the woods around Greenville, SC, where he sips beers and reads books with Laura Morris, their new son Emerson and a pair of old lady cats. 

Swamp Rabbit Editorial  |  Furman University

Gubbins

Gubbins Boffin is rarely seen and those who have seen him think it is best kept that way.

Gubbins loves co-op games and is enjoying play Pandemic Legacy: Season 0.

Max Michael

Max is the founder of StrataMax Games. They have been publishing strategy games for players young and old for nearly two decades. Titles you may be familiar with include Tammany Hall and Airborne Commander. In addition to games, Max is very active with his church and spends weekends in uniform as a French & Indian War reinactor.

Darrell Ottery

Darrell Ottery and his wife Becky own Eclectic Games, located in Reading, UK. They manage the shop with help from their feline companions. Darrell enjoys a pint, a nip of scotch and is a wizard at social deduction games. 

Eclectic Games

Mark Reed

Mark lives in Atlanta and has been a friend and fan of  The Spiel for many years. In recent years, he has submitted many contrubutions to the Apropos of Nothing segments, proving his thirst for useless information is almost as boundless as our own!

Mark Rickards

A man of many voices, Mark  Rickards is from Hobart, Tasmania. He is one of the creators and co-host of The Dice Men Cometh, Australia's leading board game podcast. The show is preparing for a relaunch in January of 2022!  

Katherine Rosland

Katherine Rosland is from Stavanger Norway.  You can find Katherine and her husband Geir Harald rocketing across the countryside in Serenity, their Tesla.

They are both active in the LARP community in Norway and active volunteers with their local gaming group and convention.

Alea Jacta Est

Mark Smalley

Mark Smalley is an avid gamer, reader and is a huge fan of roller coasters and theme parks. He also has a huge crush on game designer Tom Lehman.  His pal Henson (a Chihuahua) is an avid listener of The Spiel. And one day, little Darwin might be, too!

Tom Lehmann's web site

Erwin Susara

Erwin hails from the Bronx, NY and is proud to call himself a Hoosier now, though he is still indifferent about basketball. He is a lazy tinkerer at heart. That impulse led him to be the entrepreneur behind  Snake Sandbags. He is a coffee nerd and has a deep and abiding love of cameras and spreadsheets.

Snake Sandbags

Bruce Voge

Bruce explores his love of dexterity games with the Flickin' Around segment on The Spiel. Bruce is the Moderator, Editor and Producer of the Party Gamecast featuring the Party Game Cast (a podcast about party games and games you take to parties) and the host of The Just Barely Sports Podcast with the Minor League Geek.  He is also recurring guest on the On Board Games podcast. In this work life Bruce is a DJ, MC, Trivia Host and all around entertainer. 

Bruce on Twitter

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Miscellaneous Links

Pinpoint game (basis for our Most/Least game)

Feaguing (only click if you really want to know...)

Doug Flutie with Jay Leno

Doug Henning

Giraffe Weevil

Barnacle Goose

Goose Barnacle

The Cattlemen

Stewardess School

Idaho

Black Moon

Maxi Bour$e

Lord of Zaracus

Golden Balls

Renegade RamRod

Oi! Dat's My Leg!

Garden of Persephone

Things We Love 2020

Erik's picks

Trappist Ale - Rochefort #10

Scopa on BGA

Katherine's picks

Yspahan

Phonecia

Mark Reed's picks

The Other History of the DC Universe

Darrell's Picks

Get Vaccinated!

The Crew 2

Deus on BGA

Lovecraft Investigations

James's Picks

Analog Game Studies

One Shot: A Journal of Critical Games and Play

Francie's Picks

Recipe Club Podcast

Home Cooking Podcast

Goodbye Vitamin

Ezra's Picks

Tanya Pobuda

Hero of Two Worlds

Harlem Unbound

Haunted West

Picture Perfect

7 Wonders: Architects

Mille fiori

Mark Smalley's Picks

Inscryption

The Blade Itself

The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show

Dave's Pick

Lebanon Leprechauns

Orcs Must Die 3

Mark Rickards's Picks

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Unforgotten

Masks of Nyarlathotep

Alien RPG

Dice Men Cometh (again!)

Erwin's Picks

Equal Justice Initiative

Max's Picks

Red Rising

Old Dune

Arcane Legends

Airborne Commander

Gubbin's Picks

Jagged documentary

How To

7 Wonders

Quacks of Quedlingberg

Welcome To...

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