Want To Game

Alex and Jonathan discuss the fun aspects of self-imposed challenges and home-brewed rules.

Jonathan and Alex stop on their way to hunt ghouls to recommend some horror board games for this spooky season!

Jonathan and Alex use the recent Blizzard controversy to discuss the role of politics in games. Are all games innately political, completely apolitical, or somewhere in between? Alex and Jonathan cover the video games and board games that tackle politics in both abstract and specific ways. They also review the previous episode’s Spitfire and Straightlace game.

Alex and Jonathan take on a spooky mystery in the detective roleplaying game, Spitfire & Straightlace. Straightlace (Jonathan) and Spitfire (Alex) now live in a shared apartment after they bonded through the trials and tribulations of their case into a mattress conspiracy! After finding out that Captain McIrish has gone missing, Spitfire and Straightlace head to the eerie countryside to figure out if he finally followed through on being “one day from retirement”… or if something more sinister is afoot!

Jonathan and Alex tackle what sets game narratives apart from other mediums. In the second part of this episode, they focus on narratives in board games. Make sure to check out last week's episode where Alex and Jonathan talked about video game narratives!

Jonathan and Alex tackles what set game narratives apart from other mediums. In the first part of this episode, they focus on narratives in video games. Catch Part 2 next week when Alex and Jonathan will talk about board game narratives!

Alex and Jonathan discuss the fall of GameStop and both of their recent experiences at a GameStop. They cover the new norm for buying games and offer up solutions to avoid the gaming market becoming as fractured as the streaming market. Finally, Alex and Jonathan reflect on season 2’s opener, Call of Cthulhu “Paper Chase”.

Jonathan runs the Call of Cthulhu solo adventure module "Paper Chase" for Alex. Alex plays Professor Nathaniel Matt Clancy taking on an investigation for a former student, Thomas Kimball, after the house he inherited from his Uncle Douglas Kimball is burglarized a year after Douglas' mysterious disappearance.

Alex and Jonathan are joined by friend (and occasionally rival) of the podcast, Bristol to talk about the game store experience. The trio recount a recent great experience as a board game cafe, and cover what they look for when shopping for games (whether for board games or videos games, digitally or physically).

Jonathan and Alex discuss Jonathan's experience working at Comic-Con! They also cover the crossover between comics and video games.

Alex and Jonathan once again present a recording of the improv-based storytelling game, Fiasco. They are joined by their friends Nate and Andrew to playtest the group’s very own Fiasco playset, Mr. Tinkytonks Playground. Keep an eye out for this playset to end up on fiascoplaysets.com once the final round of edits have been made!

Alex and Jonathan break down all the hype generated by E3 now that the dust has settled after this important gaming event. Alex recounts his experience on the floor of E3 and gives some recommendations for games to look out for.

Tune in as Jonathan and Alex discuss the bizarre relationship that comedy and games have together, the difference between funny games and games that are funny, and maybe laugh a little along the way.

Alex and Jonathan present a recording of the improv-based storytelling game, Fiasco. They are joined by their friends Alec and Andrew for a zany story about a community theater production of “Saving Private Ryan: The Musical” by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Below is the set-up table for this game of Fiasco.

What does it take to be a game designer? Alex and Jonathan compare indie game design to game design within the gaming industry. Alex pitches his idea for a tabletop game.

Alex and Jonathan tackle how gaming can be a positive part of one’s identity, but also the ways that the term “gamer” can be used negatively, as a form of gatekeeping.