Podcast appearances and mentions of david coleson

The Coleson-Conway era of The Spiel comes to a close with a celebration of our shared passion and love of trick-taking card games. We review Anansi and Take the A Chord plus we delve into the history of Jeux de Tarot.

In Heaven & Ale, you are the master brewer at a German monastery in the Middle Ages. Gather hops, water, barley, and yeast and recruit monks to build your brewery. Each decision leads to an innovative scoring system that packs a great cerebral punch.

Your team of spies intercepts a secret transmission. 3 words. A code tied to a sequence of numbers. Can you decipher this sequence when the pressure is on? Remember, the other team is trying to unravel your sequence at the same time! Welcome to Decrypto!

Professor Evil uses his time machine to rob the world of priceless antiques. Your group has been sent to rescue treasures before they are locked away. It's charming, engaging, great for players young and old, and sure to provide many hours of Major Fun.

Cursed Court is a clever auction game that draws its inspiration from stud poker. Each season, you bid on a noble or group of nobles based on hidden and public information. Bid wisely, you'll gain influence at court. Bid poorly, you'll be scrubbing pots!

Pioneers is a gateway game for a new generation. You'll discover new layers of depth and fun by charting different paths with each pioneer you settle. Best of all how everyone else plays will change your decisions and let you see the game in a new light.

It's the 16th century and you're in charge of a fledgling colony in the New World. Santa Maria is a dice-based action selection game which offers a fantastic variety of strategic decisions. The game is constantly challenging and consistently fun.

Ancestree is a tile drafting game where each player cultivates a family tree. You'll build dynasties, marriages, and wealth to score points. The game is wonderfully simple to learn but the scoring system makes each decision matter and each decision fun.

Majesty is an easy to learn, wonderfully elegant and interactive card game. Each player recruits subjects to help create a prosperous new realm. Each character offers a simple but specialized way to bring wealth, health and security to the crown.

In Raiders of the North Sea you assemble a crew, collect provisions and journey north to plunder... even if it ends in a glorious death! It's a worker placement game with a brilliant balance of strategy and simplicity. And a perfect intro to the genre.

Robot cheetahs, dentures, musical failure, D and D resources, pooping Amazons, and board games galore. Join our cavalcade of misfit nerds for a freewheeling conversation spanning the wide world of geekdom. And be ready to laugh! A lot.

In Ethnos players vie for control of a fantasy realm by collecting and playing sets of cards. The game offers challenging decisions through simple to learn but innovative mechanics. Ethnos is familiar yet fresh - tense and interactive to the end.

Codenames: Duet offers a tense two player transformation of the original. You and your partner must contact 15 agents using a grid of word cards and a very limited number of clues. The big problem is each of you only know half the agents in play!

In Photosynthesis, each player tends a colorful cardboard forest, soaking in sunlight as it moves around the board. The game is beautiful inside and out - a wonder to behold on the table and its simple, elegant mechanisms provide hours of challenging fun.

Word Slam is a team-based word guessing game that forces each team to use a fixed set of words as clues. The word you want is never there, so the game pushes you to be creative with the words provided - to find freedom inside the limits imposed.

Custom Heroes is an innovative twist on traditional climbing card games. You get to play with the makeup of the deck itself! Using transparent cards, you can make a low card high, turn a card wild, and more. Get rid of your cards 1st to score big and win.

In Planetarium, cosmic forces are your playthings. You and your fellow players shape an entire solar system. Will the system support life or be filled with gas giants or barren radioactive moons? It's up to you to decide.

Fuji Flush is a wonderfully simple card game. Your goal is to flush all the number cards from your hand, one card at a time. It's a game about strength in numbers. And the more people you play with, the more fun the game becomes.

Gen Con is a grand gathering of all things geek. Every slice of the nerd pie is here. This means everyone's Gen Con is different. This is the story of our Gen Con - a tale packed with guests, discussions of over 30 games, interviews, and lots of laughs.

Few know that mole rats make the best astronauts. Your team of "ratstronauts" is facing a huge crisis - a space station being overrun by intergalactic snakes! Can you gather the right supplies and get to the escape pod? Just don't forget the duct tape!

Cottage Garden is a tile laying game that plays like an interactive puzzle. Your goal is to paint with peonies and petunias, planting and arranging the right mix of flower and foliage to create a relaxing and glorious garden in the limited space you have.

Tricky Trunks embraces two simple ideas: find the pattern, collect plastic balls BUT... no hands allowed! Use this kooky elephant head instead. The game is a joy to play and most emphatically Major Fun!

Every adventurer has a story. In Roll Player, you craft a hero for the ages, one die roll at a time. Part puzzle, part press your luck, Roll Player offers fun decisions even if you can't tell an orc from an elf or a scimitar from a Bohemian earspoon!

Picassimo is a party game where players create, disassemble and reassemble works of art. You'll draw on a 6 part canvas and then mix up the parts. Hopefully someone can still see the essence of the drawing and guess the subject of your art!

Lorenzo de Medici was Florence's favorite son and father of the Renaissance. But he didn't do it alone. Guide your family to power by sending your family to sponsor new developments. But beware the Pope. Show your faith or risk the wrath of the Church!

Being King isn't easy. Some subjects like the forest, some like the swamp. It's your job to make sure they all have a place in your realm. Kingdomino mixes the classic tile laying game with several simple, clever modern twists.

In Black Orchestra, you are a member of a conspiracy that plots to kill Hitler before and during WW 2. You do this by gaining enough motivation and courage to go through with the deed without drawing too much suspicion to yourself and your compatriots.

Tak comes to us from writer Patrick Rothfuss and designer James Ernest. Tak is universal, simple, elegant and accessible. A game that you can play anywhere, with anyone. A game that is beautiful because HOW you play matters as much as winning or losing.

1885. A bomb explodes in Parliament. Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes have 7 days to build a case to prove the innocence or guilt of a young man. Collect sets of evidence by selecting actions on character cards from Doyle's novels. May the best detective win!

Game of Trains is a fast fun card game. Your futuristic train can't leave the station until all the cars are arranged from low to high. The artwork includes tons of nerdy references but the game itself is easy enough for your grandma to play and enjoy.

Hanamikoji is a brilliant 2 player card game. You are restaurateur, trying to hire talented geishas. The beauty of the game is its simplicity. Four simple actions combine in various ways to create surprising, challenging and fun decisions on every turn.

Honshu is a map building card game set in feudal Japan and powered by a clever trick-taking mechanic. Each card you win must overlap with cards already in your domain. This means each card becomes a challenging mini-puzzle to solve.

Honshu is a map building card game set in feudal Japan and powered by a clever trick-taking mechanic. Each card you win must overlap with cards already in your domain. This means each card becomes a challenging mini-puzzle to solve.

Rollers is a press-your-luck dice game inspired by darts. If you've ever played the dart game, Cricket, you'll see how Rollers is a clever re-imagining of this pub classic, playable by people of all ages. Tune in to see why Rollers is Major Fun.

You are a clan chief, laying tiles to build your kingdom, trying to arrange features (including whiskey barrels) in order to score points. Tiles you place are determined by an auction in reverse. Build the best kingdom and you'll rule the Isle of Skye.

This panel explores the different ways people around the world start, run and organize game groups, events or conventions. The goal is provide people with incentive or knowledge to participate in or even start a game group event or convention themselves

Ignacy Trzewiczek, Ted Alspach and Joe Cochran explore the evolution of board games that embrace technology AND examine how the cardboard world influences the digital gaming world as well.

Martin Wallace, Phil Eklund, Vital Lacerda and Max Michael share a deep and abiding passion for history. From research methods to the balance between simulation and gameplay, the panel discusses how and why they incorporate history into their game designs

Matt Leacock (Pandemic, Forbidden Island/Desert) and Antoine Bauza (Ghost Stories, Hanabi, Samurai Spirit) discuss their passion for cooperative play and the challenges and differences in designing cooperative games.

Representatives from 3 of the largest manufacturers of board and card games, discuss the challenges they face when trying to make games for clients all over the world. Frank Jager (Ludo Fact) Shari Spiro (AdMagic) Michael Lee & Chris Matthew (Panda Mfg)

This panel explores the impact of the Spiel des Jahres awards - on the game industry, on the organization itself, on the designers and the publishers who win the awards. Tom Felber (SdJ Jury) Andreas Pelikan (designer/winner) Wittenstein (Eggertspiele)

A discussion exploring how publishers try to reach the world with their games. Nate Scheidler (Gigamic), Agnieszka Kopera (NSKN, Strawberry Studio), Konstantinos Kokkinis (Artipia Games), Nobuake Takerube (Japon Brand), Brandan Parsons (Brain Games)

Team Play is game that draws deep from the well of classic card games. With hints of Rummy, Pinochle and even a little Euchre, anyone familiar with these classics will feel like you already know how to play. Tune in to learn why Team Play is Major Fun!

In Among Nobles, you are the timeless overseer for an aristocratic European family. You guide them through marriages, warfare, commerce and influence across the continent. Most prestige wins the game. Tune in to see why it earns a Spiel of Approval Award!

Oh My Goods is a small game that packs a huge punch. Using 110 cards, you build factories to create production chains, turing basic resources into more valuable goods. Each round offers a press your luck decision that makes the game challenging and fun.

Chronicler is a small game with large aspirations. Tell the story of your civilization through the tools and structures you choose to build in 20 minutes or less. Tune in to learn what we love about Chronicler and why it deserves the Major Fun Award.

My Village is a game where players tell the story of an entire medieval community. Will your village focus on commerce, a magnificent church or a town council? Your decisions wind the clock forward; your decisions ultimately decide who lives and who dies.

We explore the importance of narrative in game design with a panel of some of the best storytellers in the world of gaming. Ignacy Trzewiczek (Portal), Richard Launius, Christopher Badell (Greater Than Games), Scott Hill (Flying Frog Productions).

There have been waves of consolidation within the board game industry over the past 3 yrs. Is this a sign of a healthy industry or the start of a cycle that leads to less competition? Eric Summerer (Dice Tower) Lance Myxter (Undead Viking) Doug Richardson

Matt Leacock, Rob Daviau, Bruno Faidutti and Bruno Cathala explore the process of co-designing games. Why work together? How do they divide up the work? How do they playtest? How do they deal with conflict? How do they know when the game is done?