Cardboard Philosophy

At the center of gaming is… well, gaming. It’s kinda in the name.

But around the sweet, gooey center that is gaming a whole world of external factors exist!

How do those factors effect our experience with games? Can a good game get ruined by bad factors and vise versa? This week on the show, we plan to find out!

Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at cardboardphilosophypod@gmail.com!

Cites and Sources

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You may have noticed this, but we like Reiner Knizia. Like a lot! He’s Robert’s favorite and second favorite designer after all!

This week on the show, in celebration of all things Knizia, we break the rules and go off script to talk about the genius of Knizia’s auction trilogy. What makes Modern Art, Ra & Medici so special? So different? Should these three games be his “auction trilogy?” Robert, Steve & Evan endeavor to fi...

It’s been said that “all good things must come to an end.” And it's true! If it wasn’t I would still be in college. But how those good things come to an end can vary wildly - especially in board games!

So how do designers pick a way to end the game? How do those decision change the game feel as a player? Should all games end the same way? Evan, Steve & Robert plan to find out on this week’s show!

Want to ask a question or give ...

Games are full of aids, references and prompts for how to play, but how can a game imply things without being in your face about it?

Forget the player aid, this week Steven, Robert & Evan talk about the implicit rules of the games we love!

(Thanks to Peter McPherson for the question!)

Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at cardboardphilosophypod@gmail.com!

Cites and Sources

504 - https://boardgamegeek.co...

A mysterious stranger walks up to you. You are nervous. They present you with a bouquet of roses.

Are you still nervous? Intrigued? Terrified? Romanced?

First impressions can be everything! With board games they can even be the difference between a second play and an unfinished first play… but what makes a first impression impress?

This week on the show, Robert, Evan & Steve along with special guest Nick Murray from Bitewing Ga...

Elegance is a fancy word for fancy people, but does that translate to board games? We’ve heard reviewers use it, we’ve seen the backs of boxes use it and heck, we’ve maybe even used it to describe a favorite game… but what does it actually mean? Better yet… what actually makes that game “elegant?”

Steve, Robert & Evan aim to answer just that on this weeks episode!

Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at c...

It’s game night. Your friends are all gathered around and you stare in wonder and excitement at your shelf of games. What are you going to play? An old favorite or the new and shiny hotness?

Come to think of it, you’ve played your old favorite 20 times but you still want to play it more. Why? What makes that game repayable? Good question (or at least we thought so)!

This week on the show Evan, Robert and Steve talk all things relia...

Some call it the “X factor,” some call it the “it factor” and others call it the “toy factor!”

But where do we draw the line between practical, cool and just a plain ol’ toy?

Join Robert, Steve, Evan and special guest host Zac Dixon from IV Studios (Moonrakers, Veiled Fate, Fractured Sky) as they look at the toys that make up our favorite toys – board games!

Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at cardboardph...

Tastes change! Old favorites just feel old and shiny new games can feel… well shiny and new, but what causes those shifts? What makes that old staple fall out of favor?

Join Robert, Steve and Evan as they look at our ever-evolving tastes and the reason for these shifts are front and center on this week show!

Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at cardboardphilosophypod@gmail.com!

Cites and Sources

Art Robber...

“No luck gameplay,” “strategic decisions,” and “no luck!” are all common phrases on both Kickstarter and BGG store pages for some of our favorite games!

But why is that? Why is there a stigma around luck in games? Should there be? Is luck a boon in game design or a bust?

Join Robert, Steve and Evan as they roll the dice on how we perceive luck in games!

Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at cardboardphiloso...

Does a mechanic a board game genre make? We talk about how a game is a “deck builder” but does that actually answer the question of what genre the game is? Or is it merely one of the mechanics that makes up the game?

This is certainly sounds like a weird philosophical question the Cardboard Philosophy boys would tackle… 

Join Steve, Robert and Evan as they discover that classifying games by genre is sometimes easier said than done!

Board games are basically just paper video games… right? RIGHT?

While I don’t think anyone will agree with that, I think we can all agree that there sure are a lot of board game adaptations of video games floating around these days!

Why? And more importantly, what makes them work? What separates video games from board games? Evan, Robert and Steve aim to find out!

Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at cardb...

Board game rules are all made up! It’s true! I read about that in a rule book once.

But how arbitrary are those made up rules? Are some rules more inherently intuitive and less arbitrarily than others? What makes those other rules feel arbitrary?

This is certainly sounds like a weird philosophical question the CP boys would tackle… and would you believe it? This week they do!

Join Robert, Steve and Evan as we get into the nitty gri...

Art is everywhere! From the screen on your phone to the paintings in a museum. It’s also all over the board games we know and love! It’s also more than just something pretty to look at… but how far can art in board games take us? How much does it effect our enjoyment of the game? Can there be too much of it?

This is a big subject, so who better to pull onto the show than our friend Peter McPherson (Fit to Print, Tiny Towns)?

Join R...

From the “winner take all” to the “second place is the first loser” people really like to win! But why is winning so important? Is winning actually a key ingredient for enjoying a game?

This week on the show the boys dive into the highs and lows of winning!

Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at cardboardphilosophypod@gmail.com!

Cites and Sources

Age of Steam - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4098/age-st...

We’ve all been there. Everyone sitting down to dive into a board game, excited at the prospects before us. After 3.5 hours the dreaded sentence is uttered “this game is too long.” But what makes something too long? What makes it too short?

This week on the show, Steven, Evan and Robert aim to find out!

Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at cardboardphilosophypod@gmail.com!

Cites and Sources

Aquashpere - htt...

From the flip of a card to the roll of a die, there is a lot of randomness in games! But is all randomness created equally? Why do some things feel more random than others? Is one form of random number generation better than another?

This week on the show: Steve, Robert and Evan are getting random and diving deep into all the nitty gritty of what makes generating random numbers tick! And, most importantly, what makes them fun!

Want...

At some point in all of our lives here at Cardboard Philosophy - we’ve been called squares. So today, we lean into it by talking about the squarest part of our hobby – box sizes!

What is the perfect box size? Why so much empty space and are boxes really the optimal way to store games? All of that and so much more on this week’s show!

Want to ask a question or give us your two cents? Hit us up at cardboardphilosophypod@gmail.com!

Ci...

Game weight has been a discussion in board gaming for as long as Board Game Geek has been on the internet! Today, this topic is usually based on how much the latest Kickstarter box will weigh during shipping, but in yesteryear it was all about that difficulty. Crunch. Brain chew.

This week on the show Steve, Robert and Evan flex their brains to talk about why we like brain flexing in games. We'll cover everything from what makes ga...