Wish he had a weekly pod

​@@JAMman have you listened to his old the culture bytes back podcast? not many episodes though

@@gordo6908 I haven't! I'll have to check them out

The initial plan was to only talk for 30 minutes. Time flew by way too fast.

Unfortunately the insert Jonathan was using didn't plan for all the newest expansions either, so he spent an afternoon reorganizing and trying to make sure everything was correctly sorted while fitting well into the box!

They are a blast to read. I wish I got the time to ask him about the 1700s Trick Taking Games he brought up in one of the entries.

Are they? I don't think I've ever gotten anything out of any of them..

Rex has probably got THE best board game cover ever!

My friends tend to joke about how happy I get with a good insert, but that can make such a difference when it comes to opening and putting away a game. It deserves its own time and design process, just like any game mechanic.

FOMO is hitting hard for you...

I think see where you are coming from. Obviously I didn't get to see Arcs in action yet, but if I had to guess, Arcs will be easier to get into vs Root because the asymmetrical barriers will not be at the start of the game, but rather build up as you progress. This should make it easier to grasp new rules slowly, instead of having to learn a new factions rules and how they interact each time before the game starts.

I must get all expansions and add-ons. Tomorrow.

I can't say for certain, but since a large portion of the game looks to be playing tricks using cards with mostly symbols, that will likely help cutdown some playtime. There will probably be more during the intermissions when you decide how to spend your power for rewards and if goals were sucessfully completed or not.

Its always a huge challenge, balancing a game to fit a wide range vs what is best for the mechanics. I do not envy game designers trying to find out if they can actually make the game fun at multiple different player counts.

@@RollforCrit Game looks amazing and you wouldnt be let down by Cole.

Even if a game has fun mechanics, if the art and theme don't mesh with you then you're not going to have a fun time playing it and that's ok. There are plenty of games I didn't like as much because the art/theme didn't really speak to me. Then again I am more of a Ameri-game player so theme plays a really big role for me.

The design diaries on BGG have plenty of details about Arcs. I liked this as an interview with the person who designed the game.

The interview was more about how he got to Arcs. The evolution of a game. You’re right there wasn’t a lot on the actual game of Arcs but I thought it was an important and interesting interview nonetheless. There are already so many reviews and breakdowns of that game on KZfaq already so I was really for something fresh from the designer. It was refreshing to just let the designer off the chain and let him run free for awhile. I was thoroughly engrossed by what he said. It was a good interview. I was hoping I wasn’t going to get more of the same of why you should back his game, and I wasn’t disappointed. Great interview!