What would you like to see us play on Tabletop Season Three?

Posted on By Wil

Anonymous asked:

Second Season of Wil Wheaton Project. Yes or No? I hope SyFy channel has the foresight to keep it going.

So for those of you who don’t know, earlier this summer, I did 12 episodes of a silly comedy show on Syfy called The Wil Wheaton Project. It was basically The Soup for people like me who enjoy sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, as well as jokes about those things. If you’d like to see a bunch of clips from the show, they’re right here on my YouTube thing.

We’re officially on hiatus right now, and we don’t know if the network will order more episodes. I know that they liked us in a creative sense, but the ratings weren’t very good (ratings are generally not very good in summer, and while I don’t believe that ratings are as important as they once were, my opinion on the matter isn’t particularly important to the decision makers), but the people who did watch us really liked us. So I won’t know for a few more weeks, but until then, I’m on hiatus, which means I get to write more, play more games, and prep for season three of Tabletop, which goes into production in October.

Part of that preparation includes finding 20 games to play on the show, and as of today, I have eight (maybe nine) that are strong contenders.

What do you want us to play on the show next year? Would you tell me the game, the publisher, and why you like it?

Keep in mind the criteria for Tabletop game selection:

  1. Plays well with 4 people.

  2. Plays in under 90 minutes.

  3. Can be generally explained in about 5 minutes.

  4. Has a high ration of luck to strategy, so everyone has a chance to win the game.

  5. Looks great, has clear graphical design and photographs well.

  6. Is not something we’ve played before.

I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments.

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Comments (2,070)

  3. Dead of Winter by Plaid Hat Games! IT’s an insane amount of fun and fits the criteria pretty well.

  4. Legendary… Tzol’kin…
    World Without End
    (or I suppose Pillars of the Earth, but WOrld Without End is a better game…)

    1. Or Gauntlet of Fools. Both very underrated Donald X games, both good fun and nice to look at.

  7. Five Tribes, the new Days of Wonder game designed by Bruno Cathala seems to fit all your criteria (except maybe the luck:skill ratio).

    1. Selfishly, this. My wife likes to see/play a game before we buy, and Tabletop is a great way to “try out” a game if I can’t borrow it from anyone.

  12. Splendor, Splendor, Splendor!
    Cosmic Encounter
    Love Letter
    Race for the Galaxy
    Bang/Bang Dice Game
    Suburbia
    Cash & Guns (force that reprint to sell right out)
    Machi Koro (if it ever comes out)

  14. Twilight Imperium of course!

    Just kidding, I’d really like to see a 1vsmany dungeon crawler like Mansions of Madness or Descent. I think Wil would make a great Overlord.

  15. I hope these suggestions fit the criteria you need for the show!

    Dungeon Petz by Vlaada Chvatil and published by CGE http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/97207/dungeon-petz

    This game is an adorable worker placement game wherein you play a family of imps who are trying to raise fierce monsters to sell to dungeon masters. The art alone makes this one worth checking out!

    Quantum by Eric Zimmerman published by Fun Forge
    http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/143519/quantum

    In this game your ships are represented by dice, where the ships abilities are defined by the pips showing on the dice. Really cool, has enough randomness that everyone is in the running until someone finally wins.

    Story Wars by Tom McLean and Brad O’Farrell of Cantrip Games
    http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/137550/story-war

    This is twist on a story telling game. You’re given a hand of heroes and items, of which you will choose one to fight in the given environment. Each round one player will be the judge, who will listen to you and your friends spin a tale of an epic battle and ultimately decide which hero is the winner. Very flexible, cool art, is fun to watch : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6e9uxwAZzI

    Can’t wait for the new season!

  16. I want so much for Cosmic Encounter to be played. The game is very simple to explain, and there’s luck of who draws what and what alien power everyone gets, but still strategy of when to blow your high power attacks, when to go for negotiations, etc. It’s one of my favorite games and it has a ton of replayability due to the insane amount of variety in aliens (With all expansions, there’s 165 aliens I believe)

  17. You should play Survive: Escape from Atlantis. It’s a family favorite and easy to play.

  18. I think Jamaica by Game Works would be a good fit for tabletop.Its a beautiful and simple game where you race around the Island of Jamaica. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/28023/jamaica

    Another good one would probably be Sheriff of Nottingham from Arcane Wonders. Its a fun little bluffing game. Maybe you could have Tom Vasel on that episode.

  22. I would actually like a playthrough of Quantum, it looks good, is easily introduced plays with 4 people in under 90 minutes….buuuut the luck / strategy ratio might be off so…how about Agricola or Taverna.

    Also i would love a more complex gaming round this season…Archipelago maybe.

  23. You should play Boss Monster. It’d probably be good for an episode where you play multiple games. And Balderdash cause that’s just a seriously fun game.

  24. Villainous Vikings. It’s not “sexy,” although the longboat standees are cool looking. But it is solid and fun and interactive and moves quickly and is easy to explain. An underrated gem, like many of Victory Point Games’ titles.

  25. Thurn and Taxis!

    The game of Bavarian postal routes. Quick to set up and explain, LOADS of fun to play. Elements of Ticket to Ride but quite different mechanics. Several different ways to go for the win (quick build-out, leaving others high and dry or maximum points, etc)

  27. Among the Stars – you’re building a freaking Space Station!! Plus it’s what 7 Wonders should’ve been.

    Roll For It! – it’s super simple and purely luck with a small amount of die placement strategy. It’s the entry game of entry games. The only issue could be that it plays too fast, maybe.

    Got Em – super easy to teach and fits every requirement. If Tsuro went over well, this will too.

    Cosmic Encounter – would be fun with the player interactions and table talk, but I don’t think it’d be the easiest to explain.

    Robo Rally – it’s cool, but out of print. If the purpose of the show is to get people gaming, I think he should stick to in print games.

    Anyhow, just my thoughts.

  28. I played Seventh Hero and Love Letter, both by AEG, at GenCon, and really enjoyed them. Easy mechanics, and the right mix of bluffing and luck.

    A really fun game is Sheriff of Nottingham, takes the bluffing/backstabbing idea to a new level. I’m unsure of the publisher, but I know they we’re present at GenCon, and sold out of their stock.

    Happy gaming!

  29. Boss Monster is a great card game published by Brotherwise Games. It’s a “dungeon crawl” and the 8-bit artwork is great.

    This is a game where you play the Boss Monster and do your best to kill the adventurers as they try and make their way through your dungeon.

  30. A strong seconding of Dead of Winter by Plaid Hat Games. If you enjoyed Betrayal at House on the Hill, you’ll like Dead of Winter. Seriously fun!

  32. Wow, a lot of people recommending games that definitely DON’T fit the above criteria.

    Here are some of my recommendations:

    Cosmic Encounter
    Boss Monster
    Rampage
    Ca$h ‘n Guns
    Pathfinder Adventure Card Game
    Coup
    Rise of Augustus
    Infiltration
    Hanabi
    Flash Point: Fire Rescue
    Thebes

  33. Hello Wil,

    I think Arctic Scavengers would be a great game to be played on TableTop.

    It is a deck building game, BUT it has more player interaction than many other deck builders.

    It similar to dominion with a static set of cards in the middle that players can buy from, but adds the ability to search through and draw another deck of cards(the Junkyard) that no player controls.

    The major component of the game that would make for some interesting interaction is the skirmish that takes place at the end of every round. Every card that a player chooses not to play they can hold back for the skirmish. Once everyone is done they cards are revealed and whoever has the most fight wins the top deck of the contested resource deck.

    This makes for a very tense situation of seeing that the first player decided to hold back all of their cards, and thinking “Did they just hold back a bunch of weak cards to try and bluff me, or do they really want what’s on top of the contested resource pile.”

    Thank you for your time

  35. Quarriors by WizKids! I love that it has some pretty deep strategy, but that can completely be overshadowed by the luck of rolling dice. Plus, dice. Lots of dice.

  36. Quite frankly I’d like to see at least one episode dedicated to shorter games. You’ve done them in the past but there are still some great games like Coup and Loveletter that could be compiled into a single episode. You could play a few rounds of each and fit 2 or 3 games into a single episode.

  37. I feel lame with only two suggestions, but here goes: Villainous Vikings. Awesome new game that lets you battle your way to Ragnarok, and who doesn’t love that? It’s a smaller indy game, so I think it’d be great to see it on your show as not a lot of people know about it’s awesomeness. The other is Flash Point: Fire Rescue, which other people have already chimed in on.

  38. I submit Suburbia, published by bezier games. It’s very visually attractive as each player is expanding and customizing their own little city with nice colorful hexagon tiles. The story telling possibilities are huge as you start placing tiles, avoiding placing the landfill next to anything important, or plopping a fast food restaurant next to all the residential.

    Plays well with 4, rules can be summarized in 5 minutes (but more details for players will be required), and plays within 90 min. Luck isn’t very high as it is mostly presented as lucky opportunities rather than randomness.

    I’ll highlight alien frontiers and guillotine from other suggestions I’ve seen.

  39. Kill Doctor Lucky (Cheapass games/Piazo games)
    Red Dragon Inn (Slugfest games)
    Unexploded cow (cheapass games)

  42. Wil! I’ll send this to your twitter as well, but I definitely have some suggestions!

    I’d love to see you guys try Legendary, Marvel’s Deckbuilding game. Easy to explain, relatively quick to play, semi-co-op. And I think you with a group could bring a lot of flair to the Marvel game.

    This isn’t a short game and would probably never happen in any universe, but it’d be awesome to see you guys try the Firefly game. Better still if you have any contact with the original actors…

    And… and… Aw, nuts. All the other games I’d love to see you guys play are a bit too long.

    I’ll need to come back with more suggestions very soon…

  43. Sentinels of the Multiverse! Awesome coop superhero card game, really creative and fun!

  44. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (works fine with 4 players and one scenario is played in about max. 90 minutes, looks cool, different kind of game, luck-strategy. Also, chance to roleplay 😉 )

    -Guillotine (funny, fast-paced card game)

    -Condottiere (again with smaller card game where you try to conquer Italy)

    -Smash Up with both expansions (The Obligatory Cthulhu Set and Awesome Level 9000)

  45. I’d recommend Seasons by Asmodee. Its a combination of a Dice and Card game. It can be explained very quickly as well. At its simplest, you roll dice to gain resources, you spend those resources to play cards which give you points and sometimes more resources. It gets deeper though with the combinations of cards, smart resource selection, etc…
    The artwork on the cards is great. The dice are custom with their own iconography to show which resources you get. Gameplay with 4 people would probably take an hour. The game normally has a card drafting phase at the beginning but that could be cut in favor of the pre-selected decks in the rule book which are designed for first time players. There is some player interaction with some cards affecting the other players or the other player stealing the die you really wanted. It is just a good time.

  46. Flash Point: Fire Rescue

    Pandemic with both expansions – I think this would be sufficiently different from just the base game

    Guilds of Cadwallon

    Hanabi

    Dungeon Roll

    Yggdrasil

  47. I love Stone Age! And it has the well-known element of dice-rolling ruining your strategy.

  48. Shinobi Wat-Aah by iello games is a fantastic game that meets all of your requirements. Plays 2-4, 60 min play time, there are mechanics to keep everyone in the game until the very end, very easy to learn and teach, and the artwork is beautiful.

  49. Fluxx might work. Maybe one of the themed versions would be visually interesting enough. It plays fast (or can) but you’d probably have to keep flashing to new goals or keep them on-screen. Aw, give the editors (more) to do.

  50. My dream season 3 would look like this:
    Bang! The Dice Game (Bang! is great, but I prefer Bang! The Dice Game, as it is more streamlined. Great hidden roles. Plays fast, but is always a blast.)
    Coup (Great bluffing game. short enough that would likely have to be combined with another short game.)
    Flash Point: Fire Rescue (One of my personal favorite co-ops. Great boards. Cool roles. The players reaction whenever anything explodes would be great.)
    Forbidden Desert (Forbidden Island was on the show before. This is different enough that it would be a great addition. Fun to see people plan strategies and freak out as things start to go awry.)
    Ghost Stories (Fantastic Co-op. Difficult, but not impossible to win. Components are gorgeous. A great game that is fun even though you lose most of the time)
    Hanabi (Always fun when the audience knows more than the people involved. Talking has never been an issue when playing this game with friends. Fun and quick)
    Jamaica (Beautiful board and components. High luck to strategy intersection. Seeing people constantly battle would be great.)
    Mice and Mystics (Personal favorite. You could play any one of the chapters and it would be great)
    Niagara (Spiele des Jahres winner that I don’t believe gets enough love. Fun game. Looks great. Light but does require a bit of strategy)
    Red Dragon Inn (The explanation of the game would be hilarious. The player interactions would be great. I could see people really getting into their characters. Player elimination, but I’ve never had someone eliminated super early into a game.)
    Revolution! (I worry about bidding games in this format, but I think this would work. People could try to guess what others are doing and could try to block them. One of my favorite SJ games)
    Seasons (Looks great. Very fun. Would require a bit more strategy, but would be fun to watch them play.)
    Sentinels of the Multiverse (Great card game. I can already imagine the players geeking out on their heroes and their powers.)
    Shadow Hunters (Hidden roles. Great interaction between players. Looks great. Resistance did well and I think this would be great addition.)
    Snow Tails (Fun racing game that would look great on the table. Would be fun seeing the players freak out when they are close to hitting a tree.)
    Splendor (One of the best games to have come out last year. Many different strategies to win. Quality components. Should’ve won the Spiele des Jahres.)
    Steam Park (Again, looks beautiful. Game is a load of fun. Relatively easy to explain.)
    Survive: Escape from Atlantis (The reprint has some quality components. Fun game. Would be a good example of an older game that still holds up)
    Tokaido (Gotta love Antoine Bauza. You could even use the Felicia promo from Tabletop Day. Takenoko was a hit and I could see this one doing well.)
    Zooloretto (Former Spiele des Jahres winner. Either the board game or dice game would work. Fun. Light. Easy to teach. Easy to get into. If the dice game is used, it could be combined with Coloretto)

    1. Alternatives:
      For Sale / Incan Gold / Botswana (Gryphon game night. All are great, semi-light card games. For Sale has great interaction during the bidding. Incan Gold has a great push your luck sense of dread. Botswana is cute but requires some deduction. Each one takes about 20 minutes so could potentially be in a single episode, but any two of the three would be awesome.)
      Hey! That’s My Fish! / Dweebies / Sushi Go (It was stated that Wil Wheaton wanted to do an episode with kids as the guests. These are all great kid-friendly games.)
      The Adventurers: The Temple of Chac (I prefer this over The Pyramid of Horus, though either would work. Fortune and Glory was played on the show last season which this is similar to in theme; however, this is a bit quicker and lighter and would look great on the show.)
      Augustus (Turns Bingo into a fun and strategic game. Good luck-to-strategy ratio. Easy to learn. Fun and quick to play.)
      Avalon (The Resistance re-themed. Includes new character cards and is different enough that it could work even though you already played The Resistance in an earlier season.)
      Cinque Terre (Beautiful Pick-up and Deliver game. Looks great. Good luck-to-strategy ratio. Great intro to that particular game mechanic. Santiago de Cuba would works as well.)
      City of Horror ( Gotta love zombies. Personally, I prefer this over Zombicide, but either one would be fun to watch.)
      Deadwood (Fun worker placement. Cool board. I like how the players can have their workers affect other player’s workers.)
      Dice Town (Fun dice rolling game that combines yahtzee and poker. Making poker hands is fun. Bribing the sheriff can get intense.)
      Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards (Fantastic game! Great player interactions. My one concern is that it may become repetitive. Also, not very kid friendly, but neither is Cards Against Humanity.)
      Faux•Cabulary (Similar to Apples to Apples, but you create your own words. Some of the combinations you can come up with are hilarious.)
      Guillotine (Classic game. Just the right amount of morbid. Can be a short or longer game depending on the cards played.)
      Inkognito (Cute little deduction game. Neat board, though may be a little busy. Would be fun watching the players figure out who their partner is.)
      Last Will (Brewster’s Millions the board game. Spend all your money first to attain your inheritance. Looks great. relatively easy to learn.)
      Lost Cities Board Game (Re-implements Keltis– a former Spiele des Jahres winner. Always fun to play. Great to look at. goof amount of luck-to-strategy.)
      Saboteur ( Fun, light card game with hidden roles which rotate by round. Can be a shorter or longer game depending on the players. Could possibly be combined into an episode with No Thanks.)
      Samurai Sword (Bang!, but with samurais and ninjas. In essence– Bang!, but better.)
      Stone Age (Light worker placement. Great intro to this style of game. Board looks great. Always a fun game to bring out.)
      Telestrations (Pictionary meets telephone. Great party game. Always a hit. The scoring aspect is kind of weak. Half the time, we don’t pay attention to who “wins” the game. Only issue is that it is usually better with more people.)
      Wasabi (Who doesn’t love sushi? Great tile-laying game. Neat pieces. Light. Fun.)

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