Tabletop Season 4: Status Update

Reader T asked me in an email if there were any updates about, or news I could share about Tabletop Season 4. T mentioned that he liked the constant updates Geek & Sundry sent out during the production process of last season, and that he missed that sort of thing.

I began to reply that there “isn’t much to share, because there isn’t that much going on, except” … and then I wrote a bunch of stuff that disproved my original thought.

So, considering that T may not be the only person on this planet who wants to know what’s going on with Season 4, here’s the stuff that’s going on with Tabletop Season 4 which can be announced now:

We’ve taken a longer than usual hiatus because I was burned out, frustrated and unhappy after a really terrible experience with a (formerly) trusted friend last season, and wondering if I even wanted to do another season of the show. After a long hiatus that has allowed me to work on other things and rediscover the joy of playing games for the sake of playing games, as well as time to heal the wounds from Season 3, I’m back to work with my team, and starting to get things together for Season 4. We are in the game review process right now. From an original list of over 450 submissions, we’re actively play testing about 85 games, and that will be reduced to 18 or 20 games for the season. It’s 18 or 20 because we’ll probably do another one or two episodes that are two parts, but we won’t know for sure until we get down to about 20 games.

We’re not going to do gag reels and stuff this season. I don’t think they’re necessary, and they’re more trouble than they’re worth. We’ll still have a bi-weekly release schedule. I’m not sure if there will be something different to release on the off weeks.

One of the biggest changes this season affects me on a personal level as well as a professional one. We have asked the game publishers to send someone from their company to consult with us on rules and gameplay during production, so we don’t have to rely on one person to know the minutiae of 18 to 20 different games.

We are going to focus primarily on boardgames, as usual, but I have a couple of RPGs on my list that I really like, that I think could be really fun to showcase. We’re also going to look at more family games than we have in the past, because it turns out that families who watch together make up an enormous part of our audience. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to choose “kiddie” games, but that I’m looking at games that are fun for parents and kids to play together. For example, Tsuro, Ticket to Ride and Sushi Go! are all games that are really fun for adults and kids to play together, but they’re also fun for just adults to play together.

I have chosen two games already. They are Lanterns and Code Names. I’m also looking very seriously at Tiny Epic Galaxies.
We are planning to go into production near the end of April. We’re going to shoot for three weeks instead of two, so our schedule is a little less grueling. We don’t have an official release date, but I think the first episode of the season will be around the beginning of June.So, as you can see, maybe there’s more to share than I thought, and there it is. Play more games!!

 

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291 thoughts on “Tabletop Season 4: Status Update”

  1. Fantastic to hear, definitely looking forward to this.

    Any idea if you’ll do any extended/uncut episodes this time around? Obviously it depends on what games are picked but it’s something I missed in season 3 and there’s a few games I’d like to see played in full.

  2. For the record, I love the gag reels. I know that means more editing and work for the production crew, so that’s your call. However, seeing candid moments with you and your guests really draws me into the experience. Just my opinion.

  3. Thank you for sharing this Wil, there’s a lot of us who’ve been curious but at the end of the day this is your show and it should be done your way. I look forward to seeing it in June 😊
    Would you ever consider doing a mini series of a game like Pandemic Legacy, something longer term but still unique depending on the people playing?

  4. Thanks for the update! Looking forward to another great season of TableTop! (BTW, I also go back and re-watch previous episodes with great enjoyment.)

  8. Three things Wil: 1. My birthday is June 6. A first episode any time afound then is fine, thanks. 2. Please do another after dark episode. 3. Please tag your spoilers.

  9. Currently playing Letters from Whitechapel and reading this made me sooooo happy! Thanks for the update!!

  14. Thanks for the update, and I’m so glad to not only hear you’re sticking with it, but also to see the changes you’ve made to make the show even better. Just responding to change and doing what is needed is like changing a dressing on a bad injury, having it flushed out with a stinging antiseptic, but knowing in the end that it will be healed.

  16. If you aren’t going to do the gag reels, maybe you could leave a lot of that fun stuff in the show. I’d rather have a longer episode than completely miss out on the bloopers.

  17. I also love the gag reels, but obviously, if it can’t be done while saving everyone’s sanity, so be it. Mental health first.

  18. This makes me very happy. I’m so glad you’ve found your love of games again and will be sharing it with the rest of us. My fiancé and I have many of the games played in the first 3 seasons only because we were able to watch them be played before buying them. Games that I thought I wouldn’t enjoy are actually some of my favorites. We’re looking forward to another season with awesome new guests.

    Play more games!

  19. It’s awesome that you’re doing another season.
    I love board games, and look forward to playing them with my kids when they’re old enough. I’ve always a bit nervous about just picking up a new game, though, because there wasn’t really a way to try before you buy. But then I found Tabletop, and now I can see how gameplay works before heading out to the local game store. Of course, there are also game pubs opening up all over the place now, but I haven’t been to one yet.

    Your show is a boon to game designers, for getting people interested in their games, and it’s fantastic for gamers to see games they might not have thought about before (though it can be hard on our bank accounts).

    That said, when you and the crew decide to call it quits on Tabletop, it’ll be a sad day, but I think we’ll all make it through. After all, it’s all on-line, and you can’t stop the signal.

    Be the light,
    KG

  20. So happy to hear that TT Season 4 is on the horizon! You have convinced me through this show to purchase many different games that I otherwise may not have heard of. Also allowed me to learn the rules for some games that I play but don’t think I’m playing correctly! You are awesome Wil! if you ever need someone to play games with on the show, I’d be glad to play! 🙂

  21. I’m so happy to hear you’re going to have a Season 4. More exciting is that you’ll do some family-oriented games. Just the other day, when my kids (ages 8,8,8, and 5) were asking me to teach them a new game that we’d gotten for the holidays and I called me for the holidays, I called my husband and said, “PLEASE TELL ME THAT WIL WHEATON HAS DONE AN EPISODE OF TABLETOP ON FAMILY-ORIENTED GAMES!!!” You hadn’t done the game we were playing, but he did remind me about Sushi Go! and Ticket to Ride. Those are on our list to pick up soon. 🙂 Thanks for taking this project on again.

  23. Codenames! Good call, that is a great game. Smart idea to have a consultant from the game developer rulecheck for you. I love elegant solutions like that.

  24. Wil,

    I’m very glad that you are working on a new season of Tabletop. This show brought me back to board games after many, many years, which in turn allowed me to spend more time with good friends. Thank you for that!

    I also wanted to relay something I observed yesterday, at a new game store (Family Time Games, Indianapolis, IN) that opened in November of this year:

    It was my first visit to the store, so I was having a good look around. Several other customers were there, including a father and son (who was probably 8 years old). The son excitedly showed his dad a couple of games that caught his eye, and they were talking about which one to buy. The lady who co-owns the store checked in with them, and suggested another game. The son said “Oh yes! We saw that one on Tabletop, but I’m not quite old enough for it yet.”

    Congratulations, sir. You’re allowing people to share their love of games with their family.

    All the best in 2016, and Play More Games!

  25. I’m delighted to read that there will be a season 4 of tabletop, but also saddened that there were experiences that made you want to walk away from it all. I love that there will be some more family friendly games considered. We limit what our 3YO watches but he has watched a good deal of tabletop and I think that’s part of the reason that he already loves playing games. Also games are such a great way for families to spend quality time together.

    I hope you have fun with the game selection, and I am secretly hoping for some co-operative games in there. We have recently been playing Mysterium and The Undercity which are both co-op games and they have been heaps of fun

    Thanks for all the work you and your team put into the show.

  26. The other thing I like about the “family shows” is they help me find games I would want to bust out when my mother visits and it’s either that or keep talking about when my wife and I are going to oh god why did I suggest she visit us again where is my scotch

  27. That sounds great. I did feel Season 3 was a little bloated – really enjoyed it but not as much as seasons 1 & 2. Getting people in from the companies producing the games is a great idea – they must realise what a boost to their sales the show is. And as for Tiny Epic Galaxies- that is a yes from me. It is a great little game where it’s depth and strategy is greater than its size.

    I would also suggest ‘Port Royal’ a game that everyone I have introduced to loves and is so cheap £10 (UK) making Smash Up stupidly over priced it is a must for anyone’s collection. The card explanation is much like 7 Wonders – a bit mind-boggling but after a few turns the penny drops and people love it. 7 Wonders is also an amazing game where the card explanation can be a good 10minutes but every game I have played with new people has ended with a plea to have another game – it really is that good.

  28. Thank you Wil! My 3 year old son loves to watch table top with us and has shown a very big interest in games. We’ve played tiny epic galaxies and love it. Very much recommend.

    1. It’s actually been two games (episodes) a day for ten days, shot in two weeks with two days off in between. We had to shoot it like that because of our budget, and because we shot on location. For the next season, we can shoot on a stage at Legendary that we own, so we won’t have to pay a location fee, and we can have a more realistic schedule that doesn’t grind me down to nothing by the seventh day of production.

  30. Wil,
    Great to hear about season 4 of Tabletop.

    Tabletop has introduced me, and by extension my friends and family, to some great games ovet the last few years. My Daughter loves Sushi Go, Ticket to Ride, Forbidden Island/Desert and Tsuro. Thank you for creating such a great show, and encouraging us all to play more games!!

  32. I love when you did some of the extended episode that show more of the game play over the cut down version for the normal show. I know you can’t do that for every game but it was nice from time to time.

    1. I second that, Zeb, I loved the extended shows – it taught me more about playing the games than the cut down versions – which are still great and give a perfect feel for games – I can not fault anything about the show!

      The only thing the show can not fully do is project, and that is no fault of the show, how enjoyable some of the outwardly some of the really simple game-mechanic games actually are: on watching Tsuro it felt like a simple tile laying game on a small board that had no real point but when I played it it was a beautiful game of nice subtle tile laying with enjoyable strategy increasing with more players and is a game I’ve ‘sold’ to a few people in stores I have been in.

      And Tokaido which looked a very pedestrian game with not much point turned out to be the most amazing game with no dice, no cards for movement and an absolutely literally pedestrian stroll across Japan where strategy all depends on the character you choose at the start and how far you choose to move along the road. I played it a few weeks ago and I’m still blown away by it especially as it is designed by Antoine Bauza who designed the evil Ghost Stories; a game probably too hardcore for Tabletop.

      Even if the extended version was more basic mostly full table shot ignoring cut a-ways to single players and the individual ‘thought interview’ shots explaining what people were doing at certain points.

      Wil – just keep going we love it and we love you…and enjoy your burrito.

  33. All that really matters is that you do the best you can for us fans. I looked up what happened last season and I get the frustration. That is all in the past though and it seems like things are looking up. I’m looking forward to season 4 and I hope things work out better for you this go round

  34. Good to hear. Really like the look of Lanterns myself, so glad that made the cut, and recently played Codenames for the first time, I can see why you picked it.

    I tend to agree about the gag reels. Since these posts do seem to clarify people are really interested in the process as well as the product, any chance of doing some kind of fly-on-the-wall ‘making of’ a Tabletop as an extra feature?

    Does the ‘…and stuff’ also imply no long cuts of some games? I have enjoyed those, and it seems a shame to leave good footage on the floor if you are cutting for a comfortable watching length.

  35. Sounds good, if its not too late I’d also recommend Cacao, Loop Inc and New York 1901, they’d work great with TableTop’s format.

  36. Bigger episodes please, it doesnt need to be uncut, but 45 mins – 1 hour at least, some ep from last season were like 25 mins.

    Another thing PLEASE, WE NEED ANOTHER NSFW EPISODE. Or 2.

  37. SOOO glad to hear all of this, except the part about an old friend/falling out . That sucks. But I’ve b en missing my TableTop fix, and I can’t wait! Happy 2016, Wil!

  38. Wonderful news! We played Lanterns last weekend with our 9 year old. Loved it. We love that so many of the games we have are aged 8+, now it’s just a matter of finding a theme he likes.

  39. Thanks Wil. Really appreciate the family focus. My kids love the show and it’s a great chance for us to come together as a family and play the games we see you play.

  40. I know it will make it more difficult, but Code Names with less than 6 people is an exercise in futility.

    1. We’ve been playing it with 4, and it’s been a lot of fun. We’ll try it with 6 tonight, and I’ll take note of any meaningful differences in play.

  41. Awesome to hear its coming back. You know what I really want to know something about though is Titan’s Grave coming back and will the cast be back together. I really got into that show more than any of the hot shows for geeks that came out that year. Game of Thrones can get cancelled all it wants but give me some more Titan’s Grave please :).

  43. I think Thunderbirds is a great one to do. It’s a extremely fun game, and I think the visuals and movement of the characters can make for an interesting show. On top of that, it’s the right length for the games you usually do. The game definitely deserves more attention that it’s received so far. It’s different enough to Pandemic (Matt Leacock designed it – you can see similarities)

    I can already imagine you doing voices for all the various disasters and schemes.

    1. I’m looking at it. I love the theme, I love Matt, but I hate dice, and I’m not sure that I’ll be able to get past that aspect of the game. But, I haven’t played it, yet, and I’m giving it a fair chance when I do.

      1. Thanks for considering Thunderbirds. A large part of the game is reducing what you need to roll on the dice. Of course, it’s always frustrating when you do planning and roll two Hood icons.

  44. This is great news. Thanks for sharing it, and thanks for the work still to come for Season 4. I love Tabletop and have really been missing it, so this really makes me smile. Happy New Year!

  45. Please do Tiny Epic Galaxies. Scott Almes and Gamelyn Games really put out top quality, well play-tested games and I’ve felt that they don’t get a fair shake very often. I put their stuff in the top 10% of games I play because they are so well balanced and fun and replayable.

    Also, I’d love to see a good group of Tabletoppers play Ghost Stories. It would be awesome to watch some of the show’s regulars squirm through it.

  46. I’m sure you have already chosen games, but would it be possible to show some nice 2 player games? My husband and I love to play games but find it hard to find good games where the both of us could play without special rules. Usually our go to games are just reading the cards from trivia games like Geek Out or Trivial Persuit.

  47. Happy New Year, Wil! Thank you for the update.

    Please know that Season 3 was almost entirely responsible for getting me into the hobby and starting my collection. I am glad to hear Season 4 is on its way!

  48. Glad you took the hiatus you needed. Tabletop brings so much joy to so many people…you should be one of those people too!

  49. This makes me really happy Wil, I was afraid you might not being doing anymore and I would have missed it. Also I say heck yes to including Tiny Epic Galaxies, it has been one the the most consistently enjoyed games during my game night gatherings as of late. Cheers to you and yours and I hope you have a very Happy New Year Wil!

  50. Bowlergirl86, my husband and I play a lot of bananagram and make up our own rules sometimes. For example, player must have two seasonal words as well as a color, etc. in addition to using up 30 tiles before calling “peel”.

    Will, I really enjoy Tabletop. Thank you for doing it. I feel bad that you had a bad time last year. Games should be fun. Take your time and enjoy. Two per day is too much.

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