The Spiel

A special holiday game gift guide! Over 50 game recommendations for gamers of all ages and games of all flavors.

All class, no bums. We play two prize fighting games: Buccaneer and Aqua Romana, both runners up for the 2006 Spiel des Jahres, the German Game of the Year.

Shuffle up, and deal! We look back 400 years to play Scopa, a classic card game that feels modern and then play Parlay, the secret love-child of Scrabble and Poker.

George Romero would be proud. First we hack our way through waves of the living dead in Zombies Widescreen Edition and then we play poker as zombies in Dead Money. Just remember to aim for the head!

Grab your garlic and wooden stakes, we take a trip through Transylvania to play Vampire Hunter and Dawn Under. Who says the undead are no fun?

But wait, there's more! Our first all expansion edition. We play cards with green haired punk hobbits in Blue Moon and take on a weather changing beaver in Spirits of Niagara.

Strap on the mailbag and hitch up the wagon! We deliver our verdict on Thurn & Taxis, the 2006 Spiel de Jahres winner, and Big Top, a circus themed variant of a card game classic.

A Rio Grande Games extravaganza! Listen for a play test report on five new games from Rio and then our interview with Jay Tummelson, the founder of the company and architect of the euro game revolution.

Nerd up! Put on your badges and head for the dealers room, we're going to give you a geek's eye view of Gen Con, the world's largest game convention.

Release the Kraken! We take an in-depth look at Mare Nostrum with the Mythology Expansion and go for a short cruise with Reiner Knizia's Loot.

Put on your Deerstalker and massage those grey cells, we dive into three mystery games: Inkognito, Mystery on the Nile, and 221 B Baker St.

Serfs up! Get ready for guild power struggles and try to keep your farmers our of prison. We take on Flandern 1302 and Carcassonne: The Tower, two medieval themed games where the peasants, the meeples, take center stage.

Two bargains, one steal. From the high seas to ancient jungle temples, we fight our way through Tortuga and strike gold with Monkey Mission.

We play our way from the past to the future, covering Klaus Teuber's Anno 1503 and Richard Garfield's Rocketville. Two great designers, but alas, only one great game.

We circle the wagons to play Go West and then head for Sid Sackson's Bazaar. The title, you ask? Dave has a Lactaid moment discussing dice games.

Let slip the dogs of war. We play a card game that combines an early Renaissance war with poker. Seriously. We're not kidding. We also play Clippers. Be glad it was us and not you!

Crack open that bottle of Cabernet and pass the Camembert! We play and discuss Louis XIV, an influence based, tile-flipping game from Alea/Rio Grande Games. Truckloads of Goober makes its debut with Britannia.

The original pilot for the Spiel was lost, so this is our fresh start! You'll find out who's behind the Spiel and why we're doing this. We discuss/review Trias & King of the Beasts, the two latest games off The List, our decade old challenge is to play down our ever-growing list of unplayed games. We also discuss new game releases, and introduce several new segments including the Backshelf Spotlight, Truckloads of Goober, and the Game Sommelier.