0:13

Hello and welcome. I'm

0:13

Rachel.

0:15

I'm Jake,

0:16

and we're so bored. The

0:16

Podcast where each episode we

0:20

take a close look at a tabletop

0:20

game and discuss our personal

0:24

experiences with said game to

0:24

help answer the question. Well,

0:27

this year our

0:28

boredom. That's right, we

0:28

look at the mechanics complexity

0:31

and replayability in a game to

0:31

determine if it's the perfect

0:33

alternative to, let's say,

0:33

sitting in the hot car at the

0:37

pharmacy for 40 minutes while

0:37

waiting in line to pick up your

0:39

prescription refills, only to

0:39

find out they refilled the wrong

0:43

medication and you'll have to go

0:43

back in a few days. That sucks.

0:48

Well, shame on me, I guess for

0:48

assuming that they would fill

0:51

the right medication.

0:52

Why is your car so hot?

0:54

It only gets cool when I'm

0:54

moving. I don't know why.

0:58

That sounds like you

0:58

don't have AC and you just have

1:01

like a convertible top. But no,

1:01

no wind blows. When you're

1:06

moving. That's what I've got air.

1:08

I have AC and it gets

1:08

cold. It's just not blowing cold

1:13

when I'm not moving. I don't know.

1:14

That's really weird.

1:14

Yeah. Okay, car experts. Contact

1:19

us. Tell us what's going on with Jake's car.

1:21

We had to fix it. Because

1:21

it's gonna be 120 here soon.

1:25

Yeah, seriously. Okay.

1:25

So before we get started, we

1:29

just want to let everyone know

1:29

that we are streaming board

1:33

games on our Twitch channel,

1:33

which is so bored podcast. So

1:37

twitch.tv/snowboard podcast last

1:37

week, we streamed spirit Island,

1:44

which was a lot of fun. I mean,

1:44

it was our second time playing.

1:47

I was honestly expecting to lose

1:47

because we were going to be

1:50

playing on the harder mode. And

1:50

we eked out a victory. Yeah,

1:55

barely.

1:56

Remember, we had one more

1:56

turn. I think before we were

1:59

ousted?

1:59

Yeah, it felt good. It

1:59

was really fun. And tomorrow, I

2:03

think, Ooh, big surprise. We

2:03

might have a guest on the show.

2:07

I think we're gonna have a guest

2:07

on the show, unless something

2:11

changes. But I think we're going

2:11

to have a guest come and play a

2:15

board game with us on our Twitch

2:15

channel, someone that you've

2:17

heard about someone we've talked

2:17

about. So yeah, let's see how

2:23

that goes.

2:24

Yeah. And we are planning

2:24

on playing abomination tomorrow.

2:27

That is very exciting. Because

2:27

it's

2:30

a great game. Yes. The

2:30

air of Frankenstein.

2:33

It's good game. I'm a fan.

2:33

I've never lost it. So

2:39

we may need to play with

2:39

one of the variants though. So

2:42

I'm not know. We'll see false.

2:42

It's a long game.

2:46

I mean, we started a

2:46

little earlier and we go a

2:50

little late.

2:50

Yeah. Okay, we'll see.

2:50

That's my plan. All right. What

2:54

other streaming things have we got going on?

2:56

Other streaming things? I

2:56

am streaming on a semi regular

3:00

basis. I update my schedule on

3:00

Twitch every Sunday to reflect

3:05

the coming week. So I've been

3:05

doing a lot of retro streams

3:09

lately. So we did Banjo Kazooie

3:09

we did Legend of Zelda Majora s

3:13

mask. Now we're doing winwaker.

3:13

And we're also doing a Lord of

3:18

the Rings turn based combat game

3:18

from 2004. Which is incredible.

3:22

He loved it so much. If you feel

3:22

like that would be entertaining

3:24

to watch. Come check it out. My

3:24

channel is naughty Doc 541.

3:28

That's NAU gh t y de OC. By four

3:28

one.

3:33

Now let me ask something

3:33

but sure. At what point do you

3:36

cross the line from retro into

3:36

whatever comes after retro

3:40

current?

3:41

I mean, yeah, current? I

3:41

mean,

3:43

where's that line drawn?

3:44

These games are 20 years

3:44

old or more?

3:47

No, I'm not questioning

3:47

whether these ones are retro.

3:50

I'm just wondering like if you

3:50

keep playing all the Zelda

3:52

games, which Zelda game is no

3:52

longer retro

3:55

Breath of the Wild for

3:55

sure is no longer retro. Okay,

3:58

but like Twilight

3:58

Princess would be retro.

4:01

Hang on. Let's check that.

4:02

Okay. I mean, you don't

4:02

have to have a definitive answer

4:06

right now. I was just curious.

4:06

Let's

4:09

see here. Princess was

4:09

released in 2006. So I think

4:12

that would still be considered

4:12

retro. But something like

4:15

Skyward Sword which was released

4:15

in 2011. That's pushing it to no

4:20

longer be retro. Okay,

4:21

so like 10 years old is

4:21

kind of where the line is. Yeah,

4:25

I think so. Okay. Yeah. I

4:25

think that that's pretty

4:27

accurate.

4:28

That makes Kingdom

4:28

Hearts wanting to retro games.

4:32

Yeah, it does. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna play. I'm not does it? Okay, you

4:35

don't have to. I'm just

4:35

saying, Are you going to I love

4:38

Kingdom Hearts too. I go back

4:38

and play it once every couple of

4:42

years. So I mean, I wouldn't be

4:42

surprised if I eventually do

4:45

that.

4:45

Well, we can do that. We

4:45

know how to set that up. Yeah.

4:49

I mean, I still have a

4:49

PlayStation two and the disc

4:52

also

4:52

so I know. And we have an

4:52

HD on my upscaler

4:55

Yeah. Okay. Anyway,

4:55

enough about video games. This

4:58

is a board game podcast. True.

4:58

And lastly, there is just a

5:02

couple of days left in our

5:02

viticulture giveaway you've got

5:06

until June 10. So if you've

5:06

somehow missed it, you didn't

5:10

pay attention to the last two

5:10

episodes, we are giving away a

5:13

copy of viticulture by stone

5:13

Meyer games. This is a really

5:18

great little game about making

5:18

wine. It's a lot of fun work

5:22

replacement. It's really a cool

5:22

game. So check out our Facebook

5:26

page. And pinned right to the

5:26

top is the gleam giveaway. So

5:31

you can click on that and see

5:31

all the different ways that you

5:33

can enter. It's all free and we

5:33

will ship to anywhere in the

5:37

world unless it has like

5:37

shipping restrictions from the

5:41

United States. So it's pretty

5:41

open. So yeah, go check that

5:45

out.

5:45

Absolutely. Get yourself a

5:45

free copy of viticulture on us.

5:49

Yeah. All right. What

5:49

are we talking about today?

5:51

Well, we

5:51

already talked about video

5:51

games. So I think we need to

5:54

talk about a board game now.

5:54

Probably Probably. We're talking

5:59

about azul today. Zoo Azul was

5:59

released in 2017. By next move

6:06

and plan B games designed by

6:06

Michael Kiessling, with art by

6:10

Philippe Guerin and Chris

6:10

Williams, this game is based off

6:15

art pieces isolate hosts from

6:15

the Spanish Moors, the

6:18

Portuguese King Manuel, the

6:18

first was so struck with these

6:21

pieces in the El hombre, that he

6:21

ordered his own palace to be

6:25

decorated. Similarly, in this

6:25

game, you are a tile laying

6:28

artists working to complete the

6:28

works of art in King Manuel's

6:32

palace. And this game is an

6:32

award winning game very highly

6:36

rated, and has been nominated

6:36

for a ton of awards and has won

6:39

no less than 19 of these

6:39

nominations.

6:42

Yeah, it's pretty

6:42

awesome. This is a short and

6:44

sweet game. It's something that

6:44

can definitely be played in less

6:46

than 45 minutes. But it's one of

6:46

my favorite like filler games.

6:51

Which by that I mean like, you

6:51

know, the stuff that qualifies

6:55

in the short and sweet category

6:55

like, oh, you know, we have a

6:59

little bit of time left in our

6:59

game night, not enough to play

7:02

like a full blown two hour game.

7:02

But hey, let's pull up a Zul

7:06

real quick. Definitely one of my

7:06

favorites. Yeah, this is a great

7:09

game. All right, we're gonna do

7:09

our best to describe the setup

7:15

of this. But this game is very

7:15

visual, we've definitely played

7:19

it on our streaming channel

7:19

before. And I'm sure we'll play

7:23

it on there again. So just keep

7:23

in mind, I guess, like we're

7:28

doing our best to visually

7:28

describe this to you in podcast

7:30

form.

7:31

Yeah,

7:32

so your goal of the game

7:32

is to earn the most victory

7:36

points by decorating a wall with

7:36

these beautiful Spanish tiles,

7:41

every player will get a board,

7:41

the board has a scoring section

7:46

up at the top. So it's literally

7:46

just like a bunch of lines of

7:50

squares 1234, counting up to I

7:50

don't know, 100 or something,

7:54

yes to 100. So that's at the

7:54

top. And then in the center,

7:58

you've got kind of two things,

7:58

you've got something on the left

8:01

and on the right. So on the

8:01

right, you've got your wall,

8:06

this is the different patterns

8:06

that you are like trying to lay

8:12

your tiles into. And so you've

8:12

got five rows and five columns.

8:17

And each row has a different

8:17

unique like pattern on it. And

8:23

so, you know, we'll talk about

8:23

the tile patterns in a second

8:26

here, what those look like,

8:26

basically, there's only one tile

8:30

of each pattern that will fit in

8:30

each row on the wall. So that's

8:34

over on the right, on the left,

8:34

you've got these different lines

8:38

counting up from like, the top

8:38

row has one square, the next row

8:44

down has two squares three down

8:44

to five. And these are the lines

8:48

where you're basically like

8:48

accumulating or paying a cost to

8:53

place one of these tiles on the

8:53

wall in that row, if that makes

8:57

sense. So what you're wanting to

8:57

do is fill up those lines, all

9:02

with the same tile design. And

9:02

once that line is filled, you

9:07

can move one of those tiles over

9:07

into that spot that matches that

9:12

pattern on the wall. So the last

9:12

row is the most expensive to

9:16

fill, you need to collect five

9:16

tiles of the same pattern in

9:19

order to be able to place one

9:19

tile on the wall, right at the

9:23

bottom of the board is just this

9:23

other section of like, you know,

9:27

spots that you can place tiles,

9:27

it's called the floor. And so

9:30

basically any extra tiles that

9:30

you get, like say you have six

9:34

of the same pattern, but you're

9:34

putting them in the row that

9:37

fits five, you've got one extra

9:37

tile, that one tile falls on the

9:41

floor and is worth negative

9:41

points when you get to the

9:45

scoring section.

9:46

Yes. So the way that

9:46

you're going to be accumulating

9:49

these tiles is from the factory.

9:49

The factory is made up of these

9:53

small circular boards that go

9:53

into the middle of the table and

9:57

the number of these circles

9:57

depends On the number of players

10:01

in the game, so the more players

10:01

you have, the more circles you

10:03

have. Each circle is given for

10:03

randomly placed tiles that are

10:09

pulled from a thick canvas bag.

10:09

And in order to take tiles from

10:14

these, you will pick a factory

10:14

or a board, and you will grab

10:19

all of the same style of tile,

10:19

there are five different tiles

10:24

that are available to you. There

10:24

is a solid blue one, a solid red

10:28

one, there is a yellow with a

10:28

red pattern on it. There is a

10:32

black with a kind of teal

10:32

turquoise pattern on it. And

10:37

then there is a white and kind

10:37

of teal turquoise pattern tile.

10:41

They're a little over, I think

10:41

half an inch in length and

10:45

width, they look almost like

10:45

little starburst.

10:48

Yeah, they really do.

10:48

And even like the patterning on

10:51

some of these makes them just

10:51

look delicious. I feel like the

10:55

one that is like black or brown

10:55

and blue. I don't know, it just

11:00

looks like this chocolate little

11:00

morsel. And in fact, I think

11:03

they've really kind of leaned

11:03

into the idea that like that's

11:07

what these tiles look like. And

11:07

they're going to be releasing a

11:11

new version. It's basically just

11:11

a new skin of the game that is

11:16

like the chocolate tears

11:16

factory. And all the pieces are

11:19

remained to look like some

11:19

little chocolate thing.

11:23

I like that. Yeah, I think

11:23

that's super cool. Because they

11:26

do they do look like little

11:26

candies. Ooh, piece of candy.

11:29

Yeah. And the blue and

11:29

white one makes me think of like

11:33

a snowflake design. So it's got

11:33

like a blue background. And then

11:37

it's got like this white,

11:37

they're like diamonds and

11:40

triangles and stuff that are

11:40

kind of in this snowflake

11:43

design. Yeah, it's very pretty.

11:43

Like, I definitely feel like

11:48

they've done a good job of

11:48

designing these tiles after, you

11:52

know, kind of this Spanish, you

11:52

know, culture and design, like

11:56

the type of things that you

11:56

really would see in the Alhambra

12:00

or in you know, one of these

12:00

palaces in Spain.

12:05

Yeah, they have done a really good job of designing knees. So for your turn, you

12:07

will choose a factory board to

12:12

claim tiles from, you will grab

12:12

all of the tiles of the same

12:16

tile or type either from one of

12:16

those factories, or from the

12:21

middle of the table. The way

12:21

that it works is if you decide

12:24

to grab from the factory board,

12:24

let's say there are two reds, a

12:29

blue and a yellow, and I want

12:29

the reds, if I take the reds,

12:33

the blue and the yellow actually

12:33

are going to go to the center of

12:36

the board, they're pushed off of

12:36

that factory tile, and they're

12:39

now in just the center. When you

12:39

grab tiles from the center,

12:43

regardless of how many are

12:43

there, you always have to take

12:47

every single one of the desired

12:47

color tile. So if there's eight

12:52

red in the center, and you want

12:52

red, you have to pick up all of

12:54

them. You cannot leave any on a

12:54

factory or in the center.

13:01

Depending on where you grew up

13:01

from. That's how you get extra

13:03

tiles that fall on the floor.

13:03

Exactly, that's how you'll get

13:06

extra tiles that fall on the

13:06

floor. That being said, when you

13:09

pick up your tiles, you'll be

13:09

adding them to one of the board

13:13

blinds trying to fill up the

13:13

line spaces to score one of

13:17

those tiles first person to take

13:17

from the center actually gets

13:21

the first player trial, which

13:21

does go on the floor. So it is

13:23

an automatic minus one. But you

13:23

will get to go first, next turn

13:28

round next round. All players

13:28

take turns grabbing tiles from

13:32

the factory until there are none left.

13:34

Okay, scoring. So I feel

13:34

like this is easy to explain,

13:40

difficult to execute, I always

13:40

have a hard time with scoring

13:45

for some reason. But anyway,

13:45

this is the way it's written in

13:49

the rulebook. So basically, the

13:49

round ends and you do scoring.

13:54

Once all the tiles are gone from

13:54

all the factory boards and the

13:58

center, right, you keep going

13:58

back and forth with all the

14:01

different players grabbing tiles

14:01

until there's none left, and

14:04

then it moves into the scoring

14:04

phase. So at that point for each

14:08

of the lines in the center left

14:08

that you have completely filled

14:12

with the same pattern. But you

14:12

take a single one of those tiles

14:16

and move it over to its spot on

14:16

the associated row of the wall.

14:21

When you move it over. If the

14:21

tile is by itself not touching

14:26

any other tiles, it's worth one

14:26

point. But if it is touching

14:29

other tiles, then it's worth one

14:29

point for each tile in the line.

14:34

So let's say that you've got you

14:34

know, three in a row now that

14:38

you've lined up, that's where

14:38

three points. If you've got it

14:42

connected to something that is

14:42

like a line moving horizontally

14:46

and vertically. It's worth all

14:46

those tiles that it's touching

14:50

in both of those lines. So like

14:50

let's say you had two tiles that

14:56

were lined up horizontally and

14:56

you had three tiles that were

14:59

lined up vertically, and there's

14:59

just kind of that one corner

15:02

piece missing that's connecting

15:02

those two lines from touching.

15:06

And you fill in that one line,

15:06

that's worth seven points,

15:11

because now you've got three

15:11

tiles moving horizontally, and

15:16

four tiles connected vertically,

15:16

all from this one tile that you

15:20

placed. So seven points. The

15:20

reason that I feel like this is

15:24

hard to execute, is because you

15:24

can't just move all your tiles

15:28

over and then score because as

15:28

you move tiles over, you might

15:31

be connecting new things, and

15:31

everything's worth more points.

15:35

So you have to start at the top

15:35

row and move one tile over,

15:40

figure out how many points that

15:40

is, and then move to the next

15:42

row, and move that tile over. So

15:42

like, if you're able to, let's

15:48

say, it's the first turn, you

15:48

move your first tile over,

15:51

there's nothing connected to it,

15:51

that's worth one point. And then

15:54

the next row is another tile

15:54

that's connected to that first

15:57

tile that you just placed. Now,

15:57

that's worth two points for a

16:01

total of three points scored so

16:01

far in the round. So hopefully

16:06

that makes sense. Like I said, I

16:06

feel like it's a little

16:08

difficult to execute in, like

16:08

count all these things, like as

16:12

you're moving things over. And

16:12

as it's changing. But maybe

16:15

that's just me, I don't know.

16:18

No, I understand what

16:18

you're saying how it can be

16:20

difficult to execute the

16:20

scoring, the way that I usually

16:23

do it is I start at the top, the

16:23

lines that are less expensive,

16:28

and place those first,

16:30

I think that's the way

16:30

you should do it. I mean, maybe

16:33

it doesn't make a difference if

16:33

you go backwards. But yeah,

16:37

there's also bonus points that

16:37

you get for completing lines

16:41

vertically and horizontally or

16:41

filling up all of the spaces for

16:46

the same tile pattern. So you

16:46

will get a bonus of two points

16:53

for completing a horizontal

16:53

line, which also triggers the

16:57

end of the game, by the way,

16:57

yes, you'll get five points for

17:01

completing a vertical line. And

17:01

you'll get 10 points. If you

17:07

managed to fill all the spots

17:07

with the same tile pattern.

17:10

There's some cool like chaining

17:10

and like comboing, I feel like

17:14

that you can do and some

17:14

strategy to you know, try and

17:18

maximize the tiles that are

17:18

connected and lined up. And if

17:22

you can get a couple of vertical

17:22

lines before someone completes a

17:27

horizontal line, you know, then

17:27

that's going to be just worth

17:30

more and more points. Yes, it

17:30

does take at least five turns

17:34

for someone to complete a

17:34

horizontal line, since you can

17:37

only fill something on one row,

17:37

like each row can only contain

17:41

one new tile per turn. But you

17:41

can complete vertical lines much

17:46

faster because you can just say

17:46

I'm going to tackle this one

17:49

row. And I'm going to get all

17:49

the patterns that I need to go

17:52

in this one row. And you can do

17:52

a lot of that all on one term.

17:56

Yes. Or one round. But yes, so

17:56

the game usually lasts about

18:00

five rounds, at least for us. I

18:00

don't know if other people

18:02

experience people like extending

18:02

the game. I think

18:07

we usually go six to seven

18:07

at the most. Nope,

18:09

nope. I don't know if we

18:09

ever we've played a game once. I

18:13

think maybe with six rounds, but

18:13

it's always over in five pretty

18:18

much.

18:18

I mean, not the last time

18:18

when we played with a row, we

18:21

ran out of tiles actually, we

18:21

ran out of tiles at the same

18:25

time somebody finished a

18:25

horizontal row. So if we had

18:29

gone one more round, which we

18:29

could have, we would not have

18:32

had enough tiles because they

18:32

were all scored on our board.

18:35

Okay. Anyways, that's part of my

18:35

experience playing the game, I

18:39

should say.

18:40

Yeah, so yeah, let's

18:40

move on into that. Like, that's

18:43

the game. It's pretty simple.

18:43

It's really easy to pick up. I

18:46

highly recommend it. Honestly.

18:46

It's a great little short and

18:50

sweet game.

18:51

Yeah, I totally recommend

18:51

this game. This game is great

18:54

for people who are just getting

18:54

into board games who are aren't

18:58

really up for something super

18:58

complicated yet. But it's also

19:02

good for people who do like a

19:02

strategy game because there is

19:06

strategy that is involved.

19:06

Definitely. So I think this has

19:08

kind of a large demographic that

19:08

it appeals to.

19:12

Yeah, that's definitely

19:12

strategy because, well, I don't

19:15

want to say, I never win. Jake

19:15

always wins. Right? You didn't

19:19

want to say that? Oh, that makes

19:19

it sound like I'm really dumb.

19:22

I don't think no, no,

19:22

you're not.

19:27

I just I don't know. I

19:27

have a hard time mastering

19:30

whatever the strategy is for

19:30

this. I'm always trying to go

19:32

for vertical lines. That's what

19:32

I do. I don't know you're able

19:36

to complete them. I think the

19:36

big difference between how I

19:39

play and how you play is that

19:39

you pay attention to what other

19:41

people are doing on their board

19:41

and you will go and like block

19:45

people.

19:46

No, I don't block people

19:46

actually what I'm actually doing

19:49

is I'm paying attention to what

19:49

other people are doing. And

19:52

let's say I see that you're

19:52

wanting to get read. If you're

19:55

gonna go before me, I'm not

19:55

gonna get read. So I'm going to

19:58

look for my next backstops. And

19:58

this is what I should be getting

20:01

next instead?

20:03

I don't think so I'm

20:03

pretty sure what I do. Okay, but

20:07

I'm pretty sure I've

20:07

experienced, like, Oh, you're

20:11

going for read? Hmm. I also want

20:11

read. Like, if you go before me,

20:18

yes, I go before you Yes.

20:18

But if you go before me, no, I'm

20:23

to do what I should be doing instead.

20:25

That makes sense. That

20:25

makes sense. But when you go

20:27

before me, you will go and grab,

20:27

oh, maybe I didn't necessarily

20:32

need to do read this round. But

20:32

I see that you need read. And

20:36

that's another thing that

20:36

you typically do you typically

20:40

grabbed from the center before I

20:40

do. So you are going first more

20:44

often. Yeah. I try not to grab

20:44

from the center first. Oh, why?

20:48

It's automatic subtracted

20:48

points. And I don't want that.

20:51

Yeah, I mean, okay.

20:51

That's interesting. I feel like

20:54

it's worth negative one point to

20:54

be able to get the tiles that

20:58

I'm looking for. It takes us one

20:58

though, I guess. I don't feel

21:02

like our games have ever been

21:02

that close where I lose by one

21:05

point. But or, you know, if I do

21:05

it over five rounds, I lose by

21:09

five points? I don't know, it's

21:09

usually a bigger difference than

21:11

that. But maybe, I guess maybe I

21:11

need to start writing down like

21:16

keeping a score book for all our

21:16

games,

21:18

I guess. But I highly

21:18

recommend this game to people.

21:23

Yeah, it's good. So one

21:23

of the things I wanted to talk

21:26

about was the tiles in this

21:26

game, like, they don't feel bad.

21:30

But I feel like there's

21:30

potential there to really bring

21:33

it up to kind of like splendor,

21:33

where it's just, it feels really

21:38

good to play with the poker

21:38

chip. I wish the tiles were a

21:41

little heavier. Honestly, like,

21:41

it would feel amazing. If they

21:45

were actually ceramic. I

21:45

recognize that that's not very

21:48

realistic, because they're all

21:48

in a bag. They're gonna be like

21:50

scraping each other and getting

21:50

messed up and break or break.

21:55

Yeah, I recognize that that's

21:55

not realistic. But if they were

21:59

a little bit heavier, I guess

21:59

like, I feel like it would feel,

22:03

I don't know, like, oh, yeah,

22:03

I'm actually holding like this

22:07

tile in my hand. And it feels

22:07

really good to place it down.

22:09

And like the kind of the clack

22:09

as you place it down. It's like,

22:13

it's almost there. And I just

22:13

want a little bit more, you

22:17

know, yeah, I understand that.

22:17

That's probably the worst thing

22:21

I can say. Right? It's a good

22:21

game. It mechanically works

22:25

really well. It, like we said is

22:25

pretty easy to get into good for

22:29

new players good gateway game.

22:29

So yeah. All right, you want to

22:33

talk about expansions and add

22:33

ons?

22:36

Yeah, well, we will

22:36

discuss the expansions and add

22:39

ons. So as of right now, there

22:39

are like four or five different

22:42

versions of this game. All of

22:42

them are the same mechanics and

22:47

the same rules. It's just

22:47

different aesthetics. So there's

22:50

like a stained glass theme, a

22:50

garden theme, Rachel mentioned

22:54

that they're making a chocolate

22:54

tear theme, which I really want.

22:59

There's only one expansion that

22:59

adds any new strategies. And

23:04

that's the crystal mosaic

23:04

expansion. It adds different

23:07

boards that require different

23:07

strategies to play, there is a

23:11

mini expansion with Joker tiles,

23:11

which just add some tiles that

23:15

are wild. So instead of being

23:15

stuck with your standard five,

23:18

and not being able to get what

23:18

you need, sometimes there will

23:21

be wild tokens. And that's,

23:23

that's interesting. So

23:23

when you say that, like the new

23:27

boards require different

23:27

strategies, I have not seen

23:30

them, I would assume that these

23:30

are boards that just have

23:34

different patterns on the wall.

23:34

But I can't imagine that that

23:38

actually requires a different

23:38

strategy. It's just, you're

23:41

going for different colors in

23:41

different orders, I feel like

23:44

which by the way, the boards

23:44

that you get in the base game

23:48

are double sided. So on one

23:48

side, it's got the regular

23:52

patterning. And then on the

23:52

other side, you have just kind

23:55

of a blank wall where you can

23:55

set up basically like a master

24:01

pattern that everyone else is

24:01

trying to get like, you can

24:03

design your own pattern to mix

24:03

it up a little bit.

24:06

And that seems to be what

24:06

these crystal mosaic boards are

24:08

as well, but then they have some

24:08

multipliers on them as well. So

24:13

some of them will have a spot

24:13

where if you put a black piece

24:16

in this location, it will be a

24:16

multiplied by two.

24:20

Oh, interesting.

24:21

So there is a little bit

24:21

of change in the strategy. So

24:25

you'll want to make those your

24:25

last in your column and your row

24:29

so that you get the giant

24:29

bonuses, but I think that's

24:33

pretty much it.

24:34

Okay, that's cool. That

24:34

is interesting. Yeah, not a

24:37

whole lot going on in the world

24:37

of expansions for this game,

24:40

just themes, and I

24:42

honestly don't think they

24:42

need it. I mean, they did such a

24:45

good job of making this game and

24:45

designing it. It's so highly

24:49

rated. It's, you know, it's so

24:49

popular. Speaking of ratings,

24:53

you know, Board Game Geek has

24:53

this rated at a 7.79 of 68,000.

25:00

Reviews? Hmm. A lot of people. I

25:00

don't think they need a lot of

25:04

expansions, honestly. Yeah, I

25:04

have mixed feelings on the idea

25:08

of releasing just reskin. I

25:08

think it's cool. But at the same

25:13

time,

25:14

I don't know, I don't have a problem with that. Because get the one that is more

25:16

aesthetically pleasing to you.

25:20

You don't need to have every

25:20

version of the game. I want the

25:23

chocolate one. Yeah, I think

25:23

we're gonna get the chocolate

25:26

one. Because I mean, I don't

25:26

know, it just looks nice. But

25:29

like, unless you're a collector,

25:29

you know, you don't need to

25:33

rebuy every version. It's not

25:33

like they're introducing new

25:36

rules, or improvements. So I

25:36

don't have a problem with it.

25:41

Okay, well, as of right

25:41

now, this game, you can purchase

25:44

it on Amazon for $31. It's not a

25:44

bad deal. You get lots of replay

25:49

out of it.

25:50

Definitely, like I said,

25:50

one of my favorite filler games.

25:53

And I

25:53

guess now would be a good

25:53

time to talk about our ratings

25:56

for this game.

25:57

Yeah. So first, we have

25:57

easy versus difficult this is,

26:02

you know, basically, how

26:02

difficult is it to read the

26:05

rulebook to understand the

26:05

rules, stuff like that? I would

26:09

say this is a very easy game.

26:09

The rulebook is not like you

26:13

would see in a longer game, it's

26:13

basically just a trifold piece

26:18

of paper. And all the rules are

26:18

explained within that trifold.

26:23

And it's very picture heavy,

26:23

also the rulebook, so I feel

26:26

like it does a good job of as

26:26

it's describing the mechanics is

26:31

also showing you exactly what

26:31

they're mean by that. So I feel

26:36

like it's very easy. I'm gonna

26:36

give this to

26:39

Yeah, I think I would say

26:39

this is probably a two as well,

26:43

it's not difficult. There's very

26:43

few things you do on your turn.

26:47

Really, it's what tiles Do you

26:47

want to take? And where are you

26:50

going to put them? That's it.

26:50

Yeah. And even the where are you

26:54

going to put them comes into the

26:54

next simple versus complex? So I

26:57

think I would also give this a

26:57

to, yeah, tell us about simple

27:00

versus complex? Well, the simple

27:00

versus complex is how you use

27:04

the mechanics to win, what kind

27:04

of viable strategies are

27:08

available to you in this game.

27:08

And this does have some

27:12

strategy, not like a ton, but it

27:12

definitely has some, it behooves

27:16

you to play styles in a way that

27:16

you can maximize the number of

27:20

points and understanding how to

27:20

do that. It's not super complex,

27:25

but I think I would probably

27:25

give this a three or four.

27:28

Yeah, so I agree. It's

27:28

definitely not very complex.

27:33

Obviously, there are strategies

27:33

because like, you keep winning,

27:38

right?

27:39

So I do is win win, win,

27:39

win win.

27:42

But it's not like a

27:42

point salad game, or there's a

27:45

lot of different ways that you

27:45

can go about gaining victory

27:49

points. You know, it's really

27:49

like there's this one way,

27:53

there's one thing that you're

27:53

doing and just do that better.

27:57

So yeah, I'm gonna call this a

27:57

three, I think I'm gonna go to

28:01

four. Okay. And then we have

28:01

wrote versus random. So this is

28:06

just like, what mechanics

28:06

change, or what experiences

28:10

change in the game, or from game

28:10

to game, making it a unique

28:14

playthrough, like dice rolling

28:14

or randomized cards or anything

28:18

like that. So the only

28:18

randomization that we have in

28:21

this game is the tiles that are

28:21

available. You can also like,

28:27

set up your own custom board or

28:27

potentially randomize that, I

28:32

don't think it would be very

28:32

balanced anymore, if you decided

28:35

to set up your own board and

28:35

randomize it. Like if you had

28:39

multiple of the same style tile

28:39

that you place in a single row,

28:46

I don't think that's going to be

28:46

balanced anymore. But I don't

28:49

know. That's the randomization

28:49

element that we have. It's not a

28:52

lot, but it's enough to, you

28:52

know, make each game unique to

28:57

the point that like, Oh, what am

28:57

I going for? Now? What am I

29:00

focusing on this time?

29:01

Yeah, the only the only

29:01

other randomized element I would

29:04

say could be included is, if you

29:04

decide to use a board that

29:09

doesn't have a preset tile

29:09

pattern. That's the only thing I

29:13

would say is actually really

29:13

randomized that and pulling

29:15

things out of the bag, but

29:15

that's just the name of the

29:17

game.

29:18

Yeah. So I don't know,

29:18

like, three, non randomization,

29:23

yeah, two or three. It's

29:23

not very random, which it offers

29:27

a surprisingly large amount of

29:27

replayability for a game that is

29:30

not super randomized. I don't

29:30

feel like I get burnt out of

29:33

this game very easily. I don't

29:33

feel like I play at once. And

29:36

I'm like, Okay, I'm done. Yeah,

29:36

I feel like you can still really

29:40

enjoy this game, even though you

29:40

are kind of playing the same

29:43

game each time.

29:44

Yeah. And I don't know.

29:44

Yeah, I agree with every

29:47

playthrough it still feels like

29:47

a very unique experience,

29:51

because it's like, oh, I should

29:51

maybe I should try something

29:54

different this time based on the

29:54

tiles that are available. What

29:56

do I want to focus on, you know,

29:56

and it's an ability For me to

30:02

almost kind of like Master my

30:02

strategy, I guess, you know,

30:05

like, oh, like, Let's adjust

30:05

ourselves to focus on something

30:09

more appropriate based on what's

30:09

available, it almost adds a

30:12

little bit more to the strategy.

30:14

So yeah, I think I would

30:14

give that a two. Yeah. Okay. I'm

30:17

going with a three.

30:17

Okay. So would you rather play

30:22

azul than sitting in your hot

30:22

car that apparently doesn't get

30:27

good air while it's not moving

30:27

at the pharmacy for 40 minutes

30:31

while waiting to pick up your

30:31

prescription refill? Only to

30:34

find out that they refill the

30:34

wrong medication and that you

30:37

got to go back?

30:38

Listen, 40 minutes is a

30:38

long time to wait at the

30:40

pharmacy, in line in your car,

30:40

even if you have good AC. So

30:45

yes, absolutely 100% I would

30:45

much rather play azul than doing

30:50

that again, which I'm probably

30:50

going to have to go do in the

30:52

next couple days.

30:54

I would propose that you

30:54

can play a whole game of azul in

30:57

the time that you're sitting at

30:57

the pharmacy, except the fact

31:00

that the tiles are gonna be

31:00

sliding around and it's gonna be

31:03

difficult to do in the car.

31:05

It is possible though, you

31:05

definitely could play it in 40

31:08

minutes, no problem. Well,

31:08

that's it. There you have it.

31:11

That is xul. Thank you so much

31:11

for listening. Hit us up on

31:15

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

31:15

at snowboard podcast. That's S O

31:19

B o ar D podcast. We'd love to

31:19

hear about any fun house rules

31:24

or experiences you've had with

31:24

this game. You'll also be able

31:26

to find pictures and short

31:26

stories of other games we've

31:28

been playing recently. And you

31:28

can interact with us all things

31:31

tabletop there. You can also

31:31

forego the social media and

31:35

email us directly at we are so

31:35

[email protected] That's W E ar e

31:41

s o b o ar D, make sure you

31:41

subscribe so you can receive

31:45

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31:45

are available. And if you could

31:48

leave us a rating that would

31:48

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31:50

can do that on Apple podcasts.

31:50

You can do that on Spotify. And

31:54

honestly, it helps us and it

31:54

helps other people who might be

31:57

interested in our podcast find

31:57

us as well.

32:01

Yeah, tell a friend if

32:01

you're enjoying this podcast if

32:04

you feel like it's a good way to

32:04

discover new games. We'd really

32:07

like to continue to reach more

32:07

people and you know, just help

32:12

people discover new games to

32:12

play. We also want to give a

32:14

shout out to the people who knew

32:14

that we were reviewing azul

32:17

based on the picture we posted

32:17

last week. There were a lot of

32:21

you a lot of you that recognize

32:21

the game piece, but only the

32:26

people who got it first in each

32:26

of the places that I post it,

32:29

get the shout out. So congrats

32:29

to Steve Bassett, Cheryl

32:34

Bedwell. Janssen, Lucy Morton,

32:34

Michael Fox, Lou hambro Tanner,

32:41

LG K on Twitter, and Princess

32:41

Sequoia on Instagram. Awesome

32:47

job. Thank you guys for

32:47

participating.

32:50

Of course, you do this

32:50

part of the podcast on a week

32:54

where we get names that we can

32:54

all just pronounce.

33:00

I designed it this way.

33:03

We also want to thank

33:03

Michel Mims, the designer of our

33:05

art. He's accepting commissions

33:05

right now. So check him out at

33:09

MIM Sikora. That's m i s c. O.

33:09

Sara on Instagram, or on his

33:15

website, Michel Mims. That's mi

33:15

ch e l m i m s dot c ar rd.co.

33:21

And once again, there's

33:21

just a couple days left in our

33:24

viticulture giveaway. Go check

33:24

that out. If you haven't entered

33:28

yet. It's totally free. And we

33:28

will ship to you wherever you

33:32

are. Unless there is shipping

33:32

restrictions from the United

33:36

States.

33:37

That's correct. We are

33:37

going to be streaming once again

33:40

tomorrow. Tomorrow night,

33:40

probably around 536. Pacific

33:44

time, we're going to be

33:44

streaming abomination and we

33:47

will be having a guest that's

33:47

the plan. You can find us on

33:52

Twitch at snowboard podcast just

33:52

like everywhere else. Come check

33:56

it out. If you haven't seen

33:56

abomination or haven't played

33:59

it, definitely come check it

33:59

out. It's gonna be a good time.

34:02

We love this game.

34:03

Quick though. So our

34:03

abomination episode we do have

34:07

like an explicit content warning

34:07

on there. Just because it's a

34:12

little bit dark. There is harm

34:12

to people and animals

34:17

potentially happening in this

34:17

game. So if any of that might be

34:21

triggering, it's okay for you to

34:21

skip it. We understand. But if

34:26

that's not something that is

34:26

going to bother you, I mean,

34:29

we're not gonna honestly, Jake

34:29

refuses to harm animals in that

34:35

game.

34:35

It's true. I don't use

34:35

those nasty parts. I use real

34:38

fresh human bites.

34:40

Yeah, I just wanted to

34:40

throw that out there. There is a

34:42

trigger warning on that. So just

34:42

be aware.

34:46

Yes, but I am also

34:46

streaming on Twitch so check me

34:50

out at Naughty Doc 541 na Ug

34:50

HTYD OC 541. I'm doing a lot of

34:57

old games lately. So it's a good

34:57

time. I'm though Oh, yes from my

35:02

childhood.

35:03

Oh, I'm so old Windwaker

35:06

Wakers like 20 years old,

35:06

you know that. Yeah, that's

35:09

crazy. Well, that's it. Thank

35:09

you all folks. Thanks for

35:13

listening and we will see you

35:13

next time. Bye