So Very Wrong About Games

Pickaxe

A podcast about all manner of hobby games by Mike Walker and Mark Bigney. Bad games don't go easy on you, so we don't go easy on them. Thorough analysis via reviews, news, and discussion of topics in gaming. We take context seriously, we value your time, and we're not into hype. Just because games are fun doesn't mean we can't take them seriously, and just because we take them seriously doesn't mean we can't have fun.

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421 episodes
Updated July 21

Episodes421

Newest first

Jan 21, 2020 · 1 hr 4 min
#101: New Year's Resolutions
Eventually a charge becomes so tired and rote that it becomes accepted without critical thought--but so often these hackneyed claims are false. Knizia games are themeless is a good example. Canadians are polite is another. The one that rears its ugly...
Jan 14, 2020 · 1 hr 38 min
#100: Year in Review 2019
Better late and wrong than never wrong, am I right? Wait, that doesn't make sense. Suffice to say that we wanted to be as certain as we could this year, as past years offered rather significant asterisks on our best-of lists--but this year, with only...
Dec 31, 2019 · 57 min
#98: Caylus 1303
Look, it's hard enough to remember games without them injecting too many dates into their titles. Claustrophobia 1643 I keep misremembering as 1648 (Treaty of Westphalia), Ausburg 15whenever is as forgettable as the game, Pulsar 2849 barely sticks in...
Dec 24, 2019 · 52 min
#97: Familiarity Breeds Contempt
The Holidays are upon us--Christmas very soon, Hanukkah is ongoing, Kwanzaa around the corner--but today on SVWAG, as it is on most days, we celebrate Festivus. On Mark's insistence, we forego the Feats of Strength, as the outcome would be certain and...
Dec 17, 2019 · 1 hr 5 min
#96: Catan: Starfarers
Perhaps it would be inevitable that there would be juvenile comments about the components in Catan: Starfarers. This is, after all, the gaming series that brought us endless unfunny remarks about wood and sheep. Perhaps the sculptors for the pieces...
Dec 10, 2019 · 1 hr 9 min
#95: Fillers and Holiday Gaming
There are times when immediately upon finishing recording, one or both of our hosts immediately feel the tremendous regret of having forgotten The Thing. But, alas, the moment has passed, and they cannot now mention The Thing. The only redress...
Dec 3, 2019 · 1 hr 8 min
#94: Last Bastion
Black Secret was an expansion to Ghost Stories where you played as vicious, frenetic shoppers trying to ascertain what were the best hidden deals on Black Friday. I think. If nothing else, one can appreciate the fact that online shopping might one day...
Nov 26, 2019 · 1 hr 14 min
#93: Worker Placement
Walker introduces a new feature, the LIGHTNING ROUND. Destinies are determined and legends are forged in the lightning round, or at least they could be if it were not merely the pretext for his trolling. Someone should translate "I'm not saying, I'm...
Nov 19, 2019 · 11 min
#92.5: Mea Culpa
Sorry, people, no episode this week. Mark explains why.
Nov 12, 2019 · 1 hr 11 min
#92: Cloudspire
We puzzle over the practices and intentions of game designers this week as though we were archaeologists trying to divine the practices of ashen Pompeiians. Why did these authors insert this mechanism into their artifact? Was it a mating ritual? Was...
Nov 5, 2019 · 1 hr 4 min
#91: The Cost of Upgraded Components
You can replace the Mark and Walker voices with lovingly-rendered miniatures with the SVWAG Host Minis add-on, which you can have for $35, but only if you pay for it before you know what they look like and before you know the content of the episode....
Oct 29, 2019 · 1 hr 7 min
#90: Rurik: Dawn of Kiev
Fatherhood is the overall theme of this week's episode. Imagine Harry Chapin's Cat's in the Cradle, except with the father played by Vladimir the Great and the son by Svyatopolk the Accursed. "When you coming home, dad?" asks the Accursed, to which...
Oct 22, 2019 · 1 hr 6 min
#89: Competition and Competitiveness
SHUX has passed, but the memories have not. Your hosts give a final rundown of some of the goings-on during the august October event. Mark asserts that no one is less competitive than he, no one by a long shot, he is much less competitive than you and...
Oct 15, 2019 · 1 hr 2 min
#88: Live at SHUX 2019!
"You two are idiots." -Quinns We are live (on tape)! With special guest Quintin Smith aka Quinns from Shut Up & Sit Down. Also featuring guest appearances from French Canadian snack cakes, passive aggression, wonderful prizes (none for you, sorry,...
Oct 1, 2019 · 56 min
#87: Market Saturation
The saturation point is the point at which you can no longer dissolve a deck of cards into a bottle of water. I am told that in summer, it feels hotter than it is really is because of all the board game particles diffused throughout the air. It gets...
Sep 24, 2019 · 1 hr 5 min
#86: Tapestry
The cube trundles onward, marching inexorably--if haltingly--towards its ultimate destination. It is told it must explore, and so explore it does. The other cube conquers, but that is not this cube's concern. They met once at a party. It seemed nice,...
Sep 17, 2019 · 59 min
#85: Tableau-Builders
Mark thinks it is colossally unfair that he gets so much flak for speaking French when mediocre game designers get to throw around a word like "tableau." Then again, Mark and Walker can't quite agree on what a tableau constitutes. Mark seems to define...
Sep 10, 2019 · 1 hr 1 min
#84: Black Angel
Adorable little pudgy robots soar through a blazing pink sky, stubby arms outstretched as they speed towards their destination--a yellow planet in the distance. "GIVE ME YOAR COOOBS" bellow the aliens upon arrival. "POINTZ 4 COOOOBS." A robot obliges,...
Sep 3, 2019 · 1 hr
#83: Card-Driven Games
We return to games of weeks past, for the most part, to see if our initial impressions persist. We were young and foolish in past weeks, of course, whereas now we are older and foolish. Whether our errors mature like fine wine or spoil to the vinegar...
Aug 27, 2019 · 57 min
#82: Edge of Darkness
The Card Crafting System returns once more, its heaps of mylar inserting into our gaming life. I would say it darkens our door, but the things are mostly transparent, so the idiom doesn't quite fit. One wonders whether and how one could sleeve a Card...