Punching Cardboard

Here we are in the new world order, or rather, the chaotic world order. We're just trying to survive and maybe discuss a few games and other things of cultural import. Just trying to raise our spirits. It's a journey. Thanks for your company on the ride. TICKETS: 00:20:11 -- Surprising Lack of Games on the Table during Lockdown 00:26:57 -- Netplay, Strat-O-Matic Style 00:39:55 -- Tabletop Simulator (yes, it works!) 00:52:49 -- Pax Transhumanity (update) 01:00:41 -- Architects of the West Kingdom: Age of Artisans (in-depth sessions) 01:12:23 -- The Appreciation Level of Others 01:24:44 -- 1974 01:32:52 -- New Music (Bill Frisell, Melt Yourself Down) 01:42:54 -- Illicit Maneuvers 01:46:05 -- The Cactus League, by Emily Nemens

Struggling for sanity, we put together another installment of our virus lockdown series. In this one we answer the question, which five non-GMT titles should’ve been developed and published by GMT? There might be something about someone getting drunk as well. Hopefully this will distract you for a little while.

Live from Portland, the 173rd stop on our world tour, presented in it's entirety without cuts or overdubs, our latest show in all its glory. Will there be technical difficulties? Yes. Will we stumble trying to answer tough questions? Possibly. Will it be good? Sure? SETLIST: 00:11:31 -- Freedom of Thought or Just an Illusion 00:28:40 -- Unhelpful Billionaires 00:31:12 -- Bruxelles 1897 00:41:13 -- Ora et Labora for Two? 00:44:59 -- Table Top Simulator 00:47:20 -- Barrage: The Leeghwater Expansion 00:58:59 -- A Daily Dose of Metheny, Shakaba and the Ancestors 01:09:13 -- Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 01:12:39 -- Top 5 Mechanisms, sort of. 01:24:20 -- Top 5 GMT Games 01:33:02 -- Watch Outnumbered.   

Part 4 of this series and we've settled in a little to the new reality. Having solved his technological difficulties, Joe returns to add his wisdom to the question of getting games to the table with your significant other. Also, we discuss table games played via computer vs. computer games. All in All, 25 % less dread, 50 % more games.

Join us as we enter week two of the lockdown. We desperately want to keep in touch with our listeners. Hopefully we can keep each other sane as we navigate this brave new world. Included are some tips on gaming with your partner while on lockdown.

In part 2 of our limited series we get Joe setup with a recording rig at home. We talk a little more about the current predicament and then migrate our book discussion over and take a look at Lydia Fitzpatrick's Lights All Night Long.

Hey all. The Punching Cardboard team is in Isolation. Isolation sucks. It's lonely. It's unnerving. It's stopping us from playing games and talking about them. But we still have voices, and we think just maybe you'd like our voices to visit the wilderness of your own isolation. You know, to counteract the ones in your brain urging you to scream and never stop. So, for now, while this disruption lasts, we're gonna send you this series. Our way of talking through the absurdity that is life, especially now that it's truly absurd. These episodes will be shorter and much more frequent (because what the hell else do we have to do) and probably much more free of form and topical, not like we do the PCP any other way. We hope you dig it.

There are times when you need to make something out of nothing. Entering the studio for episode 172 was one of those times. I mean, we had next to nothing. A game session, a new dram, a couple albums. But we pulled it together, rambled into other territories, consolidated some stray ideas, and in the end lasted for the marathon. Yea us!? PATHS: 00:04:17 -- The 2020 PCBA Baseball Season: Last Call 00:08:00 -- Couch, Whiskey, & Digression 00:35:09 -- Bingo Time 00:43:11 -- Back in Good Graces: Time of Crisis 00:47:50 -- I've Never Played Automobile 00:56:45 -- Divinity 2: Orifginial Sin (Group Dynamics A) 01:16:11 -- Bull Run American Whiskey Aged in Pinot Noir Casks 01:25:23 -- Music: Drive By Truckers 01:30:40 -- Memory: Pat Metheny and the best album of 2020 01:51:14 -- Kohle & Kolonie (Group Dynamics B)

If you're only here for our in-depth, main game discussion, then skip the first two hours of the show. If you want to know a little about a lot of game related things, then tuck in at the beginning and enjoy the ride. ANSWERS: 00:07:01 -- Book List 00:14:10 -- Bingo Begins 00:19:52 -- The Q&A Session Starts Here 00:26:01 -- Fatigued? 00:33:57 -- Will We Attend Any Conventions? 00:41:55 -- To Deluxify or Not to Deluxify? 00:44:26 -- Taking Tricks 00:48:32 -- Of Trains and Wars 00:52:29 -- Feedback in Games 01:04:28 -- Pax Alluring. 01:33:29 -- The Greatness 01:39:09 -- Terra Mystica: Merchants of the Seas (first take) 01:49:47 -- Port Charlotte 10-yo Heavily Peated 01:57:20 -- Music (The Flower Kings, Tame Impala, Spanish Love Songs, The Jayhawks) 02:07:41 -- Flotilla (in-depth) 02:42:44 -- The Night Tiger, by Yangsze Choo

The water flows. The oil moves. The beat goes on. A new era begins, same as the old era. We continue on. Enjoy. RATES: 00:05:00 -- The State of the Podcast 00:19:19 -- An Adjacent Thought or Two 00:28:45 -- Teasing Terra Mystica's New Expansion 00:34:00 -- Bingo Rules 00:39:27 -- Strat-O-Matic Baseball (of dice and the 2019 PCBA World Series) 00:53:44 -- The Christradamus Predictions 00:55:20 -- Wildcatters (session) 01:09:31 -- Barrage (in-depth)

Route building. Colony building. Future building. Restaurant building. We turned a lot of resources into a lot of structures these past few weeks. We also bought and sold shares of stock and grilled some burgers. A little of everything, really, resulting in a lot of game talk. STATIONS: 00:17:52 -- On Joe's Table: Xenon Profiteer & The Arrival 00:22:42 -- On Jim's Table: Food Chain Magnate: Ketchup and Other Mechanisms Expansion 00:41:35 -- Stephenson's Rocket (first take) 00:57:10 -- Pax Transhumanity (first take) 01:15:26 -- High West Campfire 01:27:22 -- On Mars (first take, in-depth) 02:11:14 -- Night Boat to Tangier, by Kevin Barry

Missiles are raining down in Iraq, but ain't we got smiles. Yeah, I guess. With 2020 already looking doomed already, we steady ourselves and take a look at some of the good things we encountered over the Winter break. We have hope. We will forge ahead. There are games to be played.

Another Year gone by and it's time for the lists to come out. These are the things that moved us in 2019. How do your experiences compare? Grab a holiday cocktail, relax, and enjoy. LISTS: 00:09:41 -- TV & Visual Entertainment (Spoilers and Rants) 00:25:36 -- Video / Computer Games 00:30:56 -- Board Games 01:32:23 -- Music 02:52:50 -- Whiskey & Whisky 02:57:50 -- Books    

We go heavy on the games in this year's penultimate episode. Almost two hours taken to cover three games. We expect you'll have a good Idea on whether these are for you. Enjoy. PROCEEDINGS: 00:00:00 --  Straight Into Some Music (Delines, Clutch, Joe Henry, Perpetual Grace, Ltd.) 00:32:18 -- Symphony (first take) 00:57:44 -- Bios: Origins 2 (in-depth) 01:38:30 -- Circadians: First Light (in-depth)  

This episode marks six years on the air. We take some time, at Joe's behest, to consider this and where the show might go from here. Also, we revisit a a game that was featured on the second episode, and preview a new release. Have fun. THE YEARS: 00:05:15 -- Tournamentville 00:09:35 -- Apologies and Better Angels 00:16:33 -- What I Appreciates 00:22:32 -- Making Bad Better and Good Worse 00:30:19 -- 6 Years Down the Road 01:00:10 -- Tank Duel (first take) 01:25:23 -- Yedo (revisited in-depth)  

Fighting a cold and the off-season blues, we power though this episode to bring you some pretty heavy game discussion on entries old and new. Whisky, music and a book round out the proceedings. CARGO: 00:14:26 -- Panamax (revisited, in-depth) 00:58:36 -- Paladins of the West Kingdom (in depth) 01:45:27 -- Tearraforming Mars: No Need to Draft 01:58:04 -- Kavalan ex-Bourbon Cask Whisky 02:04:15 -- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Ghosteen 02:10:58 -- Lanny, by Max Porter

Often postponed, but never defeated, this new episode transforms from a pile of scraps into a glorious quilt of gaming discourse. Other stuff as well. Enjoy PATTERNS: 00:10:24 -- High Frontier 00:19:44 -- Living Rules, Collections, Rules Again, and So Forth . . . . 00:41:57 -- To Play or Not to Play? 00:54:24 -- Hannibal and Hamilcar (1st Take) 01:03:28 -- Polis 01:05:37 -- More Hannibal 01:08:18 -- Back to Polis 01:15:06 -- New Games?? 01:18:42 -- Ardbeg AN OA Single Malt 01:33:10 -- Music (Sturgill Simpson, Mikal Cronin, Mark Lanegan, Anna Meridith, Guided by Voices) 02:03:32 -- War Room (1st Take)

Consider a concert set list. The band comes out and opens with a couple of deep cuts, a bit slow-tempo, really a nod to the fans. But then they kick it in, building tension, generating release, mixing cuts from all their albums, back and forth across the years. For the encore, a few more deep cuts for the die-hards who haven't rushed out to beat the traffic. We'll just say that this episode is like that show. CUTS: 00:16:08 -- Player Usage and the Art of Making Out 00:21:46 -- Guild Usage and the Art of Restaurant Patronage 00:23:59 -- T-Shirt usage and the Art of Support 00:27:52 -- City of the Big Shoulders and the Art of Declaration 00:31:18 -- Creating Music and the Art of Distribution 00:35:21 -- High Frontier 4 All and the Art of Paying What's Due 00:39:10 -- The Long and Winding Road (A Games Journey) 01:36:25 -- Right Here, Right Now: Top 5 Euro Games 01:53:04 -- Undaunted: Normandy (in-depth) 02:27:21 -- Snap, by Belinda Bauer

We start slow, as cool ambient music on a rainy Autumn evening, but by the halfway point we warm to the task and heat the discussion up to a boil. Some games just get you that way. TEMPS: 00:06:01 -- Tournament Losses (Wir Sind das Volk) 00:17:11 -- Innovation & Shogun (sessions) 00:28:25 -- Five-Player Games, now! 00:40:57 -- Spiderman on PS4 00:52:35 -- Endless Legend 01:00:45 -- City of the Big Shoulders (in-depth) 01:43:50 -- Vindication (preview) 01:54:57 -- Oban Little Bay 01:58:32 -- Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan  

Games, Games, Game. Now that Summer is ended, or at least Summer vacation has, we're getting back into a routine that promises to result in the playing of more games. As a result, despite a brief interlude where we express a bit of weariness with the state of the world, we're diving deep into a few games currently hitting our table. Get your wet suit on and join us. ROUTINES: 00:09:18 -- Wir Sind das Volk (tournament sessions) 00:33:49 -- Sekigahara (Session) 00:45:20 -- Weary and Filled with Despair 00:55:45 -- The City of the Big Shoulders (preview session) 01:19:27 -- Lords of Hellas (in-depth)