Arcade Castle

In Episode 21 of the Arcade Castle, John Finds himself separated from Patrick by the Bacterian Empire and the robotic foot soldiers from Berzerk, both of which seem to be allied with the computer virus Omnicron.  Taking refuge in a 'Human Storage Facility' on one of the Bacterian Flagships, John chances upon his old friend and now pressganged janitor, Kevin, who is being forced to clean the dust from the relics and debris of humanity, one such relic is the board game of Gradius from 1986! Busting out his trusty podcasting equipment, John doesn't let a opportunity to talk about a board game pass him by, despite the settings and circumstances, with Kevin having the honor of being the first ever guest host on the Arcade Castle Podcast.    In this episode of the podcast, Arcade Castle talks at length about the history of schmups, from their beginnings in the 1970s to their current state in 2020, as well as talking about the watershed game within that timeline, its impact, and influence in the gaming industry: Gr

In Episode 20 of the Arcade Castle Podcast, John and Patrick find themselves at the very doorstep of the DRAGON'S LAIR! (Due in large part to the autonavigation's inability to differentiate between ancient crumbling castles....must be a CAPTCHA thing...) Passing on traversing the treacherous rooms and levels of the Dragon's Lair, Arcade Castle instead peeks into the nearby DRAGON'S STORAGE SHED! Inside the storage shed, they find piles of Dragon's Lair merchandise that Singe has hoarded over the years, including the Dragon's Lair Board game from 1984!   In this episode of the podcast, Arcade Castle looks at the landmark arcade cabinet that is Dragon's Lair, talk about the history of the arcade game, its development, what made it so unique when compared to contemporaneous releases in 1983, and how it performed during the North American video game crash, and more!    Additionally, we look at the Dragon's Lair board game, and compare the rules and gameplay that govern it and compare it to how the Dragon's Lair

In Episode 19, Arcade Castle finds itself in the Warcraft Universe and, as luck would have it, they find a copy of the Warcraft Board Game, released in 2003 by Fantasy Flight and Blizzard Entertainment, based off of the landmark Real-Time Strategy (RTS) computer game Warcraft: Orcs and Humans from 1994. In this episode, Arcade Castle looks at the historic Warcraft franchise that spans across the decades and spawned the global phenomenon that itself has last going on twenty years: World of Warcraft. They talk about the key components of the original Warcraft title and see how well it was adapted to the tabletop. Can a game that is 'real-time' with simultaneous actions and everyone playing at once be crafted into a board game where players take turns? Additionally, this is not the first RTS board game adaptation Arcade Castle has encountered on the podcast, as they first played the Age of Mythology in 2016. (Click this link to check out Episode 03 that covered the Age of Mythology) Arcade Castle hopes that by

As the seasons turn and weather phenomenon shake the very foundations of the Arcade Castle, another year passes and Arcade Castle finds itself once again in February, the month of its birth. Per tradition (and the bylaws of the land) Arcade Castle must find a game that is part board game and part video game to play to try and delve into the narrow, yet obfuscated, valley that resides in the twin realms of video game and board game, and glean its secrets. However, no longer can Arcade Castle rely upon the Master Strategy Series from the Odyssey II, as all three games have been played and that odyssey is, alas, at an end. However, they turn their attention to a device that was released two decades after the Master Strategy Series: The Nintendo E-Reader. This device, scanning 'dot-codes' that are printed on trading cards, can turn the analog into digital, the playing card into a video game. But are the two mediums truly integrated? In Episode 18, Arcade Castle played the Mario Party e Card Game, a card game tha

In Episode 17 of the Arcade Castle Podcast, Arcade Castle learned to be wary of having guests on the show when their star guest, Kirby, decides that John and Patrick are more suited for consumption than communication and, after surviving the expansive void that is the fluffy interior of Kirby, Arcade Castle finds itself stranded in Dream Land as Kirby collapses from the powers he absorbed from John and Patrick. Stranded in the Whispy Woods, Arcade Castle decides the best way to pass the time while Kirby recovers is to play two Kirby themed card games by playing Kirby No Copitoru! (aka the Kirby Copy Abilities Battle! Card Game) from 2015 and the Kirby Sweets Party Board Game from 2017, both of which were published by Ensky in conjunction with HAL Laboratories and Nintendo. In Kirby No Copitoru! Players start off as a basic Kirby character in this mini-deck building game. As players defeat enemies from the different colored suits (Green, Red, Blue, Yellow) shuffled together into the main enemy deck, players a

In Episode 16, Arcade Castle takes a look at another giant in the Edutainment industry: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? A facts based learning game at heart, WitWiCS has players tracking V.I.L.E. henchmen across the planet and, later, both time and space, as they attempt to stop these henchmen from stealing iconic cultural icons, items, concepts, buildings, geographic locations, and more by gathering clues, answering questions, and following the trail of the V.I.L.E. henchmen until they are captured and placed behind bars. If you are a good enough A.C.M.E. Detective you may find yourself on the trail of Carmen Sandiego herself and finally answer, once and for all, just Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, issue a warrant for her arrest, and place her in jail and stop her crime syndicate for good.   Additionally, Arcade Castle takes a look at a series of bookends, or sorts, for the Edutaiment franchise, by looking at the earliest and the most recent entries in the Carmen Sandiego board game adaptati

In Episode 15 of the podcast, The Arcade Castle finds itself, once again, on a journey through another oregon trail licensed board game by Pressman in the form of The Oregon Trail Board Game: Journey to Willamette Valley. Having played The Oregon Trail Card Game and The Oregon Trail Hunt For Food Card Game in prior years (and on Episode 04 and Episode 08, respectively), The Arcade Castle has mixed expectations when bringing this game to the table.   In The Oregon Trail Board Game, players are uncovering the trail from Independence, MO to Willamette Valley, OR. As they traverse the wilderness of 1800s America, players will find hunting grounds, ford rivers, locate forts and towns, and brave the elements as they attempt to successfully reach Oregon. However, the trail is full of hazards and, as supplies dwindle in their covered wagons, will they best the calamities that befall them, or end their trip in a shallow grave on the roadside?   As players play the Oregon Trail Game they will place trail tiles onto th

As the sun blazes down on Kentucky without mercy, Arcade Castle cools down by blazing down miles of asphalt at 900+ miles an hour as they play the early 1990s board game adaptation of F-Zero! Based off of the seminal Super Nintendo game that boasted Mode 7 graphics & wowed gamers in 1990, the F-Zero Knight League Real Racing Simulation Game does its best to capture the look and feel of F-Zero in a board game!   In the F-Zero Knight League Real Racing Simulation Game (hereafter FZKLRRSG), players race one another throughout the five courses of the Knight League, attempting to win as many races as they can to score the most points to win the game! Players have a 'hand' of cards to manage their speed and health as they navigate the hazards of each track in the Knight League. Players can push their luck to try and get in first place, but if they are not careful, they may find themselves a fiery wreck on the racetrack.   In Episode 14 of The Arcade Castle Podcast, John and Patrick play the first board game ad

  Continuing the adventures from Episode 12, Arcade Castle looks at two more Kickstarter games, this time in the form of food-themed card games. The first game Arcade Castle examined was a card game based off the 1982 arcade smash hit Burgertime. Following this, Arcade Castle had dessert in the form of Robots Love Ice Cream, based off a mid 2010s IOS phone game.   The Burgertime Card Game attempts to overcome the challenge any developer faces when they try and adapt a typical arcade title into a board game or card game: how does one take the often "easy to learn, lifetime to master" simplistic gameplay of many arcade titles and make it a compelling and strategic game for multiple people to play. Does Burgertime successfully create an enjoyable dish, or bring something to the table that deserves to be tossed into the trash?   After Arcade Castle digested Burgertime, they decided to get some dessert in the form of Robots Love Ice Cream. Based off a Space Invaders-esque IOS game, RLIC requires players to milita

  Riding the high that was Rollercoaster Tycoon, Arcade Castle gets on board their next ride in the form of the Megaman Board Game by Jasco Games, approved by Capcom, backed by 2,639 backers on Kickstarter to the tune of $415,051, developed for over two years, and released in 2015! (*phew*) But as the ride begins for Arcade Castle, a ride, unbeknownst to them, that last for hours and hours and hours, can Arcade Castle survive until the ride is over?   In Episode 12, Arcade Castle tackles the Megaman Board Game, which attempts to capture the essence of the Megaman series through custom dice, challenge decks, and modular board. However, the centerpiece of the game, and the main selling point via this board game's creator--Jasco Games--is the board game's miniatures. But, as Arcade Castle begins hour 3 of the Megaman Board Game, they begin to question if the miniatures even serve a purpose beyond window dressing and discuss the real question: has anyone ever played an eight player game of the monstrosity and, i

Surviving the Cold War of Episode 10, Arcade Castle takes a break from serious topics and takes a trip to the amusement park thanks to Parker Brothers and their 2002 board game adaptation of the Roller Coaster Tycoon PC video game from 1999! As Arcade Castle starts acquiring properties through auction, they cast a dubious eye towards the "Parker Brothers" publisher and the similarities to one of their other titular board game titles. However, as the game progresses and patrons ride rides, events occur in the park, and victory points pile up, Arcade Castle starts to see that there is more here than a "opoly" derivative. However, as the play progresses to the games end, Arcade Castle starts to see the scales tip in favor of luck and random events vs. player strategy. Undeterred, Arcade Castle develops a few key rule modifications and component upgrades that push the excitement factor of the Roller Coaster Tycoon Board Game to the MAX! In this 2002 adaptation of the 1999 video game, Arcade Castle uncovers a gam

Amid rising tensions, Arcade Castle chills with a Cold War Simulator on the Odyssey II from 1981. Utilizing a mathematical formula from the C.I.A. and real world scenarios torn fresh from the headlines (well, fresh in 1981 anyway), Magnavox created Conquest of the World. The third (and final) entry in the Master Strategy Series by Magnavox, Conquest of the World takes advantage of the expanded memory on the video game cartridge to create a 1v1 games that implies additional strategy on the screen and, when coupled with the board game portion of Conquest of the World, provides a in-depth gaming session for players picking up the joystick and board game. Or so Magnavox claims...   In this episode of the Arcade Castle Podcast, John and Patrick play another weird blending of video game and board game courteously of Magnavox. Pulled from the annals of time, Arcade Castle finds an interesting time capsule. A video game board game that blends elements of RISK and AXIS & ALLIES yet requires players to engage in b

    In this episode of the Arcade Castle Podcast, we take the first word of our podcast quite literally by playing two arcade themed board games released by Milton Bradley in 1983: Pitfall! and Jungle Hunt. As Arcade Castle plays two jungle themed board games intended for players far younger than they, can they survive the hazards of the trail? Or succumb to the pitfalls and traps? In Pitfall!, players move forward or backward along the surface, jungle trail, or the underground, cavern trail in their attempts to collect enough treasure to prove themselves as an adventurer brave enough to climb the mountain at the end of the game to collect the diamond. However, as players brave the jungles and caves of Pitfall! they must overcome a variety of hazards that include voracious crocodile, rolling logs, fires, cobras, and the eponymous pitfalls. If players are brave enough to enter the underground caverns, they may find themselves face to face with the vicious scorpion and may find themselves staying in the caves

Arcade Castle's attempt to sacrifice The Oregon Trail Card Game during the solar eclipse was, in a word, unsuccessful. At the height of the astronomical event, Arcade Castle thrust a dagger into the very heart of the card game and set it aflame in the hopes of removing its presence from this planet and send it into the unfathomable void of space.   But Arcade Castle was wrong.   As the embers died down and the solar bodies unaligned, something arose from the ashes, the proverbial phoenix: The Oregon Trail: Hunt For Food Card Game. This event left Arcade Castle defeated for some time...until now.   In Episode 08, Arcade Castle looks at the pseudo-expansion for the original game that no one asked for and no one expected. Nevertheless, setting themselves to the task, Arcade Castle opened up the Hunt For Food Card Game and played the second game in the series of card game adaptations of the legendary computer game that was released by MECC in the early 1970s.   The Hunt For Food Card Game, as the title suggests,

In Episode 07, Arcade Castle plumbs the depths of early text-based adventure gaming as they play a modern adaptation of one of the earliest video games ever made: Adventure/ADVENT/The Colossal Cave Adventure. While Adventure has seen many adaptations and modifications since its creation by Will Crowther in 1975, does this board game adaptation from 2013 deserve a place in the Well House, or cast into the Bottomless Pit?   In The Colossal Cave Adventure, players traverse the rooms and passages of The Colossal Cave and face the hazards and dangers therein in a quest for treasure. As players uncover mysterious items during their trek in The Colossal Cave, they will find these strange items are key to surviving the trials and tribulations they will face as well as finding the treasures housed within the cavernous passages and rooms of The Colossal Cave. As players acquire treasures, a race begins as players attempt to protect their treasures and deposit them in the Well House. The first player to deposit three t

  In Episode 06 (or Episode 01, Volume 02 if we are going by comic book rules), Arcade Castle tackle the high risk, high reward world of high finance and stock speculation in The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt. Buying stock in Mcdonald's, WoW, and more, Arcade Castle struggles to avoid bankruptcy and boredom in this financial tool...game...for the Odyssey II from 1982!   In The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt, each player, or team of players start with $100,000 dollars and attempt, over the course of five years, to go big, go home, or go broke. Throughout the Level 1 version of the game, players buy and sell stock, and  try to understand the cause and effect between stocks and world events that occur periodically throughout gameplay. Will Arcade Castle see $_$ ? or -_-?   In this first episode of Season 2 of the Arcade Castle Podcast, CasualJohn and Patrick examine another entry in the Master Strategy Series that were released in the early 1980s on the Magnavox Odyssey II. After The Quest For the Rings provi

"The game has been in production for a long time, because we've been working really hard to make sure that it is something that Portal fans will enjoy. But it's not Portal. You're not playing the video game in a board game, because why would you want to do that? It's a separate experience, but it's still very much Portal." - Sara Miguel (Cryptozoic Games) Ah...well...I guess we don't need this episode of the podcast then... Grape Cake Ingredients 1 9 inch pan Butter and flour for preparing cake pan 2 eggs 2/3 Cup of sugar 4 Tablespoons (2 oz) unsalted butter, melted 1/4 Cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/3 Cup milk 1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour 3/4 Teaspoon of baking powder Pinch of Salt Grated zest of 1 lemon Grated zest of 1 orange 10 ounces of fresh, purple grapes Confectioner's sugar Preparation 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Generously butter and flour the pan, tapping out any excess. Set aside. 3. Beat eggs and sugar until thick and lem

  Ignoring the advice of our guides, Arcade Castle sets out on the Oregon Trail in the middle of winter. Will this poor decision cause their journey to end before it even starts? The Oregon Trail: Card Game sets out to capture the early computing phenomenon that is The Oregon Trail. Created by Pressman and distributed exclusively by Target, The Oregon Trail: Card Game became a mini-phenomenon in its own right as nostalgia fueled gamers clamored for the card game based on the game they spent many an' hour playing in libraries and school computer labs. But does this card game deliver it's players safely to Willamette Valley, or does this game die of dysentery right outside the town gate?   In The Oregon Trail: Card Game, players attempt to traverse 50 sections of trail on their way to Oregon. However, players will face a variety of calamities such as disease, broken wagons, and privation. In addition, players will attempt for ford a number of rivers, with failure causing the loss of life and life-saving suppli

  During the sweltering summer days of July, Arcade Castle tried to escape the heat and humidity by escaping to the...identical climes of the Mediterranean. Failing to escape the weather, they decided to find out which ancient civilization of the old world was the dominant superpower and, since Arcade Castle has as of yet to finish their time machine, tried to determine the answer with a board game. Age of Mythology: The Board Game is an adaptation of the Real Time Strategy video game of the same name. Players choose between the Egyptians, Norse, and Greek civilizations to do exciting things like Explore! Trade! And Gather!   As players amass resources they can choose to militarize their civilization or become an economic powerhouse. Does this game reward players for turning their civilization into a trade hub? Or, does it reward them for become a military force to be reckoned with?   In Episode 3, Arcade Castle examines the first of many attempts by developers to capture a Real Time Strategy video gam

On this rainy day in April, The Arcade Castle decided to distract themselves from the boredom and woes that only come from being stuck inside during rainy weather. Searching through the archives they come across a game that reminds them of their youth; halcyon days filled with designing cities, relaxing music, and bulldozing schools and libraries to get a higher population count. However, as they open the game and begin reading the extensive tome that acts as the rulebook to playing this game, will Arcade Castle be overjoyed, or underwhelmed, by this mid-90s card game by Mayfair Games and Maxis Games? Can the budding city of ArcadeCastleopolis survive disaster?! In this (slightly delayed) episode, Arcade Castle examines SimCity The Card Game. In stores from 1994 to 1995, this CCG saw several starter sets and trading card paks. But can this game live up to players' expectations? Does this card game sucessfully capture the strategy and gameplay from the video game series?   Episode Outline:  00:00-15:00: Discus