417Gamer Podcast ep 43 The one with Older Games

·57 min·3 clips

El Grande can still “ruin friendships,” and everyone in the room has a story about it.

1. Hobby Gaming Network episode 43, “The One With Older Games,” focuses on older hobby games and why they still matter. 2. Rick and Andrea host the show, and Alan joins as a friend of the podcast and proprietor of MetaGames Unlimited, which gives the discussion a store-side perspective. 3. The episode asks whether a game needs to be 7, 10, or 15 years old before it feels like a modern classic. 4. The first game discussed is Guillotine, a 1998 card game by Paul Peterson published by Wizards of the Coast. 5. Guillotine uses a line of nobles toward a cardboard guillotine, and players play action cards to reorder targets and collect points. 6. Andrea says the take-that interaction is not really for her, while Rick notes that other groups might enjoy the same style. 7. Oddland comes from Allplay, designed by Dan Schumer with art by Can Kendall, and it was suggested by Jess at Village Meeple. 8. Rick and Andrea describe playing Oddland at Village Meeple’s second anniversary masquerade event while dressed as zookeepers for Ark Nova. 9. Zoo King, also suggested by Jess, is described as a tableau game by Evan Johnson and Saratoga Toy and Game Company. 10. Northwest, designed by Rick Ho and published by Brick House Games, uses a wooden board, wooden dice, and a hiker that moves based on the previous player’s pick. 11. The hosts explain that Northwest includes mushrooms, ferns, a bumblebee, and a sasquatch, with each token moving the next player in a different pattern. 12. The topic segment brings in Alan, and the group talks about the hobby’s “cult of the new” and how fast games can disappear from attention. 13. They compare older titles to newer releases and note that a game can feel old after only five to seven years in the hobby. 14. Andrea points to Pandemic as a game that influenced board gaming and still appears often, even with multiple editions like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings versions. 15. Alan says he tends to lean on older games when teaching new players because he knows the rules and can avoid opening the rulebook too early. 16. The hosts also mention Power Grid, Twilight Imperium 3, El Grande, Telestrations, Pillars of the Earth, Alhambra, Bonanza, Chinatown, Airlines Europe, Hob and Gobs, Cyclades, Taluva, and Crossbows and Catapults as older favorites. 17. The tone is conversational and practical, with Rick, Andrea, and Alan trading examples from tables, stores, conventions, and repeated plays. 18. The format mixes game recaps with a ranked seven list, so the pace shifts from short descriptions to longer back-and-forth opinions. 19. Listeners who like hobby-game history, older Euros, and store-owner perspectives will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners who want only new-release coverage or deep rules explanations may skip it.

As heard by us

A friendly tour through older hobby games, with enough table detail to make the nostalgia feel earned.

This episode puts older games front and center, opening with four recent plays: Guillotine, Oddland, Zoo King, and Northwest. Guillotine gets the cleanest read, presented as a two-player game with cutesy art and a morbid, tongue-in-cheek premise that seems to fit the table well.

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Why you'd press play

You want an old-games episode from people who actually played a few things first, not just nostalgia.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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