The Dice Tower

Tom, Julie, and Eric are back from Germany and ready to talk about games, food, crowds, and everything else they saw at Spiel 2025.

00:44 - Tired

01:50 - Official Numbers/Crowd Flow

07:09 - Travel Adventures and Weather

08:46 - What Was Different for Eric

11:31 - Food

13:35 - Eric's Birthday

15:44 - Julie's Author Signing

21:16 - Tom's Live Show

25:22 - Big Games

31:14 - How To Stand Out

35:51 - Limited Stock and How To Deal With I...

Tom, Julie, and Eric run through their game plan for Essen Spiel 2025, including where they'll be, and what games are on the internet's radar, as well as trying to narrow down what three games are of the most interest to them personally.

00:59 - Bookkeeping: Dice Tower East, West, Cruise

01:57 - The Weather in Germany

03:12 - Eric's First Time Back Since 2019, What's Changed?

07:18 - Where Will We Be?

Dice Tower Booth: 3 R315

Van R...

Tom is stuck in traffic, so Julie and Eric take control to discuss what it takes to setup a booth at Essen. How do you get all that stuff overseas, and how do you minimize what has to come back? And of course, there are Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:45 - Where is Tom? and Julie's Work Trip

03:56 - Dice Tower Cruise and Dice Tower West

05:07 - Moving a Booth to Essen

35:50 - Tiletum: Prospect for Silver

41:20 - I Made You a Mixt...

Tom begins by recapping his adventures at the Dice Tower Retreat, and looks forward to the World Series of Boardgaming, before turning to the topic of figuring out what to do with your game collection after you're gone, and why it might be a good idea to make some choices sooner rather than later. Later, we share a new Tale of Boardgaming Horror, peek into the mailbag, and gather a collection of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:51...

Tom sits at the small table. Eric's parents make friends on a cruise. Julie travels the country spreading boardgames wherever she goes. We also talk about what surprises await in those little pockets of games in places where you don't expect to find them. We delve into the mailbag for some pertinent questions, and we gather a new crop of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:50 - School Has Started, Dice Tower West, Cruise

02:40 - Eric...

Eric starts the show by sharing tales of his European adventures, which leads Tom to share some of our plans for Spiel in October. Then, we discuss the process for adding art to your game. How do you find an artist? How long does it take to draw a picture of a horse? What if the horse is holding a corn dog? Later, we share a tale of horror and a question, and move on to our Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:48 - Middle of the Year?...

We are back from Gen Con, and ready to talk about our adventures! We discuss the crowds, the events, and the games we enjoyed, and maybe a little about the food we ate as well. We also share a new Tale of Boardgaming Horror, and share our latest crop of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:46 - Announcements: Dice Tower West and Dice Tower Cruise

01:40 - Gen Con: Crowds and Fans

10:25 - Gen Con: Sales and Sellouts

12:50 - Gen Con: Wha...

We're on our way to Gen Con! And here are the games we're most excited about (as well as the ones that are getting the most buzz online). You'll also here where to find us in Indy, where we plan to eat, and how we plan to survive the Best Four Days in Gaming.

00:45 - Releases in the second half of the year.

02:23 - Preparing for Crowds at Gen Con - New Cart Policy

08:15 - Food Trucks

11:15 - Where Will We Be?

19:59 - The Games of G...

It's time to recap our adventures at Dice Tower East 2025. We discuss the games we played and events we ran, and you also get to hear what Eric and Julie got up to when working at the Dice Tower Booth, which includes brainstorming ways to get Tom to remember the difference between Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:46 - We Didn't See Each Other

01:45 - Gen Con is Around The Corner

03:26 - Dice Tower East: New Space

05:40 - Eric and ...

Today, we discuss our recent travel adventures. Eric has returned from a Ninja Escort Mission and ran into gaming opportunites at every turn. And Tom and Julie have the full scoop on the 50th Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH. Then, we finish the show with a gathering of our latest Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:48 - Convention Season - Dice Tower East

01:53 - Playing Only Older Games

04:01 - What We're Doing at Dice Tower East:...

This time, Tom gives us an update on his replay of the Catan expansions before we take a big look at small games. What are the pros and cons of games that can fit in your pocket? Also, we share a new Tale of Horror, as well as our latest batch of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

01:03 - Summer: Origins, Dice Tower East, Dice Tower Cruise, Gen Con

05:03 - Catan Update and Chess

07:10 - Small Games

36:41 - Tale of Boardgaming Horror

40...

Tom, Julie, and Eric run through the nominees for the German Game of the Year awards before focusing on the episode's main topic: box covers. How does what you put on the front of the box attract a particular audience? We also have a tale of horror? as well as a question from the mailbag, and of course our usual assortment of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:50 - Summer is Here?

03:07 - Spiel des Jahres Nominees - Bomb Busters, Fl...

This time, Tom gives us an audio tour of the new Dice Tower Studios in Ft. Myers, with tales to tell about the adventurous move. We present a Tale of Amazement and delve into the mailbag, and we close the show with our Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

01:09 - Moving to Ft. Myers

04:51 - The New Studio

23:04 - Tale of Amazement

28:55 - Question: What to do with a whiner?

34:16 - Linkx

37:18 - Primates

41:18 - Deep Regrets

46:33 - Cat ...

This time, Tom shares his adventures in Mexico, and Julie has tales to tell from Greece. Then, we kick of our discussion of video games that feel like board games with Eric's obsession with Blue Prince, before moving on to a bunch of other electronic games, including some that have made the leap to boardgames. We open up the mailbag for a question and Tale of Horror, and break down our Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:57 - Followi...

Tom is busy moving the studio, so Julie and Eric invite Robert Geistlinger from Arcane Wonders (and also Julie's husband) to join in a discussion about boardgame production. Where do the materials that go into our games come from? What do you look for in a manufacturer? And why doesn't everybody print their games in Cleveland? And of course, we close the show with some Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:52 - Where's Tom? and Who Is ...

Today, we focus on what designers should do when they've built a design on an existing game. How much borrowing is too much borrowing? We also look ahead to some upcoming events, share a new Tale of Boardgaming Horror, and run through our latest batch of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:49 - Tom's Apology

01:25 - Dice Tower Cruise and Dice Tower East

01:52 - Tom's Catan Update: Seafarers

02:53 - Upcoming: Studio Move, Origins, Gre...

We kick off this episode with some chit-chat regarding the moving of Dice Tower HQ, some upcoming events, Tom's efforts to impress the chef at a Japanese restaurant, and the most played games at Dice Tower West. A listener question leads us to discuss the layout of rulebooks and how best to do so. We share a new Tale of Boardgaming Horror, and close the show with a typical wave of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.

00:53 - Moving the S...

This time, we are recording in person at Dice Tower West (with some new mics!). We talk specifics about our new-ish venue for DTW, and then get more general with a chat about our convention strategies and planning. The Tale of Boardgaming Horror is one for the ages, and we close the show with some Roses, Thorns, Hula Hoops, and Crossovers.

00:47 - Dice Tower West: Back at the Westgate

04:20 - Julie's Drive West

08:35 - Eric at APAC

This time, we're talking sports, and how game designers can best emulate them. Plus, Horror, Hula Hoops, Roses, and Thorns.

00:59 - Announcements: Dice Tower West and East

02:04 - Sports Boardgames

20:10 - Tale of Boardgaming Horror

25:48 - Charcuterie

30:24 - 1 A.M. Jailbreak

33:07 - Helionox Chronicles

37:47 - Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era

40:38 - Ostia

42:33 - Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom

Questions? Tales of Horror...