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On Board Games Round Table
Scott, Erik, & Donald discuss the care and feeding of new gamers

Board Game Podcast Award for Best Gateway Game
The guys, give a summary of nominees, announce winner, and discuss why winner is a great gateway game.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/192196

Stoplight Review
Penguin from Fantasy Flight Games reviewed by Scott

What do you think makes a good gateway game? How do you teach or encourage new gamers?

I tried to download the new episode but to no avail. I will keep trying though.

It seems at times that the server is down, as I have had a little difficulty downloading the earlier podcasts in the past.

EDIT: Managed to download the episode after 10 minutes of trying.

Another excellent show. I loved the gateway game discussion.

My personal favorite gateway game is Ticket to Ride, and I'm glad to hear the winner of the BGPA for gateway game of the year was a game that I own and have started using as a gateway game.

I also like using card games as gateways because most non-gamers are familiar with trick-taking games like Hearts, Spades, or Euchre. So bringing in a game like Rage is often a good first step for me. Then I really challenge them by stepping up to Bohnanza. It's amazing how successful this technique has been for me. Also hardcore poker players can be brought in on something like Havoc with some success.

Favorite quote of the show= "Well, that was pretty good for pullng it out of our...Ra!"

Gary, Sorry about the problems there. If anyone else has trouble getting the episode, please let me know.

I loved the gateway game discussion."

Not a problem. Just more patience is required on my side.

I think a discussion on the winning game was good enough, though I would certainly love to hear a detailed discussion for the other nominees if possible.

I haven't actually played any of those games myself, which probably explains why I want to know more about them.

Absolutely! I am a big fan of awards, ratings, top 10 lists, or anything that claims that one game is better than another. I think the discussions that grow out of these things are extremely interesting. I would also be interested to know if you guys agree with each winner, perhaps even some info about which games you voted for (although this is probably top secret information.)

On the flip side, I'm not tremendously interested in the process. It's similar to the Academy Awards. I like to bicker and complain that the wrong movies won, but if I had the opportunity to sit down and watch a documentary on the inner workings of the Academy I'd probably fall asleep. I couldn't even make it through half the discussion that appeared on the forum where Tom originally posted the nominees.

How about making the full episode on board game awards in general? Maybe discuss which awards matter and which ones impact purchasing decisions. You could go into whether you agree or disagree with each award from 2006. Besides this would give another opportunity to bash the ridiculous Origins awards.

That's a great idea, it could almost be a companion piece for the reviews round table.

I think a great gateway game must have simple rules with only a few gameplay concepts that is new to the players. It must also demonstrate to the players that it is possible to create fun and engaging gameplay from these few simple rules and components. Also key elements is that is doesn't have too much luck so that people don't get burned on it from the first play.