Arcade Castle

Arcade Castle had their 1st guest appearance on Flip Florey's Super Saturday Board Game Serial! Flip and I take on a list of listener suggested videogames to try answer the question: Will it boardgame? Plus, in honor of being a guest on Flip Floreys Super Saturday Board Game Serial!, I am doing a giveaway contest Listen at http://boardgameserial.com to figure out how to win! Contest Ends March 15th! >>Listen Today!<< Flip Florey's Super Saturday Board Game Serial is a member of the Dice Tower Network and puts the FUN back in boardgaming by looking at the exciting and amazing residents in the boardgame community of BoardGameLand! Website: http://boardgameserial.com Twitter: @FFSSBGSerial Instagram: @ffssboardgameserial Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1391470607633651/ Boardgamegeek Guild: https://boardgamegeek.com/guild/3109

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 Ma...

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...

In the first episode of Onomatocodeia, Arcade Castle looks at the first board game adaptation of a video game in the form of Crazy Climber, the board game by Bandai from 1981 as part of their Party Joy board game series. Crazy Climber ( クレイジークライマー ) is an arcade title released by Nichibutsu in 1980 in Japan and 1982 in the United States via Taito. The arcade title has you, the player, climbing a series of towers, navigating hazards, and attempting to reach the hovering helicopter at the roof. Crazy Climber has seen a number of ports over the years (including the Famicom, Sharp X68000, Playstation 2, Playstation 4, and the Nintendo Switch), as well as a number of sequels (Crazy Climber 2, Hyper Crazy Climber, Crazy Climber 2000, and Crazy Climber Wii). However, in 1981, the board game adaptation was released in Japan. With a cardboard skyscraper that nearly reaches two feet in height serving as the game board, players will be encountering one another as often as they encounter th...

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 S...

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 wil...

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 Pa...

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 gam...