Flip the Table (general)
Most board game shows focus on the latest-and-greatest, or time-tested classics. We have taken it upon ourselves to comb our local charity shops and salvage stores for the other stuff...join us as we review cheesy, weird, and obscure board games for your entertainment.

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-BANCE!!! This week, we play the Batman Forever Audio Game, our first ever title featuring an audio cassette (It's like a VHS, but you can't see anything). We follow the commands of a mysterious 1940's radio announcer as we attempt to be the first to bring Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey to justice. Will Two-Face's army of thugs stop our Dynamic Quintet? Will a phalanx of useless police officers do anything to stop this rampant epidemic of crime? Will we need a pencil to rewind the tape? Tune in now to find out!!!

Direct download: FlipTheTable023.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:27pm EDT

Now you can virtually experience the warm California sun via the radioactive glow of a cathode ray tube...with VCR California Games! Join us as we roll and move our way through the bay area, participating in generic extreme sports competitions to raise enough money to go to "The Nationals" by way of watching 5 second clips of skateboarding, BMX, wind surfing, and more. Is this game totally "Nails," or is it the opposite of "Nails"? What does any of that mean? Plus, Professor Laserbooks sneaks some education past FTT Standards and Practices and into the Battle of Wits. Cowa-BANCE-ga!

Direct download: FlipTheTable022.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:44am EDT

Set your VCRs for 1985 and prepare for a healthy dose of drama as we play All My Children, the board game based on the popular ABC soap opera! This game by TSR (The company behind Dungeons and Dragons at the time) attempts to inject a little bit of gamerly nuance into a licensed roll and mover. Were they successful in turning endless melodramatic plots into a solid experience for gamers? Flip the Table investigates. Download now!

Direct download: FlipTheTable021.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:50pm EDT

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad episode of Flip the Table as Rich Sommer from TV's Mad Men joins us to review MAD Magazine: The Board Game! This 1979 classic combines the subversive wit and satire of the iconic magazine with all the thrill and excitement of an old roll & move board game. Players travel counterclockwise around the board as they do everything they can to lose all the money they have in a chair-swapping, impression-of-a-rock doing, deliberately-vague-rules-interpreting slugfest. Many of us had this one as a kid...but does it hold up almost 35 years later? Also: We find out how someone with an actual IMDB listing fares in our first ever Celebrity Battle of Wits!

Direct download: FlipTheTable020.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:45pm EDT

All rise! The People's Court is now in session! Join Flip the Table and returning contributors Ben and Niki Turner as we face the dreaded Judge Wapner Spinner and play this 1986 title based on the original courtroom reality show. Does this roll and move board game accurately depict the drama of petty disputes in a small claims court? Also: we seamlessly edit over a mistake in identifying where Jerry Springer served as mayor, and we engage in a special Judge Edition of the Battle of Wits. Download now!

Direct download: FlipTheTable019.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:21am EDT

In our season finale, join Flip the Table as we present our awards for the best and worst games we've played on the show. Which game had the most BANCE? Which was the most eye-gougingly bad game we've played all year? We'll tell you! With words! Also: listen and laugh at our expense as we valiantly struggle to pronounce your names in our first ever listener Q&A, and find out who will be crowned the 2012 Battle of Wits Heavyweight Champion of the World! It's a super-sized episode filled with more plot twists than a Dennis Miller joke about M. Night Shyamalan movies. Listen now!

Direct download: FlipTheTable018.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:21pm EDT

In our last game review of 2012, Flip the Table invites you to "Experience Bij" as we play "Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive VCR Board Game"! The Klingon warmonger Kavok has taken control of the Enterprise in this roll & move race against the clock. Can our Starfleet training overcome hammy acting and crew infighting to prevent an intergalactic war, or will the fragile alliance with the Klingons be shattered by a 60 minute VHS tape? Plus: Flip gives a full report from BGG.con, and Professor Laserbooks challenges the panel to a super-sized Star Trek Battle of Wits! "Engage" your favorite podcasting device and "Make it so" the noises we made go into your ears...download now!

Direct download: FlipTheTable017.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:26pm EDT

This week, we're joining forces with the Game Night Guys to bring you team coverage of Murder, She Wrote: The board game! It's a deduction game with a traitor element released 25 years ahead of its time. Like Battlestar Galactica, there are many copies of Jessica Fletcher (played by the immortal Angela Lansbury) chasing down a twisted murderer as they try to exterminate an entire island resort. Is this game worthy of being played after, say, "60 Minutes: The Board Game"? Plus: A Battle of Wits with an ending you won't believe!  Check out our review, and visit gamenightguys.com to hear their coverage of Murder, She Wrote!

Direct download: FlipTheTable016.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:58pm EDT

If you've ever enjoyed searching your couch cushions for change, you'll be intrigued by this week's title. Electronic Talking Mystery Mansion is a 1995 deduction game featuring a boatload of tiny doll furniture, and a squawking box which leads you through a treasure hunt. You'll search every nook and cranny of the house to find the Million Dollar Prize...but watch out! The other players will try to steal your clues by talking you out of them (read: beating you in a die roll). Nearly 20 years later, does this electronic gimmick hold up? Use the power of the Internet to download this episode and find out!

Direct download: FlipTheTable015.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:21pm EDT

Just in time for Halloween, this spooktacular episode of Flip the Table features a dark and mysterious journey into the world of Dexter, the board game based on the Showtime television series. This title lets players step into the role of blood-spatter analyst and serial killer Dexter Morgan as he stalks other murderers and deals with them by making impulse purchases at hardware stores, sailing a boat across dry land, and riding along with his Dark Passenger into the endless, maddening downward spiral of one-way Miami traffic. Then: The Battle of Wits challenges the panel to price out more peculiar collectibles. Download now!

Direct download: FlipTheTable014.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:55pm EDT