Flip the Table
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.

It's time once again for our super-sized, super-spectacular, super-bedazzled End of Year Special! We stop rolling and moving for once so we can take some time to answer a bunch of your questions and mispronounce all of your names. Then, we'll give our annual awards for the best and worst games we've covered in 2014. And it wouldn't be a special episode without another fan-created Battle of Wits, where the panel will fight for tens of thousands of VALUABLE POINTS! FTT will return in January...but for now, enjoy this special double-episode!

Direct download: FlipTheTable067.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:12pm EDT

This week's game is a certified cult classic...a Milton Bradley title that makes even hardened hobby gamers want to play "Once More, with Feeling!" In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, players roll and move their way through Sunnyvale, fighting ancient vampires and searching for mystical artifacts...all while experiencing their own brand of teen drama (presumably). The panel searches for weapons, researches magic spells, and calls for help from the denizens of the Whedonverse while trying to prevent Buffy from being destroyed or turned into a vampire. Does Buffy deserve its cult classic status, or does it feel seven times longer than Firefly? Download now to find out!

Direct download: FlipTheTable066.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:51pm EDT

Just in time for the much too early start of the Christmas season, we're playing the Home Alone board game! This spin and move memorization game, based on the massive 90's blockbuster, has players controlling both a particularly independent 8 year old and the infamous "Wet Bandits" as they try to protect the family's valuables while springing the most lethal traps on the crooks. Has the panel had enough of this one, or are they thirsty for more? Plus, Flip gets the fans involved in a very special (too early for the) holiday edition of the Battle of Wits!

Direct download: FlipTheTable065.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:01pm EDT

Take a little Mr. Wizard, a little Ren and Stimpy, and blend in a heaping helping of roll and move, and you get the Beakman's World: Beakmania Game! In this trivia/dexterity hybrid based on the 1990's-era educational science show for kids, players battle for beakers at Beakman's lab...using such varied props as dominoes, magnetic marbles, plastic discs, wadded up paper, rulers, and balloons. Does this nineties-tastic edutainment title manage to work in a little actual entertainment on the side? Plus: Professor Laserbooks tries to make a subjective Battle of Wits a little more scientific...

Direct download: FlipTheTable064.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:04pm EDT

A board game about the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant? That's unpossible! This week we're diving into The Simpsons: Don't Panic...a game of spinning donuts and silly mayhem based on one of the longest running animated series of all time. Players compete in a series of crazy stunts in 60 second bursts as they race to collect enough pieces of junk to stop the reactor from melting down and, presumably, ending civilization. Does this game contain enough zany fun to make us say "Ay caramba," or will we be left eating our shorts? Plus, in this week's Battle of Wits, we'll find out who is the S-M-R-T-est about Simpson's merchandise...

Direct download: FlipTheTable063.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:55pm EDT

We demand you stop, collaborate, and listen to this episode of Flip the Table, where we dive into the endless complexity of the Vanilla Ice Electronic Rap Game! Featuring the "Electronic Beat Box Microphone," players cover up pictures of Vanilla Ice using harshly colored rhyming words while jockeying for position on a thin piece of 1990's-era cardboard. Complete a stanza, and not only do you score big points, you get the pleasure of rapping your frankenrhyme for everyone at the table! Does the panel have what it takes to spit hot fire and rap like ninjas, or will we simply fade into obscurity? To the extreme!

Direct download: FlipTheTable062.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:31pm EDT

Once again, we attempt to lift up some rocks while we stand on our heads as we return to the Star Wars universe! In Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game, you and up to 5 other rebels invade a partially constructed Death Star, using a combination of plucky astromech droids and the awesome power of The Force to plant enough heavy explosives to blow it to kingdom come. But be careful! A VHS-based Darth Vader and a single wandering Stormtrooper seek to thwart your efforts (because good is dumb)...and the Dark Side of The Force may prove too seductive for one of your well-intentioned friends. Is a 3D board and a blurry Darth Vader enough to set this apart from other VHS games? Plus, we ask a Very Important Question about scenes from Star Wars too awesome for theaters. Download now!

Direct download: FlipTheTable061.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:03pm EDT

In an instance of obvious pandering to Internet cat worship, this week we're covering the Thundercats board game from 1985! We take on the roles of anthropomorphic feline space travelers who brave mutant attacks and library-like forests in a race to finish the final battle by ourselves and snatch the glory from our fellow travelers. Is there fun to be had in this game, or are we chasing a mysterious red dot that was never really there? Download, HO!

Direct download: FlipTheTable060.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:48pm EDT

Though some of this week's panel are teetotalers, that will not stop us from reviewing this 1987 classic about everyone's favorite Boston bar! The Cheers board game, based on the situation comedy of the same name, pits the patrons and staff against each-other in a hybrid trivia/dexterity game. Is the brutal "Normie's Olympics" too much of a challenge for even the most sober of panelists? Will this TSR-produced classic deliver on the implied promise of dungeons and/or dragons in a Boston pub? Pull up a stool and join us, won't you?

Direct download: FlipTheTable059.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:39pm EDT

It's another sportsball-themed episode as we take on two games featuring America's Non-MMA Pastime, the historic game of Baseball. First, we attempt to screen out the shouts of angry parents as we play The Approved Little League Game from the 1960's...a chart-based simulator featuring all the high-octane thrills of choosing how many pitches not to swing at. Then, it's The Baseball Card Game, a team-branded rummy style game which has the guts to implicitly claim its own definitiveness by having a starkly-worded title. Just how much pine tar and cork is needed to fix these games? Download now to find out!

Direct download: FlipTheTable058.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:19pm EDT