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 Patrick play the first board game adaptation from the racing genre. Did TOMY successfully craft a game that captures the pace and feel of the iconic 16 bit racer? Or did it end up a twisted heap of metal and ash on the sidelines?

Episode Outline:

00:00 - 07:00 - John and Patrick discuss the workability of a listener's suggestion for improving the MegaMan Board Game (2015).

07:00 - 20:00 - John and Patrick talk about the racing genre and their top three racing video game titles.

20:00 - 30:00 - Turning their attention to the F-Zero franchise, they discuss the technology behind Mode 7 graphics, the history and cultural reception of the F-Zero games from inception to its current status in the field.

30:00 - 53:00 - Arcade Castle discusses the FZKLRRSG in depth; from looking at the components and rules to examining the strategies gamers can use when playing FZKLRRSM, they try and determine how successful this game is at capturing the essence of the F-Zero franchise in a board game format.

Arcade Castle's attempt to sacrifice The Oregon Trail Card Game during the solar eclipse was, in a word, unsuccessful. At the height of the astronomical event, Arcade Castle thrust a dagger into the very heart of the card game and set it aflame in the hopes of removing its presence from this planet and send it into the unfathomable void of space.

But Arcade Castle was wrong.

As the embers died down and the solar bodies unaligned, something arose from the ashes, the proverbial phoenix: The Oregon Trail: Hunt For Food Card Game. This event left Arcade Castle defeated for some time...until now.

In Episode 08, Arcade Castle looks at the pseudo-expansion for the original game that no one asked for and no one expected. Nevertheless, setting themselves to the task, Arcade Castle opened up the Hunt For Food Card Game and played the second game in the series of card game adaptations of the legendary computer game that was released by MECC in the early 1970s.

The Hunt For Food Card Game, as the title suggests, is a card game adaptation of the hunting mini-game found in the Oregon Trail Computer Game. As the hunter, players navigate a grid of cards, flipping them over to explore the terrain. As they explore, obstacles, wild game, and hazards present themselves to the players. As a team, players must attempt to overcome these hazards as well as attempt to hunt, kill, and bring 600 pounds of meat back to the wagon to continue on the trail and win the game. But will this card game's aim be true? Or will it prove to far off the mark?

Episode Outline

00:00 - 07:00: Arcade Castle reintroduces the Oregon Trail card game series published by pressman, as well as recapping their opinions about the base game as discussed in Episode 04 of the podcast.

07:00 - 27:00: Arcade Castle explores, in length, The Oregon Trail: Hunt For Food Card Game. They describe the contents of the game, the rules of the game, and examine the strategies present in the game as well as the numerous problems with the game.

27:00 - 53:00: After playing the game as a standalone game, Arcade Castle integrates The Hunt For Food Card Game with the original Oregon Trail Card Game to see whether or not this integration helps either game become more playable and determine if it causes more problems then solutions. They then explore how changing some rules and adjusting gameplay may make both games function better. Do they recommend this game? Or recommend sacrificing it to the astral powers that be?

In Episode 07, Arcade Castle plumbs the depths of early text-based adventure gaming as they play a modern adaptation of one of the earliest video games ever made: Adventure/ADVENT/The Colossal Cave Adventure. While Adventure has seen many adaptations and modifications since its creation by Will Crowther in 1975, does this board game adaptation from 2013 deserve a place in the Well House, or cast into the Bottomless Pit?

In The Colossal Cave Adventure, players traverse the rooms and passages of The Colossal Cave and face the hazards and dangers therein in a quest for treasure. As players uncover mysterious items during their trek in The Colossal Cave, they will find these strange items are key to surviving the trials and tribulations they will face as well as finding the treasures housed within the cavernous passages and rooms of The Colossal Cave. As players acquire treasures, a race begins as players attempt to protect their treasures and deposit them in the Well House. The first player to deposit three treasures in the Well House can rightly call themselves the master of The Colossal Cave, and winner of the game!

In this (somewhat delayed) episode, Arcade Castle looks at a board game adaptation of an oft overlooked genre: text-based adventure games. Can you take a game that solely relies upon text as a user interface and successfully create a three dimensional board game that relies, in part, upon a GUI? Further, how can a developer take a solo experience and adapt it into a multi-player experience? 

Episode Outline

00:00 - 10:00: Arcade Castle gives a general overview of text-based adventure games and The Colossal Cave Adventure. Additionally, they discuss text-based adventure games and their progeny, old and new, and their experiences playing them.

10:00 - 20:00: [Once Upon A Powerup] Arcade Castle gives a more detailed history of the circumstances behind the creation of Adventure and The Colossal Cave Adventure as well as its impact upon the industry.

20:00 - 35:00: Arcade Castle takes an in-depth look at The Colossal Cave Board Game. Detailing the contents, rules, and gameplay, they examine the challenges faced when codefabing a text-game into a board game.

35:00-50:00: Arcade Castle gives their final thoughts on The Colossal Cave Board Game. They look at where it succeeds and where it fails in codefabing The Colossal Cave from digital text into cardboard and plastic. They also compare it's success rate in this process with games looked at in prior podcast episodes.

In Episode 06 (or Episode 01, Volume 02 if we are going by comic book rules), Arcade Castle tackle the high risk, high reward world of high finance and stock speculation in The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt. Buying stock in Mcdonald's, WoW, and more, Arcade Castle struggles to avoid bankruptcy and boredom in this financial tool...game...for the Odyssey II from 1982!

In The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt, each player, or team of players start with $100,000 dollars and attempt, over the course of five years, to go big, go home, or go broke. Throughout the Level 1 version of the game, players buy and sell stock, and  try to understand the cause and effect between stocks and world events that occur periodically throughout gameplay. Will Arcade Castle see $_$ ? or -_-?

In this first episode of Season 2 of the Arcade Castle Podcast, CasualJohn and Patrick examine another entry in the Master Strategy Series that were released in the early 1980s on the Magnavox Odyssey II. After The Quest For the Rings proving a surprise hit for Arcade Castle, will this entry in the series prove as enjoyable? Or will Arcade Castle's stock in this series tank with The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt?

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Webpage: www.arcadecastle.com

Additionally, you can find us on Itunes (and a number of podcast services), Twitter, Facebook, BoardGameGeek, and Instagram!

Check out our videos on Youtube!

You can contact us at: contactarcadecastle@gmail.com

Also, if you like the new theme song, check out Tony Robot at: www.facebook.com/louisvilletonyrobot/

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Episode Outline:

00:00-17:00: Arcade Castle discusses the video games they are currently playing, discuss their favorite finance-based video games on a variety of consoles, and give an overview of The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt and the Master Strategy Series.

17:00-27:00: Arcade Castle discusses the components of The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt and include a new segment: Insert Coin to Play, with recorded audio of their gameplay of The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt.

27:00-42:00: Arcade Castle discusses the base gameplay of The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt in length, who they think the audience was for this game, some of the technical issues they have with the game, their recommendations, and final thoughts on the second game in the Master Strategy Series that has been placed before Arcade Castle.

During the sweltering summer days of July, Arcade Castle tried to escape the heat and humidity by escaping to the...identical climes of the Mediterranean. Failing to escape the weather, they decided to find out which ancient civilization of the old world was the dominant superpower and, since Arcade Castle has as of yet to finish their time machine, tried to determine the answer with a board game. Age of Mythology: The Board Game is an adaptation of the Real Time Strategy video game of the same name. Players choose between the Egyptians, Norse, and Greek civilizations to do exciting things like Explore! Trade! And Gather!

 As players amass resources they can choose to militarize their civilization or become an economic powerhouse. Does this game reward players for turning their civilization into a trade hub? Or, does it reward them for become a military force to be reckoned with?

In Episode 3, Arcade Castle examines the first of many attempts by developers to capture a Real Time Strategy video game in a board game. With computers handing many of the multi-tasking details of a typical Real Time Strategy skirmish between players, can this board game handle translating these fine details into game rules and mechanics? How does Age of Mythology solve the problem that faces all Real Time Strategy board games: How can you create a board game to imitate the 'real time' nature of the video game genre? 

Episode Outline:

00:00-05:00: Podcast Updates and Show News.

05:00-17:00: Discussing Real Time Strategy Video Games, the history of the genre, as well as some of the foundational mechanics that typify the genre.

17:00-30:00: Examining the components, rules, and gameplay of the Age of Mythology: The Board Game.

30:00-50:00: Comparing Age of Mythology to the Real Time Strategy genre at large. How does it compare? Discussing our final thoughts on the board game as well as potential fixes for some of the issues we encountered during gameplay.

50:00-66:00: Breakdown Discussion: Is it possible to accurately create a 'Real Time Strategy' board game? What would one have to do to capture the frenzy and multitasking the genre embodies?

If, after listening to the podcast, you desire more, you can find us at: www.arcadecastle.com

Additionally, you can find us on Itunes (and a number of podcast services), Twitter, Facebook, BoardGameGeek, and you can contact us at: contactarcadecastle@gmail.com

Also, if you like the new theme song, check out Tony Robot! https://www.facebook.com/louisvilletonyrobot/

On this rainy day in April, The Arcade Castle decided to distract themselves from the boredom and woes

 that only come from being stuck inside during rainy weather. Searching through the archives they come across a game that reminds them of their youth; halcyon days filled with designing cities, relaxing music, and bulldozing schools and libraries to get a higher population count.

However, as they open the game and begin reading the extensive tome that acts as the rulebook to playing this game, will Arcade Castle be overjoyed, or underwhelmed, by this mid-90s card game by Mayfair Games and Maxis Games? Can the budding city of ArcadeCastleopolis survive disaster?!

In this (slightly delayed) episode, Arcade Castle examines SimCity The Card Game. In stores from 1994 to 1995, this CCG saw several starter sets and trading card packs. But can this game live up to players' expectations? Does this card game successfully capture the strategy and gameplay from the video game series?

Episode Outline: 

00:00-15:00: Discussion about the SIM franchise and how SimCity as a videogame works. Once Upon a Powerup: The Story of Will Wright and the Simulated City.

15:00-35:00: Examination of the rules and gameplay of SimCity: The Card Game.

35:00-52:00: Comparing SimCity: The Card Game to the SimCity franchise. How do both games function? What core gameplay mechanics and strategies drive each in turn? What expectations do videogamers bring to the table when playing SimCity: The Card Game? Does this card game meet those expectations?

52:00-64:00: Breakdown Discussion: How faithful should a licensee be when they are adapting a videogame into a board game or card game? Can you truly adapt a video game from digital into analog?

If, after listening to the podcast, you desire more, you can find us at: www.arcadecastle.com

Additionally, you can find us on Itunes (and a number of podcast services), Twitter, Facebook, BoardGameGeek, and you can contact us at: contactarcadecastle@gmail.com

Also, if you like the new theme song, check out Tony Robot! https://www.facebook.com/louisvilletonyrobot/

On this leap day in the year 2016, a podcast was borne from the ether and unleashed unto the world. From the untamed lands twixt the wartorn realms of board games and video games, two intrepid explorers examine long-forgotten artifacts. Housed within a crumbling structure, the Arcade Castle is the only place these misbegotten games and antiquities can call home. But can these explorers survive the trials and tribulations these games will call upon them or, will they go mad trying?

In this debut episode, the Arcade Castle podcast takes a look at The Quest For The Rings, a game from the Master Strategy Series on the Odyssey II from 1981. Can an atari-era game hold up to today's gaming demands? Will the master strategy series live up to its name?

If, after listening to the podcast, you desire more, you can find us at: www.arcadecastle.com

Additionally, you can find us on Itunes (and a number of podcast services), Twitter, Facebook, BoardGameGeek, and you can contact us at: contactarcadecastle@gmail.com

Also, if you like the new theme song, check out Tony Robot! https://www.facebook.com/louisvilletonyrobot/

Episode Outline:

00:00-15:00: Introduction to the podcast, including why we want to do a podcast and our reasons behind it.

15:00-34:00: History of the game and gameplay overview

34:00-54:00: An in-depth examination of the guiding principles that define the game's strategy

54:00-74:00: In our first breakdown discussion we tackle the issue of the implementation of SMART technology and Apps into boardgames. Is it a good thing or a bad thing?