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Looks like the next game in FFG's Euro line is going to be another Knizia game.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/6/26/samurai/

Nice, this game has been OOP for quite a while and it will be nice to have an affordable option.

As someone who seemed to have the most run-ins with Weeks, I'll say that the reason for that was that I knew he was talented and capable of really doing great things for this site and the AT cause, but always wanted to piss that away trolling the shit out of everyone and biting every had that dared to feed him.

This podcast is proof of what he is capable of doing--being entertaining and actually a positive force for the hobby.

Excellent work, Steve.

Amazing song, great interview and obviously a great subject. Thanks for putting the effort in, guys - great listen.

EDIT - to be honest, when I saw the headline pop up on Facebook, I actually assumed it was going to be a comedy bit of yours Weeks. Very pleasantly surprised.

Gave me a warm feeling towards boardgaming that I hadn't had in awhile.

That's a great compliment and exactly what I was going for and in fact I told Michael that I didn't want this to sound like an insurance seminar or a corporate thing , more a fireside chat.

Really looking forward to listening to this!

It is hard to talk in generalities when the man's designed hundreds of games...But the element that I most admire about many of the games of his that I have played is that they are so focused and efficient. He has a restraint that puts just enough into the game to deliver the theme and/or setting but avoids any sort of heavy-handedness. And that restraint is something that I feel has been sorely lacking from game design for a while, though there has been a bit of a resurgence of it as of late.

This is fantastic! Great job, fellas, and Steve, awesome song at the beginning!

Wow. This was unexpected. Gave me a warm feeling towards boardgaming that I hadn't had in awhile. Thinking about it, I have more Knizia games than I do from any other designer. Though his titles may not be my absolute favorites, I like them a lot. A whole lot. I would totally put him in first ballot. My favorites are:

Battle Line
Kingdoms
Colossal Arena
LotR: Confrontation
Lost Cities
Beowulf
Lord of the Rings

I've never played T&E and am interested in Blue Moon Legends (can I get a recommendation? I don't hear much about it.)

One thing I've come to learn about myself the past few years boardgaming is that I actually prefer, what some would call, slightly abstract boardgames. TITAN, Manoeuvre, Neuroshima Hex those sorts of games. And well, A lot of Knizia's are like that as well which may be why I have and enjoy so many. For pure AT, I like to create my own characters and such (Blood Bowl, RPGs, etc), but for boardgaming I find I like the more chess-like, maybe even euro-style of play.

Again, great job here!

Bullshit on him being overrated. I may not love most of what he's done, but it's impossible to not be impressed by what he's trying to communicate and how he's doing it in any one of his games. The fact that his games read so dryly on paper but do tend register some sort of emotional response (granted, some more than others) is all the proof one needs to make the claim that he designs with feelings and themes in mind. Add the fact that he's responsible for so many games that have proven to have staying power, yeah, he's first in the designer hall of fame. We're always saying that some game has replaced another one for us...You never hear some one say they're replacing Ra/T&E/Lost Cities/LOTR:TC/etc. Hell, as much as I love Omen, I still think Battle Line is top dog due to how pure of an experience it is.

Wow! What a coup!

MattDP wrote: Fantastic job guys, but still think he's overrated as a designer. A few absolute gems like T&E, Ra, a slew of very forgettable medium weight euros and a handful of vastly overrated games including Samurai and LotR.

That said, I suspect most designers are overrated if you judge them over their whole careers. Almost all of them are remebered for a few high points amidst a sea of briefly popular games. So perhaps I'm being uncharitable.

I don't have a Reiner Knizia game in my favorite top 20 games. But Knizia would be one of the first game designer I'd put in the game designer hall of fame. Sorry for the baseball reference but Knizia is more of a Cal Ripkin or Derick Jeter who got into the baseball hall of fame because of consistency and longevity rather than putting up crazy home run numbers over a couple of seasons.

Yes, you are right. The real challenge with this interview was to decide what to talk about he's done over 600 games. I had Pikomino and Beowulf sitting right in front of me but didn't get to them. Just no enough time.

The man who designed Pikomino is not over rated at least in my mind. I love that game.

Fantastic job guys, but still think he's overrated as a designer. A few absolute gems like T&E, Ra, a slew of very forgettable medium weight euros and a handful of vastly overrated games including Samurai and LotR.

That said, I suspect most designers are overrated if you judge them over their whole careers. Almost all of them are remebered for a few high points amidst a sea of briefly popular games. So perhaps I'm being uncharitable.

What a great interview, thank you for sharing. Does anyone else want to just go out and by all the good doctor's games?

That was pretty cool. Thanks, guys.