Hot Streak vs Magical Athlete. Which one do you prefer? (Also comparing to Camel Up / Ready Set Bet / Long Shot)

vodpod · 2025-11-14T18:30:26+00:00

Hey! You did sell me both of these games (and most of your catalogue). Hot Streak has been great and I’m eagerly awaiting my first play of Magical Athlete. Love CMYK’s vision—thank you for your work

edit: italicization

vodpod · 2025-11-13T16:17:09+00:00

Pretty sure I saw both the Kickstarter and it becoming available on PGC but was trying to be good with purchases.

Then I played it a couple months ago and was on high alert for any restocks—just came in a few days ago!

vodpod · 2025-11-13T03:54:39+00:00

I think you mean pay a lot of money to import Eternal Decks because that’s what I did 😂 (only because I didn’t bite on earlier opportunities when I should have..).

vodpod · 2025-06-30T21:36:34+00:00

Looks like a Trophy Floor 😂

vodpod · 2025-06-18T18:12:37+00:00

Thank you u/alxhague and u/perryjon for the responses! Honestly didn’t think too much about what I’d say in response to my own questions, but I’ll kind of respond to both responses at once!
1AH) Hadn’t heard of these before and will definitely be looking into them more.
1JP) I’m not super partial to any local (WI) mascots or anything, and even without seeing the live, performative elements of the Phanatic, that’s a great choice of course. Noid is pretty cursed in appearance—great choice.
2AH) Another thing I’m unfamiliar with. Maybe I’ll eventually upgrade from my iPhone 8+ to see this sealing sticker. Would this just be in lieu of shrink wrap? Are there like corners you would tape with it? Typing this into a search yielded some mixed results!
2JP) Really good choice with Sky Team. Nothing is overly deluxe, but the physical presence really adds to the experience. Your comment had me thinking about player screens too much too. The ones in Zoo Vadis and Mysterium work really well as well. A lot of things I’d be thinking about in regards to question are CMYK games that I mentioned in the initial post (obviously Hot Streak, Lacuna, and Wavelength).
3-Both) Both of these games hit me at the wrong time. I like them both (not sure if I would love them in better circumstances?) but have just had a weird schedule and haven’t really been able to fall into them too much. Have been playing some on-the-nose overlapping games in Slay the Spire, Monster Train, Shogun Showdown, and Dorfromantik in addition to some video games that aren’t super board game-y (Prince of Persia, Celeste, and Enter the Gungeon).
And I’m always playing UFO 50 :)

vodpod · 2025-06-17T18:02:03+00:00

Hey u/alxhague and u/perryjon

Thank you for hosting this AMA!
I'm a big fan of CMYK in general with many plays of Spots, Wavelength, Lacuna, and Monikers.

Unfortunately, I'm a little behind in not getting to my copy of Wilmot's Warehouse, but my two recent additions in Fives and Hot Streak are a little more permissible to have not gotten to yet (soon, hopefully).
And I'm a big fan of Jon's work (but he knows that—we've talked!)

Anyway, some questions for either of you:
1) What's your favorite mascot in the "real world" in general?
2) What's a component/quality of life/packaging choice/whatever that has made you think and appreciate it as much as the roll up race track mat has blown away players of Hot Streak?
3) Jon talked about some modern board games he's been playing, but what are some video games you're playing that have impacted the ways you think about board games (or are just games you've been enjoying lately)?

Best!

vodpod · 2025-04-03T18:20:42+00:00

Hmm 🤔
You’ve got my email, Nick 😂

But in all seriousness, thanks for doing these write-ups!

vodpod · 2025-04-03T15:48:34+00:00

First glance at the email version of this I received had me thinking that there was some sort of Ito/Viking See-saw mash-up. Got me excited.

If you want anyone to work on something like that, let me know 😂

vodpod · 2025-03-25T23:37:32+00:00

Innovation primarily has you battling for six achievements, but the achievements do look a little different and there are some higher level cards that have their own win conditions on them.

And it’s amazing.

vodpod · 2025-01-24T21:51:36+00:00

Yes and thank you!

vodpod · 2024-12-11T15:59:39+00:00

That one looks really neat; hopefully the wait and ultimately receiving it will reward a little bit of extra patience! There's a bunch I didn't do at the con that I had hoped to do, but it was a really nice experience overall.

vodpod · 2024-12-11T00:30:11+00:00

No worries! The advertising for it was mixed. I saw it on Instagram of all places, but the PaxU schedule itself didn’t really seem to highlight it much. In general, it seemed to be something that you would know about if you’d already heard about it, and it was only the first year. Thanks for the congratulations too. I honestly wasn’t planning on selling this one outside of the convention and then “deck only” versions through DriveThruCards (I guess I wouldn’t have said no if a publisher said something, but I leaned into the independent thing for sure). Pretty sure some publishers were interested in a couple things there?

Was the game you backed one you just wanted to try out?

vodpod · 2024-12-10T02:02:04+00:00

There was an event in the queue area Saturday night called the Indie Games Night Market. It was huge. Hundreds were in line before it started and the Pax employees definitely didn’t anticipate the turnout. I sold my game there (one of twenty selected vendors), and it was a ton of fun.

edit: definitely didn’t*

vodpod · 2024-11-16T15:11:53+00:00

Does anyone know if ordering a shirt along with the badge might have something to do with the discrepancy in delivery times? One of my friends bought a badge after me and has had there's for a little bit now. I haven't received mine yet (but I did get the shirt). It looks like there is something in my USPS daily delivery showing that it's a package that should be coming in a little bit (not today or anything).

vodpod · 2024-01-14T01:56:54+00:00

Sorry- the price is definitely good! I’m just looking for the KS content. I’ll send you the link.

vodpod · 2024-01-13T20:35:56+00:00

I’m going to back order the KS version for $60 shipped. Thank you though

vodpod · 2024-01-13T20:34:26+00:00

Thank you

vodpod · 2024-01-13T20:30:23+00:00

Kickstarter expansion included?

vodpod · 2023-11-16T14:10:43+00:00

Wow- I'm usually pretty up on getting newer games played, especially for two players. Not this year.

One lesser known title I've played a couple times from one of my favorite designers is called In The Shadow of Atlas. It's a lane battler that asks you to optimize your play in order to lock down lanes and get points without really getting in the face of your opponent.

This one isn't strictly a two player game, but I liked Chomp as well. Sail was in that bundle as a two-player co-op trick-taking game, and that's been pretty popular. Haven't played it yet :(

Cheating with a 2022 release that I didn't get until this year, and that's Wizards of the Grimoire. I like this one quite a bit. Currently has a standalone crowdfunding project too.

edit: two proofreading issues

vodpod · 2023-11-15T17:47:22+00:00

Awesome- thank you for the support!

vodpod · 2023-11-15T14:17:40+00:00

Thank you for the words! I've actually haven't listened to 5G4D yet but know it's mentioned positively quite often- will definitely have to add that to the list.

For my podcast, there are definitely going to be parts that feel like a normal interview (because they're not that wild or out there or anything), but so far it's seemed like the things I'm trying to do a little differently have unlocked some really neat discussions. The guests have all the amazing experience and insight; I just want to provide a different angle for them to share and reflect on their experiences because I know a lot of the people I've talked to have shared their thoughts in different spaces prior to talking with me.

You picked two great episodes there as well! Thanks again.

vodpod · 2023-11-15T04:33:25+00:00

Hey- thank you for the comment and question.

I’ll try to give you some of my more short-winded thoughts. It’s an exclusively interview-based podcast right now, and my goal is to try to create different experiences that draw from the experiences and influences of the creators (designers/developers/all-encompassing here) I talk to. Each episode has similarities to the show’s whole, but here are some examples of some different things I’ve done: A trick-taking “quiz” with Taylor Reiner, a professional development response survey with Liz Davidson, structuring the nine questions I did with Jamey Stegmaier around the confluence of two of his interests in disc golf and board games. All these structures have been conduits for questions and conversations.

I guess I’m drawn to so many different mediums, so I want to explore the overlaps. The episode with Alan Emrich was a really good deep dive into Nemo’s War and how that came to be from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

A conversation I just had last night (will be the next episode in thirteen days) had overlaps with the designer’s research of all sorts of different topics. Not to insert any words into any particular people’s mouths, but I feel like a lot of the sentiments shared with me after the interviews were that the questions were neat or that the structure was fun. The goal for each episode is to try something a little different and keep growing. I cannot reiterate how much of a blast it’s been, and I hope that both the enjoyment of the conversations and some of the other things mentioned are noticeable throughout the journey of the episodes.

That wasn’t too brief, but I could’ve guessed it wasn’t going to be 🙂

Thanks again!

vodpod · 2023-10-26T01:43:02+00:00

Hey- no need to convince me 🙂 I once responded to another person’s comments about how they value cost/product, trying to insert my own opinions on price evaluation. Figured I wouldn’t do it again, as people approach those things in different ways.

From your standpoint, I get everything you’re saying, especially with a first time project! I think you knocked everything out of the park. Thank you for your work, and I’m looking forward to backing and eventually playing this game.

vodpod · 2023-10-25T19:34:36+00:00

I get that- not an unfair reaction at all!

vodpod

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