Fluxx: The Board Game - So Who Won?

We have been extremely happy to host a number of contests over the past 6 weeks or so. And they just keep getting better, and better.We're humbled to be able to partner with such great folks in the industry to bring these to you, and most recently we've joined forces with the great folks at Looney Labs to give away a copy of the very newly released Fluxx: The Board Game! So who won? Read on!

We reached 89 subscribers so we randomly generated a number between 1-89 which came up as 4 and I (Jeremiah) loaded up our subscriber list on my iPhone and counted to the fourth name. And the winner is!!???

Matt Ouellette!

A big congrats to Matt!

We'd also like to thank Looney Labs for providing us with this copy of Fluxx: The Board Game to give away!

Didn't win this time? That's ok, because in just a few days we'll be giving away yet another game! Yep, that's right we have another contest coming your way, really, REALLY soon! So be sure to subscribe to the blog, and our YouTube channel and all of our other social media pages to find out how you can win!

Contests, Updates, and Podcasts! Oh My!

Hey Everyone! Jeremiah checking in with you to give you some cool updates and news!

We announced earlier this week that we are giving away a copy of Fluxx: The Board Game to our YouTube subscribers, so head over to our YouTube Channel, click subscribe and tell your friends!

Check out the video after the jump for all kinds of great news and info on what you can expect from TOG in the very near future!

And yes! We have recorded our first episode of the Theology of Games Podcast! We'll be going through the process of getting it listed in iTunes and we'll let you know when and where you can find that as soon as humanly possible! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ynf8-yTNwQ&w=560&h=315]

Don't forget those interweb things!

Facebook! Twitter! Instagram!

Thanks for reading and watching!

Another Contest! We're Giving Away Fluxx: The Board Game!

Do you like chaos? Well how about Milk & Cookies? Well do you at least like free games?! Good! We like giving them away!

Thanks to the fine folks at Looney Labs, we have a brand-new copy of the hot-off-the-presses game Fluxx: The Board Game—and we're giving it away to one of you! We've played the game, and we can tell you that it's much more strategic than the card game. Even if you don't like the card game (like Firestone!), we think you should give the board game a shot. It's a horse of a different color...

This contest is a little different than the ones we ran last month. In order to be eligible for this contest you'll need to subscribe to our newly launched YouTube channel. In two weeks, we'll give the game away to one YouTube channel subscriber (who also has a US address).

But wait! There's MOAR! If we get to 100 subscribers in those two weeks, we'll give someone else a copy of Kill The Overlord, from APE Games. We can do this! Tell your friends! Tell you enemies! Tell your mama, 'cause if she wins, she'll just give the game to you anyway...

Thanks for reading!

[youtube http://youtu.be/H0NFmTQgBy0]

Race For the Galaxy: Alien Artifacts Delayed. Again. (Plus a Bonus Rant!)

By Firestone I'm starting to think we're going to discover actual alien artifacts before the new Race For the Galaxy expansion is released...

BGG user KissaTalkuri noticed that the Rio Grande Games site now has a release date of 12/1/2013 for the game. You might remember that I wrote about Rio Grande Games telling us December of 2012 that the game's release was imminent. I expressed some doubt about that—given Rio Grande's past issues with release dates.

Sometimes I hate it when I'm right...

Here's what's in the box:

• ~45 new cards and start worlds to add to the base set, plus a set of action cards and start hand for a fifth player.

• ~45 cards and Alien tokens used to represent the Alien Orb which players jointly map and explore, gaining tokens of various types that provide powers and VPs. There are also five new Explore action cards used to map the Orb (instead of gaining an additional card or greater card selection).

How in the world can it take so long to print that? Rio Grande Games is becoming a joke. I can't trust anything that comes out of Jay's mouth regarding release dates.

Let's look at just a few examples.

• Years ago El Grande was out-of-print and it took YEARS for the reprint to show up, despite repeated and then bumped release dates given. And then the game had errors on the action cards!
• Tikal was also out of print for years. We also got promises and bumps. It finally arrived and it wasn't nearly as great as the others in the Mask series! (Okay, that's not Rio Grande's fault... But it's still true!)
• Then we have Arctic Scavengers. It took Rio Grande THREE YEARS to get this one out. Way to strike while the iron is hot...

This is no different. Race For the Galaxy is an amazing game, and this expansion is certainly going to be snatched up by all of the fans out there (myself included!). But...I can't remember the last time anyone in our group played RFtG. It's a classic, but not one that's often thought of anymore. The longer you delay the expansion, the less relevant the base game seems.

Jay at Rio Grande doesn't seem to have any problems getting Dominion expansions out the door. Of course, that game is still hot enough that printing a new expansion is like printing money. It would be nice if he put some of the same effort into games that aren't Dominion...

Rio Grande used to sit atop the heap when it came to Euro publishers. That's not the case anymore. Lots of new companies have come risen up to challenge that—and they're winning. There are lots of factors when it comes to why these new publishers have been able to grow and become players in the market, and I'm convinced that one of them is Rio Grande's inability to hold a release date on anything that's not Dominion.

Ask yourself this: If you had a new game design, and Rio Grande was publishing it, would you be excited, or worried that they'd make you wait three years, while the nimble publishers out there are printing game after game every month?

I truly hope Rio Grande turns things around. My earliest games, when I jumped into this hobby nine years ago, were almost all Rio Grande ones. I love what they've done and I love what they do. I just wish they did it better.

Sorry this news piece turned into a rant...but COME ON!

Thanks for reading. And we've got a new giveaway to announce soon! The only heads-up I'm going to tell you now is that you should go subscribe to our YouTube channel. And while you're there, check out our first foray into video reviews: Awesome Level 9000.

Who's The Boss? Contest #3 Winner!

Well, our third giveaway is over. Once again, I went to random.org, plugged the blog's email followers in, and BOOM! So who's the boss? No, it's not Tony Danza, it's...

Nate Rice!! YOU ARE THE BOSS OF ALL THE MONSTERS!

Thanks go out to Brotherwise Games for donating a game to the cause. And thanks so much to all of you for making this 1-year blogiversary so fun and special. We're gearing up for some podcasting and video reviews, so stay tuned!

Blogiversary Giveaway #3!

We've definitely had a lot of fun the first two weeks of this month, giving away some great games to our great readers. It's like Christmas in July here on TOG, and we're loving it! This week is no different, and we are beyond excited about the game we're giving away! Well, what is it?

This week we're partying, like a boss.

A Boss Monster that is!!

That's right: This week's giveaway is a free copy of the Kickstarter smash hit Boss Monster: The Dungeon Building Card Game!

In December we interviewed the guys of Brotherwise, creators of Boss Monster, and they have joined in the party this month and generously supplied us with this copy to give away as a part of our month-long blogiversary celebration! So, how do you enter to win this prestigious award? It's simple: Just subscribe to the blog, and you're in! Already subscribed to the blog? Well, you're in!

While it's not required, we would appreciate it if you shared this post with your friends, family and all those folks you have contact with via social media! We're super excited to be able to give away all of these great games this month, and the more you share our contests with your social circles, the more prizes we'll be able to give away!

There is a little bit of fine print: Once again we can not offer this to folks who live outside of the US or Canada. All of our funds are going towards producing the new podcast, and can't squeeze the extra funds to ship the boss too far.

You can order a copy of Boss Monster right now, right here. And it will be on store shelves the week of July 29. Or you can enter here to win it a few days early from us right here at TOG! You can find out all things Brotherwise at bwisegames.com

Thanks so much for reading our blog; it truly is awesome that you read, and we hope you understand that giving away a few games every now and then is just a very small way of showing how much we appreciate your readership!!

Don't forget to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. And don't forget to subscribe!!!

Giveaway #2—We Have a Winner!

Thanks to the fine folks at Clever Mojo Games, we have a copy of Sunrise City to give away to celebrate our 1-year blogiversary. Did you win...?

Once again, we went to random.org to generate a random number. After counting off that number of followers, the lucky winner is a fellow blogger, and a board game designer: Ed Marriott! Congrats, Ed! We'll be in touch so we can send you your game.

But we're celebrating our 1-year blogiversary for this entire month, and we have yet another game to give away next week! We can't reveal what it is quite yet, but believe us: it's boss! So keep reading, and if, for some reason, you're not subscribed...do it!

Wanna Win This?

If you were around last week, you know that we gave away a copy of The Great Heartland Hauling Co. to a very lucky individual! This week we're giving away a free copy of Sunrise City from Clever Mojo Games! In fact, it's the very same copy pictured here!

How? Easy...

The way to win this amazing prize is quite simple: Just subscribe to the blog! That's right, if you type your email address into the little box over on the right, you'll be entered into our fantastic and unbelievably easy-to-win contest! Already subscribed, you say? Well then you're already entered! Yes. It's that easy! If you enjoy what we're doing here at TOG we would be ever so grateful if you took a moment to share this contest with your friends and family. If you don't enjoy what's going on here on our little blog, then maybe you could inform your arch-nemesis?

There is a bit of not-so-fine print to go along with this contest: We can only offer the contest to US and Canadian residents only. We'd love to ship it across the Seven Seas but the cost of doing so is prohibitive. If  you would like to enter and pay for the shipping, we would be glad to do that!

We get really excited when folks connect with us on social media too! So be sure to hit us up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and yes, even YouTube!

We'd also like to give a HUGE thank you to Clever Mojo Games and Game Salute for furnishing us with this great prize to give away!! Thanks guys!

We Have a Winner—Blogiversary Giveaway #1

Did we say 7 ET? We meant 8... The response to our contest has been great so far! We appreciate you joining the crew. Our first giveaway was graciously donated by Jason Kotarski, designer of The Great Heartland Hauling Company, and all-around super-nice guy! So who won? Read on...

First, I went to random.org, entered the number parameters for our followers, and it chose random #14. I went from oldest followers to newest, and #14 is Eric Nisly! Feel free to offer him congrats and grumbles... But worry not! We've got more giveaways planned for the month. All you have to do is subscribe via email over on the right. Thanks again, and have a great weekend!

Don’t forget you can find us all sorts of places: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube!!

Happy Independence Day! Want Free Stuff?

- by Jeremiah For those of you who are reading from the US we don't need to tell you that today is the day we celebrate our independence as a country. We are grateful for a country where we have the freedom to write our thoughts, speak our minds, and worship our God! So what better way to celebrate than to eat delicious food, and watch flashy explosions in the sky!? Well blowing up stuff of your own would be fun, except the state of Ohio is one of the few states in America's heartland that doesn't allow its citizens to set off fireworks on their own.

Speaking of the heartland... You can celebrate our country's independence yet another way: by entering to win a free

copy of Jason Kotarski's "The Great Heartland Hauling Co." from Dice Hate Me Games. We couldn't be more excited about that—we really LOVE this game!! How?? I'm glad you asked!

It's simple: This month, as we celebrate our blogiversary, we'll be giving away as much stuff as we can get our hands on! And as our way of thanking our readers, we're giving them away to the folks who have subscribed to the blog.

So, get yourself entered by typing your email address into the box over on the right ------>

And then tell your friends and family about our contest and have them do the same; yes, this does lower your chances of winning yourself, but it makes our little marketing scheme a success and will enable us to keep doing cool stuff like this in the future! (Plus, if your mom wins, she'll probably just give it to you anyway...) If you're already subscribed, then you're already entered; thank you for supporting us during our first year!

Thanks as always for reading! If no one read, we wouldn't be able to do what we do, so we truly do appreciate it. And best of luck in our contest!

Don't forget you can find us all sorts of places on the interwebs: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube!!

Happy 4th of July!