Episode 234 - Wolfgang Warsch
May 1, 2025
Ambie and Crystal discuss a couple games they played recently, including Signal and Lure. Then, we talk about the board game designer Wolfgang Warsch and the games he's made.
Intro: 0:00
Recent Games: 0:39
Wolfgang Warsch: 12:41
Outro: 25:31
Bloopers: 26:26
Games discussed this episode:
Signal: 0:39
Zendo: 3:46
Lure: 8:21
Quacks: 13:53
Ganz Schön Clever: 14:21
The Taverns of Tiefenthal: 14:31
The Mind: 14:33
Wavelength: 14:34
Illusion: 14:35
Figment: 14:40
The Fuzzies: 17:30
Topp die Torte: 18:49
Große kleine Edelsteine: 18:51
The Mind: Soulmates: 24:27
On a Scale of One to T-Rex: 24:42
The Same Game: 24:50
This episode was sponsored by Grey Fox Games. Use the code "BLITZ10" to get 10% off your entire cart. Check out their games under $40!
Board Game Blitz's theme song was composed by Andrew Morrow.
Transcript
[0:06] Crystal: Hello and welcome to episode 234 of Board Game Blitz, a podcast about all things board games that you can listen to in less time than it takes to become a quack of Quedlinberg. Board Game Blitz is sponsored by Grey Fox Games. This week, we’re talking about Wolfgang Warsch! First, we discuss a couple games we’ve played recently, Signal and Lure. Then, we talk about game designer Wolfgang Warsch and some of his games that we love to play. And now, here are your hosts…
Ambie: Ambie
Crystal: and Crystal
[0:39] Ambie: Recently, I got a review copy of Signal from DVC Games. I actually got Signal and Here Lies both from them, but I've only played Signal so far.
Crystal: Which, shout out to DVC Games. They are their buddies at this point. They're the people that published Rosetta.
Ambie: They designed Rosetta the Lost Language.
Crystal: Yes. And we both love Rosetta and we've talked about it so much that they basically have become our board game publisher friends. And we love them so much.
Ambie: Yeah. It's designed by Jasper Beatrix, published by DVC Games. And both Signal and Here Lies are spiritual successors to Rosetta: the Lost Language, kind of. They're different though. So Signal is a cooperative game where you are trying to communicate with an alien by sending Signal or something. The theme is an alien is trying to send a signal to the people. And I guess, okay, the Experts are trying to understand the alien player. So that one person is alien, the rest are the Experts. And there are like 25 or so missions scenarios in the game. These are all different alien scenarios. So on the front, it will have like the name of the alien and a little blurb. And then it has a signal that they're trying to communicate. And the signal will show like a pattern of tokens that you want to get. So there's going to be like these black and gray. They're called white in the tab, but like they're actually gray, but like they call them white. But like back and gray tokens that are different shapes. So there's like cubes, circles, line ones and triangle ones. And then you have a mat.
And so the experts are going to be putting any tokens onto the mat. And the player, the alien player has this card. And on the back of the card, it has three rules for three phases. It could be more than three rules, but it's like three phases. And then like the rules, it could be like one or two or three steps that they have to do that tells them what they do and they have to do to the token. So it could be like move all the black tokens or move the black squares or something on the box. It has like a little player aid that shows you things that can be part of the rule are like alignment or color, contact, distance, the mat lines or the mat shapes, orientation, patterns, quantity, shape, stacking, or symmetry. So those are things that can relate to the rule, but not necessarily. So the players are going to be putting pieces down and then the aliens trying to move it to match this little signal that they're trying to get. Once they do that, there's 10 tokens that like they get 10 turns to try to do that. And then the experts are allowed to like film what the aliens doing because like the alien has to do their steps without talking at all. They just do it and they don't tell them like, Oh, this is the first step. This is the second step or whatever they did just do it. And so then you're allowed to like film to see what's going on and try to figure out kind of the rules so that you can set it up for the alien in order to get that signal.
And then I said there's three phases. So like the first phase, you do the first column of rules. The second phase, you do the first and second column of rules in order. So the people kind of already have an idea of what the first rule is, but then it adds on another thing that happens. And then the third phase you do the third one. And so you start over, you get 10 tries each time and you get points for how many tries you have left. There's also like these ability cards that you get. And if you can use them or you get points at the end if you don't use them. So it felt kind of like a cooperative Zendo. If you heard of Zendo, it's like an induction game. We're trying to figure out the rules based on someone doing different things with tokens. And so it felt kind of like that. You're trying to figure out
Crystal: Is that the one with all the like transparent colored pyramid pieces or whatever. Like the triangle, but there's a bar.
Ambie: Yeah, like that.
Crystal: Okay.
Ambie: Yeah. You put stuff and then you're like, Oh, I think the rule is that two people can't touch or something. Crystal: Yeah. You can't just meet the rule or does it not?
Ambie: Yeah, you're trying to figure it out. So it's kind of like that because you're trying to kind of figure out the rules, but you don't actually have to know the rules exactly because the alien is ultimately doing the movements and stuff. So they can kind of like do it even if you're not sure what the exact rules were, they can end up doing the signal even if the experts kind of accidentally stumbled upon the right way to do it because the alien knows the rules and can just move it. Sometimes it says like you can move something. So like it doesn't say how far you move it, but the alien can just move it and then make it work.
So I've played it twice once at six players and once at two player. When we played at six players, I think that was too many because there were too many experts. So I think it would be better with like just a couple of people on that team, like discussing things when it was one player. I think we want more discussion among, I think three players would be good because then there's one person being the alien and then the other people could be like having two people to bounce ideas off of each other. I think it was kind of weird that even though we didn't figure out the rules, we were still able to get it luckily. In my second game, the second round I just got, or no the third round I think we just got it on the first try and just luckily. So that was kind of like a letdown because it's like, oh, I wanted to try to figure out what the rule was, but then I just got it. But it is kind of neat trying to figure out the rules and then as the alien, it can be a little frustrating because it's one of those where you know what's going on and you're like moving it and then the other people are just really misinterpreting what you're doing. They're like, oh, it was on this line and so maybe they had to only move it, they move it like three inches when it's on this line. It's like, no, it was just like move a black cube or something.
Crystal: Oh gosh. So I have a copy of this too and I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet, but I can definitely see myself over analyzing things. Like that's something that I do a lot in life. So I'm just going to prepare myself for that in advance.
Ambie: Yeah, so people can over analyze it a lot, but I think it is interesting how it piles on top like the one phase and then the next phase adds onto it and then the next phase and it is also kind of thematic. So like the alien, you want to kind of pay attention to the name of the alien and the blurb there because in the two that I've played so far, like they've been thematic, the powers that you do. So that's kind of cool.
Crystal: And to be clear, you're being vague about this so as to not spoil.
Ambie: I'm not spoiling. Yeah. Because there are, it's a set number of scenarios and once you know that, then if you know the answer, it's kind of going to spoil it. So yeah, that's why I'm not telling you or showing you the back of the card. But yeah, that was Signal. So it's kind of like a, the feeling is like a cooperative Zendo type game.
Crystal:: Well, I'm excited to try it in the near future. I have not had a chance to have anybody over for game nights recently. So it's been sitting on my table and I've just been like really wanting to play it. So hopefully I'll get to try that one. And here lies soon. I'm very excited about both of those.
[7:03] Crystal: A while back, gosh, probably farther than I'm even thinking right now, I talked on the podcast a lot about the games that the company now known as Allplay, formerly called boardgametables.com, was publishing early in boardgametables's game publishing time because they were originally making just board game tables. And then they started publishing games. I had picked up at first all of the games that they had published up to a certain point. I want to say like the first at least nine or 12 small box games that they published. I think I purchased all of those. Basically, it was just hit after hit after hit after hit. And a lot of the games that they have picked up and published are actually reprints or reimplementations of other games, especially those that have been published in Asia, but not in the US. And they've continued doing that. But at a certain point, through no fault of the company, I at a certain point was just like I cannot keep buying every single game that this company publishes just because they published it. Although maybe I should have because I recently got to play one of the ones that I did not purchase. I had seen it and I was like, oh, it's another game from Allplay.
It's called Lure. Lure, as in a fishing lure, it is a fishing game, which fishing is a theme that holds no interest for me as a human. But oh my gosh, just like every game that I've played of theirs, it's a winner for me. And I they continue. This is why I can't play their games because I do want to buy all of them. Yeah, I'm a fan girl, apparently.
But in lure, it is a competitive fishing game where you are competing against the other players to catch the most fish worth the most points. And you're doing that by rolling dice. So every round, players will select which dice they want to roll secretly. All of the players start with five d6s, a d12 and a d20. And you can choose any of those dice to roll with the exception that the d12 and the d20, if you roll them in a given round, that die has to sit out for the next round. So you cannot roll the 12 or the 20 multiple rounds in a row. Even if you roll both of them, like they would both have to sit out then the d6s can be rolled every round no matter what. This is important because when you roll your dice, you are looking to get a total that is higher than what is shown on a given fish card. But the player who rolled the fewest dice and achieved that total or higher is the one who will catch the fish. So all players select their dice simultaneously secretly, and then roll them. And whoever has the fewest dice basically goes first. And if what they rolled meets the criteria on a given fish card, they caught that fish. And for all the other players, it's gone now. So the fish cards don't just have like a numerical total that you need to meet. Some of them will have specific dice values that you have to meet or specific rules. So like maybe you have to have two numbers on dice that are equal to one another, or you can't have equal numbers on any of your dice, or you need to have a one on one of your dice to be able to catch a certain fish like rules of that nature. And so as long as you meet the requirements of a fish, you catch it. And that can be any of the fish that are out on the table in a given round.
So technically, if you only pick a small amount of dice, you could catch a whole bunch of fish before the other players even have an opportunity to, which is really interesting because when you're selecting your dice, you're like, I could hit that total with this number of dice, but it's going to be harder. And those other requirements, you know, obviously, if you have to roll specific values, then more dice will make it easier to do that. But if the fish are gone before it even gets to your turn, then you know, you're out of luck. There are also lure tokens that you can collect if you don't catch a fish, you get a lure token automatically. And then those tokens can be used to bolster your roles in some different ways, or just give you bonus points. So I it's a good one. It's a nice little like you don't it's you're not rolling dice multiple times. It's just that single roll each round. Just the actions of choosing which dice to roll in what round and when to use your lure tokens. It's very simple, but incredibly fun. Just like most of all plays games, like really easy and quick to teach and fun to play. And it's a winner just like all her others for me. So I'm probably going to have to buy this one. And yeah,
Ambie: oh, no, you have to buy it.
Crystal: I know what a shame. Yeah, this one, at least this one was published by them in 2024. So it wasn't that long ago. It does then make me think like, Oh, man, what are all the other games of theirs that I haven't played yet? But like, I'm like, No, Crystal, you don't need to play all of them. I've gotten better about this over the years. I don't have that same FOMO that I used to have until I play a game like this. And then I'm like, Oh, it's so good. It's just so this one was designed originally by Satoru Nakamura. It was originally called Dice Fishing: Roll and Catch. But yeah, now it's just called Lure and it lured me in pretty good. And now I like it. So I would recommend it. And it is also on board game arena for those of you who like to play games online. So that's a fun way to try it out as well.
[12:41] Crystal: We generally try and always mention the designer of any games that we talk about, especially in our review segment. But for our thematic segment today, we are going all in on one single designer. And his name is Wolfgang Warsch. He is from Austria. He used to be a molecular biologist. And then somehow he transitioned from that to designing board games. And back in 2018, he kind of made a real big splash in the board game world by publishing a whole bunch of games all at once that like blew up pretty big.
Ambie: Yeah, I was looking at the games by your release and he had like, I think six different games and then a couple of promos in 2018 and then like another six in 2019. It's like, so I think he had like a bunch just lined up and then just went, whoo,
Crystal: which I don't know Wolfgang personally, I don't know his history. But I mean, I have to imagine that he had been working on the designs for some amount of time before that. And then maybe he showed a design to one of these companies and they were like, give us more. Because just to rattle off a few of the games that he published in like 2018, 2019, Quacks of Quedlinburg, which is apparently just called Quacks now, which I did not know. Yeah, like it's on BGG now.
Ambie: It got a redesign, yeah
Crystal: Well, but the name is like...
Ambie: Yeah, that was part of the redesign.
Crystal: But that's what I don't understand though is because then in 2024, they published the duel version and it's called the Quacks of Quedlinburg: The Duel. So why isn't it just Quacks: The Duel?
Ambie: Well, because the new Quacks just like just happened.
Crystal: Oh, okay. I see. So yeah, Quacks of Quedlinburg, Ganz Schon Clever slash That's Pretty Clever. And all of those subsequent roll and write games, the Dopple, so clever and yeah, like the Tavers of Tiefenthal, The Mind, Wavelength, Illusion, which actually Illusion is getting re implemented this year as Figment. Yeah.
Ambie: Figment, Yeah.
Crystal: I really want to pick up figment.
Ambie: Because illusion is not cooperative.
Crystal: I know I really want to pick up figment. I'm very excited about that one.
Ambie: I might just try playing the cooperative rules with because I have illusion. So I think
Crystal: I do have illusion as well. I don't know. I kind of like the color scheme on figment better because illusion is the red, green, yellow, blue and figment is CMYK like officially like it's being published by CMYK and the colors they're using are cyan magenta. So like, I think that was a deliberate choice on their part. And I think it was a smart one. It's good branding. So but yeah, so we have played a number of games that Wolfgang has designed. And for me at least, I've enjoyed and own a lot of them. Like I still own taverns of Tiefenthal, but I have not played that one in a number of years. I would say that that one is I could imagine hitting the trade or sell pile for me at some point not because I don't like it, but just because for me, it's just one that doesn't ever hit the table. And so I would probably use that shelf space for something else. But like all of the others are winners and I love playing them.
Ambie: So yeah, I have Quacks of Quedlinburg, the Mind, and illusion. I think those are the ones I have. And like the Mind is one of my favorite games.
Crystal: The mind is something incredibly special. You and I have discussed this at length on the podcast. And I think at one point I even was kind of like, really, is it that good though? And over time, I mean, I've always liked the mind, but I've grown to appreciate how special it is even more just it does something incredibly unique and yet very simple.
Ambie: Yeah. Oh, and I also have wavelength. I just forgot that he designed that even though we talked about it already.
Crystal: That's the thing. Like, okay, so here's the thing with his games is there are certain designers who have kind of a specific style. You know, you think of Stefan Feld, for instance, and you kind of know what a Feld game is going to be. You have an idea of what that looks like, what that feels like to some degree. And that's not I'm not a criticism. That's just, you know, like certain designers kind of have a niche that they operate in. Like Phil Walker Harding, even maybe a little bit is kind of like that, like kind of has a certain feel. Wolfgang, I don't know what's in his brain. But his games don't seem to share a lot of DNA. I mean, aside from the fact that they're all good.
Ambie: the sequels
Crystal: Yes. Yeah, like the that's so clever series, obviously, like there are a lot of similarities there because they are within the same realm. But like, I mean, the mind very different from wavelength, very different from illusion. And then like, he also designed a game called the fuzzies, which I have never played, but want to. It's literally a dexterity game where you have a stack of like pom pom little fuzzy balls and it's like Jenga, but with fuzzy balls. You're trying to pull them out without knocking the stack over. Like how do you even think of something like that? And then it's not to me, that's not just having a good design brain. There's more to it.
Ambie: Creative
Crystal: Yes. Because like the surface of the specific components that you're using to make that game matter. Right. Like with Jenga, it's wooden tiles. But with the fuzzies, you probably can't take just any little fuzzy pom poms and put them together and they'll stick in a tower. And so not just coming up with the idea, but being able to create something that is playable and fun in that realm, for me kind of transcends board game design in a really neat way. And I honestly, I would love to get to hear from Wolfgang directly about how he designs games or how he has designed games because I have to imagine his process is pretty special, if not entirely unique from a lot of other game designers.
Ambie: So he has another children's game too. Oh, he has two more children's games. Okay. That are just in German Topp die Torte and Große kleine Edelsteine
Crystal: Große That is how that would be pronounced. Okay. Yeah. If it's got that bad weird looking B, that's an S sound in German. I know that because I took two years of high school German.
Ambie: Yeah. So that's cool. He's got some newer children's games. So I should be able to look out for that. I wonder when they're coming. Age six plus age five plus. Yeah. I wonder when they're going to come to the States.
Crystal: I would imagine that for a lot of board game designers having the right mindset to design games for children versus adults or families. I would imagine that that is potentially a struggle for some game designers to be able to do both or to switch. But Wolfgang's games are so varied and so distinct and unique that it almost feels like that probably, I mean, for the record, I'm sure what he does is not easy or simple in any way. I'm not trying to like trivialize the beautiful things he has created, but it feels like it must be easy for him just based on how good everything is. Does he just pop these ideas out and they're just fully formed, beautiful games? I don't know. But it feels like that could be the case.
Ambie: The stuff that happens for anyone. But I remember hearing that because he just made a big splash in 2019, right? So I remember like-
Crystal: Yeah, 2018, 2019, I think is when-
Ambie: I was like, "Oh, this game, I like it by him. This game, this game." And they're like, "Oh, he has another one. Okay."
Crystal: And we were all like, "Who is Wolfgang Warsch back then?" We were like, "Who is this person?" I mean, looked very young compared- like a lot of board game designers, no offense, some board game designers, but there are a lot of old German dudes. I'm like, "This guy is not an old German dude. He's a young Austrian dude."
Ambie: Yeah, but I remember hearing that he probably had made a lot beforehand and then just started- that's when he decided to send them to publishers or that's when they just started getting picked up and he had a bunch ready.
Crystal: I would be curious. Maybe he'll stumble across this episode and can reach out to us and let us know how that all happened someday. Or he's probably spoken about it with others on the internet at some point.
Ambie: I wonder if he has kids, do you know?
Crystal: I don't know if he has kids or not.
Ambie: The recent games, like those two games that I mentioned that were children's games, those were both 2024. His other recent ones, like 2025 is just like the reimplementation of Quacks and Figment, like Illusion.
Crystal: Interesting. Yeah, so maybe he's got little ones running around. What is it about the games of his that you've played that you tend to like or gravitate toward?
Ambie: The ones that I like the most of his are his party games, so the Mind and the Wavelength and Illusion. I guess Illusion is different, but the Mind and Wavelength, those both have limited communication reading each other's mind thing, which I like, being on the same wavelength.
Crystal: Literally.
Ambie: Well, but both of those are like reading the Minds and being on the same wavelength, even though they use those in the title, but they also describe both of those games. In the Minds, you want to be on the same wavelength as each other. In the Wavelength, they're trying to read the Mind. So yeah, I like those types of games where you're doing that.
Crystal: I think you very astutely kind of pointed out something that his games seem to capture, and that is kind of that magic of connections. We all like to sit down at a table and play board games together because of, I think, that connection that you get to have with the people around you. And his games enhance those connections in kind of unique and special ways. I do wonder if that's kind of part of the magic of some of his games, is that piece of it. Like, I think I told this story on the podcast at one point, but my bonus kiddos and I and my partner, we played the Mind at one point together. I taught it to them. And our first playthrough, I think there were just three of us playing. And we just in random happenstance had been dealt the one, the two, and the three card. Each of us had one of those. And when we took our hands off the table, which is the signal to play down a card, we all, of course, went to throw down our one, two, or three card respectively, because all three of those theoretically should be the first card played in any normal game. And they all landed in the order they should have one on the bottom, two in the middle, and three on the top. And those moments, that is a story I will be telling probably for the rest of my life as a board gamer. And like those magical moments come from good board game design, as far as I'm concerned.
Ambie: I love the moments in the mind where it's like a big gap, like so someone plays a 14 or something, and then the next lowest card is a 53. And everyone's staring at each other. Yeah. And then I have the 53, someone else has the 54, someone else has the 55, and we get it right. And that's just so confusing when that happens. Oh my gosh, right? We all start reaching at the same time, and then we're looking at each other like, oh.
Crystal: You're not supposed to communicate even technically through your face, but fun fact, humans can't do that. It's impossible. So even unintentionally when you're just like squinting at some point, you're like, wait, no, no, like it's not me. Is it you? But like you're saying all that with your face. Oh, you're right, man. Those, it makes me want to go play the mind right now. Like, that's how good that game is. I will admit there are a couple games of his that I see on this list that I have not played other than the fuzzies. I don't know what The Mind: Soulmates is from 2023. Are you familiar with that one?
Ambie: It's on my want to play list, so I must have heard of it. I have not played it.
Crystal: That one I'm curious about since we like his party games, I will say the one from 2019 that I don't know of On a Scale from One to T-Rex. That sounds interesting. Although it's not rated very highly on board game geek.
Ambie: The Same Game is another party game that I haven't played from 2023. Have you played that one? The same game?
Crystal: No, I have not.
Ambie: That's on my want to play list too.
Crystal: That looks interesting. The cover is really colorful. I'm excited to see what else Wolfgang comes out with in the future. So far, he seems like he's really running on all cylinders. It's pretty neat to see a designer come right out of the gate with a whole bunch of winners. Wolfgang, we salute you.
To those of you who are listening right now, please hit us up on social media or in the Blitz Discord and let us know what your favorite Wolfgang Warsch game is and why you love it so much.
[25:31] Ambie:And that’s it for this week’s Board Game Blitz. Visit our website, boardgameblitz.com for more content and links.
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Our theme song was composed by Andrew Morrow.
Until next time,
Baby, when you’re finally
Gaming with somebody
Guess what
We’re gonna just play
Bye everyone!
Crystal: Bye!
[26:26] Ambie: There are... Oh, I dropped the card. Wait.
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