Diplomacy Games podcast: Episode 101 – Interview with Matt Calkins

Venues: The Scratch Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Willie Smith cider (although Kaner calls it a Willie Nelson’s cider) from Tasmania and Helios Cyclops Indian pale ale from Brisbane

Amby: Helios Poseidon West Coast pale ale from Brisbane and Tropo Big Red syrah from South Australia

The guys interview game designer, World Boardgaming Champion and CEO Matt Calkins about his love of Diplomacy.

Intro

The guys introduce today’s interview (6 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks when Matt first got into Diplomacy and which aspects of the game’s design he likes (7 mins)
They discuss some of the board games Matt has commercially published and their relationship with the game. Matt’s games include the award winning Sekigahara (the most similar to Diplomacy), Tin Goose and Magnet (10 mins)
Matt talks about the World Boardgaming Championships (12 mins)
Amby asks about the cross-overs between gaming and the business world (15 mins)
Photo credit: Forbes Magazine
Kaner asks about creating board games and Matt’s favorite country to play in Diplomacy (16 mins)
Amby asks about Matt’s favorite board games in his library in the photo taken in Forbes magazine (23 mins)
Amby asks how Matt uses board gaming in his life before discussing how others connect with him now though games (25 mins)
They discuss board games and skills before wrapping up the interview (30 mins)
The guys are back at the bar chatting about their thoughts on the interview with Matt. Kaner talks Power Grid and Tigris & Euphrates (32 mins)

The guys discuss trying unsuccessfully to get a face to face game going in Brisbane and what to do from here (42 mins 20 secs)
They talk about vDip being back up and running again (44 mins 20 secs)
Kaner discusses AI and Diplomacy (45 mins 20 secs)
After some new drinks they talk about a cool new board promoted in the Diplomacy Briefing just in time for Christmas made by Matt Crill (51 mins 30 secs)

Kaner has bowed out of the Dawn of the Enlightenment game and Amby has been stabbed again (1 hr)
Amby discusses his Cloak and Dagger Mongolian empire game as he moves towards being removed before talking about his Europa Renovatio game before they get to 1800 Empires and Coalitions which Amby bought into and end on his last anonymous Europa Renovatio game (1 hr 4 mins 15 secs)
They then get to Kaner’s 36-4-All Europa Renovatio game (1 hr 15 mins)
Next is his other Europa Renovation game, This is Madness II (1 hr 18 mins 50 secs)
The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 26 mins 30 secs)

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Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka “The General” for his rockin’ intro tune.