
Episode 244: Darwin’s Journey
June 12, 2023
Bonus Episode 24: Kevin’s Top 10 Games
July 10, 2023
In Episode 245, Blue Peg Pink Peg offers up their Atiwa Review as well as discussing their most recent board game plays.
The Pegs also discuss their recent plays, including:
- Viticulture World* – Stonemaier Games
- Vivarium* – Studio H
- Mr. Lovenstein Presents: No Context* – Skybound Tabletop
- Tutankhamun* – 25th Century Games
- A deep dive Atiwa Review
Atiwa Board Game
The Atiwa Range is a region of southeastern Ghana in Africa consisting of steep-sided hills with rather flat summits. A large portion of the range is made up of an evergreen forest reserve, which is home to many endangered species. However, logging and hunting for bushmeat, as well as mining for gold and bauxite, are putting the reserve under a lot of pressure.
Meanwhile, in the nearby town of Kibi, the mayor is causing a stir by giving shelter to a large number of fruit bats in his own garden. This man has recognized the great value the animals have in deforested regions of our planet: Fruit bats sleep during the day and take off at sunset in search of food, looking for suitable fruit trees up to sixty miles away. They excrete the seeds of the consumed fruit, disseminating them across large areas as they fly home. A single colony of 150,000 fruit bats can reforest an area of up to two thousand acres a year.
Just like that mayor, in Atiwa, you know that fruit bats — once scorned and hunted as mere fruit thieves — are in fact incredibly useful animals, spreading seeds over large areas of the country. By doing so, they help to reforest fallow land and, in the medium term, improve harvests. This realization has led to a symbiotic cooperation between fruit bats and fruit farmers. The animals are kept as “pets” to increase the size of fruit farms more quickly. Tall trees are left as roosts, providing shelter for them rather than hunting them for their scant meat. However, if you have a lot of fruit bats, you need a lot of space…
In Atiwa by Uwe Rosenburg, you will develop a small community near the Atiwa Range, creating housing for new families and sharing your newly gained knowledge on the negative effects of mining and the importance that the fruit bats have for the environment.
Turns are simple; place one of your three workers on the board to acquire new land, acquire animals, trees or even gold in order to make your community prosper. But be wary; adding new families to your village means you need time to properly educate them on the importance of Fruit Bats in the Atiwa range! Untrained families can eat bats to stave off hunger during the patented Uwe Rosenberg feeding phase – they also mine the land for Gold and Bauxite, bringing pollution to your village, potentially destroying valuable animals, fruits, trees or even bats!
The player who best balances the needs of their community and the environment will be the winner!
Banter
1:09 – Birthday Gaming with “I feel attacked”7:26 – Shelf of Shame Story/Rant
16:42 – The best Father’s Day gift
18:57 – Kevin’s hack to Jaws of the Lion
24:02 – Kerfuffle at Kevin’s house
27:05 – Essential Expansions
Plays
37:21 – Viticulture World* – Publisher: Stonemaier Games46:22 – Vivarium* – Publisher: Studio H
52:14 – Mr. Lovenstein Presents: No Context* – Publisher: Skybound Tabletop
1:00:16 – Tutankhamun* – Publisher: 25th Century Games
News
1:10:27 – Gaming Conventions that aren’t trade shows1:15:49 – Heroscape again
1:21:28 – Crossbows & Catapults
1:29:25 – New Game in Everdell Universe
1:31:59 – Cyclades Legendary Edition
1:34:55 – Smurfs game
1:39:35 – Monopoly Scabble
Board Game Review
1:44:55 – Atiwa Rules Gist and some fun facts!1:46:14 – Atiwa Deep Dive Review
2:16:58 – Atiwa Ratings