Staying In Podcast

🫖 Tea Time

On a whim I picked up Dorf Romantik: Light Luggage whilst

I love the video game but always thought the big box version was a bit too big for a gentle game about villages.

This 'travel' version from seems to have hit the sweet spot.

Small enough to hide amongst the collection but deep enough to offer some morning puzzling with a cup of tea and there's some surprises in the box too!!

Sam x

👀 Had such a great time at Salute 53 today. It's the UK's best miniature wargames convention by far, with so much to see from indie creators to the biggest publishers.

Currently on the train back home with a bag full of swag and a big grin on my face. See you at 54! ✌️

~Peter

A Staying In podcast exclusive? Yep! We’re among the first people in the UK to play Red Notice - Le Million ou la Prison, which is a game about risking what you can on what you think you can get away with, themed on the game of cat and mouse found in works like Catch Me If You Can. It’s a stonker; you heard it here first.

Of course there’s loads of other things to talk about coming out of AireCon 2026. We start getting very close to each other (and strangers) with Yubibo’s novel Twister-with-fingers from JELLY JELLY GAMES, and building (pleasingly broken) engines in Thief's Market, PickPocket Games' fresh lick of paint on a previously released title. There’s also Jason Tremblay and The Op’s Tacta, which is a light and delightful little treat of a game, and Ellie Dix, Maria Surducan, and Osprey Games' Threaded: A Game of Needles and Points, which is so completely charming we can’t stop thinking about it, even when it’s gone midnight and security is about to throw you out the convention.

With that many board games, we change things up and round things out with a movie: the sci-fi book adaptation with Ryan Gosling that’s currently doing the business at the box office.

All that, and putting down a towel, on Ep244, available now on your preferred podcast player.

We’re getting old, so the only kind of exciting rave we’re interested in on a weekday is Arcade Archives Rave Racer from BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment, by way of HAMSTER Corporation - a game previously trapped in the arcades of the 90s, re-released for home consoles. Then we talk about another throwback, this time to a kind of genre that was massively popular a few years ago, that is getting a new spin: the flip and draw Flip Pick Towers from Osprey Games, Rob Fisher, Adam Porter, and Beatrix Papp. We round out the show with an unbelievably hot new boardgame called Eternal Decks from Hiroken and Mujunsha, which is a co-op experience with limited (but not zero) communication.

All that, and revisiting the tuna bus, on Ep243, out now on podcast players worldwide.

It’s time to dredge up some painful memories of Tom Clancy games with Predator: Badlands, then it’s onto cheerier topics, like a discussion on Marvel Studios' latest short run TV series Wonder Man and whether it might be the start of a new era for the MCU. Having already properly dated the show with a recent “holiday” we turn to Game Dev Story from Kairosoft, a fairly casual but very revealing management game, then it’s off to the Jazz Age with Gatsby from Catch Up Games via Hachette.

All that, and an incorrect use of butter, on Ep242, available now.

It’s time to get a grip on mobile gaming, so we go hands-on with MCON from Ohsnap, a dedicated MagSafe controller attachment for your phone that’s perfect for Android and iPhone gaming, as well as emulation and game streaming. We also throw down with the latest from Big Potato, the old-timey-charity-donation-by-way-of-marbles-em-up, Whirly Derby. And then there’s Duel for Cardia from Hans-im-Glück Spieleverlag, a lovely and super affordable simultaneous action card game that takes up no room at all - except for in our hearts.

All that, and the many forms of baths, on Ep241, available on your podcast player or here: https://www.stayinginpodcast.com/e/whirly-derby-duel-for-cardia-and-mcon-ep241/

We take a (sometimes one-eyed) look at two weird (outsider art?) horror-adjacent video games from Critical Reflex on this episode, Mouthwashing from Wrong Organ and Arctic Eggs from The Water Museum, cockydoody, abmarnie, and Cameron Ginex. Then on the AAA side of the scale is the ridiculously slick open world assassin adventure Ghost of Yōtei from Sucker Punch. Meanwhile, on a more family-friendly board game theme, we think about how best to introduce board game mechanics to much younger minds while reviewing Minecraft Builder & Biomes Junior from Ravensburgerr.

All that, and confessing to a terrible lie, on Ep240. Available RIGHT NOW (!!!) on your favourite podcast player.

We take a deeper look at two extraordinary Machinegames titles, the adventure straight from the silver screen Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Wolfenstein: The New Order, which features simply some of the best writing in video games.

We also turn to two puzzle platformers, the classic time-bending of Number None’s Braid, and the co-op joy of LEGO Voyagers from Light Brick Studio, the only game that feels like playing with plastic bricks.

Over on the tabletop there’s a good amount of time spent on the bright and punchy Tag Team from Scorpion masqué and I-cut-you-choose cosy set collection of Agent Avenue by NerdLab.

All that, and trending shakers, on Ep239.

https://www.stayinginpodcast.com/e/lego-voyagers-agent-avenue-and-tag-team-ep239/

It's beginning to look a lot like... Krampus. This little festive expansion for Horrified by is an absolute treat. You have to team up with St. Nick to rescue children from Krampus' clutches, all while having to deal with the possibility of a special Krampus card being drawn from the Monster deck. This expansion is definitely going to be a new festive tradition in our house.

Compliments of the season!

Kris x

Merry Christmas 🎄

Here we all our with our Secret Santa Haul from the latest episode of the podcast.

🎁

However, you're spending the next few weeks we hope you find some time for peace and relaxation.

☺️

Here's to an amazing holiday time and an even better 2026 to come.

Take care,

From all of us at Staying In