New Podcast Review: "Flip the Table" on Transformers

I just finished listening to a podcast that managed to touch me like a podcast seldom does.

One of the first gifts I ever remember buying for someone else was the copy of Transformers The Adventure Game I bought (or more precisely, my parents bought) for my cousin who was somewhat into Transformers at the time. True to how the typical kid brain processes develop, I was far more into Transformers than he was…and thought the board game was the coolest looking thing I could think of.

The very first episode reviews the star-crossed Transformers and found it just as sucky as I did when I helped my unfortunate cousin assemble the components some 26 years ago. But not only do they heckle the game, they try to get inside the head of the people who originally crafted it. Why are there 2 dice? Why are there 54 cards? Flip the Table goes into the thinking of the time period, and the traditional game expectations during the period the game came out. In a time before  the concept of "cooperative" games, it's perfectly rational for each player to be an Autobot competing against each other (although it is somewhat odd that each Autobot is the SAME Autobot…Optimus Prime).

I often wonder how Chutes and Ladders and Candyland has managed to survive all these years. Transformers The Adventure Game is an example of the type of terrible cash-in challengers the game industry in the 80s tried to produce.

I can't wait to hear their take on American Idol: The Collectible Card Game.