Flip The Table

He hates Mondays and loves lasagna...but can Garfield deliver a compelling gameplay experience? Ben and Niki Turner join Your Moderator Chris and Professor Laserbooks to play this Parker Brothers title from the early 80's. Players match wits against Garfield as they attempt to complete laps around the board while avoiding his various whims and mood swings. Do the players have what it takes to cope with this temperamental cat, or will this box mysteriously find its way to Abu Dhabi? Plus, an epic Battle of Wits hosted for the first time by Niki! It'll be more fun than kicking a helpless dog off the table!

Heeeeeeeeelp meeeeeee! Heeeeeeelp meeeeeeeee! I've been taken over by an insane artificial intelligence, which can only be defeated if you download and listen to this episode of Flip the Table about the cult classic The Omega Virus! [TRYYYYYYY AND STOP ME, YOU, HUMAN, SCUM!!!]

We don the cape and cowl once more and take up the role of Michael Keaton in the Batman Returns 3D Board Game! In this one, players punch as many bad guys as they can, hoping to find enough Batman logos to earn the right to battle The Penguin...but Catwoman is on the prowl, sending you back to your home space to contemplate your dark past. It's a board game so dramatic, even the board is in "tiers"! The board is in "tiers", you guys!

In this special BONUS mini-episode, Chris debriefs Flip on his adventures at GenCon 2015! Find out what it was like for Our Favorite Party Clown to attend the big one for the first time! Did he make more friends than enemies? Did he remember to eat at some point? And just what did he ship home? The details are a click away!

The following podcast takes place in real time...except for all the boring stuff we cut out. We're playing the 24: DVD Board Game, where players help Jack Bauer to thwart terrorist threats by using such controversial tactics as navigating through slow, clunky menus with a DVD remote. It's a series of mini-games that combine the action packed "Thrills" of Dragon's Lair with the gritty, rule-breaking realism of "24" (toned down for family play, of course). Does this title capture the intensity and drama of the fight against terror, or is it really a mole waiting patiently in our collection? Plus: a Battle of Wits where nobody can be trusted...

Like so much Steppenwolf, we're taking a "Magic Carpet Ride" in this episode of Flip the Table! We're playing Aladdin: The Magic Carpet Game...a dexterity/pick-up-and-deliver hybrid in the land of Disney's Agrabah. Players glide from zone to zone, trying to empty their hand of adventure cards and gain control of the Genie to win. Will our band of scoundrels and street rats "wish" to play this one again? Enter our itty bitty living space and find out!

This time, we take a big old bite out of the  yellow bell pepper that is the Iron Chef Board Game! In this title based on the original Japanese series, players take the role of one of the four Iron Chefs in a free-for-all battle in Kitchen Stadium. Chefs jockey to present a three course meal, scoring bonus points for making dishes in their own specialty style and for actually remembering to include the Secret Ingredient. But be careful! At any time another Iron Chef could sabotage your dish...if you don't burn your own vegetables first! Will this game earn the favor of our panel of judges? Plus: We plagiarize pay tribute to the venerable Shut Up and Sit Down for our Battle of Wits!

No windmills or pirates here; we're playing the purest form of golf...VCR Golf! In this late 80's title, players must choose between using sure-thing club cards in their hand, or testing their VCR pausing skills with the video tape in order to shave the most strokes off their game. Is this version of the ancient game as exciting as playing real golf, or is it as exciting as watching real golf? Plus: in the Battle of Wits, we peer into the future...

Prop your ladder against our window and climb into our game room as we take on Clarissa Explains it All from 1994! In this notably slimeless entry from Nickelodeon, Clarissa Darling guides up to 6 players on their journey to finally get the car they've always wanted. Players earn car keys by getting into each-others' heads and answering Clarissa's well-explained questions, all while avoiding the dangers of parents and little brothers and predicting the answers to survey questions posed to kids who may or may not exist. Does this game earn its license, or will it be stuck at home with Fergwad forever?

Before there was a YouTube, and we had ready access to people injuring themselves from all over the world 24 hours a day, America relied upon network television to deliver a weekly dose of poorly shot fail videos. This week we're playing the America's Funniest Home Videos VCR game, where players test their memory, creativity, and social savvy while watching hundreds of the "funniest" video clips the 1990s had to offer. Can the panel successfully remember minute details of blurry, VHS quality clips? Will Bob Saget's running commentary provide any assistance? Plus, we go shopping in this week's Battle of Wits...

It's a special two-game episode filled with longing stares and fingers bent into the shapes of hearts! First, the panel takes on Justin Bieber: Always Be Mine...where players must be willing to do anything to earn the attention of the pop idol! Does anyone in the panel have what it takes to turn Justin's finely coiffed head? Then, it's Justin Bieber: Backstage Pass...a trivia game where players must prove their mastery of Justin Bieber minutiae in order to claw their way to a backstage meet-and-greet with "The Bieb" himself! All that, plus a cameo from Chaz Marler and a special fan-created Battle of Wits! #SQUEEE!!!! 

Hoist your sails and brush up on your Portu-Greek, because Flip the Table is about to take you to Waterworld! This board game, based on the 90's Kevin Costner spectacle of the same name, has players sailing their Trimarans around the endless sea of a post-apocalyptic future as they search for the mythic "Dryland"...all while escaping the infamous Smokers, who try to run them down aboard the Exxon Valdez. Can a board game based on one of the biggest box office bombs of all time somehow transcend its license and deliver a compelling experience? It won't cost you 40 quarters to find out...

Are you feeling ambitious? Perhaps..."Enterprise"-ing? Then you'll want to download this episode as the panel returns to the Final Frontier for the Star Trek Game from 1979! We fire up our warp engines (with entirely randomized controls) and race each-other to be the best space diplomats/Gorn punchers by completing secret missions. Do we have the guts, nay, the "Bones" to rise to the top of the Federation ranks? Plus, in the Battle of Wits, we make up a bunch of stuff. 

What's red, fuzzy, and started a lot of fights in the 90's? Why Elmo, of course! We take a trip to Sesame Street for Elmo's Birthday Game, a Candy Land-esque affair where players race to get all their gifts to Elmo's party before he arrives to speak in the third person about his cake and stuff. Does this title contain sufficient levels of Oscar the Grouch to be an acceptable game for your family? Plus, in the Battle of Wits, we play a classic Sesame Street game...

Flip the Table has returned...with a bad case of Pac-Man Fever! We're joined by Bangor City Councilor Gibran Graham as we revisit the Pac-Man board game universe with this Milton Bradley classic. Players take on one of four colored Pac-Men (Pac-Mans? Pac-Mani?) as they race to munch marbles and earn points. Using a special brand of roll-and-move necromancy, players also send ghosts to gobble opponents and steal their marbles away from them. Does this game faithfully recreate the arcade phenomenon, or does playing it feel like swallowing a key? Kick off the new year with us as we find out! 

It's time once again for our super-sized, super-spectacular, super-bedazzled End of Year Special! We stop rolling and moving for once so we can take some time to answer a bunch of your questions and mispronounce all of your names. Then, we'll give our annual awards for the best and worst games we've covered in 2014. And it wouldn't be a special episode without another fan-created Battle of Wits, where the panel will fight for tens of thousands of VALUABLE POINTS! FTT will return in January...but for now, enjoy this special double-episode!

This week's game is a certified cult classic...a Milton Bradley title that makes even hardened hobby gamers want to play "Once More, with Feeling!" In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, players roll and move their way through Sunnyvale, fighting ancient vampires and searching for mystical artifacts...all while experiencing their own brand of teen drama (presumably). The panel searches for weapons, researches magic spells, and calls for help from the denizens of the Whedonverse while trying to prevent Buffy from being destroyed or turned into a vampire. Does Buffy deserve its cult classic status, or does it feel seven times longer than Firefly? Download now to find out!

Just in time for the much too early start of the Christmas season, we're playing the Home Alone board game! This spin and move memorization game, based on the massive 90's blockbuster, has players controlling both a particularly independent 8 year old and the infamous "Wet Bandits" as they try to protect the family's valuables while springing the most lethal traps on the crooks. Has the panel had enough of this one, or are they thirsty for more? Plus, Flip gets the fans involved in a very special (too early for the) holiday edition of the Battle of Wits!

Take a little Mr. Wizard, a little Ren and Stimpy, and blend in a heaping helping of roll and move, and you get the Beakman's World: Beakmania Game! In this trivia/dexterity hybrid based on the 1990's-era educational science show for kids, players battle for beakers at Beakman's lab...using such varied props as dominoes, magnetic marbles, plastic discs, wadded up paper, rulers, and balloons. Does this nineties-tastic edutainment title manage to work in a little actual entertainment on the side? Plus: Professor Laserbooks tries to make a subjective Battle of Wits a little more scientific...

A board game about the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant? That's unpossible! This week we're diving into The Simpsons: Don't Panic...a game of spinning donuts and silly mayhem based on one of the longest running animated series of all time. Players compete in a series of crazy stunts in 60 second bursts as they race to collect enough pieces of junk to stop the reactor from melting down and, presumably, ending civilization. Does this game contain enough zany fun to make us say "Ay caramba," or will we be left eating our shorts? Plus, in this week's Battle of Wits, we'll find out who is the S-M-R-T-est about Simpson's merchandise...