Following a very successful Indiegogo campaign, former A.V. Club contributor and starship busybody Wil Wheaton’s TableTop series is back for its third season on YouTube. The show, produced by the Geek & Sundry channel, finds Wheaton and three to four of his fellow nerdy cohorts playing various games for 30 to 40 minutes or so. It’s a great introduction to a number of different types of games—be they RPGs, cooperative type games, or simple board games fit for people of all ages. Wheaton provides a simple overview in the beginning, outlining the different elements of the game along with each player’s objective and what makes it so fun. Then the playing begins, intercut with combatants’ interviews throughout to check in with their strategy and see how they think the game is going.
The first two episodes of season three have already dropped. The first focuses on set-collecting game Tokaido, which Wheaton describes as “the most Zen-like cutthroat game you will ever play.” He’s joined by the once and future Deathlok J. August Richards, former punter and all around social activist badass Chris Kluwe, and game designer Jason Wishnov who are all competing against Wheaton to be the best ancient Japanese vacationer.