Watch Out for Fireballs!

About Watch Out for Fireballs!

Watch Out for Fireballs! is a game club podcast that covers video games from every era, from retro to newer releases, indie to AAA. Each week we dive deep into the game's mechanics and narrative to figure out what works and what doesn't. Hosted by Gary Butterfield and Kaye Ross, this show has been going since 2011. New episodes every Thursday. For full versions of our premium episodes, back us at patreon.com/duckfeedtv! Public RSS Feed: https://www.patreon.com/rss/80117?show=800722

Publisher

Duckfeed.tv

Category

leisure

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

8 Sept 2011

Latest episode

16 Jan 2026

Latest episodes

80 of 1,475 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   16 Jan 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Duckfeed State of the Union 2026

   This information is presented as both a written post, and as a short podcast episode where we talk about our reasoning.IntroductionHello Patrons and well-wishers: we’re here to report that the Duckfeed state of the union is strong, and we have some announcements about changes. Normally we do these in December, but Circumstances conspired to delay things a bit.Something we really love about this job is that we have the freedom to periodically reevaluate how we do things, and make changes to keep our work interesting and hopefully improve the quality of our output. And we’re fortunate enough that you all are patient and understanding as we do this. So let’s dip into the changes we’re implementing.These will take effect starting February 1, 2026.New Tier PricingAsking for money is hard, and asking for more money is harder. We’ve kept our tiers priced roughly the same since 2014, no matter how much we packed into them. After 12 years, we’re making our first change to this. But to be clear: if you’re backing us right now, nothing will change for you.With that said, this is the new pricing scheme going forward, for new members:The Sparrow tier is moving from $3 to $4.The Duck tier is moving from $5 to $7.The Eagle tier is moving from $10 to $13.The Condor tier is remaining the same, at $25.These changes track roughly with inflation since April of 2014, and we have no intentions of touching this again for a long time. Nothing is being taken out of the existing tiers, and nothing that is currently public is moving to premium.To clarify again: Patrons who are current as of when the pricing takes effect (starting February 1, 2026) will be grandparented in at their old price for as long as they maintain their membership. We want to do this to honor anyone who’s supported us so far. Unfortunately we can’t give you the old pricing if you leave and come back, since that’s not a capability Patreon has.More UnfilmableTo offset the above and sweeten the pot, we are adding one extra episode of Unfilmable per month, because Unfilmable is popular and we like doing it. One episode each month will remain a Gary pick or a Kaye pick, and we are opening Unfilmable up to Executive Producers. Because slots are limited, we are piloting the Executive Producer price at $200. The procedure for this will be similar to picking a game for WOFF! Because watching movies is different than playing and covering whole games, we will most likely go with your first choice. The only limitations are that the request must be a movie (not a TV show, and especially not a full season of a show), and that it not be hateful (we call this the Custer’s Revenge Clause). This kind of thing is in the eye of the beholder, but if we veto your choices you will get a full refund.StreamingNow that Kaye will be in the same time zone and locality as Gary, we are going to pilot doing more streaming, either on Twitch or here on Patreon Live. More details to come. Something that may happen is the VODs for certain streams may be hosted here for Patrons only.DiscordStarting in February we will be shifting our community chat from Slack to Discord. We’ve deliberated over this for a while, and it feels like it’s time to bring our community chat in line with 99% of other communities and use a service that’s not specifically built for workspaces. Community access will remain gated to patrons.The transition to Discord will take place over the course of February, with the Slack closing down at the end of the month. We maintain some reservations about Discord’s direction as a company and will do everything we can to limit annoying features in our server, and will keep an eye out for them deciding that everyone’s childhood memories belong to their AI or something.(If you notice that you were kicked from the old Duckfeed Discord we used for multiplayer game chat, it's because it's under construction and you can re-join later on).Executive Producer ChangesIn addition to changing the prices of our tiers, we are going to make some modest changes to how WOFF! and Abject Suffering executive production slots and demands work.The price to Executive Produce a Watch Out for Fireballs! episode will be rising from $300 to $350.We are moving Abject Suffering picks to the store where anyone can buy a demand for $50, though $25 backers will continue to get a demand thrown in for their pledge (you will get a coupon). Because of the way that the store works, it will continue to be one demand per year.Selling Episodes and CollectionsWe are going to begin offering individual episodes and collections for sale on the Patreon store, in addition to being available to monthly backers. This is something people have requested. For example, some people just want specific seasons of Bonfireside Chat. Others want to retain access to episodes after they drop their support.To clarify, monthly memberships are still the primary way to get our content. No back catalog material will be gated behind an additional purchase. The only thing I could think would end up being listed that way was if we decided to do another charity bundle.Individual episodes will be $3 (the minimum price that Patreon will allow us to set). Collections will be priced at roughly $1 per hour of premium episode that’s in the bundle, as not every episode in the bundle will be premium in some cases.These listings will be going up shortly.Annual MembershipsPatreon offers the capability to offer annual memberships, and we’re opening those up. If you want to sign up for a year of Duckfeed all at once, you can get a 10% discount. Here are instructions on how to get one of those. (https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042152671-Annual-membership-details)Community GiftingPatreon recently added the capability for fans to gift memberships to other fans. (https://www.patreon.com/duckfeedtv/gift) We just want to let you know about this, since it’s hard to discover on the site.SubredditWe would like to start a community subreddit, but we don’t want to add moderating it to our workload. We also don’t really know how to do this. If you have expertise in this area, please contact us.ConclusionThat’s the extent of what we have planned, and we hope you’re as excited about the additional Unfilmable episode, and the addition of streams to our schedule. Kaye being in Portland is going to open up some fun opportunities and we’re really excited for the future.If you have questions about these changes, please ask them in the comments and we will answer them as best we can.Thank you so much for your ongoing support!

2. 

   15 Jan 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Watch Out For Fireballs 502: Thief II The Metal Age

   Returning to the world of Thief, we finally cover the much demanded and beloved Thief II: The Metal Age. Often pointed to as one of the greatest embodiments of stealth in video games, what makes Thief II so special? A lot of has to do with The Fantasy. This game makes you feel like a badass fantasy Thief, with a world of treasures and artifacts to claim for yourself.

3. 

   8 Jan 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Watch Out For Fireballs 501: The Binding of Isaac

   How can smart people enjoy a game about a naked boy crying at poop? Binding of Isaac is one of the most chaotic, labyrinthine, and complex games we've ever put multiple hundreds of hours into. Inspired by Legend of Zelda and Rogue, Binding of Isaac sees you grabbing dozens of game-changing items, building a unique Isaac, and descending deeper into the basement than you ever imagined. Gary is joined by his Everything to Guppy co-host, Will Hughes, to break down what makes Binding of Isaac an easy entry in the video game hall of fame.

Inside a recent episode

Duckfeed State of the Union 2026

Published 16 Jan 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] We'll talk about it. Yeah. There's a thing. Um, yeah. Uh, we're also, uh, for people listening to this, who are patrons, starting in February, we are moving our community chat from Slack to discord. Yes. This is right before their, uh, shadow IPO, like thing that they put in. Uh, so we'll see how that goes. But, uh, Slack is not a good fit. Uh, it has served us, uh, for, uh, well for 12 years. Uh, but it is not made for communities like ours. It's made for, you know, your job and stuff. And so there's some niceties. There's some things that we can do. Um, and I look forward to that, you know, being just a little, a little bit more functional. […]

Who has been a guest on Watch Out for Fireballs!

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Ben Merkel
• Tactical Breach Wizards
• Johnny Silverhand

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

263,108

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

1,196 ratings

Spotify

4.5 / 5

784 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 84 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

93

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

99

Pitching Watch Out for Fireballs!

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting pitches.

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Questions about Watch Out for Fireballs!