Going Analog Show

Going Analog

The board gaming podcast where different industry veterans bring a game and a topic for the group to discuss. By Christina Ha, Dan "Shoe" Hsu, and Mike Zipkin.

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21 episodes
fortnightly
Avg 49 min
English

Episodes 21

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#181
August 20 · 45 min
181: The top board game conventions (and what they offer) (guest: Paula Deming)
Board game conventions: These massive gatherings of game makers, game players, and games can be so fun (and sometimes chaotic), but how do you know which to go to? You've got Gen Con, Essen Spiel, BGG.CON, PAX Unplugged, Origins, Dice Tower...and these are just the big-name ones. This week, we're joined by Paula Deming of Things Get Dicey (and about a billion other board-game-related projects). She suggested we talk about all these board game conventions that we get to go to. What are our favorite and bucket-list shows? How are they all different from each other? Want to know what the vibes are at these major conventions? Then tune in. Chapters: Going Analog's Game Pick: Whisperwood. Paula's Game Pick: Among Cultists. Paula's topic: Board game conventions -- how they differ, our faves, and which ones we still want to go to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#180
August 6 · 56 min
180: Gen Con 2026: The news, the games, the almost-tornado
Gen Con 2026 was eventful. We saw some big shifts in the tabletop industry, we previewed a trillion new games, and we even got a close call with a tornado. Yes, a real-life tornado. As cool as it would've been to see thousands of cards, dice, cubes, and other pieces swirling into the heavens, we were thankful no precious games got hurt. Oh, and people, too. We're back from North America's largest tabletop gaming convention and sat down to chat about all the fun and excitement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#179
July 23 · 40 min
179: Interesting card games with a twist
Last episode, we had an expert come on the show to talk about trick-taking games. But we're not sure what's an "expert" for the broader category of just "card games" so...no guest today! Just Christina and Shoe talking about new cards games they got to try that all have one interesting element or twist to them. Chapters: Going Analog's Game Pick: Cozy Stickerville. Sponsored spot: MILLRAT Pack! – 4 Games Made for Game Night. Card games with a twist: Haunted Mouse. dnup. Beach Bandits. Soothsayers. Questline. Circadia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#178
July 9 · 1 hr 10 min
178: 7 new, different, and weird trick-taking games to check out (guest: Taylor's Trick-Taking Table)
You just can't miss 'em: trick-taking games are everywhere. Maybe there are too many -- but we did find some interesting new ones that are worth a closer look. And who better to join us in this discussion than Taylor Reiner of Taylor's Trick-Taking Table? Taylor's done it all in this category: content creation, game development, and original designs. Together, we cover a few noteworthy new releases in the world of trick-taking, including some obscure ones you've likely never heard of. Chapters: Going Analog's Game Pick: Entropy. Taylor's Game Pick: Finger Crane Game Championship. New trick-taking games worth checking out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#177
June 25 · 55 min
177: All the interesting bits from the 2026 UK Games Expo
It's always fun to get a peek at what goes on at these giant board game conventions in faraway exotic lands -- in this case, the United Kingdom. The 2026 UK Games Expo is behind us now, but our man on the inside (of the country) got to go and tells us all about it. Henry Stenhouse, frequent Going Analog contributor and full-time British guy, gives us his thoughts on the UK's largest hobby games event. What are all the cool things he got to see and play? Listen or watch to find out. Chapters: Going Analog's Game Pick: SETI: Space Agencies. Henry's Game Pick: Spooky Goose. The 2026 UKGE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#176
June 11 · 29 min
176: Making board games is harder than making video games (guest: Tim Schafer, Double Fine)
Legendary video game designer Tim Schafer of Double Fine (Psychonauts, Broken Age, and most recently, Kiln) has been one of our board game buddies for years now. So we took advantage of that relationship and put Tim on the show, filmed right in Double Fine's studio. As our guest, he gets to pick the topic, and he had several good ideas. We steered him toward our favorite, though: Why making board games is harder than making video games. He's been successful for one of those -- not so much in the other. So he'll be speaking from experience here. Chapters: Going Analog's Game Pick: Postcards. Tim's Game Pick: Cave Evil. Tim's topic: Why making board games is harder than making video games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#175
May 28 · 1 hr 3 min
175: The 2026 American Tabletop Awards (guest: What's Eric Playing?)
We were a little late in getting Eric Yurko from What's Eric Playing? on the show to discuss The American Tabletop Awards. But hey, these are 2026's winners and nominees...for games released in 2025. So who's to say when we should be covering these things? We are also on the judging committee, so it's always fun to do this each year: bring Eric on, discuss the winners and almost-winners, and tell everyone how we voted. Come join us to see what was the best of 2026! Er, we mean 2025! Chapters: Going Analog's Game Pick: VNTYPL8S. Eric Yurko's Game Pick: MicroMacro: Kids. The 2026 American Tabletop Awards: Early Gamers. The 2026 American Tabletop Awards: Casual Games. The 2026 American Tabletop Awards: Strategy Games. The 2026 American Tabletop Awards: Complex Games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#174
May 14 · 54 min
174: Big deck energy, Let's Go! To France (guest: designer Josh Wood)
Our industry guests pick the topic that they want to discuss on our show, and Josh Wood, designer of Let's Go! To Japan (and the upcoming Let's Go! To France), asked us if he can talk about "big decks." That was an immediate "yes" from us, without even knowing what he meant (Hey, "big decks" makes for a great headline). What it's really about: the recent trend of huge decks of cards that supply most of the replayability for a board game. Josh gives us his POV as a designer of games with sizable...um, decks. We also ask him a million questions about Let's Go! To France as it gets ready to go live on Kickstarter, go over our respective "Game Picks," and more. Chapters: Going Analog's Game Pick: Bloodstone. Josh Wood's Game Pick: Yeti in the House. Let's Go! To Japan. Big deck energy (and how it affects replayability). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#173
April 30 · 57 min
173: A bunch of light/party games we wanna tell you about
Last episode got too heavy for us, so we're going super light this time around. Light games, party games...we have a dozen of them to chat about this week! Chapters: Game pick: Vantage. Light/party games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#172
April 16 · 1 hr 2 min
172: Time to get HEAVY...with these new heavy games (guest: The Game Table)
We might need to make this an annual tradition: We get new heavy games in. We take forever to learn them. We then spend hours playing them (with our good friend Daniel from The Game Table, who even spent the night at our place this time to get in more gaming the next day). Then we record a podcast episode giving our thoughts on them. We have a bunch of new, newish, and future releases to cover, so listen in to see what we liked and didn't like about our plays. Timeline: 1:34 - Brass: Pittsburg. 12:59 - Speakeasy. 17:40 - The Great Library. 20:50 - Nippon: Zaibatsu. 27:05 - Thebai. 33:25 - Tianxia. 40:09 - Covenant. 45:14 - Barrage: Duel. 51:57 - Darwin's Journey: Oceania. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#171
April 2 · 41 min
171: The educational value of board games (guest: Fort Circle Games)
Fort Circle Games takes history very seriously...but not overly so. Titles like Votes for Women and The Halls of Montezuma treat their subject matters with respect (the women's suffrage movement and the Mexican-American War, respectively) with research, consultants, and even facsimiles of documents. It might sound a little dry, but Fort Circle is on a mission: to bring this knowledge to gamers while adhering to modern game-design sensibilities. They want you to learn a thing or three...while having fun. We invited Fort Circle founder and owner Kevin Bertram to talk more about his company's interesting philosophy and how games can be educational, without necessarily being educational games. Timeline: 2:38 - Going Analog's game pick: Behind the Lens: Photographing Earth. 6:50 - Kevin's game pick: Fortress America. 8:52 - More about Fort Circle Games. 17:52 - Kevin's topic: The educational value of board games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#170
March 19 · 51 min
170: The best board games we played at Dice Tower West 2026
We're back from Dice Tower West, horribly dehydrated and almost 200 games lighter. While we offloaded a lot of our collection at the convention's flea market, we did get to play a bunch of new games (super shoutout to Grant's Game Recs for showing us the majority of them). So it's only a matter of time before we start buying more games to fill in those sad gaps on our shelves. Listen or watch to see what's got us excited after five days of conventioning! Timeline: 3:02 - Shoe's game pick: Pantheauction. 5:56 - Christina's game pick: Bullseye. 11:30 - Going Analog's topic: The best games we played from Dice Tower West 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#169
March 5 · 50 min
169: Board games bringing people together (guest: Grandpa Beck)
Our guest this week is crazy enough to include his personal phone number in every game he sells. Brent Beck (aka "Grandpa Beck" of Grandpa Beck's Games) wants no barriers when it comes to learning his games, so he includes his digits in every copy in case you want to text him for rules clarifications. That's why his chosen topic -- bringing people together through gameplay -- makes so much sense. Brent wants nothing more but to draw people to him and each other to enjoy the hobby he loves so much. Listen/watch as we discuss his work and play philosophies, how many texts from customers he gets per day, and more. Timeline: 3:03 - Going Analog's game pick: Pandora's Legacy. 5:48 - Grandpa Beck's game pick: Mille Bornes. 11:03 - Grandpa's Beck's topic: Bringing people together through gameplay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#168
February 5 · 46 min
168: 2026 board games we've played...and are excited about (guest: Andrew Stiles, designer)
We had to bring in this episode's guest to settle something. In our 2025 Games of the Year show, Christina called Wine Cellar a runner-up for her Party Game of the Year. Shoe took issue with her calling the wine-making card game a "party game," so whom better to bring in than its designer, Andrew Stiles, to settle this hugely important argument? He has a great topic for us, too. Since he gets to playtest so many games for his colleagues, he goes over several he's particularly excited to see finally released this year. And since we get to preview many titles ourselves, we get in on the conversation. Listen to see what we think are the most exciting games to watch for in 2026. Timeline: 7:55 - Going Analog's game pick: Snow Colony. 11:12 - Andrew's game pick: Castles of Mad King Ludwig. 15:41 - Andrew's topic: 2026 games we've played and are excited about. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#167
January 22 · 1 hr 10 min
167: The 2025 Games of the Year episode (guest: Candice Harris)
It's our yearly tradition now: We invite a new content creator on our show, and we discuss the best games of the year in several weight categories. Joining us for our 2025 edition is Candice Harris, formerly of BoardGameGeek and now doing her own thing with Kickin' It Creative. She's just as board game crazy as we are, so check out what we thought were the best of the year. Timeline: The 2025 Games of the Year (hit up our website for the full list of winners and runners-up): 7:06 - 2025 Party Games of the Year. 18:10 - 2025 Light Games of the Year. 33:38 - 2025 Medium Games of the Year. 50:55 - 2025 Heavy Games of the Year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#166
January 8 · 50 min
166: The new age of great 2-player games, part 2 (guest: Grant's Game Recs)
We're back (and so is our guest, Grant Lyon of Grant's Game Recs) with a bunch more new 2-player games that we loved and want to tell you alllll about. Make sure to catch part 1 of our two-part special, so you can have more 2P recommendations than you'll know what to do with. Timeline: 1:28 - Going Analog's game pick: Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game. 7:45 - Grant's game pick: How to Save a World. Great 2-player games, part two: 15:02 - Everdell Duo. 18:31 - Kinfire Delve. 27:00 - Timber Town. 30:12 - Naishi. 32:54 - Zenith. 40:02 - Pillars of Fate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#165
Dec 18, 2025 · 45 min
165: The new age of great 2-player games, part 1 (guest: Grant's Game Recs)
2025 is "The Year of the 2-Player Game" -- at least according to our guest, professional comedian and board game content creator Grant Lyon of Grant's Game Recs. There have been so many good ones that came out over the past yeart that it's hard to refute that statement. So hard that, rather than refute, we'll just create a two-part podcast special covering all the great 2P games we've been playing. This is part one! Timeline: 2:00 - Going Analog's game pick: Origin Story. 9:38 - Grant's game pick: Pinched!. Great 2-player games, part one: 16:50 - The White Castle Duel. 19:59 - Madcala. 25:35 - Enthrone. 29:19 - Compile: Main 2. 35:33 - Scales of Fate. 39:17 - Bombastic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#164
Dec 4, 2025 · 32 min
164: The best games we played at BGG.CON 2025 (and what's next for The Board Game Quiz Show)
Our favorite "just playing games" convention is behind us now, and...we did spend a lot of time just playing games. A LOT. BGG.CON features BoardGameGeek's legendary library plus the latest hotness from the king of board game shows, Essen Spiel, so we had no shortage of options. Listen in to see what our highlights were and to get a tease of what we have in store for Season 6 of The Board Game Quiz Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#163
Nov 20, 2025 · 43 min
163: 6 new drafting games worth checking out
A lot of drafting games have been hitting our table lately, and they're all putting their own twists on the genre. We've been enjoying them so much that we're dedicating this whole episode to our top picks. Plus, the sequel to Yomi, is here. Shoe's played a lot of fighting (video) games, so what does he think about probably the most pure card-game interpretation around? Timeline 0:53 - Going Analog's game pick: Yomi 2. 7:54 - 6 new drafting games worth checking out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#162
Nov 6, 2025 · 40 min
162: Why we can't make board games in the U.S. (guest: James Hudson)
All this business (or loss of) around tariffs has repeated raised a question from the gaming community: Why not just manufacture games in the U.S. instead of, say, China? James Hudson, game designer and owner of Druid City Games, took time out of promoting his Wonderland's War Duel Kickstarter (check out our preview!) to explain why it's so difficult. We've heard the facts from the board game industry before, but James has additional insight worth hearing out. Timeline 1:30 - Going Analog's game pick: Everbloom. 4:58 - James' game pick: Galileo Galilei. 11:35 - Wonderland's War Duel, a new Wonderland's War expansion, Madcala, Off With Their Heads!, and an expansion to Tidal Blades 2. 22:03 - James' topic: Why making board games in America is so difficult. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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