The Board Game Secret Show

The BIG Tend Episode | The Design, The Success, The Future | BGSS ep_033

Tend began as a Stardew-flavored side project Toby Sarnelle built just for his friends — then IV Studio co-founder Zac Dixon helped turn it into one of the most-requested flip-and-writes out there. 🌱 TEND's designers open up the legacy version that almost shipped, and the two expansions coming next — 🐝 HIVE and 🍷 CELLAR. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE: 🧪 The legacy "mega sheet" — a tech tree of colored stars they spun on for six months, then cut 🧱 Walls in the mines, doomed rondels, and IV's standing policy on Austin's ideas 🎮 What years designing TWO DOTS taught Toby about hooking a player fast 🐄 The one-cow problem Toby would patch in TEND tomorrow 🐝 HIVE: four apiaries, bee dice, and a true roll-and-write inside a flip-and-write 🍷 CELLAR: a three-game mini campaign where your first farm sets up your last 📦 "Bring me three expansions and a standalone" — and what comes after HIVE and CELLAR ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 LINKS 🌱 Tend by IV Studio ▶ https://shop.iv.studio/products/tend-board-game 🐝 Tend: Hive & Cellar Expansions on Gamefound ▶ https://gamefound.com/en/projects/iv-studio/tend-expansions ❤️ Support My Work — Join Cardboard ▶ https://crdbrd.app/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST! 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4 🔵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Cold open 00:42 - Who are Toby Sarnelle and Zac Dixon? 01:59 - How Toby ended up on the same box as Zac 02:58 - From Two Dots lead designer to board games 06:48 - "I didn't even know scratch-offs were possible" 09:14 - It was never supposed to be a Stardew game 12:42 - The legacy mega-sheet that almost happened 18:14 - Walls in the mines, and why they died 19:01 - IV's no-rondel policy 20:30 - A redesigned Monopoly was Toby's first prototype 21:59 - What board games can do that video games can't 34:55 - What Toby would patch in Tend today 37:16 - The one-cow problem 38:57 - The fishing feedback they get most 51:10 - Tend was a deck builder a week before prototype 54:59 - Hive and Cellar come out of the legacy version 56:50 - How Hive's apiaries work 1:08:39 - Awards, without the Kickstarter records 1:16:37 - Cellar: a three-game campaign 1:27:08 - "If you play an expansion, engage with it" 1:36:57 - "Bring me three expansions and a standalone" 1:38:56 - Why ship expansions as a set 1:43:35 - The big box 1:49:37 - A new direction for the scratcher 1:50:18 - Wrap #cardboard #bgss #tend

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Scam Tables, Board Game S*x Dolls & Mr. Beast | The Dragons Tomb Unfiltered | BGSS ep_031

Jeff Kornberg has taught hundreds of thousands of people how to play board games, and not one of those rules has ever been true. 📺 THE DRAGON'S TOMB is eight years of completely straight-faced tutorials with entirely invented rules — and the man making them spent his day job building 🎬 CONDÉ NAST's biggest YouTube series, with over 800 million views on videos he personally produced. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE: 🚌 A Greyhound bus review so uneventful it killed the opening question 🏙️ He gave away TINY TOWNS — all 375 pieces, one winner per piece, mailed in flat envelopes 🎲 ROCK PAPER SCISSORS DELUXE: Beth Sobel art, Chip Theory lore, and a real Rodney Smith how-to-play 🤖 The $2,000 AI sex doll review — 357,000 views, his biggest video in eight years 🪑 He reviewed a board game table nobody ever sent him. Then the "scam" table turned up. 📧 He invented a fake game, asked 300+ creators what they'd charge for a good review, and kept every answer 📱 "Hey, this is Mr B" — the text that flew him to Greenville ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 LINKS 📺 The Dragon's Tomb ▶ https://www.youtube.com/@TheDragonsTomb 💜 The Dragon's Tomb on Patreon ▶ https://www.patreon.com/TheDragonsTomb ❤️ Support My Work — Join Cardboard ▶ https://crdbrd.app/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST! 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4 🔵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Cold open 00:50 - Who is Jeff Kornberg? 02:35 - Gen Con: Whisperwood, and a suitcase that stayed small 06:58 - What Dragon's Tomb actually is — fake rules, played straight 08:48 - The Tiny Towns giveaway: 375 winners, one piece each 10:21 - 'You ran a Kickstarter' 12:38 - Rock Paper Scissors Deluxe — Beth Sobel art, Chip Theory lore 16:27 - Reverse pranking: the companies who never check the channel 18:18 - Do publishers mind? The PAX Unplugged fake-rules event 19:49 - Never breaking — the deadpan, and four takes a line 20:57 - The $2,000 AI sex doll 23:53 - Did YouTube demonetize it? 26:32 - The tutorial he refunded 31:51 - Kinson Key sweeps the Dice Tower Awards 34:56 - They want the footage — and they won't pay for it 42:03 - Reviewing a board game table that didn't exist 44:31 - The 'scam' table nobody else got sent 45:45 - The fake game, and 300 creators asked to sell out 51:34 - A $3 campaign for the experience of crowdfunding 56:49 - The day job: Condé Nast, and 800 million views 1:00:57 - Fuse, Google's $2M, and learning what makes people click 1:06:28 - The AI lemonade stand: ChatGPT vs Claude 1:08:14 - 'Hey, this is Mr B' — the text out of nowhere 1:11:12 - Greenville: D&D, Catan and poker night 1:16:29 - 'I could save you so much time and money.' He didn't care. 1:19:21 - The best celebrity he ever worked with: Weird Al 1:23:10 - The Pandasaurus wrestling match, and the pizza guy 1:25:03 - Filming Jackie Chan 1:27:23 - Thanks, and a PAX Unplugged plan #cardboard #bgss

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The Rise of Galactic Cruise | The Kinson Key Guys | BGSS ep_030

Support my work and join my community: https://crdbrd.app/ Koltin Thompson took a sick day from teaching fourth grade to launch his Kickstarter. It did $300,000 in the first 24 hours. He went back to work the next morning anyway — state testing was coming — and his co-workers wanted to know what on earth he was doing there. That game was 🚀 GALACTIC CRUISE, and it just won Dice Tower Game of the Year. T.K. King, Dennis Northcott and Koltin of Kinson Key Games came on to tell the whole story. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE: 🏆 Three Dice Tower awards in one night — and why Game of the Year was the one T.K. was watching for 😭 Turning in a resignation, tears in the school bathroom, and going full-time into board games 🤒 The sick day that launched a $300,000 Kickstarter — and the co-workers who asked why he came in 🚀 "I'm calling it Galactic Cruise for now" — the placeholder name that never went away 🧟 The Frankenstein prototype, and a first version that was wider and shallower than the game you know 📋 Who actually made that player aid — the one people call the best they've ever seen 🎨 Getting to Ian O'Toole: "you have to meet 20 people before you meet Ian" 🛸 EXCURSIONS — why it's a whole new game and not an expansion ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 LINKS 🛸 Excursions — a Galactic Cruise Game (launching soon on Kickstarter) ▶ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kinsonkeygames/excursions-a-galactic-cruise-game 🚀 Galactic Cruise ▶ https://kinsonkeygames.com/galactic-cruise 🎮 Kinson Key Games ▶ https://www.kinsonkeygames.com/ 💬 Kinson Key Games on Discord ▶ https://discord.gg/ZSCRGYJfUC 📺 Kinson Key Games on YouTube ▶ https://www.youtube.com/@kinsonkeygames3478 ❤️ Support My Work — Join Cardboard ▶ https://crdbrd.app/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST! 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4 🔵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Cold open 00:43 - Who are Kinson Key Games? 04:39 - Three Dice Tower awards in one night 07:10 - How two friends started making games 14:32 - Dennis finds them at Proto ATL 22:30 - Going all in on the first day of 2023 27:22 - Doing the math on quitting a salary 28:51 - The resignation, and a $300,000 launch 32:42 - "I am calling it Galactic Cruise for now" 34:38 - The first version was wider and shallower 35:18 - The Frankenstein prototype 45:09 - Why T.K. loves worker placement 48:32 - Where Developments came from 56:37 - Building the Progress Track 58:25 - Teaching people how it scores 1:01:40 - Achievements and Advancements 1:08:59 - The top-ranked player in the world 1:14:25 - The player aid everyone remembers 1:22:43 - Landing the art on a debut game 1:34:10 - Pitching the Achievements expansion 1:40:18 - Excursions - and why it is not an expansion 1:56:45 - Publishing other designers 2:01:59 - Weight, box size and delivery dates #cardboard #bgss #galacticcruise

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Matthew Meeple Talks ASCENDANCY’s Breakout Success And COLA WARS | BGSS ep_029

Does Cola Wars match your taste? :https://crdbrd.app/hub/game/682109fe-a66d-402c-a141-f4f9cf13c2d6 Matthew Meeple took his first game to Gen Con, put six people on it at once, and found out mid-demo that it literally could not be won. He raised $476,000 on it anyway. He's the founder of One More Turn Games — publisher of ⚔️ ASCENDANCY and the upcoming 🥤 COLA WARS — and he quit his job to do all of it. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE: 🎲 A working cardboard vending machine that rolls your dice — no batteries, just a wooden dowel 📦 The box fight: hundreds of backers arguing over a retro 1985 box nobody can fit in a Kallax 😰 The delay email he was "terrified" to send — and why the replies changed how he runs campaigns 🕹️ "We actually can't win the game" — the Gen Con demo that sent ASCENDANCY back to the drawing board 🥤 How he saw an 80s nostalgia game in Cameron Fleming's prototype from the title alone 🧠 Two battlefields — "mind share" in the consumer's head, "shelf share" in the aisles of Thirst City 💼 Hire executives, fire them for the salary savings, and send interns to file TPS reports ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 LINKS 🥤 Cola Wars on Gamefound ▶ https://gamefound.com/en/projects/onemoreturngames/cola-wars 🎮 One More Turn Games ▶ https://onemoreturngames.com/pages/cola-wars 📺 One More Turn Games on YouTube ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMpadGN6IfX_gt5WhTFdytg ❤️ Support My Work — Join Cardboard ▶ https://crdbrd.app/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST! 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4 🔵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Cold open 00:40 - Who is Matthew Meeple? 01:59 - He quit his job to go all-in on One More Turn Games 03:41 - ASCENDANCY funded fast - would he do it again? 07:15 - Why his FIRST game was a huge asymmetric 4X 08:33 - What the first campaign actually taught him 12:00 - Never missing an update - ethics or compulsion? 13:48 - The box fight: retro and unstorable, or shelf-friendly? 18:33 - Will COLA WARS go retail? 20:35 - The update he was terrified to send 22:51 - Is crowdfunding oversaturated? 31:35 - The crazy vending machine dice tower 34:23 - Publisher trust, and the CMON problem 39:15 - Why he switched from Kickstarter to Gamefound 41:09 - The Gen Con demo where nobody could win the game 50:42 - Cutting the scope to actually ship 1:00:23 - ASCENDANCY is going digital 1:01:33 - The crafting game he still wants to make 1:03:45 - Finding Cameron Fleming at Gen Con 1:07:33 - What 20 years in advertising brought to the mechanics 1:09:53 - Shelf space: fast food to fine dining 1:12:48 - How a cardboard vending machine rolls dice 1:14:30 - Market research: buying your way out of bad luck 1:20:59 - Why your mind share halves every year 1:23:20 - Vice presidents, and the Ari Gold problem 1:25:31 - Hiring executives - and interns who ruin everything 1:32:11 - What is in store for the campaign #cardboard #bgss #colawars

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From Tables to Publishing 20 Games a Year, The Allplay Story w/ Chad DeShon | BGSS ep_028

Chad DeShon ran a million-dollar Kickstarter, added another half million in add-ons, and made basically nothing — then turned that wreckage into one of the busiest publishers in board games. He's the founder of 🎲 ALLPLAY, formerly 🪑 BOARDGAMETABLES.COM, and he runs the whole thing out of a limestone mine. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE: 🕳️ The Allplay warehouse is inside a decommissioned limestone mine — down the road from 750,000 square feet of federal documents 🪑 2014: he emails a stranger about a furniture order and ends up selling board game tables with zero woodworking experience 📦 THE DUCHESS lands at $499 against a $4,000 market and funds in minutes — then 25 containers arrive damaged 💸 "Everybody had to get their table, or the whole business just went away" 🎲 He played QE, emailed the designer to ask if he could publish it, and accidentally became a publisher 🏷️ Every review started "this is QE by BoardGameTables.com" — the naming problem that forced the ALLPLAY rebrand 🧲 His pitch advice for designers: whatever is unique about your game has to be in the first two sentences ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 LINKS 🎲 Allplay ▶ https://www.allplay.com/ ❤️ Support My Work — Join Cardboard ▶ https://crdbrd.app/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST! 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4 🔵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Cold open 00:57 - Who is Chad DeShon? 01:04 - His office is inside a limestone mine 03:42 - The founder story starts with a furniture order 07:40 - The first table sells the day after the website goes live 09:59 - The Duchess: gamers touch the table and walk away 12:18 - Cold-emailing furniture factories in China 13:18 - $499 against a $4,000 market — funded in minutes 18:00 - 25 containers of tables arrive damaged 20:20 - A $1M campaign that made basically no money 24:37 - Redesigning the table around the UPS weight limit 27:24 - Dropping table parts in his basement to test the boxes 32:11 - What he learned watching Geek Chic go under 36:19 - Moving production out of China 42:37 - Why BoardGameTables.com became Allplay 46:38 - On Tour, then QE — how he became a publisher 50:27 - Rescuing Container and Through the Desert 56:01 - The nine-game Kickstarter, and what went wrong 1:00:14 - About 20 games a year, and why that number stops here 1:05:21 - Things in Rings, and still waiting on their Wingspan 1:12:27 - COVID, containers, and forecasting the impossible 1:18:59 - Why QE was never re-themed with animals 1:23:51 - Enchanted Ivy, their first solo game 1:30:58 - The convention booth as a marketing machine 1:34:59 - Jibber Jabble at Gen Con 1:42:04 - Mountain Goats Legacy and Sail Legacy 1:48:20 - Rapid fire: one table, one game forever #cardboard #bgss #allplay #cardboard #bgss #dicethrone #wroth

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Wroth, Wreck & A Little Dice Throne | Manny Trembley | BGSS ep_027

Manny Trembly had never designed a board game when he made 🎲 DICE THRONE — he was a comic artist who'd just been laid off. Ten years, 40+ heroes and a Marvel licence later, he still draws it, designs it, and now runs his own studio inside Chip Theory building ⚔️ WROTH. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE: 💼 Laid off ten years ago this week — a prototype in Nate's kitchen two days later ✏️ Comic artist first — an Eisner nod for PX, 3D models for MYST 🎲 "Too asymmetrical, too many dice" — everyone told him it wouldn't work ⚔️ Gavin Brown, Roxley, and the absurd EXCALIBUR box 🌈 WROTH — built in 24 hours with his kids 🔮 NEXUS and DICE THRONE DIGITAL are coming ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 LINKS 🎲 Dice Throne ▶ https://dicethrone.com/ ⚔️ Wroth & Neon Knight Games ▶ https://chiptheorygames.com/ ⚔️ Wreck ▶ https://gamefound.com/en/projects/chip-theory-games/wroth-reprint--wreck-expansion ❤️ Support My Work — Join Cardboard ▶ https://crdbrd.app/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST! 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4 🔵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Cold open 00:32 - Who is Manny Trembly? 01:27 - Fresh off Gen Con 10:20 - Why the small booths are where the magic is 11:53 - Winning a Dice Tower Award for Tanglewood 16:38 - A Jim Lee comic and the two-page spread that started it 21:32 - PX, the Eisner nomination, and dropping the E 23:00 - Myst, Cyan Worlds, and 'grandpa who fought in WWII' 26:05 - Meeting Nate — and getting laid off the same week 30:34 - 'What if we just translate this sucker into a board game?' 34:00 - Roxley, Gavin Brown, and the Excalibur box 40:25 - 'What you're doing is cool, but it's not going to work' 46:32 - The art: what Manny draws vs what Nick Malara draws 57:00 - Why dice make better stories 1:10:44 - Neon Reign — art that predates Dice Throne 1:15:40 - Joining Chip Theory and starting Neon Knight 1:28:13 - Wroth: fixing what keeps people off Root 1:47:20 - Wreck: boats, cannon dice, and the Exodus 2:04:30 - What WROTH actually stands for 2:26:11 - Manny's favourite hero of all time 2:30:40 - Nexus, Dice Throne Digital, and what's next #cardboard #bgss #dicethrone #wroth

From Teacher To KTBG Founder | Helaina Cappel’s Story | BGSS ep_026

Helaina Cappel turned down more games than she published — and that's why KTBG and Burnt Island look the way they do. Teacher, publisher, and the one who rescued ⚓ ENDEAVOR off Z-Man's shelf and steered it into 🌊 DEEP SEA. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE: 🎓 Teacher to publisher — FOODFIGHTERS at the kitchen table ⚓ A year convincing Jarratt & Carl to hand her ENDEAVOR 🌊 Leaving the colonization theme behind for DEEP SEA 🌱 Zero plastic — "but it's flammable" 🗝️ LAIRS: $33, three print runs, all sold out 🔮 Ten more years of Endeavor ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 LINKS 🎲 Kids Table Board Gaming & Burnt Island Games ▶ https://www.kidstablebg.com/ ❤️ Support My Work — Join Cardboard ▶ https://crdbrd.app/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST! 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4 🔵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Cold open 00:33 - Intro — who is Helaina Cappel 01:45 - Before we started rolling 02:24 - The teacher, Josh, and Foodfighters 08:53 - Funding on day 31 — Kickstarter in 2015 13:23 - "When did KTBG become a business?" 20:08 - Catan, Carcassonne, Caylus — becoming a gamer 22:53 - The KTBG DNA: fun, and scalable 26:13 - The "family weight" problem 32:23 - Cystic fibrosis — an unexpected connection 37:03 - Why Burnt Island exists 39:38 - Endeavor: from Z-Man's shelf to a year of convincing 44:43 - Decolonising Endeavor into Deep Sea 53:53 - Zero plastic: the bagasse insert fight 59:23 - Age of Sail is out of print for good 1:02:53 - Fall of the Mountain King — the one that should have hit 1:08:23 - Killing the print ads 1:13:23 - "New is better" — the treadmill 1:17:23 - Tariffs, Play the North, looking past the US 1:25:43 - Lairs — the $33 game she can't print fast enough 1:42:23 - How Lairs found her — an Eric Lang post 1:47:43 - Gen Con and Essen slate 1:49:33 - The future of Endeavor — ten games in ten years 1:56:48 - Advice: ask every single question #cardboard #bgss #endeavor #kidstableboardgaming #burntisland

Justin Gary is a Pioneer | Magic, Ascension & LOTR | BGSS ep_025

He won a Magic: The Gathering national championship at 17 — the youngest ever — and got the cards he won with banned. Then he built Ascension in 18 months, bet his life savings on 10,000 copies, and sold out at Gen Con. Justin Gary of Stone Blade Entertainment opens up 15 years of design secrets: why balance is a misnomer, how the One Ring broke his game (and the story moment that fixed it), and what's coming in Ascension: The Lord of the Rings. Guest: Justin Gary — https://x.com/Justin_Gary Stone Blade Entertainment: https://stoneblade.com Justin's podcast & book: Think Like a Game Designer Lord of the Rings Ascension Campaign: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/stoneblade/the-lord-of-the-rings-ascension#/section/project-story TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Cold open & guest intro 1:07 Welcome + the Tim Ferriss DM story 13:53 The Magic pro years & the hacker mentality 14:54 $30,000 and two banned cards 25:59 Dominion & the deckbuilding boom 29:25 Building Ascension: 18 months, 10,000 copies 46:35 "Balance is a misnomer" 1:07:07 Lord of the Rings Ascension 1:24:03 Taming the One Ring 1:28:33 Favorite set + what's next 1:38:37 The crowdfund + where to find Justin GAMES IN THIS EPISODE Magic: The Gathering — https://crdbrd.app/hub/game/4dd82420-e5a0-4cc4-afaa-3b7d2b60ce97 Ascension: Deckbuilding Game — https://crdbrd.app/hub/game/077eee6c-9a23-4f10-b72b-776c45514d2a Dominion — https://crdbrd.app/hub/game/0b300d7c-f019-4594-8d4b-ef94c0e26585 SolForge Fusion — https://crdbrd.app/hub/game/874e3f7f-413f-47df-bc57-8b603d33937b Discover every game mentioned on the show: https://crdbrd.app #cardboard #bgss #ascension

John D. Clair is UNSTOPPABLE | BGSS ep_024

He invented card crafting — and he may have just reinvented deck building. John D. Clair designed 🚀 SPACE BASE, 🏴‍☠️ DEAD RECKONING, 🎲 CUBITOS, 🐎 READY SET BET, and 🔮 MYSTIC VALE — and his new "momentum" system in ⚔️ UNSTOPPABLE is the engine behind the smash-hit 👑 DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL board game. In this one, I review Unstoppable to the designer's face for the very first time. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE, WE GO DEEP: 🧒 Designing his first game at 9 (thanks, Mom) 💰 Quitting the day job — royalties, risk & the AEG deal 🃏 Dominion, Ascension & why deck building is a design "cheat code" ✂️ Card crafting — why it never spawned a genre ⚡ Momentum deck building & the 2009 prototype that waited a decade 🎲 Luck vs. agency — why new players blame the dice 🌶️ The BGG comments he SAVES & the review that stung 🗞️ BREAKING: Floors 5 & 6 in the works for Dungeon Crawler Carl 🔮 What's next — Stormlight Archive, Mystic Lands & Electrify 👉 If you want to get inside the mind of the most inventive card game designer working today, this one's a masterclass. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 LINKS ⚔️ Unstoppable — Renegade Game Studios ▶ https://renegadegamestudios.com/unstoppable/ 👑 Dungeon Crawler Carl: Unstoppable + RPG ▶ https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/renegade-game-studios/dungeon-crawler-carl-rpg-unstoppable ❤️ Support My Work — Join Cardboard ▶ https://crdbrd.app/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST! 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4 🔵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro — who is John D. Clair 00:52 - Designing his first game at 9 (Monster Cards) 05:19 - Maze books & gamifying mazes as a kid 13:24 - Going full-time in 2018 & the AEG deal 16:52 - Why Unstoppable went to Renegade — the IP bet 18:52 - The games he loves (and the two kinds he doesn't) 22:59 - Inspiration & giving credit to other designers 27:12 - Playing Dominion for the first time 30:46 - Why deck building is so addicting 34:38 - Ascension's influence & Dead Reckoning's 2D market 38:52 - Card crafting — a lateral evolution, not a genre 42:16 - The deck building problem card crafting solves 46:05 - Deck-driven board games — Dune: Imperium & Arnak 47:35 - Unstoppable & momentum deck building 50:45 - The 2009 prototype behind Unstoppable 58:04 - The magic moment — two dead cards into a combo 1:00:27 - Difficulty & learning to pump the brakes 1:08:08 - Luck, agency & why new players blame the dice 1:17:48 - How many plays before Unstoppable clicks? 1:18:46 - What do reviewers owe designers? 1:22:03 - BGG comments, Space Base's two bad cards & the review that stung 1:31:36 - Fixing the card market — six levels, straight to hand 1:41:44 - Has momentum transcended deck building? 1:46:01 - The bosses & designing variety 1:52:26 - My gripes — sleeving and that theme 1:55:06 - The IP vision & the future of the Unstoppable line 1:56:36 - Patching a physical game & the new co-op rule 2:00:35 - Dungeon Crawler Carl's campaign mode 2:04:47 - BREAKING — Floors 5 & 6 expansion in the works 2:05:54 - What's new in DCC — looming bosses, races & mana 2:13:39 - The "Unbeatable" difficulty & how John playtests 2:15:17 - Stormlight Archive: War of Roshar (September) 2:17:14 - Mystic Lands & the art problem of card crafting 2:21:03 - Mistborn expansion, Electrify & a 2027 auto-battler 2:23:01 - Wrap-up ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #boardgames #boardgamedesign #unstoppable #dungeoncrawlercarl #deckbuilding #tabletop #renegadegamestudios #boardgamepodcast

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From Z-Man to Play-to-Z | 30 Years of Board Game Publishing | BGSS ep_023

One of the most storied résumés in the entire board game industry. Zev founded Z-Man Games, published 🦠 PANDEMIC and the first English 🌾 AGRICOLA (and basically invented the "animeeple" by deluxing it), signed the original ENDEAVOR, spent seven years exploding the WizKids catalog with ~100 games, and now runs his own publisher — ✨ PLAY TO Z. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE, WE GO DEEP: 💰 The real economics of conventions 🏆 Why Origins beats GenCon for a premiere 🃏 The CCG days & Shadow Fist 🤝 Betting on co-op when NOBODY wanted it 📦 Under-printing Pandemic 🌶️ His (spicy) take on expansions 📜 IP licensing headaches & the Middle-earth project 🚀 Crowdfunding, paid previews vs. review copies 🔮 What's next for Play to Z 👉 If you care at all about how the board game industry ACTUALLY works, this one's a masterclass. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 LINKS ⚔️ Siege Perilous — LIVE on Gamefound now (through July 14) ▶ https://gamefound.com/en/projects/play-to-z/siege-perilous ✨ Everything Play to Z has going ▶ https://www.playtozgames.com/ ❤️ Support My Work — Join Cardboard ▶ https://crdbrd.app/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST! 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4 🔵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 ▸ Intro — who is Zev Schlasinger 00:39 ▸ Origins & how the con has changed 03:04 ▸ Why publisher attendance is dropping 04:15 ▸ Conventions are marketing — money is gravy 05:03 ▸ The ROI secret: premiere something new 06:56 ▸ Why release at Origins instead of GenCon 🃏 THE CCG YEARS 09:07 ▸ From CCGs to board games — the Z-Man origin 09:53 ▸ Always a gamer: wargames, Magic & judging 11:31 ▸ Grave Robbers From Outer Space changes everything 13:16 ▸ Breaking into board games & the "Rio Grande wall" 16:40 ▸ How you found games to sign back then 18:33 ▸ Selling off Shadow Fist / leaving CCGs 23:38 ▸ Would he ever do a CCG again? 📈 BUILDING Z-MAN 24:49 ▸ When did Z-Man feel like a success? ("one disaster from bankruptcy") 28:21 ▸ Under-printing Pandemic & Agricola / print runs 33:04 ▸ Lead times then vs. now / the Soothsayers reprint 🦠 THE BIG HITS 36:01 ▸ Meeting Matt Leacock & signing Pandemic 38:03 ▸ Betting on co-op when nobody wanted it 42:22 ▸ Play to Z's philosophy: engaging & different 43:31 ▸ Signing Agricola, the $70 euro risk & animeeples 48:48 ▸ Publishing the very first Endeavor 52:40 ▸ Zev's honest take on expansions 🏢 Z-MAN, WIZKIDS & IP 1:05:00 ▸ Why he sold Z-Man (and kept working there) 1:07:28 ▸ The WizKids years — 100 games in 7 1:11:47 ▸ The reality of working with IP & licensing 1:20:54 ▸ The Middle-earth game & Asmodee's curation ✨ PLAY TO Z & THE INDUSTRY TODAY 1:27:08 ▸ Why start Play to Z — hitting the ground running 1:29:40 ▸ Crowdfunding — why he resisted it for so long 1:33:02 ▸ Crowdfunding vs. bank loans & publisher risk 1:39:37 ▸ Paid previews, review copies & marketing ROI 1:47:27 ▸ Social media & staying transparent with the community 1:52:29 ▸ Board games vs. digital / BGA & the tactile future 🎯 WHAT TO PLAY NOW 1:54:40 ▸ Play to Z's lineup — Siege Perilous, 23 Knives & more 1:56:52 ▸ The most slept-on Play to Z game 2:00:45 ▸ Late-year releases — Dogs of War, Soul Journey 2:03:21 ▸ Where to find Siege Perilous & wrap-up ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #boardgames #boardgamedesign #zmangames #pandemic #agricola #tabletop #playtoz #boardgamepodcast

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Let’s Talk Rolling Deep & More w/ Peter C. Hayward | BGSS ep_022

Board game designer Peter Hayward (Rolling Deep, Things & Rings, That Time You Killed Me) sits down for a wide-ranging, 3-hour conversation about what actually makes a game fun, why he's stepping back from designing to chase screenwriting, and how he reverse-engineered the feeling of Balatro into a tabletop roguelike. We get into the apex of game design, the difference between fun, satisfaction, and winning, why Flip Seven sparked a friendly fight, the $120k debt that nearly ended it all, the "offer he couldn't refuse," and the absurd timeline that took Rolling Deep from first prototype to Kickstarter in under six months. 🎲 Rolling Deep hits Kickstarter June 23rd: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bitewinggamesnick/rolling-deep-and-eureka-dice-adventure-roguelike-and-campaign ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open 0:42 Designer vs. salesman: the dream nobody warns you about 1:37 The real daily grind of a working designer 3:02 Willow, his sisters & "external processing" 5:27 23 Slack channels with his sister 8:44 How does Peter have fun? 9:07 Fun vs. satisfaction vs. winning 11:02 The apex of game design 11:48 Making "dumb apes feel clever" 12:32 Puzzles, Sudoku & writing sitcoms 15:47 Intrinsic vs. extrinsic joy 22:20 Breaking So Clover (and co-op games) 23:59 Is Flip Seven even a game? 25:29 The threshold of agency 26:03 Why Flip Seven might be a top design of 20 years 30:34 Being a board game "sommelier" 32:30 The Candyland question 33:40 Why he's ending the Fun Problems podcast 34:50 The screenwriting dream & getting into the US 39:02 A "typical" day & external obligations 43:12 $120k of debt to a net worth of zero 44:32 The offer he couldn't refuse 50:14 The ridiculous Rolling Deep timeline 51:36 The Cuphead artist & the cover 53:42 Why Peter designs mechanics-first 55:05 The three hooks: mechanical, component, thematic 1:08:42 Falling in love with Balatro 1:09:31 What Balatro actually is 1:24:08 So what is Rolling Deep? 1:30:39 Translating planet cards into mushrooms 1:33:08 Turning interest into a real decision 1:38:13 Bosses & engine destroyers 1:43:41 Jokers become tableau rows 1:48:13 Broken combos: feature or bug? 1:55:21 "Use the paints already on the tray" 2:04:48 Custom dice faces & the rules budget 2:19:11 Discovery cards 2:28:35 Achievements & roguelike unlocks 3:02:00 Going full-time: fuck around and find out 3:07:45 Peter's other income streams 3:09:40 Building an "engine" on YouTube 3:11:17 Wrap up #boardgames #gamedesign #rollingdeep #kickstarter #tabletop #balatro

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We Talk Board Games & Books w/ ⁨@ZeBoardandShield⁩ | BGSS ep_21

I need your help to keep this going. The #1 way you can support me is join my community here: https://crdbrd.app/ Zeshawn from Board and Shield has played over 500 board games — and he's just as deep in the book world as the board game one. In this episode of the Board Game Secret Show we go all the way down the rabbit hole: how a Game of Thrones version of Risk pulled him into the hobby, why he merged books and board games onto one account, the narrative campaign games worth your table (Dragon Eclipse, Oathsworn, Spire's End), a hot take that might get him canceled (Castles of Burgundy is overrated), and his complete all-time Top 10 — including why Black Rose Wars will NEVER leave the #1 spot. We also cover the board-game-to-book pipeline: what to read if you love Blood Rage, the cozy parallel to CozyStickerville, and the standalone novels every gamer should pick up. 🎲 Follow Zeshawn here: @ZeBoardandShield https://www.instagram.com/boardandshield/ https://www.tiktok.com/@boardandshield The #1 way you can support me is join my community here: https://crdbrd.app/ ————————————————— ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ————————————————— 0:00 — Cold open / teaser 0:30 — Who is Zeeshan & Board and Shield 1:03 — How we connected on TikTok 2:34 — Cross-posting TikTok / IG / YouTube + why he hates editing 5:08 — Being authentic beats high production 6:07 — His first videos: nerves, photos → talking to camera 7:53 — Will we ever get long-form? The monthly-recap idea 9:29 — The origin story: Game of Thrones Risk changed everything 13:08 — Champions of Midgard & his first worker placement 14:31 — Getting people into the hobby (the gateway-game problem) 16:13 — Top 10 lists & the YouTubers that hooked him 18:26 — Books or board games — which came first? 18:53 — Between Two Fires: a horror book deep dive 21:57 — His reading journey & the deluxe-edition parallel to board games 25:01 — Why he merged books + board games onto one account 27:21 — Niching down vs. being yourself (and dealing with haters) 29:13 — Booktok creators worth following — and how huge that world is 31:39 — The golden age of Lord of the Rings board games 33:35 — There and Back Again & the "cozy" debate 34:22 — Cozy Stickerville obsession 37:15 — Corey Konieczka (Twilight Imperium → Cozy Stickerville) & Vantage 41:33 — Narrative campaign games: Dragon Eclipse & Oathsworn 44:04 — Dragon Eclipse as an arena battler ("I wish it were Pokémon") 47:03 — Can board game writing ever match a real novel? 48:32 — Tainted Grail & the Spire's End games 53:08 — Sponsor break: Cardboard 54:01 — Getting board gamers INTO books 56:08 — Legends & Lattes: the cozy book pick 57:06 — Can a book capture the *feeling* of a board game? 59:36 — Standalone book recs (The Sword of Kaigen, Blood Over Bright Haven) 1:00:21 — The paid-content & publisher journey 1:03:36 — Staying selective + the one publisher he hasn't worked with (Awaken Realms) 1:04:40 — Auto-buy publishers & designers: Board & Dice + Stefan Feld 1:05:41 — HOT TAKE: Castles of Burgundy is overrated 1:08:38 — Favorite Board & Dice game (Teotihuacan) 1:09:46 — Windmill Valley & Danny Garcia 1:11:20 — More hot takes: Ark Nova & Viticulture 1:14:07 — THE ALL-TIME TOP 10 — #10 Marvel Champions 1:17:36 — #9 Avalon 1:19:09 — #8 Nusfjord 1:21:13 — #7 Blood Rage 1:22:23 — #6 Primal: The Awakening 1:23:31 — #5 Dominion 1:26:36 — #4 Santorini 1:29:30 — #3 Inis 1:30:57 — #2 Spirit Island (is it really cozy?) 1:33:01 — #1 Black Rose Wars (the forever #1) 1:38:09 — Breaking into the list: Grimm Coven 1:44:15 — The future of Board and Shield & where to follow him 1:45:20 — How he finds time for all of it 1:46:37 — Closing thoughts: the stories behind the hobby #boardgames #boardgamecommunity #tabletopgames #booktok #blackrosewars

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The Unhinged Takes of ⁨@BigPasti⁩ + Much More | BGSS ep_20

BigPasti makes $1,000 a month on YouTube, refuses every free game publishers send him, and is building his own game designed to make you miserable. So we sat him down and ran through 20 of the spiciest board game takes on the internet — Earth, Secret Hitler, Zombicide, FOMO, sleeving, AI art, and whether the designer even matters. Agree? Disagree? Drop your own hot take in the comments. 👇 🎲 Back his game, SUNLIT'S EULOGY, on GameFound: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/dear-euthyphro-studio/sunlits-eulogy 📺 Subscribe to BigPasti: https://www.youtube.com/@BigPasti Support this show by becoming a member: https://www.crdbrd.app/pricing Join the Secret Club Here: https://www.crdbrd.app/hub/clubs?club=the-board-game-secret-show Want to work together?: https://crdbrd.app/hub/creator/neon_gorilla ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 0:00 Intro 2:58 Who is BigPasti 3:31 How the channel blew up 4:21 He makes ~$1K/month (and won't take free games) 13:11 Why he refuses publisher copies 18:10 His game: Sunlit Eulogy (the religion game) 32:03 How Sunlit Eulogy actually plays 49:14 Designed to make you miserable 51:09 TAKE: If you bring it, you learn it 52:10 TAKE: A game is 90% discovery 58:43 TAKE: Bad rulebooks & the 30-second rule 1:02:22 TAKE: House rules aren't cheating 1:05:37 TAKE: Camel Up is the best game ever made 1:08:12 TAKE: Did you even play the game? 1:11:34 TAKE: Suboptimal play is still playing to win 1:12:45 TAKE: Don't trash a borrowed game 1:14:22 TAKE: Sleeving is a waste of time 1:18:12 TAKE: "Good mad" is good game design 1:30:10 TAKE: Multiplayer solitaire is boring 1:33:48 TAKE: Can you trust BGG ratings? 1:40:28 TAKE: What even IS a game? 1:45:51 TAKE: All games are art 1:53:00 TAKE: Looks-maxing wins 1:53:52 TAKE: Be honest about player count on the box 1:56:15 TAKE: Complexity isn't depth 2:02:18 TAKE: Secret Hitler is a baby game 2:05:02 TAKE: FOMO is the sin of the decade 2:13:42 TAKE: Zombicide is Funko Pop board gaming 2:14:35 TAKE: Earth is hollow 2:16:16 TAKE: AI art is cringe 2:27:26 TAKE: Reveal your income 2:31:29 TAKE: Does the designer matter? (Phil Eklund) 2:44:26 Wrap-up + the thumbnail A/B challenge ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #boardgames #boardgame #tabletop #hottakes #bgg #boardgamereview #gamefound #kickstarter

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He Made 40+ Elder Scrolls Videos | BGSS ep_019

Daniel from@thinkgaming fled his country in 2022 with no job, no money, and no plan. Three years later he's running one of YouTube's most dedicated nerdy strategy channels — 500+ hours into Elder Scrolls, the official How-to-Play creator for Too Many Bones, and somehow he's never missed an upload week. We talked about losing everything in a single day, sleeping on a friend's couch in London, why he treats his channel like a library instead of a newsstand, and what it actually takes to build a niche board game channel without selling out to the algorithm. If you've ever been told "the only way to grow is top-10 lists and preview videos," this episode is your permission slip to ignore that advice. Support this show by becoming a member: https://www.crdbrd.app/pricing Join the Secret Club Here: https://www.crdbrd.app/hub/clubs?club=the-board-game-secret-show Want to work together?: https://crdbrd.app/hub/creator/neon_gorilla Chapters 0:00 — Cold open 1:24 — Fleeing Moscow with nothing 6:15 — The bus across the border 9:14 — Discovering the Global Talent visa 10:25 — Falling into board games (Mice and Mystics → Gloomhaven) 14:23 — Finding purpose during visa limbo 16:11 — The first (failed) YouTube channel 20:03 — "A library, not a newspaper kiosk" 23:26 — Hobby vs. business: the Ali Abdaal scale 31:55 — Ikigai and the why behind the work 34:17 — The two things he's most proud of 35:50 — Two jobs, never a missed week 44:30 — Watching metrics without serving them 49:58 — Only covering games he actually loves 57:44 — Family, Cheltenham, and the introvert problem 1:04:08 — "I have to do this. This is my mission." 1:14:15 — Going deep on Grimcoven 1:24:03 — Too Many Bones and the Wave 2 wait 1:29:15 — Filming the official Too Many Bones tutorial 1:32:41 — Elder Scrolls vs. Too Many Bones 1:39:17 — Why he still hasn't reviewed Elder Scrolls 1:49:03 — Advice for aspiring creators

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The IV Studio Episode | BGSS ep_018

@iv-studio-games started making commercials for Nike, Amazon, and Bad Robot. Then one Christmas, Zac invited Austin over to "just make a board game" — for fun, for nostalgia, no plan. That became Moonraker. Six years later, IV Studios is one of the most design-forward indie publishers in the hobby — shipping on 9-to-12-month timelines, running 800-person community tours, and somehow maintaining a reputation for quality across many titles while Austin keeps losing his rondels every time he goes on vacation. We talked about the moment they stopped making ads and decided to make the thing itself, what it actually looks like when three designers with contradictory ideas have to build one game, why they published their press kit publicly, and what Zac wrote a 120-page screenplay for. (It's a board game. It ships next year.) If you've ever wondered how a small team ships beautiful games on time while also designing the next five and running a community tour — this is the blueprint. Check out Altera: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/iv-studio/altera Check out Honors End: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ivstudios/honors-end Check Out Realm of Reckoning: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ivstudios/realm-of-reckoning Support this show by becoming a member: https://www.crdbrd.app/pricing Join the Secret Club Here: https://www.crdbrd.app/hub/clubs?club=the-board-game-secret-show Want to work together?: https://crdbrd.app/hub/creator/neon_gorilla Chapters 0:00 — Cold open 0:34 — Intro 1:48 — Animation studio to board games: the origin 4:22 — Ten years making ads for Nike, Amazon, and Bad Robot 5:34 — "We wanted to make the thing, not the thing talking about the thing" 5:59 — The Christmas break that made Moonraker 9:29 — "Grossly underqualified" — Austin runs the division anyway 13:22 — When did they actually believe this could be real? 15:06 — Six months in: "You should stop paying me" 18:32 — What happens when the design team disagrees? 24:03 — "Don't go on vacation — they'll take your rondel" 27:52 — Who leads a project and how does it get handed off? 28:46 — "You don't know anything until it hits the table" 30:22 — The cutting room floor and the games that came back 31:55 — Time to Panic was designed in a weekend (while Austin was traveling) 36:16 — Moon Rollers and why it doesn't feel like a small box game 38:40 — Toby Arnell and why Tend is a game they couldn't have made themselves 43:09 — Tend's complicated Kickstarter — their lowest ever 45:30 — How does one small team ship this many games? 48:19 — Everyone wears multiple hats (and tariffs killed the hiring plan) 49:27 — Direct to consumer, FLGS, and the Amazon experiment 53:25 — Would IV Studios survive without crowdfunding? 55:41 — What crowdfunding lets them do that nothing else can 57:50 — 800 people on the Altera tour and how feedback actually gets used 59:50 — How to parse feedback when half the room says opposite things 1:01:46 — The playtest mistake Zach had to stop and correct 1:03:38 — Danny Garcia barely plays his own games 1:05:34 — Where IV Studios stands on AI 1:09:22 — Designing for play 1 vs. play 50 1:11:38 — Why Leder Games impresses Zach as much as it does 1:13:23 — "The cover is the most important part of the game" — Zach disagrees 1:15:24 — Old Kings Crown and the second-game problem 1:17:48 — Do they actually design for the 100-play game? 1:19:04 — The guy who played Tend solo through 200 scratch sheets 1:20:48 — Why Austin gives every content creator his personal number 1:25:40 — Publishing the press kit publicly after the backlash 1:28:47 — 100 tens and 100 sevens vs. 100 nines and 100 twos 1:31:38 — "The worst thing we could possibly do is bore you" 1:34:32 — Mythic Mischief: the outlier 1:36:06 — Realm of Reckoning: the pitch 1:40:07 — How Moonraker became a co-op game (Honors End origin) 1:42:26 — The card-tucking breakthrough 1:45:08 — "I'm a quarterback co-op player and I hate that about myself" 1:47:16 — 9-to-12-month turnarounds (and why Honors End is late) 1:47:38 — Austin wrote a 120-page screenplay for a board game 1:49:21 — Nine chapters, nine envelopes, New Game+ 1:51:21 — Altera: dice-builder worker placement and 12 asymmetric factions 1:55:59 — The "is this too big?" video and the unanimous playtesters 1:58:42 — Why there are no metal dice (and the Moon Rollers math) 2:00:28 — Pre-Columbian sci-fi and how they hire artists 2:03:42 — Luck vs. skill ceiling in a dice game 2:05:00 — "Toby demolished all of us yesterday"

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Hangin’ With @BoardGameHangover | BGSS ep_017

Two Latvian guys, one YouTube channel, zero plans to stop — I sat down with Jānis G and Jānis T from Board Game Hangover to talk about building one of the most creatively ambitious channels in the hobby from Riga, Latvia, going viral with Eternals, refusing publisher money on principle, and what it actually costs to do this full time. We get into the messy reality of running a board game channel you love — failed outdoor videos, box-sliding rituals, child labor allegations, two years without a paycheck, and why they're "cowards" who won't launch a Kickstarter. Plus a lightning trivia round featuring a truly catastrophic guess at the Monopoly man's name. Board Game Hangover: @BoardGameHangover Support this show by becoming a member: https://www.crdbrd.app/pricing Join the Secret Club Here: https://www.crdbrd.app/hub/clubs?club=the-board-game-secret-show Want to work together?: https://crdbrd.app/hub/creator/neon_gorilla — CHAPTERS — 0:00 Intro 0:32 Meatball & Worker Placement Dad Joke 1:18 Their First Board Game Obsessions 7:26 How the Two Giannises Met 9:16 Latvia's Board Game Scene 14:27 Starting the Channel in 2020 15:44 Evolving Away From Top Ten Lists 20:18 Going Full Time 22:15 Their Biggest Failures (The Outdoor Video) 23:03 David's Camping Disaster ("Nobody at All") 27:35 Growth Story & Getting Recognized at Essen 32:35 Production Value & The Box Slide → Box Throw 39:15 The Team ("Child Labor on Our Channel") 40:12 Favorite Series to Make 47:33 The Eternals Video Nobody Expected 51:09 Covering Older Games vs. Chasing the Hotness 55:27 "We Don't Take Publisher Money" 1:01:35 Living Off Savings & Finally Getting Paid 1:06:13 "We're Cowards" — Why No Kickstarter 1:07:05 Review Copies: "Not Really Free" 1:13:03 Do You Still Love It? (Follow-Up Reviews) 1:18:19 Sons of Anarchy & Never Going Back 1:22:13 How Many Plays Before You Review? 1:29:49 Responsibility to Publishers 1:37:23 TRIVIA ROUND 1:48:54 Top Three Channels — "We're Not Leaving Until You Tell Us" 1:50:44 Outro

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Dani Garcia is a Genius | His Rise, Design & Diables | BGSS ep_016

Danny Garcia has quietly become one of the most thoughtful designers in board games — and in this episode, we go deep on exactly why. We talk about his unconventional design process (he builds entire games in his head before writing a single note), his obsession with action selection, why theme always comes first, and what it means to share your culture through cardboard. We also get an extended look at Diabolus, his upcoming crowdfunding game inspired by the Ball de Diables — a Catalan fire festival Danny has attended over 100 times. It's unlike anything he's designed before. In January, Danny announced he had been diagnosed with ALS. His resilience and dedication to doing what he loves, for as long as he can, make this conversation even more meaningful. Support People Like Dani Here: https://fundaciomiquelvalls.org/es/ela/ Support Research Here: https://www.als.org --- Go Follow Diables: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/saltandpepper/diables Support this show by becoming a member: https://www.crdbrd.app/pricing Join the Secret Club Here: https://www.crdbrd.app/hub/clubs?club=the-board-game-secret-show Want to work together?: https://crdbrd.app/hub/creator/neon_gorilla --- 00:00 — Intro: Who is Danny Garcia? 01:10 — Danny joins / host expresses his admiration 01:45 — Is Coming of Age underrated? 03:25 — "I was winning 1,995% of the times" — the luck debate 04:08 — The frustration mechanic: thematic brilliance explained 07:09 — Danny's background: 15 years in the video game industry 08:40 — How he discovered Euro games (hint: a table across the room) 10:49 — The night Brass changed everything 11:23 — Learning to design by watching Rahdo 12:28 — Weight preferences: tactical vs. strategic 15:16 — "You make the games you want to play" 16:34 — Danny's design process: no notes, just thinking 17:23 — Building the entire game in his head before prototyping 18:34 — Waiting for ideas to arrive (and why forcing it doesn't work) 20:14 — Ideas coming at midnight — and redesigning the next morning 21:12 — How he had 5 games signed before anyone knew his name 23:21 — Getting publishers to take a chance on an unknown designer 25:10 — Why he sends "unfinished" games to publishers on purpose 26:09 — The mistake most new designers make: over-polishing 28:40 — Choosing the right publisher for each game 29:08 — Why Barcelona's theme was non-negotiable 30:48 — Theme-first vs. mechanics-first: how Danny evolved 32:25 — Why theme is now the only way he can generate original ideas 34:35 — Diabolus: the game, the festival, the inspiration 36:50 — The Ball de Diables explained — and why the drums had to be in the game 39:42 — Danny's design signature: action selection 41:03 — Why action selection is where originality lives 44:42 — How action selection works in Diabolus 47:48 — The main board modules and how scoring works 51:34 — The social media mechanic — why it's in a medieval fire festival game 54:15 — How Diabolus compares to Danny's other designs 55:47 — Reinventing yourself with every game (Stefan Feld, Tomas Holik) 58:29 — Games with lasting replay value / what Danny returns to 01:00:19 — How Danny designs replayability into his games 01:01:18 — The Barcelona expansion: does it make the base game better? 01:02:16 — On designing expansions: "publishers ask, I prefer something new" 01:04:38 — Why Danny never holds back content for future expansions 01:05:47 — Does he ever regret a design decision after release? 01:06:19 — His recent themes: Catalonia, culture, childhood, home 01:07:33 — Using board games to share your culture with the world 01:09:47 — What's coming: Gaudi, Windmill Valley dual, an archaeology + time game 01:11:29 — Positive interaction as a design philosophy 01:13:03 — His obsession with time travel (and a game being designed around it) 01:14:15 — Do aliens exist? Does Danny believe in time travel? 01:15:39 — Final words on Diabolus 01:16:26 — Closing

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He Left America & Became Asia’s Board Game Expert | @CardboardEast | BGSS ep_015

Jay runs @CardboardEast one of the most unique channels in the hobby. He spent nearly 20 years living in Taipei, learned Chinese and Japanese, and became one of the best windows into Asian board game design the English-speaking world has. Now he's back in the US as Marketing Manager at Bézier Games. We talked about what drew him to Taiwan, the Tokyo Game Market experience, what Western publishers get wrong, and what the data says about who's actually buying board games. Go Follow @BezierGamesInc and @CardboardEast Support this show by becoming a member: https://www.crdbrd.app/pricing Join the Secret Club Here: https://www.crdbrd.app/hub/clubs?club=the-board-game-secret-show Want to work together?: https://crdbrd.app/hub/creator/neon_gorilla 00:00:00 - Intro & "Vendor Boy" 00:02:38 - "I've fooled everyone — I'm actually incredibly shy" 00:07:36 - How Cardboard East started 00:08:24 - "I left America before the iPhone" 00:11:28 - Why he moved to a country where he couldn't speak the language 00:12:34 - The typhoon story 00:17:50 - Day to day life in Taipei 00:19:52 - How board games entered the picture 00:21:51 - Discovering board game cafes in Taiwan 00:24:49 - Taiwan's board game design culture 00:29:04 - Why trick taking games never get old 00:35:16 - How localization works (the Love Letter story) 00:38:11 - The business model of Asian publishers 00:40:19 - Tokyo Game Market vs Western conventions 00:43:28 - Can an English speaker navigate Tokyo Game Market? 00:44:51 - "You just buy on vibes" 00:49:55 - What Japanese games have that Western publishers don't 00:54:55 - Crowdfunding — where it started vs where it is now 01:02:35 - "The cover matters more than the gameplay" 01:04:51 - The board game industry is like video games in the 90s 01:05:40 - Tariffs and the board game economy 01:12:16 - Why he left cybersecurity for Bézier Games 01:13:51 - Life as a one-man marketing team 01:24:45 - "Every day is the f***ing Super Bowl" 01:27:06 - Meet Jessica — who's actually buying board games 01:39:19 - Zombie Princess deep dive 01:47:21 - Game Makers — Bézier's biggest game in years 01:55:28 - Haunted Mouse 01:59:13 - Warp 99 02:05:01 - Hot takes 02:12:47 - One Asian game you need on your radar right now 02:18:22 - Outro

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❯ Mike is my Co-op Sommelier | BGSS ep_014 | OneStopCoOpShop Conversation

Mike Kelley of One Stop Co-op Shop sits down to talk the real side of board game content creation — review ethics, publisher horror stories, and much more. Then we break down his framework for what actually makes a great solo or co-op game, using his recent reviews as the lens. Plus: an unannounced mech game reveal you won't want to miss. Subscribe to @OneStopCoopShop Join the Secret Club Here: https://www.crdbrd.app/hub/clubs?club=the-board-game-secret-show Want to work together?: https://crdbrd.app/hub/creator/neon_gorilla 00:00:00 - Intro 00:04:43 - How Mike took over One Stop Co-op Shop 00:16:49 - How many plays before you review a game? 00:19:27 - The scathing review that was totally wrong 00:38:36 - Why he's never taken a dollar from publishers 00:40:34 - Calling out channels that do crowdfunding deals 00:43:20 - Do personal relationships bias your reviews? 00:44:48 - "I was probably nicer than I should have been" 00:45:05 - 20+ hours a week on top of a full-time job 00:57:56 - Game design origin story 00:59:54 - Salvation Road: "I literally sang a song begging for money" 01:02:12 - Publisher horror stories 01:04:03 - NEW GAME REVEAL: cooperative mech arena 01:07:18 - Getting paid (for the first time) to design a solo mode 01:10:40 - His best video ever — that he's embarrassed by 01:13:16 - "You can't lie on a playthrough" 01:14:28 - Salvation Road is getting a fantasy retheme 01:20:13 - Spirit Island and the venture capitalist problem 01:23:58 - What makes a great solo/co-op game? 01:24:18 - Time to table 01:33:23 - Luck and randomness 01:44:27 - Session length 01:47:05 - Replayability and asymmetry 01:53:08 - Tactical depth 01:58:44 - Automata design 02:18:22 - Challenge curve 02:19:36 - "Spirit Island often has a boring ending" 02:23:10 - Win rate: 20% vs 75-80% 02:24:29 - Cooperative tension and the alpha player problem

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The Man Behind Board Game Bollocks | BGSS ep_013

The NSFW Episode Beware ;) My @BoardGameBollocks conversation. He is human, hilarious and incredibly thoughtful. Whether you agree with his takes or not I can assure you this conversation shows a side you almost surely have never seen before. If you don't know Bollocks then even more reason to sit down with us and hang out for a while. Join the Secret Club Here: https://www.crdbrd.app/hub/clubs?club=the-board-game-secret-show Want to work together?: https://crdbrd.app/hub/creator/neon_gorilla Follow Bollocks here: https://www.youtube.com/@BoardGameBollocks TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Board games in a digital world: getting real people in a room 0:48 - Fan messages that warm a coal heart 1:41 - Running 104 miles (London to Oxford) for charity 3:47 - Training for ultras: slow and steady wins the race 9:14 - How it all started: Magic Robot and 1970s childhood games 11:42 - Defending Monopoly as a gateway game 12:15 - Fighting Fantasy game books and spending 2p pocket money 14:08 - Discovering D&D at school (1985) — the cool kids played it 17:14 - Why 1st Edition AD&D is still the best (and why the DM WILL kill you) 22:29 - Games Workshop glory days: White Dwarf, Dungeon Quest, Blood Bowl 24:08 - University, a philosophy degree, and coming back to board games 25:00 - Discovering board game YouTube / Wil Wheaton's Tabletop 26:49 - Why he started his channel: rough naval city, not a posh boy 27:45 - First video: iPhone 4, Railways of the World, absolutely horrific 29:35 - Getting comfortable on camera and building confidence 31:04 - "What if a football hooligan did board game reviews?" 33:27 - No paid or sponsored content. Ever. 33:54 - Bands, music, and a guitar solo he's proud of 34:59 - Getting kids into board games (and why he had them in the first place) 36:52 - Games are for human interaction: playing with his 74-year-old mum 37:47 - Nemesis and the wife who got eliminated and sat waiting for her lift home 39:11 - Three kids: 15, 12, and 9 — all trained correctly 42:14 - SU&SD and other channels: respect, but they don't speak to him 43:23 - Channel philosophy: nasty, aggressive, funny — walking the tightrope 44:47 - Getting banned from Board Game Geek and telling them to do one 49:03 - Dealing with critics: "Where's your Godfather?" 50:35 - Recognition at UK Games Expo: selfies and people shouting across rooms 52:07 - Making videos: film degree, no script, all ad-lib, bullet points only 58:53 - Reviews vs top ten lists: where the views actually come from 1:00:09 - Are we heading for a board game crash? Market saturation parallels 1:05:06 - The Catan moment (1995), Zombicide, and Kickstarter bloat 1:06:32 - The psychology of anticipation: why games sit on shelves unplayed 1:08:05 - How Kickstarter killed game development: selling you the game in pieces 1:10:07 - Expansions: when they work and when they absolutely don't 1:13:53 - War Room all-day session and games the wife refuses to touch 1:16:59 - Tom Vassal and respecting anyone who puts their face on camera 1:19:07 - UK Games Expo press pass drama: Vanguard Tactics can do one 1:20:02 - This is a hobby, not a business — and that's exactly the point 1:21:41 - Life is cyclical: the board game market will go back to basics 1:25:19 - Gary Gygax changed the world, but designers are running out of ideas 1:28:49 - Obsession: the last game that truly blew him away (2018) 1:33:10 - Kickstarter and the game discovery problem 1:35:00 - Best designer of the last 5 years: John D. Clair (Space Base, Mystic Vale) 1:38:22 - AI-generated board game content: "Someone went on ChatGPT and made a script" 1:40:37 - AI in board games: why the table itself is safe from digital takeover 1:43:02 - AI as a tool for indie publishers: if the game's good, who cares? 1:44:22 - There's no such thing as originality: Picasso, Van Gogh, and 12 musical notes 1:46:11 - Wrapping up: 30 years left and must choose games more wisely

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