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

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

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

Eleven friends from college in central Arkansas turned game night into a YouTube channel — and they're in debt doing it. In this episode I sit down with Matt, Eli, and Robert from The Grove Games to talk Twilight Imperium betrayals, why they refuse to trash a game even when it's bad, and what it actually takes to build something real in the niche of all niches.

🔔 Subscribe to @TheGroveGames : https://www.youtube.com/@TheGroveGames

Join the Secret Club Here: https://www.crdbrd.app/hub/clubs?club=the-board-game-secret-show

—————————————————————————

⏱ TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro & cold open

0:36 Hot dog hypothetical & desert island game picks

2:21 Solo picks: Ten, Void Fall, Cosmic Encounter

6:06 Desert island game durability problem

8:13 Would you design a game on the island?

9:45 Stone Saga & the crafting system that surprised me

11:02 Aphantasia, hyperphantasia & how it affects rulebook learning

13:02 Visual imagination & reading rulebooks

16:23 Meet The Grove — 12 people, one channel

17:11 How a 12-person friend group stays together after college

19:23 How The Grove all met (college RAs and dorm life)

21:43 Taco Bell is ruining us financially

24:50 How board games entered the picture

27:01 Why you need to play Twilight Imperium IV

31:25 The great 5 vs 6 player TI4 debate

33:40 14-hour game days, lunch break rules & secret texting

35:10 The psychological warfare of TI4 alliances

36:41 Galactic nukes and the Embers of Muaat

39:35 Holding a secret winning path for an hour (chest pains)

40:15 The 3D printed TI4 trophy

40:53 Blood on the Clock Tower

44:08 Grove game nights: 20 people, custom lights, full immersion

45:07 Chris Couch Games & Holiday Hills

47:08 Garden Club vs Pedal — the debate

48:44 What it means to give a game a 10

50:55 "When my brain starts to buzz" — the flow state ten

53:50 The Grove's review philosophy

57:52 Do you have an obligation to report the bad?

1:00:28 How many people are actually in The Grove?

1:04:03 Are you compromised by knowing designers?

1:05:06 Everyone has a full-time job — this is pure passion

1:07:15 The Earth playthrough disaster (6 days, no sleep)

1:10:19 How to get noticed by publishers when you're small

1:12:57 Algorithm vs. depth — the niche content trap

1:15:44 Their worst video has 150,000 views (and they hate it)

1:16:46 Why do they actually do this?

1:17:39 Bonanza filming sessions & the grind origin story

1:22:07 Playing Arcs in 94° heat with no AC

1:24:38 Advice for small creators trying to grow

1:32:39 How they landed partnerships with major publishers

1:33:27 Cold emailing 40 publishers a week

1:37:19 Authenticity as the only real strategy

1:40:33 The Ivy Studios relationship story

1:48:26 Dream publishers they haven't worked with yet

1:55:26 What's next for The Grove

1:57:33 Eli's big goal: become the go-to How to Play channel

1:58:11 Could The Grove and Cardboard work together?

2:00:27 How they built a studio in a detached garage

2:00:54 Wrap up

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

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

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

@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"

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

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

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

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