From Z-Man to Play-to-Z | 30 Years of Board Game Publishing | BGSS ep_023
Wednesday, July 1, 2026 • Duration 02:04:49
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.
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🎙️ 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.
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🔗 LINKS
⚔️ Siege Perilous — LIVE on Gamefound now (through July 14)
Let’s Talk Rolling Deep & More w/ Peter C. Hayward | BGSS ep_022
Wednesday, June 24, 2026 • Duration 03:15:01
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.
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?
We Talk Board Games & Books w/ @ZeBoardandShield | BGSS ep_21
Monday, June 15, 2026 • Duration 01:48:21
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.
The #1 way you can support me is join my community here: https://crdbrd.app/
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⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
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0:00 — Cold open / teaser
0:30 — Who is Zeeshan & Board and Shield
1:03 — How we connected on TikTok
The Unhinged Takes of @BigPasti + Much More | BGSS ep_20
Saturday, June 6, 2026 • Duration 02:50:49
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. 👇
4:21 He makes ~$1K/month (and won't take free games)
13:11 Why he refuses publisher copies
He Made 40+ Elder Scrolls Videos | BGSS ep_019
Thursday, June 4, 2026 • Duration 01:53:22
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.
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
The IV Studio Episode | BGSS ep_018
Saturday, May 30, 2026 • Duration 02:06:58
@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.
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.
Dani Garcia is a Genius | His Rise, Design & Diables | BGSS ep_016
Wednesday, May 20, 2026 • Duration 01:17:19
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.
He Left America & Became Asia’s Board Game Expert | @CardboardEast | BGSS ep_015
Sunday, May 17, 2026 • Duration 02:21:30
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.
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
❯ Mike is my Co-op Sommelier | BGSS ep_014 | OneStopCoOpShop Conversation
Tuesday, May 12, 2026 • Duration 02:38:29
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.
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
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