Brendan Hansen 8/19/26 Brendan Hansen 8/19/26

Episode 279: Sandbox Objectives and Frosted Blooms

This week Brendan tries to convince his co-hosts that "sandbox objectives" and "point salad" are not not the same thing. Jake isn't convinced. Also the gang deep dives the new polyomino game Frosted Blooms, designed by Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc.

Brendan Hansen 8/12/26 Brendan Hansen 8/12/26

Episode 278: The Questions Games Ask (What We Talk About)

That types of questions do games ask us as players? When should I score? Who can I trust? Why did they do that? How should I sequence this? This week we dig into what the central questions are in different games and think about how this can help us as players and designers.

Brendan Hansen 8/5/26 Brendan Hansen 8/5/26

Episode 277: Deckbuilding 301: How Slay the Spire Expands Tabletop Design

This time we're going digital! How do games like Balatro and Slay the Spire build on physical games and where do they diverge?

Brendan Hansen 7/29/26 Brendan Hansen 7/29/26

Episode 276: An Infamous Traffic, Virgin Queen, John Company Megagame and More: Report from a Historical Game Convention

Pete is joined by Cardner Babakitis of Odd Candy Games and Buried Giant Studios. They discuss the historical games they played at the inaugural SD HistCon North

Brendan Hansen 7/22/26 Brendan Hansen 7/22/26

Episode 275: Inside the Deck: Digging Deep on Suits, Numbers, and Design

Jake, Paul, and Brendan explore the different deck structures of card games.

Brendan Hansen 7/15/26 Brendan Hansen 7/15/26

Episode 274: Showdown of the Best Board Games From the Golden Age of 2010-2014

All four hosts are together to play a game as a way to choose a consensus list of the best board games from the early 2010s

Brendan Hansen 7/8/26 Brendan Hansen 7/8/26

Episode 273: dnup, Scout, and Iterative Game Design

dnup dethrones Scout! We also discuss iterative design.

Brendan Hansen 7/1/26 Brendan Hansen 7/1/26

Episode 272: The Old Kings Crown Rewards Player Expression and Obsession!

A deep dive of The Old King’s Crown

Brendan Hansen 6/24/26 Brendan Hansen 6/24/26

Episode 271: Playing the Cards You're Dealt: Hand Management (What We Talk About)

What is hand management and what types of decisions do games featuring this mechanism offer?

Brendan Hansen 6/17/26 Brendan Hansen 6/17/26

Episode 270: The Beauty of Balance: An Interview with Phil Walker-Harding

A one-on-one interview with one of the most prolific designers in boardgames, Phil Walker-Harding

Brendan Hansen 6/10/26 Brendan Hansen 6/10/26

Episode 269: The Definitive Phil Walker Harding Tier List with Chris Yi

Ranking gobs of Phil-Walker Harding games!

Brendan Hansen 6/3/26 Brendan Hansen 6/3/26

Episode 268: We Played New Hotness (Dark Pact, Feya's Swamp), Stone Cold Oldies, and All-Time Favorites at Geekway to the West!

Pete and Jake discuss all the games they played at Geekway to the West including Feya’s Swamp, Dark Pact, Oath, Guards of Atlantis II, and more

Brendan Hansen 5/27/26 Brendan Hansen 5/27/26

Episode 267: "I Drink Your Milkshake": Bus and other Shared Infrastructure Games

In this episode we do a deep dive on Splotter's first major hit Bus and discuss other shared infrastructure games

Brendan Hansen 5/20/26 Brendan Hansen 5/20/26

Episode 266: Agency, Storytelling, and Play: A Conversation with Cole Wehrle

In this episode Pete chats one-on-one with Cole Wehrle of Buried G iant Studios, designer or Root, Oat h, Arc s, and more.

Brendan Hansen 5/13/26 Brendan Hansen 5/13/26

Episode 265: What is a Euro Game? (What We Talk About)

"Euro" has been used as a descriptor for decades and it is inarguable that its meaning has changed over time. On this episode, the hosts try to hash out what the word means today.