Jarosław "Jaro" Andruszkiewicz is a co-founder of PHALANX, a publishing company specializing in unique board games. He co-designed the games Magnates and Race to the Rhine with Valdemar Gumienny, and Hannibal & Hamilcar with Mark Simonitch. In his daily work, he oversees publishing operations and, most importantly, serves as the creative director, setting the direction for the design of original games. He also manages projects, discovering new games and collaborating directly with designers,...
Dec 03, 2024•34 min•Season 5Ep. 323
Dariusz Piotrowski is a passionate creative force behind Den of Imagination , one of the world's premier miniature painting studios, and the visionary mind behind Starlock , an ambitious sci-fi sandbox board game. With a knack for blending strategy, storytelling, and immersive design, Dariusz has built a reputation for pushing boundaries in the tabletop gaming world. Starlock is currently available on Gamefound here: https://gamefound.com/projects/den-of-imagination/starlock?refcode=1sS3-XrHRkSB...
Nov 26, 2024•31 min•Season 5Ep. 322
Fable Fury Studios was started by Sam and Conryd, two guys who have been best friends since they were 8 years old. Throughout the years they've created games to play together. Having known Jordan for the last decade plus, they brought him on board for his familiarity with the gaming space, and worked together to create Fable Fury. With this they hope to spread their joy of game creation to everyone. You can check out the Fable Fury Kickstarter pager here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fab...
Nov 19, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 321
Since 2018, Dead Alive Games has aimed to design and publish high quality games that are inclusive and representative of the diverse gaming community they belong to. Bernie Lin and Brendan Kendrick are designers, developers, and publishers of the successfully funded Omicron Protocol, Cyber Pet Quest, and Lunar Rush. Their current campaign for Lunar Skyline can be found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deadalivegames/lunar-skyline FOLLOW US ON: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/...
Nov 12, 2024•33 min•Season 5Ep. 320
Leonard To has a lifelong passion for board game design, highlighted by his work on Multi-Man Publishing's "War of the Suns." Inspired by Euro games' diverse mechanics and peaceful nature, he committed himself to creating games that transcend the narratives of conflict, and to honor the often underrepresented Asian cultures. Outside of gaming, Leonard enjoys a fulfilling career as a music composer and audio engineer, and finds solace in the beauty of nature. Charly Cheung, an award-winning illus...
Nov 05, 2024•33 min•Season 5Ep. 319
Umami Friends is the creation of Andrew Jack, a private chef hailing from Wisconsin. Combining his culinary passion with a love for board and card games, Andy crafted this unique game to celebrate his passion for cooking. Inspired by his experiences in the kitchen and his love for competitive strategy games, Andy set out to design a game where players feel the same satisfaction from cooking up clever strategies as they would creating a carefully crafted meal. You can check out Umami Friends on K...
Oct 29, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 318
Ta-Te Wu is a Los Angeles-based board game designer who is originally from Taiwan. He has loved board game design since he was a child His extensive ludography includes two recent games FORK and AQUA. He has also designed many cat games such as Cat Rescue, Cleocatra, and Cat's Gambit. Very soon, he will add Cat Sudoku: Summer Festival. Some of his games are licensed to major US publishers such as Rio Grande Games, Chronicle Books, and Z-Man Games. The most recent release is Art Decko, a 2 to 4 p...
Oct 22, 2024•31 min•Season 5Ep. 317
Julian Reinartz & Trish Ross together make up Floating Forge. Julian Reinartz is a gaming enthusiast, both board games and video games. He studied game design and has been working in the video game industry for over 10 years. He does most of the design work for Floating Forge. Trish Ross works as a freelance musician. She crafts lofi beats or pop music with her band „Mätropolis“ and also started to make music for video games. Her creativity paired with love for games makes up the second half...
Oct 15, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 316
Jeff Irving is the owner of Weathervane Games and creator of the Vrahode Game System and its first game, Vrahode: The Age of Prophecy. He first imagined the world of Vrahode in 1990 during college at Ball State University where he studied graphic design and journalism. Jeff is a lifelong gamer, artist, and dreamer as well an entrepreneur, graphic designer, and writer. He is also a fan of fantasy novels, board and video games, rock music, and karate. To check out Vrahode: Age of Prophecy, click h...
Oct 08, 2024•33 min•Season 5Ep. 315
Nika Mlinarič Hribar and Blaž Hribar are designers of Secret Recipe and the driving force behind SnowBoardGames. They balance their professional careers in science and engineering with running a board game publishing startup. Outside of board games, Nika is a physicist with experience in the aviation industry, currently working as a researcher in the field of numerical simulations. She was one of the 10 nominees for the 2019 Female Engineer of the Year Award, a national award that aims to provid...
Oct 01, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 314
Neil Edwards is a career game designer with over a decade of experience, spending most of that time in the video game industry - before transitioning to the tabletop world - where he co-founded Ludivore Games and co-designed its debut game, Aspens, with his dear friend and business partner, Luke Roberts. Neil and Luke are passionate about bringing people together into the same spaces to create memorable, unique, and highly-emotive player stories that connect people with shared memories. To see m...
Sep 24, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 313
Trevor Kerth, a San Diego based game designer, recently launched his first tabletop game, Pantheum, on Kickstarter. As the head of the San Diego Board Game Design Club, he's been refining Pantheum for two years with local playtester and demoing it at conventions across the country. Pantheum merges elements from his two favorite games, Wingspan and SmallWorld, into an Ancient Greek theme. Trevor aims to eventually turn game design into his full-time career and develop a series of games centered a...
Sep 17, 2024•34 min•Season 5Ep. 312
Recognizing the absence of authentic Asian-themed games created by Asian designers, Pauline & Marie founded Hot Banana Games to bridge cultural gaps and foster understanding through board games. Their mission is to craft culturally rich games that evoke nostalgia or ignite curiosity about Asian culture, delivering more meaningful and engaging experiences to every table. Their first board game, Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum, raise over half a million dollars on Kickstarter and was a fusion bet...
Sep 10, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 311
Absurdist Productions is an indie board game studio in Oklahoma City, owned by Will Thompson and David Thomas. They pride themselves in creating games with unique themes that are well-researched, beautifully produced, widely accessible, and above all, fun to play. Will Thompson (Cherokee Nation) is a professional game designer, writer, instructional designer, and co-founder of Absurdist Productions. Will’s designs include several published games including PaleoVet, several RPGs, educational vide...
Sep 04, 2024•31 min•Season 5Ep. 310
Michael Faciane’s love for tabletop games began with the joy of bringing people together through play. Starting as a tinkerer and evolving into an in-house game designer in 2008, he gained experience across all aspects of game development. After stepping away from the industry, his passion for creating games never wavered. Now, alongside his daughter Shyne, Michael has launched Fun First Productions. Their debut game, Triple Scoops, isn’t just a game—it’s the gateway to Fun Town, a community-dri...
Aug 27, 2024•31 min•Season 5Ep. 309
What2Fund is a consulting firm that empowers startups, small businesses, and innovators to uncover their creative and strategic potential. What 2 Fund 1. clarifies the organization's purpose and goals 2. develops tailored growth strategies 3. implements effective and results-driven processes 4. cultivates a culture focused on innovation and continuous improvement. What do you invest within yourself and in your business? Where do you spend your time, energy, and money? What do you FUND? Join What...
Aug 20, 2024•37 min•Season 5Ep. 308
Kenechukwu Ogbuagu (KC) is a Nigerian boardgame designer and the founder of NIBCARD Game - a game publishing and promotion company. They are also the convener of the African Boardgames Convention - AB Con. It’s a yearly gathering of games enthusiasts to promote TTGs since 2016. KC is raising funds to keep expanding this annual convention. You can check out the Kickstarter Campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/oluwafemi/the-african-boardgames-convention-ab-con-2024 FOLLOW US ON: Fac...
Aug 13, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 307
Roberto Panetta is a board game designer and the founder of Rock, Stone & Dice Games, an independent board game publishing company. He is currently working on his first game called Gems of Iridescia coming to Kickstarter soon. Roberto studied design for 7 years before accepting a job in commercial refrigeration which led to a 15-year career in that industry. In 2023, Roberto decided to leave that career to pursue his life-long dream of becoming a game designer. You can check out the Gems of ...
Aug 06, 2024•30 min•Season 5Ep. 306
BSGames is a collaboration of 2 longtime friends who share a similar passion for gaming but different outlets for their creativity. Scott asked Bill for his graphics expertise to make an educational tool look better, and they realized together that they had the potential to make some really cool stuff. Thus, the idea of BSGames was born. About Bill: Bill’s love of art and design drew him to the Humber College Advertising and Graphic Design program. After graduating, he mostly did art projects fo...
Jul 29, 2024•35 min•Season 5Ep. 305
Keith Matejka is a game designer, game publisher, and avid gamer out of Madison, Wisconsin. He loves heavy music and anything darkly geeky. He is married to is unreasonably supportive wife, Claire, and is father to his amazing son who loves anything mechanical, Isaac. Keith founded Thunderworks Games, small board and card game publishing company in 2013. Notable titles include Roll Player, Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale, Tenpenny Parks, Roll Player Adventures, and Goblin Vaults. You can check...
Jul 22, 2024•33 min•Season 5Ep. 304
Tettix Games was founded in 2020 by Judson Cowan and has previously released two editions of Hideous Abomination via successful Kickstarters to over 4000 backers. Judson Cowan studied graphic design and photography and comes from a prior career in the advertising world. Check out Deep Regrets Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tettix/deep-regrets-an-unfortunate-fishing-game Check out his Duckademy here: https://kaganproductions.com/lp-kagan-duckademy/ FOLLOW US ON: Facebook: ...
Jul 16, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 303
Ori Kagan leads Kagan Productions, a renowned agency that specializes in producing high-quality animated trailers for board games. With a career marked by aiding campaigns that have collectively raised over $19 million in crowdfunding, Ori is dedicated to collaborating with both established publishers and ambitious first-time creators. As a former daydreaming kid who once directed Star Wars fan films in the backyard, Ori's journey evolved from dreaming of directing blockbuster movies to merging ...
Jul 09, 2024•39 min•Season 5Ep. 302
Elias Giannopoulos, is co-founder and co-owner of meeplekeepers and lead product designer. After spending many years in the 3D printing industry as an engineer and 3D designer, Elias started designing inserts and board game accessories. Meeple Keepers first crowdfunding campaign was for Gameframe , a collection of 3d files you can use to transform your standard table to an epic gaming table. Their second big crowdfunding project: Gamelax , is a completely new collection of files that helps you t...
Jul 02, 2024•30 min•Season 5Ep. 301
Tom Vasel is a podcaster, designer and reviewer of board games, and President of The Dice Tower. The Dice Tower, started in 2005, is a network of diverse individuals creating video and audio podcasts that promote board and card games. Using video reviews, podcasts, and more, Tom Vasel is joined by a host of gaming enthusiasts whose goal is not just to promote the hobby, but the people who are involved with it. The Dice Tower is a family friendly network and hopes to promote gaming through their ...
Jun 25, 2024•34 min•Season 5Ep. 300
Alejandro is an aspiring board game designer, with a background in illustration, graphic design, and video editing. He was born and grew up in Venezuela, but moved to the US after high school, and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. His first game is Fluffy Dragons, but he has many other games in the works. You can check out Fluffy Dragons on Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lamfgames/fluffy-dragons FOLLOW US ON: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/boardgamebinge Insta...
Jun 18, 2024•30 min•Season 5Ep. 299
Andrew Stiles is based in Chicago, and grew up in a board game family. He started designing his own board & card games in 2021, jumping in with both feet. He now wakes up in the middle of the night to write down game ideas. His very first published game is on Kickstarter right now: Wine Cellar by 25th Century Games and Art by Vincent Dutrait. He also is the CoHost of the Tabletop Submarine Podcast, where we help our guests share memorable tabletop game stories. His Wine Cellar game is curren...
Jun 11, 2024•34 min•Season 5Ep. 298
Seb is an outdoor educator and wilderness guide from Vancouver Island with a goal of fostering an appreciation of our wild world through play. He believes the best way to learn is through fun and has been developing packable games to do just that. His latest games, Reforest, Downstream and Masters of Maple Syrup each draw from his passions and aim to share their wonders through play! His games are currently available on Kickstarter at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/firestartergames/master...
Jun 04, 2024•30 min•Season 5Ep. 297
Ross Bruggink is an award-winning illustrator and designer who recently designed the State Seal of Minnesota. He is the creative director of design studio Buddy-Buddy and is an avid gardener, husband, and bona fide dad. His years of practicing visual design and problem solving have helped pave the way into tabletop game design. To check out his Kickstarter for Vicious Gardens: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rossbruggink/vicious-gardens FOLLOW US ON: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/group...
May 28, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 296
Dr. Helen Mackay an Assistant Professor of physical geography who researches long term climate change. She’s recently discovered wild swimming and enjoys long dog walks on the Northumberland coast." Alex Nicholson is a versatile professional in digital creative industries. He is a passionate trail runner and loves working on innovative projects. Sondog Studios is a small indie studio dedicated to creating entertaining, enlightening, and eco-friendly games that strengthen people’s connections wit...
May 21, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 295
Alexander Marc Yanis is the owner of MoMoDi and the creator of Existential Essential ( XS ); a dark and comedic cyberpunk / cosmic horror tabletop role-playing game.At MoMoDi, his mission is to create things of quality that give you the same fun and exciting feeling you get when rolling Mo re and Mo re Di ce (hence, the company name, MoMoDi )! Check it out on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/momodi/existential-essential FOLLOW US ON: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/boa...
May 14, 2024•31 min•Season 5Ep. 294
