The Misplay

As we prep for the First Exposure Playtest Hall at Gen Con, we get real advice from designers at the East Bay Board Game Con. We sharpen our elevator pitches and learn what makes a great demo.

We pause our abstract board game design to play the real game: chasing likes, shares, and followers. We’re pulling back the curtain on our marketing—sharing stats, analytics, and what’s working (or not) as we try to build an audience before finishing the game.

We took our abstract game into the wild—to Golden Gate Gamemakers, to friends, to family—and came back with real feedback and big takeaways. Plus, we debut a new segment on the show called Not A Game.

We dig into the mechanics of our abstract strategy game—how tiles interact, the patterns they create, early balance issues, and the ongoing challenge of designing a system for drawing new tiles.

A dark forest would be a great setting for Animal Kingdom. However, it has become the basis for a pivot. Listen in to hear about the new direction we are heading as Gen Con and Indianapolis loom over us.

If we can invent the word unstucking, we'd better figure out how to do it. We talk through the sticky stuff and create a plan to continue moving forward. Plus, we lighten things up with a game where we try to guess board game titles.

We know creative blocks come with the creative process—and we’re squarely in one. Do we change direction? Scrap everything? Simplify? Or maybe just admit our game will never be as good as Monopoly and move on?

We laugh at a ridiculous misplay we made in our own game. A broken strategy in Animal Kingdom forces us back to the redesign table. Along the way, we dive into gamer identities and how they shape both playstyles and game design.

We attend our first Golden Gate Gamemakers event at Guildhouse in San Jose, where we meet Board Game Casual. We also share highlights from recent meetings, including one with breakout rooms to spark new ideas and get things done.

We chat with game designer Randy O'Connor from Randy O Games, creator of Roll in One and Gun It. We explore the art of playtesting—especially defining "the turn", the moment when you’ve gone from idea to game.

We discuss our latest playtest of Animal Kingdom, inspired by a fresh take on the game. Plus, we attempt a round of board game trivia—but it doesn’t go exactly as planned.

We sit down with the talented and creative minds behind City Square Studios, a game design team from New Zealand. They share their story, their ethos about sustainability in games, and give us a glimpse into their brand, including 52 Pickup and the world of TTRPG zines. Plus, we discuss fostering community engagement and strategies for growth.

https://www.patreon.com/CitySquareStudios

Our playtest protocol has been put into action for the first time with Animal Kingdom this season. Tuckman would be proud! Plus, we share a quote from our notes—what were we thinking?

We begin defining how we want our game to feel. From physical engagement to the atmosphere we create, and the emotions we want players to experience, we explore the three levels of feelings in game design.

In this season opener, we reveal the board game we've chosen to build. We hone our design skills in a quickfire challenge inspired by the word “tender” and share our roadmap for the year ahead. We’re officially ready to bring our board game to life!

We’re visited by three ghosts and take a spirited journey through our podcast past, present, and future. We reflect on what we’d do differently if we could start from scratch, celebrate what’s going well, and share lessons learned as we look ahead to season two!

The team is zeroing in on a game direction! We dive into each game, Depths and Animal Kingdom, and share key takeaways from their playtests. Next time, we’ll face the challenge of making the final decision.

Try not to let the clickbait title fool you—we’re definitely not in panic mode. Nope. Not even close. Couldn’t be further from panicking. Not us. Never ever. Instead, we’re diving into Tuckman’s Group Theory and breaking down how our team is formin’, stormin’, normin’, and performin’. See? Totally chill. No panic here.

We pitch fresh themes for "Succession", reimagining the game’s world and setting to create new dynamics and depth. From the political landscapes to gang wars to dating games, we're on a mission to find a theme to build mechanics that match.