Operation Game Night

They're back. Travis survived the move. Clay survived a month without his leader. The long form format is officially back by popular demand — and to celebrate, Clay drops a full military-tier deployment report on 38 games across 69 plays in June. Plus: Travis debriefs on Lairs and Deep Regrets (Lovecraftian push-your-luck fishing game — yes it's as good as it sounds), a shoutout to Jared...

New Zealand has no wild bears, which is exactly why we end up talking about building the best bear zoo we can. Clay and Sam dig into Baron Park, the Phil Walker-Harding tile-laying board game that turns Tetris-style polyomino pieces into a fast, satisfying puzzle you can teach to almost anyone. If you love games that reward smart placement without burying you in rules, this one keeps delivering th...

Catan has a weird superpower: it’s one of the most loved gateway board games and one of the most mocked “I’m too serious for this” targets. We lean into that tension and ask the honest question: is Settlers of Catan actually good, or are we just remembering 1995 with rose-colored glasses? Clay brings the frustration many hobby gamers feel, like three-hour runtimes, dead turns, and trading that dra...

We trade the usual birthday expectations for a weeklong board game celebration as Mike turns 40 and brings a list of 20 games he wants on the table. We break down what makes the list work, which titles he’s most hyped to play, and why having a partner who truly loves the hobby changes everything.  •building a 20-game birthday week list that’s realistic to play  •who’s joining the sessions and how...

A five-hour learning game sounds like a warning label, but Speakeasy has the rare kind of weight that makes us lean in instead of bounce. I’m Clay, and I’m joined by Mike from Meeple That Loses on Instagram to talk through Vital Lacerda’s Speakeasy board game and why it’s hitting so hard for fans of heavy eurogames, worker placement, and deep “efficiency puzzle” planning. We dig into what makes th...

Pirates who serve tea instead of plundering feel like a joke until you see how well the idea works on the table. Clay sits down with Mike from Meeple That Loses to review Pirates of the High Teas, the 2026 release from designer Emily Vincent and Pink Hawk Games, and we dig into why this light board game is such an easy sell for a relaxed game night. You draft tea cards that act like scoring object...

A board game about growing up sounds like pure theme, until you see Coming of Age’s head-shaped player board packed with mood tracks, goals, and friendships. We’re joined by Tiffany from tiffs.board.games, and she walks us through why this Dani Garcia design surprised her: it looks like a lot, but after one play the whole system snaps into focus and starts flying. We break down the core mechanism...

A two-player board game that feels like Battleship grew up, learned dungeon design, and decided to mess with your head. Clay Gable is joined by Tiff from @tiffs.board.games on intstagram to unpack Lairs from Kids Table Board Games, a build-then-explore dungeon crawl where you create a maze behind a screen, hide treasure, plant a trap and a monster, then race through your opponent’s creation while...

A move will humble any gamer, especially when you’re staring at a wall of boxes that all say “games.” While I’m packing up and Clay’s dialing in a newly upgraded office setup, we take a break from the usual board game grind and go over the fence into the stuff we’ve been watching and playing lately and why it’s scratching the same strategy itch. Clay brings a wild movie recommendation: Sheep Detec...

Seth Ewing lost his brother to suicide in 2017. The guilt nearly broke him. What pulled him back? A Dungeons & Dragons group that refused to let him isolate. Now he's turned that experience into Operation Tabletop — a nonprofit using board games to fight veteran isolation, substance abuse, and the identity crisis that hits after military service. In this episode, Seth shares his raw perso...

The moment that Ra statue gets grabbed, the whole table tightens up, because you don’t get to ease into an auction in this game. Clayton Gable and I, Travis Smith, unpack why Ra by Reiner Knizia still feels like one of the smartest, most interactive auction board games ever made, and why Clayton just bumped it to his number one game of all time. We also gush a bit about the gorgeous modern product...

Two camels per turn shouldn’t be enough to create real tension, but Through The Desert keeps proving otherwise. We’re back on Operation Game Night with Travis and Clay, digging into Reiner Knizia’s classic board game of camel caravans, watering holes, oasis points, and ruthless positioning. Clay brings notes from the AllPlay reprint and why the production choice matters less than what’s happening...

We sit down with John Lazaration, creator of Draughtnauts, to talk about turning checkers-style strategy into a customizable sci-fi tabletop game that welcomes new players and hobbyists. We dig into 3D printing, art direction, playtesting lessons, and how a community can help grow new rules, characters, and story.  • Draughtnauts as a collectible, expandable tabletop game built on checkers-style m...

Fence-sitting is underrated. Sometimes you’re not ready to deliver a polished verdict, you just want to talk about what you played, what worked, and what absolutely didn’t. That’s where Travis and Clayton land today, swapping honest takes on recent board games, digital board game adaptations, and a few surprising side quests. We start with Reiner Knizia dice energy: Heck Meck (Pickomino) reminds u...

You ever see a board game and immediately think, “Wait, you do what to start the game?” Drop Drive opens with a literal physics event: you drop asteroids, fuel, space junk, and an alien onto a plastic half-sphere sun, then play the entire session in the galaxy that scatter creates. It’s a bold dexterity board game idea, and it turns setup into a moment people will talk about.  We walk through how...

Mother’s Day has us asking a question that cuts through all the hot takes and hobby hype: what board games do moms actually want to play? We trade stories about the moms who raised us, the stepmoms who brought the party games, and the spouses who became moms and suddenly have zero interest in a 40-minute rules teach. The result is a surprisingly practical guide to building a better family game nig...

We go over the fence to trade life updates that explain why game nights slow down and why the stories around the hobby still matter. Promotions, move-ins, audiobooks, TV binges, and review drama all collide with one big theme: how we stay part of the board gaming community even when we are not playing much. • Vic’s Games Y Mas crossover and a “board game bestie” dispute • Green Player first impres...

Twenty yes-or-no questions sounds like a lot until you start spending them on the wrong things. We put that to the test with a full round of board game 20 questions, and it turns into a surprisingly intense mix of deduction, board game knowledge, and pure table talk chaos. Clayton’s out on assignment, so Travis is joined by Amanda, Mike, and Vic as our guessing panel. If you love board game podcas...

Your group makes a solid plan, everyone nods, and then the table goes completely silent. A minute later you flip the cards and realize somebody quietly dropped a “2” where it could never belong. That’s the joy and pain of Take Time, the cooperative board game we can’t stop thinking about, and it might be the co-op reset your game night needs. Jared is out on assignment, so we hold down the fort an...

The fastest way to learn what Fate of the Fellowship is really doing is to watch your Hope evaporate. We sit down with Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (Z-Man Games, 2025) and talk through why this Pandemic system co-op feels so different once you swap disease control for marching orc armies, collapsing havens, and Nazgul that will not stop hunting Frodo. The bones are familiar, but the g...

A broken AC on the first hot day, a sudden cold snap, and two dads trying to keep up with life’s pace sets the vibe for a wide ranging “over the fence” catch up on Operation Game Night Podcast. We start with the kind of home maintenance surprise nobody budgets for, then jump straight into the real schedule maker: kids flag football. Clayton breaks down why flag football is actually fun to watch at...

Your board game shelf is packed, your wishlist is growing, and somehow you feel less excited to play than ever. We’re right there with you. Clayton and Travis sit down for an honest talk about board game burnout and why tabletop gaming can quietly turn into a second job when you’re the one scheduling game night, learning rules, setting up, and teaching every time. We dig into what’s really behind...

A Star Wars board game with a clear plastic window and chibi ships should not be this interesting, and yet here we are. We grabbed Star Wars: Super Teams as an impulse buy expecting a throwaway family game, then ended up genuinely enjoying how much decision making it squeezes out of a super simple ruleset. We talk through the full flow of this card driven racing game: teams and player counts, how...

A trick-taking game where your card is the suit but your die is the number sounds like a gimmick until you feel the decisions stack up fast. We’re talking Crits And Tricks from Inside Up Games, a tabletop game that pulls Dungeons & Dragons class flavor into every hand: rogues, barbarians, wizards, paladins, druids, and bards that stay trump no matter what. I’m joined by Clayton Gable, who admi...

A house where “no smells” are allowed sounds like a joke until you’re living it, and that’s exactly where we start. Travis is back with Clayton Gable for a freewheeling catch-up that somehow turns deodorant choices, candle toxins, and the looming reality of teenage-boy funk into a surprisingly relatable opener. Then we jump to the real headline: Project Hail Mary. Clayton just saw the movie and ca...