Going Analog Show

Maybe you've heard of that hefty game called Gloomhaven, the #1 game on BoardGameGeek for over 5 years. Or its heftier sequel, Frosthaven, the highest-funded gaming project on Kickstarter ever. We're not sure how their designer, Isaac Childres, had time to chat with Going Analog, but we weren't going to pass up the opportunity. We pick his brain on all the -havens, his upcoming plans for the franc...

We just returned from a whirlwind two-week visit to Japan, and visions of fantastic food and strange (to us) board games still swirl around in our head. What is the board game scene there like? What was it like shopping for games whose titles and descriptions we couldn't read, but whose art was so, so pretty? We teamed up with Monique and Naveen of Before You Play, who happened to tour Japan at th...

We're publishing this episode on May the Fourth, and we somehow wrangled superstar designer Corey Konieczka (Star Wars: Rebellion, Imperial Assault, Destiny, and Outer Rim...phew!) for our Star Wars special show. Now at his own studio Unexpected Games (The Initiative, Voices in my Head, 3000 Scoundrels), Corey humors our geeky Star Wars board game questions and discusses what makes a design transc...

The 2023 American Tabletop Awards were just announced, and as brand-spanking-new committee members, we at Going Analog of course wanted to chat about these elite games -- with two of the judges themselves, Nicole Brady of SAHM Reviews and Eric Yurko of What's Eric Playing? Listen to hear our thoughts! Timeline: 2:45 - ATTA nomination process. 10:15 - Early Gamers. 17:40 - Casual Games. 32:18 - Str...

We have prolific content creator and Twitch streamer Beneeta Kaur on the show to trade opinions on our favorite expansions and underrated card games. And if you want to become our board game BFF, we discuss what qualities we value in a good gaming partner. Timeline: 3.46 - Shoe's game pick: Earth. 8:47 - Beneeta's game pick: Mille Fiori. 12:51 - Christina's game pick: Rolling Heights. 16:22 - Shoe...

Indie games publisher Resonym does things differently. Just take a look at its recent Glitch Squad (a party game about faulty forensic science), Surrealist Dinner Party (you can guess what that's about), and Buffalo (a party game that makes you less prejudiced). We love the company's socially conscious design philosophy, and Mary Flanagan (founder, professor, game designer, and artist) just co-aut...

Sometimes substantive board game discussion topics are tiring. And pretty much all the time, we play a lot of new games. So this episode, Shoe and Christina just talk about some new, sexy games in a variety of sizes. HOT! Timeline: 3:19 - Christina's big game: Mosaic: A Story of Civilization. 13:05 - Shoe's big game: Marvel: Age of Heroes. 26:58 - Christina's small game: Fiction. 35:18 - Shoe's sm...

Plaid Hat CEO Colby Dauch and Marketing Manager Niki Shults team up to discuss some hot (spiteful content creation, life with mega publisher Asmodee, etc.) and not-so-hot (Candy Land??) on the Going Analog Podcast this week. They've put out some incredible and memorable board games over the years, so give them a listen! Timeline: 4:00 - Christina's game pick: Motor City. 6:20 - Niki's game pick: T...

This episode guest stars prolific and punny content creator Eric Yurko from What's Eric Playing?, a site full of fantastic board game photography and 1000+ (!) reviews. And as a founding committee member of the American Tabletop Awards (and a big fan of cocktails) Eric is THE go-to guy to talk games...especially which ones to play at which drinking establishments. Timeline: 5:45 - Eric's game pick...

We're a podcast! Therefore, we're contractually obligated to tell you our Games of the Year. But who wants to hear just Christina and Shoe squabble about their faves of 2022? Everyone would rather hear us and Mik and Starla from Our Family Plays Games squabble, so far be it for us to withhold this top-notch content from our listeners! So get ready for lots of discussions (and lots of yelling at Ch...

For our 100th episode, we had to make sure everyone's topics were epic. So we rounded up some of the Going Analog crew, including OG contributor Nick Suttner and writer Henry Stenhouse, to discuss... Timeline: 7:19 - Henry's topic: Board games that stand up to 100 plays...or more. 26:56 - Christina's topic: Your favorite board gaming moment ever. 39:22 - Shoe's topic: BoardGameGeek's top 100...sav...

We're back from chilly Philly where the PAX Unplugged board game convention just wrapped up. It's our fourth con of the year -- you'd think we've seen it all by now but nope! There were still plenty of new board games to discover and try out. With us to discuss the show are Kasey Girven (better known as Brain in a Jar) and Miguel Plylar-Moore (aka Johnny Deathhawk). They create/stream board game c...

We're back from BoardGameGeek's big show, BGG.CON 2022! Your hosts Christina and Shoe sit down to talk about their Top 10 games panel with Our Family Plays Games, stand-up comedy with Grant Lyon, our own live Board Game Quiz Show events, and of course, all the great games they got a chance to check out. Timeline: 1:47 - BGG.Con highlights, including our live Board Game Quiz Show! 4:50 - Our Family...

We recently spent six solid days playing board games. Seriously. It was exhausting -- but amazingly fun. We blame Going Analog contributor Jess Yi, who visited and forced us to play one board game after another. At the end, with bloodshot eyes and brains working at half speed, Shoe and Jess picked three games each to discuss. Hear their thoughts on... Timeline: 2:52 - Knight Fall 11:02 - Star Wars...

Can a board game kill ya? Nah...but Black Mold may try. This "co-op till it's not" survival-horror game has players taking as many actions as they can until they can no longer...hold their breath. You read that right. So we have questions -- lots of questions -- for our guest John de Campos, CEO of Terrible games and co-designer of Black Mold. Timeline: 2:37 - Oceans: Legends of the Deep 7:00 - Ve...

Logic-deduction board game Turing Machine challenges players to figure out a secret code using innovative punch-card verifiers that layer atop each other to "magically" reveal clues. How does it work?! We had to know, so we asked our guests from publisher Scorpion Masqué and Hachette Games to sit there and explain it to us. Oh, we also talk artwork and rulebooks, too. Topics on this episode: Chris...

Game designer Ryan Courtney loves making connections (if you've played Pipeline or Curious Cargo, then you know what we're talking about). His newest creation, Trailblazers from Bitewing Games has you -- you guessed it -- making and blazing connecting trails in nature. We invited Ryan as well as Bitewing co-founder Nick Murray to join our podcast to talk about this new project, other games that tr...

Gen Con 2022 saw the return of over 50,000 attendees (and four days of non-stop gaming) to Indianapolis -- and, most importantly, the return of Christina and Shoe to the big show! We invited Twitch streamer and content creator Amanda Panda to join us to discuss our experiences and the hot new games. Topics this episode: Christina (host): Hot games of Gen Con (15:31) Amanda (guest): Lighter party g...

Since you can download the fantastic and completely free Sunshine City from Coffee Bean Games, we invited designer Peter C. Hayward to talk some of our favorite lighter and heavier games in the roll & write genre. Shoe tries to articulate the idea of "hybrid" games of multiple ideas coming together to form one new product, and we discover Peter's complete fascination and almost encyclopedic knowle...

Johnny O'Neal, one of the brother cofounders of Brotherwise Games (publisher of Unearth, Call to Adventure, and the recently successfully funded Castles by the Sea), drops by Going Analog to discuss his design philosophy and asserts that every game needs to be shorter. We're pretty sure that's the takeaway. We also figured the co-designer of Boss Monster (in which you play as, well, the end-of-dun...

Tim Fowers, indie designer and publisher at Fowers Games, intrigues Christina and Shoe with the concept of "anticipation" and how it plays into dopamine-filled play. And because Tim is such a marketing mastermind, he drops a Fugitive 2 tease about...46 minutes into this episode. Christina talks to Tim about Paperback and Hardback, Fowers Games's two popular word/spelling games...and listen for a s...

Matt from YouTube's Board Game Bollocks drops by to (somehow successfully!) not swear while chatting about his gaming lifestyle, nihilism, and how Americans are so "happy and bouncy." Our topics this week: Christina (host): Our favorite animal-themed games (10:36) Mike (editor): Board gaming as a lifestyle (19:59) Matt (guest): The rising prices of board games and their implications (32:27) Learn...

It's rematch time! Amanda Panda, board game Twitch streamer and content creator, returns to argue over three fresh new matchups -- and we're throwing hands! Our matchups for this sequel: Christina (host): Namiji vs. Tokaido (12:27) Shoe (producer): G.I. Joe Deck-Building Game vs. Transformers Deck-Building Game (23:31) Amanda (guest): Kingdom Builder vs. The Guild of Merchant Explorers (40:48) Lea...

Mik and Starla of Our Family Plays Games join Going Analog to talk about the state of diversity and inclusion in the board gaming community, why they felt the need to start their new OFPG Voices channel, and which crowdfunding games we're most excited to get delivered soon! Topics this week: Starla (guest): The current state of diversity and inclusion in the board gaming community (8:22) Mik (gues...

The Going Analog gang has recovered from their Vegas trip to Dice Tower West. So how does this convention stack up to their other faves? What did they play? And how's the new remake of one of their fave board games? Topics this week: Christina (host): Our highlights from Dice Tower West and our tips for attending a convention (11:01) Jess (contributor): Comparing our favorite board game cons (23:3...