The Tabletop Takeaway: A Board Game Design Podcast

Can you infer anything from other players not communicating with you? What is the difference between knowledge and common knowledge? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda play with fireworks in Hanabi.

Can you create memorable moments at random? What do shared actions add to coop real-time games? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor sync brainwaves in The Mind.

What information should you hide? How do you make things go better than right? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie count to and from one hundred in The Game.

What determines how complex a real-time game can be? How long should a real-time game take? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor discuss real-time games.

Are turns compatible with real-time mechanics? What encourages players to flip timers early? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda juggle live fireworks in Skyrockets.

How can you make a player necessary to the team's success? Are players willing to spend valuable resources to talk to each other? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie rob a mall in Magic Maze.

Is it better to compete in one race or many? How do you verify that players are not accidentally cheating? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor blitz their opponents in Dutch Blitz.

Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie talk about Word Association games.

What encourages people to share their thought processes? How do you prevent players from getting stuck? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda link words in So Clover.

Should you penalize players for guessing wrong? How can you force players to rely on each other? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor think of unique clues in Just One.

How do you choose a good word list? Why should games have multiple end conditions? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie avoid the assassin in Codenames.

What mechanics go well with racing games? How can roll-and-move be made strategic? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie discuss racing games.

Why must Bumpo always bump? How can instant death mechanics mitigate feel-bad moments? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda jockey for position in Thunder Road: Vendetta.

How do you make losing fun? What makes a satisfying arc in a racing game? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor visit Velocitron in Robo Rally Transformers.

Why should you pay off player debts automatically? What is the benefit of running two laps versus one? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie put the pedal to the metal in Heat.

Why are two-player asymmetric games easier to design? How do you come up with variants on a core ruleset? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie discuss asymmetric games.

How do you make turn order feel important? Why should you limit your players' ability to adjust their own prices? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor honor the gods in The Great Zimbabwe.

What makes creating a server so satisfying? Should you include both passive and active playstyles? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda fight the system in Android: Netrunner.

How can you get players to understand what other players are doing when their factions are different? How can common resources be made to feel different to different factions? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie liberate the woodland in Root.

Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor talk about Semi-Cooperative games.

Do enemies need a clearly defined health stat? What should happen to a player who is eliminated early? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda chart a course for Earth in Nemesis.

What sorts of resources encourage players to betray their allies? When should you use spherical components? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie build a raft in Hellapagos.

How can you make attacking other players feel less hostile? What advantage do board games have over digital games? Ananda, Charlie, and Trever encounter the cosmos in Cosmic Encounter.

Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda hold a live episode at 2DCon, the same convention where the podcast originated! They discuss lessons board game and video game designers can learn from each other.

How can you frame new challenges to make players excited about them? Why do people enjoy performing mundane tasks in video games? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie run a restaurant in Plate Up.