The Tabletop Takeaway: A Board Game Design Podcast

Why are breaks important in a real-time game? Do players need an inventory? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor go off the rails in Unrailed!

Can players distinguish themselves when all are adding to the same challenge? How do you incentivize players to make a challenge the right difficulty? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda build an obstacle course in Ultimate Chicken Horse.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of roll-and-writes for designers and publishers? How do you ensure dice rolls are exciting? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor discuss Roll-and-Write games.

What are the advantages of scoring an objective twice over the course of a game? How can you represent combat in a roll and write? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda map the territories of Cartographers Heroes.

How can you create tension between waiting for bonuses and actively pursuing them? What are the benefits and drawbacks of action bonuses? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie reap their rewards in Three Sisters.

Can you incorporate player interaction into a roll-and-write? How do you encourage players to engage with all scoring categories? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor serve up some insights in That's Pretty Clever.

Why should the active player gain a special bonus? What sorts of choices can you give players after rolling dice? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor talk about Probability Farming games.

What are some ways to manipulate probability space? How can players benefit from complicated triggered effects during other players' turns? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie deploy their thoughts about Space Base.

How can take-that mechanics benefit from randomness? What other dimensions can you add to a simple number line? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda roll dice and take coins in Machi Koro.

What makes progress cards feel better than development cards? How do you get opponents to work together for the good of all? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor settle the score in Catan: Cities and Knights.

What should happen when a hider is found? Should hiders have a goal besides avoiding capture? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie talk about Hidden Movement.

How can you use attacks to reveal information? Do players need complex roles on a team? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda listen for the enemy in Captain Sonar.

What does hidden movement look like when the hider is also the seeker? How can light be used as terrain? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie shine a light on The Stifling Dark.

How much information do players need to find a player that is hiding? What should you reveal? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor search for Mister X in Scotland Yard.

Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor hold their first-ever live episode as a panel at Protospiel Twin Cities, discussing three prototypes.

What makes storytelling games different from role-playing games? Why are stories so memorable? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda talk about Storytelling games.

Can games be creative tools? Do games always need a winner? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie craft realities that never were in "In This World".

Do goals need to be unambiguous? How do card combinations encourage creativity? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor ad-lib silly solutions to ridiculous problems in Wing It.

How do interrupts keep players engaged? What do goals look like in a game about telling a story? Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda struggle to control the narrative in Once Upon a Time.

What skills are transferable across pattern recognition games? What makes a competitive puzzle different than a solo puzzle? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor review pattern recognition games in this bonus episode.

Do hex-based tile placement games actually need hexagonal tiles? Should players be penalized for recognizing patterns the fastest? How do you make players care about other players' boards? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor talk about Factory Funner.

How much room is there for special rules cases in real-time games? How do you create complex interactions from simple rules? Join Charlie, Trevor, and Ananda for Ricochet Robots.

What sorts of puzzles work well for pattern recognition games? How do you introduce perception-based catchup mechanics? Do skill-based games need progression? Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie draw lessons from Set.

Do deckbuilders need any choices besides which cards to add? What are the differences between drawing from a deck and drawing from a bag? In this bonus episode, Trevor, Ananda, and Charlie talk about deckbuilding games.

Do victory point cards need to be useless? How can you reward players for helping each other to spell words? Ananda, Charlie, and Trevor take a look at Paperback.