Toy Business Unboxed

In this episode, we sit down with Troy Rasmussen, founder of SadStretch Games and a self described data nerd who treats game design like a spreadsheet problem. Troy shares how a napkin sketch became his first game, Flu Season, in just thirty minutes, and how he built Horror Season with his wife over two years. He explains how Excel and Power Query help him balance every card, what two separate Kic...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh talks with Derek Chung, founder of Nomnivore Games, college professor, and former psychotherapist, about designing tabletop games that are accessible and therapeutic for all. Derek explains how his background in existential phenomenological psychotherapy shapes his inclusive, bottom-up approach to game design, from his flagship TTRPG Emberwind to the Dungeons and Dinos...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh talks with Andrew Marriott and Thane Strickland, co-founders of Odd Family Games and creators of Herdvana, a family card game that went from Sharpie-on-index-cards to a fully funded Kickstarter in under four hours. They cover their multi-year development process, what marketing worked and what didn't, and how they designed a campaign that pulled in nearly 600 backers o...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh talks with Michael Welling, co-founder of Tone Deaf Bards, an indie board game company built on the motto "Games for Anyone." Michael shares how a casual challenge from his business partner Tom grew into three published titles and a pipeline of 30+ games in development. He covers COVID-era delays on their first release, the timing and community-building behind a succes...

In this episode, Jason sits down with Bruce “Buddy” Paris, founder of Toytronics and a true industry legend with nearly 57 years in the toy business. Bruce walks through a career that spans Ideal Toys, a decade at Mattel during the Hot Wheels and Intellivision era, a stint as Microsoft employee number 250 working alongside Bill Gates, and ultimately a return to the industry that never let him go....

In this episode, Jason sits down with Rusty Lumpkin, president and designer at Three Nail Games, a faith-driven board game company built from scratch in rural Indiana. Rusty shares how he balanced teaching chemistry and physics, farming, youth ministry, and raising six kids while pursuing his dream of publishing original games. He walks through his growing catalog including Sea of Plunder, Camoufl...

In this episode, Jason sits down with Mark Haskins, the CEO of LaCorsa and former VP of Product Design at Vans, to explore one of the most unexpected career pivots in the toy and game industry. Mark spent 25 years designing footwear before leaving in 2023 to pursue a Formula One inspired racing board game that he had been dreaming about since his car design days at Art Center. They talk through hi...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh sits down with Joseph Ogden, founder of Boardwalk Puzzles, to hear one of the most unexpected origin stories in the toy industry. What started as a hand-cut wooden puzzle side project turned into a full-scale US manufacturing operation after a Barnes and Noble buyer called at the start of the pandemic and changed everything. Joseph shares how Boardwalk Puzzles scaled t...

In this episode, we sit down with Jason Serrato, a 20-year veteran film and commercial producer who traded Hollywood sets for tabletop game publishing. Jason shares how skills from the entertainment world, including improvisation, team building, and navigating complex production machinery, translated surprisingly well into the indie board game space. We cover the real trade-offs between licensing...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh sits down with Jordan Mishra Johnson, the artist and entrepreneur behind Drawn Hungry, a food-themed card game that blends the spirit of a cooking competition with the social energy of a classic party game. Jordan spent two years and over 1,000 hours illustrating all 320 cards by hand while juggling a career in PR and editorial work. She shares the real story behind he...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh sits down with Marc Specter, founder of Grand Gamers Guild and co-winner of the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres award for Endeavour Deep Sea. Marc shares how a single trip to Origins Game Fair in 2005 changed the course of his life, eventually leading him to run event teams, found his own convention, and build a publishing company with over 20 titles. The conversati...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh sits down with Steve Resk, co-creator of Super Show the Game, the number one rated wrestling card game of all time on Board Game Geek for ten consecutive years. Steve shares how he and his business partner John Calace built SRG Universe from a few hundred dollars in card art commissions into a beloved brand with over a thousand playable characters and a community so lo...

In this episode, Jason sits down with Chrys Sellers, indie tabletop game designer behind Raccoon Sky Pirates and the upcoming Defy the Gods RPG, to unpack the real lessons behind building in the toy and game space. They cover everything from cancelling a $47K Kickstarter mid-campaign and relaunching it successfully, to discovering why Facebook ads flopped for a niche queer RPG while Tumblr actuall...

In this episode, Jason sits down with Christopher Cofoni, founder of Triaction Toys and a 15-year toy industry veteran who has sold hundreds of millions of toys worldwide. Chris shares his unlikely path from opera singer and senior music executive at EMI Records to building one of the most trusted specialty toy companies in the business. We dig into the Boglins Kickstarter that raised $247,000 on...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh sits down with Jeff Johnston, a veteran game designer from Boston who has been creating family card and board games since 2006. Jeff shares the story behind Campfire Smokeout, his first self-published game, and how it found its way into campgrounds across America through distributor Wilcor. He talks honestly about what surprised him most in the self-publishing process,...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh sits down with Jeff Johnston, a veteran game designer from Boston who has been creating family card and board games since 2006. Jeff shares the story behind Campfire Smokeout, his first self-published game, and how it found its way into campgrounds across America through distributor Wilcor. He talks honestly about what surprised him most in the self-publishing process,...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh sits down with James Cole, a graphic artist who turned decades of creative work into a self-published board game success story. James shares how his background in zombie art, including flyers he created for death metal bands in the nineties, gave him a surprising competitive advantage when launching Zombie Survival Infection on Kickstarter. The conversation covers how...

In this episode, Jason sits down with Kathryn Hahn, co-founder of Grod Games and the creative force behind Estate: Raise the Realm, a worker placement board game that opens an epic fantasy trilogy. Kathryn shares how a pandemic-era dream became a real publishing company, what they learned from their Kickstarter campaign, and how they are building a tabletop world with stories that reach beyond the...

In this episode, we sit down with Eric Reynolds, co-founder of Escape Mail, a company that ships a complete escape room experience inside a standard letter envelope. Eric shares how a zombie-themed escape room in British Columbia in 2013 sparked a passion that led him to build mobile escape rooms, run them in schools across Alberta, and pivot the entire business model when COVID shut everything do...

In this month's webinar, Jason Hsieh, founder of Toy Launch and Lakikid, breaks down how AI can go far beyond answering questions and actually become a working partner that runs your business alongside you. With over 30 brands and a thousand products under management, Jason shares the exact AI infrastructure he built to automate meetings into tasks, generate social media content, manage email, and...

In this episode, we sit down with Bill DeVoe, founder of Nimue Innovation Studio and creator of Roundtable TCG. Bill shares his journey from rolling dice in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons at age 10 to designing a fully handcrafted trading card game rooted in Arthurian legend that prioritizes strategy over combat. He gets candid about the math behind TCG rarity design, the challenge of pivoting from...

In today's episode, Jason sits down with Dalaine Bartelme, the inventor and co-founder of COLORPockit, a patented portable coloring kit built for creativity on the go. Dalaine shares how a simple wish at a restaurant in 2016 sparked a two-year journey of prototyping and patent filings before the product hit the market in 2018. From growing a catalog of over 70 artist-designed coloring decks to nav...

In this episode, Jason Hsieh sits down with Martin Soederhamn, the Danish-born creator of Hexaquest, a strategic trivia game that took sixteen years to move from idea to shelf. Martin shares how a frustrating game of Trivial Pursuit in Thailand sparked the concept, what it took to crowdsource thousands of quality questions, and how he eventually left a career as a commercial filmmaker in Denver to...

In this episode, host Jason Hsieh sits down with Rick Gardner, founder of Blue Rondo Games and the creative force behind Crabs in a Bucket, to trace an unexpected journey from pandemic hobby to mission-driven game studio. Rick shares how a tarot-inspired card game born in a German apartment evolved into a growing company with multiple products in development, including Zeit Heist, a time-travel he...

In this episode, we sit down with Matt Shirk, a working musician, and the creative force behind Rock and Roll Brouhaha, a fully playable, expandable card game that fuses music and strategy. Matt shares how a 2008 music magazine article planted the seed for the game, how the COVID pandemic lockdown gave him the time to finally bring it to life, and the creative challenges of sourcing art, finding p...