Decision Space

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 238 - Fighting Games and Tag Team Jake, Brendan, and special guest Luke Williams of the Laughing Table Friends are here to talk about the fighting game video game genre and review a new card game that simulates the very same thing, Tag Team. Also, we announce DECISON SPACE MERCH! Get your sweet, sweet, podcast supporting t-shirts and hats right here - https://www.decisionspacepodcast.com/merch   Timestamps 0:00 - Special Announcement (Merch!) 3:15 - Fighting Games 39:40 - Tag Team   Preplanners Tiles part 2 is coming at you next week from Paul and Brendan.   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 237 - Design Day Recap Pete, Paul, and Jake share their experiences at Stonemaier Design Day 2025.  They discuss games they demoed and played while shooting the breeze about what to do with player feedback and how to figure out the next steps for your designs.     Timestamps 04:30- What is Stonemaier Design Day? 13:20- Grand Tournament of Arcanists (Jake's game) 30:35- Guesstimates (Pete's game) 46:30- upcoming GameHead games (Paul's company) 1:00:00- other games we playtested at Design Day   Preplanners Tag Team deep dive is up next!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 236 - The Best Components of All Time The whole gang is together for a VERY silly episode that acts as a finale to our component series.  We do a competitive draft to see who has the best collection of components and also pick out some of our favorite board game productions of all time.     Timestamps 05:25- component draft 35:00- wrap up discussion 45:30- our favorite components   Preplanners Stay tuned for a recap of Stonemaier Design Day as well as a deep dive on Tag Team!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 235 - Design Lessons with Jon Perry Tabletop and video game designer Jon Perry joins us for a discussion of the tabletop design lessons that inspire his own work.   Check out the GDC talk that inspired the episode here: https://gdcvault.com/play/1035154/How-Tabletop-Design-Helped-Shape   Timestamps 8:50- multi-use components 18:00- cutting complex rules 27:15- modular rules 40:15- chunky decisions 54:30- mechanism vs genre   Jon Perry games discussed in the episode Hot Streak, Spots, Air Land and Sea, Scape Goats, UFO 50   Preplanners Next up is our component draft!  Also Brendan cannot wait to discuss the new fighting game Tag Team, so you may want to get some plays in for that one.   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 234 - Deckbuilding 101 and Dominion Pete and Brendan dig into one of the most popular mechanisms in modern gaming: deckbuilding?  Why is it so popular?  How does a deckbuilding decision space flip engine building on its head?  For today's Deckbuilding 101 class, we of course use Dominion as our case study into the genre and examine whether the game still holds up in 2025.   Other Games mentioned StarCraft, Magic the Gathering, Ascension, Star Realms, Great Western Trail, Clank, Shards of Infinity, Slay the Spire. Quest for El Dorado, Fort, Imperium: Legends, Tag Team     Preplanners We have a special guest lined up as well as a special draft to round out our component series!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 233 -  Meeples, Money, and Other Chit Our exploration of board game components continues!  In this episode Jake, Brendan, and Paul talk about all the bits in a game!  How do decisions about specific tokens and trackers impact the experience of playing a game?  Do these production decisions change the decision space of a game?     Preplanners Next week is deckbuilding 101 with a study of Dominion!    Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 232 - Brain Burning Decision Spaces and Castles of Mad King Ludwig Pete and Brendan explore what types of games give us that satisfying (and sometimes exhausting) feeling of "brain burn".  Why do we like this?  Are board gamers a bunch of masochists?   Also, we deep dive the classic Castles of Mad King Ludwig, a game with its fair share of brain burning decisions.   Timestamps 5:00- brain burning decision spaces 29:45- deep dive on Castles of Mad King Ludwig   Games mentioned Carcassone, Ginkgopolis, Calico, Decrypto, Scythe, Root, Mexica, Keyflower, My City, No Loose Ends     Preplanners Next week is deckbuilding 101 with a study of Dominion! Also we'll be drafting our favorite game components soon!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 231 - Dice Are Nice Jake and Brendan present the fourth installment in our component series.  This time, they dive deep into dice and all the interesting implications they bring to a game's decision space.  Input randomness?  We got that.  Output randomness?  You better believe it!   Timestamps 3:00- intro to dice 9:00- dice and output randomness 26:00- dice and input randomness 38:30- mitigating dice randomness 43:00- dice game case studies   Games mentioned Can't Stop, Raiders of the North Sea, Yahtzee, Root, Arcs, Catan, Spots, Castles of Burgundy, Quantum, Claim It, Grand Austria Hotel, Troyes, Dungeons & Dragons, Liar's Dice, Railroad Ink, Twenty-One     Preplanners A few deep dives are in the works, so get in some plays of Castles of Mad King Ludwig and Dominion! Also we'll be drafting our favorite game components soon!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 230 - Expanding Root Pete and Brendan bring you the jumbo sized sequel to episode 219.  We dig into the decision spaces of all six Root expansion factions!  We also talk about the new boards and cards.  This is our sort of farewell love letter to this amazing game.  We ran pretty long because I think we didn't want it to end!!!   Timestamps 3:45- updated impressions 10:15- expansion overview 22:30- adset 28:00- riverfolk company 36:30- lizard cult 43:30- corvid conspiracy 53:45- underground duchy 1:02:00- lord of the hundreds 1:12:00- keepers in iron 1:23:00- more vagabonds 1:30:00- expansion maps and deck 1:38:00- final thoughts     Preplanners A few deep dives are in the works, so get in some plays of Castles of Mad King Ludwig and Dominion! Also our series on components continues soon with an exploration of dice!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

Explore the renaissance of trick-taking games and how designers are breathing new life into this classic genre. Discover innovative mechanics like shifting trump rules and unique scoring systems that challenge traditional gameplay. The hosts share personal experiences while discussing their favorite titles and emerging strategies. Get insights into the balance of skill and luck in game design, as well as thoughts on the future of trick-taking games and listener engagement in this lively conversation.