From Audience to Community: Patrick Hepner on Building The Level Up Board Game Podcast

What’s the difference between having people who listen to you and having people who genuinely feel like they belong?

In this episode of Find Your Table, I sit down with Patrick Hepner, co-host of The Level Up Board Game Podcast, to talk about what it takes to turn a podcast audience into an actual tabletop community.

Patrick has been gaming for roughly 25 years. After spending much of that time playing competitive Magic: The Gathering, board games became an increasingly important part of his gaming life. Today, Level Up doesn’t just talk about games; it actively involves its listeners through community discussions, polls, listener-submitted audio, Discord conversations, meetups, and opportunities to actually get games to the table together.

We talk about:

• How Patrick got into tabletop gaming
• The early days of The Level Up Board Game Podcast
• The difference between building an audience and building a community
• How Level Up encourages listeners to become active participants
• Taking online relationships into real-world game nights and meetups
• Making established gaming communities welcoming to new people
• What creators can do to avoid cliques and encourage genuine connections
• Lessons Patrick has learned after years of podcasting and community building
• What Tabletop Together can learn from communities like Level Up
• And, of course, what Patrick has been playing lately

At the heart of the conversation is a question that sits at the center of everything we’re building with Find Your Table:

When does a group of people who enjoy the same hobby actually become a community?

Official Website
Level Up Board Game Podcast

Listen on Spotify
The Level Up Board Game Podcast on Spotify

Listen on Apple Podcasts
The Level Up Board Game Podcast on Apple Podcasts

Podbean / Episode Archive
Level Up on Podbean

Instagram
@level_up_game_podcast

Facebook
Level Up Board Game Podcast

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@LevelUpPodcast6

BoardGameGeek Guild
Level Up Board Game Podcast Guild #3722

Contact / Review Requests
Contact Level Up

Level Up also actively promotes its Discord community for episode discussion, meetup planning, listener interaction, and gaming sessions; you can access it through their official show links.

🎲 Find Your Table. Build Your Community.

Find Your Table is presented by Tabletop Together, a platform being built to help tabletop gamers find local players, discover and host game nights, connect with gaming communities, and get more games off the shelf and onto the table.

Visit Tabletop Together

Find Patrick & The Level Up Board Game Podcast

Hosting a board game night sounds simple: invite some friends, pick a game, and start playing. But a great game night takes a little more planning.

In this episode of Find Your Table: A Tabletop Together Podcast, Jonathan breaks down how to host a successful board game night that keeps people comfortable, engaged, and excited to come back.

We cover how to choose the right game for your group, set expectations before everyone arrives, teach board games without overwhelming new players, handle food and snacks around your collection, manage different player personalities, prepare for cancellations, and know when it’s time to call it a night.

We also introduce Game Night Crimes: mistakes that can send you straight to tabletop jail.

Whether you’re hosting your first game night, starting a regular board game group, welcoming new players, or trying to improve the game nights you already host, this episode is packed with practical tips and a few laughs along the way.

Because a successful game night isn’t about having the biggest collection or the fanciest gaming table.

It’s about creating a night where everyone leaves asking:

“When are we doing this again?”

🎲 Find Your Table. Build Your Community.

Learn more about Tabletop Together:
tabletop-together.com

You’ve got the games. Maybe too many of them.

But somehow, the hardest part of game night isn’t choosing what to play — it’s finding people to actually play with.

In the first episode of Find Your Table: A Tabletop Together Podcast, Jonathan introduces the heart behind the show and the problem that inspired Tabletop Together.

This episode is about more than board games. It’s about the friendships, communities, and memories that happen around the table — and why finding that table can be so difficult when life changes, people move, schedules get messy, or your old gaming group disappears.

Jonathan talks about starting over, the gap between owning games and actually getting them played, and why Tabletop Together is being built to help gamers find players, discover game nights, and build real local communities.

If you’ve ever looked at a shelf full of games and thought, “I’d play these more if I just had people to play with,” this episode is for you.

Find Your Table. Build Your Community.

Find Your Table — A Tabletop Together Podcast