Nick Murray, coowner of Bitewing Games and host of "The Bits with Joe and Nick" comes to talk Gold Country and Bitewing's work with Reiner Knizia, spanning hits from Zoo Vadis to Illiad.

00:00 - Intro

01:46 - Gold Country Excitement

07:08 - Did Bitewing set out to work with Knizia?

12:57 - Reiner's self awareness of current resurgence?

19:18 - Is there a Knizia bubble?

26:25 - Challenges with Gold Country

32:24 - Why doesn't Bitewing do expansions?

35:35 - The games that got away?

HOT LINKS:

Our Site - www.cardboardherald.com

Our Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHerald

Our Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHerald

Our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=9669551

Trevor Benjamin is co-designer of numerous hit games including Undaunted, Warchest, Resist and Mandela, frequently collaborating with David J. Thompson and Brett J. Gilbert.

00:00 - Intro

01:10 - Getting involved with Bitewing

02:26 - Approach to following up Iliad & Ichor

06:29 - Intentionally subverting genre?

07:52 - Late addition of solo & coop

09:47 - Why always codesigning?

14:47 - Approach to Azure

18:11 - State of the hobby trending to more shallow experiences

21:50 - Historical accuracy vs. practical game design

25:09 - Expanded scope of Undaunted

29:01 - How do you know when a game is done?

31:51 - Recent inspirations

37:35 - Next up, For the Gods

Links:

Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.com

Our Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHerald

Our Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHerald

Our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=9669551

It’s time to butt heads and create enemies that will last a lifetime! That’s right, we’re talking about conflict, baby, and the different ways conflicts are represented in board games.

0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Been Playing This Week!

34:22 - Conflict in Board Games

1:13:10 - Outro!

Jack and Eric haven’t chatted in a while, so we thought this would be a good time to discuss the channel, where we’re at and what we’re working on now that we’re both back from all of our trips, and what’s coming up for the channel!

0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Been Playing This Week!

29:55 - Call to Order of the Cardboard Herald Board Meeting

1:21:45 - Meeting Adjourned and Outro!

Cameron Art (developer of Harvest, owner of PickPocket Games) comes on the podcast to chat with Eric about his time as a developer for Keymaster and what’s on the horizon for PickPocket Games

PickPocket Games: https://pickpocketgames.com/

0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Past Week

12:07 - Cameron Talks About Developing Harvest

19:25 - Was There Feedback Cameron Got Where The Feedback Disagreed With the Data?

24:18 - Cameron Discusses The Differences Between Designing A Game and Developing A Game

37:13 - Cameron Discusses What’s Different From Working Internally to Develop for a Company versus Being Contracted to Develop?

40:54 - How Does Cameron Approach Developing a Solo Mode for a Competitive Game?

47:50 - What Pushed Cameron to Republish Thief’s Market with PickPocket Games?

56:00 - Cameron Talks Starting Up PickPocket Games

1:03:15 - Cameron’s Most Influential Games

1:07:18 - The Games Cameron Thinks You Must Play As an Aspiring Board Game Designer?

1:11:22 - Outro

Check It Out! We got two tricky kids on to chat about their latest game Tricky Kids, published by Pandasaurus. We talk about their approach to games, what’s it like to co-design a game, and what’s coming next for them 

Baron Jon’s Trick-Taking Collection: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trickytime/baron-jons-2025-card-game-collection/description

0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Past Week

7:47 - What Was the Process of Coming Together to Start Co-Designing?

14:56 - What Was The Design Process of Tricky Kids?

26:09 - What Was It Like Working With Pandasaurus?

32:09 - How Do They Approach A Game Where They Know They’re Working With A Co-Designer?

36:41 - How Does Danielle Approach Games She’s Designing That Are Licensed Compared To Independent Work?

41:50 - Why Is Steven Drawn to Designing Trick-Taking Games?

46:46 - What Games Would Danielle and Steven Point to As The Most Influential For Them?

52:13 - What Games Do Steven and Danielle Think An Aspiring Game Designer Must Play?

57:20 - Outro

Join us as Eric chats with Trey Chambers, designer of Harvest, Argent: The Consortium and Empyreal: Spells and Steam!

0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week!

09:12 - How has Harvest Changed Between Editions?

16:02 - What’s It Like Rereturning to Work on the Expansions of Harvest?

20:11 - How Did Trey’s Journey Into Game Design Start?

22:50 - What Does It Feel Like to Get Your First Game Published?

27:13 - What Does It Feel Like to Get Your Second Game Published, and Working with a Publisher a Second Time?

31:25 - Trey’s Advice for Unpublished Game Designers

35:25 - Trey’s Top Games of the Last Year

43:38 - Trey’s Most Influential Games/Games that Trey thinks Beginning Game Designers Should Learn From

47:02 - What’s Next for Trey?

49:18 - Listener Questions!

53:00 - Outro!

So long Indianapolis, thanks for all the games! Scott, aka Boardgamingbud, and Eric chat about the games we played at Gen Con and the general vibe of the convention.

Jeremy Howard’s Post - https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3555308/just-some-ole-racist-history-crap

Devir of North America’s Post -

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3555679/a-message-to-the-community

0:00 - Introductions

2:00 - Favorite Games of 2025 (so far)

11:41 - Topic: Gen Con Wrap Up

34:30 - Who “won” Gen Con 2025?

1:00:06- Viewer/Listener Comments

1:09:26 - Outro

Losers always have it the best! They’re chucking out bullet bills and blue shells, while I’m grinding trick jumps in first to keep my lead. This week we talk about catch-up mechanics in board games and what we like about them.

0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week

21:45 - Our Topic This Week: Game Balance

01:02:23 - Outro

There’s a lot that comes to mind when someones says “game balance” in reference to board games, and we’re here to talk about all of them. Jack and Eric discuss what they want from game balance, games that are good examples of it, and answer some questions from commenters about the topic.

0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week

13:29 - Our Topic This Week: Game Balance

01:05:31 - Listener Comment #1

01:08:19 - Listener Comment #2

01:16:13 - Listener Comment #3

01:23:54 - Listener Comment #4

01:29:25 - Outro