Mark is joined by Mike C. of Brickly Games, live from Lucas Oil Stadium at Gen Con 2025. With Jason out this episode, the two dive into their Gen Con highlights and share insights from testing in the First Exposure Playtest Hall.

As we prep for the First Exposure Playtest Hall at Gen Con, we get real advice from designers at the East Bay Board Game Con. We sharpen our elevator pitches and learn what makes a great demo.

We pause our abstract board game design to play the real game: chasing likes, shares, and followers. We’re pulling back the curtain on our marketing—sharing stats, analytics, and what’s working (or not) as we try to build an audience before finishing the game.

We took our abstract game into the wild—to Golden Gate Gamemakers, to friends, to family—and came back with real feedback and big takeaways. Plus, we debut a new segment on the show called Not A Game.

We dig into the mechanics of our abstract strategy game—how tiles interact, the patterns they create, early balance issues, and the ongoing challenge of designing a system for drawing new tiles.

A dark forest would be a great setting for Animal Kingdom. However, it has become the basis for a pivot. Listen in to hear about the new direction we are heading as Gen Con and Indianapolis loom over us.

If we can invent the word unstucking, we'd better figure out how to do it. We talk through the sticky stuff and create a plan to continue moving forward. Plus, we lighten things up with a game where we try to guess board game titles.

We know creative blocks come with the creative process—and we’re squarely in one. Do we change direction? Scrap everything? Simplify? Or maybe just admit our game will never be as good as Monopoly and move on?

We laugh at a ridiculous misplay we made in our own game. A broken strategy in Animal Kingdom forces us back to the redesign table. Along the way, we dive into gamer identities and how they shape both playstyles and game design.

We attend our first Golden Gate Gamemakers event at Guildhouse in San Jose, where we meet Board Game Casual. We also share highlights from recent meetings, including one with breakout rooms to spark new ideas and get things done.