On today’s episode, I sit down with Dan Cassaro, Dan Christofferson, and Meg Yahashi — the team behind Weast Coast Games, a modern board game company designing beautifully crafted tabletop games.

Weast Coast grew out of Young Jerks (the branding and packaging studio they’ve been building for over a decade) and this conversation provides a look at what happens when a design firm decides to make its own physical products.

We talk about how a lunchtime prototype turned into a real board game business, how they think about gameplay and play-testing, and why they chose to lead with a high-cost, component-heavy game instead of playing it safe.

We also get into manufacturing realities, pricing and margin decisions, using Kickstarter as a validation tool, and the ways in which game design has changed the way they think about client work.

This was a fascinating look into balancing craft and creative ambition with the realities of producing and selling physical products — and I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

(Also a shoutout to the team for designing this episode's cover art!)