In this episode, I discuss with Richard Garfield, Skaff Elias and Christian Kudahl about the design process of Mindbug Beyond. Support our Current Kickstarter Campaign for Mindbug Beyond: Mindbug Beyond Kickstarter Campaign

094 – Mindbug Kickstarter Lessons Learned

Jan 3rd, 2023 59m 17s

Hello everyone and happy new year. Today we have January 2nd and I have a special guest today. It is my co-designer and friend Christian Kudahl. Hi Christian and welcome to the show. Today we're going to be looking back at the year 2022, and re

A Working Day as a Games Publisher

May 27th, 2022 31m 25s

It's been over half a year since I recorded the last podcast episode. That's definitely far too long. I hope that I will be able to record new episodes much more often in the future. Because I really missed being able to exchange ideas with oth

092 – Mindbug – Officially Announced

Oct 5th, 2021 31m

A lot has happened in the last couple of months in the Nerdlab. Christian and I got the chance to work with industry veterans Richards Garfield and Skaff Elias on our Game Mindbug. In this podcast episode, I talk about the things I have been wo

The Journey of AracKhan Wars with Robert Palmer

Jul 29th, 2021 1h 18m

Today we have a great guest on the show and I am really excited to learn more about his game. He is the designer of AracKhan Wars, a strategy card game that just got successfully funded with more than 100k on Kickstarter last month. It’s a high

Designing Slay the Spire - The Board Game - with Gary Dworetsky

Jul 20th, 2021 59m 31s

Today we have a great guest on the show. Gary Dworetsky is the designer and publisher of the very successful game Imperium: The Contention. The game has an incredible 8.1 rating on board game geek and is a 4-X card game about deploying fleets,

089 – The Design Philosophy of Riftforce with Carlo Bortolini

Jun 1st, 2021 1h 2m

This week I had the chance to talk to Carlo Bortolini, a fellow game designer (Memoarr and Riftforce). Riftforce is a dueling card game that involves factions, drafting, combos, and different strategies. All the good stuff I love so much about

88 – The Game Design Process of Bruno Cathala

May 20th, 2021 53m 13s

This week I have the incredible honor of hosting one of the best game designers in the world. He has designed countless games and it doesn’t seem like he is going to stop :-) And the majority of them are incredibly successful. For example he de

87 – Victory Points and Player Agency with Tom Lehmann

May 13th, 2021 1h 3m

This week I have the honor of hosting Tom Lehmann, one of the best game designers in history. I wanted to talk to him for quite a while and am very happy that I now have the chance to do so. He has been designing many many games over the last 2

086 – How to Start an E-Mail List as a Game Designer

May 6th, 2021 50m 20s

This week follow up on the topic of E-Mail Listbuilding as a Game Designer. Last week I talked about why you should start an E-Mail List. This week the focus is on how to do it. In the podcast, I cover the high-level process of: Creating a Lead

085 – Why you need an E-Mail List as a Game Designer

Apr 30th, 2021 32m 35s

This week we tackle a very important topic. Last week I talked about why it is important to pput yourself out there and be active in the board game community. This week I am going to talk about why I think it is super important to create a rela

084 – The Importance of Getting Involved in the Board Game Community

Apr 20th, 2021 21m 6s

This week I talked about the importance of being part of the community and why it is so important to give without asking for anything in return. These are some of the topics we talked about on the show: Why I started the podcast and the nerdl

083 – Richard Garfield on Physical and Digital Card Game Design

Apr 20th, 2021 1h 3m

If you want to join our Nerdlab Game Design Mastermind Groups, you can apply here: Join a Mastermind Groups This week I have the honor of hosting one of the best game designers in history. Without overstating, I can say that he and his game

082 – Creating Expansions with Bruce Glassco, Designer of Fantasy Realms

Apr 20th, 2021 55m 9s

Fantasy Realms on Boardgamegeek Fantasy Realms on Wizkids Today we have a great guest on the show. One of his earlier games is an industry highlight and has won a Gamers' Choice Award for the Best Board Game in 2004. One of his newer creations

081 – Blue Ocean Strategy in the Board Game Industry – Part 2

Apr 20th, 2021 43m 25s

This is the second part of me applying the Blue Ocean Strategy to Board Game Design. In this week I go through the methodology step by step and try to explain how to come up with innovative new ideas for the board game industry. Do you want t

080 – Blue Ocean Strategy in the Board Game Industry – Part 1

Apr 20th, 2021 36m 37s

Do you want to use the Blue Ocean Strategy for your Game? Check out the Slides I prepared for you In today's episode, I asked myself: Why are new games developed? How does it start? And how do the groundbreaking successes differ from less suc

079 – Preliminary Print and Play Kickstarter Campaigns

Apr 20th, 2021 24m 49s

Today's episode will be a bit different from the other episodes. Usually, I interview experienced game designers or do a lot of research about a topic before I cover it here on the show. Today it's more of a discussion I'd say. But since I'm al

078 – Point Scoring Mechanics

Apr 20th, 2021 48m

Today's episode is about point-scoring mechanics. I went through different games like Sushi Go, Cat Lady, Point Salad or Go nuts for donuts. What do those games have in common? They all have some form of card distribution mechanic and a final s

077 – The Design of Radlands with Daniel Piechnick

Apr 20th, 2021 59m 8s

Please take a look at Radlands on Kickstarter. I honestly think the game looks amazing. And I don't only mean the astonishing art, but also the gameplay and mechanics. I just backed it myself and am looking forward to adding it to my collection

076 – The Interplay of Hidden and Visible Information in Magic’s new set Kaldheim

Apr 20th, 2021 31m 31s

In today's episode, I analyze the new keywords and mechanics of the Magic the Gathering set "Kaldheim". Especially "Foretell" and "Boast" which are very different. One has a lot of clear visible information and asks a very precise and direct qu

075 – How to Learn your Customer’s Language?

Apr 20th, 2021 41m 23s

In today's episode, I explain my method of learning the language of my target audience? In order to do so, I asked people over at Reddit about what they like about Dueling Strategy Card Games and identified their answers and especially the word

084 – The Importance of Getting Involved in the Board Game Community

Apr 15th, 2021 21m 6s

This week I talked about the importance of being part of the community and why it is so important to give without asking for anything in return. If you want to join our playtest on April 18th, you can register here: Nerdlab Playtest Registratio