169: Board games bringing people together (guest: Grandpa Beck)
Release Date: 03/05/2026
170: The best board games we played at Dice Tower West 2026
Going Analog Podcast
We're back from , horribly dehydrated and almost 200 games lighter. While we offloaded a lot of our collection at the convention's flea market, we did get to play a bunch of new games (super shoutout to for showing us the majority of them). So it's only a matter of time before we start buying more games to fill in those sad gaps on our shelves. Listen or watch to see what's got us excited after five days of conventioning! Timeline: 3:02 - Shoe's game pick: Pantheauction. 5:56 - Christina's game pick: Bullseye. 11:30 - Going Analog's topic: The best games we played from Dice...
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169: Board games bringing people together (guest: Grandpa Beck)
Going Analog Podcast
Our guest this week is crazy enough to include his personal phone number in every game he sells. Brent Beck (aka "Grandpa Beck" of ) wants no barriers when it comes to learning his games, so he includes his digits in every copy in case you want to text him for rules clarifications. That's why his chosen topic -- bringing people together through gameplay -- makes so much sense. Brent wants nothing more but to draw people to him and each other to enjoy the hobby he loves so much. Listen/watch as we discuss his work and play philosophies, how many texts from customers he gets per day, and...
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168: 2026 board games we've played...and are excited about (guest: Andrew Stiles, designer)
Going Analog Podcast
We had to bring in this episode's guest to settle something. In our , Christina called Wine Cellar a runner-up for her Party Game of the Year. Shoe took issue with her calling the wine-making card game a "party game," so whom better to bring in than its designer, , to settle this hugely important argument? He has a great topic for us, too. Since he gets to playtest so many games for his colleagues, he goes over several he's particularly excited to see finally released this year. And since we get to preview many titles ourselves, we get in on the conversation. Listen to see what we think...
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167: The 2025 Games of the Year episode (guest: Candice Harris)
Going Analog Podcast
It's our yearly tradition now: We invite a new content creator on our show, and we discuss the best games of the year in several weight categories. Joining us for our 2025 edition is Candice Harris, formerly of and now doing her own thing with . She's just as board game crazy as we are, so check out what we thought were the best of the year. Timeline: The 2025 Games of the Year (hit up our website for the full list of winners and runners-up): 7:06 - 2025 Party Games of the Year. 18:10 - 2025 Light Games of the Year. 33:38 - 2025 Medium Games of the Year. 50:55 - 2025 Heavy Games of the Year....
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166: The new age of great 2-player games, part 2 (guest: Grant's Game Recs)
Going Analog Podcast
We're back (and so is our guest, Grant Lyon of ) with a bunch more new 2-player games that we loved and want to tell you alllll about. Make sure to catch of our two-part special, so you can have more 2P recommendations than you'll know what to do with. Timeline: 1:28 - Going Analog's game pick: Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game. 7:45 - Grant's game pick: How to Save a World. Great 2-player games, part two: 15:02 - Everdell Duo. 18:31 - Kinfire Delve. 27:00 - Timber Town. 30:12 - Naishi. 32:54 - Zenith. 40:02 - Pillars of Fate.
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165: The new age of great 2-player games, part 1 (guest: Grant's Game Recs)
Going Analog Podcast
2025 is "The Year of the 2-Player Game" -- at least according to our guest, professional comedian and board game content creator Grant Lyon of . There have been so many good ones that came out over the past yeart that it's hard to refute that statement. So hard that, rather than refute, we'll just create a two-part podcast special covering all the great 2P games we've been playing. This is part one! Timeline: 2:00 - Going Analog's game pick: Origin Story. 9:38 - Grant's game pick: Pinched!. Great 2-player games, part one: 16:50 - The White Castle Duel. 19:59 - Madcala. 25:35...
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164: The best games we played at BGG.CON 2025 (and what's next for The Board Game Quiz Show)
Going Analog Podcast
Our favorite "just playing games" convention is behind us now, and...we did spend a lot of time just playing games. A LOT. features 's plus the latest hotness from the king of board game shows, , so we had no shortage of options. Listen in to see what our highlights were and to get a tease of what we have in store for Season 6 of .
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163: 6 new drafting games worth checking out
Going Analog Podcast
A lot of drafting games have been hitting our table lately, and they're all putting their own twists on the genre. We've been enjoying them so much that we're dedicating this whole episode to our top picks. Plus, the , is here. Shoe's played a lot of fighting (video) games, so what does he think about probably the most pure card-game interpretation around? Timeline 0:53 - Going Analog's game pick: Yomi 2. 7:54 - 6 new drafting games worth checking out.
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162: Why we can't make board games in the U.S. (guest: James Hudson)
Going Analog Podcast
All this business (or loss of) around tariffs has repeated raised a question from the gaming community: Why not just manufacture games in the U.S. instead of, say, China? James Hudson, game designer and owner of , took time out of promoting his (check out our !) to explain why it's so difficult. We've heard the facts from the board game industry before, but James has additional insight worth hearing out. Timeline 1:30 - Going Analog's game pick: Everbloom. 4:58 - James' game pick: Galileo Galilei. 11:35 - Wonderland's War Duel, a new Wonderland's War expansion, Madcala, Off With Their...
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161: Autobattlers, card crafting, Mystic Lands (guests: John D Clair, John Zinser)
Going Analog Podcast
The OG card-crafting game is getting a major makeover. Or is it a sequel? Whatever you want to call it, is taking Vale's original concept of layering clear cards to create powerful combinations and streamling gameplay while beautifying the art. The result is a much better game (from our one play), and now we have to suffer the wait for the November to run and fulfill. Designer John D Clair and CEO of publisher (AEG) John Zinser stopped by our home to play a full game of Mystic Lands with us (Shoe would rather we don't discuss the final scores). Before we would let them out of the...
info_outlineOur guest this week is crazy enough to include his personal phone number in every game he sells. Brent Beck (aka "Grandpa Beck" of Grandpa Beck's Games) wants no barriers when it comes to learning his games, so he includes his digits in every copy in case you want to text him for rules clarifications.
That's why his chosen topic -- bringing people together through gameplay -- makes so much sense. Brent wants nothing more but to draw people to him and each other to enjoy the hobby he loves so much.
Listen/watch as we discuss his work and play philosophies, how many texts from customers he gets per day, and more.
Timeline:
- 3:03 - Going Analog's game pick: Pandora's Legacy.
- 5:48 - Grandpa Beck's game pick: Mille Bornes.
- 11:03 - Grandpa's Beck's topic: Bringing people together through gameplay.