Decision Space

Jacob Frydman, Brendan Hansen, Pete Wissinger, Paul Salomon

Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games.

  1. 1 hr ago

    The Games of Gen Con 2026: Greylune, Jibber Jabble, Buttonville and More

    Episode 282- Gen Con Impressions Pete and Paul recap their Gen Con experience and give quick impressions of games they picked up there! Time Stamps 13:15- Trick to the Future 16:15- Jibber Jabble 20:30- Jusayo 24:30- Stonk Market 29:00- The Glorious Guilds of Buttonville 35:30- Soundwave Length 39:00- Grandma I'm Hungry 44:15- Sushi Go Chef's Party 48:00- Brave and Bold Bag Building Combat Game 52:15- Looney Tunes Hunting Wabbits 54:30- Realm of Reckoning 59:15- Big Shot 1:05:30- Bordeaux 1:10:15- Woo 1:12:15- Greylune 1:18:30- Moustache   Preplanners Deep dive roundtable discussion of Indonesia is coming up next week!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

  2. 2 Sept

    New Editions of Old Games and the Brilliance of Libertalia

    Episode 281- Libertalia and Reimplementations Paul, Brendan, and Pete discuss the benefits and potential pitfalls of making new editions of old games.  Then they deep dive Paolo Mori's 2012 classic Libertalia and the excellent update from Stonemaier Games in 2022's Winds of Galecrest.   Time Stamps 2:40- second editions and reimplementations 22:00- Libertalia deep dive   Preplanners Pete and Paul are going to chat about fresh plays of Gen Con hotness!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

  3. 26 Aug

    Design Disagreements, Dream Games, and Other Listener Questions

    Episode 280- Listener Questions We open the mail bag to answer a bunch of questions from the Decision Space community!   Time Stamps 2:15- who would win? 4:50- what is a YOU game? 9:00- design choice you disagree with 18:00- design choice you love 23:20- games for roommates 27:30- games you wish existed 34:30- bad games we like 40:00- who you want to play a game with 44:30- spoiler strategies 50:00- emotional responses to games 53:00- how our tastes have changed 56:30- where do you see the pod in 5 years? 1:00:30- game night pick 1:02:45- deep dive redo 1:05:30- time for games 1:09:00- state of the hobby 1:13:15- superlatives 1:14:15- has the podcast changed you as a gamer? 1:16:45- host disagreements 1:18:00- dueling game advice   Preplanners We have a deep dive of Paolo Mori's Libertalia coming up!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

  4. 19 Aug

    Sandbox Objectives and Frosted Blooms

    Episode 279- Sandbox Objectives and Frosted Blooms This week Brendan tries to convince his co-hosts that "sandbox objectives" and "point salad" are not not the same thing.  Jake isn't convinced.  Also the gang deep dives the new polyomino game Frosted Blooms, designed by Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc. Time Stamps 3:20- sandbox objective systems 30:00- Frosted Blooms deep dive   Preplanners Next week is listener questions!  Send them to us via email or join our Discord!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

  5. 12 Aug

    The Questions Games Ask (What We Talk About)

    Episode 278- Who, What, When, Where, Why, How? That types of questions do games ask us as players?  When should I score?  Who can I trust? Why did they do that?  How should I sequence this?  This week we dig into what the central questions are in different games and think about how this can help us as players and designers. Time Stamps4:30- Who? 18:00- What? 26:00- When? 34:00- Where? 42:00- Why? 54:00- How?   Games Mentioned Magic the Gathering, The Resistance,  Root, Castles of Burgundy, A Feast for Odin, Tag Team, Bus, Dominion, Medina, Ra, El Grande, Star Wars Rebellion, The Crew, Root, Zoo Vadis, Tikal, Bus Preplanners Email us or join our discord to submit questions for a future episode! Also we'll be doing a deep dive on Frosted Blooms soon!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

  6. 5 Aug

    Deckbuilding 301: How Slay the Spire Expands Tabletop Design

    Episode 277- Deckbuilding 301 and Slay the Spire Trick-taking wiz Taylor Reiner joins Pete, Jake, and Brendan to take the next step on our deckbuilding exploration.  This time we're going digital!  How do games like Balatro and Slay the Spire build on physical games and where do they diverge?  Also how are we seeing the reverse influence on tabletop games? Check out Taylor's amazing Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ClaudeAndTaylor Time Stamps 4:00- introduce Taylor Reiner 9:30- digital card games 21:30- deckbuilding roguelikes 46:45- Slay the Spire  1:26:15- Balatro 1:32:00- digital games inspiring tabletop design   Preplanners I actually don't know what the next episode will be about!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

  7. 29 Jul

    An Infamous Traffic, Virgin Queen, John Company Megagame and More: Report from a Historical Game Convention

    Episode 276- SD HistCon North 2026 Pete is joined by Cardner Babakitis of Odd Candy Games and Buried Giant Studios.  They discuss the historical games they played at the inaugural SD HistCon North.   Check out Cardner's games here: https://www.oddcandygames.com/ Time Stamps 15:00- Hellraisers in Kanawha County 19:30- An Infamous Traffic 2nd Edition 27:30- Baltic Empires 33:00- Penitent 42:00- Nicaea 49:00- John Company megagame 1:01:50- Oath with New Foundations 1:08:05- Muddy Buddies 1:09:15- Virgin Queen 1:23:00- Big Shot   Preplanners The next episode is Deckbuilding 301 which focuses on the relationship of Slay the Spire to tabletop games!   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

  8. 22 Jul

    Inside the Deck: Digging Deep on Suits, Numbers, and Design

    Episode 275- Inside the Deck This week Jake, Paul, and Brendan explore the different deck structures of card games.  Things get mathy in this design focused discussion about how combinations of suits and numbers create different decision spaces in games.  Time Stamps 2:00- Air Land and Sea 13:00- The Fox in the Forest 21:45- Jekyll vs Hyde 27:45- Dracula vs Van Helsing 34:30- Coloretto 42:00- Pet Quartet 45:00- Flip 7 50:00- The Mind 55:00- No Thanks 1:01:30- Arboretum 1:09:30- Lost Cities 1:14:00- Schotten Totten 1:16:15- Scout and dnup   Preplanners Up next is a recap from a historical game convention.   Music and Sound Credits Thank you to Hembree for our intro and outro music from their song Reach Out. You can listen to the full song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQuuRPfOyMw&list=TLGGFNH7VEDPgwgyNTA4MjAyMQ&t=3s You can find more information about Hembree at https://www.hembreemusic.com/.  Thank you to Flash Floods for use of their song Palm of Your Hand as a sting from their album Halfway to Anywhere: https://open.spotify.com/album/2fE6LrqzNDKPYWyS5evh3K?si=CCjdAGmeSnOOEui6aV3_nA Intermission Music: music elevator ext part 1/3 by Jay_You -- https://freesound.org/s/467243/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Bell with Crows by MKzing -- https://freesound.org/s/474266/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 hammer v2.wav by blukotek -- https://freesound.org/s/337815/ -- License: Creative Commons 0   Contact Follow and reach us on social media on Bluesky @decisionspace.bsky.social. If you prefer email, then hit us up at decisionspa@gmail.com. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!

About

Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games.

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