Operation Game Night

Travis, Clay, & Jared
  • 4.6 (11)
  • Games
  • Updated Weekly

Travis Smith, Jared Erickson, and Clay Gable get together to discuss the latest and greatest in board games in this weekly podcast. What's hot, what's hitting the table, featured discussions about board games and the board gaming culture, and the primary mission objective- to play more board games! 

  1. 1d ago

    Clay's New Favorite Game!

    The moment that Ra statue gets grabbed, the whole table tightens up, because you don’t get to ease into an auction in this game. Clayton Gable and I, Travis Smith, unpack why Ra by Reiner Knizia still feels like one of the smartest, most interactive auction board games ever made, and why Clayton just bumped it to his number one game of all time. We also gush a bit about the gorgeous modern production from 25th Century Games and how the tactile components amplify the tension that’s already baked into the design. We walk through how Ra actually plays in plain language: limited sun discs, open information, tiles building in a shared lot, and auctions that can be triggered by you or forced by the draw. From there, we dig into the decisions that matter most, like balancing persistent scoring sets (monuments, pharaohs, rivers) against round-by-round needs (civilizations and floods). If you’ve ever felt the pain of ending a round with unspent bidding power, this game’s timer track and forced Ra tiles will feel both cruel and perfect. Then we get into the psychology and table reads: when to force an early auction to steal value, why pacing is the real skill, and how the “best” disc like the 16 can betray you when opponents refuse to let the lot get too juicy. We also point you toward the Decision Space podcast for a deeper Ra breakdown if you want to go full strategy brain. If you love tight game design, push-your-luck pressure, and auctions that stay engaging from the first pull to the last tile, hit play. Subscribe, share this with your game night group, and leave a review with your hottest Ra take. We want to hear from our listeners! Send us a text with recommendations, weigh in on discussions, or just say hi! Support the show As always, come interact with us online, let us know if you have any feedback, and leave us a review/comment anywhere you get your favorite podcasts! https://www.instagram.com/operation_game_night_podcast/ Show your support for the OGN Crew by contributing to the OGN War Chest: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396881/support

    20 min

  2. 3d ago

    Through The Desert by Reiner Knizia

    Two camels per turn shouldn’t be enough to create real tension, but Through The Desert keeps proving otherwise. We’re back on Operation Game Night with Travis and Clay, digging into Reiner Knizia’s classic board game of camel caravans, watering holes, oasis points, and ruthless positioning. Clay brings notes from the AllPlay reprint and why the production choice matters less than what’s happening on the board: a clean ruleset that turns every placement into a commitment. We break down how scoring actually drives behavior, from snatching watering holes to chasing the longest caravan bonuses, and why the enclosure rule is the sneaky engine that can blow a game wide open. Then we get into the part players remember most: interaction. Through The Desert isn’t gentle. You have to “police” the map, read threats, and decide when to abandon your own plan to stop someone else’s land grab. Player count changes everything, too. At two players the fight can feel tight and zero-sum, but at three the desert becomes a richer tactical puzzle where you can pivot, pressure, and sometimes let opponents collide while you quietly bank points. We also talk mind games you don’t see in the rulebook, plus a key design twist: the ending can be accelerated when a camel color runs out, making tempo a weapon you can manipulate. If you love classic board games, area control, route building, and sharp Reiner Knizia strategy, this conversation will put Through The Desert back on your table. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who misses the old-school greats, and leave a review with your favorite “I got blocked” story. We want to hear from our listeners! Send us a text with recommendations, weigh in on discussions, or just say hi! Support the show As always, come interact with us online, let us know if you have any feedback, and leave us a review/comment anywhere you get your favorite podcasts! https://www.instagram.com/operation_game_night_podcast/ Show your support for the OGN Crew by contributing to the OGN War Chest: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396881/support

    19 min

  3. May 21

    Draughtnauts by LazArt Studios

    We sit down with John Lazaration, creator of Draughtnauts, to talk about turning checkers-style strategy into a customizable sci-fi tabletop game that welcomes new players and hobbyists. We dig into 3D printing, art direction, playtesting lessons, and how a community can help grow new rules, characters, and story.  • Draughtnauts as a collectible, expandable tabletop game built on checkers-style movement  • Champion pieces, armor, and weapons as customization now with room for future mechanics  • Community-driven expansion, fan ideas, voting, and the “creative sandbox” approach  • Building the game through 3D printing, print-on-demand mats, and a solo home studio workflow  • The retro, geometric art style, neoprene playmats, and why simple forms invite mini painting  • Early design swings that did not pan out, from over-complex rules to a four-player megaboard  • Where the project lives today, from Etsy as the shop hub to newsletters and potential Discord growth  go ahead and give us a like and a follow. Share the show if you enjoyed this interview. go on his Etsy account and uh, you know, buy a set, try it out, see if you like it, give him some love. LazArt Studios at LazArt Studios on Instagram.  https://www.lazartstudios.com/ https://linktr.ee/lazartstudios We want to hear from our listeners! Send us a text with recommendations, weigh in on discussions, or just say hi! Support the show As always, come interact with us online, let us know if you have any feedback, and leave us a review/comment anywhere you get your favorite podcasts! https://www.instagram.com/operation_game_night_podcast/ Show your support for the OGN Crew by contributing to the OGN War Chest: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396881/support

    32 min

  4. May 19

    Foreplay On The Game Shelf

    Fence-sitting is underrated. Sometimes you’re not ready to deliver a polished verdict, you just want to talk about what you played, what worked, and what absolutely didn’t. That’s where Travis and Clayton land today, swapping honest takes on recent board games, digital board game adaptations, and a few surprising side quests. We start with Reiner Knizia dice energy: Heck Meck (Pickomino) reminds us why push-your-luck dice games endure when the rules stay clean and the choices stay sharp. Then we get into what happens when “Deluxe” content adds more confusion than spice, and why Pyramid left such a sour first impression that it’s hard to justify another play when the shelf is full of better options. From there we tumble into a Steam sale rabbit hole and talk digital implementations of board games, including Ticket to Ride, the cozy tile-laying calm of Dorf Romantik, and the timeless thrill of Small World, even when the AI feels like it’s personally targeting you. We also zoom out into life stuff: anniversary game-night hopes, the slow process of learning to love an album, a great insight about why musicals break into song, and a strong recommendation for the Lord of the Flies BBC mini-series. We wrap with a two-player co-op trick-taking highlight (Jekyll vs Hyde vs Scotland Yard), a quick check-in on The Testaments, and a Resident Evil collaboration update. If you enjoy candid tabletop gaming talk with real opinions and a little chaos, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What game are you on the fence about right now? We want to hear from our listeners! Send us a text with recommendations, weigh in on discussions, or just say hi! Support the show As always, come interact with us online, let us know if you have any feedback, and leave us a review/comment anywhere you get your favorite podcasts! https://www.instagram.com/operation_game_night_podcast/ Show your support for the OGN Crew by contributing to the OGN War Chest: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396881/support

    29 min

  5. May 14

    Drop Drive by Phase Shift Games

    You ever see a board game and immediately think, “Wait, you do what to start the game?” Drop Drive opens with a literal physics event: you drop asteroids, fuel, space junk, and an alien onto a plastic half-sphere sun, then play the entire session in the galaxy that scatter creates. It’s a bold dexterity board game idea, and it turns setup into a moment people will talk about.  We walk through how the game actually plays once the novelty wears off: your alien auto-collects nearby resources, you measure movement with a chain-link tool, and you fly a custom ship around grabbing cargo to deliver to planets for space credits. Along the way we unpack the ship upgrades, passengers, and the weirdly charming specimen system that scores through endgame synergies like weight and other traits. If you’re searching for a Drop Drive review or first impressions, we get specific about how the delivery loop feels at the table, what “input randomness” really means here, and why routing can start to feel like “grab the closest thing and cash it in.”  We also dig into combat and interaction. You can attack aliens to steal their hoarded rewards or hit other players to take cargo, but we debate whether it’s necessary when resources don’t always feel scarce and the dice-plus-bonuses system can make fights feel low-risk. We close with who this might be best for (family board game nights, curious gamers who love tactile systems), what expansions might fix, and our thoughts on price and production quality.  If you enjoy thoughtful tabletop game discussion, subscribe, share this with a friend who loves dexterity games, and leave a review with your take: does Drop Drive have lasting depth, or is the drop the whole point? We want to hear from our listeners! Send us a text with recommendations, weigh in on discussions, or just say hi! Support the show As always, come interact with us online, let us know if you have any feedback, and leave us a review/comment anywhere you get your favorite podcasts! https://www.instagram.com/operation_game_night_podcast/ Show your support for the OGN Crew by contributing to the OGN War Chest: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396881/support

    19 min

  6. May 12

    Mother-Approved Board Games

    Mother’s Day has us asking a question that cuts through all the hot takes and hobby hype: what board games do moms actually want to play? We trade stories about the moms who raised us, the stepmoms who brought the party games, and the spouses who became moms and suddenly have zero interest in a 40-minute rules teach. The result is a surprisingly practical guide to building a better family game night around real life, not fantasy game-night schedules. We dig into specific “mom-approved board games” and why they work, including Castles of Burgundy as a forever favorite, the sharp two-player tension of Shot and Totten, Lost Cities, and the chaotic fun of Sea Salt and Paper with expansions. We also shout out classics like Hearts and Spades, because legacy matters, and a game that lives inside a family story tends to outlast any new release. Along the way, we hit party and word games like Codenames, Boggle, and For Sale, plus dice-forward comfort picks like Yahtzee, Bunko, and Strike. We also talk honestly about how parenthood changes gaming: less time, less bandwidth, and a stronger preference for quick turns, low downtime, and games you can explain in under 10 minutes. If you’re trying to get more board gaming at home, this is a blueprint for choosing games that actually reach the table. Subscribe for more board game talk, share this with a mom who deserves a game night, and leave a review with the game your family always comes back to. We want to hear from our listeners! Send us a text with recommendations, weigh in on discussions, or just say hi! Support the show As always, come interact with us online, let us know if you have any feedback, and leave us a review/comment anywhere you get your favorite podcasts! https://www.instagram.com/operation_game_night_podcast/ Show your support for the OGN Crew by contributing to the OGN War Chest: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396881/support

    32 min

  7. May 7

    Board Game Besties And Unexpected Dragon Smut

    We go over the fence to trade life updates that explain why game nights slow down and why the stories around the hobby still matter. Promotions, move-ins, audiobooks, TV binges, and review drama all collide with one big theme: how we stay part of the board gaming community even when we are not playing much. • Vic’s Games Y Mas crossover and a “board game bestie” dispute • Green Player first impressions format and a Rock Hard 1977 hot take tease • Resident Evil playthrough project and the long road through the series • Amanda’s promotion to post office supervisor and the reality of long shifts • Project Hail Mary love and getting pulled deeper into Dungeon Crawler Carl • Local game store readings and why audiobooks can hook new fans • Mike’s move into a refurbished trailer and what that does to hobby time • Fourth Wing audiobook reactions and the awkward side of dramatized scenes • Instagram long-form reviews as a creative reset • Designer and publisher backlash and why “not for me” should be allowed • Prototype content risks and why polished rulebooks matter • Fate Of The Fellowship as a “deep shallow” strategy game • PAX talk, May the 4th plans, and Star Wars board game picks Games Y Mas Podcast: https://linktr.ee/gamesymas TheMeepleThatLoses: https://www.instagram.com/themeeplethatloses/ EmptyNestBoardMama: instagram.com/emptynestboardmama/ We want to hear from our listeners! Send us a text with recommendations, weigh in on discussions, or just say hi! Support the show As always, come interact with us online, let us know if you have any feedback, and leave us a review/comment anywhere you get your favorite podcasts! https://www.instagram.com/operation_game_night_podcast/ Show your support for the OGN Crew by contributing to the OGN War Chest: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396881/support

    29 min

  8. May 5

    Board Game 20 Questions!

    Twenty yes-or-no questions sounds like a lot until you start spending them on the wrong things. We put that to the test with a full round of board game 20 questions, and it turns into a surprisingly intense mix of deduction, board game knowledge, and pure table talk chaos. Clayton’s out on assignment, so Travis is joined by Amanda, Mike, and Vic as our guessing panel. If you love board game podcasts, board game night banter, and practical strategy for asking better questions in deduction games, you’ll get a lot out of this one. Subscribe for more, share it with your group chat, and leave a review with the best first question you’d ask to crack a mystery game. We want to hear from our listeners! Send us a text with recommendations, weigh in on discussions, or just say hi! Support the show As always, come interact with us online, let us know if you have any feedback, and leave us a review/comment anywhere you get your favorite podcasts! https://www.instagram.com/operation_game_night_podcast/ Show your support for the OGN Crew by contributing to the OGN War Chest: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396881/support

    39 min
See All (139)

4.6
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Travis Smith, Jared Erickson, and Clay Gable get together to discuss the latest and greatest in board games in this weekly podcast. What's hot, what's hitting the table, featured discussions about board games and the board gaming culture, and the primary mission objective- to play more board games! 

Information

  • Creator
    Travis, Clay, & Jared
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    139
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Operation Game Night
  • Show Website
    Operation Game Night