Happy Mitten Podcast: Board games, business, and...

n this episode… Jeff, Lee, and Kyle sit down and discuss the direction and future of Happy Mitten Games. Jeff, Lee, and I started Happy Mitten Games with the goal of publishing games, but the success of our podcast morphed Happy Mitten into a content driven company. The three of us welcomed this change, but after doing the podcast for several years, Jeff and Lee have made the hard decision to step away from Happy Mitten and focus on Jeff’s thriving company, “Come Alive Creative.” I (Kyle) am now sole owner of Happy Mitten. After careful thought I have decided to publish Happy Mitten’s first game, a politically themed card game called “Presidentialness.” Jeff will actually be indirectly involved with this game through Come Alive Creative, who is handling the graphic design. Presidentialness will be available for purchase through Happy Mitten’s website early next year and will NOT be crowdfunded. I am putting my money at risk and if you support the game, you can do so and receive the game as fast as it takes to ship it over! Thanks for listening to the “Board Games and Business” podcast and please sign up for Happy Mitten’s mailing list HERE. I will be communicating to that list leading into the release of Presidentialness. I’m tremendously excited for the game, it is perfect for those looking for laughs following this long presidential election :) Kyle

In this episode… We interview Kevin Brusky, owner and founder of APE Games. Kevin's product line has an up to date look and has recently experienced a respectable amount of buzz. I was surprised to learn that the company has been around since 1997. Kevin’s experience in the industry has undoubtedly been paying off. It’s hard not to be drawn to the colorful artwork on APE Games products. Illustration is an aspect of game development that Kevin takes great pride in. It was revealed during the interview that selecting illustrators is an intentionally well researched process. The time Kevin puts into finding the right illustrator for each project shows through in his game's unique looks. While I’ve heard how much fun Kevin’s games are to play (particularly “Spirits of the Rice Paddy”), what I admire about Kevin’s company is its meticulously created website. As you click on each of APE Games published titles, you are brought to a page that clearly lays out what is featured in the box of each game. More notably, you see pictures and a short biography of the people involved with bringing the game to life. I often feel the human element is missing from board game publishing companies, but not with APE Games. Please look out for the company’s upcoming release, “Dark is the Night” on Kickstarter soon!

In this episode… Happy Mitten welcomes friend and Grand Gamers Guild CEO, Marc Specter! While long time fans of the Happy Mitten podcast know Marc as the creator of “Grand Gaming Academy” and co-founder of “Grand Con,” “Grand Gamers Guild” is Marc's newly formed board and card game publishing company. Marc Specter has devoted a lot of his time and energy to the board game community to great success. For years he has been demoing games for publishers, improving the processes in place to effectively meet publisher needs and then applying that knowledge to his popular board game convention. Now, Marc has decided to cannonball into the pool of tabletop game publishing and we encourage you to watch his splash. What I wanted to know is why would Marc wait till now to start a publishing company, when it was clear he could competently start one years ago? He keeps himself busy (obviously), but I feel like he has had the itch to start a publishing company for a while. A goal of this interview was to get a sense of where Marc’s head is at and why the timing was finally right to launch a publishing company. Grand Gamers Guild’s debut game is “Unreal Estate,” designed by Building the Game’s Jason Slingerland. We had a chance to play the game during Gen Con 2016 and had a great time admiring the beautiful fantasy-real estate artwork of Corinne Roberts while enjoying the light, but satisfying strategy. Be sure to check the game out (and back it) on Kickstarter this month! We’re confident you’ll enjoy. I expect grand things from Grand Gamers Guild.

In this episode… We interview Joseph and Sandra Vidal, the couple responsible for founding “Board Gamers League.” Board Gamers League is a community of gamers that compete each week for a plethora of prizes, including a grand prize during the league’s huge, season finale event. Board Gamers League has two seasons in the Spring and Fall. Each of those seasons play over the course of ten weeks, with new players joining in at any time. The first season began in March of 2015 and finished at Comic Con (Denver, CO) to great reception. Since that first season, the Vidal’s have remained consistent with the schedule and the league has seen steady growth. It was great having Joseph and Sandra on to get the behind the scenes look at this unique endeavor they started. Board Gamers League is a multi-functional business as it is able to bring local community together for friendly competition, while also helping out local store venues that host BGL events. These mutually beneficial relationships are crucial for growing businesses and it’s great to see the creative ways entrepreneurs engage in them. We hope you enjoy this eighty sixth episode!

We interview veteran game designer, Rob Daviau! Rob is famously responsible for creating the “Legacy” game mechanic and his designs have consistently been popular and well loved. His notable titles include “Risk Legacy”, “Pandemic Legacy”, and the recent hit, “Sea Fall.” The tree of Rob grew its roots in the board game industry's soil developing games as an employee of Hasbro. After years of steady success at Hasbro, Rob saw opportunity for a fresh start as a game design entrepreneur and took it. Rob instantly proved that to be a smart move, designing the mega hit “Pandemic Legacy” and most recently, “Sea Fall” (which quickly sold out during Gen Con 2016). Rob provided great conversation, and shared a really touching story about talking with his daughter as she watched him organize an early design for “Risk Legacy” on his bed nearly seven years ago. We hope you learn a little more about the history of the board game industry and the “legacy” Rob is creating for himself in the eighty fifth episode of the Happy Mitten Podcast.

Jeff, Lee, and Kyle attend Gen Con 2016 in Indianapolis Indiana! Interviews include Chris Kirkman of Dice Hate Me, Chris Matthew from Panda Game Manufacturing, Chevee Dodd from Portal Games, Jason Kotarski of Green Couch Games, game designer Matt Worden, Stephanie Straw, and others I can’t immediately remember without listening to the audio again! Indianapolis is four and a half hours away from our hometown of Grand Rapids Michigan. While driving any distance over an hour is not enjoyable, we consider ourselves lucky that Gen Con is as close as it is. This podcast episode begins on our drive to Gen Con, a drive made painless by how often we can make each other laugh. After making it into the city, we picked up our badges and got a bite to eat at “Harry and Izzy’s,” which ended up being a “ball so hard” lunch after seeing the expensive bill we accumulated. After giggling the bill off, we walked to the Gen Con vendor hall to meticulously go down every aisle and look at everything (which is necessary and awesome). At that time, we ran into many of this episodes guests and Jeff bought “Tides of Madness” from Chevee Dodd at the Portal Games booth. Dinner was enjoyed at Ram Brewery with Grand Gaming Academy’s Marc Specter and Roxy Casanova. Afterward we all walked over to the hotel Plaid Hat Games was staying at to hang with Colby Dauch and play games. A notable game of the night was Grand Gamers Guild’s freshman release, “Unreal Estate,” which is getting a formal Kickstarter project in the next couple months. (excited noises) Our last day was spent getting more interviews for this episode and discussing how we wish the trip could last for-ev-er. Gen Con 2016 was a terrific event and the three of us left with a reignited love of board games, but most importantly a love for the awesome people in our industry. We hope you enjoy the episode!

In this episode… We are joined by legendary tabletop game designer, Richard Launius. Richard has been designing games for decades (before it was hip) and is known for his deeply thematic designs. Notable titles he created include “Arkham Horror” and “Defenders of the Realm,” which have become staples for any board game collection. (Both are available in any fine book and retail store :) As a young man, Richard enjoyed the board games published out of Avalon Hill. During that company’s prime, there were few games as thematic as an Avalon Hill game. When Richard designs, he begins with a theme and develops the game mechanics around that theme. That said, one of the his brilliant design qualities are the memories his game’s create. To those of you that have played Arkham Horror (or another one of his games), I bet you have a lasting memory of one of your playthroughs. Creating an environment within a game that produces memorable experiences is a design quality that’s hard to quantify, but part of what makes Richard’s work brilliant. It was great to learn about Richard’s life growing up, his early jobs, and design philosophy. We hope you enjoy this episode and if you are unfamiliar with Richard’s work, please check out one of his titles. Richard is as professional as it gets and fortunately for us, he’s constantly designing games for us to devour. Company Updates We have improved the selection and shirt quality in the Happy Mitten Podcast Store. Our shirts are all blended fabrics and super comfortable now. Life is too short to clothe our bodies in cotton alone! Success means more fabrics.

  In this episode… We interviewed Justin Jacobson. Justin runs LAWCRAFT, a Florida law firm specializing in sophisticated collection and debt recovery matters throughout Florida. If you’re a contractor in any industry, chances are you’ve had an experience in which you were not paid for your contracted services. We took this podcast to discuss basic […]

In this episode… Jeff, Lee, and I sit down with one another to discuss notable past guests, why people would be interested in listening to us, and the board games we’ve been playing. Many of my favorite conversations have been with Jeff and Lee, so I enjoy the episodes we’ve been able to talk one another without the pressure of keeping a guest engaged.

In this episode… Happy Mitten interviews Brian Moseley, founder of Safe Haven Games. Earlier this month, Brian launched his third board game Kickstarter project titled, Legends of the Colosseum. “Legends” is a game in which two to three players pit cunning warriors against one another in either a single skirmish, or level up their gladiators in an epic campaign. Following the success of his second Kickstarter “Winds of Fortune,” Brian felt one of the valuable lessons learned was the importance of accurately budgeting out a project’s shipping costs. Since shipping can vary drastically depending on where you need to ship your product to, shipping is a challenge we often hear about and we feel Brian made a great contribution to that discussion. Identifying more as a game designer, Brian is learning the ropes of how to run a business through the help of his wife, and through hands on experience with Safe Haven Games. We feel Brian is a great mirror of many other fresh faces in the board game industry and we invite you to join Brian as he grows. Check out his beautiful looking “Legends of the Colosseum” in the link below. Company Updates We have improved the selection and shirt quality in the Happy Mitten Podcast Store. Our shirts are all blended fabrics and super comfortable now. Life is too short to clothe our bodies in cotton alone! Success means more fabrics.

In this episode… We are joined by professional game designer, TC Petty III. You may know TC as the designer of Dice Hate Me’s “VivaJava” tabletop game series and Eagle-Gryphon’s “Xenon Profiteer.” As a fan of VivaJava, the three of us were excited to selfishly have TC for the episode. The four of us discussed TC’s relationship with Dice Hate Me Games, his upcoming projects, and the struggles with refining eight player games (a hard and uncommon thing to do for a euro-style game). On the 79th episode of our podcast, dry humor and game design come together to create the perfect ear-coffee blend.

In this episode… We interview game designer Michael Iachini, founder of Clay Crucible Games. In 2012, Michael self published “Chaos & Alchemy.” Two years later, Michael partnered with Game Salute and Kickstarted a new edition of that game which raised an impressive forty thousand dollars. Taking a second crack at Kickstarter, Michael created an intentionally humble campaign for his children’s card game titled “Otters,” (a game Jeff, Lee, and I really enjoy). Michael’s upcoming titles, “Everest” and “Alchemy Bazaar” are set to be published through Grey Fox Games. Michael lives in Colorado with his wife Barbara and works full time in finance. He fosters kittens for a local animal shelter and has housed over three hundred cats through that relationship. Michael enjoys playing golf and is currently attempting to record 365 board game plays before the end of this year. We had a great time talking with Michael and hope you all enjoy! Company Updates We have improved the selection and shirt quality in the Happy Mitten Podcast Store. Our shirts are all blended fabrics and super comfortable now. Life is too short to clothe our bodies in cotton alone! Success means more fabrics. Check out the store!

In this episode… We interview Gray and Jon from West Michigan Tabletop Game Designers. The three of us were first introduced to Jon after we started Happy Mitten and began looking for unpublished game designs. Jon lent us some outstanding prototypes and fortunately lived close enough to demo them in person. Gray is a listener of […]

We interview Chad Deshon from BoardGameTables.com. BoardGameTables.com is a company that allows you to order quality, custom tables, made specifically for board gaming. You can customize nearly every aspect of your board game table, but the key features are a “sunken in center,” “speed cloth overlay with thin padding,” and “under table cup holders.” The potential table customizations are limited only by our imaginations. It was sweet to get a chance to interview Chad on the podcast. His business stands out in an industry made primarily of publishers and designers and the product he sell creates interesting challenges. Imagine what it would be like transporting a heavy, irreplaceable tables to a bunch of conventions. Or what shipping a table safely needs to look like? It was enjoyable figuring all of that out and more on our seventy sixth episode of the podcast!

In this episode… We interview Dominic Crapuchettes, board game designer and CEO of North Star Games. While many of us are familiar with his company’s popular “Wits and Wagers” and “Say Anything” games, North Star Games’ latest board game hit, “Evolution: Climate” is on Kickstarter until March 23rd. The game and has already raised well over one hundred and seventy thousand dollars so get it while it’s hot! Before starting a board game company that's large enough to support a payroll for roughly seventeen people, Dominic captained an Alaskan fishing boat for twelve seasons. After experiencing three life or death events, Dominic decided to pursue his dream of publishing board games. Dominic studied games like Trivial Pursuit while developing the mega hit, "Wits and Wagers," and believes in relentless play testing (roughly a thousand well documented tests). Dominic is an incredibly interesting guy, but don't take our word for it. Listen and prepare to not be disappointed. Company Updates We have improved the selection and shirt quality in the Happy Mitten Podcast Store. Our shirts are all blended fabrics and super comfortable now. Life is too short to clothe our bodies in cotton alone! Success means more fabrics.