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Games · Gabe Barrett

The Board Game Design Lab

by Gabe Barrett

The Board Game Design Lab was created for one purpose: to help you design great games people love. To accomplish that goal, this podcast interviews designers, publishers, and board game insiders on specific topics related to game design. I don’t waste time talking about recently played games or pop culture. Instead, the show does a deep dive into subjects that I hope you’ll find extremely valuable as you progress through your game design journey.

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

6 Takeaways from the game that took 10 years to make

In this episode, I break down the six things I learned from the game that took 10 years to go from idea to published product. And you can find Football U on Kickstarter

Oct 1 2025
22 min

How to build a million dollar publishing company with Amy and Dusty Droz

Amy and Dusty Droz join me to talk about how they’ve built an extremely profitable publishing business in a relatively short amount of time. We talk about tariffs, fulfil

Mar 20 2025
1 h 38 min

Game Design Trends for 2025 with Jamey Stegmaier

In this episode, Jamey Stegmaier and I chat about the various trends we’re seeing in the current game design landscape. We talk about solo and 2-player games, open worlds

Mar 20 2025
45 min

Game Marketing Made Simple with Andrew Lowen

In this episode, I chat with Andrew Lowen, from Crowdfunding Nerds, about how to make people aware your game exists. Also, be sure to check out Andrew’s crowdfunding mar

Mar 20 2025
1 h 29 min

My new book will help you find the FUN

My game design book, Find the Fun, recently came out, and in this episode, I do a brief synopsis and give you the audio version of the first three chapters. To check out

Mar 20 2025
2 h 49 min

The design process of one of the world’s best designers, Corey Konieczka

In this BGDL rewind from June of 2020, Corey Konieczka breaks down his entire design process. Corey has several games ranked in the top 100 games of all time, and it was

Feb 26 2024
1 h 08 min

How to Design an Engine Building Game with Elizabeth Hargrave

In this BGDL rewind from May of 2019, Elizabeth Hargrave dives into all the ins and outs of designing an engine-building game. We chat about her personal design process a

Feb 19 2024
53 min

How to Design Games that Tell Stories with Ignacy Trzewiczek

In this BGDL rewind from April of 2020, Ignacy Trzewiczek, founder of Portal Games and designer of Robinson Crusoe, discusses his company’s motto: Games that tell stories

Feb 11 2024
1 h 03 min

Using math to make your games better with Emerson Matsuuchi

In this BGDL rewind from December of 2020, I chat with Emerson Matsuuch about all the many ways a designer can use math to create better games. We talk spreadsheets, game

Jan 29 2024
1 h 12 min

Finding the Right Mixture of Luck and Skill with Richard Garfield

In this BGDL rewind from May of 2018, I chat with Richard Garfield about finding the right balance of luck vs skill when designing a game. The post Finding the Right Mix

Jan 21 2024
1 h 02 min

Your game design questions answered

In this episode, I answer a bunch of questions that were submitted by BGDL community members! The post Your game design questions answered appeared first on Board Game D

Dec 16 2023
43 min

How to Publish Games with a Grassroots Approach | Joe Bragg

In this episode, Joe Bragg, founder of the indie publishing company Meek Heroes Gaming, discusses the grassroots approach he’s taking to building his publishing company.

Nov 29 2023
59 min

How to Boost Creativity and Avoid Tropes | Jason Perez

In this episode, Jason Perez and I chat about how designers can boost their creativity by thinking outside the box, pushing past tropes, and being more intentional about

Nov 21 2023
1 h 06 min

Listen to this BEFORE you start an indie publishing company | John de Campos

In this episode, John de Campos, founder of Terrible Games, and I chat about the highs and lows of starting and running an indie publishing company in the board game indu

Nov 14 2023
1 h 23 min

Board Game Design Productivity Hacks with Gabe Barrett

In this episode, I break down some game design productivity hacks that have been helping me lately, and I’m specifically talking about a concept called “habit fields.” T

Nov 9 2023
59 min

Do this BEFORE designing a game | Leo Taylor

In this episode, Leo Taylor, designer of games in the Risk, Clue, and D&D universes, breaks down his “key pillars of game design” as we chat through the many questions de

Nov 3 2023
1 h 19 min

How to Make Money from Your Game Design Hobby with Joe Slack

In this episode, Joe Slack and I talk about how we’ve both been able to piece together lots of different revenue streams in the gaming industry to be able to make a full-

Oct 25 2023
1 h 01 min

Designing Games FOR and WITH Young Kids with Elan Lee

In this episode, Elan Lee, the creator of Exploding Kittens, talks about his venture into creating games for small children. Elan has been designing the games alongside h

Oct 21 2023
1 h 08 min

4 Amazing (and Useful) Examples of Board Game Design Theory with Geoff Engelstein

In this episode, Geoff Engelstein and I chat about design theory and break down Geoff’s favorite examples and how they relate to designing games. Geoff’s book about los

Oct 13 2023
1 h 27 min

Why You Should Create Print-n-Play Games with Jason Greeno

In this episode, Jason Greeno and I chat about the current boom in the print-n-play side of the market, and we dive into how and why more designers should create printabl

Oct 3 2023
53 min

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