Decision Space

Jacob Frydman, Brendan Hansen, Pete Wissinger, Paul Salomon

Details

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

Recent Episodes

NOV 4, 2026
What Makes Games Beautiful? A Conversation with Frank Lantz
Episode 290- The Beauty of Games with Frank Lantz Brendan chats in this episode with game designer and professor Frank Lantz. They talk about his book The Beauty of Games and also dig into taste, expression, depth and donkey space. https://www.franklantz.net/ https://franklantz.substack.com/ Time Stamps1:50- games as an aesthetic form13:00- games as a search for truth25:30- about taste33:45- expressive play and donkey space54:00- insights and meaning from games1:02:00- what is depth? Preplanners Next week we talk about game development with Jamey Stegmaier. 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 [email protected]. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!
79 MIN
OCT 28, 2026
Shinzawathon! Ranking Every Game From the Master of Trick-Taking with Taylor Reiner
Episode 289- Shinzawathon Pete and Paul create a tier list for every game designed by Taiki Shinzawa. They are joined by trick-taking expert Taylor Reiner, which is good because one of these games has only one total rating on BGG and it is from Taylor himself. That's how serious this guy is. Time Stamps18:00- early games20:15- Maskmen26:30- Charms34:30- Luz40:15- 9 Lives44:30- Players Play47:25- Ghosts of Christmas49:00- Inflation!52:15- American Bookshop57:00- Cinderella's Dance59:00- Planet etuC1:01:00- Trick to the Future1:07:00- Big Top1:13:00- Combo Trax1:14:15- Pin Combi Trio1:16:30- Fives1:21:00- Shihou Dealer1:22:00- No Loose Ends1:27:45- 6 Forces1:29:30- Quattro Trick-Taking1:32:00- Quashars1:34:00- Dodicitre1:35:30- Can't Win1:42:40- Octopus Order Preplanners Next week is a interview with NYU's Frank Lantz, the guy who coined the phrase "Donkey Space"! 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 [email protected]. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!
113 MIN
OCT 21, 2026
Modern Art: A Classic That Continues to Appreciate in Value
Episode 288- Modern Art An old school deep dive of an old school game! Pete and Brendan examine Knizia's classic auction game Modern Art and discuss what makes this game so thematic and thrilling over thirty years later. Link to the 5 of a Kind kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boardgametables/through-the-mountains-through-the-desert-deluxe-more Link to Pete's 5 of a Kind design diary: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boardgametables/through-the-mountains-through-the-desert-deluxe-more Preplanners Next week is a countdown of the best games by Taiki Shinzawa! 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 [email protected]. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!
76 MIN
OCT 14, 2026
Medina and More: Fresh Hot Impressions of Dusty Old Games
Episode 287- Playing OGs Together All four hosts are together for a discussion of the Old School games they played together during Brendan's visit to St. Louis. That Stefan Dorra... so hot right now... Time Stamps4:50- BattleCON: War of Indines17:00- Hellas30:00- Big Shot48:15- Witch's Brew1:03:00- Medina Preplanners Next week is a deep dive of Modern Art and after that we'll be making a tier list of the best games by Taiki Shinzawa 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 [email protected]. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!
91 MIN
OCT 7, 2026
Cole Wehrle on His Love of Economic Games and How They Inspired An Infamous Traffic
Episode 286- Cole Wehrle on Economic Games and An Infamous Traffic Pete chats with Cole Wehrle about his history with economic games like Container and how these nasty designs inspired An Infamous Traffic, which currently has a second edition in development for Wehrlegig Games. An Infamous Traffic on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/colewehrle/an-infamous-traffic-second-edition Cole's design diaries: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/475323/an-infamous-traffic-second-edition/forums/0 Time Stamps3:10- economic games27:15- Container50:30- An Infamous Traffic Games Mentioned Modern Art, The Estates, 1817, Indonesia, Reef Encounter, Automobile, Neuland, Nippon: Zaibatsu, Sol: Last Days of a Star, Container, An Infamous Traffic, Brass, John Company Preplanners Next week we'll talk about games we played together as a group while Brendan was in town! 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 [email protected]. This information is all available along with episodes at our new website decisionspacepodcast.com. Byeee!
104 MIN