Two years, 130+ episodes, and more games than we can count — and we're celebrating with a full roundtable. Amanda Lee (emptynestboardmama) and Mike (TheMeepleThatLoses) join us to look back at the episodes that defined Operation Game Night's first two years and dig into everything hitting our tables right now.

We run through a stacked "what we've been playing" segment: Pyradice (Amanda's dice-and-quarry pyramid builder), Six-Sided Seas and Tug of Roar from Inside Up Games, Kanō (the gorgeous paint-pot pattern game Mike says out-Harmonies Harmonies), Night at the Zoo from SETI designer Tomáš Holek, Wingspan Pocket, and the two heavy hitters — Reiner Knizia's Gold Country and the deck-builder Star Trek: Captain's Chair.

From there we get nostalgic, counting down the episodes and moments that meant the most over two years of the show — the guests, the debates, the running jokes, and the games that started it all.

Thank you to everyone who's listened, watched, argued with our rankings, and shown up for game night these last two years. Here's to what's next.


Chapters:
0:00 Two years in — welcome back Amanda & Mike
2:29 The plan: plays, top 5 episodes, celebrating 2 years
2:51 What we've been playing
5:37 Pyradice, Six-Sided Seas & Tug of Roar (Amanda)
8:54 Night at the Zoo, Kanō & Wingspan Pocket (Mike)
18:07 Gold Country — Knizia via Bite Wing (Clay)
25:52 Star Trek: Captain's Chair — the solo deck-builder (Travis)
41:18 Our Top 5 OGN Episodes of All Time

Let us know what your favorite episodes have been in the comments!

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

We trade stories about the small games that save a night, from bluffing chaos at a wrestling convention to real-time trading frenzies that only work with the right group. Peter C. Hayward joins us to get honest about what makes a design worth releasing, how Baba Is You becomes a competitive board game, and why he built a board game career as a long-term plan to move to LA and write scripts.
• Cockroach Poker as a near-perfect late-night bluffing game for non-gamers
• Picking the right small box game for a new crowd
• Triangulation as a low-rules word guessing team game
• Stonk Market as a frenetic real-time trading party game
• Mr. President as an overwhelming, fascinating solo simulation
• Flip Seven With Vengeance and the “right level of mean”
• My City vs My Island and why legacy arcs work
• Designing around tension instead of theme or mechanics
• Why “it functions” is not a good enough reason
• Rolling Deep and the goal of making a game people remember
• Baba Is You design breakthroughs for a 2-player abstract campaign
• Risk aversion in creative industries and why ambition matters
• Peter’s visa journey and the shift toward screenwriting
• Things and Rings as a Zendo-inspired “vibes” deduction game
• Reading habits as a trainable attention skill
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Check out Peter's Blueprints for Life Podcast at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlK7TV83QHJ8vo6pfbgXA-DqiuaOQW-St&si=BZQU0ZAJ9EvzLjSs

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

You know that moment when you look at your shelf and realize you’re collecting faster than you’re playing? We start there with Vic from the Games Y Mas podcast, breaking down the “pile of shame” pact that forces real table time and sparks honest mini-reviews of what’s been worth it and what hasn’t. From cozy roll-and-write vibes in Tend to the frustration of vague rulebooks, we talk about what makes a board game night land for different kinds of players.

Then a happy accident changes the whole vibe: designer Peter C. Hayward drops into the call a week early and jumps right into the deep end. We dig into Coimbra, dice placement, and the bigger question behind so many euro games: do you feel motivated by victory points, or do you want clean win conditions and a satisfying finish line? That thread runs through everything from tiny solo card games like One for Sorrow to big favorites like Quest for El Dorado, Clank, and Lost Ruins of Arnak, including why Arnak feels so “perfectly developed” when the systems are tuned just right.

We also go ambitious and weird with GMT’s Mr. President now in a digital Steam version, talk theme park obsession and Universal Studios stories, and close with a movie debrief that turns into a real conversation about what The Odyssey should be about. If you like tabletop gaming, game design talk, and pop culture that connects back to play, you’ll feel right at home. Subscribe, share this with a friend who has a shelf of opportunity, and leave a review with the one game you swear you’ll finally play next.

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