My Favorite Games

About My Favorite Games

A podcast where RPG, card game, and board game designers geek out about the games they love to play. midnighttradingco.substack.com (https://midnighttradingco.substack.com/s/my-favorite-games?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Midnight Trading Co.

Category

business · leisure

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

20 Jun 2024

Latest episode

1 Oct 2025

Latest episodes

3 of 31 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   1 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT

   030: Victor Shiu

   Gelb is joined by Victor Shiu, director of games at LaunchBoom, veteran crowdfunding consultant, and board game designer, to explore his journey from filmmaking and digital marketing to launching successful board game campaigns. Together, they discuss Victor’s inspiration for creating “Hover,” a fast-paced and strategic board game about the surprisingly fierce world of hummingbirds, and dig deep into the realities of crowdfunding, independent publishing, and creative collaboration with his wife. You can find out more about Victor and LaunchBoom here: * LaunchBoom.com * Instagram, Linkedin & TikTok: @launchboom * Youtube: @launchboom_official My Favorite Games is a weekly podcast where your host Gelb sits down with RPG, card game, and board game designers to geek out about the games they like to play, learn from their game design journeys, and chat about the business of how to get your game from idea to published.About the host: Gelb is a game designer and director of the Midnight Trading Co., an Edinburgh-based board game studio that works with creatives around the world. Their first title, HotShot Pickleball is out now. Find out more at: https://www.hotshot-pickleball.com Connect and follow @midnighttradingco on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midnighttradingco Want to be on the show? Check out https://mfg.midnighttradingco.comIf you’re interested in board games, board game design, the business of board games, table-top games, ttrpg, ccgs, collectible card games, party games, and other games, we hope you’ll enjoy this podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit midnighttradingco.substack.com (https://midnighttradingco.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   24 Sept 2025TRANSCRIPT

   029: Ryan Simpkins

   Ryan Simpkins joins Gelb to discuss his journey from designing competitions for shows like Big Brother and American Ninja Warrior to creating tabletop games. Together, they explore the inspiration and development behind Ryan’s new word game "Death by Letters," the challenges of independent publishing, and how Ryan’s experience in television influences his approach to crafting engaging, re-playable games. You can find out more about Ryan and Death By Letters here: * app.staffmeup.com/profile/rrsimpkins * https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deathbyletters/death-by-letters My Favorite Games is a weekly podcast where your host Gelb sits down with RPG, card game, and board game designers to geek out about the games they like to play, learn from their game design journeys, and chat about the business of how to get your game from idea to published.About the host: Gelb is a game designer and director of the Midnight Trading Co., an Edinburgh-based board game studio that works with creatives around the world. Their first title, HotShot Pickleball is out now. Find out more at: https://www.hotshot-pickleball.com Connect and follow @midnighttradingco on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midnighttradingco Want to be on the show? Check out https://mfg.midnighttradingco.comIf you’re interested in board games, board game design, the business of board games, table-top games, ttrpg, ccgs, collectible card games, party games, and other games, we hope you’ll enjoy this podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit midnighttradingco.substack.com (https://midnighttradingco.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   16 Sept 2025

   028: Bonsart Bokel

   Bonsart Bokel is passionate about building imaginative worlds and fostering creative collaboration. In this episode, he and Gelb discuss the origins and vision of the Association of Ishtar series, the development of the Night Watch TTRPG, the art of worldbuilding in steampunk, the challenges of independent publishing, and the upcoming Kickstarter campaign for Night Watch. Bonsart shares insights into his creative process, the importance of narrative-driven games, and how his unique approach to worldbuilding shapes both his fiction and game design. You can find out more about Bonsart here: * Reservation/Newsletter Page: https://associationofishtar.com/ks (https://associationofishtar.com/ks) * Kickstarter Page: https://kickstarter.com/projects/bonsartbokel/the-association-of-ishtar-rising-tide (https://kickstarter.com/projects/bonsartbokel/the-association-of-ishtar-rising-tide) * Linktree: https://linktr.ee/bonsartbokel My Favorite Games is a weekly podcast where your host Gelb sits down with RPG, card game, and board game designers to geek out about the games they like to play, learn from their game design journeys, and chat about the business of how to get your game from idea to published.About the host: Gelb is a game designer and director of the Midnight Trading Co., an Edinburgh-based board game studio that works with creatives around the world. Their first title, HotShot Pickleball is out now. Find out more at: https://www.hotshot-pickleball.com Connect and follow @midnighttradingco on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midnighttradingco Want to be on the show? Check out https://mfg.midnighttradingco.comIf you’re interested in board games, board game design, the business of board games, table-top games, ttrpg, ccgs, collectible card games, party games, and other games, we hope you’ll enjoy this podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit midnighttradingco.substack.com (https://midnighttradingco.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

Inside a recent episode

030: Victor Shiu

Published 1 Oct 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And we saw that coming, like, pre -early, 2016, like 17 -ish, yeah, around that time, I would say maybe around that time, we started to see that sort of happen with our own campaigns where we would do the normal thing. We would collect the emails, we get that going and we would launch and we're like, cool, we got 10 ,000 emails, we're good to go. And silence, nothing. And we're like, we just wasted how much money for our clients. This is not good. So we had to pivot really hard and really fast because this was not going to fly well for anyone. And we had to find ways to qualify the emails, we had to find different ways to look at the metrics and we started thinking about marketing, marketing fundamentals. […]

Who has been a guest on My Favorite Games

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Matt Pini
• Alexander Goldman
• Chris Backe
• Nicole Amato
• Mathue Ryann

Podcast Authority Score: 36 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

72

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

Contact My Favorite Games

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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