Hobbies Happiness播客

This week on the podcast, we sit down for a chat with Darrick "Charm3r" Oswalt. Charm3r is fellow card and strategy game content creator as well as an E-sports caster for games such as The Elder Scrolls Legends, Flesh & Blood...the list goes on! Today we talk with Darrick about his career in the tabletop space, what some of his favorite games are i…

On this weeks episode, we have a good time. We have a great time. We sit down for a chat with Matt "Flake" DiMarco. Matt is no stranger to the trading card game space, as this, in his own words "is his life." Matt is podcaster, host and caster for multiple different card games, and we talk with him about many of them, as well as casting and how it …

This week, we sit down for a chat with Aislyn Hall & Aaron Shaw, designers of the card and board game, Ivion. Aislyn founded Luminary Games in 2016, and Ivion is her brainchild. We first met Aislyn and Aaron at GenCon 2021, and that was where we first heard of and learned about Ivion, and we immediately loved the game. It takes everything we love a…

This weeks episode is getting posted a few days early, and that's because we interviewed game designer and Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour winner Justin Gary! Justin's latest game, Ascension Tactics: Inferno, is hitting Kickstarter on February 21st, so we wanted this episode to go live before the game launches. This was such an amazing conversation. …

This was an absolute blast. When Joe initially reached out to us, we weren't sure what to expect. But when we started talking, we found out he had a lot to say. And I mean a LOT. We had such a fun time chatting with Joe about all things TCGs, CCGs, and just tabletop gaming related. We talk about where he sees the space and industry currently, his e…

In today's episode, we talk about the game that has taken the digital card game space by storm, Marvel SNAP! We're sure you most likely pretty familiar with the game by now, and today, Dan explains to Jim (who still has not played the game), what it's all about, and the "problem," with the game contained within. Hope you enjoy the episode! Be sure …

Today on the podcast, we sit down for a conversation with Ridge Kiley. Ridge is the CEO and Co-Founder of Rising Empire Studios, the company behind the new indie trading card game and universe, Alpha Clash. We get to know Ridge a little bit, and learn all about this new up and coming trading card game. We hope you enjoy the conversation! Don't forg…

Today we finally about the fiasco that is the Dungeons & Dragons Open Gaming License (OGL). There's so much to talk about, and honestly there's not enough time to talk about all of it. We have some links below where you check out some of what we mentioned in the podcast. We are focusing mostly on the community aspect and how the D&D community as a …

Jake is editor extraordinaire for the Command Zone and Game Knights, probably one of the largest EDH channels on all of YouTube. He also has his own personal channel where he currently creates gameplay and deck videos for the Digimon Trading Card Game. We had a blast being able to sit down with Jake and learn how he got his start in the tabletop sp…

We're back and excited to get back to the podcast in 2023! This week, Dan & Jim go over their holiday breaks, what games they played, plans for 2023, and then talk about the main topic of the week, Power Creep! This is a great episode and we're excited to share it with you! NOTE: Unfortunately forgot to record the main microphones during recording,…

We wrap up 2022 and look back on highlights from the year. We also go over listener questions, and we wrap up the episode with looking forward to what is to come for us in 2023! Sign up for your free 30 day trial of Audible by using our code: www.audibletrial.com/hobbiesnhappiness Find us on Social! Find us on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/hob…

We revisit our discussions on Organized Play in todays episode! We know we've touched on the topic before on past episodes, however those discussions have pretty much heavily revolved around Magic: the Gathering. Today we open up the discussion and discuss OP on a more broad scale, and then dive into what we're looking for and wanting from Disney L…

Todays episode features an interesting topic! Today we discuss card games and the connection between sports. We talk about the proliferation of e-sports and how that is helping to shape the card games within that space, as well as discuss the question...are cards games sports? We hope you enjoy the episode! Sign up for your free 30 day trial of Aud…

Another doozy of an episode this week. It feels like I say that just about every week, doesn't it? But we tend to deliver on the dooziness...don't we? In any case, we again had a great time recording this weeks episode talking all about investors in the TCG and CCG space, and giving our thoughts. We hope you enjoy the conversation! And as always, b…

We've got a doozy of an episode for you this week? We are talking all about one of our favorite things here at hobbies + happiness...and that is community. We really love the communities that we are a part of. Many of them have helped shaped who we are as people. Many of them have gotten us all to where we are today. Some may say, we wouldn't be wh…

This weeks episode is a more broad scoped topic, and applies to all card games...at least in our opinion. Today we are talking about 3 keys to successful card games. This topic originally started as a topic covering cards from a playability or collectability standpoint, but then quickly changed into this topic, as we thought we can really nail it d…

This weeks topic we thought was kind of a meme...which it kind of is. But upon further inspection and conversation, we realized that maybe it's not? Okay, so the conversation started by checking out a meme in the Disney Lorcana HQ Discord about Lorcana being a part of the "Big 3" of card games. We looked at the meme, laughed a little bit...but then…

Today we talk about 2 of Jim's favorite things...card game and markets. Jim thoroughly enjoys playing with and benefiting from secondary markets, and also the economics and theories behind secondary markets. If you've been in the TCG/CCG for any length of time, you most likely have a pretty good understanding of how secondary markets work within th…

We cannot seem to stop talking about Disney Lorcana! In today's episdode, we again had Lorcana on our minds as we went through...a thought experiment. We talk about color theory within the context of Magic: the Gathering, and talk about what each color stands for and represents in the Magic universe. Then we start talking about Lorcana and Disney c…

Today's episode is a great one! Today we go through what we think is the current state of the card gaming market in general. The major goal of this episode is to try and familiarize our audience with the many great and fantastic different card games that are on the market. We realize that not all card games are for all card game players, or even ta…

We are excited to be back after needing to take a couple weeks off from content and the podcast due to sickness! This week's episode is all about Disney's new and upcoming trading card game, Lorcana! We talk just about everything that we know officially about the game, and we talk some speculation as well. If you haven't yet checked out our other v…

This week, we are joined by Nelson Oliver, otherwise known as the LivingCardGamer on YouTube and Twitch! We had a fantastic conversation chatting with Nelson about all things board games, living card games, and especially a shared favorite of ours, Marvel Champions! Don't forget to check out Nelson by visiting his website, and checking him out on Y…

This week, it's Jim's turn to tell you about one of his favorite commanders, Talrand, Sky Summoner! This is mono blue commander, and let's just say...it's a typical deck that Jim would love to play. This deck is all about, and only about, interaction. Which, I mean, what would you expect from Jim? So, I hope you all enjoy this deck profile! TappedO…

Continuing the conversation from the last episode of the podcast, Dan talks about one of his favorite commander decks, Gargos, Vicious Watcher. Gargos is a mono-green hydra deck designed to fight anyone who comes into close contact with his family. There's a lot of interaction in this deck, and it is a ton of fun to play. We hope you ell enjoy our …

Today...we talk all about one of our most favorite formats in one of our most favorite games. Today's episode is all about the Commander format in Magic: the Gathering. We've talked pretty extensively in the past about Magic, but we have yet to dedicate an entire episode to the commander format. So today we do just that. We talk about why we love t…

Today's episode is an intriguing one! We are talking about...the negatives...of being positive? It almost sounds like an oxymoron. How is it negative, when I'm trying to have a positive outlook and attitude? We'll admit...on it's face, it's doesn't sound like it makes much sense. But if you trust us, it'll make more sense when you hear our reasonin…

We have got a pretty interesting episode for you all today! We are talking all about resource systems in card games! We think this is a pretty fascinating topic, especially the longer and longer we are in the card game space. It seems that whenever we play a new card game, we find a slightly new variation on an old "theme." Especially when it comes…

In this weeks episode, we talk about a topic that quite honestly...we're surprised we really have yet to touch on. That topic is evergreen games! If you've been around tabeltop gaming for any length of time, you've more than likely heard people talk about the phrase, "Evergreen game." If you've ever thought to yourself, what are they talking about?…

Welcome back after an extended break! We hope you all had an enjoyable July 4th holiday, especially if you're in the states! In any event, we are back with another great episode for you. This topic came up in a pretty interesting way (a way in which we talk about in the episode 😁), and when we started talking about the topic, we immediately stopped…

Have you ever been playing a game and thought to yourself...when will this game just be over all ready?? I think a lot of us have been in that exact situation. It's with that thought in mind, that we talk about todays episode, "What Makes a Game(s) Exhausting." Dan and Jim go over a few thoughts and ideas that each of them have of why they think a …

It's hard to believe that we're half way through 2022! Since we're ALMOST into July (still crazy to think about 😬😬😬), we thought this was the perfect time to have a retrospective with what's going on with hobbies + happiness so far in 2022, and again to look to the future! So, with that being said, we hope you enjoy this conversation as we go over …

We've got another great episode for you all today! In this weeks episode, we talk all about deck building and deck piloting. We compare and contrast both of these topics, and talk about how each of them has their own distinct place within the world of card gaming. Both are very different and distinct topics within card games, and both serve very im…

We're back from taking last week off, and we've got a pretty interesting episode for you all today! Today we talk about the topic why we collect. Now we approach this from the standpoint of collecting trading cards and things like that. This topic can very much be broadened to art collection, and we touch on that as well. Hope you enjoy the episode…

Today we are talking about Dan's recent MTG Modern Tournament event. It's been quite a while since we done any Organized Play (thanks pandemic...) and man was it a rough tourney! We talk all about it, and look forward to more events in the future. Hope you enjoy the episode! Follow this link for a chance to enter our 1,000 YouTube subscriber giveaw…

We've got a great episode today discussing a topic that we've wanted to touch on for quite a long time, and one that's really important to us as well. We're talking about finding your playgroup today! This is probably one of the biggest things that tabletop gamers have the most hardest thing actually doing, moreso from our experience due to the maj…

Really interesting episode for you all today! In this episode, we discuss one of our recent gameplay videos in which Jim basically just dominated Dan in a game of Here to Slay...and Jim was really the only player having much fun. If you saw the video, you know which one I'm talking about! 😂😂 While we really did have a good time, we started to have …

Today we sit down and have a chat with Daniel Miller, the designer of the card and dice game Spirit Duels! Spirit Duels is a fast-paced card game of dice-driven combat. Lead a team of magical creatures known as Spirits into battle against your opponent! Command and evolve your Spirits to gain the advantage in combat and defeat your rivals! We are s…

In today's episode of the podcast, we wanted to talk about a topic we really haven't touched on yet, and that is tournament preparations! We have a few tournaments coming up for us in our local area, so we are currently starting to prepare for them, so we thought we'd start talking about the process! If you've never prepared for a tournament before…

We've got a really great episode for you all today! On this episode of the podcast, we dive into the heavily debated topic, the difference between casual gaming and competitive gaming. After bringing up this topic somewhat off handedly in Episode #45, we really started to ask more and more questions, and really dive into the topic more. Eventually,…

Today's topic is a doozy! If you've been into card gaming for any length of time, you most likely heard of the term netdecking. In fact, we started talking a little bit about this topic in Episode #42 when we were talking about Marvel Champions and why we enjoyed that game. We did say that we would dive deeper into the topic of netdecking, and here…

Today's topic is one that we started in last weeks episode with Sam Smith where we began talking about the idea that not all games were made with me in mind. Last week the topic was brought up in speaking about Disney Villainous and how it was very much designed with the casual and family audience in mind, not the overly strategic thinking audience…

We're really excited to bring you today's episode! Today we sit down for a conversation with Sam Smith, also known as the Lord of the Board! Sam runs the YouTube channel Lord of the Board, and spends a lot of time creating strategy content specifically centered around Root, Villainous, and a few of his other favorite games. We chat about YouTube, t…

We've got a very interesting conversation for you all today! If you've every gotten together with friends, family or a game group, you've most likely had this conversation before. We call it Rule Zero. This is a topic and idea that isn't new, and exists in some form or another is just about every gaming group and community. We hope you enjoy today'…

Todays conversation revolves all around our current favorite Living Card Game (LCG), Marvel Champions. We talk about what the game is, what we love about it, and why we want it to stick around. We also announce a new segment on the podcast that we debut at the end of the episode, so stick around for that! Check out the resources we highlighted in t…

Today we have a pretty different(ish) and very interesting conversation for you all! Today we're talking about why cards get banned in different card games? If you're not involved in the Magic: The Gathering scene, Wizards of the Coast just recently made a banned and restricted announcement. We thought this would be a really good opportunity to dis…

We are super excited for todays episode, where we sit down and have a chat with Steven Wooley from Team Covenant. Team Covenant is a local game store (LGS) that was started over 10+ years ago in Tulsa, OK by Steven and a few of his friends. Today, they are currently working on the third iteration of their local store, streaming quality tabletop gam…

We are excited to get back to having tabletop conversations! This week we are talking to Dwayne Cunningham, also known as Infidel1258 from the Splinterlands community. If you've not heard of Splinterlands, fear not! We talk about all things NFTs, cryptocurrency, and how it all intersects and merges with some of our favorite games in the tabletop ga…

This week, we talk more about the stuff we love...card games! In this episode, we really start diving into expandable and living card games. We talk about the history of the card gaming genre, and really how it evolved into the expandable and LCG "format." We hope you enjoy the discussion, and let us know some of your favorite card games! Magic: Th…

If you haven't been in the tabletop gaming hobby or space for very long, the idea of playing board games or card games solo may seem a bit foreign to you. Honestly, for a long time, solo tabletop gaming was not extremely popular. It has, however, existed in the space for quite a long time. Today, solo board gaming is an extremely popular niche with…

Well well well, we've got some big ramifications to discuss in today's episode. Star City Games, one of the largest strategy content providers or Magic: the Gathering content, is making some changes to their content offerings. We discuss. Star City Games article: https://articles.starcitygames.com/news/scg-announces-forthcoming-content-changes/ Fin…