Podcast Archives - Board Game Design Lab · Gabe Barrett

Small Games that Pack a Big Punch with Jason Tagmire

·1 hr 3 min·5 clips

The question is practical: how small can a game get and still feel big? The host keeps the conversation on wallet-sized games, especially 18-card projects that still need tight design, smart production, and players who want the next one. Jason has turned that constraint into a working system. Button Shy has published more than 100 wallet-sized games, and this episode gets into how the model runs when the cards are off the table and the business has to function. The format is small, but it is not loose. Jason talks about repeatable packaging as a way to stop rebuilding the product from scratch every time. That frees the team to put more attention on the game. The release schedule adds pressure in a useful way. Monthly expectations, including Patreon commitments, make drift harder and give the company a rhythm. The money side matters too. Selling direct to consumers lets Button Shy keep more of the retail price, which helps hand assembly make sense even when manufacturing in China might cost less. Jason cares about that part. It lets the company employ people he knows, keep contact with the product, and still make the numbers work. Launches are not one-size-fits-all. Some games belong on Kickstarter, some are better as direct releases, and some fit Patreon or Black Friday. The community is ready for the next small thing, and that changes the whole equation. For designers, the lesson is nicely blunt: nine or 18 cards can teach constraint, iteration, and finishing faster than a huge project that never lands. The first attempt may not be great. It will teach you something real.

As heard by us

A practical look at how wallet-sized games are designed, sold, and kept moving as a repeatable business.

The episode frames small games as a business model as much as a design choice. Jason Tagmire of Button Shy Games walks through wallet-sized designs, repeatable packaging, a monthly schedule, and a sales mix that includes direct sales, Kickstarter, Patreon, and occasional Black…

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See how wallet-sized games become a repeatable tabletop business.

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