Best Brendan Hansen Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 80: Rylee Erisman Details Making the National Team as a 16-Year-Old 32:14

Play Pause

1d ago32:14

32:14

Emerging teenager Rylee Erisman joins the podcast to talk about her eight-medal performance at last month's World Junior Championships that resulted in her qualifying for the 2025-2026 U.S. National Team and the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships roster. Send us a textBy USA Swimming

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Brain Burning Decision Spaces and Castles of Mad King Ludwig 1:13:28

3d ago1:13:28

1:13:28

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 232 - Brain Burning Decision Spaces and Castles of Mad King Ludwig Pete and Brendan explore what types of games give us that satisf…

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Dice Are Nice 1:06:12

35m ago1:06:12

1:06:12

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 231 - Dice Are Nice Jake and Brendan present the fourth installment in our component series. This time, they dive deep into dice an…

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Expanding Root (Deep Dive Part 2) 1:54:43

6d ago1:54:43

1:54:43

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 230 - Expanding Root Pete and Brendan bring you the jumbo sized sequel to episode 219. We dig into the decision spaces of all six R…

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Trick-Taking With A Twist 1:12:36

13d ago1:12:36

1:12:36

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 229 - Trick-Taking With A Twist Pete and Paul dive deep into the twists behind the modern trick-taking renaissance. How have design…

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Apiary and Positive Player Interaction 1:03:06

21d ago1:03:06

1:03:06

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 228 - Apiary and Positive Player Interaction Jake and Pete do a semi deep dive on Apiary and follow it up with a sort of debate abo…

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All About Boards 1:10:46

28d ago1:10:46

1:10:46

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 227 - All About Boards Jake and Brendan continue our series on game components with a deep dive on BOARDS! What types of boards exi…

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Exploring Cardboard Worlds: Earthborne Rangers and Vantage with Dan Thurot 1:10:13

1M ago1:10:13

1:10:13

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 226 - Exploring Cardboard Worlds Special guest Dan Thurot of Space Biff joins Pete for a discussion about open worlds games. They g…

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Top Games of the 00's That Are Worth Playing in 2025 59:36

2M ago59:36

59:36

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 225 - Best Games of the 2000s In a bit of friendly competition, we attempt to draft the best set of games from the first decade of …

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Board Game Junk Food 1:07:09

2M ago1:07:09

1:07:09

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 224 - Board Game Junk Food The gang gets slightly unhinged this week discussing what is the board game equivalent of trashy TV. Als…

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An Ode to the Tile, the Best Component in Tabletop Gaming? 1:00:19

2M ago1:00:19

1:00:19

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 223 - Ode to the Tile In this quite academic episode, Paul goes into full teacher mode with Brendan to discuss the many ways differ…

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Episode 79: Story Time, Career Highlights, and What Led to Retirement for Lilly King 50:32

2M ago50:32

50:32

Leading into what will be the final professional meet of her career, three-time Olympian Lilly King joined Kick Set podcast to share some laughs and stories from her time in the sport. Send us a textBy USA Swimming

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What Have Pete and Jake Been Playing? 1:02:15

2M ago1:02:15

1:02:15

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 222 - What have we been playing? In this very chill episode, Jake and Pete discuss some recent plays of some new and old games. Lis…

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Player Count Problems and Solutions 1:14:43

2M ago1:14:43

1:14:43

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 221 - Balancing for Player Count (WWTA) A game development episode in which Pete, Paul, and Brendan ask the important questions: Wh…

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Mail Time! (Ask Us Anything) 1:16:57

3M ago1:16:57

1:16:57

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 220 - Listener Question Mailbag A loose episode in which Jake, Brendan, and Pete answer such hard hitting questions as: "Why do you…

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Root: the Greatest Game of All Time? 1:47:39

3M ago1:47:39

1:47:39

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 219 - Root Deep Dive (part 1) Buckle in for a long one! Pete and Brendan go DEEP on Cole Wehrle's Root. Did Brendan enjoy exploring…

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Lifestyle Games (What We Talk About) 1:13:29

3M ago1:13:29

1:13:29

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 218 - Lifestyle Games What we talk about when we talk about lifestyle games. Are they worth sinking all your time and money into? L…

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Episode 78: World Championships Head Coach Braden Holloway 46:56

4M ago46:56

46:56

Just before the start of the 2025 Toyota National Championships, coach Braden Holloway joined the podcast to discuss the outlook for his NC State swimmers and the U.S. as a whole before he leads the charge as U.S. head coach at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships. Send us a textBy USA Swimming

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The Wow Factor of Games 1:04:54

4M ago1:04:54

1:04:54

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 217 - The Wow Factor What makes you stop and say "wow" when playing a game? Listen to Jake workshop his newly patented "Six Kinds o…

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Innovation and Games without Guard Rails (Look Mom, No Hands!) 56:39

4M ago56:39

56:39

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 216 - Innovation and Games without Guard Rails (Look Mom, No Hands!) Look mom, no hands! Brendan and Pete are diving into a discuss…

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We Played Hot Games at Geekway To the West! (Featuring Laughing Table Friends' Luke Williams and Jared Ingersoll) 1:06:06

4M ago1:06:06

1:06:06

SUPPORT ST. LOUIS TORNADO RELIEF EFFORTS HERE - https://foodcitystl.org/ Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 215 - The Laughing Table Friends Played Hot Games at Geekw…

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Episode 77: How Olympic 50s of Stroke Events are Changing Michael Andrew's Outlook 26:46

4M ago26:46

26:46

Olympic gold medalist Michael Andrew joined Kick Set Podcast at the TYR Pro Swim Series Fort Lauderdale to discuss his season and the addition of 50s of stroke events to the LA28 Olympic program. Send us a textBy USA Swimming

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Top 10 Games of All Time (5 to 1) 1:19:26

4M ago1:19:26

1:19:26

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 214 - Top 10 Games of All Time of All Hosts in 2025 (5 to 1) We finish off our top 10 lists, counting down from 5 to 1! Timestamps …

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Top 10 Games of All Time (10 to 6) 1:24:10

5M ago1:24:10

1:24:10

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 213 - Top 10 Games of All Time of All Hosts in 2025 All four hosts are here to share the first half of our top 10 games of all time…

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Cooperation, Communication, and Vantage with Jamey Stegmaier 1:03:33

5M ago1:03:33

1:03:33

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 212 - Cooperation, Communication, and Vantage with Jamey Stegmaier Jamey Stegmaier, disc golf enthusiast, omni gamer, and president…

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Let's Duel! Toy Battle and Dueling Games 1:00:23

5M ago1:00:23

1:00:23

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 211 - Let's Duel! Toy Battle and Dueling Games Get back to basics with Jake and Brendan as we discuss how there are duel games and …

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Quintessential Pete and Paul Games 1:15:26

5M ago1:15:26

1:15:26

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 210 - Quintessential Pete and Paul Games Get to know the new Decision Space hosts tastes in games. In this episode, these two old f…

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F Is for Filler and Faraway 1:05:56

6M ago1:05:56

1:05:56

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 208 - F Is for Filler and Faraway This week's episode, hosted by Pete and featuring Brendan and Paul, asks the question, "Are fille…

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Episode 76: Open Water Olympian Mariah Denigan on NCAA Champs, Open Water Nationals 35:36

5M ago35:36

35:36

Paris Olympian Mariah Denigan joined Kick Set podcast fresh off of her senior-year performance at NCAA Championships. She discusses what it is like swimming at that meet, as well as some insight on open water swimming and her outlook towards Open Water National Championships. Send us a textBy USA Swimming

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This Episode Is Broken (Game Show) 1:06:09

6M ago1:06:09

1:06:09

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 208 - This Episode Is Broken Welcome back to another episode of Decision Space, the only game that takes place right here, between …

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RIP To 3 Dearly Beloved Board Games 1:04:41

6M ago1:04:41

1:04:41

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 207 - RIP To 3 Dearly Departed Board Games Brendan, Jake, and Pete each share a eulogy for one board game that they once loved, but…

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Can Games Be Mean? 1:05:01

6M ago1:05:01

1:05:01

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 206 - What We Talk About When We Talk About If Games Can Be Mean Pete, Brendan, and Jake debate whether games can be mean with our …

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Drawing Cards Is the Best Mechanism in Board Games (What We Talk About) 1:08:39

6M ago1:08:39

1:08:39

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 205 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Drawing Cards It's an OG host episode, with the twist that Jake made the notes for once…

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Expression in Board Games (What We Talk About) 1:03:39

7M ago1:03:39

1:03:39

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 204 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Expression in Board Games Brendan and Pete talk about expression in board games! The di…

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Episode 75: Georgia Associate Head Coach Mike Norment on Coaching Tips, Philosophy, Sets, and Stories 48:36

7M ago48:36

48:36

After growing up swimming for legendary PDR Swimming coach Jim Ellis, and eventually coaching the Olympic talents of Nic Fink and Luca Urlando, University of Georgia Associate Head Coach Mike Norment has a wealth of knowledge, experiences, and stories across all levels of the sport. Send us a textBy USA Swimming

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Types of Simultaneous Play and Fromage Deep Dive 1:16:06

7M ago1:16:06

1:16:06

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 203 - Fromage What the heck! The first episode ever with no Jake and no Brendan. It's up to Paul and Pete to lead the way, and they…

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Age of Innovation and Discussion on Sequels, Expansions, and Reimplementations 1:10:06

7M ago1:10:06

1:10:06

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 202 - Age of Innovation For the first time ever, it is Jake and Pete. We start with a discussion on Sequels, Expansions, Reimplemen…

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Action Points in Board Games (What We Talk About) 1:01:38

7M ago1:01:38

1:01:38

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 201 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Action Point Systems It's a throwback to the early days of Decision Space. Jake and Bre…

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Episode 200! Our Favorite Decisions in Board Games 1:15:42

8M ago1:15:42

1:15:42

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 200 - Our Favorite Board Game Decisions The big 200! We take the opportunity to share our favorite decisions in board games with al…

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Episode 74: U.S. National Junior Team Director Brendan Hansen Gives Advice To Next Generation 46:31

8M ago46:31

46:31

New U.S. National Junior Team Director Brendan Hansen shares some advice for emerging athletes and coaches on the latest episode of Kick Set podcast. Along with general swimming tips, he shares about the recent USA Swimming National Select Camp, how he came into his role as National Junior Team Director, and what his hopes are for the program and c…

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Shedding in Board Games (What We Talk About) and a Haggis Review 1:20:48

8M ago1:20:48

1:20:48

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 199 - Shedding Games and Haggis It's Pete, Paul, and Brendan this week discussing the shedding mechanism in board games before pivo…

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The Best 2024 Board Game Decisions and Games We Look Forward to in 2025 1:07:54

8M ago1:07:54

1:07:54

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 198 - The Best 2024 Board Game Decisions and Games We Look Forward to in 2025 Award season isn't over, at least not yet on Decision…

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Our Top 5 Kramer & Kiesling Games and Mexica Deep Dive 1:06:18

8M ago1:06:18

1:06:18

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 197 - Our Top 5 Kramer & Kiesling Games and Mexica Deep Dive It's Jake and Brendan again this week. We start off be each sharing ou…

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The State of Decision Space - Big News, Reflections, and the 2024 Listener List 56:32

9M ago56:32

56:32

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 196 - The State of Decision Space We like to start the new year by reflecting on the show, what we are doing here, and where we wan…

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RANKING ALL THE GAMES 2024: Year End Rank-A-Thon 1:18:08

9M ago1:18:08

1:18:08

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 195 - 2024 Year End Rank-a-thon It's the last episode of 2024, so that means it is time to rank all the games featured on Decision …

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Quintessential Brendan Games 1:13:26

9M ago1:13:26

1:13:26

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 194 - Quintessential Brendan Games Back after a short baby-hiatus, Decision Space returns with the one about Quintessential Brendan…

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Episode 73: Gretchen Walsh Joins Just Before Her Record-Breaking Showing at Short Course Worlds 32:50

9M ago32:50

32:50

Just before her history-making performance at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships (25m) in Budapest, Olympian Gretchen Walsh joined Kick Set podcast to talk about how she adjusted back to normal life following the Paris Olympics, her outlook towards 2025, and more. Send us a textBy USA Swimming

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Quick Show Update 1:03

9M ago1:03

1:03

Jake's family welcomed a baby, which is why the show was on a brief hiatus for last week and this week. Next week you can look forward to an episode on quintessential Brendan games, and following that, our year end ranking all the games episode. -JakeBy Jacob Frydman, Brendan Hansen

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Double Feature! Dracula vs Van Helsing / Castle Combo 59:29

10M ago59:29

59:29

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 193 - Dracula vs Van Helsing, Castle Combo Double Feature This double feature episode includes deep-dive reviews of Dracula vs Van …

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The 5 Types of Rules (What We Talk About) 1:19:03

10M ago1:19:03

1:19:03

Decision Space is the podcast about decisions in board games. Join our active and welcoming Discord community, Join the crew today! (Decision Space Patreon), or Leave us a review wherever you find this podcast! Episode 192 - What We Talk About When We Talk About the Five Types of Rules In this podcast, we've talked a lot about games, mechanisms, an…