We Bought Too Many Games & a Pizza Oven...No Regrets

Holiday chaos meets game night comfort, and it turns out that’s the perfect combo. We swap stories from six Christmases, a last-minute MC gig, and a road trip wedding that turned into a used-game treasure hunt—then zero in on the party games and house rules that kept friends and family engaged without a heavy teach. If your living room is full and attention spans are short, this playbook is for you.

Clay breaks down why Challengers shines with big groups and how a quick demo can transform first-time players into tournament diehards in under an hour. Jared takes us through a host-tested lineup—Llama, For Sale, and Blokus—that warms up a room, balances luck and skill, and leaves space for conversation. Travis brings the chaos with Strike, the springy-dice arena game that thrives on laughter and table banter. We debate house rules—single-die precision versus throw-as-many-as-you-dare—and explain why both deliver a satisfying push-your-luck arc.

Between sessions, we raid McKay’s for used board games and talk smart collecting: small-box fillers that actually hit the table, evergreen party titles, and a few midweight gems you’ll be excited to teach. Then the show veers deliciously into pizza science. A propane pizza oven turns hosting into a rhythm game—preheat patience, the window test for dough, and semolina on the peel for a flawless launch. Pair rapid-fire pies with short games and you’ve got a pop-up pizzeria powered by laughter and easy rules.

We close with new acquisitions (hello, Kenizia), kid reactions to a parade of Santas, and a reminder that the best memories often come from simple tools used well. If you love board games, group hosting, or the pursuit of a perfect thin crust, this one’s packed with practical tips, house-rule debates, and cozy holiday energy. Enjoy the show, share it with a friend who hosts game nights, and don’t forget to subscribe and leave a quick review—what’s your go-to party game right now?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Welcome to the Operation Game Night Podcast. We are back, and better than ever, for episode 102, we're going over the fence. For those of you that don't know, we go over the fence periodically, which is where we talk about things that are not board game related, but today they might be because we have a lot to talk about. So joining me as always are my co-hosts, Clay and Jared. How you doing, boys? Hi, Travis.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Outstanding.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Outstanding. Did you guys have good breaks? We took uh hiatus for a while. And while this is unbeknownst to the listener, we like kind of recorded well in advance. We were actually prepared this time around. Yeah, we recorded ahead of time, we published, we sprinkled it throughout the break, and we were like lamp, we were out there lamping, and they were listening to podcasts like we were still here in studio or in the closet.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Yeah, we we were prepared, that's for sure. It's good to be back in the routine, though. Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Yeah, you know, Clay, he likes to keep it very missionary, straightforward, just right where it needs to be.

Break Recaps And Family Marathons

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Yep. So uh talk to me about what you guys did over your breaks. What did you play any games? Did you get to do anything cool? Just lay it on me. What have you guys been up to? Clay, you go first. Let's get started with Clay.

Clay’s Six Christmases And Challengers

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Oh, you know, moved back to Pennsylvania this year. Uh, people who have been listening know that it's been a big, big year for the Gable family, probably the most stressful year in my life. But we came back here, Pennsylvania is where our family is. So over these past couple weeks, we've been, you know, there's the movie Four Christmases with Vince Vaughn. Well, we managed to do six, maybe seven Christmases because you know we got the double divorce family going on, and then there's like separate grandparents that do their separate things. So, you know, we were in Downingtown, we were in Bedford, these are places in Pennsylvania for those who don't know the landscape. Uh, but yeah, we just stayed busy, lots of family events, but it was good. Got a lot of board games played, specifically when I was up at my mom's house for uh New Year's Eve. We were gaming like loons, so that was awesome. But yeah, and then we just had a few days where it was just pretty chill, like today, and got some chores done, put some lights up in our bathroom. Not well. Oh Mary Mary's gonna be calling Josh in to fix that. Um, but I tried. I tried, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Good job trying. Uh, quick off the top of your head, what were the highlights of your gaming session with uh your mom?

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Challengers. Okay, we played a six-player game of challengers, and I was stressed about it because it is a simple game, but logistically it seemed a little stressful. So I did do quite a bit of reading and setting up and did a demo round for the six people we were playing with, and I loved it. I was like, this is pretty cool. Like it it literally does like make a tournament in you know, like 40 minutes. You go, you play seven battles and see who wins. And I I think it's cool. I'm excited to play it again. And it does play up to eight players, so I would like to really test my medal and see if I can make it work.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

You played the original or beach cup?

SPEAKER_00 3:33

The OG.

Jared’s MC Gig And Near Game Night

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Okay. Auto battlers, man. They're back, they're back and better than ever. Uh Jared, let me hear it. What have you been up to?

SPEAKER_02 3:44

So, I mean, we haven't done an over the fence in a long time. Well, you haven't. I just wanna just wanna say it feels good to be over the fence with you guys outside of our base, you know. So I'm gonna hit you with lots of things, I guess. Not too many things, but I did get the wonderful opportunity to be the MC at my Christmas party. Uh uh that went well. They also made me in charge of the uh holiday video slash skit. It was a skit supposed to be performed live at the holiday party, but I parlayed it into a video where I was able to edit it. Um, so I'm just saying OGN has helped me in so many facets of my life. I've been able to project my voice so much better. Not that I wasn't quiet before. Um, I can still, you know, yell across the room. Um but that was I had a blast doing that. And I was uh one of the lucky ducks who got selected to go to the commanders football game on Christmas Day. Nice. I got free tickets to Commanders as they played uh the Cowboys. Yep. And they went it went all the way down to last minute and they lost, but they kept it close, so that's good. But I had my in-laws in town. Um almost got a board game played. That's that's the big news.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Almost. He came close.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

But um I will be playing, I will be playing Star Wars deck builder with Cole soon.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

We'll see.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

Send him the video. It is in his it's in his uh house. Okay. His birthday's coming up real soon.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Okay, so is that the sixth?

SPEAKER_01 5:44

It's Tuesday. Yeah, so maybe maybe let's not disclose the birthdays of our friends on the RC.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Yeah, it's yeah, I didn't say how old he is.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cut that, cut that, cut that, cut that. We don't know the year.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

Uh I'm it's a pseudonym. His name isn't even that. He's 38/immortal.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Uh yeah. Uh Operation Almost Game Night. That is uh the name of the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

So I almost got it in there, but didn't. But no, it was we had a great break. Um and Gemma, the highlight of what Gemma got for her Christmas was something we got for free off of Facebook. So I don't even think I need to buy anything for Christmas anymore. I just need to find little things off you know, Facebook Marketplace. So I don't know if they got that where you guys are at, but uh we have a buy nothing group. I think I've talked about this here.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

But you love that buy nothing group, dude.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

I scour that buy nothing, but I also give back, I gave back a uh a dollhouse today. Um, but I only gave back the dollhouse because I found a different dollhouse that was free, just sitting on the side of the road. Someone put a sign on it, but geez, anyways, you know, what can you do?

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Man, what a what a huge letdown. You like we're all teasing us ahead of time, like, oh, I'm gonna talk about this game night. Oh, I'll let you know, and then you played no games. That's great.

Actual Game Night: Llama, For Sale, Blokus

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Okay, okay, so I did have a legit game night last night. Okay, so brought over some friends, um and I made some it wasn't smash burgers, but just some burgers on the on the Blackstone. Um, they did, they were required to play the first game that was hit the table, actually hit the floor, was Horse Orchard with Gemma, obviously. Great, yeah. Uh while you know, she was just warming them up. And uh we had a good dinner. Started off with some llama, obviously. Perfect little get people warmed up, uh, and they're loving it. Okay. Yeah. Uh I definitely got throttled the whole time. Um, I always wait too long. I'm like, nah, I'd like I'll just go out now.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Draw one more time.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Yeah, and or like I just I or I draw one more time and then someone else goes out. Oh, yeah, it's just a bad timing. And then play for sale, which great auction, reverse auction. Yep. Um, and then block us. Yeah. Uh block us. I think we talked about that one a while ago, but that one's just easy because you can just keep chatting and you just got your little uh little tetraominess little tetra things and just trying to put them down. And but then it gets really fun at the end where you're trying to where can you slip in and you can squirt through over here and sneak out this way. And oh yeah, very satisfying. Yeah, that one's good. Oh yeah. But nice, Travis.

Travis’s Wedding Trip And Strike

SPEAKER_01 8:54

What you were traveling around a bunch. Traveled, yeah. My brother got married up in Tennessee, so we drove up there and I brought a whole truck full of games, and we played a whole bunch of games. Um, and the highlight of those was strike. I brought all sorts of games, and the like one that is literally just rolling dice into a little arena was the one that was the hit. That's the that's like the wavelength that my family's on is strike, which effectively affectionately became known as the pirate game in my house. Has nothing to do with pirates whatsoever, but the dice do have uh little Xs on them, and the X's were like little pirate X's on a treasure map for them.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Yeah, they do kind of look like that, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Uh, but that game is a hoot. Jared, have you played strike? That's a that's a jerry game. That's a jerry game. That's a jared ass game. Yeah, yeah. You just roll, you like pick up as many dice as you want and chuck it into an arena that is kind of a little bit springy. It's got a little like foam mat on the bottom, yeah. And so you can chuck it to try and like knock the other dice around. Anything that flies out of the arena is done. Anything that stays in the arena, any matches you get, you get back. And the last person to have dice remaining wins. It is like you can chuck massive matches, talk, yeah, talk about anything and have some drinks and chuck some dice, and oh yeah, yeah, it's a that's a Jared game.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Okay. Wait a second. Um, have I been playing this game wrong? Do you you can pick up as many dice as you want to throw in? I thought you go one at a time.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Oh, that's how we played.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Maybe it's more fun that time or as many as you want.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

We played it uh one, we played it as many as you want. Oh, which is a little bit of like press your luck. Like if I'm about to go out and there's like four dice in the arena, if I pick up every dice, every die that I have remaining, and I chuck it into the arena, I have a higher probability of getting some dice back, but you're also taking the risk. So that's how we that's how we play.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

I well, how we play is you roll one in, if you get matches, take them out, you're done. But if you don't get any matches, you can pick another dice up and roll it in. Oh, and then if you don't get matches, then you can keep rolling one at a time in to try and get matches. I think effectively they accomplish the same goal.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yeah, they both seem like valid ways to play that game, yeah. Yeah, but it felt better to chuck like 10 dice in there all at once than one.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

I'm gonna consider that.

House Rules And Dice Mayhem

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Yeah, may it be a house rule, but uh yeah, that's how we ended up playing, and it was great. So yeah. Uh, and then I wanted to shout out in Knoxville, Tennessee, and across Tennessee, there are these stores called McKay's. And McKay's are used books, movies, CDs, vinyl, uh video games, uh musical instruments, and last but not least, board games. Used board games. What huge, huge collection of used board games all splayed out there, and I walked away with way too many games from there uh to include I mean you had the truck, yeah. I mean, why not? Like, I just didn't drive it down, so that's why you brought it. Yeah, and then like I I had a couple of games. I'm walking around kind of hemming and hawing, like, oh, do I really want these? Do I need these? I bought them, but then you go into the checkout line, and there's more small box games right there. And I picked up at least three more small box games in the checkout line, so yeah, lots of uh pre procurements, and then uh last but not least, got myself a new solo stove pizza oven. Talk about this for a minute, Jerry. Yes, I unboxed this thing and had it fired up and cooking a pizza in like less than 30 minutes. Um, I like ran to the publics down the street just to go buy like the ingredients that I needed, rushed back here, fired it up. First pie, I was so excited. I threw it in there prematurely, didn't let it like fully preheat. It's okay, it was a practice one. Yeah, um, but yeah, that thing is amazing. It cooks a pie in like 30 seconds. Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Propane, right? Yeah, is it propane, right?

Used Game Hauls And McKay’s Finds

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Okay, I kind of hemmed and hawed about like, you know, do I get like the dual uh fuel one that can do wood or propane? Yeah, do I get like what would what's right for me right now? And what's right for me right now is being able to plug one of the many propane tanks that I have and just sling some pie. So that's that's where I'm at.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Did you make your own dough or did you go get the dough from the supermarket?

SPEAKER_01 13:36

I bought the dough from the supermarket. It was pre-made dough. They by their deli, they have pre-made packages of like raw dough. But it's like, yeah, it's Publix made dough. And some of them are seasoned, some of them are like have herbs and stuff. Yes, that's where I'm at right now. Uh, and I need to consult with the master about uh, you know, the recipe, and maybe we'll do that offline so that I think the people need to know okay, let your dough rise.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

Yeah you gotta you gotta let it rise, you gotta let it mature. You gotta let I mean the most important part about this whole experience. I got me, I got me a pizza oven myself. Yeah, I've perfected making sure that the crust is so thin you can almost see through it. The window test. The window test very important. You can see the light, but you don't want it too thin that it will when you throw the pie in, it breaks off, or then you're just pissed because there's ingredient, there's just pizza sauce burning in the middle of your thousand-degree oven. Okay, it's very stressful, and everybody's hungry inside. You can feel the pressure, and it's all on you in this peel, and you're trying to spin this pizza pie around. But that was probably the most important thing I ever learned. And then making sure that there's enough flour underneath underneath the peel, underneath the pie. Those are my two, those are my two hot takes. That's what I need.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

I remember when you first got your oven in Colorado, and you're like, hey, we're having a pizza party, and those first couple were just like testers, like we could not get that thing off.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

It was tough.

The Pizza Oven Obsession Begins

SPEAKER_01 15:08

I had zero issue. I bought like a bamboo peel and a little like metal turner. Yes, zero issue, semolina flour on there, and then it slid like butter, no issues, no stickage, nothing tore off. So I I had a higher chance of success, but that was only because I've thrown some pizza pizzas with you before. So I yeah, just need to start making my own dough and uh just quit my day job and start my own pizzeria with my solo stove pizza oven.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

So well, join me. I I think my retirement plan maybe get an orchard. And uh what are you saying? Oh boy. Oh my god, if I hear about this orchard, one more yeah, some pies, event space, brewery, it's all right there. Boom.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Board game shop, board game cafe, bringing sling and pies, we're recommending games, rugby fields, porn drinks there, rugby field for some reason.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Anyway, anyway, you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Yeah, pick your own apples. Yeah, that sounds great. Yeah, all a one-stop shop.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Did I have a question for the group? Yes. How many times or did you see Santa this break?

SPEAKER_01 16:21

No, no, no, uh, so we did not see Santa, but uh he is here at the East Chase Mall in Montgomery. Oh my and I walked past his hut many times as we fought the crowds. No, we did not go visit Santa Claus. Baby Gwen has not seen Santay, huh? She doesn't she can go oh oh oh and like pat her stomach. Uh uh, but you know, where you want to take her when she can have a small appreciation for who she's sitting on the lap of all the time. So yes, yeah.

Dough Tips, Peel Tricks, Semolina Wins

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Hey, uh we saw a couple Santa's myself. Uh so I made up for everybody in the in the closet here. Um, because we saw Santa at the YMCA. Great. Uh horrible Wi-Fi, but great Santa Claus. Uh and then we saw another Santa at a it was a specific Santa uh event where all you can eat breakfast at a cidery uh and it was amazing. Santa Claus was top-notch, his boots were perfect leather, his beard was real beard, it was incredible. Um, and then she also saw the Grinch sample. Um so I did sneak off to Pennsylvania and I I just for a quick 30 minutes I went and said hi to Clayton. Um and then you know, went to Sheets, did my normal things that I do in Pennsylvania, and then I went to do a hotel stay away, and inside the hotel, awesome um indoor water park, like a little splash pad, indoor splash pad, perfect for the cold winter months. Um, but in the morning they had a Grinch Santa that was just randomly in the lobby. Like I was I was not prepared for this, and neither was Gemma. She was a little like, what the hell's happening right now? The Grinch is here. I like them on TV, but not here. Really? Um yeah, but the Grinch wasn't like a it wasn't like a good Grinch where like the face was painted and they're like talking to you like and being like rowdy and being kind of like abrasive and stuff. I like those kind of Grinches. It was a mask. This was kind of a voyeur, had the mask on, was kind of just like sitting there, wasn't was being quiet, didn't say anything. Don't like it. Yeah, I didn't like it either. So maybe Gemma was playing off my vibes. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

We we got a box in the mail from uh Rachel's family, and I opened it up, and it was a Grinch costume, and the mask was laying on top, and I opened it up to this like yellow eyes staring back at me and jumped out of my skin. Uh oh my god, I'm I'm gonna like I need to post a picture of me wearing this mask on our Instagram because it is horrifying, it's so scary. Um, but did that cause like any sort of conflict with Gemma, like seeing so many Santas all over the place?

SPEAKER_00 19:25

No, I mean she's not questioning it.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

No, she's still good with it. She's every man is Santa. So yeah, Santa was at he was at the YMCA, we saw him there. It wasn't like you look different, like no, yeah. She's she just seems to be almost there. She's almost right.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Yeah, it's like a it's like the Yankees uniform, like the Yankees win because the opponent's looking at the stripes. Like Santa looks the same to every kid because they're just looking at the red suit.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Uh that must Clayton, you got some Christmas money, I'm assuming. I did. You got Any games that you have your eye on for the very first game of Christmas?

Santa Sightings And Grinch Fails

SPEAKER_00 20:05

My eye on? You act like I still have this Christmas money. I mean, I have a little information on my birthday, but I I've already made quite a few procurements. Alright, what'd you pro procure? Uh Battle of Hoth. Okay, great. Clank Catacombs. Yep. I went to the um CMYK website and picked up a few more of the magenta line. I did too. I was actually pretty excited about those. And then I this was a big one. I went a little crazy on the All Play website after talking to Tiff and freaking Mike. They are banned from the podcast from here on out because I ended up buying Flock Together and um Gazebo. Mike's been freaking crowing on about that. Uh so I figured I'd better try that out. And then I threw some other games in there that looked interesting to me from from All Play. So yes, I have spent the birthday. Oh, and then I bought another Kenizia game on eBay called Blue Moon City. Oh, yeah. It's like a dueling card game that people some people like. So I was like, you know what? I'm a Kenizia guy at this point. We're we're all in on the Kenizia bandwagon. We might pivot to Operation Kenizia night. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Yeah. Yeah. Operation Kenizia fan club. Yeah. Oh nice. Awesome. Be to compete with Nick. Should we go back over the fence? Should we go?

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Let's return back over the fence. Uh thank you for joining us for the Operation Game Night Podcast. Uh, if you are new, thank you for joining us. Be sure to like and subscribe. Leave us a comment. Visit us on Instagram at Operation Game Night Podcast. Uh, but if you're a returning guest, welcome and thank you for sticking with us. I have been Travis, he has been Clay, he has been Jared. This has been Operation Game Night. We're out.