Tabletop TogetherFrom Audience to Community: Patrick Hepner on Building The Level Up Board Game Podcast
What’s the difference between having people who listen to you and having people who genuinely feel like they belong?
In this episode of Find Your Table, I sit down with Patrick Hepner, co-host of The Level Up Board Game Podcast, to talk about what it takes to turn a podcast audience into an actual tabletop community.
Patrick has been gaming for roughly 25 years. After spending much of that time playing competitive Magic: The Gathering, board games became an increasingly important part of his gaming life. Today, Level Up doesn’t just talk about games; it actively involves its listeners through community discussions, polls, listener-submitted audio, Discord conversations, meetups, and opportunities to actually get games to the table together.
We talk about:
- How Patrick got into tabletop gaming
- The early days of The Level Up Board Game Podcast
- The difference between building an audience and building a community
- How Level Up encourages listeners to become active participants
- Taking online relationships into real-world game nights and meetups
- Making established gaming communities welcoming to new people
- What creators can do to avoid cliques and encourage genuine connections
- Lessons Patrick has learned after years of podcasting and community building
- What Tabletop Together can learn from communities like Level Up
- And, of course, what Patrick has been playing lately
At the heart of the conversation is a question that sits at the center of everything we’re building with Find Your Table:
When does a group of people who enjoy the same hobby actually become a community?
Official Website
Level Up Board Game Podcast
Listen on Spotify
The Level Up Board Game Podcast on Spotify
Listen on Apple Podcasts
The Level Up Board Game Podcast on Apple Podcasts
Podbean / Episode Archive
Level Up on Podbean
Instagram
@level_up_game_podcast
Facebook
Level Up Board Game Podcast
BoardGameGeek Guild
Level Up Board Game Podcast Guild #3722
Contact / Review Requests
Contact Level Up
Level Up also actively promotes its Discord community for episode discussion, meetup planning, listener interaction, and gaming sessions; you can access it through their official show links.
🎲 Find Your Table. Build Your Community.
Find Your Table is presented by Tabletop Together, a platform being built to help tabletop gamers find local players, discover and host game nights, connect with gaming communities, and get more games off the shelf and onto the table.
Find Patrick & The Level Up Board Game Podcast