STEPHEN BUONOCORE

Stephen Buonocore is a hobby game entrepreneur, game media personality, and game industry veteran, as well as a former financial services industry IT professional.

Buonocore is the retired founder, owner, and President of Stronghold Games, formed in 2009, which publishes high quality board and card games in the hobby game industry.

Stronghold Games and Indie Boards & Cards merged in mid-2018 to form Indie Game Studios, where Buonocore continued in his role as President of Stronghold Games, as well as in the role of Spokesperson for the merged company.

While President of Stronghold Games, Buonocore provided vision and guidance for hundreds of game titles, both developed within the company and in partnership with publishers around the world.

In mid-2020, Buonocore announced his retirement from Stronghold Games. In retirement, Buonocore rebranded with the moniker given to him by other hobby game podcasters, “The Podfather of Gaming”, and is found as such on his Youtube channel and other social media platforms.

Stephen Buonocore now mentors individuals from underserved groups within board gaming. Buonocore remains a high-profile, vocal advocate for the hobby game industry, and has appeared in interviews on television, radio, and numerous outlets to promote both his companies and the hobby game industry.

In his media role, Stephen Buonocore is the cohost of Board Games Insider, one of the most popular and longest-running hobby game audio and video podcasts. Board Games Insider is a member of the “Powered By Board Game Geek” media network.

Stephen Buonocore is also cohost of “The Quad” and “The Board Game Geek Show”, which are also on the Board Game Geek media network.

Buonocore is a board game designer as well, announcing in early 2023 that he had signed a board game design with Asmodee, the largest hobby board game company in the world.

In late 2023, Stephen Buonocore and over one dozen investors from the hobby board game industry announced the creation of a new hobby game publisher, PLAY TO Z, the President and COO of which would be the legendary hobby game figure, Zev Shlasinger. Buonocore serves as the Chairman of the Board of PLAY TO Z.

The company also announced that their first game would be “Ascending Empires: Zenith Edition”, a new edition of the highly acclaimed game. Buonocore serves on the Board of Directors for the “World Series of Board Gaming” (WSBG), an annual tournament-based event in Las Vegas, which awards over $100,000 each year in cash and prizes to the winners, crowning the World Champion of Board Gaming for the year.

Stephen Buonocore serves on the Board of Directors for the Arizona Astrobiology Center for Development (AABCD). The Arizona Astrobiology Center, a 501(c)(3) organization, is a hub for diverse scientific endeavors, providing bold and transformative dialogue to make astrobiology discoveries relevant to the experiences of all people on Earth.

Stephen Buonocore also has proven managerial skills and 35 years of diverse IT experience in the financial services industry managing a global infrastructure group, project managing all Infrastructure workstreams, directing outsourced relationships, analyzing business issues, creating operational processes and solutions, and designing a wide range of systems for various Fortune 500 companies.

SHOW SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY

5:00pm - 7:00pm: Beers with Buonocore at Barley’s

THURSDAY

11:00am - 12:00pm: Meet the Game Designers

3:00pm - 4:00pm: Meet the Game Designers

6:00pm - 7:00pm: Speed Gaming & Friending with Stephen Buonocore

FRIDAY

11:00am - 12:00pm: Meet the Game Designers

3:00pm - 4:00pm: Celebrity Werewolf Live!

6:30pm - 8:30pm: Pro-Am Game Jam hosted by UNPUB

SUNDAY

11:00am - 12:00pm: D&D: Celebrating 50 Years of Adventure and Imagination

*All activities and availabilities are subject to change