1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:05,800 Hey, and welcome to episode 152 of Meeple to Meeple on today's 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:08,720 episode. This is number 9 in my content 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:16,079 creator community series. Now, joining me today is someone 4 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:20,920 who can narrate your rule book, DM your campaign, and still beat 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:25,000 you at your own Euro game with Bartik flair. 6 00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:26,800 You've likely seen him on screen. 7 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:31,160 You've heard him in movies and video games, and now he's out 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,680 here performing dramatic monologues about worker 9 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:39,320 placement like it's Shakespeare in the Park, if the park had a 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,440 board game Cafe and a shelf of meeples organized by emotional 11 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,040 trauma. His His IMDb profile is longer 12 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,920 than a Kickstarter launch page translated from three different 13 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,440 languages, and his Instagram proves he's the only human alive 14 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:01,800 who can deliver flavor text like he's fresh off Broadway. 15 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,519 Today we are talking storytelling, gaming, 16 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,880 creativity, and maybe how do you deliver a soul crushing 17 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:13,680 monologue from the perspective of a meeple who got left in the 18 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,320 box? And I'm, I'm sorry to say I'm 19 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:18,760 that sad little meeple left in the box today. 20 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,200 It's Lincoln. Hope the board game barred 21 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:24,560 himself. Lincoln, how are you? 22 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:27,480 I'm doing great. That was the greatest 23 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:31,840 introduction I've ever heard. Oh, thank you, thank you. 24 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:36,480 That one was easy, but you have you had so much information. 25 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:40,560 I was like, oh man, I gotta you know it was it was it was 26 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:42,360 seamless. So thanks. 27 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:44,640 Thanks. I gotta work on delivery though. 28 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:47,240 No, it was great. It was great. 29 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:50,600 So thanks for joining me. I appreciate it, and I'm really 30 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:52,880 looking forward to hearing your story. 31 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,280 We've been talking with content creators throughout the board 32 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,080 game community. I've been fortunate enough to 33 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:03,080 talk with a creators of various experience. 34 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:04,720 I've had some who've been around for a while. 35 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,160 I've had some who've I didn't even realize had only been doing 36 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,920 this for like less than a year, which was really, really 37 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:16,920 interesting. What was the first game you ever 38 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:19,480 played as a kid? I remember playing Chutes and 39 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:25,720 Ladders, I remember playing Clue Life, and I didn't really grab 40 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,960 onto games until I first played Dungeons and Dragons when I was 41 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,880 about 11:00. I was like, there's a whole 42 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:36,800 world of other stuff besides these games that aren't very fun 43 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,560 or interesting. So it's funny that you mentioned 44 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:41,600 the game of life in a few weeks ago. 45 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:46,840 I had Jackie Fox on by the designer of Rock Hard 1977 and 46 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,920 she, she made the comment that, you know, one of her games she 47 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:53,000 played as a kid was the game of life. 48 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:58,800 And that taught her was not to go to college, get married or 49 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:03,320 have children. That's hilarious, and her 50 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,560 rock'n'roll career proved that you can do that right. 51 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,160 Yeah, and then and not only that, she ended up she even she 52 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,280 even she confesses that she ended up getting married at one 53 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:16,400 point. She did go to college because 54 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:18,280 she became a lawyer. Yeah. 55 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:20,280 Yeah. Is that it's crazy. 56 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,080 It's just amazing. And what I love about the gaming 57 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:26,320 community, right. It was like we come from all 58 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,640 backgrounds. It's so true, yes, so true. 59 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:33,880 Even even designers, you know, I'm designing a game and my 60 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:39,040 design partner does trainings like tutoring and teaching. 61 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,880 It's it's crazy. There's so many people doing so 62 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:44,800 many different things. So many things, so many things. 63 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,600 And then and then I just recently learned that you're 64 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,160 from Springfield, IL, which is where I live now. 65 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:53,200 I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that. 66 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,120 It's like people are from here. Yeah, I lived there. 67 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,240 I was born there. And then we packed up and moved 68 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:01,840 to New Jersey, and I lived there until college. 69 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,160 Yeah. Wow, that's awesome. 70 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:08,200 So I imagine that's when you were introduced to Dungeons and 71 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:10,000 Dragons was College in New Jersey? 72 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:15,520 No, I was, I was 11 and I, we lived in New Jersey. 73 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:20,000 I went to stay with my grandparents by myself, which I 74 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,480 don't recommend as a 10 or 11 year old, right. 75 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:25,960 And there was just, it was, I had nothing to do. 76 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:29,720 I had no friends for like 3 months and some neighbors 77 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:32,280 invited me over. They said come play this game 78 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:35,960 with us and it was Dungeons and Dragons and it totally blew my 79 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,680 mind. I can't remember if it was like, 80 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:45,760 I think it was advanced D&D was the current current one. 81 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,680 And then anyway, that's like first or second edition or one, 82 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:51,440 yeah, or something. Like that, Something like that. 83 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:54,400 Yeah. I didn't get into Dungeons and 84 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:56,520 Dragons until I was in high school. 85 00:04:56,840 --> 00:05:02,000 It was about 17 and this was 3.5, I think. 86 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:04,560 Yeah, yeah, is when I got into it. 87 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:06,480 Yeah. Didn't know what it was doing. 88 00:05:06,840 --> 00:05:10,240 I was like, wait, I have a piece of look like a scantron, right, 89 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,320 With all the bubbles, you're filling in circles. 90 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:16,760 And I'm like, what are we doing? Yeah, it's so it's so complex. 91 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,600 Well, that one was particularly complex. 92 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:24,320 I mean, I've enjoyed board games more since I've, since I've 93 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:26,920 started playing, Yeah, board games. 94 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,080 And of course you get with a great group and it's very, it 95 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,320 can be very theatrical and, and that's fun. 96 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:37,040 And like, you know, board games can't compete with that as far 97 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:41,520 as having an easy to set up, pained, amazing experience in a 98 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,880 short period of time. I'll I'll go for a board game 99 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:49,000 just about any day. Yeah, I, I would argue that if 100 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:52,040 I'm at your, if I'm at your tabletop, if I'm, I'm, I'm 101 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,680 playing a game with you, it's going to be more theatrical, 102 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,480 like D&D. Yeah, right. 103 00:05:57,480 --> 00:05:59,560 I, I love, I love to tell the story. 104 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,040 My favorite game of all time is A Game Obsession by Dan 105 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:05,600 Halligan. And I love to. 106 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,800 So if you and I and whoever's playing right, and let's say 107 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,400 you're the Yorks, I'm the Howards, our opponent is playing 108 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,400 another family. And they, you know, they go 109 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,360 through their they play their cards and do their events right, 110 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,880 whatever and they bring. And one of the cards is a guess 111 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,800 is American Heiress. And I look to you and I'm like, 112 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,040 and I'm whatever the Lord of your family is. 113 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,120 I mean, have you heard what's going on across the way at the 114 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,080 Cavendish home? You hear that, American heiress? 115 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:33,800 They had afternoon tea in their Grizzy. 116 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:36,160 Yeah. I've got a role play when it's 117 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:37,480 not my turn. Yeah, we. 118 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:41,520 Played one of the early games that I played as a family, 119 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:47,520 probably sometime around between 2017 and 2020. 120 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:49,920 Yeah, we played Sheriff of Nottingham. 121 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:52,720 Well, that's a good one. I don't know how it happened, 122 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:56,280 but everyone started playing characters and like when we were 123 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,640 negotiating, you know, it was like my daughter started doing 124 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:03,000 this crazy voice and then we all started doing this voice. 125 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,480 It was so fun. It added so much to the game. 126 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:11,240 And you know, it's a fun game, but we still remember that one 127 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,520 time where we're all role played. 128 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,640 Right. 7-8 years ago. It's like so memorable. 129 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,480 Yeah, so fun. So when did when did you get 130 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,200 into the modern gaming hobby and what was the first game that got 131 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:31,480 you into it? Great question, so I remember 132 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,360 going into game stores looking for dungeons and Dragons dice. 133 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:39,640 And. And I always like what are all 134 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:44,520 these games? And I specifically had an 135 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:49,880 impression that said don't unless you want to buy so many 136 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:51,360 of these. Because they were. 137 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:57,280 Bridges like the art, and I obeyed that voice that said to 138 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,760 not dive in. Years later I was doing a 139 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:05,240 broadcast show, a Dungeons Dragons Twitch show, and we were 140 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,720 recording right next to a hobby store. 141 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:11,160 I went in. It was just like, man, this 142 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:14,760 looks amazing. And I found out that, you know, 143 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,400 Wizards of the Coast had a game, I think it was. 144 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:23,400 It was either rock paper wizard was dungeon mayhem. 145 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:26,960 OK, So I picked it up, you know, just because it was D&D 146 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,440 adjacent. Yeah, new Wizards of the Coast. 147 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,440 And so we got that. But it's a, you know, it's a 148 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:38,440 kind of a really light game and my family and I loved it. 149 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:44,360 And that kind of started like, well, what's another kind of 150 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:48,920 game that's kind of similar? And so it all just kind of 151 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,760 snowballed from there. We had played Catan with some 152 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:57,000 friends several times, but it was so isolated that I didn't 153 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,400 know you could go into a game store and buy that and other 154 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:01,920 games. So it's just like, come over, 155 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,560 we'll play this game called Settlers of Catan. 156 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:09,560 And, and so I enjoyed that, but we played it every time we went 157 00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:12,160 over their house and it kind of got old really fast. 158 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:15,480 But you know, at first I really enjoyed it. 159 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,200 It's just, it was never like, let me go out and buy my own 160 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:20,760 copy or let's go out and buy something similar. 161 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:24,800 So it was kind of branching out from Dungeons and Dragons that 162 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,640 opened everything up. But what really changed 163 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,640 everything was COVID. Sure. 164 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:35,760 Like we, I had maybe 20, 20 modern board games, but when 165 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,560 curvid hit and everyone, all my kids came home from college and, 166 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:43,720 and from where all these places where they were, we started 167 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:48,520 ordering like what's a Star Wars game the boys will play? 168 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:53,320 And so we started going on Amazon and like ordering games 169 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:57,560 and that's what it was like. These are amazing. 170 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:02,120 So I was buying so many games. It was, it was crazy. 171 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,560 Yeah. So very quickly went to about 172 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:07,720 100 games, you know, just in the first, I don't know, maybe it 173 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,640 was the first year of COVID. We were just like we were 174 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,560 buying, I was buying them almost faster than we could play them 175 00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:17,480 like two or three times, you know, You know, you know as well 176 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:23,480 as I do right now, it's like I'm buying 3-4 games at a time and 177 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:26,040 then they sit on the shelf and you don't even get to them. 178 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:30,200 Like, I didn't even know. I I remember the first time when 179 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:34,400 I found out like there was a shelf of shame, I was like, I 180 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,160 was telling someone like, I have like 10 games I haven't even 181 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:39,640 played yet and they're like, oh, you're shelf of shame. 182 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,200 And I was like, what shelf of shame? 183 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,120 Yeah, we all have them. Yes. 184 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:46,840 It's like, wow, I, I thought it was just me. 185 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:51,160 And I much now prefer to call it shelf of opportunity. 186 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,280 That's so much better of a term. We haven't. 187 00:10:55,280 --> 00:11:01,880 We had an entire episode dedicated to how to manage your 188 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,560 unplayed games different and we shared different strategies. 189 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:08,120 So it was like I. Need to watch that episode like 190 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:09,880 immediately. You really do. 191 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:11,200 But here's what I'm going to tell you. 192 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:12,520 This is going to help you to find it. 193 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:15,400 It is not the shelf of shame. We really wanted to get away 194 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:17,440 from that. There should be no shame, right? 195 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:19,400 We want to get away from that. And then there's the 196 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:21,000 opportunity. Yes, that's true. 197 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,080 But then I could argue all my board games are an opportunity. 198 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:27,200 And then there was like the the shelf of shopper tunity is like, 199 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:30,400 yeah, OK, that's cute, but that means you're shopping for more 200 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:35,120 games. But because in my professional 201 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:38,720 life, I'm an archivist, it was really easy. 202 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:40,520 I was like, you know what it's called? 203 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:44,880 It's your board game. Backlog, yeah, yeah. 204 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,680 And that is what I call it when I talk to creators. 205 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:50,480 I'm like, so what's your backlog like? 206 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:52,360 And they know what I'm talking about. 207 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:55,000 Even if they haven't seen the episode, they know they know 208 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,520 what I'm talking about. Yeah, I, I will give you, I'll 209 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:00,280 give you a tip that may or may not help you. 210 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:05,960 So my wife and I, we were both gamers when we met each other, 211 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:10,080 got married and we've been together, been together for 18 212 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:15,680 years, married for 16. We try to play every game in our 213 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:19,240 collection a minimum of once per calendar year. 214 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:24,040 I love that. We are currently at 90.9%. 215 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,160 Wow. Played for 2025. 216 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,640 Holy cow. Now here's something really 217 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,720 interesting and unintentional that came out of this. 218 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:37,320 We've been doing this for about four years now. 219 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:45,160 We have discovered that 300 is the number we try to maintain a 220 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:49,600 collection of 300 games, no more, no less. 221 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:53,200 Although that sometimes fluctuates obviously, but that's 222 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:55,920 where we try to keep our collection is about 300. 223 00:12:56,120 --> 00:13:00,160 Because if you got 1000 or more, that plan's never going to work. 224 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:01,720 Yeah. You know it's. 225 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:03,360 True. It's true. 226 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:06,360 But if you've got a family that's playing with you, then 227 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,120 you could do it. Yeah, it's pretty great. 228 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:14,160 I mean, I almost never play with other groups and it's not it. 229 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:16,560 It's just because I've got my family here, right? 230 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:19,720 It's so easy. I enjoy playing with them and 231 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:21,200 I'm not against playing with other people. 232 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:23,120 That's true. That's what we do when we go to 233 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,400 conventions. Like I'm like so fun to play 234 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,760 with other people. But it's also it's hard to 235 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:31,200 schedule stuff. It's much easier to say, hey, 236 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,240 let's play right now. Right now, Yep. 237 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:35,760 And there we go. That's funny that you mentioned 238 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:37,320 that. I I love that you and your wife 239 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,200 were both into board games already, because my wife before 240 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:45,920 we met, had always played board games growing up much more often 241 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,920 than I had, OK. And I don't think she had played 242 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,960 any really serious modern board games, But when we first got 243 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:54,880 married, she was always like, let's play some games. 244 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:56,960 I was like, I don't want to play board games. 245 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:02,400 And that was me, right? And, and it took me discovering 246 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,640 them by myself, like I every Christmas I would get her a 247 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,600 board game and then I would be forced to play it with her. 248 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,680 You know, I knew I knew I was buying into this, but I knew 249 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:13,080 that's one of the things she wanted. 250 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:15,960 Sure. But but I was buying these board 251 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:18,760 games from, you know, Walmart or something where it's just like, 252 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,840 here's the board game aisle. And it was just kind of, you 253 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:26,640 know, mass market games. And, and she still loves playing 254 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:31,640 games, but I exhaust her with how often I want to play. 255 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:36,200 Like I want to play non-stop. I want to play games, games, 256 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:38,680 games, games. And you know, I, I have 257 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:42,200 reviewing responsibilities and Kickstarter preview 258 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:45,400 responsibilities. And although it's great, you get 259 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:49,640 to play the play a new game to learn the game, then you have to 260 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:54,960 spend, you know, 2-3 days, four days, whatever it is on the 261 00:14:54,960 --> 00:15:00,640 production side, which is much less fun in one way, but I 262 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:05,000 enjoy, I enjoy filmmaking. So it's also good, but it's 263 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:10,560 it's, it's less fun than playing games, so. 264 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:15,840 That lends me to a question. So I've got to ask How do you 265 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:21,480 maintain your joy pushing through all those review 266 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,280 responsibilities? Because I have conversations all 267 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:28,880 the time with content creators and you hear them talk about I 268 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,640 don't even get to play games I want to anymore because I'm 269 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:33,760 playing games for review purposes. 270 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:35,880 It's a relationship, yeah. Sure. 271 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:40,160 What do you do to maintain that level of joy that you want to go 272 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:42,800 to the get to the table all the time? 273 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:50,320 Well, first of all, I try to only request or accept games 274 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:52,200 that I really think I'm going to enjoy. 275 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:54,920 So I. Gatekeep. 276 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,600 I gatekeep reviews as much as possible, much more so now than 277 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,400 I used to, because there's just not enough time. 278 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:07,240 There's just not enough time. So I'm I'm setting myself up for 279 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,400 joy. And one of the reasons I was 280 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:14,880 buying so many games during COVID is because I love, love, 281 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:18,080 love, love the experience of playing a new game. 282 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:21,120 I love it as much as learning it. 283 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,280 Like especially with heavy games, but learning can be 284 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,680 really tedious, but the excitement of discovering how it 285 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:33,840 works and like that second play, you know, with the complex game, 286 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:39,000 like half or 3/4 of the way through, you're like, I think I 287 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:39,920 get it. It's too. 288 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:41,200 Right to. Win. 289 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:44,440 And then on that second game, it's still new, it's still 290 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:49,640 exciting, but you're like, yes, I love that new experience. 291 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:54,080 So I really love getting and playing new games and the 292 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:58,440 bottleneck is time. The bottleneck is so much time. 293 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:04,000 But I, I also have a very childlike love of playing games. 294 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:08,520 Like my wife is like, I don't like this game as much and I'm 295 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:11,839 like, you haven't played it enough or she, she's like, this 296 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:14,400 is not a good game. And I'm like, but the thing here 297 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:18,599 where you're doing this, like I can really appreciate 1 mechanic 298 00:17:18,599 --> 00:17:22,680 in a game that may not be great, but like, I'm like, this 299 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:26,880 mechanic is great and I love it. And if the art is great, it's 300 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:31,200 like, I love this game even though, you know, I'll look it 301 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:35,040 up on BGG and it's like, oh, it's like not rated very well. 302 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:38,560 What's wrong with me that I like it so much, you know, but I 303 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:43,520 just, I I'm able to enjoy the experience. 304 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,960 Another this is kind of not exactly answering your question, 305 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:52,640 but it's related in that my wife likes to win and I like to play, 306 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:54,760 so. OK. 307 00:17:55,720 --> 00:18:00,920 I can literally enjoy a gaming experience where I'm getting 308 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:02,640 slaughtered. Sure. 309 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:04,320 And just. Not have. 310 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:09,240 A problem with that, whereas my wife, like I'll sometimes let 311 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:14,880 her win or yeah, it's purposely not don't. 312 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:19,080 Don't say that too loud. She, she doesn't like that, but 313 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,600 I also I make a lot of mistakes, like I'll forget to do stuff. 314 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,200 We talked a little briefly about neurodivert divergent. 315 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:29,960 I'm very scatterbrained. I'm very ADHD and I will miss 316 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,680 moving up my points, but I'll also miss reducing points. 317 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:38,080 And so my wife kind of is like, did you remember to lose 2 318 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:40,120 points for that? I was like, Nope, thank you. 319 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,640 But there's just something about the mechanics and the theme of 320 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:49,000 games that makes it so that I could be humiliated in a loss, 321 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,280 you know, which I recently, and I just still love it. 322 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:59,920 So I so I can really find joy in just about any game I play. 323 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,800 Even if it's not a great game, I can find something that I 324 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:05,360 appreciate. I think that's part of my 325 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:10,480 optimistic attitude, but also I don't I don't think things are 326 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:13,160 worth doing if you're not going to enjoy them. 327 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:19,720 So I try to find a way to enjoy the things that I have to do, 328 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:21,360 like even putting away the dishes. 329 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:26,800 I can gamify that, or I can make that into a creative act and 330 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:29,920 really enjoy that, which is really related to my acting 331 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,760 career. I took a huge turn where 332 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:40,400 auditions can be really anxiety creating and not fun and can be, 333 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:44,240 you know, people look at them as rejection and, and especially 334 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:48,440 like if you have to memorize 30 pages in two days to do these, 335 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,760 these auditions, like it can be overwhelming and not fun. 336 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,480 And someone said something that turned to the switch. 337 00:19:55,480 --> 00:20:01,120 It basically my change was I'm going to enjoy every audition I 338 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:03,760 do and that changed everything. Conscious chores. 339 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,480 To enjoy this thing that hasn't been fun for me changed 340 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:11,600 everything. And so I now try to like if I 341 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:13,760 have to do something I don't want to do, I find a way to 342 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:15,960 enjoy it. So that's that's. 343 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:17,920 Really. Hack for me. 344 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:23,240 Yeah, that's really good. That's really good life advice. 345 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,560 Like I'm just listening to you and I'm like, I should probably 346 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,520 do that more in my life. I would be, I would be much 347 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:34,800 happier in my day-to-day at home with the chores, things I don't 348 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:36,520 want to do. It really. 349 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:38,440 That's good. Really is a wonderful way to 350 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:40,560 live. And I'll, I'll give you one more 351 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:45,880 hack if you want to pursue that. I, you know, it started with 352 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,360 like, I can't remember how it started, but it was like, you 353 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:53,080 know, envision a great day or look forward and plan on having 354 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:55,320 a great day. And there was just a point where 355 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:59,280 I was like, that's great advice. But when I started saying, like 356 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,440 in the first thing in the morning, this is a great day, no 357 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,800 matter how I felt, I was able to prove myself right. 358 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,840 I was, you know, I can consciously say today is going 359 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:14,480 to be amazing and then make make the day amazing and I don't have 360 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:17,800 to do anything different. And because I'm having a great 361 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:22,040 day and I'm my intention is to have a great day, it makes it so 362 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:25,400 much easier to say this is for my own good and for my own 363 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:29,000 experience. So yay, I learned a little 364 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,280 lesson today that I don't have to repeat in two years or two 365 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:38,480 months that living intentionally in way of like today is freaking 366 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:42,200 amazing. Like the more I decide that 367 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,560 today is amazing, the more amazing it is because I don't do 368 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,320 this every day, right? But if I double down and think 369 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:52,120 today's going to be freaking amazing, it is. 370 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,040 Awesome. There is something to that 371 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,840 intentionality. And so when I dropped my 372 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:02,760 daughter off for school, I've only got 11 left at at home, I 373 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,240 say have a great day. Or like, you know, you can make 374 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:09,800 your day great. And like, she's like, yeah, Dad, 375 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,120 but she'll come home and sometimes I'll ask her how was 376 00:22:13,120 --> 00:22:15,160 it? It's like it was great. 377 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:20,400 You were right, Dad. Which they hardly ever want to 378 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:22,800 admit. True, very true. 379 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,960 So intentionality. I'm so glad you brought that up. 380 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:30,000 And I want to talk about that is I'm really interested in the 381 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:35,040 story about, so it's 2020 COVID, we're locked down. 382 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,560 You're buying a lot of games, you're playing with your family. 383 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:44,640 At some point you transitioned just a casual gamer to being a 384 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:48,920 content creator, right? And we, we've talked a lot about 385 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,040 what's the distinction? And I think it's intentionality, 386 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,640 right? Is you're not just posting a 387 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:58,720 photo to share, you're being intentional about the content 388 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,680 you're putting out in the world. Tell me about that story, about 389 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:02,160 what I mean. What? 390 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,320 What was that like and what like? 391 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:09,960 What made you decide to do that? Yeah, that's a great question. 392 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:14,520 I have been making social media videos. 393 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,200 I guess it's probably been 10 years, but it's all been comedy 394 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:24,040 or, you know, acting plugs like, hey, I'm in so and so. 395 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:31,720 But which by the way, I am in the absolute number one TV show 396 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:33,880 slash movie of all times this week. 397 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,080 I'm in the most popular show. I only have one line and I'm 398 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:43,200 only two themes and I don't recommend you watch it, but I 399 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,720 was tickled to death when I found out the number one most 400 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:50,800 popular according to Internet movie Database IMDb number one. 401 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:56,920 It's season 3 of Monster and again, I do not recommend it. 402 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:00,000 Ordinary board gamer watching he was like, I kind of wish I 403 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,280 hadn't seen it. You know, my scene is 404 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:07,160 interspersed with with some really gory OK imagery. 405 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,680 So at some point I'll post my little clip. 406 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:15,360 But but anyway, so that that's just it's really cool right now 407 00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:17,360 if you go look it up. Absolutely. 408 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:18,920 Wrong. It's #1. 409 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:20,560 Check it out. Meter. 410 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,640 But anyway, I was promoting, you know, I would I would go on and 411 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,280 say, hey, I'm in this show, watch it out, you know, come 412 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:28,600 watch it or it's on such and such. 413 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,160 It's on CBS, it's on ABC. Or I would just do comedy 414 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:34,400 videos. So I was used to having 415 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,320 producing a lot of stuff. Just there was a time where I 416 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,800 was putting out a video or two a day, posting to TikTok. 417 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,120 And you know, there came a point at which I was like, why don't I 418 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:47,800 use the same skills for board games? 419 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,240 And I don't know why it took me so long to come around to it. 420 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:57,520 Part of it was like, I don't know if I want to make my 421 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:03,320 passionate hobby into work, which that's absolutely a trade 422 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:07,120 off, as you know. Yeah, there's some fun that's 423 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:11,240 removed from games because like, I have to play this again to 424 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,040 give it another shake because I didn't enjoy it that much. 425 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,520 But I want to make sure I've covered the bases. 426 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:22,520 And I'm just like, honey, we have to play this game, you 427 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:24,880 know? And she's like, because I'm 428 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:28,680 saying that we have to because I do, but I need to say it. 429 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:31,240 I need to say it better. But honestly too. 430 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:33,880 We get to play it. That's right. 431 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,560 I was spending so much money on Kickstarters. 432 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,440 My wife was saying you can't do this. 433 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,080 You can't. I mean, I was spending my own 434 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,160 film money. She didn't say you can't do 435 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,480 this, but she was like, I need you to, you should watch more 436 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,640 carefully what you're spending. And, and when I looked at it was 437 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,880 like, it was a lot, you know, two 150 for this Kickstarter, 438 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,840 200 plus $40 shipping for that one and, and all that stuff. 439 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,880 And, and that's when like this thought came into my mind or she 440 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:06,080 said it, I don't remember what it was. 441 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:11,040 Like what if you review them and have review copies sent, which I 442 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:15,360 think most content creators, whether they want to admit that 443 00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:19,400 or not, was a thought that played through their head. 444 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,280 And, you know, I wish I could say it was like completely like, 445 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:27,440 let's make some game content, but it was really like, I can't 446 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:29,120 do this. And it was just kind of like, 447 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:33,640 well, there's this world where people want you to play their 448 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:37,040 games and want you to write stuff about it or post stuff 449 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:38,920 about it. So that's kind of when I started 450 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:40,920 thinking more seriously about that. 451 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:45,400 And then, you know, acting world and board game world came 452 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,120 together. And I do really enjoy it. 453 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:53,440 I really enjoy getting games that I would never have picked 454 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:57,120 off off a shelf, you know, but like a publisher will e-mail me 455 00:26:57,120 --> 00:26:59,080 and say, are you interested in this? 456 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,120 I'll look it up on, on BGG and I'll look at the pictures and 457 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:07,040 I'll read the synopsis like this sounds really interesting. 458 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:12,360 And so I'm, I'm exposed to games that I would not pick just based 459 00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:16,040 on the cover in the game store, you know, which is fantastic 460 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,440 because that's how I learned. I, I love so many mechanics I'd 461 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,200 never heard of before. Right. 462 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:27,960 Just I and plus combined with the fact that I love new games. 463 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:32,000 So it's all just kind of a happy, it's a happy place where 464 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:37,320 everything kind of converges and works, works together in in my 465 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:39,960 favor and the publishers favor in most cases. 466 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:41,240 Sure. Yeah. 467 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,320 I, I don't do, I kind of pride myself on this. 468 00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:50,120 I don't do top ten lists, I don't do reviews. 469 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:53,600 But what I do want is probably something your most valuable 470 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,320 asset and that's your time because I want you to come on 471 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:57,920 the show and talk to me for an hour. 472 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:01,520 But I feel like when I'm talking to publishers or first time 473 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:03,920 designers, there's less pressure for me. 474 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,440 Like I just need you to sit down and talk about your game for an 475 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:08,120 hour. And who knows it better than 476 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:12,920 you, right? But it has afforded me and I'm 477 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,680 very fortunate. I am very fortunate that my wife 478 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,880 shares this passion too. We love play testing. 479 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,840 We love to play test, right? We discovered that that was a 480 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,120 real thing. We discovered it together at 481 00:28:27,120 --> 00:28:33,680 Gencon in 2021, I think it was. And so now like just the other 482 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:36,720 night, we got a game delivered to the house. 483 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:38,920 It's a prototype. And I'm like, Oh yeah, we're 484 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:42,160 going to have to play that with our local group here. 485 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,480 So when I say we have to play a game, it's we have to play test 486 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,040 it because they don't let us keep the prototype forever, 487 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:51,840 right, Right. But we've really come to enjoy 488 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:53,520 that. And that's a big selling point 489 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:55,800 because she and I look at games very differently. 490 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,800 I look at the theme. How does the theme? 491 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,120 How do I feel? I'm all about the experience. 492 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,520 She's all about the rule book. How easy is it to set up? 493 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:09,400 And those are really important things for a designer. 494 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,800 And so we get we get to share that too, which is kind of 495 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:14,040 really. Well-rounded. 496 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:16,560 Yeah. Feedback that you guys can give. 497 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:20,000 Yes. And as fellow creatives, we 498 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,520 understand the value of feedback. 499 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,480 So we want to make sure the feedback we're giving to you is 500 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:29,000 constructive, you know? And so, yeah, so that's that's a 501 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:30,280 lot. That's a lot of fun. 502 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:34,400 So do you have this question I've been asking everyone? 503 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,560 It's in two parts. It's in two parts because the 504 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:40,400 first part is or can be rather difficult. 505 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,520 Do you have a favorite board game of all time? 506 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,840 If you don't, If you don't because see, I'm full. 507 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:52,120 I believe in compassion and love for my fellow man and woman. 508 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,920 That's why there's a second part to this question. 509 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,360 If you don't have a favorite of all time, do you have a favorite 510 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,320 today that's just hitting your table a lot right now? 511 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,320 You know, that's a great, that's a great follow up question 512 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:09,560 because tag team is a new Hachette game. 513 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:12,960 OK. And it's just, it's a little 514 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:18,440 card programmer dueling game. It's so light and so fun And 515 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,720 it's got like 16 characters or 12 characters in the box. 516 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,640 And so every time you play it, you have a different 517 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,720 combination. In fact, each, each player plays 518 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:34,840 2 characters. And OK, it's, it's light, but 519 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:39,080 it's so fun because it's short. I, I can't stop playing it. 520 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:42,440 And another one that goes right with it because I'm I'm doing a 521 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,880 video comparing the 2 is Neon Knight. 522 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:47,920 I don't know that I'm familiar. They're very similar. 523 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,160 It's it's another dueling game and that one's by Manny 524 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,640 Tremblay. Have been playing less euro 525 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,600 games lately. Euro games are my favorite. 526 00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:59,400 I mean, that's, that's what I love. 527 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,280 I'm just looking this up so I can. 528 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:07,400 King of the Euro games of Utah. Lacerda, right? 529 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:12,680 You're not going to believe it. I do not think I have ever 530 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:16,800 played a Lacerda game. That's disappointing because I 531 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:19,720 was going to ask you if you backed Speak Easy. 532 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,960 It's coming out shortly, should be arriving soon. 533 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:25,960 And that's his new one coming out and we're really excited 534 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:28,600 about it. We did an entire episode just on 535 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:31,600 Laserda's games trying to get him on the show, but you know, 536 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,160 he's a, he's an. Important man. 537 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:40,480 And and so I obviously I have to play, but I'll tell you this 538 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,640 too. I skew to medium weight games. 539 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,800 OK. And I believe his games tend to 540 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:54,080 be heavier, yes. And so that since I've become a 541 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:59,080 more serious, heavier board gamer, that is the first thing 542 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:03,800 that I look at is how long is this going to take me to learn 543 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:06,800 to play? Can I get it to the table? 544 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:10,240 It's neon rain, by the way. OK. 545 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:19,160 Neon Game Chip Theory is Co producing it OK with Manny's new 546 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,440 board game company Neon Night Games. 547 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,720 And so just as a reminder for everyone who's listening, you're 548 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:32,200 comparing tag team to neon rain, rain, neon rain. 549 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,600 And Neon Rain is they're both, I mean, they come in almost the 550 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,520 same size box. They're totally different, but 551 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,680 they're both dueling games and Neon Rain is kind of like you. 552 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:45,520 The cards are joysticks, like you're doing combos like up, up 553 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,720 button. And so it's really clever. 554 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:53,040 They both play so quickly that it's, I think one of the reasons 555 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:57,920 I got hooked on both of these so quickly was because you can play 556 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,880 three games in the space of 45 minutes. 557 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,600 And so my wife beats me. I'm like again and we'll play 558 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:10,480 again, and then we're both like again, right, For both of those 559 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:11,640 games. Sure. 560 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,240 There's really something, interestingly enough, I think 561 00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:20,280 that ties into the the conversation about Lacerta and 562 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:24,960 heavier games. Because I'm looking up 563 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:28,360 Speakeasy, I must have played some of his other games. 564 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,240 You've had to. And that's like when it takes 4 565 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:39,360 hours to learn and play a game. It's so hard. 566 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:44,640 It's so hard to program that in. I've always wanted to play 567 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:50,360 Lisboa because I I lived in Lisbon, I lived in Portugal. 568 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,080 I've requested House of Fato for the same reason. 569 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:57,640 Portugal. I've wanted to play on Mars. 570 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,120 On Mars. I've wanted to play Weather 571 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,840 Machine. Bot Factory is kind of a 572 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:07,800 lightweight entry. I think that's a lighter weight. 573 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:11,840 I backed that and I ended up not getting it fulfilled. 574 00:34:12,679 --> 00:34:15,360 So anyway. That happens. 575 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:19,960 I know this is a a lacking of mine, but again. 576 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,880 It's OK. Those heavy games, they're just 577 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:27,560 so hard and, and when I'm, when I'm getting review copies, like 578 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:30,520 that's kind of my, I'm not looking at heavy games unless 579 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:34,280 someone's saying we review this. OK, sure. 580 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:39,400 Then I have to decide if it's above a four on board Game Geek, 581 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,719 I probably won't be able to get to it right? 582 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,639 Well, it just means that you have a, you have a lens that 583 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:47,760 you're looking at board games through. 584 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,480 And so you have to be selective because like you said, our time 585 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:54,239 is, our time is limited. So let's talk about the 586 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:57,160 community. I, I want to, I want to get your 587 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:02,440 opinion on what, what is the one thing in your mind that makes 588 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,640 our community so great? What is it that we do so well 589 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:07,400 that you're proud to be a part of it? 590 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,240 I don't know if I'm exactly answering the question. 591 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:14,400 OK. But there's something about the 592 00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,680 shared story. There's something about when I 593 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:23,320 look at you and I know you play board games and you tell me 594 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:27,440 you're into theme, part of me leaps, part of me, that part of 595 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:33,440 me that resonates in the same way, like instantly makes me 596 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:39,760 feel like I know you because you love something that I love as 597 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:42,760 well. So there's something about that 598 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:47,480 in the community. When someone says I played such 599 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:51,520 and such and I liked it and I liked it, I feel like I know 600 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:55,080 that person, even if it's just in a small way. 601 00:35:55,800 --> 00:36:00,520 And so when and that, that doesn't mean we can't have 602 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,080 differences of opinion. In fact, sometimes those 603 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:08,760 differences of opinion shed more light on similarities and 604 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,000 contrast, which is so interesting. 605 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:14,560 I think my most, my most, it used to be my most popular 606 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:18,760 YouTube video because I'm newer to YouTube, was my SETI review 607 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:26,080 where I start off by saying I hate, I hated this game, you 608 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:27,560 know? And then people are like, what? 609 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:31,760 And then I go through why I hated it and why I played it 610 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:36,320 again and again and again because everyone loved it. 611 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:41,040 And I was like, there are people out there that I know and trust 612 00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:45,720 or whose opinions I look up to. They liked it. 613 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:51,120 What am I missing? And in listening to their voices 614 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,920 and my wife was like, I'm not playing this again. 615 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:57,880 And I was telling you, look at the, you know, this reviewer 616 00:36:57,880 --> 00:36:58,760 loves it. They love it. 617 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:01,840 They so many people love it. But there was something about 618 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:06,240 being able to reach out and watch people's videos that made 619 00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:09,040 me feel like there was something more that I wasn't getting. 620 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:13,040 And like I said, on that second play, I liked it more. 621 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:17,880 On that third play, I loved it. And so there's just something 622 00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,920 about you like a game. It looks terrible to me. 623 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:25,880 You say you like it, you tell me a little bit about it. 624 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,640 And there's something about that exchange that makes me go off 625 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,760 and have my own experience that I love. 626 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:36,960 Yes, yeah. So that's what came to mind, and 627 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:41,200 I know it doesn't necessarily answer the question or I'm 628 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:42,880 answering the question in my own ways. 629 00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:47,080 Which is fine. But it's really that that 630 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:50,520 connection and I love, I love sitting down at conventions and 631 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:55,000 playing with other people, but I do feel like so much of the 632 00:37:55,000 --> 00:38:00,080 connection that I value transfers through the camera, 633 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:02,920 right? And so when you're doing a 634 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:08,400 podcast and I watch your podcast and I relate, that can be, can 635 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:11,600 be deeper than sitting across the table and playing together, 636 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:12,880 right? Sure. 637 00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:19,560 Because so and so, you know, so and so reviewer is pouring out 638 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:23,440 their heart about what they love about this game that resonates 639 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:28,200 in a deep way with me, right? Even if I'm like, wow, I love 640 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:32,480 that they love that I hated it. I feel like I know you a little 641 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,080 better. I know where we're different, 642 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:35,800 you know? Sure. 643 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:40,920 So that's what I call like a shared story, like we're sharing 644 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:43,960 your story resonates with my story. 645 00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:46,360 Even though they're different stories, there's a there's a 646 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,280 connection between our our experiences. 647 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:54,240 And our social stories, I think, I think if Socrates, Socrates 648 00:38:54,240 --> 00:38:56,960 once said the unexamined life is not worth living. 649 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:02,240 I think if Socrates were alive today and he was a board gamer, 650 00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:05,560 he would say the unexamined board games not worth playing. 651 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:07,640 I truly believe he would say that. 652 00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:10,360 Right. Alternatively, I've recently 653 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:14,680 been thinking about this. So the Roman orator Cicero, who 654 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:19,160 I quote constantly on the show. So Cicero said that a room 655 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:22,520 without books is like a body without a soul. 656 00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:28,160 Yeah. And I think he if he were alive 657 00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:31,160 today in a board gamer, I think he would say the same thing. 658 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:34,120 He would seem to the come come to the same conclusion about 659 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:37,320 humanity and our shared stories. And he would say that a room 660 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,920 without board games is like a body without a soul. 661 00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:44,760 The I feel like board games, board games are the connection 662 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:48,520 that are the building blocks of our culture and the 663 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:52,120 conversations and the laughter. That's the glue that holds us 664 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:55,840 all together and, and and unites us, right? 665 00:39:56,440 --> 00:40:00,480 Yeah. And we can't have unity, which 666 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,360 is a message we need right now. We can't have unity without 667 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:06,080 diversity. That's right. 668 00:40:06,720 --> 00:40:09,600 They go hand in hand, Yeah, you know. 669 00:40:09,720 --> 00:40:10,640 Yeah. So. 670 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:16,160 I feel like I love what you said and and the way that my brain 671 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:18,880 interpreted it. Or tell me the tell me the 672 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:21,880 sister will quote again with board game substituted in there. 673 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:28,040 A room without board games is like a body without a soul. 674 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:33,680 Yeah, I truly feel like every board game, and some do it much 675 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:36,880 better than others, is a whole world within a box. 676 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:43,360 Oh, absolutely. And so when a game delivers on 677 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:49,440 that like 100% or 150%, like I'm on that crazy scale, like an 678 00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:52,960 average game may deliver 80% on being a different world. 679 00:40:52,960 --> 00:41:01,080 But when a game delivers a new world for me in a box, like an 680 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:05,880 experience of a world that I've never imagined or never seen 681 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:09,560 before, or even a world like Star Wars, you know, a Star Wars 682 00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:13,960 game, a world that I already know and enjoy, there's just 683 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:16,640 something magical about that. There's something magical. 684 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:19,400 You know, I've got some, I've got some of my favorites back 685 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:27,360 here, like Wingspan. I resisted Wingspan for like a a 686 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,120 year or two. Like who wants to play a game 687 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,760 about birds? Not this guy. 688 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:37,080 Like literally. And, and again, going back to 689 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:39,480 community, so many people said they loved it. 690 00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:41,960 So many people said they liked it for this reason. 691 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:45,640 They loved it for that reason that I was like, you know what, 692 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:49,320 I'm going to trust, I'm going to trust all these people. 693 00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:54,840 And I went out and got it and everyone in my family loved it, 694 00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:58,840 some more than others. But like there's a world of 695 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:04,200 birds that I didn't know existed in that game, just from the art, 696 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:08,560 the flow over text, the wingspan measurements. 697 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:12,720 And you know, there's an app where you hold it up to the card 698 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:15,440 and it you hear the tweeting of the bird, you know, whatever. 699 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:21,800 Like there's literally a world within the box. 700 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:23,680 I know, I know. So I. 701 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:27,080 Just love. That and that poor going back to 702 00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:29,800 my introduction, that poor little meeple that got left in 703 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:32,080 the box, right. That's right. 704 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:36,640 That's right. So what let me ask you, the 705 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:41,120 flip, here's the flip side. Is there any, is there anything 706 00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:43,880 that you've seen? And if so, what is it? 707 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:47,200 You see, the community maybe needs more work, right? 708 00:42:47,240 --> 00:42:50,480 Just gets wrong or just has room for improvement. 709 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:55,600 Because I think in order for an individual, a community of 710 00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,120 individuals, to get better, we have to recognize, you know, 711 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:01,840 maybe we need to do better at this thing. 712 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:07,160 Wow, I have not thought of this. So my mind instantly went to 713 00:43:07,240 --> 00:43:12,600 certain creators who are very much in a minority who can be 714 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:18,960 unkind either to I have much less of a concern about them 715 00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:22,760 being unkind to a game because if they hate a game and they're 716 00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:29,800 a blunt person, great, say that. But but again, there are some, 717 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:35,160 there are some creators that are unkind to other creators. 718 00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:40,520 And I really don't enjoy that. And but again, it's so it's such 719 00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:46,480 a minority that, and I mean publicly unkind in their posts 720 00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:49,560 or in their videos, but it's such a, it's such a minority 721 00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:53,920 that, that it almost doesn't bear saying because everyone 722 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:56,480 probably agrees, you know, why be mean? 723 00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,200 Because you get, you get views and controversies. 724 00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:05,200 So I, I do think that's a, that's a interesting subway 725 00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:09,880 Segway and subway I'm hungry Segway that I've taken there 726 00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:14,720 because content creator wise, and this is how I'm connected to 727 00:44:14,720 --> 00:44:17,160 most other gamers. Like I don't have a game 728 00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:19,200 community here besides a few friends. 729 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:22,160 So I'm talking mostly about content creators. 730 00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:26,000 I don't. I don't like that views and 731 00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:29,840 likes and comments and algorithms are a gatekeeper 732 00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:34,880 between creators and other creators and other viewers who 733 00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:36,720 would totally resonate with the content. 734 00:44:36,720 --> 00:44:43,920 Like Instagram knows that so and so would love my content, but 735 00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:49,120 it's going to prioritize someone with way more videos put out. 736 00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:50,360 I'm not even talking about views. 737 00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:51,880 I'm talking about like someone. Who's put out? 738 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:56,120 200 videos. The algorithm knows their style 739 00:44:56,120 --> 00:45:01,560 better and can recommend them better, but it prioritizes that. 740 00:45:01,560 --> 00:45:05,960 So anyway, the algorithm has also favored me at times so it's 741 00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:13,920 it's a toss up, but I just never like when an art or an opinion 742 00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:16,120 is filtered through a machine. Right. 743 00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:21,360 And right, it's the way it's got to be, but I just don't. 744 00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:25,400 I wish that could change. And I don't have any suggestions 745 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,200 just besides in our board game community, we are. 746 00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:33,080 We are completely filtered by the people who have the most 747 00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:36,240 followers, the most views. And there's so many, like I, 748 00:45:36,240 --> 00:45:39,640 I've gone to several Instagram accounts where it's like, I've 749 00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:44,040 seen the most amazing board game photography and the person 750 00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:48,040 started like 6 months ago and they've got like 25 followers. 751 00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:54,040 And I'm like, how are people not finding this photography? 752 00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:56,800 Maybe other people don't like pretty board game photography. 753 00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:59,960 But like I, I'll try to share. Repost. 754 00:45:59,960 --> 00:46:04,720 Now you can repost and that kind of stuff or do a story, you 755 00:46:04,720 --> 00:46:07,640 know, with that, with their, some of their work. 756 00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:12,480 But anyway, that's just to say that it's so heartbreaking to 757 00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:17,400 see someone with such talent who I know they're going to have to 758 00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:21,440 stick it out for another two years to really get any 759 00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:25,360 traction. It's it's really interesting. 760 00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:26,960 I've been doing it for two years. 761 00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:31,880 Sure, you just have to just have to stick with. 762 00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:36,800 It's, it's really interesting as a podcaster, I have this 763 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:38,280 conversation with my friends all the time. 764 00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:40,440 I don't view myself as a content creator. 765 00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:44,720 Now I create content. So by definition I'm a content 766 00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:47,760 creator, but I see myself as a podcaster, right? 767 00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:50,560 Because I don't do what everyone else is doing right? 768 00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:53,680 I'm more interested in talking to you about you and the games 769 00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:56,400 you love and when are you going to be in Springfield so we can 770 00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:57,800 play a board game together, right? 771 00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:01,720 Yes, You know that. That's what I I'm here for the 772 00:47:01,720 --> 00:47:04,600 people and the relationships and the board games is the 773 00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:10,720 connection that allows me to nurture the community in my own 774 00:47:10,720 --> 00:47:13,720 little way. So the number that's really 775 00:47:13,720 --> 00:47:18,520 important to me, it's not subscribers, it's not followers, 776 00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:24,080 it's reach. Because at the end of the day, I 777 00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:28,160 can have a great message. I can elevate the conversation 778 00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:32,120 and introduce you and quote Cicero and Socrates and Plato 779 00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:34,280 and CS Lewis till I'm blue in the face. 780 00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:38,520 But if no one's listening, then I'm just talking to the wall, 781 00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:41,480 right? So that's the, that's the number 782 00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:45,960 I or that the, the analysis I'm really interested in. 783 00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:50,480 The problem is it's directly connected to the subscribers and 784 00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:54,360 all that crazy jazz. So yeah, so the community's at 785 00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:58,480 the whim of this algorithm and we do what we can do. 786 00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:01,160 And you know what? I, I I don't want to be all down 787 00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:06,760 on it because at the same time the same mechanism and the same 788 00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:09,640 platforms have brought us together. 789 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:13,160 Yes, right, right if it. Wasn't for the algorithm. 790 00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:16,400 It wasn't for Instagram. If it wasn't for this, you and I 791 00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:20,440 wouldn't have connected as well as all these other wonderful 792 00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:25,600 creators and and board gamers. So it works both ways. 793 00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:29,440 It does. I, I'm very, I'm very aware of 794 00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:30,640 that. It really does. 795 00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:35,560 It does hurt to see with someone who's so talented and they've 796 00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:39,120 got something to say, but they just can't. 797 00:48:40,160 --> 00:48:45,040 They can't ride it out for a year, for years because it is 798 00:48:45,040 --> 00:48:48,080 hard. It is heartbreaking to post 799 00:48:48,080 --> 00:48:50,120 something and then no one sees it. 800 00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:52,840 Just like no. Why am I posting? 801 00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:58,240 Right, Why am I posting? So you've got, what do you, what 802 00:48:58,240 --> 00:49:02,640 advice do you have for someone who's thinking about joining 803 00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:06,040 this community? And they're like, I'm going to, 804 00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:09,000 I'm going to be brave. I'm going to be vulnerable. 805 00:49:09,240 --> 00:49:10,520 I'm going to put myself out there. 806 00:49:10,520 --> 00:49:12,480 I want to make content. I want to do what you do. 807 00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:15,480 What do you tell them? I mean, I think the first 808 00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:19,680 somebody asked me just recently and the first thing I told them 809 00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:21,880 was exactly what we were just talking about. 810 00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:27,160 If you want to do this, you have to know that unless you get 811 00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:31,600 extremely lucky or tap into some formula that either nobody else 812 00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:34,840 has done or that everybody else is doing, but you can do it 813 00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:37,000 better. It's going to take you a year. 814 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:40,600 It's going to take you 2 years to just get to the point where 815 00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:46,040 it feels like it's making sense. You know, like I've, so that's 816 00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:49,480 a, that's a big thing. I've only just now gotten to the 817 00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:54,840 point where like publishers are getting in touch with me that my 818 00:49:54,840 --> 00:50:00,080 numbers don't justify, right? Like my follower counts and 819 00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:04,040 views don't justify but they're like we saw your video on this. 820 00:50:04,720 --> 00:50:07,560 Yeah. We want you to make one for us 821 00:50:07,600 --> 00:50:11,280 that just like you can't necessarily put that out in your 822 00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:14,080 first month of making content, you know? 823 00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:16,240 So there's a, there's a. Curve. 824 00:50:16,240 --> 00:50:19,720 There's a learning curve. The connections will also take 825 00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:21,960 years. I've had, I've been doing this 826 00:50:21,960 --> 00:50:25,440 for just over 2 years and there's still some publishers 827 00:50:25,440 --> 00:50:31,320 who will not even response to my emails, you know, and it's like 828 00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:33,280 this in every industry, you know, there's just, there's 829 00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:37,960 people who are like, but and you know, I know when I hit 10,000 830 00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:40,080 here or whatever. They will. 831 00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:43,640 Return my e-mail. And again, I'm not saying 832 00:50:43,640 --> 00:50:46,320 they're bad people for that because it's a numbers game. 833 00:50:46,320 --> 00:50:49,680 We were talking about time before, you know, so and so at 834 00:50:49,680 --> 00:50:55,680 at huge company, they don't have time to open everybody's e-mail. 835 00:50:55,680 --> 00:50:59,680 So I get it. But you have to know going in 836 00:50:59,720 --> 00:51:04,040 that it can be you are building something from the ground up, 837 00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:07,160 yes. And it's going to take, it's 838 00:51:07,160 --> 00:51:09,080 going to take a long time. Yeah. 839 00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:12,560 So I have a story I want to share with you, which I'm now 840 00:51:12,560 --> 00:51:15,320 going to share with my listeners as well, because I have some 841 00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:19,080 dedicated listeners. Yeah, you get to hear it first. 842 00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:22,920 So it was over the summer, and at some point, my wife and I 843 00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:26,520 watched the documentary. It was about Jaws celebrating 844 00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:28,680 its 50th anniversary. And there was, like, all these 845 00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:30,240 interviews with Steven Spielberg. 846 00:51:30,760 --> 00:51:35,360 And I was like, that would be a cool episode if I get Brian 847 00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:39,080 Kirk, the designer of Jaws, who got the license for it through 848 00:51:39,080 --> 00:51:41,800 Robinsburger, right. If I could get him on the show. 849 00:51:42,440 --> 00:51:46,480 I was talking to our good friend Craig from Get Into Games and 850 00:51:46,480 --> 00:51:52,000 he's like, no, just have Steven Spielberg come on your podcasts. 851 00:51:52,400 --> 00:51:54,400 No, I'm not having Steven Spielberg on the show. 852 00:51:54,400 --> 00:51:56,400 I wish I could. I wish I could say that, but 853 00:51:56,400 --> 00:52:01,280 this is your point, right? So I know, I know that I'm not 854 00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:04,760 going to get to e-mail Steven Spielberg directly and he's 855 00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:06,400 going to respond. That's absurd. 856 00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:10,520 But he has people. Oh, there was another, there was 857 00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:13,360 a game designer who came on the show who like, it's like, well, 858 00:52:13,360 --> 00:52:16,440 look, I've got, I've got this, these contacts and sent me these 859 00:52:16,440 --> 00:52:20,120 emails. So I emailed all of them, you 860 00:52:20,120 --> 00:52:23,560 know, at Amblin Entertainment. And I'm like, hi, this is who I 861 00:52:23,560 --> 00:52:28,000 am with my 2000 followers. And I would like to have Steven 862 00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:30,760 Spielberg come on the show and talk about this board game that, 863 00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:34,640 you know, I thought it'd be cool to have him and Brian Kirk on so 864 00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:37,120 you could get that, that juxtaposition of board game 865 00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:40,840 designer and movie director talking about this board game. 866 00:52:40,840 --> 00:52:43,680 Like that's how I envisioned this episode going, right? 867 00:52:44,120 --> 00:52:48,440 I so I did get a response from Amblin Entertainment to say 868 00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:52,440 you've emailed the wrong people, here's the right person to 869 00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:55,840 e-mail. And so I did e-mail that person, 870 00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:59,520 but like you just said, I've got no response. 871 00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:05,280 You know, and my life is so much better when I started looking at 872 00:53:05,280 --> 00:53:10,000 it like those people have just as limited time as I do. 873 00:53:10,800 --> 00:53:16,360 And you know, if my personal TikTok channel has like 500,000 874 00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:19,960 followers, I don't even look at the, I don't even look at my 875 00:53:19,960 --> 00:53:21,520 messages. I can't. 876 00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:26,600 There's like if I've got a video that's popular, it could be like 877 00:53:26,600 --> 00:53:29,960 20-30, fifty, a hundred a day. I can't. 878 00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:35,360 Like there's just not time. And so when I realized that like 879 00:53:35,760 --> 00:53:37,840 this person doesn't have anything against me. 880 00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:41,200 They don't hate me, they just don't have the time and they 881 00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:46,480 have to set filters right. So that that made me happier to 882 00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:49,440 to realize that like so and so. And that's like a goal, you 883 00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:53,600 know, so and so a publisher will they'll they'll respond my to my 884 00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:58,400 emails same day when I've, you know, kept built my building 885 00:53:58,400 --> 00:54:01,680 myself up, you know, but it's true, Yeah. 886 00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:06,560 Yeah, I think what I need to do is reach out to George Lucas in 887 00:54:06,560 --> 00:54:13,160 2027, when Star Wars is 50 years old and like, the new hot Star 888 00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:15,560 Wars board game is up. He's retired. 889 00:54:15,760 --> 00:54:19,480 He's he's done. He could talk to me for an hour. 890 00:54:21,200 --> 00:54:24,200 That's right. Oh, here's another tip that that 891 00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:28,680 I know can come in handy. And it sounds like, oh, you do 892 00:54:28,680 --> 00:54:33,800 your research on stuff, but if you can find some weird tangent 893 00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:37,440 that you have in common, it's a lot easier to get some of these 894 00:54:37,440 --> 00:54:44,640 people on your show. Like a silly example is, I can't 895 00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:47,760 think of a specific example, but like so and so who's an A list 896 00:54:47,760 --> 00:54:54,960 actor but has a son who loves this board game is way more 897 00:54:54,960 --> 00:54:57,880 likely to come on your show and say, yeah, you know, I'm not 898 00:54:57,880 --> 00:55:01,120 going to charge you my usual $50,000 fee. 899 00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:07,120 But like, my son will see this. He will, you know, he those kind 900 00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:11,440 of connections like if you can find those that really can help 901 00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:15,760 you jump the line fast. Right, right. 902 00:55:16,240 --> 00:55:18,480 That's. In the film world, that's how a 903 00:55:18,480 --> 00:55:21,280 lot of my friends have gotten a hold of these famous actors who 904 00:55:21,280 --> 00:55:25,840 would never ever consider, you know, for example, I, I have 905 00:55:25,840 --> 00:55:28,920 some friends who just did a World War 2 movie and they were 906 00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:33,600 able to get in touch with Tom Hanks because they know that Tom 907 00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:37,080 Hanks loves World War 2 and has made a ton of World War 2 908 00:55:37,080 --> 00:55:40,000 movies. So that was their angle and they 909 00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:43,400 got in touch with this people and they were able to they were 910 00:55:43,400 --> 00:55:45,960 able to connect. So those kinds of things, you 911 00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:48,400 know, it's the same thing with publishers, right? 912 00:55:48,880 --> 00:55:51,880 If you research their games and you e-mail them and say, hey, 913 00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:56,280 Windmill Valley is like my favorite game of all times. 914 00:55:57,400 --> 00:56:01,240 Love you guys. Thank you for creating this. 915 00:56:02,120 --> 00:56:05,440 You know, just a compliment or something can can go a long way 916 00:56:05,440 --> 00:56:06,840 too. And if you don't do your 917 00:56:06,840 --> 00:56:08,920 research you won't know. That's true. 918 00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:12,040 Last emails, I think. I think that your advice just 919 00:56:12,040 --> 00:56:15,760 now is directly connected to your your earlier thesis about 920 00:56:15,760 --> 00:56:17,360 the shared story, right? Yeah. 921 00:56:17,760 --> 00:56:19,680 You're right. I think that's what you're 922 00:56:19,680 --> 00:56:22,040 talking about. Maybe, maybe I don't have a 923 00:56:22,040 --> 00:56:24,720 shared story with Steven Spielberg, but I've got a shared 924 00:56:24,720 --> 00:56:27,600 story with his son or his grandson, and that would help. 925 00:56:27,840 --> 00:56:29,240 I think that's what you're talking about. 926 00:56:29,520 --> 00:56:32,760 Yeah. So see, guys, I say it all the 927 00:56:32,760 --> 00:56:35,960 time, Cicero said. All the humanities are 928 00:56:35,960 --> 00:56:38,800 inherently linked as if by a common bond. 929 00:56:39,520 --> 00:56:43,120 I prove it to you every week. I prove this deal one. 930 00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:45,000 We'll see. We'll see. 931 00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:45,800 I. Love it. 932 00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:47,840 Yes. So there you go. 933 00:56:48,320 --> 00:56:52,240 So Lincoln, tell everyone if they're if they want to reach 934 00:56:52,240 --> 00:56:54,680 out to you, how can they find you? 935 00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:57,640 What's your preferred platform and all all the socials? 936 00:56:57,640 --> 00:57:02,080 Yeah, so I bounce back and forth from platforms, but I am the 937 00:57:02,200 --> 00:57:05,720 game Bard on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. 938 00:57:05,720 --> 00:57:09,880 I'm really right now my YouTube is the smallest and now it's the 939 00:57:09,880 --> 00:57:12,720 fastest growing just because for the last six months I've been 940 00:57:12,880 --> 00:57:17,120 hitting it really hard. But I, I think I check Instagram 941 00:57:17,120 --> 00:57:20,200 messages the most. You can also e-mail me at 942 00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:24,920 lincoln@thegamebard.com. And if you want to look at my 943 00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:30,560 other silly wacky videos, it's just at Lincoln Hope and that's 944 00:57:30,560 --> 00:57:36,600 with 2P Shoppe and that's my secular non board game channel. 945 00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:41,080 Secular meaning non board game. And yeah, that those, those are 946 00:57:41,080 --> 00:57:44,880 probably the best ways. And always you should look me up 947 00:57:44,880 --> 00:57:48,480 on IMDb because people get a kick out of that. 948 00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:50,880 They're like, you know, I didn't know he was in stuff. 949 00:57:50,960 --> 00:57:54,160 I saw that. Oh my gosh, he was the guy that 950 00:57:54,160 --> 00:57:59,840 that you know, it's really fun. So just go to imdb.com, type in 951 00:57:59,840 --> 00:58:03,800 my name, Lincoln Hope with two PS It's it'll show you a list of 952 00:58:03,800 --> 00:58:08,200 everything I've been in and I bet you've seen or played a game 953 00:58:08,200 --> 00:58:12,800 or I narrate audio books too. So I get people now and then 954 00:58:12,800 --> 00:58:15,960 saying, you know, I just heard such and such. 955 00:58:15,960 --> 00:58:20,920 You narrated it, you know, like I really, I really enjoy hearing 956 00:58:20,920 --> 00:58:22,760 that. So feel free to reach out 957 00:58:22,760 --> 00:58:25,880 anytime, you know, either on Instagram again, I check the 958 00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:29,760 most or for sending me an e-mail 'cause I, I do enjoy hearing 959 00:58:30,280 --> 00:58:33,840 that you saw something that I was in or you listen to a book. 960 00:58:34,600 --> 00:58:36,880 I love that stuff. Or you enjoyed such and such a 961 00:58:36,880 --> 00:58:38,680 video, you know, leave a comment. 962 00:58:39,080 --> 00:58:41,440 Yes. I'm reading everything, all my 963 00:58:41,440 --> 00:58:44,280 comments on YouTube right now and because it's definitely one 964 00:58:44,280 --> 00:58:47,320 of the ways that you grow. And so I'm reading and 965 00:58:47,320 --> 00:58:51,120 responding to every comment. So if you if you want to watch 966 00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:54,360 one of my videos there and respond, is there even a way to 967 00:58:54,360 --> 00:58:55,800 direct message people on YouTube? 968 00:58:56,040 --> 00:59:00,600 If there is, I haven't found it, but I look at the comments and I 969 00:59:00,600 --> 00:59:03,760 love getting them. I love responding to them. 970 00:59:04,240 --> 00:59:06,960 So yeah. Yeah, I'm the same. 971 00:59:07,120 --> 00:59:10,400 I'm the same way. With that in mind guys please 972 00:59:10,400 --> 00:59:14,320 make sure to like and subscribe to the YouTube channel leave 973 00:59:14,320 --> 00:59:19,080 comments I also I read them all. Y'all don't send me a lot of 974 00:59:19,080 --> 00:59:23,200 comments so it's easy but I love the comments and I read them all 975 00:59:23,200 --> 00:59:27,480 make sure so as always. If you're not getting enough. 976 00:59:28,640 --> 00:59:30,960 That is the reality. I am not. 977 00:59:30,960 --> 00:59:33,600 I'm not controversial because I'm trying to nurture unity, and 978 00:59:34,200 --> 00:59:36,080 I don't know. I don't know what's more 979 00:59:36,080 --> 00:59:38,840 controversial than unity. I mean, who knows? 980 00:59:39,480 --> 00:59:43,680 But yeah. But as always, guys, Lincoln, 981 00:59:43,680 --> 00:59:45,040 thank you so much for joining me. 982 00:59:45,480 --> 00:59:49,360 Be kind to each other. Be kind to each other and let's 983 00:59:49,360 --> 00:59:50,800 play more games. I'm in.