Welcome to Meeple to Meeple uniting players from around the
world, a 30 minute exploration of PJ and Galas ball game
experiences from across both sides of the Atlantic.
Each episode, they share their thoughts and opinions on the
world of board games, including their favorite themes, games,
hot topics, and much, much more. Hey gang, we are back.
Hello, I am PJ and I am Gareth. And welcome to Meeble and meble,
guys. Dang man, Gareth.
It's been a while, yeah. Thank God because it it is hot.
It's been a summer break. I've been away, you've been
away. We've been to conventions, we've
been on a holiday, we've been to game cafes and now it is
summer's nearly over. Autumn's on its way.
Christmas is nearly. It is hot and I am ready for a
little cooler weather. Yeah, it's nice.
Been pretty well miserable over here for three weeks compared to
the rest of Europe, so I've been off.
However, I am looking forward to hearing about Gencom.
I've read about it. I've seen people queuing up 6:30
the night before for a certain card game.
I'm sure you gotta tell me about it.
And you've been recording sound bites as well?
I have. I've been recording sound bites,
although I have a bone to pick with you real quick.
I tried almost every day at Gencon to do like a little live
FaceTime with you while I was at the table at Open Gaming with
everyone from the community. You're just a busy, busy boy.
Well, we were at Alton Towers, which is a theme park in the UK
for three days, and in the hotel we had Wi-Fi only in I think, in
the bar anyway. So I think every time you tried
we we didn't connect. But you can share with me now.
Yes. Absolutely.
So we spent a week in Washington, DC for a work
conference. We came home, yeah, you have
that as well. And it was 100 degrees
Fahrenheit. I don't know what that is,
Celsius for my European friends, but it's hot.
And then we came home, did laundry, went to work for a day
and drove to Gencon. Which is what we're here to talk
about. And what's the drive?
Three hours? Yes, that's OK.
That's pretty crazy. No, it's not.
It's four hours because the time change because I live in Central
time zone it. Moves the The border between
Illinois and Indiana is the is the time shift.
It's the time shift so see I have that.
We have those problems in the UK just long as England, Wales,
Scotland. Well, they're all the same,
right? Sort of.
Same three hours and I'll be halfway up the country.
Yep. Yeah, so.
So we get the Gencon. And So what days were you there
when Wednesday? So we got there Tuesday,
Tuesday. Tuesday and it can starts on.
Thursday. Are you doing the math or is
everyone following along? So we get there Tuesday night
and my wife and I just have a casual dinner that was
beautiful. We spent most of the day on
Wednesday with family. My nephew is about to turn three
years old. So we did a little went to the
children's Museum, went to it went to There's Ash and Elm,
which is a local cider. They have a they have a like a
restaurant, so we would have lunch there, got some ciders.
That was fun. Then we stood in line for the
consignment sale where we sold a lot of our games.
We had about 2020 25 games that we were selling.
In the consignment sale and hopefully we sold them all.
We have no idea When'd you find out.
We could have found out on Sunday, but it required us to
stand in line and we didn't want to do that.
So we're going to get an e-mail eventually, and it's going to be
like, you sold this many games. Not online, no, no.
Yeah, UK Games X Photos is online.
You can always check live. Because the consignment sale is
on its own network, right? And so you can't.
You know, I don't know. I don't know how all that works.
You basically dump it, you dump it off, and then you you know
it's like a little surprise. It really is.
What about the stuff it hasn't sold goes to charity?
It goes to charity. Yeah.
OK. It goes to charity.
And so we don't ever pick any games that don't sell.
We don't pick them up. We're like, let them have it.
So, but, so the theme of this episode, I think we're going to
break up. We're going to break up the
Gencon story into three episodes, right?
You have a busy plan? Yeah.
Very busy. So this is called Gencon Story
and this is part one which we're calling their story or creating
a community, right. So this is going to be everyone
from the Instagram community. You're going to hear sound bites
from many of them that I met. Next week will be design a story
and it'll be the we'll hear from some designers.
And then finally the third part will be my story where I'll tell
my perspective and my experience.
So. So I'm gonna table PJ for our
listeners. I know that's really difficult
for the Cajun gamer. See whether she's actually gonna
happen. I can see episodes merging.
I'm gonna let's see how we go. I'm gonna table my perspective
as much as possible and so yeah, I guess do we.
So we wanna go ahead and start off.
And, yeah, so, I mean, I think we got Catherine.
Yes. First, let's hear what Catherine
has to say. Hi, I'm Catherine.
My Instagram handle is Catherine E Dowell, and I attended Gen.
Con 2023 with my family. It's really great sharing the
board game hobby with your family until you have to share
the board game hobby with your family.
For us, that means that we sometimes take turns.
Friday I had all to myself. Saturday my partner had all to
themselves and Sunday we attended as a family.
My favorite purchase was Forbidden Jungle where I waited
in line and got Matt Lecock signature had it dedicated to
me. Yep, right on that tin baby.
My favorite event was The Friday Night Game Crafter Play Test
where I got to sit down and play Test Vector by Chris Couch
Games. And Sunday we just walked around
As a family, I really enjoy Gen. Con.
It's a little big for its britches from my taste, but I
really is punctuated by being able to see friends and demo
games. So did you Did you try Vector?
I've not heard of it. I did not.
I did not try Vector. I didn't get a chance, but I'm
glad that she did. Catherine's amazing.
She lives her and her family live really close to where my
wife grew up and she lives like maybe 5 minutes from my inlaws.
So, so now when we go, yeah, when we go for the holidays, we
can call Catherine and meet at a local game store and that's
making friends. Yes.
Yeah, I I love it's, it's crazy, isn't it really.
I know. I mean it's bound to happen, but
you know, particularly America being so big.
That that's a fair point. What can I say?
But right on that tin, baby I love.
Yeah. Did did you get to play the
Forbidden Game? We looked at it.
We didn't get it, but we we looked at it, Yeah, yeah, I
table I'm tabling myself this week.
So we'll talk about my experience in two weeks, OK.
Right then. So I think, I think we've got
TJ. Is it TJ?
Oh yeah, you're in for a treat. Let me play.
Yo, what's good everybody? My name is TJ from TJ Plays, and
if you ain't listening to the Meeple to Meeple podcast, then
what is you doing? Look, I want to talk about my
first Gencon real quick. I didn't really know what to
expect. But my biggest take away from
the whole weekend is this. These people make up the best
community in the world, and I stand on that.
I met some amazing people, from casual gamers to social media
influencers and guess what? It was all super dope.
Not only that, but also got to attend some top secret
influencer events where I got to play and see some amazing games.
I think my favorite game from the whole weekend was Waffle
Time from AEG. I don't know what it is about
that puzzle but damn it looks delicious.
Shout out to them for the copy I'd say.
If you've never been to Gen. Con, I highly suggest you go get
your friends together, create a plan, and make some of the best
memories in the board game space.
Because I loved every second of it.
Who knows, maybe I'll see you there next year.
But until then, it's TJ from TJ Plays and I'm out.
Peace, peace, man. I need to meet TJ.
You do. So what can I say about TJ?
But he is just so energetic and he's really new to the
community. Not gaming, but the community
itself. Really great supporter, great
friend. He's doing a giveaway soon on
Instagram, so we're really excited for that.
TJ, thank you so much. Thank you for being who you are,
really enjoyed meeting you. He taught a group of his
Foundations of Rome, I think, on Thursday.
And I think I want to play. I'm not playing, yeah.
Well, you got you got Dizz just down the street.
She got it, she. Got it.
She has it. Yeah.
So you. You should do that.
Have her teach you. So that was worthy.
And thank you. I feel like the joke.
The joke is that, you know, it's TJ plays.
I'm like, yeah, but it was. TJ teaches.
At least it was Thursday night, so you can have two handles.
But yeah, I mean even waffle time.
Again, I haven't looked up waffle time.
That's a new game to me. I need to check it out.
It looks. It looks.
TJ said it best. It looks delicious.
Yeah, yeah, that's, I was thinking it was the AEG, he
said. So he's going to check that out.
So again, I guess TJ will do a review.
He's got a copy, so there'll be content on his channel.
So go and check out TJ And yeah, thanks for shouting out as well
for the compliments on the channel.
Up next is another K This time we got Kristen.
Hi, I'm Kristen Mott. I'm a game designer and a home
school mom of three. My favorite part of Gen.
Con this year was meeting a lot of new people and pitching my
current games to different publishers.
My least favorite part was the intense crowd.
This year I am on Instagram as at Family dot Board Gaming.
If you ever want to just chat and talk about games, gotta say
I'd saw the cues. I do feel there was a crazy Cues
man on those test couple of days.
The first day was a nightmare and all I can say is Disney.
Laura Kana, I mean, that's all I saw was.
I think it was day one. The cues were outside and there
was already a queue inside. So day two, they made you queue
for the Disney game from 6:30 in the evening.
Yes, for the to getting at 10, what time did it open 1011?
10A10 AM, 10:00 AM and people were queuing from 6:30.
I would probably say people started queuing about midnight
midnight. Yeah, but they said six, man.
So I want to say about Kristen. So Kristen is the designer of
the Rolling Right Game dinosaur exhibit.
Is that new? I mean, it's been out for a
year, right? Kristen will probably text me
later on and be like, hey, it's not a year dinosaur exhibit.
I love a rolling right? So it is this really fantastic
game that we bought for our boss Katie and I's boss at work.
He has six kids. They loved it.
And I told our boss is like, you know, we're going to meet
Kristen at, you know, at Gencon. So they went out and they put
together a little thing, a little collage of photos of them
playing Dinosaur Island, our dinosaur exhibit of them at a
museum in front of fossils and like a little note saying thank
you to Kristen for me to give to her.
So she met us at the hotel and we gave her the.
You know the little picture took?
We took a picture of me handing it to her.
She then gave me another copy of Donna's OR exhibit and she
signed it to all six of the kids on the side.
So we gave it to them. Yeah.
Kristen's amazing. She's really fantastic.
And the fact that she is a homeschooler of three like that
really influenced her creation of this game.
She had homeschooling families in mind and so sound like
there's some other games in development as well.
There are she, she was really busy.
We, a bunch of us got together on Wednesday night and we saw
her and then it was like she was boom, she was doing her, you
know, the business side. So, but yeah, I had to plug that
and tell that story because it's a good one.
So I'm gonna have to check out is that a release?
Is it available? No, it's been picked up by a
publisher and it will be available soon.
It was a Kickstarter and. Yeah, so, so this copies out in
the world. If you can find a copy of
dinosaur exhibit exhibit. Get it?
It's great loving. It Kristen Mott can't go wrong.
OK, let's listen to I think it's Adri.
Adri.
Yes, here we go.
Hi, this is Adri. I'm wandering people on
Instagram. My favorite Momina Jancon is
always going to be meeting with my old and new friends.
Getting to spend some time with them playing board games or just
chatting a little bit and getting to know each other a lot
more. My favorite game played at Gen.
Con. Actually two games.
First one is Kutna. Hora, the City of Silver from
Check Games. That's a game that is going to
be released in Essen. It's so good if you have the
chance to. Check it out and play it I.
Recommended And the other one is a game I love to play, but I
have been playing it a lot on board game arena, not in real
life. And this time I had the chance
to play it in real life with my friend son.
It's a. Space base.
I love it, man. I love space base too.
And I picked up with City of Silver.
I missed the first word. Yeah.
I don't. I didn't.
I didn't catch it either. I'm not familiar.
It's out. It's out.
Essen City of Silver. At check games.
So the guys who brought you are now.
Yeah, generally, those games. Kuta Hora.
Kuta hora. That's it.
Can you tahora? Oh yeah, it looks nice.
Yep, Yeah. So this was my second time
meeting Adri. She is amazing, like, you know,
we stay in contact. She's just, she's such a lovely
human being and we got we got a chance to visit and everything
so and we got to play a lot of games together.
But I missed the check games. I did go to the check games Expo
Saturday night but they were play testing a bunch of games
and she got the way cut. Kuta What are we?
Kuta Hero? Yeah, we've just destroyed it.
But city? City of Silver It does look.
It does look very delightful. And if you're going fast, I
think. You're going to go to Essen for
a day. Is that still up in the air?
There's some work stuff dropped in while I've been on holiday.
I need to see whether I can move.
Otherwise, other people are going who we can ask to check it
out for us. Yes, yes, we need to do that.
So, yeah. So that's Adri.
I guess one of the things I mean, it's coming through thick
and thick and clear is just the friendships and the community
stuff and just hanging out with friends, talking about friends,
happy meatballs. Yes, let's see what I got to
say. Hi PJ and Gareth, It's Mandy
from the Happy Meatballs. Just let you know about our
Gencon experience. This was our first time going
and it was amazing. I don't think I could ever put
into words for a first timer how like vast it is.
There's so much to do every day, all day.
Even after the vendor hall closed, there were so many
people gaming and so many places to game.
We were overjoyed by seeing, you know, a smiling face and then
just open arm hugs and Let's play games.
It was a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful feeling.
Thank you so much for being a guide in the chat and a guide
for letting us know what events were coming up.
We did not schedule any events, but we're glad to hop into a
couple at last minute. We are hoping that we have the
funds to go back next year because it is a memory that we
will hold on to for a long time. I mean it sums it up so well.
So I was so excited to meet Mandy and Nick.
And then I found out that when you're when you're interacting
with Happy Meeples, you're pretty much interacting with
Mandy. OK, it's worth no range.
Never quite. You never quite know when
there's a when there's a. It's a couple, yeah.
It's not Nick. Nick is always on screen because
she's filming, but usually when you're chatting with her, it's
Mandy. So my thoughts about both of
them is open, kind, lovely and energetic.
Those are the just they were so amazing.
They had a lot of questions. We had a group chat that was
going on Instagram ahead of Gencon for like weeks and I was
like, well, here's the events that we're signing up for.
Don't worry if you do, because they didn't sign up for any.
I'm like, yeah, you're you're fine, you're fine and they were
fine. It's really hard to convey the
vastness of Gencon. It's impossible.
But did you Did you did you see it?
I know we're going to cover your personal view, but did you get
through everything? Not through everything, no.
And how many events did you do? And what events?
What event? Is it?
Events like RPG or is it? So events, events is kind of a
broad term for Gencon for that could be anything from going to
the first exposure, play, test all and play testing games which
we did. Or events could be like they
teach you a game and let you play it in its entirety as
opposed to the demo. Demos are demos are not events.
Those are the, yeah. Or it could be True Dungeon.
You're going to hear about that today.
Or it's going to be about playing a full game, playing in
a tournament. But you, I think you pick
yourself on you through. You book them in advance with
tickets and they didn't do any and they just went in blind and
it was great. They had a good time.
Love you. Mandy and Nick.
Thank you for being such great friends and helping us create
the community. So and he's a virtual hug.
They're hugs. There's a lot of oh.
My gosh, yes. Yep.
OK, not up next is Jerry. Jerry, yes, hi, this is Jerry.
And on Instagram, I'm Tabletop worldwide.
My favorite thing about Gencon is something that probably
everybody's going to say, and to the point that it may even sound
cliche, but it's the best part of the people.
The games are great. The people are better.
For me, Gencon this time almost seemed like a networking event
more than a games event, which sounds a little more businessy
than I mean it. I mean, I got to meet with
publishers and and talk about some collaborations and that was
all wonderful. But the best part was just
hanging out with my fellow content creators.
Just, you know, getting dinner, playing games, just enjoying
seeing, you know, people that we only get to see once a year.
That for me was my favorite part.
My favorite game that I played at Gen.
Con in a big group was spicy. I would say it's a bluffing card
game. That was a lot of fun and a lot
of laughs. I also enjoyed playing Sky Team
A2 player game that just came out.
The favorite game that I brought home is Queen by Midnight.
That one just looks amazing. I saw it, demoed, I saw how it
looks on the table and I'm just super excited to to play that
one and get some more experience with it.
Enjoy meeting you PJ larger than life.
Really, really fun person. I hope to one day get to meet
you too, Gareth, and thanks to both of you for a great podcast.
Can imagine if we could get everyone together, the UKUK.
Instagram crew, we need to have a meeple to meeple con on our
battleship, wherever it was our carrier with somehow the Antic.
Yeah, I think, I mean it sounds so similar to the experience
that we have in the UK, which is yeah, we go, we go to buy some
games, but it's all about the network.
So much like in the UK, we've just been to Pimcon where we've
met up with the same group of people that we hang out with
just because it's great to hang out and meet friends.
Did you play Spicy or Queen of? Did not play spicy, but I did.
Demo Queen of Midnight, Queen by Midnight.
Queen by midnight, yeah. Queen by midnight, yeah. 6
Princesses battle for the right of the Midnight court.
Yeah. Oh yeah, looks amazing.
Impress. Here's the problem.
It is a minimum three player. I've just seen, yeah, three to
six players and that is what stopped Katie and I from buying
it. Otherwise we would have grabbed
a copy. Yeah, I do wanna.
I want to express and share Jerry's sentiment that Gareth, I
hope the one day meet you too. It has to happen.
I mean, I think somebody potentially in the in the UK is
gonna meet you ahead of me. That's may or may it happen.
No, that's happening. It's going to happen.
So we need to I need to share a hug here and then it can be
carried across the Atlantic and can be shared on the other line.
The only other thing I could say about Jerry was the first the
first word that comes to mind is kinship.
He. As soon as I met Jerry, I felt
like we were like brothers and it was like a family.
So we saw each other Wednesday night and then I didn't see him
all day Thursday and Friday. And when I saw him Saturday
morning, I was like, I miss you. It's like it's only been two
days. Did you know Jerry before Jane
Conn Had you took much on on we IG or we only talked in our
because he was part. Of in that chat.
Yeah, chat. Which is where I really got to
solidify some of the relationships ahead of Jen Go.
You know, it's like you passively know people, but yeah,
so. Yeah, it is, Yeah.
I think it's amazing. Through lockdown.
Then when we met people afterwards, I know he chatted,
chatted, chatted to them more. But you you've got, I guess you
got a, you've got, you have got a connection.
Yeah, I think, Jerry. Something you just easily talk
about. Jerry's from Atlanta and he had
like a 7 or 8 hour drive so but you know what he did when he
drove there and back? He listened to a lot of episodes
of Meatball to Meatball, so. There's plenty of episodes
people listen to. There really is, yeah.
So if you haven't listened to them all, head back, take a
listen. There's 46 other episodes,
that's right. OK, we have now got Raziel.
So OK, this is Randy. Randy, Randy the Random Meeple.
Hey hello friends. This is Raziel, the Random
Meeple in Instagram. Thank you Garrett and PJ for
inviting us to your podcast is awesome and an honor to be here.
And well, I just want to say that the thing that I must enjoy
from Jenkin, same as last year, it's the people.
All the gamers and meeting you guys and meeting all friends and
playing with them that was the best of the Jenkin.
All the laughs and all the memories.
And if you remember, we play a lot with them and and they
phrase more more common during the Jenkin.
I think it was nuts. PJ can tell you the story behind
that. But yeah, it it was amazing.
It was an amazing Jenkin, a lot of games.
But what I must enjoy was the people, the gamers playing with
all of you. Thank you.
Have a wonderful day guys, and I hope I will be able to play with
you, Garrett. Have a wonderful day.
Talk to you later guys. Random meeple out.
I need to get my ticket to to jencom.
It was that was that notes. Yeah.
Nuts. What's the story?
So Brian Hoffman, who is 9 to 6
games on Instagram, who we featured at Origins where I met,
we were playing. Well, I wasn't playing.
They were playing a game. It's like this squirrel game
where you ask a question, would you rather this or that and if
you win you get like a squirrel nut.
Right. And so she put it on her
forehead and Brian would be like nuts and and Adri, right.
Especially in her accent, it was like she would just repeat that.
So it was like all weekend. It didn't even matter.
In fact, it was one point. I think I saw Randy from across
the hall and he's like nuts. And I'm like, yeah, so it's just
kind of like our own private greeting.
So that's a story of nuts. Nuts.
Again, I mean, you know, I think it was Jerry's about being a
cliche, but have you seen it change?
Is it? Has it always been or has it
become more about the community and networking or just because
of the? Because of the the content
creation, I think it's changed. I know.
I think it's definitely changed. I think this is new because,
well, I'll talk about my perspective in two weeks.
But yes, the answer to your question, short answer, yes, it
has changed in a good way. Yeah.
OK, love it. A man, honey, to get myself a
ticket for next year. Maybe I'll book my holiday.
Maybe we should book a holiday. Around Jen Con.
I'm not sure the wife's gonna agree to this, but then we can
record live. OK, great.
If you and I can have a booth at Jen Con and just have people
come to us and just and we know there's recorded stories, record
their stories. OK, we got 12 months to sort
out. Next up is Game With Me Under
the Ever. Tree, This is Jacob.
This isn't a Jacob. Hello hello hello, this is Jacob
from Game with me at the Ever Tree.
I'm here to say that I had a blast at my second Gen.
Con. I did go last year as well.
On this year I did get to go with Lizzie the nerdy
photographer and this was an amazing time to be able to spend
with her. We were able to check out this
new game called Wandering Towers and we got to go a special event
which gave us a expansion for some of the stuff.
And I really love that game so much.
We actually played in the hotel floor two more times.
When we got back to the hotel it wasn't that good.
Definitely the best game. I played all of Gencon, but my
best experience is still definitely just be able to meet
and see everyone from Instagram once again.
I got to see a bunch of people again from last year or some new
faces as well. And just being around them and
seeing their faces, it just brings joy to my heart.
I love all of you. You make me so happy.
I can't wait to meet you again next year at Gen.
Con for my third time. Or again, some other time soon.
Man, it sounds like a great time.
Community, community, brother community.
That's what it's about. I want to say that I got so I
met. Jacob was the first person from
the Instagram community I ever met in real life.
OK. It was last year, so I could, I
could tell this. At Gencom.
At Gencom last year, Katie and I were at the Gameland Games
booth, right? All the tiny Epic games.
And I hear my name out of the corner, you know?
And it's Jacob and. So yeah, yeah.
And so we we hugged and we chatted and we talked about
things and is he talked about Final Girl, which is becoming
his favorite game? Yeah.
But I would like to say that I got to take a picture with Jacob
under the ever tree. At Gencar.
I remember that photo now and it's.
Awesome. Yeah, yeah, I remember that set
that up on the last day. Big group photo under the ever
tree was so much fun. Thank you, Jacob.
Thank you, Lizzie. She was such a delight.
I should say that as well. Lizzie, thank you so much for
taking the time to visit with me and all of us and share in our
community and. What's wandering Towers?
Did you try that? I mean, so good.
They sat down and played it on the floor.
I know it didn't hit my radar until we got to Gencon.
And that was another missed opportunity, you know, trying to
prioritize everything. I missed out on it, but I saw
them play it and it looks amazing.
Yeah, it just. Look, it looks really nice.
I was going to ask a question about gaming and so do people
play at Gencon in the evenings, or do people disperse the
hotels? Or a bit of both.
So the JW Marriott has a ballroom specifically designed
for open gaming. Free.
Free for all. Or do you have to book?
Yeah, it's free for all, it's a free for all.
And it's really, it's remote while it's connected by sky
bridges, pedestrians, it's kind of far away from everything.
So it's, you know, it's a bit of a hype, but every night
dispersed to the hotels and it's like in the hallways, in the
conference rooms, in the lobbies of hotels, everyone's playing
everywhere, so. Yeah, brilliant.
Love it. OK, Next up is Maple Mike
Michael. God, I love his story.
Let's go. Hey, guys, this is Mike at
Maple. Mike on Instagram.
Gen. Con was probably the best four
days of my year. I absolutely loved getting to
meet all the different people, all the people I've only talked
to online on Instagram and other platforms.
I've been echoing the sentiment for what seems like forever, but
actually just forget about the games.
But just being in a place where everyone is so excited about
gaming is absolutely amazing. And one of my favorite moments
was at the CGE Creator event where me, Angel Board Game,
Angel, Brian, Running Board Gamer and PJ were playing a game
of ARNAC. And it just was never ending
because everyone kept getting up to socialize and meeting other
people. And you were introducing him to
her and you to me and all of that fun stuff.
And that was just so, so amazing to meet everyone.
Now it's me. Who?
Mike. Me.
Mike's. I'm sure me pull.
Mike did a lot of entries into the Online Ball Game Olympics.
I believe you remember. Yeah, I'm sure that's I.
Then I've talked to my meeple Mike apart from that, but sounds
again just hanging out really good member of the community.
So that was the longest game of lost ruins of our neck ever, you
know, because we constantly got up.
At least you finished it. We did.
Yeah, you could have abandoned
it. So Angel, board game.
Angel had never played our neck. She's like, let's play cool.
So we did. We sat down, but then
everybody's walking up and then you get up to talk to someone
and then whatnot. So Michael is so delightful.
He is so sincere. He's so humble.
I just you want to encourage him.
He is so amazing. I don't know that, like, he
really puts everyone else first above himself.
And it's, you know, when you meet those rare people were just
so humble. He was fantastic.
There was a great moment while we were playing our neck and
someone came over and kind of fangirled.
She's like, you're you're Mike, you're Mike from meeple Mike.
And he's like, yeah. And I'm like, Oh, my God, I'm
vibrating physically because I'm so excited for him.
So it was great. So Michael, thank you.
Thank you for telling the story. I don't have to.
And I guess the point you met Angel.
I've met Angel with me. That's one of the few people who
with both, There are currently two people on this planet who
have met us both, and Angel is one of them.
I got to meet her and then. It's Richard from Richard.
From the space Yeah, I love Andrew.
Two people. Yeah, we need to do another
episode, but we'll save that. We'll save that for another day.
Yeah. Let's go on to Brian.
Hi, I'm Brian, also known as Running Board Gamer on
Instagram. I have been attending Gen.
Con since its last year in Milwaukee and have only missed
one Gen. Con in Indianapolis.
I have to say that this year has to be one of the best con
experiences of my life. In 2022, I was just starting to
get active in the Instagram board gaming community.
This year however, was special because I got to meet and speak
and game with so many people that I have come to know through
Instagram. They have all been so nice and
friendly and supportive. I can't wait to see them again
at future cons. Another highlight this year, as
always, was True Dungeon. I got to do 3 amazing dungeon
runs. I also volunteered for All
Direct Entertainment for their Big Game Night event, teaching
people new games, which I love to do.
I even got to teach some of my Instagram friends how to play
Glory to Rome, which made my top 30 to Gencon countdown some of
the games I'm excited about. Sky Team A2 player Coop game.
I'm looking forward to playing with my wife, 3 Ring Circus by
Devier Games and The Missing Expedition, the new expansion
for The Lost Runs of Arnac. Side note, I played Lost Runs
Varnack with board game Angel Meeple Mike and PJ the Cajun
Gamer. OK, so Brian is the epic veteran
of Jen Con. How many?
How many Jen Cons has Brian? I think the last one, the last
one in Milwaukee was in the 80s or the 90s.
OK. I mean, we're talking hardcore
and you heard him. This was the best ever because
of us community. There it is.
Is it just feel like it's an Instagram driven thing?
Cuz I don't hear groups of Twitter, Which should I say?
XX. Whatever.
Yeah. Yeah, it feels one of the real
positive. The byproducts of Instagram is
less about the content and more about the community and the yes
and the friendship that we've all gone through.
That is absolutely true. This is all done by us in the
community using Instagram as a tool to bring us together and
you're seeing that, you're seeing that come to fruition.
Glory to roam. Oh my God, such a great
experience. Which version was it?
The black box or the? Yeah, the black box.
It's my one of my prized possessions that game.
Oh, you have a copy. In the black box?
Yeah, original Kickstarter backer.
Yeah, that's an amazing game. That was a cool glory to Rome.
Such a cool moment. So yeah, who we got next?
We've got Jen, so this is Jen and Raleigh and this.
They're connected. They're a group who interrupted
us while we were playing R Neck. I love how this.
Comes together, yeah. Here we go.
Hey everyone, this is Jen and this is Rolly, and we're here
with board for two. One of our favorite things about
Gen. Khan is meeting people from the
boarding community. The thing is, though, these
first meetings can get quite awkward sometimes.
You don't know what they look like or what their names are.
You know you only talked online, right?
And you start trying to wonder, is that the right person?
But they're also looking at you thinking probably the same
thing. Yeah.
But once you realize it's who they are and who we are, we
really end up having that great time just being together.
And that really goes to our favorite moment of Gen.
Con, which is gaming with our new friends, with AEG game night
and even Saturday. Just clearing that, our schedule
just to play some games, getting to know each other.
Because when are we gonna see each other again?
Hopefully next year. And that's what gaming is really
all about, Building that community and talking to one
another, yeah. I love these clips.
Honestly, they're so good, So good.
They are both fun. They're both expressive.
They're so appreciative. I really enjoyed meeting both of
them. I've been following them Gosh,
what seems like years. Who knows?
It may not be that long, but it's been a while.
I love, love their content. They're just, they're so amazing
and they do it together and I love it.
So I guess if anyone hasn't captured these names, when we do
the post on Instagram we will tag all these accounts in.
So please make sure. You go and follow all these
wonderful accounts if you don't already, which I am sure you or
you could do. OK, let's see what Billy's got
to say. Great.
Hi everyone. I'm Billy and I'm Jonathan from
Reengineer the game and we got to experience Gencon and my
favorite part of Gencon was being able to see the hot games
in the board game Geek hot game room and my favorite game that I
played was Unmatched Brandon Braun.
My favorite experience would have been meeting all the
people, specifically some of my favorite designers.
I got to meet Fletch from the OP, Jack Rita from Future Past
Times, and Steven Medway from the Pandemonium Institute.
Just talking with him was great and the favorite game that I
played was a little bit of cop Out but Disney Sorcerers Arena
epic alliances. I taught and demoed that game
all weekend and we had a blast. So I met Jonathan.
At Geek Way to the West in Saint Louis, right?
So go back to that episode and you'll hear me tell that story
where we were playing Flame Craft with him and his wife.
That's yeah. So he, he and Billy got together
because there's three of them. Reengineer the games.
There's they're a trio. Billy's the second I got to meet
Billy. Billy was so delightful, so
energetic. Loved them.
It was great to see them both. But they were doing, they were
working the vendor hall, so if I only got to see them briefly in
the evenings, they got to do all kind of cool stuff and you got
to hear some of that. But yeah, so it was just great
to see them again. I've never played an unmatched
game, you know, Neither have I I don't know how to do that.
Yeah and yeah, a lot of people are big fans and I've just.
I don't know why I haven't. I don't.
I don't know. I don't know that's.
Probably an episode there and it's making of games that we
haven't played that people think we should have done.
Straight into Adam. Yes, What's up?
This is Adam, tabletop vibes and my favorite moment at Jan Khan.
OK, so besides meeting everybody that I've been talking to for
three years was super great. One meeting this super duper
awesome dude, PJ, the Cajun board gamer.
Super nice, great guy. Met a lot of other friends as
well. I would have to say that my
favorite moment. I played Chaos Order with Nick
from Happy Meeples and Mitch from Neat and Nerdy, and we're
literally playing Chaos Order in the hotel in like the ballroom
area downstairs of the hotel. It's raining outside, the
ceiling is leaking, and pieces of the ceiling are literally
falling down around all of us people playing board games.
We got one person in the corner playing a party game, we got
another person playing other random games and then here we
are playing Chaos Order, which was intense all the way down to
the last turn. It was amazing.
John Conn was a great experience.
Can't wait for 2024. You can't be a little bit of
Chaos. Is that, is that Circadian's
Chaos Order? I think so.
Yeah, I think so. I think it is.
Petition the chaos. The chaos of environmental
chaos. Yup, Adam's amazing.
And we should probably go ahead and listen to Jason, because
he's the he's the other half of. Okay.
Listen, now go. Yeah, what's up guys?
Jason here, Tabletop vibes. My favorite part of Gencon this
year was getting a board game. I really wanted and really had
to fight for it to get it. So got to the exhibition hall
before they opened on Saturday in with a crowd of like 1000
people. Got to meet a lot of cool people
while you waited and when they threw the doors open it was a
mad crush to get in. I mean we were really crushed
like Twinkies in there. Eventually got through, raced
over to the table, got in line and got copy of Distilled, which
will be doing a first impression at tabletop vibes coming up
soon. And this just encompasses all of
what Gencon is. There's the meeting of the cool
people, there is the expectation of getting game you really want
there is rushing over to really get there before anybody else,
and it's that fulfillment of getting that game.
So fantastic Gen. Con, can't look forward enough
to next time Gen. Con 2024 and hope to see you all
there. I was this close to playing
distilled yesterday and I ran out of time.
It was on the list, but we had like an hour and it was four of
us and we felt Craig was supposed to.
Teach you, I know, and that's why Blood in the Clock Tower
took over most of the afternoon. However, I love a story of a
good getting a game through the through the crushing Twinkies.
I mean, it sounds, I'm delightful.
So the beauty of it, so Adam is chaos, Jason is order.
I mean that. Yeah, I love it.
They're two personalities and they're both tabletop vibes.
So they have a YouTube channel and they're on Instagram.
Follow them. Check them out.
They are both truly amazing. I taught, Jason Distilled on
Friday night. With my wife and two other
people it was so good and he fell in love.
The story he told that was Saturday morning.
So he played, distilled with us and went and got in line and.
You influenced us. Look at that.
You should be on Commission. I mean, yeah, I mean you've
talked about distilled on number.
Of times, yeah. Number of times on the episode,
yeah. Distilled is in my top three.
It's obsession. Distilled and Nemesis, that's my
top three. And that's where we are, yeah.
Punch pool. Cathedral, yes.
Just next, yes. Hey, it's Cannon of Punch Board
Cathedral, and my favorite part of Gen.
Con, and of gaming conventions in general, is sitting down at a
table of strangers and agreeing for the next couple hours to be
friends. You don't have to have anything
in common with these people and you may well come from very
different places and lead very different lives.
They might be people you would never encounter in the course of
an ordinary day, but at that table, you're united by a common
set of interests and social conventions.
It is, if we're being honest, a bizarrely intimate experience.
Modern life separates and alienates us from one another.
But at a gaming convention, the opposite is true.
You're going to get to know some strangers pretty well.
You're going to learn a lot about each other.
You're going to share moments of tension, frustration,
embarrassment, laughter. You may compete, but you might
also help each other through rules, confusion, or even offer
strategic advice. And as often as not, you're
going to find you kind of like each other.
This is not, in my humble opinion, because gamers are
uniquely kind, generous, sociable or likable people, but
because people in general are usually pretty alright and
you'll probably like them if you get to know them.
Games, let us do that. What I mean?
That sums it up beautifully. Really does.
I feel like he is the Punch Board Cathedral.
I mean, if that's not like the board gaming Bishop giving a
sermon at the Punch Board Cathedral, like that's just it's
so insightful and I have a confession to make.
Canon is the only person on this podcast I did not meet.
At Gen. Con we did not get a chance to
meet, and for that I'm sorry. There's always next year, no,
but he was kind enough to send us a sound bite anyway.
He was part of the chat and just the chat group had like 30 to 50
people in it and just trying to coordinate it's, I mean you.
Did really well to get, I mean the sound bites that we have
got, which leads us into Laura, Laura.
Oh gosh, great story. Hi, this is Laura.
I'm obsessed with board games on Instagram.
I got to go to Gencon for the first time this year, which was
a wonderful experience. I loved being part of the group,
waiting to go into the vendor hall in the mornings.
A lot of people think that's too intense and want to stay away.
For me it was such an energetic moment, really moments leading
up to it and experiencing that with everybody who is there
because they love the similar things to you.
That was just such a cool experience for me as a first
timer. I got to play Sky Team while I
was there, which is a fantastic two player game.
I loved my first playthrough and then was super pumped to find
there were extra components in the box leading to more complex
game play in the future and I am very excited to get it back to
the table soon. Amazing.
So I got to tell you about Laura.
Laura has only had her Instagram account for three weeks.
I wasn't following. Now I am.
Now you are. By the way, you can find her
husband Mr., Obsessed with Board games, yeah.
There's a pair. So we were at a table together
and I had gotten up for one reason or another.
And Katie was conveying to Laura and her husband Ryan that Katie
decided to change her Instagram name to Missus Cajun Gamer just
to, you know, symmetry. And so Ryan's like, I'm doing
that right now and he changed his to Mr. Obsessed with War
Games. So our good friend Craig, who
was supposed to teach you, distilled yesterday, let's get
into games for our American friends, he posted.
You need to follow Laura's account on Instagram.
So I did. And then we started seeing the
network is beautiful. We we started messaging each
other and it was like, I think it was Friday.
We're in the vendor hall, which is like chaos.
And I'm like, I'm over here at this table.
And then we move and I'd send her another message.
And then so because Katie and I were being safe while we were in
the vendor hall, we wore masks because the crowds were tight.
When we got out of the vendor hall, we, you know, we took
masks off. If we were at a table with other
people who were wearing masks, then we wore them too, just to
be respectful. So I took a picture so she would
know, hey, I'm wearing this colored mask and this is what I
look like. She messages me back.
She's like, look for a girl lost wearing a flowered shirt.
All of a sudden every woman in the hall is wearing a flowered
shirt and I'm like, I can't find her.
And then I did and we took that great picture, which we shared
on Instagram. So, so much fun.
So much fun to play with. Thank you, Laura.
OK, moving around those vendor halls trying to meet people is
like a game of chess. And so it's a ball game in its
own right, because everyone keeps moving and everyone's.
Carrying a big bag and we all look the same.
Okay, Matheus Matthias. Matthias, I can't read my own
writing. I apologize, sorry.
Hello gamers, evil jerk gamer here.
This year's Gen. Con was one of the best by far.
I got to hang out with a lot of really awesome people, all us
influencers. We spent a lot of time together.
It was like we'd known each other for years.
That wasn't that awkward introduction thing.
It's like you just walked up to somebody and you were like, I
know you. And it was just, it was, it was
great. It was like we were family.
We had a lot of laughs, a lot of good times.
I actually kicked the lady during the con, which was a
little weird. I'm not saying I did it on
purpose, but I am saying that right before you got there, PJ,
she did refuse a sticker from me.
So do you know, do what you will with that?
I got to listen to, Ari wandered meeple.
She kept dropping the F bomb in the game we were playing when
she was supposed to announce a G rated cuss word and we were all
just kind of looking at each other like, what'd she say?
Like that. To me, that was like the
funniest moment of the con. I could not stop laughing.
Even when I think about it now, it's just it's so funny.
I just, I can't recommend Jamie Con enough and I hope to see
some of you there next year. Kicking a lady.
I mean, we just suddenly got a lot of violence in the game just
for not taking a sticker. I'm sure there's more to this
than than just pure violence and the chaos.
He is the evil jerk gamer so. Yeah, just taking down any poor
lady for not taking a sticker. They are nice stickers.
There they are. They're beautiful.
Yeah, you've. Actually got some nice stickers.
Actually we do. We've got some buttons.
Got some buttons, which is cool. Yeah.
No, that was it was so funny. It was great to meet him.
So he lives in Joliet, which is just South of Chicago, which is
about 3 hours from here in Illinois.
So we hopefully we'll get together soon and get a game in.
There's a lot of other stories too with the evil jerk gamer.
They're not appropriate for this channel, but it.
Feels like he's going to chat. Yeah, there's a lot of, there's
a lot of stories. So we were playing a game where
I think it was everything ever. I think that was what we were
playing. Right.
It was this party game and you had to say every G rate, so you
had to say every G rated version of an adult word, right?
It's like shoot darn shucks, right?
You had to say those things one at a time and you had to go
around and you couldn't repeat. And Adri, because of her accent,
she was trying to say a G rated version of the F word, but it
kept sounding like the F word and she's like what?
I just said it and she'd say it again and she'd say it again and
to all of us, right, it sounded like the same thing simply
because of her accent. And it was, it was very
entertaining because she was in fact not saying the F word she
was saying. Yeah, she was saying a G rated
version, but it just sounded the same.
And they gave her grief for it at least for 10 minutes.
And then it was we moved on to the next thing.
So. And for for our UK listeners, G
= U rated just to keep our language the same.
Did you know that I never knew what G rated?
No, G rated is for all ages and that is you in the UK.
I did not know that. That's good to know.
Thanks for. That I'll take it.
It's sharing things that are different across both sides
Atlantic. So we've got one to go, and this
is Drew Drew. Here we go.
Hey Y'all, this is the cardboard cowboy Drew, also known on
Instagram as Welcome to Boredom. 2023 was my very first time at
Gencon. One of my favorite things about
Gencon was getting to see all of the wonderful people that I see
in this beautiful and absolutely phenomenal community each and
every day on social media. There are a ton of games that
I'm excited for, but some of them that I saw was Sirens by
Envy Born Games and Apothecary by One First Games.
Thank Y'all very much and I'm excited to see y'all and next
year and that's a perfect way to.
End, I'm gonna say full of energy.
Two games I've not heard of. I'm gonna have to go.
And it's like a shopping list of grade here.
So I've gone through this episode today.
Drew is open, polite, encouraging and supportive.
Like I don't. I don't know how well he knew me
before Gen. Con, cuz he's got a big
following, but he knows me now and he was kind enough to do a
little sound bite for us so. I can say thank you to
everybody. True, true and everyone else.
Well done PJ. Fantastic set selection of
people's perspectives. This is what happens when you
send me when you send me on assignment on the.
Mission and I like the way that we've recorded these separate
which I think we we took that learning on the back end of UK
GE when I recorded them live. We've just got the sound
quality, it's far, far better. So next episode we're gonna have
some designers that you met Yes, at Gencon, and then we're gonna
hear then your, I guess, your personal journey at Gencon as
well. That'll be the week after.
So, three weeks of Gencon? It's fascinating.
You can really can feel the love and the.
I guess that is network, the friendships that are being
built, a group of people who didn't know each other maybe
even a week ago. Two weeks ago we got together
and hang out, play games, and I just can't wait to do the same
with you guys at some point when I get myself into Jencom.
So I'm now going to go downstairs and see whether I can
start planting those seeds for next year.
What is the date next year? What is?
What is Jencom's date? August 1st to the 4th.
That's perfect, isn't it? Summer days, yeah, it's during
your holiday and hopefully Katie and I will be visiting you.
Maybe UK Games Expo and I can help you work on your family and
be like y'all got all, y'all got to come to the US for Gencon.
You make it happen. Is Jencom in the same place or
is it? Is it always in the same place?
Always. It's always in the ICC and it
always the hotel blocks. Everything is it's the same.
It's just vast vast the. Thing is, it's like bringing
back games. I'd have to get another
suitcase. So you could do, you could do
like some folks and don't buy any games or like by one or two
little pocket games. So thank you, PJ.
Thank you all of our contributors to our episode and
we will speak soon. Thanks everyone for listening.
Please subscribe. And as always, we love to hear
your thoughts and ideas, so make sure to leave those in the
comments. And don't forget you can also
chat with us both on Instagram at Meeple to Meeple Play song.