Hey guys, welcome to episode 119.
I'm Maple to Maple. I am PJ.
Today we're gonna talk about community unity and I have with
me Laura. Laura, how are you?
I am good. How are you PJ?
I'm exhausted. I think we all are right.
It's. Yeah, I'm good, but I'm also
exhausted, that's true. I thought it was interesting we
would talk about community. For those of you who maybe
watched my short last night, I kind of laid out the beginnings
of my thesis going forward for the podcast, for all the content
I'm going to create. And it's all about building
community in the wake of all the discord that is coming out as a
result of tariffs and fears and just everything.
So we want to be positive because the beauty is is even if
we can't afford board games anymore, first of all, we have a
whole bunch of them we haven't played right.
What are you talking about? Not me.
Right. And then and then and secondly,
we are, we make up this community.
Without us, then board games wouldn't be made.
So yeah. So I thought it was cool.
So thanks for joining me. Yeah.
I, I actually watched that this morning and I, I really
appreciate the sentiment behind it, right?
Like, and it's what brought me into this space to begin with.
As I know we've discussed before and, and I think you're right.
We have to remember that we are a community with some of us just
talk board games. And there is nothing wrong with
that. That is a wonderful way to bond.
That is a great way to have a sense of community.
But many of us have developed through that relationships that
go beyond that where we talk on the side, we meet up in real
life, we, you know, meet up as families and see are in each
other's homes and things like that.
And I think that is something that it comes down to the human
connection, which is what is so often forgotten in many of many
turbulent times. Yes, what is missed is the human
connection. People are human and whether you
agree with them or disagree with them, they are humans.
Whether you are getting something from them, they are
humans. I think it's the perfect time to
remind us that community is a focus.
So I appreciate that that is something you articulated for
yourself, something that I know is important to you.
But it's nice to always hear someone.
Right. Yeah.
Say that out loud and remind everybody and help us focus on
that. Yeah.
And to be to be clear, I think that that message starts with
me. Mm hmm.
I fully recognize that I too am human and I'm I am a fallen
creature who has made mistakes, some big and some small, early
on. I've definitely ruffled feathers
in, in, in stupid ways in the board game community.
I was not always, I don't know, sometimes like, you know, I
don't know if you feel this way. I get in my own way, you know, I
just, I get, I get too excited or I, I don't, I don't know.
I just, I think I can do all the things and then I get blinders
and whoops, I'm not looking at the family right in front of me,
you know? Yeah.
I think, I think we all can do that, you know, in our own ways.
It might look different for me than it does for you, but I
think that's very easy for all of us to do.
Very, very easy. But I think the place to start
is with self-awareness. And yeah, yeah, being able to
acknowledge when you do that and being able to also receive
feedback and and try to learn and grow.
And again, that does not happen in a business transaction.
That happens in a community, right of people, right?
Exactly. And that's what I was thinking
about. So everyone was everyone was
chiming in with the situation with tariffs, whether you agree
or disagree, but the reality is that there will be a financial
impact to the products that we'd love that have brought us
together. And I know there's a lot of.
Fear already has been impact to games that have been signed.
Right. Games contracts that have been
made, they have, they're dropping like there's yeah, it's
not just future. It's already happening to people
in the industry, yeah. It is right because you've got,
I'm going to be interviewing a group of a group of individuals
who just started their own gaming company, publishing
company. And so they're entering the
community right now in this. So that's coming up.
That's so that's going to be a whole new way of looking at
community. Yeah.
So I was, I was thinking about, I was thinking about not to
explain what tariffs are, because I feel like everybody's
done that. But you can't tax my
relationships, right? You can't tax that.
You know, my relationship with you is independent of any
financial tax, right? So, so, so it starts with me,
starts with my relationship with you, starts with our
relationship with everyone else. And that's why I said it's like
we're responsible for nurturing this sense of community.
I get it. I get the fear, I get the anger.
I share a lot of it. But in the end of the day, why
do you go to the game table, right?
I can't speak for anyone else, but I go to the game table to
see your smiling face because that's what it is for me.
It's, it's for the people and and that's just a shared
experience at the table. Not to say that we could
substitute that with something else, which of course we could.
It just would be less fun because we both have this love
for this, this shared experience.
And I don't, I don't want to forget that for me.
And I genuinely think that that message is, is impactful for
most of us within the hobby. And I felt like it needed to be
said like, you know, I hope so it got response, got some
positive response. And so we want to be positive.
So yeah. Yeah, well, especially right now
there, there's so little anyone can actually do to impact the
situation, right. And and a lot of times what that
leads to is what we have been seeing and what you mentioned,
which is everyone is talking about it.
And that's not at all a bad thing.
I think discussion and idea sharing is important and
education is important. But when you move beyond
constructive conversation to arguing, to worrying, to
obsessing about things that you don't have control over, that's
when it becomes unhelpful and unhealthy.
And I think it's very hard for, at least for myself, I have a
history of having a hard time not laboring over and ruminating
over things I can't control in all areas of my life, right?
This is no exception. Right.
And so I, I appreciate the, the call to, OK, what can we do?
This is in our control. This is in our control.
We can figure out how are we going to foster the community
that we love and that we find ourselves in as it goes through
these turbulent times. And gosh, I think that's a great
way to channel that energy that a lot of us have because there
is good to that energy. We don't want to just like
ignore what's happening and bury your head in the sand.
That's not helpful. So I love the concrete kind of
call to action or focus that you you have brought us to well.
Thanks. Yeah, I think it starts with,
and I've had this conversation with several people lately,
which kind of like I had to ruminate.
I ruminated it for two weeks and we're about to talk about.
So it all started two weeks ago. This key this weekend of crazy.
Yeah, it. Feels like it's been a very long
time. It does and we'll get to that
for sure. But also it's ruminating over
this. And one of the things that came
up is all this starts with each individual being willing to be
vulnerable. And I figured it's nice for us
to sit at a game table or in a car on a six hour drive from
where or, you know, on the phone or on the podcast.
It's one thing to say, well, you've got to be vulnerable.
And so I thought it's got to start with me, just like you
just said, this is what we can control.
So I was like, OK, well, I need to be vulnerable.
And that's kind of what I was hoping to convey last night when
I posted that thesis. And we're going to talk
community. Every episode of the podcast is
going to be somehow tied to this theme of community and how we
can build community going forward.
And I hope that, you know, yeah, I hope it resonates.
Let me take a minute to say I think you've been doing that.
Something I've been appreciating about your videos that I've been
watching recently is you have not just been inviting people to
hear about their board games, but you are you're learning
about them as people. You're learning about them as
their story and their stories that have brought them to where
they are. And I think that invitation to
allow people to be vulnerable by sharing their stories and to
receive them with kindness and acceptance, that's, that is part
of the whole process. So I think you have been doing
it and I'm excited to see how you continue doing it as well.
And what thank you, what changes you make as you continue to dive
into that even? Right, because I need to get
better. Like I said, there been mistakes
in the past and so it's important to recognize that and
then move forward. I hope so.
And and I hope that that comes through.
So thanks for that. So the beginning of this whole
idea, right? So we mentioned just a few
minutes ago, two weeks ago. So as far as I know, two weeks
ago there were at least three small gaming conventions going
on simultaneously. Here's the difficult part about
our community. I can't be in three places at
the scene. Where's my transporter
technology? So, Adam, Tabletop vibes and I
drove 6 hours to Nashville and went to Tennessee Game Days
where we met up with, you know, a group of beloved content
creators and gamers and it was awesome.
You and your husband. And did you took kids too,
right? Yes.
Yeah. OK.
I can't wait to hear about that. You drove.
What was it 6 hours for you as well?
Yes, yes, we it was tacked on to the end of our spring break, but
the drive home was a little over six hours.
Yeah. And you went to Lincoln, NE?
Yes, we did. For what was it called?
Great. Plains, Great Plains, Great
Plains Games Festival, where you met up with a another fantastic
group of content creators and games.
Yeah. And I was, I was, I was a little
jealous. Well, so was I I wanted to be
both places at once, right. I was actually hoping to go to
Tennessee Game Days, and they were sold out by the time I went
to get a ticket, so I was very happy to find out about that.
Mandy told me about Great Plains Game Festival and that I could
go there. So I it was kind of nice having
the decision made for me. Yeah, I didn't have to pick
between. Two, I'm glad you went.
Groups of people, yeah. I'm glad you went cuz at least
someone in our our group got to go to to Lincoln.
Yeah. And then in Milwaukee, WI, there
was Nerd Fest, which was, let's say a previous guest where we
talked about community unintentionally was Shelly
Michiana, board Gamer. She listened to Episode 117
where she built a community where they don't have a local
game store or I. Didn't realize that's why I
haven't haven't been able to watch that one yet.
But I didn't realize that was why she formed that group.
But I've I've watched her over the past couple years post she
is constantly gaming with people out places and it's.
Constantly. Always something I've admired.
And from her she was really good.
So I speaking in building community we had her, her
husband and their 8 year old daughter stay with us for the
weekend. They drove down to Michigan and
they stayed and we played all the games.
She had a list of games, and she talks about that.
But it was the second episode where I was in person with
someone. Uh huh.
And I learned a valuable lesson not to put my laptop on the game
table because you know me. I like to talk with my hands.
Do you knock it off? No, I hit the table.
And if you're watching the episode, it's constantly
shaking. And I'm like, there was some
watching again in Springfield. No, no.
And I'm like that's I got to. Do better.
That's fine. Well, you gotta learn somehow.
How else are you gonna learn? It's fine.
It's it is, it is true and it's very true.
But anyway, so she was there along with another board game
podcast group, the gamecasters they frequent Nerdfest.
So, yeah, so it's like all these little gaming conventions,
they're focused on gaming, which is what we're all about, right?
I mean, there's the Essen and the Gen.
Con and you know, they're more, I think they're more gaming
industry. They're more Expos now.
I don't think Gen. Con is the best four days in
gaming anymore. I think it maybe is the best
four days in gaming industry. But it's not like, you know, I'm
going to go and I'm going to be so busy doing stuff and I'm
going to I'm going to hope that the famous Laura from the Best
with Board Games can pencil me in between all of her meetings
at Gen. Con.
You'll chase. Me down next time.
I will. I'll be there the whole time
this year, so it's gonna be great.
But yeah. So why don't you tell me what?
Let me tell me about. Tell me about the Great Plains.
Great Plains. Great Plains, Great Plains Game
Festival. Yes.
And who did you see and what did you do and how did it go?
It was a great game festival. My husband and I took our two
kids, they are five and seven, yes, five and seven, with a lot
of energy. And it was, as I mentioned,
tacked on to the end of our spring break, so already very
tired from a vacation. So I will admit my kids were not
ready. It was stressful on that end.
However, it was a great game festival.
We met tons of nice people. It was busy, but it didn't feel
overwhelming as the small cons typically are where you have a
smaller group focused on gaming. It's not.
You're not dealing with the crowds like you are at Gen.
Con or PAX or other bigger cons like that.
And everyone was so kind and friendly that I was never made
to feel bad about having kids who were a little wild wanting
to run in circles. Literally no one makes you feel
bad about that. And I, we were only one of
multiple families who had kids there, OK.
And so my kids got to meet other content creators kids and play
together. And it was it was actually
really neat. Won't take them again for
probably another couple years. OK, and maybe not at the end of
a vacation, but. OK.
It was great. I mentioned earlier Mandy Happy
Maples. She is the one who reached out
to me to let me know. Hey, do you wanna come?
She and Nick were there with their kiddo Milo.
I was sad I didn't get to meet their baby, but that's OK.
The. Baby's too, too small, right?
I mean, yeah, just a few months ago, yeah.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I don't know, she put up
her first tutorial yesterday though, I think it was
yesterday. Yeah, true.
You should go check it out if you haven't yet.
Yeah, you definitely check it out.
Yeah, she's adorable. Let's see Allison and Brock from
Better half reviews Ian and Sabrina from our family.
Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Our family games together, our
family gaming together. I'll.
Have to look it up right? Megan from board game paints and
hand stands I believe. It is.
Megan was there. Yeah, she was there.
Man, that's good. Chris board at home, he was
there. Sarah and her husband drew from
Sarah always loses. She and her kids were there.
I am so jealous. I I was so excited to finally
meet her because it's been a very long time.
I mean, I connected her with her fairly early on, I feel like.
And she, I love what she and her husband are doing with both
Instagram and YouTube. They're doing some great work
and beautiful. Yeah.
So it was really great. We got to meet with them.
And you know, it's not just gaming.
They have, of course, the library.
They have a very large play to win library.
So you're and every time you check it out, you're entered to
win it at the end of the weekend.
Yes. They also have giant games like
oversized games so they had Caputo sumo from all play which
I thought was super. It looked super cool.
They had giant connect fours which our kids loved.
Someone brought out Patchwork. A.
Zool, it was just a bunch of oversized large games.
Carcassonne I think was out there at some.
Point. Wow.
And you could like check out several different ones from the
library. So I thought that was really
unique. I haven't seen.
I've seen some giant games like I saw a boop.
In like a show. Floor at Gen.
Con one year maybe or. Right.
And I saw a fishing Cats from CGE.
OK, I've seen a couple of giant games, but they were just kind
of solo. So to have a whole lobby area
full of them was really cool. And that a lot of the kids
congregated there and were playing, but adults too.
I mean, it was really fun. That's cool.
Yeah, they had a few vendors, so I got to, you know, check out
some handmade dice and some coffee.
And then they also had Designer's Row, which I
unfortunately didn't get to check out much.
I wish I could have spent time there to actually hear what
people who presumably local, what games they're designing and
what games they have coming out, play their games.
You could provide feedback and, you know, potentially see games
that will be coming in the future.
And I just think that's so cool. Yeah, I think that's I think
especially if you live around there.
And I feel this way when I go to Geek Way, which is right by
right by me. You get to see designers who are
local and who maybe are just starting out or maybe even
they're not local, but you get to see them and see what they're
creating and and what they're bringing to the community.
And it's always so cool to see fresh perspectives and what they
bring in and, and how that generates new energy and new
ideas. And I don't know, I just, I love
that part, right? Cons and the gaming world and
yeah, so much creativity. I'm gonna tell you, you got the
better end of the deal. Did I?
You, you did in terms of in terms of organized events and
gameplay, I think you got the better end of the deal.
Now while we were in Nashville, TN game days is pretty well
established and they have a fall and a spring.
And I've never been to the fall which is in November.
I've only ever been to the spring which they just made the
cut in spring like spring and. Yeah, it was barely, barely
spring. So we get there and of course we
saw May Ameritrash talk and her husband Josh and their player 3.
So they were children. We got to see TJ.
TJ plays our formerly. Seen.
Former from him in a long time. Formerly formerly TJ plays
legally invisible meeple or something but we got to play
with him and random meeple who I call Randy who has like.
I discovered Randy has like 8 different names.
I know of him as Raziel, right? I think that's how you say it.
I. Believe his name is Raziel.
I believe that's the correct pronunciation.
I'm I don't rule my R as well, but that's it.
And so people call him Roz for sure when I first met him he's
random nipple. I abbreviated that to Randy and
the guys loved it. So it's funny I was.
Wondering how you got that? That makes sense.
Yeah, so I'm sitting at a table and everyone's like, hey, Roz,
hey Roz, Roz, Roz. And I'm like, who the hell is
Roz? They mean Randy, right?
And then of course, Adam Tabletop vibes.
And we met Jerry from Tabletop Worldwide who came up from
Atlanta, learned a valuable lesson.
People from Atlanta do not like it when we call it Hot Lanta.
Well, good thing he doesn't know like high school, college, me,
because I was definitely calling it hot.
Lana, that was. Genuinely did not know that and
now I know and will. We'll respect that.
I love Jerry. Jerry's great.
No. And then we saw on Steven
Nashville board game and Daniel, who is the Huzah king, the two
of them. Right, Yes.
Did you? I have to assume the answer to
this is yes. But did Steven teach you a game?
Just any game. He did.
He did, yes. I had the privilege of meeting
Steven a couple weeks ago at the Atom retreat and he, I thought
he was one of the most engaging game teachers I've ever
experienced. And so I just, I love him.
I think he is fantastic. That's amazing.
Look at that, Steven. I hope that you're listening.
I told him this, I've told him this and I genuinely, I'm not,
I'm not gonna say something like that, that I don't mean I'm I'm.
Not that kind of person. Now you're telling the world.
Telling everybody. There you go.
He is great game teacher and he's so and I think he embodies
exactly the theme that we're talking about, community.
I feel like he oozes community and acceptance.
He is creating an experience. At least when he taught me a
game, he's creating an experience.
He's drawing everybody in. He is wanting to make it the
best time possible. He's probably printed and
laminated player aids for the game that he's teaching you.
He's got upgraded bits, you know, like he just oozes that
sense of welcoming and makes you want to be there and makes you
excited to be there. You know, he is not the only one
of that group that you mentioned that I feel that way about, but
he is the most recent of that group for that I have met in
person and you know, I just, I feel like I have to give him a
shout out. It was great.
You do great. You do.
He is. He is a wonderful individual.
His wife is amazing. She is very accommodating.
She is very, she too is very welcoming as not much of A gamer
herself, but she's like, yeah, all these gamers can just come
into my house and stay up till three.
That's amazing. I can't do that anymore.
I can't for very many days in a row and I can't when I have kids
on my watch because they will wake me up at or before 6:00.
Yeah. 3:00 AM Yeah, that's. Nope.
Yep. Yeah, it's just, you know, it's
not something to do, but you know, we, we played a few games,
so the group will. Stay up late, too.
They yeah, yeah. And I'm like, why?
Why are we making ourselves miserable?
Like we could go to sleep and then we could get up at 6:00 AM,
shower, have a massively awesome breakfast.
The details. Starts the day.
They're like, no, they feel miserable.
I'm like, no, no you. Know I don't think, I don't
think all of them do feel miserable.
It's pretty impressive to me when I've been at other cons
with them, they will stay up that late and just still seem
like they have more energy than me the next day.
But I know how to read their body language, and if you
listen, they can't. They can't complete sentences.
Their thoughts are wandering. It just turns into nonsense.
Yeah, yeah, that's just that compulsion.
That compulsion that I have to stay up all night.
Like I don't like. That's not necessary.
I can get in. Katie and I have easily gotten
in teen games in a single day. Still going to bed at 10 A 10:00
PM and waking up at 6:00 AM Mm Hmm.
You know, so I'm just saying, but that's me.
So the game that I saw that y'all played or I don't know if
you played, I believe you did. People in Lincoln were playing
it, people in Nashville were playing it, people in Wisconsin
were playing. It was just kind of crazy and
that was Moon, moon, moon colony moon.
We were not playing that I. At least didn't play that there.
I played it at Adam. OK?
Did I have played it? Steven taught it to me.
Of course he did. He taught us that too.
That that game really, I was like, wow, like everyone's
playing this game. It's a game I never heard of.
Had you? Had you?
Were you aware of the game before you went to the Gamers
Ranch and played it? I had just seen something from
Board game Buzz Carly. She had just posted how she
loved it and had gotten like a box from Rio Grande Games.
That's like 6. It was like 6 copies of the game
and she was like, so I had just seen that but I didn't know
anything really about it and I thought it was, I really enjoyed
it. I was like, they're like, we're
gonna play this game. I'm like OK.
Yeah. What did you think?
I thought it was amazing. I thought it was incredible.
This. It's not.
I mean, a deck builder where we have one communal deck that
we're building. Yep, yeah.
It's fascinating. And you can add negative cards
and you can add positive cards. So I went into it cuz the whole
idea right? Like you're, you've got your
colony and you're trying to build up your population.
Bad things are gonna happen and you just have to outlast your
opponents. So I had decided I'm just going
to treat my people as resources and just eradicate them as
quickly as possible because I was like, I don't really know.
I didn't. I don't want to.
Trying to lose. Yeah, I won.
You won. That is crazy.
It's it's. Nuts.
I don't I don't know. I.
Don't know. So from now on, maybe take the
least obvious strategy and give that a whirl and maybe you'll
win. Yeah, give it a try.
OK, Let's be fair, it'll never work again.
Probably not. That was a one time.
One time thing. But that was a that's a unique
experience, right? And the so the cool thing is
what I liked about that particular game, it's less about
the game than it is the shared experience.
In that moment was the conversations that I had with
the people at the table, which I get into all the time.
When I first met Shelley at Origins a few years ago, she was
with her husband and her friends from Michigan.
We were playing Gartenbaugh, and I would take my turn, and then I
would turn to Shelley's husband, Lance.
So Lance, tell me how you and Shelley met.
I can't turn it off so. You're the reason the games last
longer. Well, but my turn's but I'm.
Not saying that's a bad thing. I'm not saying that's a bad
thing. I need to, I need to.
I'm more interested. I'm more interested in the you,
you know, like you. Are.
You know, because so it's interesting, a lot of people
play solo games. And I'm going to have an episode
here in a couple of weeks with a content creator from Europe.
We're going to talk about solo gaming and tie that to
community. I don't play solo games because
when I was growing up as a kid and of course back in the 80s,
right, So there weren't a whole lot of options.
You had Monopoly, you had Scrabble, you had to make things
up on your own. So I played a lot of board games
by myself without solo variance. That was not a thing that
existed. And that made me feel terrible
about myself, right? I it, it, it amplified my
loneliness, right. And into in a degree, some
despair as well. But I came out of my my
childhood and here I am now almost almost 50.
I'm going to be 50 next month. It's coming up soon, yes.
So I don't like solo games, but I respect the fact that solo
gaming people are in the solo gaming.
I recognize that the solo variant, I wish the solo
variants existed when I was a kid.
My problem is I set up a game on my table.
I get ready to play and then all of a sudden these emotions when
I was a kid came up and I'm like, I don't want to play this,
you know? Yeah.
But so, yeah, there's there's that.
So I'm really for me, I got into modern gaming to interact with
people and it was, you know, it is the you of the world that I
love. I love the shared experience as
well. But yeah, you know, it's a it's
a great conversations. And some of those conversations
got pretty deep over the weekend in Nashville, so that was pretty
terrific. Did you have any non gaming
community building experiences while you were in Lincoln?
That was tough to do, mostly because of the kids schedules.
Yes. So in Lincoln we didn't really
have that, but we have at other cons.
I mean, geek way. Last year, before it even
started, several of us met up and went to dinner together.
Yeah. You know, so we didn't get to do
that. And that was one of the saddest
things, I think, to me was that I felt like I couldn't be as
present and flexible as I wanted to be.
And as I have had the privilege of being at every other con I've
gone to. But that's just, you know,
that's the challenge of the time of life that I'm at where I have
really young kids and, you know, trying to learn to roll with
that and still have lots of great time with other people.
Even though it wasn't outside of board gaming, You know, it was
outside of board gaming in that we weren't always playing games.
Right. I mean, one thing I forgot to
mention is they had a very large and successful swap meet there.
And so, you know, part of the time it was just walking around
with each other in the swap meet room, looking at the different
games that are for sale and chatting about them and, you
know, hearing other people's perspectives or just chatting
about random things while we were walking around.
So, yeah. But I, I do love when that does
get to happen at Conn's, but not so much for me.
What about you guys? Were you mostly gaming focused
or did you guys do anything outside?
Of there was, there was, I mean, we had meals, OK, So the
restaurant, the Marriott where we were, where the convention
was, there's a bar restaurant in the lobby and I had an amazing
salad. Nice.
It was huge and delicious and just incredible.
And, you know, Adam is so health conscious and I need to be.
So I just followed his lead. Yep.
I followed his lead and had a delicious, you know, salad.
Yeah. But now we had some, we had some
really very, very, very deep and meaningful conversation.
There were a select few who were, although I don't know that
they would, I mean, I think looking back, they would
articulate it like this. They weren't afraid to be
vulnerable and, you know, open up.
There were, I mean, some of these conversations got really
intense in ways I was not anticipating.
And you know, I thank God for that because that's great.
I want to create that safe space for whatever it is you want to
share or not share, right? So yeah, it was, it was really
good. I'm also because I grew up with
a lot of female cousins and aunts.
I grew up with a lot of women in my family growing up.
I'm still surprised when I'm in a group with a bunch of guys.
I'm like, I feel like an imposter.
Do I belong here? I mean, obviously I belong here,
but. It's funny, I'm the opposite.
I tend to feel that way in groups of women, and I was
around more women at the Great Plains Game Festival, and so I
also kind of felt that way. Yeah, OK, good.
Yeah, it's not just me. No, yeah.
And I think we all, a lot of people I think have a history of
who they're, who they tend to be most comfortable with for
whatever reason, whether it's family they were raised with or
people they just had as friends in middle school, high school,
whatever. I think that's normal.
So let's really quickly about some organized stuff at
Tennessee game days. They have a play and win.
It's less than impressive. I'm just.
Could use some work. It really needs some
organization and obviously it needs some donors.
I saw some video from Lincoln. I don't know if it was you or
Mandy that posted. It was a lot of games.
They had a. Lot and they had a lot of good
games. Like good games?
Yes they had like 3 or 4 of each one I think.
Which Geek Way Mini and Geek Way do the same thing which we love,
right? Katie and I always start every
year with Geek Way Mini. We want a copy of Civilution and
Men Never. Oh my gosh, yeah.
You didn't tell me that you need to schedule me for a weekend up
to Springfield. Now I have to make it happen.
You you do you do. And and Shelley Shelley talked
about how Katie is such a good and to be fair, Katie's gotten
really good at this. You want to talk about teaching.
So organized and effort is a heavy lift.
There's a lot of things going on and she just organized.
That does not surprise me. Yeah, that does not surprise me
at all. Exactly.
So, so, yeah. So we, we started our year that
way and then Tennessee game days, just the games they had, I
either owned them or I didn't want to own them.
Gotcha. And they only had one copy of
everything and it's paper and a little cup.
And it was just like I was like, wow.
But I noticed that Great Plains had the little tablets for you
to type in your. I wasn't qualified for it cuz I
had a media badge but. Okay.
It looked like the same thing they had at Geek Way.
Yeah. It's what it looked like, which
was cool. So then the main hall, which is
just straight up open gaming, there's no vendor hall at all.
But what they do is they line up tables around the four walls and
people sell their games. So you play a game and then you
take a break and you walk the perimeter and you look, see what
you want. And they've got like a piece of
paper with their Venmo or their PayPal QR code.
And you just you buy, you type, you send of money done right.
That's that's kind of I like the way you're down, son.
It is. Oh, it is.
Jerry had a couple of games that got stolen.
Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day,
there were games he did not want anymore, right.
So you can kind of right. Let.
It go, but that's disappointing. But the reality is is people
walked away with, you know, a couple games that he, you know,
so at Geek way mini Katie and I, not in the play to win, but in
the game library play Luxor by Queen Games.
Older, older game, right. We had never played it before
and we just thought it was so much fun.
And it's like, where are we ever going to find a copy?
There was a guy selling a copy for like, yeah, he was selling,
he was selling it. And I'm like, well, I'm going to
buy this now right then. And I do my little Venmo and get
it over. But yeah, there was some there
was some interesting things being sold.
The unsettled whole bundle was being sold.
The Masters of the Universe $500 fully painted miniature game was
was a sale. Lords of Hell lost the whole
bundle with all the expansions and age contrived.
The all in bundle set was I mean, it was just some crazy
things. I was like, wow, they really are
selling this. Yeah.
And so. So that was cool.
And there's a games library, which is really nice.
There's some great games to play, but you don't get to win
them. I love the play to win.
Geek way spoiled me. Yeah, in the in the play to win.
Of I mean, I love Geek Way and I'm very sad you weren't going
to be there this year. I know I.
Love Geek Way and I it's, it just is a step up from Great
Plains Game Festival. So Great Plains Game Festival
has about 1000 people there, I think and geek way.
So it I mean, it's not tiny. It's not.
No, it's and they're hoping to grow.
So I mean like it's it's. Tennessee Tennessee Game days.
Checking out. Tennessee game days was 740.
Yeah. So this is just a little bit
bigger. Yeah, but Geek Way is a step up
from that. It's two 3000 people.
I thought it was 5 last year, no?
Nope. I could have torn us off 5000,
but I. Don't think so.
I mean, I could be wrong, I could be wrong.
You're right, I'm wrong. Let's be honest.
And and that could be not including, you know, orders or
vendors who are coming in. So I don't really know.
I know it's close to 3000 as far as badges they were selling for
this coming year. So take that however you want
it. And then then there's Geek Geek
Way Mini, which I just talked about.
It's like 300 or 400 badges. Yes, yes.
And they sell out within an hour.
Yes, I found that out the hard way.
Geek way. I think it may already be sold
out for this year. I think they were down.
To like 80 badges when I, well, they sold out and then they put
out like 100 more badges or 150 more badges and they were down
to 80 like a week ago. But I'm wish they could grow or
like sell more badges. I don't know if that's that
they're confined to the space of the Convention Center that
they're in or I'm not sure what that is.
But I feel like there's room for it to grow with them shelling
out so far in advance. Yes, you know, But I do love
Geek way. It's probably my favorite of the
small ones, but it is. It also has that extra level of
organization too. It does.
It definitely does. They have a few events.
There's a small vendor plays and demos and things like that.
Absolutely it is. It is the more intimate Origins
Game Fair is that's, you know, game Fair is like the next step
from geek way, you know. So Great Plains Game Festival
also had scheduled events and demos and tournaments and things
like that. Is that not something that
Tennessee Game Day says? OK.
It's just. No open hall games.
Open gaming now, Ivy. Yeah.
So it's like, that's a totally, that's a pretty different thing
from what, yes, Great Plains is. It certainly is Ivy Studios,
which is based in Nashville. They have like, they have a
night where they invite a bunch of people to their studio and
it's just like, it's just gaming.
It's just gaming. But they also have like, I don't
know how they organize it, but they have a room.
It's like a smaller meeting room where all their games are and
you can, you know, go in there. Lily, who's their social media
marketing guru of Awesome. I don't know Lily's title, but I
know that she's new to the podcast and listening and I hope
to have her on soon, but she's just so delightful.
She was kind enough to invite us all to the Ivy Studios room at
the Game at the hotel for pizza, and that was really exciting
because they had a lot of pizza and I don't know, it's pretty,
pretty fantastic pizza. Nice.
OK. So yeah, it was great.
There's a lot of a lot of community building, a lot of
families. You saw a lot of kids playing
games together, so yeah, that was exciting.
I got to play Power Grid for the first time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't like power.
Grid. Now you know, now that question
that's been burning in the back of your mind.
Do you like power grid? Would I like it?
Now you have the answer to. It I'm like, no, not really.
That's one of the things I love about experiences like that is
you get to try things before you invest in them and.
It's. Even better when you know
someone or meet someone who is able to teach it to you.
Yes, rather than slogging through the learning yourself
and and then. Realizing me, I don't.
Like this? Yeah, I was like, I'm not.
Now I own it and don't want to play it and spent all that time
teaching myself. Yeah, the beauty.
The did did Tennessee Game Days have the thing that Geek Way
does and Great Plains does where they have like meatballs that
you set on your table if you are looking for players or if you OK
are. One and you teach a game one and
a teacher yeah sometimes OK so there was one night one night
there's a there was this guy walking around he's holding the
box lid for a game and he's got the players wanted me and he's
walking around right because you don't want it because if you put
it on the table that's kind of passive so he was looking for.
They were looking for one more. It's OK.
Aldara, do you know this game? I don't think so.
If you take the box and you stand it up lengthwise, it's
like 4 feet tall. It's this box is.
Taller than my child or as tall as my child?
I mean maybe 3 feet but like this game.
Yeah. ALDARA.
Anyway, TJ went and played. He said it was like a combat
focused kind of like Twilight Imperium, but not a 12 hour
ordeal. I don't know.
But it was like I've never seen like game box.
He did. He did like it.
I had not seen a box this big before and I was like, what is
that? Yeah, yeah.
So it's. Fun.
The things you get to find. I was walking around the swap
meet and I found someone was who had apparently been collecting
games from different cultures and stuff, and I was.
Like that? Let me take a look at these cuz
that's very much something I'm interested in.
And so I got to buy a few different things.
And then I found another game that's themed on birds.
And I was like, Oh my goodness, my child would love this because
we're obsessed with birds as much as we are games.
And so, yeah, it's, it's fun. The little treasures you find,
little and apparently giant treasures you find, right, that
you didn't even know existed despite having been in this
world for so long. Yeah, you know, there's so many
games that you and I don't even know about yet, so it's.
True, it's true. Hey, Speaking of other cultures,
I don't know if you got to listen to last week's episode,
episode 118, but you put me in contact with Ahmad from from
Perth, Australia. We had a great conversation and
we talked about you a whole lot right there on the.
Oh, you did. Yeah, cuz you brought I only.
Listened to the first. I only listened to the first
little bit this morning before we decided to start this
earlier, so I'll have to go back and listen to the.
Rest yeah. So it was really interesting
because I liken it to episode 111 and another person you
introduced me to and that was Pagan.
You're welcome. From Bangalore, India.
And it's funny, Pagan's getting I mentioned him pretty much in
every episode. It's an episode sense I'm like,
give him a shout out. It's because that was such a
popular episode. It it got the most views on our
YouTube channel and it's in the top 10 on Spotify from our
listeners. So that's really exciting.
But it was interesting to hear Ahmad talk about not just
Australia, but Oceania and then and then we got to dive into how
his game who solely was received in a Muslim community.
So it's love how that conversation unintentionally
supporting my thesis. We were talking about gaming
community, but we were talking about a religious community and
introducing that community into the gaming community because
community and community. Yeah.
Community. Was it?
Can I assume that it was well received within the Muslim
community? It was, it was, it was he had
positive feedback at work. It's obviously some concerns,
but yeah, sure. So if if those of you have are
listening to this and you haven't listened to episode 118,
go check it out and I have to go listen.
To. It yeah, it was so cool.
I feel like you and I, whether we intentionally, I don't know.
I don't know that we were intentional about this concept
of community, but we were definitely intentional.
As you and I have really fallen into this routine.
You seem to be meeting these designers and people from
outside of the United States, and then you just kind of hook
them up with me and then I can introduce them to the world.
Yeah, I, I don't, I know that you are doing a podcast and have
been, you know, at least have been looking for people.
I don't know if you still need people or not, but, you know, I
think these people deserve to have a voice with an American
audience. And, you know, if I would tell,
I would refer them to any podcast that I knew, to be quite
frank. But I'm always obviously happy
to send them your way because I know you and, you know, we're
friends. But yeah, it's been really great
the ways that I I've just kind of fallen into meeting some of
these people or in some cases intentionally sought them out.
You know, the Usoli game I saw in a Facebook group and I
noticed not many other people had, you know, volunteered to
review it. And I thought, you know, I have
experienced, I have in my previous life, I worked as an
interfaith hospital chaplain. So I have worked with Muslim
people and somewhat familiar with their practices and can it
can respect it for what it is. And so I figured, why not me?
Yeah. And I, I enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed it as a as a game.
It's not a super heavy game. It's not a big game, right?
But I really appreciated it for what it was and what it brings
to the community and the educational aspect, right.
And so I feel like it's worth sharing.
And I feel like so many people who are worried by things like
that that are not familiar to them that are.
Not part. Of their belief system or their
worldview. I feel like that can be scary.
It can be. For a, it can be whether I think
it should be or not, it doesn't matter.
It, it can be scary, right? And so I think a game that is
just a game, but where you're also kind of learning about what
that religion is like. It's a very accessible way to
learn about it. And it's much less intimidating
than, say reading a textbook or, you know, going and visiting a
mosque or, you know, it's it's much it's a much gentler
introduction. And so I think why not have that
be a starting point for some people?
Why not have it at least be a way that you know someone can
come play and and take a peek and realize, OK.
It's not that. Bad.
I, I can, I can interact with this and still be safe.
And you know, I don't know. I just think it's great.
He's sending me a copy of Usoli and I'm looking forward to it.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to playing it cuz it's like he's
talking about him. Like this just sounds amazing.
And one thing that surprised me, you had posted some pictures of
it on your Instagram feed weeks ago.
I didn't realize how small the box.
Small the box is. It's very small.
Yeah, he held it up on screen. I'm like, whoa, like that.
OK, yeah, yeah. It kind of was giving me having
not played it, it gave me Castle combo vibes.
Yeah, I could see that. But you're not building a
tableau. Right.
Yeah, you're picking cards up from the tableau.
Yeah. But still you're.
Yeah, figuring out what move. Yeah.
Yeah, I could see that. So once I get a copy and then
we'll play it, we'll have to organize a time.
You'll come up to Springfield, I'll come down to Saint Louis.
Sounds good. And we'll play and that'll be
great. And then and then of course,
Palga and his games. So we got Chai Garam.
Holy cow, guys, that game is amazing.
It's so good. That game is incredible.
And that that was a really interesting episode too.
The way he talked about the manufacturing like you can order
a game and have it delivered like in an hour and it's and
they make it from scratch it. Was unbelievable.
I know also in light of the tariffs and the manufacturing
things going on, like, Yep, how unbelievable would that be and
how wonderful is it for them and their community that they have
that access to that? Yes.
And you know my my hope in this time.
Is that? Things here are going to take a
hit. They've already taken a hit,
right? Like they're just going to in
the American portion of the board game industry.
And I think the American board game industry has been the
majority, or at least a very large part of the board game
industry, right? I think think so.
I don't have numbers in front of me, but I think that's.
Right. A lot of the games are coming
from America, American designers and publishers.
Granted, there's plenty in the Europe and things like that and
then, but now here comes Mosaic from India and you have people
from Australia who exist, whether we know it or not, have
access to their games or not. And so my hope is that as we
find our footing in the American board gaming industry, that
right places publishers like Mosaic from India and other
countries will be able to hopefully have their games also
seen more, whether that's from Americans or other countries
just getting into the board gaming world so that we can have
more diversity within the games that we're playing, the games
that we're sharing, the games that we're seeing online, right?
Yep. I think that I'm hopeful that
that might be a side effect of this and that I feel is a
positive that I can agree at least be thankful for.
I agree. It was like my closing statement
in my thesis short yesterday. Our diversity is our strength.
I firmly believe that. Mm hmm.
I think that's what it makes us stronger as a community.
Yeah, that's just. Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, yeah, right. I don't.
I agree. I'm like, yeah.
I agree. And I think, I think that it is
very easy, especially here in America, the way things have
been, it has been easy up to this point to stay very
insulated in our board games. You have to seek out games and
intentionally buy games that are from other countries such as
India that now Mosaic has a warehouse here.
So you can at least get it more easily than you used to.
But it's it's hard to find a, a truly diverse collection of
games unless you are looking for it.
And I think, you know, we can't go back in the past and change
what we've done up till now, but we can make it a point to start
seeking out diverse designers, diverse themes, diverse
publishers, and hopefully, you know, continue making our tables
and our collections and the things that we gather around to
talk about and interact about making that more diverse, which
then, you know, leads to new conversations.
And yeah, continues to build that community to a deeper
extent. Right.
Yeah. And all of that requires you.
You. Not you, Laura, but you.
Well, you, Laura. But yeah, all of us to be
vulnerable, to be willing to be vulnerable and let people see
you for who you are. And the thing The thing is, is
like I'm a firm believer, and we've talked about this a lot,
is people's worldview, whatever it is, it influences and it
governs how they approach problem solving and puzzles, IE
the board game in front of them. So the way that you play a board
game, your worldview informs that somehow.
So you can't separate the player from the game, you know?
It's true. I mean, even just thinking about
the way you talked about strategizing for Blood Moon
colony bloodbath or the moon colony bloodbath, right?
You know, I never would have thought these, these colony,
what are they called? These people here that I'm
supposed to be keeping alive, They're expendable.
And a lot of that is because of my world view of OK, the thing
we want to to have the most of is the thing we need to protect
and horror. Right, like.
Yeah. And you know, I'm sure there are
plenty of ways we could psychoanalyze that, but.
Oh yeah. But it's interesting that you're
exactly right, our world view does dictate how we strategize
about games and the games that we even can conceive of making.
That's true. And yeah, it is 100% true.
And the strategies that we could work around new game mechanics,
those are all gonna come from other perspectives or the
meeting of different perspectives, right, with one
another. And exactly, you know, some of
the great, some fantastic games come about from two different
designers coming together. And a meeting of the minds
creates something new and beautiful that would not
otherwise have existed. The same is true for cultures
and people. And so, yeah, I'm, I am here for
it. I am here for the diversity.
I am here for intentionally seeking it out.
Because if we don't, it will not happen, right?
And and that requires a vulnerability on our part, not
only to be not only to share ourselves with people, but also
to be open to receiving new things.
Yep. It requires both.
It does. It does, and I haven't always
been good at the latter. I think I've gotten better but.
Especially Americans have been trained, been taught and, and,
and American Christians, that's the background I come from.
We have been trained and taught that that is not a safe thing to
do. And I think I think that we have
to find a way where we can be open to experience new things
without thinking. That means we're taking it on
for ourselves or but there is a way to be vulnerable and
interact with the different, the other that is healthy and not
dangerous and in fact wonderful and life giving.
The old community, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
For sure. Thank you, Laura.
Yeah, Thank you so much. So tell everyone where they can
find you if they don't already. If you don't already know.
Laura, come on. If you don't know me, I am
primarily on Instagram right now.
My handle is obsessed with board games, which everyone jokes.
I'm obsessed with board games too.
And yes, we all are. But I have the names.
I have the. Official name.
So yes, and I think. It's right exactly.
Right here under my face. It's just the board games.
That's where you can find me. Yep, perfect.
Thank you so much guys don't forget to like smash that
subscribe button send us comments.
You know, we all have to nurture this community.
We all have to nurture the concept of diversity, the
concept of unity so that we can survive just like moon colony
bloodbath. Do we survive through whatever
the future may hold? Post Comments Share Share this
video We'll be looking for more. We're going to be talking about
community more and more as the next few months roll by.
Thanks a lot guys.