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Hey guys, welcome to episode 
119. 

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I'm Maple to Maple. 
I am PJ. 

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Today we're gonna talk about 
community unity and I have with 

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me Laura. 
Laura, how are you? 

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I am good. 
How are you PJ? 

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I'm exhausted. 
I think we all are right. 

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It's. 
Yeah, I'm good, but I'm also 

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exhausted, that's true. 
I thought it was interesting we 

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would talk about community. 
For those of you who maybe 

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watched my short last night, I 
kind of laid out the beginnings 

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of my thesis going forward for 
the podcast, for all the content

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I'm going to create. 
And it's all about building 

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community in the wake of all the
discord that is coming out as a 

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result of tariffs and fears and 
just everything. 

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So we want to be positive 
because the beauty is is even if

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we can't afford board games 
anymore, first of all, we have a

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whole bunch of them we haven't 
played right. 

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What are you talking about? 
Not me. 

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Right. 
And then and then and secondly, 

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we are, we make up this 
community. 

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Without us, then board games 
wouldn't be made. 

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So yeah. 
So I thought it was cool. 

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So thanks for joining me. 
Yeah. 

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I, I actually watched that this 
morning and I, I really 

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appreciate the sentiment behind 
it, right? 

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Like, and it's what brought me 
into this space to begin with. 

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As I know we've discussed before
and, and I think you're right. 

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We have to remember that we are 
a community with some of us just

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talk board games. 
And there is nothing wrong with 

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that. 
That is a wonderful way to bond.

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That is a great way to have a 
sense of community. 

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But many of us have developed 
through that relationships that 

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go beyond that where we talk on 
the side, we meet up in real 

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life, we, you know, meet up as 
families and see are in each 

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other's homes and things like 
that. 

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And I think that is something 
that it comes down to the human 

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connection, which is what is so 
often forgotten in many of many 

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turbulent times. 
Yes, what is missed is the human

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connection. 
People are human and whether you

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agree with them or disagree with
them, they are humans. 

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Whether you are getting 
something from them, they are 

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humans. 
I think it's the perfect time to

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remind us that community is a 
focus. 

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So I appreciate that that is 
something you articulated for 

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yourself, something that I know 
is important to you. 

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But it's nice to always hear 
someone. 

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Right. 
Yeah. 

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Say that out loud and remind 
everybody and help us focus on 

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that. 
Yeah. 

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And to be to be clear, I think 
that that message starts with 

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me. 
Mm hmm. 

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I fully recognize that I too am 
human and I'm I am a fallen 

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creature who has made mistakes, 
some big and some small, early 

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on. 
I've definitely ruffled feathers

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in, in, in stupid ways in the 
board game community. 

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I was not always, I don't know, 
sometimes like, you know, I 

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don't know if you feel this way.
I get in my own way, you know, I

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just, I get, I get too excited 
or I, I don't, I don't know. 

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I just, I think I can do all the
things and then I get blinders 

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and whoops, I'm not looking at 
the family right in front of me,

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you know? 
Yeah. 

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I think, I think we all can do 
that, you know, in our own ways.

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It might look different for me 
than it does for you, but I 

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think that's very easy for all 
of us to do. 

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Very, very easy. 
But I think the place to start 

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is with self-awareness. 
And yeah, yeah, being able to 

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acknowledge when you do that and
being able to also receive 

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feedback and and try to learn 
and grow. 

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And again, that does not happen 
in a business transaction. 

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That happens in a community, 
right of people, right? 

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Exactly. 
And that's what I was thinking 

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about. 
So everyone was everyone was 

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chiming in with the situation 
with tariffs, whether you agree 

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or disagree, but the reality is 
that there will be a financial 

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impact to the products that we'd
love that have brought us 

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together. 
And I know there's a lot of. 

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Fear already has been impact to 
games that have been signed. 

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Right. 
Games contracts that have been 

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made, they have, they're 
dropping like there's yeah, it's

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not just future. 
It's already happening to people

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in the industry, yeah. 
It is right because you've got, 

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I'm going to be interviewing a 
group of a group of individuals 

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who just started their own 
gaming company, publishing 

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company. 
And so they're entering the 

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community right now in this. 
So that's coming up. 

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That's so that's going to be a 
whole new way of looking at 

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community. 
Yeah. 

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So I was, I was thinking about, 
I was thinking about not to 

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explain what tariffs are, 
because I feel like everybody's 

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done that. 
But you can't tax my 

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relationships, right? 
You can't tax that. 

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You know, my relationship with 
you is independent of any 

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financial tax, right? 
So, so, so it starts with me, 

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starts with my relationship with
you, starts with our 

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relationship with everyone else.
And that's why I said it's like 

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we're responsible for nurturing 
this sense of community. 

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I get it. 
I get the fear, I get the anger.

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I share a lot of it. 
But in the end of the day, why 

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do you go to the game table, 
right? 

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I can't speak for anyone else, 
but I go to the game table to 

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see your smiling face because 
that's what it is for me. 

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It's, it's for the people and 
and that's just a shared 

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experience at the table. 
Not to say that we could 

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substitute that with something 
else, which of course we could. 

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It just would be less fun 
because we both have this love 

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for this, this shared 
experience. 

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And I don't, I don't want to 
forget that for me. 

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And I genuinely think that that 
message is, is impactful for 

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most of us within the hobby. 
And I felt like it needed to be 

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said like, you know, I hope so 
it got response, got some 

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positive response. 
And so we want to be positive. 

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So yeah. 
Yeah, well, especially right now

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there, there's so little anyone 
can actually do to impact the 

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situation, right. 
And and a lot of times what that

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leads to is what we have been 
seeing and what you mentioned, 

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which is everyone is talking 
about it. 

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And that's not at all a bad 
thing. 

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I think discussion and idea 
sharing is important and 

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education is important. 
But when you move beyond 

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constructive conversation to 
arguing, to worrying, to 

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obsessing about things that you 
don't have control over, that's 

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when it becomes unhelpful and 
unhealthy. 

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And I think it's very hard for, 
at least for myself, I have a 

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history of having a hard time 
not laboring over and ruminating

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over things I can't control in 
all areas of my life, right? 

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This is no exception. 
Right. 

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And so I, I appreciate the, the 
call to, OK, what can we do? 

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This is in our control. 
This is in our control. 

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We can figure out how are we 
going to foster the community 

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that we love and that we find 
ourselves in as it goes through 

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these turbulent times. 
And gosh, I think that's a great

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way to channel that energy that 
a lot of us have because there 

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is good to that energy. 
We don't want to just like 

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ignore what's happening and bury
your head in the sand. 

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That's not helpful. 
So I love the concrete kind of 

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call to action or focus that you
you have brought us to well. 

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Thanks. 
Yeah, I think it starts with, 

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and I've had this conversation 
with several people lately, 

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which kind of like I had to 
ruminate. 

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I ruminated it for two weeks and
we're about to talk about. 

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So it all started two weeks ago.
This key this weekend of crazy. 

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Yeah, it. 
Feels like it's been a very long

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time. 
It does and we'll get to that 

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for sure. 
But also it's ruminating over 

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this. 
And one of the things that came 

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up is all this starts with each 
individual being willing to be 

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vulnerable. 
And I figured it's nice for us 

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to sit at a game table or in a 
car on a six hour drive from 

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where or, you know, on the phone
or on the podcast. 

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It's one thing to say, well, 
you've got to be vulnerable. 

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And so I thought it's got to 
start with me, just like you 

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just said, this is what we can 
control. 

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So I was like, OK, well, I need 
to be vulnerable. 

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And that's kind of what I was 
hoping to convey last night when

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I posted that thesis. 
And we're going to talk 

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community. 
Every episode of the podcast is 

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going to be somehow tied to this
theme of community and how we 

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can build community going 
forward. 

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And I hope that, you know, yeah,
I hope it resonates. 

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Let me take a minute to say I 
think you've been doing that. 

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Something I've been appreciating
about your videos that I've been

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watching recently is you have 
not just been inviting people to

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hear about their board games, 
but you are you're learning 

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about them as people. 
You're learning about them as 

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their story and their stories 
that have brought them to where 

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they are. 
And I think that invitation to 

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allow people to be vulnerable by
sharing their stories and to 

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receive them with kindness and 
acceptance, that's, that is part

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of the whole process. 
So I think you have been doing 

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it and I'm excited to see how 
you continue doing it as well. 

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And what thank you, what changes
you make as you continue to dive

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into that even? 
Right, because I need to get 

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better. 
Like I said, there been mistakes

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in the past and so it's 
important to recognize that and 

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then move forward. 
I hope so. 

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And and I hope that that comes 
through. 

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So thanks for that. 
So the beginning of this whole 

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idea, right? 
So we mentioned just a few 

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minutes ago, two weeks ago. 
So as far as I know, two weeks 

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ago there were at least three 
small gaming conventions going 

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on simultaneously. 
Here's the difficult part about 

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our community. 
I can't be in three places at 

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the scene. 
Where's my transporter 

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technology? 
So, Adam, Tabletop vibes and I 

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drove 6 hours to Nashville and 
went to Tennessee Game Days 

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where we met up with, you know, 
a group of beloved content 

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creators and gamers and it was 
awesome. 

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You and your husband. 
And did you took kids too, 

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right? 
Yes. 

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Yeah. 
OK. 

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I can't wait to hear about that.
You drove. 

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What was it 6 hours for you as 
well? 

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Yes, yes, we it was tacked on to
the end of our spring break, but

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the drive home was a little over
six hours. 

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Yeah. 
And you went to Lincoln, NE? 

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Yes, we did. 
For what was it called? 

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Great. 
Plains, Great Plains, Great 

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Plains Games Festival, where you
met up with a another fantastic 

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group of content creators and 
games. 

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Yeah. 
And I was, I was, I was a little

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jealous. 
Well, so was I I wanted to be 

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both places at once, right. 
I was actually hoping to go to 

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Tennessee Game Days, and they 
were sold out by the time I went

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to get a ticket, so I was very 
happy to find out about that. 

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Mandy told me about Great Plains
Game Festival and that I could 

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go there. 
So I it was kind of nice having 

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the decision made for me. 
Yeah, I didn't have to pick 

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between. 
Two, I'm glad you went. 

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Groups of people, yeah. 
I'm glad you went cuz at least 

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someone in our our group got to 
go to to Lincoln. 

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Yeah. 
And then in Milwaukee, WI, there

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was Nerd Fest, which was, let's 
say a previous guest where we 

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talked about community 
unintentionally was Shelly 

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Michiana, board Gamer. 
She listened to Episode 117 

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where she built a community 
where they don't have a local 

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game store or I. 
Didn't realize that's why I 

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haven't haven't been able to 
watch that one yet. 

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But I didn't realize that was 
why she formed that group. 

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But I've I've watched her over 
the past couple years post she 

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is constantly gaming with people
out places and it's. 

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Constantly. 
Always something I've admired. 

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And from her she was really 
good. 

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So I speaking in building 
community we had her, her 

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husband and their 8 year old 
daughter stay with us for the 

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weekend. 
They drove down to Michigan and 

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they stayed and we played all 
the games. 

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She had a list of games, and she
talks about that. 

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00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,520
But it was the second episode 
where I was in person with 

229
00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:56,120
someone. 
Uh huh. 

230
00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,920
And I learned a valuable lesson 
not to put my laptop on the game

231
00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:04,760
table because you know me. 
I like to talk with my hands. 

232
00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:07,400
Do you knock it off? 
No, I hit the table. 

233
00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:10,320
And if you're watching the 
episode, it's constantly 

234
00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:12,040
shaking. 
And I'm like, there was some 

235
00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,360
watching again in Springfield. 
No, no. 

236
00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:17,000
And I'm like that's I got to. 
Do better. 

237
00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,680
That's fine. 
Well, you gotta learn somehow. 

238
00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:22,160
How else are you gonna learn? 
It's fine. 

239
00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:24,760
It's it is, it is true and it's 
very true. 

240
00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,920
But anyway, so she was there 
along with another board game 

241
00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:32,240
podcast group, the gamecasters 
they frequent Nerdfest. 

242
00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:35,400
So, yeah, so it's like all these
little gaming conventions, 

243
00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,480
they're focused on gaming, which
is what we're all about, right? 

244
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:40,560
I mean, there's the Essen and 
the Gen. 

245
00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:45,400
Con and you know, they're more, 
I think they're more gaming 

246
00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,240
industry. 
They're more Expos now. 

247
00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:51,680
I don't think Gen. 
Con is the best four days in 

248
00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:55,840
gaming anymore. 
I think it maybe is the best 

249
00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:59,840
four days in gaming industry. 
But it's not like, you know, I'm

250
00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:03,080
going to go and I'm going to be 
so busy doing stuff and I'm 

251
00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,720
going to I'm going to hope that 
the famous Laura from the Best 

252
00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:11,040
with Board Games can pencil me 
in between all of her meetings 

253
00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:11,600
at Gen. 
Con. 

254
00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:13,440
You'll chase. 
Me down next time. 

255
00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:15,880
I will. 
I'll be there the whole time 

256
00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:17,200
this year, so it's gonna be 
great. 

257
00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:19,680
But yeah. 
So why don't you tell me what? 

258
00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,440
Let me tell me about. 
Tell me about the Great Plains. 

259
00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:26,040
Great Plains. 
Great Plains, Great Plains Game 

260
00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:27,160
Festival. 
Yes. 

261
00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,760
And who did you see and what did
you do and how did it go? 

262
00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:36,360
It was a great game festival. 
My husband and I took our two 

263
00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:41,680
kids, they are five and seven, 
yes, five and seven, with a lot 

264
00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:43,880
of energy. 
And it was, as I mentioned, 

265
00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:47,000
tacked on to the end of our 
spring break, so already very 

266
00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,560
tired from a vacation. 
So I will admit my kids were not

267
00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:53,080
ready. 
It was stressful on that end. 

268
00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,840
However, it was a great game 
festival. 

269
00:13:55,840 --> 00:14:00,520
We met tons of nice people. 
It was busy, but it didn't feel 

270
00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:04,560
overwhelming as the small cons 
typically are where you have a 

271
00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:07,080
smaller group focused on gaming.
It's not. 

272
00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:09,520
You're not dealing with the 
crowds like you are at Gen. 

273
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,560
Con or PAX or other bigger cons 
like that. 

274
00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:17,760
And everyone was so kind and 
friendly that I was never made 

275
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:22,560
to feel bad about having kids 
who were a little wild wanting 

276
00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:26,600
to run in circles. 
Literally no one makes you feel 

277
00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,640
bad about that. 
And I, we were only one of 

278
00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:32,400
multiple families who had kids 
there, OK. 

279
00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:37,240
And so my kids got to meet other
content creators kids and play 

280
00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,640
together. 
And it was it was actually 

281
00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,600
really neat. 
Won't take them again for 

282
00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:46,920
probably another couple years. 
OK, and maybe not at the end of 

283
00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:48,240
a vacation, but. 
OK. 

284
00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,120
It was great. 
I mentioned earlier Mandy Happy 

285
00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:54,440
Maples. 
She is the one who reached out 

286
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:56,760
to me to let me know. 
Hey, do you wanna come? 

287
00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:59,240
She and Nick were there with 
their kiddo Milo. 

288
00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,840
I was sad I didn't get to meet 
their baby, but that's OK. 

289
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:06,280
The. 
Baby's too, too small, right? 

290
00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:08,840
I mean, yeah, just a few months 
ago, yeah. 

291
00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:11,920
Yeah, definitely. 
I mean, I don't know, she put up

292
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,200
her first tutorial yesterday 
though, I think it was 

293
00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:15,680
yesterday. 
Yeah, true. 

294
00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:17,320
You should go check it out if 
you haven't yet. 

295
00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:18,600
Yeah, you definitely check it 
out. 

296
00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,880
Yeah, she's adorable. 
Let's see Allison and Brock from

297
00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:27,040
Better half reviews Ian and 
Sabrina from our family. 

298
00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,560
Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. 
Our family games together, our 

299
00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:32,200
family gaming together. 
I'll. 

300
00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,880
Have to look it up right? 
Megan from board game paints and

301
00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:37,480
hand stands I believe. 
It is. 

302
00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,360
Megan was there. 
Yeah, she was there. 

303
00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:41,920
Man, that's good. 
Chris board at home, he was 

304
00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:44,360
there. 
Sarah and her husband drew from 

305
00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:47,080
Sarah always loses. 
She and her kids were there. 

306
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,760
I am so jealous. 
I I was so excited to finally 

307
00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:53,440
meet her because it's been a 
very long time. 

308
00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,520
I mean, I connected her with her
fairly early on, I feel like. 

309
00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:00,080
And she, I love what she and her
husband are doing with both 

310
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,200
Instagram and YouTube. 
They're doing some great work 

311
00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:04,760
and beautiful. 
Yeah. 

312
00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,560
So it was really great. 
We got to meet with them. 

313
00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,240
And you know, it's not just 
gaming. 

314
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:12,040
They have, of course, the 
library. 

315
00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:14,280
They have a very large play to 
win library. 

316
00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:16,440
So you're and every time you 
check it out, you're entered to 

317
00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:17,640
win it at the end of the 
weekend. 

318
00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:21,440
Yes. 
They also have giant games like 

319
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:27,880
oversized games so they had 
Caputo sumo from all play which 

320
00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,320
I thought was super. 
It looked super cool. 

321
00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:33,880
They had giant connect fours 
which our kids loved. 

322
00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:37,400
Someone brought out Patchwork. 
A. 

323
00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:40,720
Zool, it was just a bunch of 
oversized large games. 

324
00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:42,960
Carcassonne I think was out 
there at some. 

325
00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:43,800
Point. 
Wow. 

326
00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,880
And you could like check out 
several different ones from the 

327
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:48,600
library. 
So I thought that was really 

328
00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:49,960
unique. 
I haven't seen. 

329
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,040
I've seen some giant games like 
I saw a boop. 

330
00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,120
In like a show. 
Floor at Gen. 

331
00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,120
Con one year maybe or. 
Right. 

332
00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:01,400
And I saw a fishing Cats from 
CGE. 

333
00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:06,839
OK, I've seen a couple of giant 
games, but they were just kind 

334
00:17:06,839 --> 00:17:10,040
of solo. 
So to have a whole lobby area 

335
00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:12,720
full of them was really cool. 
And that a lot of the kids 

336
00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,280
congregated there and were 
playing, but adults too. 

337
00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:19,079
I mean, it was really fun. 
That's cool. 

338
00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:24,079
Yeah, they had a few vendors, so
I got to, you know, check out 

339
00:17:24,079 --> 00:17:27,000
some handmade dice and some 
coffee. 

340
00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,680
And then they also had 
Designer's Row, which I 

341
00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:32,400
unfortunately didn't get to 
check out much. 

342
00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,520
I wish I could have spent time 
there to actually hear what 

343
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:38,720
people who presumably local, 
what games they're designing and

344
00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:40,920
what games they have coming out,
play their games. 

345
00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:44,920
You could provide feedback and, 
you know, potentially see games 

346
00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:46,200
that will be coming in the 
future. 

347
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:51,320
And I just think that's so cool.
Yeah, I think that's I think 

348
00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:53,880
especially if you live around 
there. 

349
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,080
And I feel this way when I go to
Geek Way, which is right by 

350
00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:03,040
right by me. 
You get to see designers who are

351
00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:06,040
local and who maybe are just 
starting out or maybe even 

352
00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:09,160
they're not local, but you get 
to see them and see what they're

353
00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,360
creating and and what they're 
bringing to the community. 

354
00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:16,480
And it's always so cool to see 
fresh perspectives and what they

355
00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:21,920
bring in and, and how that 
generates new energy and new 

356
00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,560
ideas. 
And I don't know, I just, I love

357
00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:27,800
that part, right? 
Cons and the gaming world and 

358
00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,600
yeah, so much creativity. 
I'm gonna tell you, you got the 

359
00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:33,320
better end of the deal. 
Did I? 

360
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:38,400
You, you did in terms of in 
terms of organized events and 

361
00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:41,880
gameplay, I think you got the 
better end of the deal. 

362
00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:45,320
Now while we were in Nashville, 
TN game days is pretty well 

363
00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,200
established and they have a fall
and a spring. 

364
00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,640
And I've never been to the fall 
which is in November. 

365
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:53,400
I've only ever been to the 
spring which they just made the 

366
00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:59,080
cut in spring like spring and. 
Yeah, it was barely, barely 

367
00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:02,600
spring. 
So we get there and of course we

368
00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:07,160
saw May Ameritrash talk and her 
husband Josh and their player 3.

369
00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,280
So they were children. 
We got to see TJ. 

370
00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:12,400
TJ plays our formerly. 
Seen. 

371
00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:16,560
Former from him in a long time. 
Formerly formerly TJ plays 

372
00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:20,240
legally invisible meeple or 
something but we got to play 

373
00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:24,400
with him and random meeple who I
call Randy who has like. 

374
00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,480
I discovered Randy has like 8 
different names. 

375
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,840
I know of him as Raziel, right? 
I think that's how you say it. 

376
00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:32,600
I. 
Believe his name is Raziel. 

377
00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:34,680
I believe that's the correct 
pronunciation. 

378
00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,000
I'm I don't rule my R as well, 
but that's it. 

379
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,040
And so people call him Roz for 
sure when I first met him he's 

380
00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,520
random nipple. 
I abbreviated that to Randy and 

381
00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:46,440
the guys loved it. 
So it's funny I was. 

382
00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:48,240
Wondering how you got that? 
That makes sense. 

383
00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,440
Yeah, so I'm sitting at a table 
and everyone's like, hey, Roz, 

384
00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,640
hey Roz, Roz, Roz. 
And I'm like, who the hell is 

385
00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:58,280
Roz? 
They mean Randy, right? 

386
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:00,760
And then of course, Adam 
Tabletop vibes. 

387
00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,680
And we met Jerry from Tabletop 
Worldwide who came up from 

388
00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:07,800
Atlanta, learned a valuable 
lesson. 

389
00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:12,680
People from Atlanta do not like 
it when we call it Hot Lanta. 

390
00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:17,480
Well, good thing he doesn't know
like high school, college, me, 

391
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,320
because I was definitely calling
it hot. 

392
00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:23,080
Lana, that was. 
Genuinely did not know that and 

393
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,200
now I know and will. 
We'll respect that. 

394
00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:30,240
I love Jerry. 
Jerry's great. 

395
00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:32,920
No. 
And then we saw on Steven 

396
00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:38,160
Nashville board game and Daniel,
who is the Huzah king, the two 

397
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:39,800
of them. 
Right, Yes. 

398
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,560
Did you? 
I have to assume the answer to 

399
00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,160
this is yes. 
But did Steven teach you a game?

400
00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:46,560
Just any game. 
He did. 

401
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,960
He did, yes. 
I had the privilege of meeting 

402
00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:55,800
Steven a couple weeks ago at the
Atom retreat and he, I thought 

403
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:59,080
he was one of the most engaging 
game teachers I've ever 

404
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,800
experienced. 
And so I just, I love him. 

405
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,760
I think he is fantastic. 
That's amazing. 

406
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,560
Look at that, Steven. 
I hope that you're listening. 

407
00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,800
I told him this, I've told him 
this and I genuinely, I'm not, 

408
00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,080
I'm not gonna say something like
that, that I don't mean I'm I'm.

409
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,440
Not that kind of person. 
Now you're telling the world. 

410
00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:18,040
Telling everybody. 
There you go. 

411
00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:25,040
He is great game teacher and 
he's so and I think he embodies 

412
00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:27,840
exactly the theme that we're 
talking about, community. 

413
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:32,480
I feel like he oozes community 
and acceptance. 

414
00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:36,360
He is creating an experience. 
At least when he taught me a 

415
00:21:36,360 --> 00:21:38,160
game, he's creating an 
experience. 

416
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,480
He's drawing everybody in. 
He is wanting to make it the 

417
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:44,320
best time possible. 
He's probably printed and 

418
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,160
laminated player aids for the 
game that he's teaching you. 

419
00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:53,000
He's got upgraded bits, you 
know, like he just oozes that 

420
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:57,440
sense of welcoming and makes you
want to be there and makes you 

421
00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:00,720
excited to be there. 
You know, he is not the only one

422
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,280
of that group that you mentioned
that I feel that way about, but 

423
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:08,360
he is the most recent of that 
group for that I have met in 

424
00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:11,640
person and you know, I just, I 
feel like I have to give him a 

425
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:12,680
shout out. 
It was great. 

426
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:13,920
You do great. 
You do. 

427
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,240
He is. 
He is a wonderful individual. 

428
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:19,480
His wife is amazing. 
She is very accommodating. 

429
00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,600
She is very, she too is very 
welcoming as not much of A gamer

430
00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,760
herself, but she's like, yeah, 
all these gamers can just come 

431
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:28,440
into my house and stay up till 
three. 

432
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:32,720
That's amazing. 
I can't do that anymore. 

433
00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:36,240
I can't for very many days in a 
row and I can't when I have kids

434
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,560
on my watch because they will 
wake me up at or before 6:00. 

435
00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:42,840
Yeah. 3:00 AM Yeah, that's. 
Nope. 

436
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:45,640
Yep. 
Yeah, it's just, you know, it's 

437
00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:47,720
not something to do, but you 
know, we, we played a few games,

438
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:50,040
so the group will. 
Stay up late, too. 

439
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,240
They yeah, yeah. 
And I'm like, why? 

440
00:22:53,360 --> 00:22:55,520
Why are we making ourselves 
miserable? 

441
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:59,440
Like we could go to sleep and 
then we could get up at 6:00 AM,

442
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,560
shower, have a massively awesome
breakfast. 

443
00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:05,760
The details. 
Starts the day. 

444
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,640
They're like, no, they feel 
miserable. 

445
00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,360
I'm like, no, no you. 
Know I don't think, I don't 

446
00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:12,880
think all of them do feel 
miserable. 

447
00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:16,680
It's pretty impressive to me 
when I've been at other cons 

448
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:20,120
with them, they will stay up 
that late and just still seem 

449
00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:22,080
like they have more energy than 
me the next day. 

450
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,440
But I know how to read their 
body language, and if you 

451
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:28,480
listen, they can't. 
They can't complete sentences. 

452
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:32,440
Their thoughts are wandering. 
It just turns into nonsense. 

453
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,680
Yeah, yeah, that's just that 
compulsion. 

454
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,680
That compulsion that I have to 
stay up all night. 

455
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,120
Like I don't like. 
That's not necessary. 

456
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,600
I can get in. 
Katie and I have easily gotten 

457
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:49,120
in teen games in a single day. 
Still going to bed at 10 A 10:00

458
00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:51,360
PM and waking up at 6:00 AM Mm 
Hmm. 

459
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:55,240
You know, so I'm just saying, 
but that's me. 

460
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,320
So the game that I saw that 
y'all played or I don't know if 

461
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,240
you played, I believe you did. 
People in Lincoln were playing 

462
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,360
it, people in Nashville were 
playing it, people in Wisconsin 

463
00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:09,080
were playing. 
It was just kind of crazy and 

464
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:12,360
that was Moon, moon, moon colony
moon. 

465
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,120
We were not playing that I. 
At least didn't play that there.

466
00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:17,360
I played it at Adam. 
OK? 

467
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:19,920
Did I have played it? 
Steven taught it to me. 

468
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:22,280
Of course he did. 
He taught us that too. 

469
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:24,960
That that game really, I was 
like, wow, like everyone's 

470
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,280
playing this game. 
It's a game I never heard of. 

471
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:28,760
Had you? 
Had you? 

472
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:31,240
Were you aware of the game 
before you went to the Gamers 

473
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,680
Ranch and played it? 
I had just seen something from 

474
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:38,400
Board game Buzz Carly. 
She had just posted how she 

475
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:42,560
loved it and had gotten like a 
box from Rio Grande Games. 

476
00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:46,000
That's like 6. 
It was like 6 copies of the game

477
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:48,920
and she was like, so I had just 
seen that but I didn't know 

478
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:52,240
anything really about it and I 
thought it was, I really enjoyed

479
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:54,600
it. 
I was like, they're like, we're 

480
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,000
gonna play this game. 
I'm like OK. 

481
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:57,360
Yeah. 
What did you think? 

482
00:24:57,480 --> 00:24:59,600
I thought it was amazing. 
I thought it was incredible. 

483
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:00,760
This. 
It's not. 

484
00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,400
I mean, a deck builder where we 
have one communal deck that 

485
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:05,960
we're building. 
Yep, yeah. 

486
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,160
It's fascinating. 
And you can add negative cards 

487
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,240
and you can add positive cards. 
So I went into it cuz the whole 

488
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,000
idea right? 
Like you're, you've got your 

489
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,080
colony and you're trying to 
build up your population. 

490
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,320
Bad things are gonna happen and 
you just have to outlast your 

491
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,320
opponents. 
So I had decided I'm just going 

492
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:26,720
to treat my people as resources 
and just eradicate them as 

493
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,840
quickly as possible because I 
was like, I don't really know. 

494
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:32,400
I didn't. 
I don't want to. 

495
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:34,400
Trying to lose. 
Yeah, I won. 

496
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,520
You won. 
That is crazy. 

497
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:39,160
It's it's. 
Nuts. 

498
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:40,840
I don't I don't know. 
I. 

499
00:25:41,120 --> 00:25:44,480
Don't know. 
So from now on, maybe take the 

500
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,960
least obvious strategy and give 
that a whirl and maybe you'll 

501
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:49,960
win. 
Yeah, give it a try. 

502
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,400
OK, Let's be fair, it'll never 
work again. 

503
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:55,280
Probably not. 
That was a one time. 

504
00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:57,480
One time thing. 
But that was a that's a unique 

505
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:00,640
experience, right? 
And the so the cool thing is 

506
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,760
what I liked about that 
particular game, it's less about

507
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:05,640
the game than it is the shared 
experience. 

508
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,800
In that moment was the 
conversations that I had with 

509
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,600
the people at the table, which I
get into all the time. 

510
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:16,520
When I first met Shelley at 
Origins a few years ago, she was

511
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,760
with her husband and her friends
from Michigan. 

512
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,520
We were playing Gartenbaugh, and
I would take my turn, and then I

513
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:24,480
would turn to Shelley's husband,
Lance. 

514
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,560
So Lance, tell me how you and 
Shelley met. 

515
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,240
I can't turn it off so. 
You're the reason the games last

516
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,440
longer. 
Well, but my turn's but I'm. 

517
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:34,080
Not saying that's a bad thing. 
I'm not saying that's a bad 

518
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:36,320
thing. 
I need to, I need to. 

519
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:39,320
I'm more interested. 
I'm more interested in the you, 

520
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:41,240
you know, like you. 
Are. 

521
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,880
You know, because so it's 
interesting, a lot of people 

522
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,360
play solo games. 
And I'm going to have an episode

523
00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:51,960
here in a couple of weeks with a
content creator from Europe. 

524
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,640
We're going to talk about solo 
gaming and tie that to 

525
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:56,760
community. 
I don't play solo games because 

526
00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,440
when I was growing up as a kid 
and of course back in the 80s, 

527
00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:01,000
right, So there weren't a whole 
lot of options. 

528
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,440
You had Monopoly, you had 
Scrabble, you had to make things

529
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:07,200
up on your own. 
So I played a lot of board games

530
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:11,280
by myself without solo variance.
That was not a thing that 

531
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,040
existed. 
And that made me feel terrible 

532
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:19,400
about myself, right? 
I it, it, it amplified my 

533
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,560
loneliness, right. 
And into in a degree, some 

534
00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:26,680
despair as well. 
But I came out of my my 

535
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,080
childhood and here I am now 
almost almost 50. 

536
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,920
I'm going to be 50 next month. 
It's coming up soon, yes. 

537
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:40,320
So I don't like solo games, but 
I respect the fact that solo 

538
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:42,280
gaming people are in the solo 
gaming. 

539
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:45,000
I recognize that the solo 
variant, I wish the solo 

540
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:46,720
variants existed when I was a 
kid. 

541
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:49,800
My problem is I set up a game on
my table. 

542
00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:53,240
I get ready to play and then all
of a sudden these emotions when 

543
00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:56,560
I was a kid came up and I'm 
like, I don't want to play this,

544
00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:57,880
you know? 
Yeah. 

545
00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:00,680
But so, yeah, there's there's 
that. 

546
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:05,440
So I'm really for me, I got into
modern gaming to interact with 

547
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:09,280
people and it was, you know, it 
is the you of the world that I 

548
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:11,000
love. 
I love the shared experience as 

549
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,880
well. 
But yeah, you know, it's a it's 

550
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:17,840
a great conversations. 
And some of those conversations 

551
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:21,560
got pretty deep over the weekend
in Nashville, so that was pretty

552
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,320
terrific. 
Did you have any non gaming 

553
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,800
community building experiences 
while you were in Lincoln? 

554
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,200
That was tough to do, mostly 
because of the kids schedules. 

555
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,200
Yes. 
So in Lincoln we didn't really 

556
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,000
have that, but we have at other 
cons. 

557
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:40,440
I mean, geek way. 
Last year, before it even 

558
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,320
started, several of us met up 
and went to dinner together. 

559
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:45,960
Yeah. 
You know, so we didn't get to do

560
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:48,440
that. 
And that was one of the saddest 

561
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,240
things, I think, to me was that 
I felt like I couldn't be as 

562
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,600
present and flexible as I wanted
to be. 

563
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,560
And as I have had the privilege 
of being at every other con I've

564
00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:00,600
gone to. 
But that's just, you know, 

565
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:04,920
that's the challenge of the time
of life that I'm at where I have

566
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,080
really young kids and, you know,
trying to learn to roll with 

567
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:14,480
that and still have lots of 
great time with other people. 

568
00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,600
Even though it wasn't outside of
board gaming, You know, it was 

569
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,400
outside of board gaming in that 
we weren't always playing games.

570
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:22,440
Right. 
I mean, one thing I forgot to 

571
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,480
mention is they had a very large
and successful swap meet there. 

572
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:29,240
And so, you know, part of the 
time it was just walking around 

573
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,560
with each other in the swap meet
room, looking at the different 

574
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:36,160
games that are for sale and 
chatting about them and, you 

575
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,800
know, hearing other people's 
perspectives or just chatting 

576
00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:40,600
about random things while we 
were walking around. 

577
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,000
So, yeah. 
But I, I do love when that does 

578
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,680
get to happen at Conn's, but not
so much for me. 

579
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,560
What about you guys? 
Were you mostly gaming focused 

580
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:51,160
or did you guys do anything 
outside? 

581
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:55,040
Of there was, there was, I mean,
we had meals, OK, So the 

582
00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:58,160
restaurant, the Marriott where 
we were, where the convention 

583
00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:02,880
was, there's a bar restaurant in
the lobby and I had an amazing 

584
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:04,400
salad. 
Nice. 

585
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,480
It was huge and delicious and 
just incredible. 

586
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:12,720
And, you know, Adam is so health
conscious and I need to be. 

587
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:14,920
So I just followed his lead. 
Yep. 

588
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,480
I followed his lead and had a 
delicious, you know, salad. 

589
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:19,160
Yeah. 
But now we had some, we had some

590
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:25,200
really very, very, very deep and
meaningful conversation. 

591
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:29,920
There were a select few who 
were, although I don't know that

592
00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:31,640
they would, I mean, I think 
looking back, they would 

593
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:33,880
articulate it like this. 
They weren't afraid to be 

594
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,240
vulnerable and, you know, open 
up. 

595
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:41,320
There were, I mean, some of 
these conversations got really 

596
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,240
intense in ways I was not 
anticipating. 

597
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,880
And you know, I thank God for 
that because that's great. 

598
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:51,480
I want to create that safe space
for whatever it is you want to 

599
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:56,600
share or not share, right? 
So yeah, it was, it was really 

600
00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:58,960
good. 
I'm also because I grew up with 

601
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,200
a lot of female cousins and 
aunts. 

602
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:03,560
I grew up with a lot of women in
my family growing up. 

603
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,320
I'm still surprised when I'm in 
a group with a bunch of guys. 

604
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:10,400
I'm like, I feel like an 
imposter. 

605
00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:13,840
Do I belong here? 
I mean, obviously I belong here,

606
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,240
but. 
It's funny, I'm the opposite. 

607
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,200
I tend to feel that way in 
groups of women, and I was 

608
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:25,440
around more women at the Great 
Plains Game Festival, and so I 

609
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:29,000
also kind of felt that way. 
Yeah, OK, good. 

610
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:31,720
Yeah, it's not just me. 
No, yeah. 

611
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:34,880
And I think we all, a lot of 
people I think have a history of

612
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:37,320
who they're, who they tend to be
most comfortable with for 

613
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,920
whatever reason, whether it's 
family they were raised with or 

614
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,520
people they just had as friends 
in middle school, high school, 

615
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:45,720
whatever. 
I think that's normal. 

616
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:48,680
So let's really quickly about 
some organized stuff at 

617
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:50,920
Tennessee game days. 
They have a play and win. 

618
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,200
It's less than impressive. 
I'm just. 

619
00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,480
Could use some work. 
It really needs some 

620
00:31:57,480 --> 00:31:59,920
organization and obviously it 
needs some donors. 

621
00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:03,480
I saw some video from Lincoln. 
I don't know if it was you or 

622
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:05,880
Mandy that posted. 
It was a lot of games. 

623
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,600
They had a. 
Lot and they had a lot of good 

624
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:10,920
games. 
Like good games? 

625
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:13,600
Yes they had like 3 or 4 of each
one I think. 

626
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:18,600
Which Geek Way Mini and Geek Way
do the same thing which we love,

627
00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,440
right? 
Katie and I always start every 

628
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:24,760
year with Geek Way Mini. 
We want a copy of Civilution and

629
00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:27,160
Men Never. 
Oh my gosh, yeah. 

630
00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:31,000
You didn't tell me that you need
to schedule me for a weekend up 

631
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,440
to Springfield. 
Now I have to make it happen. 

632
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:37,320
You you do you do. 
And and Shelley Shelley talked 

633
00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:41,320
about how Katie is such a good 
and to be fair, Katie's gotten 

634
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,400
really good at this. 
You want to talk about teaching.

635
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:46,320
So organized and effort is a 
heavy lift. 

636
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,520
There's a lot of things going on
and she just organized. 

637
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,440
That does not surprise me. 
Yeah, that does not surprise me 

638
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:53,480
at all. 
Exactly. 

639
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,720
So, so, yeah. 
So we, we started our year that 

640
00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:00,080
way and then Tennessee game 
days, just the games they had, I

641
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,000
either owned them or I didn't 
want to own them. 

642
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:04,920
Gotcha. 
And they only had one copy of 

643
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,440
everything and it's paper and a 
little cup. 

644
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:09,520
And it was just like I was like,
wow. 

645
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:14,040
But I noticed that Great Plains 
had the little tablets for you 

646
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:17,720
to type in your. 
I wasn't qualified for it cuz I 

647
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:19,520
had a media badge but. 
Okay. 

648
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,000
It looked like the same thing 
they had at Geek Way. 

649
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:24,920
Yeah. 
It's what it looked like, which 

650
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,800
was cool. 
So then the main hall, which is 

651
00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,640
just straight up open gaming, 
there's no vendor hall at all. 

652
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:35,920
But what they do is they line up
tables around the four walls and

653
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,520
people sell their games. 
So you play a game and then you 

654
00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,480
take a break and you walk the 
perimeter and you look, see what

655
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:44,280
you want. 
And they've got like a piece of 

656
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:47,320
paper with their Venmo or their 
PayPal QR code. 

657
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:51,880
And you just you buy, you type, 
you send of money done right. 

658
00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:54,760
That's that's kind of I like the
way you're down, son. 

659
00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:56,520
It is. 
Oh, it is. 

660
00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:59,200
Jerry had a couple of games that
got stolen. 

661
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:01,920
Yeah. 
I mean, at the end of the day, 

662
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,360
there were games he did not want
anymore, right. 

663
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,600
So you can kind of right. 
Let. 

664
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:10,080
It go, but that's disappointing.
But the reality is is people 

665
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:13,159
walked away with, you know, a 
couple games that he, you know, 

666
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:18,600
so at Geek way mini Katie and I,
not in the play to win, but in 

667
00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:22,120
the game library play Luxor by 
Queen Games. 

668
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:26,040
Older, older game, right. 
We had never played it before 

669
00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:27,639
and we just thought it was so 
much fun. 

670
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,320
And it's like, where are we ever
going to find a copy? 

671
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,120
There was a guy selling a copy 
for like, yeah, he was selling, 

672
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:36,440
he was selling it. 
And I'm like, well, I'm going to

673
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:40,440
buy this now right then. 
And I do my little Venmo and get

674
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:42,360
it over. 
But yeah, there was some there 

675
00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:44,760
was some interesting things 
being sold. 

676
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,199
The unsettled whole bundle was 
being sold. 

677
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:54,360
The Masters of the Universe $500
fully painted miniature game was

678
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:57,920
was a sale. 
Lords of Hell lost the whole 

679
00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:02,320
bundle with all the expansions 
and age contrived. 

680
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:06,880
The all in bundle set was I 
mean, it was just some crazy 

681
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:08,360
things. 
I was like, wow, they really are

682
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:09,400
selling this. 
Yeah. 

683
00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:11,200
And so. 
So that was cool. 

684
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:13,480
And there's a games library, 
which is really nice. 

685
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:16,000
There's some great games to 
play, but you don't get to win 

686
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:17,480
them. 
I love the play to win. 

687
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,800
Geek way spoiled me. 
Yeah, in the in the play to win.

688
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:25,440
Of I mean, I love Geek Way and 
I'm very sad you weren't going 

689
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:26,960
to be there this year. 
I know I. 

690
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:31,880
Love Geek Way and I it's, it 
just is a step up from Great 

691
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:34,400
Plains Game Festival. 
So Great Plains Game Festival 

692
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:38,880
has about 1000 people there, I 
think and geek way. 

693
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,160
So it I mean, it's not tiny. 
It's not. 

694
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:44,800
No, it's and they're hoping to 
grow. 

695
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:48,120
So I mean like it's it's. 
Tennessee Tennessee Game days. 

696
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:51,200
Checking out. 
Tennessee game days was 740. 

697
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,120
Yeah. 
So this is just a little bit 

698
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,920
bigger. 
Yeah, but Geek Way is a step up 

699
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,880
from that. 
It's two 3000 people. 

700
00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:05,200
I thought it was 5 last year, 
no? 

701
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:08,040
Nope. 
I could have torn us off 5000, 

702
00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:09,160
but I. 
Don't think so. 

703
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,320
I mean, I could be wrong, I 
could be wrong. 

704
00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:14,040
You're right, I'm wrong. 
Let's be honest. 

705
00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:18,720
And and that could be not 
including, you know, orders or 

706
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:21,000
vendors who are coming in. 
So I don't really know. 

707
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:27,680
I know it's close to 3000 as far
as badges they were selling for 

708
00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:30,840
this coming year. 
So take that however you want 

709
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:32,640
it. 
And then then there's Geek Geek 

710
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:34,280
Way Mini, which I just talked 
about. 

711
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,560
It's like 300 or 400 badges. 
Yes, yes. 

712
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:39,240
And they sell out within an 
hour. 

713
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:41,840
Yes, I found that out the hard 
way. 

714
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:44,160
Geek way. 
I think it may already be sold 

715
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,240
out for this year. 
I think they were down. 

716
00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:49,040
To like 80 badges when I, well, 
they sold out and then they put 

717
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:52,720
out like 100 more badges or 150 
more badges and they were down 

718
00:36:52,720 --> 00:36:57,520
to 80 like a week ago. 
But I'm wish they could grow or 

719
00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:00,200
like sell more badges. 
I don't know if that's that 

720
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:03,480
they're confined to the space of
the Convention Center that 

721
00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:06,400
they're in or I'm not sure what 
that is. 

722
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:10,000
But I feel like there's room for
it to grow with them shelling 

723
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:14,040
out so far in advance. 
Yes, you know, But I do love 

724
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:16,320
Geek way. 
It's probably my favorite of the

725
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:19,760
small ones, but it is. 
It also has that extra level of 

726
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:21,480
organization too. 
It does. 

727
00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:23,320
It definitely does. 
They have a few events. 

728
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:26,920
There's a small vendor plays and
demos and things like that. 

729
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:31,560
Absolutely it is. 
It is the more intimate Origins 

730
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:35,760
Game Fair is that's, you know, 
game Fair is like the next step 

731
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:39,800
from geek way, you know. 
So Great Plains Game Festival 

732
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:43,600
also had scheduled events and 
demos and tournaments and things

733
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:44,920
like that. 
Is that not something that 

734
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:46,360
Tennessee Game Day says? 
OK. 

735
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:48,840
It's just. 
No open hall games. 

736
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:50,880
Open gaming now, Ivy. 
Yeah. 

737
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,280
So it's like, that's a totally, 
that's a pretty different thing 

738
00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:58,760
from what, yes, Great Plains is.
It certainly is Ivy Studios, 

739
00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:02,720
which is based in Nashville. 
They have like, they have a 

740
00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:06,600
night where they invite a bunch 
of people to their studio and 

741
00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:08,200
it's just like, it's just 
gaming. 

742
00:38:08,240 --> 00:38:10,800
It's just gaming. 
But they also have like, I don't

743
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:12,520
know how they organize it, but 
they have a room. 

744
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:16,040
It's like a smaller meeting room
where all their games are and 

745
00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:19,280
you can, you know, go in there. 
Lily, who's their social media 

746
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:23,760
marketing guru of Awesome. 
I don't know Lily's title, but I

747
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:26,920
know that she's new to the 
podcast and listening and I hope

748
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:30,160
to have her on soon, but she's 
just so delightful. 

749
00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,800
She was kind enough to invite us
all to the Ivy Studios room at 

750
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,680
the Game at the hotel for pizza,
and that was really exciting 

751
00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:40,520
because they had a lot of pizza 
and I don't know, it's pretty, 

752
00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:42,360
pretty fantastic pizza. 
Nice. 

753
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:44,840
OK. 
So yeah, it was great. 

754
00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:47,760
There's a lot of a lot of 
community building, a lot of 

755
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,120
families. 
You saw a lot of kids playing 

756
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:54,320
games together, so yeah, that 
was exciting. 

757
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:56,880
I got to play Power Grid for the
first time. 

758
00:38:57,160 --> 00:38:59,920
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
I don't like power. 

759
00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:03,760
Grid. 
Now you know, now that question 

760
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:05,560
that's been burning in the back 
of your mind. 

761
00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:07,600
Do you like power grid? 
Would I like it? 

762
00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:10,560
Now you have the answer to. 
It I'm like, no, not really. 

763
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:14,080
That's one of the things I love 
about experiences like that is 

764
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,840
you get to try things before you
invest in them and. 

765
00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:19,640
It's. 
Even better when you know 

766
00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:22,720
someone or meet someone who is 
able to teach it to you. 

767
00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:25,880
Yes, rather than slogging 
through the learning yourself 

768
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:29,720
and and then. 
Realizing me, I don't. 

769
00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:32,320
Like this? 
Yeah, I was like, I'm not. 

770
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:38,040
Now I own it and don't want to 
play it and spent all that time 

771
00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:40,760
teaching myself. 
Yeah, the beauty. 

772
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:45,560
The did did Tennessee Game Days 
have the thing that Geek Way 

773
00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,880
does and Great Plains does where
they have like meatballs that 

774
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:53,360
you set on your table if you are
looking for players or if you OK

775
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:55,280
are. 
One and you teach a game one and

776
00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:58,760
a teacher yeah sometimes OK so 
there was one night one night 

777
00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:01,440
there's a there was this guy 
walking around he's holding the 

778
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:05,400
box lid for a game and he's got 
the players wanted me and he's 

779
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:07,800
walking around right because you
don't want it because if you put

780
00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:09,960
it on the table that's kind of 
passive so he was looking for. 

781
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:13,600
They were looking for one more. 
It's OK. 

782
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:17,840
Aldara, do you know this game? 
I don't think so. 

783
00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:22,200
If you take the box and you 
stand it up lengthwise, it's 

784
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:25,600
like 4 feet tall. 
It's this box is. 

785
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:29,720
Taller than my child or as tall 
as my child? 

786
00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:32,560
I mean maybe 3 feet but like 
this game. 

787
00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:36,120
Yeah. 
ALDARA. 

788
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:40,400
Anyway, TJ went and played. 
He said it was like a combat 

789
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:45,080
focused kind of like Twilight 
Imperium, but not a 12 hour 

790
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:47,600
ordeal. 
I don't know. 

791
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:49,600
But it was like I've never seen 
like game box. 

792
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:51,080
He did. 
He did like it. 

793
00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:55,520
I had not seen a box this big 
before and I was like, what is 

794
00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:57,680
that? 
Yeah, yeah. 

795
00:40:57,880 --> 00:40:59,040
So it's. 
Fun. 

796
00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:02,880
The things you get to find. 
I was walking around the swap 

797
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:07,640
meet and I found someone was who
had apparently been collecting 

798
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,040
games from different cultures 
and stuff, and I was. 

799
00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,680
Like that? 
Let me take a look at these cuz 

800
00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:14,520
that's very much something I'm 
interested in. 

801
00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:16,440
And so I got to buy a few 
different things. 

802
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:19,480
And then I found another game 
that's themed on birds. 

803
00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,160
And I was like, Oh my goodness, 
my child would love this because

804
00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:25,000
we're obsessed with birds as 
much as we are games. 

805
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:29,840
And so, yeah, it's, it's fun. 
The little treasures you find, 

806
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,080
little and apparently giant 
treasures you find, right, that 

807
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,960
you didn't even know existed 
despite having been in this 

808
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:40,600
world for so long. 
Yeah, you know, there's so many 

809
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:43,480
games that you and I don't even 
know about yet, so it's. 

810
00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:46,800
True, it's true. 
Hey, Speaking of other cultures,

811
00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,560
I don't know if you got to 
listen to last week's episode, 

812
00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:55,960
episode 118, but you put me in 
contact with Ahmad from from 

813
00:41:55,960 --> 00:42:00,480
Perth, Australia. 
We had a great conversation and 

814
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:02,360
we talked about you a whole lot 
right there on the. 

815
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:04,640
Oh, you did. 
Yeah, cuz you brought I only. 

816
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:06,800
Listened to the first. 
I only listened to the first 

817
00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:09,640
little bit this morning before 
we decided to start this 

818
00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:12,160
earlier, so I'll have to go back
and listen to the. 

819
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:14,200
Rest yeah. 
So it was really interesting 

820
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:18,360
because I liken it to episode 
111 and another person you 

821
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:20,080
introduced me to and that was 
Pagan. 

822
00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:22,600
You're welcome. 
From Bangalore, India. 

823
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:25,800
And it's funny, Pagan's getting 
I mentioned him pretty much in 

824
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:28,120
every episode. 
It's an episode sense I'm like, 

825
00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:31,080
give him a shout out. 
It's because that was such a 

826
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:35,440
popular episode. 
It it got the most views on our 

827
00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:40,280
YouTube channel and it's in the 
top 10 on Spotify from our 

828
00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:42,160
listeners. 
So that's really exciting. 

829
00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:45,520
But it was interesting to hear 
Ahmad talk about not just 

830
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:50,880
Australia, but Oceania and then 
and then we got to dive into how

831
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:54,920
his game who solely was received
in a Muslim community. 

832
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:58,560
So it's love how that 
conversation unintentionally 

833
00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:01,360
supporting my thesis. 
We were talking about gaming 

834
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:04,800
community, but we were talking 
about a religious community and 

835
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,600
introducing that community into 
the gaming community because 

836
00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:10,360
community and community. 
Yeah. 

837
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:12,000
Community. 
Was it? 

838
00:43:12,240 --> 00:43:14,400
Can I assume that it was well 
received within the Muslim 

839
00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:17,520
community? 
It was, it was, it was he had 

840
00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:20,560
positive feedback at work. 
It's obviously some concerns, 

841
00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:24,200
but yeah, sure. 
So if if those of you have are 

842
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,240
listening to this and you 
haven't listened to episode 118,

843
00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:28,840
go check it out and I have to go
listen. 

844
00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:31,320
To. 
It yeah, it was so cool. 

845
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:35,520
I feel like you and I, whether 
we intentionally, I don't know. 

846
00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:38,200
I don't know that we were 
intentional about this concept 

847
00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:40,360
of community, but we were 
definitely intentional. 

848
00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:42,440
As you and I have really fallen 
into this routine. 

849
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:45,440
You seem to be meeting these 
designers and people from 

850
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:47,960
outside of the United States, 
and then you just kind of hook 

851
00:43:47,960 --> 00:43:50,080
them up with me and then I can 
introduce them to the world. 

852
00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:55,080
Yeah, I, I don't, I know that 
you are doing a podcast and have

853
00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:57,600
been, you know, at least have 
been looking for people. 

854
00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:00,240
I don't know if you still need 
people or not, but, you know, I 

855
00:44:00,240 --> 00:44:04,640
think these people deserve to 
have a voice with an American 

856
00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:07,440
audience. 
And, you know, if I would tell, 

857
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:10,160
I would refer them to any 
podcast that I knew, to be quite

858
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:12,880
frank. 
But I'm always obviously happy 

859
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:16,280
to send them your way because I 
know you and, you know, we're 

860
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:19,600
friends. 
But yeah, it's been really great

861
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,160
the ways that I I've just kind 
of fallen into meeting some of 

862
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:26,880
these people or in some cases 
intentionally sought them out. 

863
00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:32,040
You know, the Usoli game I saw 
in a Facebook group and I 

864
00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:35,280
noticed not many other people 
had, you know, volunteered to 

865
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:37,800
review it. 
And I thought, you know, I have 

866
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,320
experienced, I have in my 
previous life, I worked as an 

867
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:43,840
interfaith hospital chaplain. 
So I have worked with Muslim 

868
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:47,400
people and somewhat familiar 
with their practices and can it 

869
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:51,600
can respect it for what it is. 
And so I figured, why not me? 

870
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:54,000
Yeah. 
And I, I enjoyed it. 

871
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:55,800
I really enjoyed it as a as a 
game. 

872
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:59,040
It's not a super heavy game. 
It's not a big game, right? 

873
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:02,560
But I really appreciated it for 
what it was and what it brings 

874
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:05,560
to the community and the 
educational aspect, right. 

875
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,640
And so I feel like it's worth 
sharing. 

876
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:14,880
And I feel like so many people 
who are worried by things like 

877
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:17,720
that that are not familiar to 
them that are. 

878
00:45:17,720 --> 00:45:20,760
Not part. 
Of their belief system or their 

879
00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:23,440
worldview. 
I feel like that can be scary. 

880
00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:27,040
It can be. 
For a, it can be whether I think

881
00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:28,400
it should be or not, it doesn't 
matter. 

882
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:32,800
It, it can be scary, right? 
And so I think a game that is 

883
00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:37,320
just a game, but where you're 
also kind of learning about what

884
00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:42,080
that religion is like. 
It's a very accessible way to 

885
00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:44,880
learn about it. 
And it's much less intimidating 

886
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:49,960
than, say reading a textbook or,
you know, going and visiting a 

887
00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:55,800
mosque or, you know, it's it's 
much it's a much gentler 

888
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:59,080
introduction. 
And so I think why not have that

889
00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:01,120
be a starting point for some 
people? 

890
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:04,600
Why not have it at least be a 
way that you know someone can 

891
00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:09,320
come play and and take a peek 
and realize, OK. 

892
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:10,800
It's not that. 
Bad. 

893
00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:15,760
I, I can, I can interact with 
this and still be safe. 

894
00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:18,600
And you know, I don't know. 
I just think it's great. 

895
00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:21,800
He's sending me a copy of Usoli 
and I'm looking forward to it. 

896
00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:24,280
Yeah, I'm looking forward to 
playing it cuz it's like he's 

897
00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:26,760
talking about him. 
Like this just sounds amazing. 

898
00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:30,400
And one thing that surprised me,
you had posted some pictures of 

899
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:33,200
it on your Instagram feed weeks 
ago. 

900
00:46:33,200 --> 00:46:34,680
I didn't realize how small the 
box. 

901
00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:37,200
Small the box is. 
It's very small. 

902
00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:40,880
Yeah, he held it up on screen. 
I'm like, whoa, like that. 

903
00:46:41,720 --> 00:46:45,720
OK, yeah, yeah. 
It kind of was giving me having 

904
00:46:45,720 --> 00:46:48,880
not played it, it gave me Castle
combo vibes. 

905
00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:51,680
Yeah, I could see that. 
But you're not building a 

906
00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:52,760
tableau. 
Right. 

907
00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:54,960
Yeah, you're picking cards up 
from the tableau. 

908
00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:57,240
Yeah. 
But still you're. 

909
00:46:57,280 --> 00:46:59,720
Yeah, figuring out what move. 
Yeah. 

910
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:02,560
Yeah, I could see that. 
So once I get a copy and then 

911
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:04,800
we'll play it, we'll have to 
organize a time. 

912
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:06,640
You'll come up to Springfield, 
I'll come down to Saint Louis. 

913
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:08,320
Sounds good. 
And we'll play and that'll be 

914
00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:10,320
great. 
And then and then of course, 

915
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:13,160
Palga and his games. 
So we got Chai Garam. 

916
00:47:13,760 --> 00:47:17,560
Holy cow, guys, that game is 
amazing. 

917
00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:19,840
It's so good. 
That game is incredible. 

918
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:21,840
And that that was a really 
interesting episode too. 

919
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:24,960
The way he talked about the 
manufacturing like you can order

920
00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:28,280
a game and have it delivered 
like in an hour and it's and 

921
00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:31,360
they make it from scratch it. 
Was unbelievable. 

922
00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:36,440
I know also in light of the 
tariffs and the manufacturing 

923
00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:41,640
things going on, like, Yep, how 
unbelievable would that be and 

924
00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:46,160
how wonderful is it for them and
their community that they have 

925
00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:47,720
that access to that? 
Yes. 

926
00:47:47,800 --> 00:47:53,520
And you know my my hope in this 
time. 

927
00:47:53,720 --> 00:47:55,800
Is that? 
Things here are going to take a 

928
00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:57,200
hit. 
They've already taken a hit, 

929
00:47:57,200 --> 00:48:00,080
right? 
Like they're just going to in 

930
00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:03,080
the American portion of the 
board game industry. 

931
00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:07,200
And I think the American board 
game industry has been the 

932
00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:11,520
majority, or at least a very 
large part of the board game 

933
00:48:11,520 --> 00:48:13,960
industry, right? 
I think think so. 

934
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:16,520
I don't have numbers in front of
me, but I think that's. 

935
00:48:16,720 --> 00:48:19,040
Right. 
A lot of the games are coming 

936
00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:21,840
from America, American designers
and publishers. 

937
00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:25,040
Granted, there's plenty in the 
Europe and things like that and 

938
00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:30,640
then, but now here comes Mosaic 
from India and you have people 

939
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:34,240
from Australia who exist, 
whether we know it or not, have 

940
00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:37,760
access to their games or not. 
And so my hope is that as we 

941
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:41,160
find our footing in the American
board gaming industry, that 

942
00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:46,040
right places publishers like 
Mosaic from India and other 

943
00:48:46,040 --> 00:48:51,640
countries will be able to 
hopefully have their games also 

944
00:48:51,640 --> 00:48:55,360
seen more, whether that's from 
Americans or other countries 

945
00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:58,880
just getting into the board 
gaming world so that we can have

946
00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:02,440
more diversity within the games 
that we're playing, the games 

947
00:49:02,440 --> 00:49:05,240
that we're sharing, the games 
that we're seeing online, right?

948
00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:09,000
Yep. 
I think that I'm hopeful that 

949
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:12,640
that might be a side effect of 
this and that I feel is a 

950
00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:15,760
positive that I can agree at 
least be thankful for. 

951
00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:18,120
I agree. 
It was like my closing statement

952
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:22,000
in my thesis short yesterday. 
Our diversity is our strength. 

953
00:49:22,120 --> 00:49:24,040
I firmly believe that. 
Mm hmm. 

954
00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:28,040
I think that's what it makes us 
stronger as a community. 

955
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:30,040
Yeah, that's just. 
Yeah, I don't know. 

956
00:49:30,240 --> 00:49:32,960
I mean, yeah, right. 
I don't. 

957
00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:34,560
I agree. 
I'm like, yeah. 

958
00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:37,440
I agree. 
And I think, I think that it is 

959
00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:41,080
very easy, especially here in 
America, the way things have 

960
00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:44,720
been, it has been easy up to 
this point to stay very 

961
00:49:44,720 --> 00:49:50,120
insulated in our board games. 
You have to seek out games and 

962
00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:55,200
intentionally buy games that are
from other countries such as 

963
00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:58,480
India that now Mosaic has a 
warehouse here. 

964
00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:01,800
So you can at least get it more 
easily than you used to. 

965
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:08,600
But it's it's hard to find a, a 
truly diverse collection of 

966
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:10,560
games unless you are looking for
it. 

967
00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:16,440
And I think, you know, we can't 
go back in the past and change 

968
00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:20,960
what we've done up till now, but
we can make it a point to start 

969
00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:25,800
seeking out diverse designers, 
diverse themes, diverse 

970
00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:31,560
publishers, and hopefully, you 
know, continue making our tables

971
00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:35,000
and our collections and the 
things that we gather around to 

972
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:38,760
talk about and interact about 
making that more diverse, which 

973
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:42,480
then, you know, leads to new 
conversations. 

974
00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:47,000
And yeah, continues to build 
that community to a deeper 

975
00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:48,040
extent. 
Right. 

976
00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:51,840
Yeah. 
And all of that requires you. 

977
00:50:52,120 --> 00:50:54,040
You. 
Not you, Laura, but you. 

978
00:50:54,080 --> 00:50:56,320
Well, you, Laura. 
But yeah, all of us to be 

979
00:50:56,320 --> 00:50:59,560
vulnerable, to be willing to be 
vulnerable and let people see 

980
00:50:59,560 --> 00:51:03,280
you for who you are. 
And the thing The thing is, is 

981
00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:05,960
like I'm a firm believer, and 
we've talked about this a lot, 

982
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:11,200
is people's worldview, whatever 
it is, it influences and it 

983
00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:15,400
governs how they approach 
problem solving and puzzles, IE 

984
00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:18,000
the board game in front of them.
So the way that you play a board

985
00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:20,920
game, your worldview informs 
that somehow. 

986
00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:25,120
So you can't separate the player
from the game, you know? 

987
00:51:25,240 --> 00:51:27,720
It's true. 
I mean, even just thinking about

988
00:51:27,960 --> 00:51:31,040
the way you talked about 
strategizing for Blood Moon 

989
00:51:31,160 --> 00:51:34,280
colony bloodbath or the moon 
colony bloodbath, right? 

990
00:51:35,320 --> 00:51:39,280
You know, I never would have 
thought these, these colony, 

991
00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:41,640
what are they called? 
These people here that I'm 

992
00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:44,120
supposed to be keeping alive, 
They're expendable. 

993
00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:47,680
And a lot of that is because of 
my world view of OK, the thing 

994
00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:51,200
we want to to have the most of 
is the thing we need to protect 

995
00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:52,400
and horror. 
Right, like. 

996
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:55,440
Yeah. 
And you know, I'm sure there are

997
00:51:55,440 --> 00:51:57,640
plenty of ways we could 
psychoanalyze that, but. 

998
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:01,080
Oh yeah. 
But it's interesting that you're

999
00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:05,320
exactly right, our world view 
does dictate how we strategize 

1000
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:09,720
about games and the games that 
we even can conceive of making. 

1001
00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:15,200
That's true. 
And yeah, it is 100% true. 

1002
00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:19,800
And the strategies that we could
work around new game mechanics, 

1003
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:23,840
those are all gonna come from 
other perspectives or the 

1004
00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:27,120
meeting of different 
perspectives, right, with one 

1005
00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:29,400
another. 
And exactly, you know, some of 

1006
00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:33,520
the great, some fantastic games 
come about from two different 

1007
00:52:33,520 --> 00:52:37,000
designers coming together. 
And a meeting of the minds 

1008
00:52:37,240 --> 00:52:39,880
creates something new and 
beautiful that would not 

1009
00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:42,880
otherwise have existed. 
The same is true for cultures 

1010
00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:46,640
and people. 
And so, yeah, I'm, I am here for

1011
00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:48,280
it. 
I am here for the diversity. 

1012
00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:51,280
I am here for intentionally 
seeking it out. 

1013
00:52:51,600 --> 00:52:54,280
Because if we don't, it will not
happen, right? 

1014
00:52:55,320 --> 00:53:01,200
And and that requires a 
vulnerability on our part, not 

1015
00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:05,320
only to be not only to share 
ourselves with people, but also 

1016
00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:08,160
to be open to receiving new 
things. 

1017
00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:11,720
Yep. 
It requires both. 

1018
00:53:11,920 --> 00:53:14,200
It does. 
It does, and I haven't always 

1019
00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:17,200
been good at the latter. 
I think I've gotten better but. 

1020
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:22,440
Especially Americans have been 
trained, been taught and, and, 

1021
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:25,320
and American Christians, that's 
the background I come from. 

1022
00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:29,520
We have been trained and taught 
that that is not a safe thing to

1023
00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:32,960
do. 
And I think I think that we have

1024
00:53:32,960 --> 00:53:37,600
to find a way where we can be 
open to experience new things 

1025
00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:39,920
without thinking. 
That means we're taking it on 

1026
00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:44,320
for ourselves or but there is a 
way to be vulnerable and 

1027
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:50,840
interact with the different, the
other that is healthy and not 

1028
00:53:50,840 --> 00:53:54,600
dangerous and in fact wonderful 
and life giving. 

1029
00:53:54,640 --> 00:53:57,560
The old community, right? 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

1030
00:53:57,760 --> 00:53:59,080
For sure. 
Thank you, Laura. 

1031
00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:02,440
Yeah, Thank you so much. 
So tell everyone where they can 

1032
00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:04,960
find you if they don't already. 
If you don't already know. 

1033
00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:08,000
Laura, come on. 
If you don't know me, I am 

1034
00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:09,600
primarily on Instagram right 
now. 

1035
00:54:09,600 --> 00:54:13,320
My handle is obsessed with board
games, which everyone jokes. 

1036
00:54:13,440 --> 00:54:14,760
I'm obsessed with board games 
too. 

1037
00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:17,560
And yes, we all are. 
But I have the names. 

1038
00:54:17,600 --> 00:54:18,840
I have the. 
Official name. 

1039
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:22,560
So yes, and I think. 
It's right exactly. 

1040
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:25,360
Right here under my face. 
It's just the board games. 

1041
00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:27,360
That's where you can find me. 
Yep, perfect. 

1042
00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:30,960
Thank you so much guys don't 
forget to like smash that 

1043
00:54:30,960 --> 00:54:33,240
subscribe button send us 
comments. 

1044
00:54:33,240 --> 00:54:36,400
You know, we all have to nurture
this community. 

1045
00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:39,440
We all have to nurture the 
concept of diversity, the 

1046
00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:43,640
concept of unity so that we can 
survive just like moon colony 

1047
00:54:43,640 --> 00:54:47,480
bloodbath. 
Do we survive through whatever 

1048
00:54:47,520 --> 00:54:50,960
the future may hold? 
Post Comments Share Share this 

1049
00:54:50,960 --> 00:54:53,480
video We'll be looking for more.
We're going to be talking about 

1050
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:56,880
community more and more as the 
next few months roll by. 

1051
00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:57,880
Thanks a lot guys.