Hey guys, and welcome to episode 116 of Maple to Maple.
It is signals and strategy. We're going to talk about the
game Seti by CG E really really excited as always.
I remain PJ and today I have been trying so hard to get this
guest Co host on the show we finally made it happen we
settled on seti. It's the Hot Topic game of 2024,
and I've got Tara from Tara's Bad Luck Club.
Tara, how are you? Let's.
Go. I'm doing pretty good.
How are you doing today? Well, I think I have a bit of
good luck because you've made it on the show finally.
And the good luck is that my tech is working so far.
Yes, yes. So tell me really quickly, we,
we were talking about doing this collaboration for some time.
I think we talked about kind of general ideas we'd settled on
one game and then that kind of fell through and we we've landed
on SETI. What is it about SETI generally
speaking that you were like, we should talk about this?
Yeah, so I've been playing study kind of a lot recently and funny
enough, I haven't even been playing it with like the same
people. I just keep like introducing it
to new people and playing it with different groups.
I think what keeps bringing me back is there is a lot of
different paths to victory, I think in the game and I'm still
trying to decide which one is the best one or which one I like
the most. So it's a combination of like,
you know, just a little point salad thing and going through
and trying to find what I like the best and just trying to
explore the different aliens and see all they have to offer.
I don't know that I've been like, fully leaning into the
aliens as much as I should be. And since I'm still trying to
figure out like, which core mechanics of the game I'm most
interested in, Sure. So yeah, I think I just keep
going back to it to try and just figure out more about the game
and myself and my relation to the game, Right.
I definitely think that is probably the strength of this
game. I find myself thinking about it
when I'm not playing it and I'm like, I'm going to try and do
this next time, right? So in preparation, I was
thinking about the actual SETI located in Silicon Valley in
California. So it was established in on
November 20th, 1984. That actually surprised me.
Yeah, that that's fairly recent, maybe two founders.
It had a staff of two, it was Tom Pearson and Jill Tarter.
And then today SETI employs over 100 scientists across the NASA,
which might be Space XI, don't know.
Not really sure how things are working out administratively.
NASA, and I don't think it's fully SpaceX yet.
Yeah. So we'll keep calling it NASA
until we're told otherwise. So, yeah.
So that's really interesting. And I have.
I've got a quote from Jill Tarter, one of the founding
members, that I wanted to share with everyone.
SETI, she said. SETI is a mirror, a mirror that
shows ourselves from an extraordinary perspective and
can help to trivialize the differences among us.
Isn't that beautiful? Yeah.
That's really nice. And right, and it's like, that's
exactly what the board game I think they really captured is
the sending of the signals, of course, which is like a key
component of the game. And just you're it's kind of a
you realize how small Earth is in the grand scheme, just not
just the not just in our real life, but like on the board or
it's just right. So where do you want to begin?
I guess just. Talking about like the general
theme of the game and what the purpose of the game serves.
So it's the game was designed by Tomas Holek, published by CGE
Games. And I just thought that there
was this is just, I don't know, this game floored me, right?
It's it's so beautiful in its construction.
Adam from tabletop vibes. He and I talked on episode 113,
I believe it was or 112 in our look back episode said he was
our number one game from 24. And there was this underlying
theme that came up about board games that had round boards and
while Seti's round, but it's not fully round, right?
Do you want to talk about the mechanic?
So whenever you take a tech tile and place it on your player
board, you want to talk about the solar system in the Center
for a few minutes? Sure.
Yeah, I guess there's, I mean there's a couple of different
ways to move the solar system in the game.
The biggest 1 is when you upgrade a tech, you are rotating
the location. Yeah, basically that's like the
main way to move the planets around, which is revealing
different like asteroid belts creating different challenges
and can end up moving your probe in unexpected ways that you have
out exploring the system. Yes.
But yeah, so it's kind of like an interesting take where it's
not quite like a Rondell, but it is.
Yeah, it's like it's the three layered Rondell.
Yeah, it kind of. I can't remember what other game
I've played that had like a similar spinning, umm, wheel
like that. I'm like, was it Sabika?
I can't remember. But yeah, I think it's it's
interesting how they made that work and how they made movement
throughout at work and how while visiting different like comets
and planets, you're gaining publicity.
Like everything kind of works together and it all makes sense
somatically. It just there's so much like
thoughtfulness that goes into that that just makes it all work
together. Where up front it seems like so
much and so heavy of a game, but as you start to piece together
the theme with what's actually happening in the game, it just
comes together like so quickly and so nicely I think.
Yeah, no, I definitely agree with that.
It's interesting how they broke up the solar system into thirds
because there's three layers. So if I recall, you build a tack
and you spin the inner layer, which is what?
Mercury, Venus and Earth and then and then there's A and then
there's another layer which is like Mars and Jupiter and then,
right, I think, I think Uranus and Pluto, not Pluto, Uranus.
They're on the outer ring, which is actually the 4th.
Ring I'm not feeling. That stationary.
Right, yes, it's a, it's really cool, especially like you said,
when you're trying to move your probes from one place to
another, which is something you have to think about when you
launch any projectile absolutely into outer space.
It's not a straight line. I think sometimes we forget.
It's like you've got gravity, so you've got a slingshot.
There's kind of a, you know, the elliptical orbits and whatnot.
It's not just go straight to Mars or whatever and then
they'll plan it, rotate and you're like, oops, Mars just got
farther away. You mentioned publicity.
It's the only component I want to show.
It's one of my favorites because, and I mentioned this
before, but I actually have the component here in front of me.
So I'm just going to hold that up really quickly.
And you can see it's a condenser mic that one would use for a
podcast very much like I use every single week.
I just think that's great. It's like it's, it's hit home.
It's like, use that at home and now it's in a board game.
And Speaking of the components, we talked about it before, but
they do use the RE wood, compressed compressed wood for
the components, for the player pieces, which I love.
CGE seems to be the only game, the only game publisher doing
this. Now.
If you listen to last week's podcast, you heard Josh from
Modern Meatball talk about it's not RE wood, but it is
compressed wood, a sustainable recycled wood that he uses to
make his trays, which is similar to RE wood, but it is not rewe.
But I do love that CGE has a mind towards sustainability in
the building of their products. So, so yeah.
So thanks for that guys. That's.
Cool. What is your Oh, sorry.
I was just going to say, it's funny that you mentioned that
because in one of the recent games of study I played, we
instead of calling it publicity, we did call it podcast points
the whole time because. That's it.
Yes, yes, we're. Starting a podcast about
discovering aliens and you know, putting about this.
Absolutely, absolutely. I wanted to ask you what is your
favorite? What is your favorite mechanic?
What is your favorite feature? What is your favorite aspect of
SETI? Like, is there a specific action
that you're like every time you play?
I love doing this or. Yeah, so I actually kind of
talked about it. I just made like an Instagram
post on study recently and the one thing that I addressed in it
was the multi use cards, which I really enjoy.
That was like one of the first things that stuck out to me.
But yeah, basically one of the main actions that you can do is
playing a card which you're playing a credit cost to play
that card in front of you. And then it has a one time.
Most cards have a one time immediate effect on them and
once you you play it, it's discarded and then that card is
out of the game. So that's like the main use of a
card. And then some of them have in
game goals and in game and end game goals on.
So you keep them in front of you and if they have end game, you
just keep it in front of you till the end of the game.
And then it might give you some end game scoring depending on
like how many planets you've scanned to completion or
anything like that. And then other ones have like in
game scoring, which is if you get 2 probes into orbit or to
land on a planet, and then you might get like some victory
points and like an extra card draw or something.
So nothing that seems too extreme, but based on how like
limited resources and how tight the game is, it's always
helpful. But yes, that's like the main
use of the cards. And then there's also, you know,
the free action of discarding your card, which you can get the
bonus in the upper left hand corner, which is usually like
gaining data, gaining publicity or gaining movement or
traversing the solar system. And the final thing that you can
do with the cards is talking them for income.
Right. When you're able to, So just
having like that and then it just adds an extra layer to
where the first game I played, I finished my last turn of the
last round. The person before me rotated the
solar system exactly where I needed.
And I had the perfect amount of cards in my hand that I could
discard to move to where I needed to move.
And then like launch and then running like I didn't win that
game, but we played four players and we were all within like 16
points of each other. So like that kept me in that
like, yeah, just timing out your actions and what you can discard
those cards for or like potentially boost your income
with is just crucial. Like they're all so important.
Absolutely. What I think is really
compelling and interesting, both compelling and interesting about
this game is you can't ignore, I guess you could, You can't.
You have to do everything right? Like you've got to launch
probes, you've got to send signals, got to build up your
publicity so that you can turn it in to upgrade your tech.
Because like you said, the tucking of cards mostly, if I
recall, I mean, I'm sure there's exceptions.
Most of the time the only way to tuck cards is to either put a
probe in orbit or landed on a moon or something.
And that's a bonus that you get is to tuck a card, increase your
income, right? That's the main way.
There's also cards that let you tuck a card and on the data
track when you're assigning out your data as a free action, one
of them is a tucking a card for income.
Right. So we send signals out to all
the star systems outside of the solar system and we gain the
data disks, right? Yeah.
And so then you put those on your.
Presumably it's a computer on your player mat, right?
Yeah. Some of them get you bonuses if
you cover them up and there's an action you take to analyze that
data where you remove them all from your player board and you
get to what is it? You put a disk on one of the.
Yeah, that's how you research the alien essentially.
Basically you're collecting data and then you are using all that
data you collected to like make a theory, I guess, or yeah,
you're using that to like discover part of an alien
species, right? And those aliens are
interesting. There's five of them in the
game, I think 5 different ones, which gives us a little bit of
replayability. There's definitely room for
future expansions for other alien civilizations.
And they do different things. I particularly, I think my
favorite is it's the one with the, it adds the little asteroid
that you put on the solar system disc.
Yeah, it has that really, really weird.
Oh, I can't even pronounce any of these.
Probably. But again.
Yeah, I agree.
With that on one of the solar system disks that we had just
talked about. And so you can essentially you
can land a probe on the asteroid and get cool things.
Yeah. But that's my I think that's
probably my favorite in the game.
My favorite is, I don't know, I think maybe the Centurions,
which kind of feels a little basic maybe, but I just like
that they give you like extra goals in the game.
Like off the bat, everyone gets to place a marker like 15 points
ahead of where they are on the board.
And then if you helped like work towards discovering those
aliens, then you start with an alien card.
But throughout the game, like other players can still and
those alien cards too. And every time you do, when you
play that alien card, you place another marker 15 points ahead
of you. So it's just giving you these
like a little goal posts constantly throughout the game,
depending on how frequently you use them.
And if you time it right too, like when you discover the first
one, you put it 15 ahead. And then if you got an alien
card from that, you can play it immediately and put another
marker on top of that. So you'll trigger both at the
same time when you cross it, which is just like super nice.
Yeah, I don't know. That one feels really giving.
So I like it a lot. It's very.
Generous. So you've recently taught this
game a lot. I've only had the pleasure of
playing it with my wife, who's learned the rules.
She's done the teach. Do you have, in the course of
your teachings, a strategy for teaching the game?
Have you developed a strategy? Like, does it get easier each
time? You're like, oh, this is a
better order for teaching or. Yeah, so I think like maybe
three out of four of the times I've taught it, I just like
jumped straight that it comes with a very helpful like player
booklet that everyone gets. It's just like a folded and half
piece of paper, but it outlines all of the main rules and I
usually start with that. And this last time I taught it,
I started with like explaining that you need, in order to
discover an alien, you know, you need to research the yellow,
pink and blue. And then I kind of went into how
to get the yellow, pink and blue.
But basically for the main part, I just like rundown the why the
reference, the player reference. I'm like, why?
Like I can't think of this. Yeah, I just went on the player
aid and kind of go from top to bottom.
You know, I explain how you launch a probe, where the probe
goes. Like I feel like I'm pretty
visual, like use the board, use everything I have in front of
me. Explain why it makes sense, you
know, like, oh, you're paying this to launch your probe to
here, you're going out to Earth. This is how you, I usually don't
talk about movement until the free actions and just kind of
explain stuff. So I usually just start with the
base like that and then it's like, oh, once you're out here,
you'll need to move. I'll talk about movement later.
Once you get to the planet you want to go to, this is where you
can now orbit or land on the planet.
This is what orbiting looks like.
This is what landing on the planet looks like.
This is how you get a discount for landing on the planet if
you're in orbit. And then I usually run through
and then I skip researching data part because that kind of goes
along with the free action. So I usually go through all the
main actions 1st and then I'll go back and then I'll go through
the free actions and talk about how you discard a card, how you
can trade in resources. You can trade in two of one
resource for one of another. And then once I get to the data
there I go over how you place the data out.
Then I say, and then another main action would be clearing
this and that's how you get blue, which is the final idea.
But I try to like group those together and I usually just skip
it overall. But just with that like player
aid, it's really easy to rundown.
I just try to like point to everything and just again relate
it to how somatic I can make it and how somatic they already
made it and just makes sense. So I love that I was.
I came across yet another quote by Carl Sagan who said astronomy
is a humbling and I might add a character building experience
and playing SETI, which is playing astronomy, you have
built character according to Carl Sagan.
So here's here's my next question.
If someone's never played SETI before, because you have been
introducing it to so many people, if someone's like,
should I, should I buy SETI, should I play SETI?
Or would you teach it to us? Like, how do you, how would you
approach this game to someone who's never played it before, or
how have you in the past done so?
I mean, I guess it really depends on like who I'm playing
with. I guess like I haven't had
somebody who's like not already into board games asking about it
because I think that would be like a whole different thing.
I mean, I have played it at a coffee shop and have people come
over and be like, oh, what is this?
And kind of like implore a little bit and I'm just psycho,
you know, like we're discovering aliens and like kind of give
like a high level overview. And it is not a place that I
would suggest people start for sure.
But like like I played with some like I work at a local board
game store and I played with some Co workers recently who
play more RPG's and TCG's than anything.
Playing with them was kind of like unique experience in that
they don't play a lot of board games.
So to them, it was like, you know, a lot going on and like
grasping it. So that was kind of like a
different experience versus like playing with other friends that
I was still teaching them a new game.
But you know, they have like a lot more heavy board game
background it. Yeah, I would say if you're into
heavy games, if you're into like any kind of strategy game like
that, I would say if you're interested in buying it, it's
definitely worth it. I have played it, you know,
close to 10 times and I'm still like intrigued by it and still
find new things to do. I'm still like going into a game
being like, I'm gonna scan so hard this game and then my cards
don't line up for it. So then I don't scan so hard
that game, you know, like you can't like I always want to try
something like different or new or go harder on something.
But then like it's the hand that you're dealt, you know, it's
true. So like if you're that
interested in it and you're looking for like a new game to
kind of like immerse yourself and.
I would definitely say buy it. If you are just starting to
explore heavier games, I would say ease and play with somebody
else who's already played it that can answer your questions.
Yeah, from what I've heard, people diving into this game
like at a convention or something with like a teach that
that person's just kind of learning it as they go has not
been the move like. Finding someone.
Played it and can help and like, especially a person that has
played it and doesn't take it so seriously that they like, can't
help you, you know what I mean? That's like.
But yeah, anyway, I hope that answered it.
No, Yeah. So when you when you teach, do
you usually play or do you like moderate, you've got four
players because it's a one to four player game or are you
always one of the players when you teach?
In this instance, I've always been one of the players.
Actually, I pretty much always am.
Like I don't have, I don't have enough friends that I'm like,
all right, I'm gonna sit this one out and watch you guys play.
I do have enough friend groups that I'm fortunate to have, but
like there's usually three to four of us, not over that.
So yeah, I haven't been in that situation where I have taught
and then left. So I'm usually in the game.
But I'm like usually I'm, I'm so busy thinking about my own goals
and strategies that anyone, if they did ask for help or show me
a card, like I don't care enough to also try to ruin your
strategy or whatever you're doing.
Like I don't I have enough going.
On Absolutely. I don't need to do anything and
I don't think I'm that type of game player in general.
Well, I mean, you're the, you're the queen of the bad luck club,
right? So, yeah.
So I want to hear more about when you're at the coffee shop
and you're talking to a muggle, to coin the term.
So someone comes up to you and hey, what are you doing?
Like how do you Cuz I I struggle talking to non I.
Hate being mean so much and I don't want to be me.
And it's, it's so different. Like if someone comes up to me
at a convention and asks about a board game, I'm like, yeah,
let's get into it and like lean back and ready at a coffee shop.
It's so just like, it's way more superficial.
So I've learned to just be like, Oh yeah, it's like a game about,
you know, like we're just discovering aliens.
So we're just like moving around.
Like, yeah, I just try to keep it like pretty service levels.
Like sometimes they they'll inquire more, but for the most
part they're just like, oh, can I just snap a picture of the
game or whatever? But yeah, like I've had, I've
had people like ask questions and I start to talk and then I
see their eyes glaze over and then I'm like, I'm yapping too
much. So it's kind of like a delicate
balance because I never want to like isolate anybody by any
means or. Absolutely, yeah.
I don't know, like, I'm fine. Like I don't care if Monopoly is
your favorite game or anything. Like I will never judge anybody
for what their favorite game is or what types of games they like
to play. So yeah, I pretty much just
learned to like, let them lead it more than me try to like get
excited or get into it, right? Because I will probably always
be overwhelming. We did an entire we did an
entire episode of the podcast Gareth and I did last year about
how to talk to non gamers at our hobby without using our
vernacular right, Which is challenging and I still fail
constantly. And while SETI is probably not
the game right to talk to a non gamer about, but if you're at a
coffee shop and the game is beautiful, so it's going to
attract attention. The theme is relatable enough
because it's based on something real that we all know.
And, you know, we've grown up with the, the, the radio dishes
and, you know, in the silicone desert.
I mean, that's kind of, you know, we all know it.
It's in all the movies. Everyone's seen it.
But yeah, I just thought it was interesting.
It's like how you would talk about SETI.
Like, I could see, I could see myself trying to.
Well, I will do exactly what I've done with you.
Well, let me tell you the history of SETI.
OK. And then and now this board.
So you know what SETI is. Now I'm going to tell you this
board game and just dive into the theme headlong.
And I also, like I give you credit because you said you see
the eyes glaze over and I don't, which is why it's bad.
This is why I need my wife with me at all times because should
be like yeah. I have learned to recognize it.
So I just kind of like, yeah, like, I understand.
Like I know when to stop. I have like, in the past, like
when I first have gotten asked, I've like, oh, yeah, you want to
talk about this, Let's talk about it.
And then they're like, oh, yeah. Like I actually like, don't want
to be in this conversation. I'm.
Like, Oh yeah. OK.
So now I just figured out it's usually like pretty surface
level, you know, like people have people have interest, you
know, they see you playing something, it's different.
Like there's definitely interest in games.
So I'd rather not start at the top and just kind of like let
them like, I don't know. I've been, I played this import
called Bricolage Heads at a coffee shop a few times recently
and it has like a crazy table presence.
And so that one, like has caught a lot of people's attention.
That one is so much harder to explain.
I'm like, oh, you're building like Japanese street art And
like, I don't know, that one's a little more out there.
And that one, like, people come much more frequently with
interest, and they also lose interest a lot because they're
like, I don't know what this is. This isn't Japanese.
And they like, walk away, right? So yeah, I've just kind of
learned to like, let them take the lead more than anything.
And, you know, if they want to engage more because I've had
people be like, oh, yeah, like, this is cool.
Like I've been wanting to play more games or whatever.
And then I'm like, oh, well, I have this Instagram that you can
like, look at if you want to. And like, I'm local and I'm
usually pretty open to people wanting to game with me.
I've actually met like, a lot of my gaming friends through my
Instagram and my local game store.
So like, awesome, Yeah, like I'm definitely open to it, but I'm
gonna let them handle it I guess, cuz otherwise I'm gonna
come in too hot. Right.
I love it. I love it.
That's great. So I'm interested in this coffee
shop I'm trying to think of cuz Seti's got quite a game table
presence you know, and coffee shops tend to be lean in table
size. So this must be an impressive
coffee shop that you frequent that the tables are big enough.
Actually like, well, just because I live in Texas, like we
have a lot of outdoor space in general.
Like, first of all, Texas is huge.
So there's just, you know, more space than anyone knows what to
do with. There's also just like a lot of
a lot of spaces have just like big outdoor areas because, you
know, you spend the majority of the time outside since it's nice
most of the year. Yeah.
But this place I, I found because they also like most of
their menu is vegan and I'm vegan.
So I just started going there. And then we do have like a local
game Cafe, but they kind of recently switched how they do
service. So we have been going there less
because we could be there for like 30 minutes and like not
have someone come and take our order for coffee or something.
So we were starting to get a little frustrated going there
or, you know, we'd be there and get like kicked out of our table
after a couple hours because someone had a reservation.
So we started going to this place just because they had
better food options and then they do have like a ton of
picnic tables Outback. So when it's nice out, we'll sit
all back usually and play like the pictures I took for study on
Instagram, I took Outback there. I think I've taken pictures for
other games Outback there too. But it's been so windy here the
past couple weeks. So we've been playing inside,
but the weather was nice. So everyone else like
patronizing the place just goes like straight outside and sits
out there. So we've had like the full
inside to ourselves and we'll push 2 tables together.
That's cool. You know we spend the.
Day there but we're, you know we're eating and drinking so
we're spending sure. Yeah.
So I'm going to connect this
back to last week's episode where we talked with Josh from
Mod and me, but we were talking about organizing your game
table. You would mention picnic tables.
Hi, and this is just me, right? I'm reticent to play games
outside. So how do you organize all the
cards and all the bits when you're playing the game outside?
My 1 friend and I carry silicone cupcake things around with us
everywhere. So whenever we play games, we
just like pretty much always have them with us.
And then we put all components and they're usually I do have
like a 3D printed set too that I'll take with me sometimes.
But they're not as like, you know, malleable.
So I don't default to taking them.
I use them more at home. But yes, it pretty much that.
I also I'm like, I'm like looking around like someone's
gonna overhear me. Like I'm not just like putting
this out into the Internet world.
I. You're about to put this out.
Though I was gonna say like I'm not like that precious about my
games, which is like, I love them.
Like I love my games so dearly. I have like a deep emotional
connection with a lot of my games.
Like I have had great memories and friendships and like
laughter over them and like I get very attached to my games,
which makes them hard to cull. And but I also am like, I'm like
a a sneaker head that wears their sneakers.
You know what I mean? Like I play my games like I'm
fine with it. Like I don't.
Know like my games are going to get used and they might get
sticky or I might drop a piece on the like.
I don't know, I might drop a piece on the ground and that's
fine. And I probably will never notice
if I miss one of those discs from study at that.
Point So my thought, my thought in my asking, although
everything you just said, it's totally I'm like, Oh my God,
that's all that could happen too.
I'm thinking about the cards. I'm particularly thinking about
the discard piles and the wind picking up the cards and you
know, I couldn't get. Into account before setting the
game up. Like if it's a windy day, we're
probably not playing outside or playing a different game.
But yeah, like I said, like we've been playing inside kind
of recently because the wind's been like insane.
But yeah, like almost like mild days.
I haven't had an issue. Like the biggest thing, I was
playing Invincible outside with my friend once and it has like
cardboard Andy's and they kept blowing over.
So we just laid them down and then played the rest of the game
like that and we didn't have any issues with cards or anything.
Like I don't know, I've had like a time or two where you know, a
card like starts to lift up or like you feel the wind start to
come first or it hits your table and then you'll just be like,
and then it's like over. But no honestly like I haven't
had any issue like knock on wood.
I promise I wasn't setting myself up for this, but it just
occurred to me that this is an appropriate time to talk about
it. Honestly, this was
serendipitous. So recently a folded space has
an insert for all their components.
I'm holding up one of them now, One of their trays.
I play purple, so all my purple pieces are in here, and this is
from their color line. They were kind enough to send
that to me, and I'm going to post more pictures of the folded
space insert and everything. It's a really good idea.
Not every game has an insert with usable trays that you could
use to play outside. I think my biggest fear,
concern, whatever about playing outside, it's always cards.
I can lose discs in my house. I have two cats.
If one disc rolls on the ground, forget it, it's gone.
But cards I worry about, you know, and I worry about that
errant breeze and you know. Found that they lay flat enough
that it's usually not an issue. Good.
OK. But I mean I don't know.
I'd also don't sleeve my cards and stuff too.
I'm assuming maybe sleeved cards have more weights to them so
it's less of an issue too. Yeah, I don't sleeve my cards
either. I'm like, I want to see cards
that are used that way. I know it's love.
I. Just have an issue with like
plastic we're already using like so much and like I already have
like consumer guilt for the games that I own and stuff.
So leaving them too is that's something that I'm like super
keen on. Yeah, which gets us back to the
components for SETI being in that recycled wood.
So we like that. I actually.
Just learned that like while I was at the Gamers Ranch, that
they were the RE Wood and what RE Wood was.
That was interesting, yeah. Kootenahora by the same
publisher also uses the re wood and they talk about what it is
and the process that they that it comes from.
And so I thought that was really cool.
And again, like I said last week's episode, I don't normally
talk about previous episodes as much as I am today.
The way that Josh makes his his hexagonal trays and everything
and they're not 3D printed. He was, he machines all that.
So they're they're a high quality product and I really
like sustainable sources of material, you know?
So yeah, I'm definitely into that and I'm into the theme of
this game because it's just, it's so cool.
You know, there was a time where I fashioned myself a rocket
scientist. I never wanted to be an
astronaut. I wanted to be the guy at
Johnson Space Center at a 8 years old pushing the button to
launch the space shuttle. Anything else you want to say
about SETI Final thoughts? Anything like that?
I'm trying to think of like, even how to like, sum, sum it
up, I guess. Don't be afraid of it.
Most people I talked to were like, that looks like a lot.
And I'm like, it is a lot. And then once you start playing,
which is true of a lot of heavier games, you know, once
you start playing, it kind of comes together.
But I really think that the theme of this one ties it
together so much that the actions you're doing makes
sense. But yeah, I think that would be
it. Like don't be intimidated, lean
into the theme of it, have fun with it.
Oh, as always, my biggest thing is like it is just a game.
So like it's it's meant to be played.
It's meant to have fun. You will make mistakes your
first time. Again, like these are all just
like more core things for gaming than setting itself.
But like, I guess be gracious with yourself and your score and
just, you know. I don't.
Know, just lean into the theme, have fun with it.
You know, it's been fun to get excited about the aliens too and
be like, Oh my gosh, wow, what's out there?
Like, oh, this one's so crazy and like, you know, to, to kind
of role play actually discovering these aliens.
I don't know. So just have fun and don't let
it overwhelm you. Have you found this is my final
question. In all the times you've played
it recently with all the different players, have you
found that when the game is over, not role-playing, but like
you engage in conversation about finding extraterrestrial
intelligence, life on other planets or anything, does it
spawn a little bit of conversation afterwards?
OK, So no, but OK, mostly we're just talking about like, man,
like this is what I could have done better.
Like this is what I was trying to do or like, and you know, I
wish I did this. So it's usually more just like
kind of game talk or like table talk, I guess.
But I feel like it's definitely come up in conversation during
the game, like. OK.
More so than after the game, I think, because after the game
we're more so like ruminating on the gameplay.
But like, yeah, it's definitely come up like during the game.
So I'm looking forward to seeing you sometime in the future and
playing SETI, and you can look forward to the fact that when
the game is over, I will not be talking about the game, but I'll
be talking about the possibility of life.
I'm honestly happy to. I love talking about that, so
let's go. So tell everyone where they can
find you on all the fun socials and how they can join the bad
luck club. Yes.
So currently I am primarily on Instagram and that's where I
post like all of my content. I secretly, but not so secretly,
I'm in the middle of editing my first YouTube video right now,
French. So I'll be talking about the
games that I played there. And since it was like hosted by
specific publishers, so I was playing a bunch of games that
they were featuring. So yes, that will be coming
soon. But yes, that's my kind of soft
launch. You heard it here first.
The YouTube is happening. That's it for my socials I
think. And then as far as joining the
bad luck club, just suck at rolling dice and you're in.
Well, on behalf of the YouTube community, welcome.
Thank you. And Speaking of the YouTube
community guys, once again, I have failed to do this at the
beginning of the episode, so I'm doing it now.
Please make sure to like and subscribe, Smash that subscribe
button. Hit that like post a comment
below on YouTube or any of this podcast streaming services that
you enjoy most. Guys, thank you again.
We have a full schedule. I have future episodes already
recorded and they're already scheduled.
They're going to drop. I am booked out to May.
Every week is every week is spoken for.
But if you want to come on the show, send me Adm through
Instagram at Maple to Maple or the Cajun Gamer or message me
through YouTube or you can even e-mail me Maple to
maple@gmail.com and we'll get you on.
We'll talk about anything. I still have time before Gareth
returns. Fingers crossed.
So keep looking for that Extraterrestrial Intelligence
play. SETI just possible I I foresee
it being a nominee for the game of the year Spiel the Yara for
2025. Tara, thank you for joining.
This was exciting. I'm so glad to see you again.
Thank you for having me and putting up with my microphone
trying to connect. No, well as you put up with my
shenanigans so I I am grateful to you for your love and
patience. So thanks again guys, and we
will see you soon.