Welcome to Meatball to Meatball, uniting players around the
world, a 30 minute exploration of TJ and Gareth's four-game
experiences from across both sides of the Atlantic.
Each episode they share their thoughts and opinions on the
World of War games, including their favorite themes, games,
hot topics, and much, much more. Hello everyone, and welcome to
episode 96 of Meatball to Meatball.
This week it's Meatballs in the USA and PJI think for the first
time I may be mistaken, has chosen not to be with us.
He's got other things to do, which makes a change because
it's usually me. But we have Kristen Motts and
Laura with us to talk about all things gaming in the USA.
Hello, Kristen. Hi there, How are you?
I'm good. Thank you.
Thanks for joining us. And hi, Laura.
Sure. Hello.
We'd like to introduce yourselves a bit about what you
do, maybe your Instagram handle as well.
Sure. So I'm Kristen Mott.
My Instagram handle is at Family dot Board Gaming and I'm a board
game designer, mostly family weight games and I'm starting to
get into a little bit more medium weight games that I'm
designing. I love it.
I've been doing that four to five years now and on my
Instagram handle I typically just post about things that
we're playing. I'm not really doing reviews or
anything like that anymore. Just trying to, I don't know, I
just like posting. Share the World of War games.
Yeah, I like interacting with people in the community, so
that's what I use Instagram for. Awesome.
And Laura? I am obsessed with board games
on Instagram. I'm on TikTok and Facebook as
well, but do like minimal there. I'm so I'm primarily on
Instagram and I am doing all kinds of stuff because I have
little kids who like board games and my husband and I also play
board games. We're playing from kids games
all the way up to like heavy EUR and things like that.
So we share what we're, I share what we're playing and I also do
some reviews and things like that.
So that's what I do. That's amazing.
I think we'll get into the board game designs later, Kristen and
what you've been designing. Sure, but what?
So you both met PJ? Yes, So that's good.
So and you've met him at conventions, but what actually
got you into the board game hobby?
What was your first game? How did you get into the modern
world of board games? Well, for me, it was during
COVID and I had started my young or my oldest, he was six at the
time, and he wanted to just start playing games for whatever
reason. We found all the things we had
on our shelves. We played Candyland, we played
Monopoly, you know, everything that we had because we were not
into games at all. And so that was what we had.
And he wanted to start playing. And I was like, OK, so we played
a game every night and then he found this game.
This sort of leads into my first game, I suppose.
He found this game on our shelf called Dicey Peaks.
That's an older Calliope game, has a big Yeti on the cover, and
he wanted to play that. It's like, all right, so we
learned it and we played it, and he was six at the time and he
was playing it and I could see that he was making all these
decisions and he was enjoying it and thinking about what he had
to do on his next turn. And I thought, this is pretty
awesome. And so I thought I wanted to
sort of start using games as in our homeschool 'cause we
homeschool our kids. And so I did, and then I started
designing games for my kids. And it just sort of snowballed
from there 'cause then my husband and I started looking
into games for us that we could play and they would just never
looked back. Now we, you know, we have way
too many games and kids games, family games, everything.
I know that. What What game would you tell
you play with your partner? What sort of games?
He really likes heavier games. When he goes shopping for board
games, he has to actually physically pick up the box and
feel how heavy it is. Heavier.
And if it is not heavy enough, yeah, one of his players will.
Work out with this. Yeah, right.
Yeah, yeah. And if he picks one up and he's
like, well, it's too light. I don't know if you play that
one. He really likes Scythe and
Tapestry and he'll play any Stone Meyer game, but I really
like Puzzly, like I really like Dice Hospital and but we both
love Lost Ruins of our Neck. That's one of our favourites to
play together, so yeah. Awesome.
And then Laura, what got you into gaming?
How did you get into ball gaming?
I have always loved games. So I remember when I was a kid,
you know, we had all the typical Monopoly, Boggle, Candy Land,
all that kind of stuff. But I also played games which
were also common, you know, easily accessible at the time,
Rook and Millbourne and other card games that were, you know,
not quite the typical ones that you would think of.
And I always loved playing, but I always had a horrible
attitude. But I lost my family, I don't
think really liked playing with me much.
And you know what, It's understandable cuz the struggle
was real and now I'm getting it back tenfold with my own
children. But that's another story for
another day. But we so my husband and I, he
actually saw some ad for Return to Dark Tower.
OK, when it was coming back out and he decided to back it, I had
never heard, I mean at least as far as I was aware of.
I never had heard of crowdfunding games.
I was not at all aware of, you know, just the depth of modern
gaming as it is today. The, you know, most recent game
I had, like the newest game I had probably played at the time
was Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan.
But that was back when I was in college and grad school.
So that was quite a while ago at this point.
And so it comes in, I think like right before COVID hit or
something really close to that time frame.
And we played it and I loved it and he loved it too.
And that kind of kick started us back into, OK, you know, we, we
want to share this together and like really dive deeper into it
because at that point, you know, stuck home with little kids
during COVID. And it really became a lifeline
for us. We started playing digitally.
We played Gloom Haven with friends from Chicago.
We played through the whole entire thing through COVID.
And you know, during that time, we also started finding other
games. So Rolling Heights was the next
one that I found. Danny Standring influenced me.
She was the first person in the like world of the board gaming
community online that I found and watched.
And I ordered that. And immediately we were both
like, we'll love this game. This is amazing.
And that, that is what introduced me to the Instagram
board game community and how I found that it even existed.
Because I literally had no idea. Not not a single clue.
And the rest. Is the rest is history.
Life has changed dramatically in the past year and a half or so.
I think that reminds me because I think I got in CO2 cursor.
Our kids are about four and six and they've had far too much
time on like a device. So I've been into gamings like
Eulora from her early, early childhood and a little bit is
like DND maybe our Talisman Games Workshop kind of thing.
And those were like, let's get a couple of games.
And then suddenly you realize just how what's out there.
And we picked up Lords of Water Deep and my wife's not doing
that, but we sat down, did some research.
Seems like good for two player. And yeah, now, you know, we are
12 years later. I think it is roughly.
And, you know, the Instagram community, you know, talking
like this to fellow gamers around the world is, yeah, it's
so, so refreshed, I guess, just to talk to other people about a
similar hobby and similar passion.
So yeah, it is. It is.
You don't think really, I guess, from a ball game perspective,
getting into it and then, you know, unlocking these kind of
opportunities and what it's brought to us all through
friends and family and, you know, globally.
Oh yeah? What was your?
So we said you met, you've met PJ and you've met him at gaming
conventions. What's your first gaming
convention? How soon into hobby did you
start going out to games convention and where was it?
So we started gaming and during the pandemic 2020 and then I
think Origins 20/21 was our first actual convention because
everybody still had to wear masks, the whole thing, they
were checking for vaccination records and stuff.
But yeah, Origins 2021 I think was my first and it was, it was
great. And at that time too, there
weren't very many people there. So it was very like you could
move around. Of course, Origins is different
than Gen. Con anyway as far as crowds, but
you know, it was pretty low crowds and we really enjoyed it.
It was just, it was our first one and just, you know, walking
up and down the the vendor hall and just seeing everything that
was available, it just sort of blows your mind the first time
that you see it all. It's like what?
This is all here. It's crazy.
And had you been to any events like that in any other hobbies?
Was that the first time you've been to a kind of a convention?
Yeah, no, I had never been to a convention for anything else,
but I I went and I was hooked. It's like, of course, this is
these are my people. This is where I believe.
These are my people. Yeah.
So yeah. It does feel like that.
I felt like I fit in finally. Definitely.
The first UK Games Expo after COVID was similar, you know, it
was half the size, everyone was in masks.
But it's just great to get, I guess, get back with people
where you may have thought at one point, would this ever
happen again, right. Oh yeah.
So that was really good. What about you, Laura?
How long which conventions do you have you been to or do you
go to? It's crazy to think that last
year was my first convention. I went to Geek way to the West.
For the first time. And that's like 15 minutes down
the road from me, but we didn't even know about it.
We found out from my husband's Co worker at the time who
doesn't even live in the area anymore, but they were flying in
for it. And we were like, oh, a board
game convention. We've got to check this out.
And this is before I had my Instagram account and we went
and I was like, Oh my gosh, we played seventeen games in one
weekend. This is amazing.
And Geek Way is small like compared to these other like
Origins Gen. Con, Geek Way is small.
It has what, 2000 people there maybe.
It is very much about playing games.
There is a small vendor hall, but it is a drop in the bucket
of Origins, Pax U, Gen. Con.
So you are there to play games and hang out with people and
maybe do a little bit of other things.
But, and I loved it. So we went from that to then
Gen. Con and I went to Gen.
Con. I had had my Instagram account
last year for I think it was six days before I went to Gen.
Con and somehow I can't. PJ and I have different memories
of like who shared my account. I don't know who it was, I don't
know how it happened, but somehow PJ heard about me and
thought I was someone to know, even though I had literally just
Oh yes, I am. But not because I was anything
at the time. I mean, I was, I was brand
spanking new, had no intentions of doing anything big and just
it snowballed. So I, he made me run around Gen.
Con for about 30 minutes trying to find him.
He, he kept moving, he was literally moving through the
vendor hall. And if you've been to Gen.
Con, you know that it's like super gigantic and overwhelming.
And he literally would tell me where he was.
And then I'd, I'd show up and I'd be looking around and I'd be
like, I don't see Paige anywhere around here.
And so I finally tracked him down and then got to play games
with him and some other people later that night and met a
couple other content creators. And yeah, so that was my my
first two were teeny tiny geek way and then gigantic Gen.
Con. Very different experiences, but
both amazing, you know, on their own.
So I'm still kind of a newbie at the.
Well, I think I will do, Yeah. I met you for the first time at
PAX last year, right. It's.
Crazy to think that it was only last year because I feel it, it
really, this community really feels like my this is my
community. These are my friends.
Like I have seen I've I've now been with Kristen in person
three Times Now. I mean, and we're in with PJ, so
like it, it feels like my family and it feel it's become such a
gigantic part of my life that it is crazy to think that it's been
just a little over one year that I've even been a part of it.
So yeah, it's nuts in the best way possible.
Yeah, yeah. I think certainly through COVID,
the amount of connections that I made through that, you know, DM
chatting on DMS and we all met at UK Games Expo.
And now, you know, we, I see these people sometimes at least
once a month, we're meeting up for small game groups and
they're life's on friends. That's, you know, they are, like
you said, they are our people. And yeah, it's, it's really
refreshing hanging out with people like that.
What's the, what's the best thing about going to convention?
Maybe Kristen as a designer. I mean, I love the atmosphere of
conventions, although I'm also an introvert and so being I love
being there, I love being with the people, but at the end of
every day I have to like crawl into my dark corner and be alone
and just recharge. But the best thing is the
people. I, I always still try to make
time to play games with friends, even though I end up spending a
lot of time in meetings and running around trying to pitch
my games and things like that, which I I love to do that too.
But just the people, I mean, in general, that's the best thing
about conventions. That's hands down.
Laura. Similar.
Yeah, I, I, I'm not going to say the same thing just because you
said it. Perfectly no.
No, no. I mean, I think, I think that's
what most people. Think so though, yeah?
Yeah, so I'll say something different and that that is, it
is so cool to me. Do you know when you're like up
in an airplane and you're looking down at the Earth and
you realize how tiny you are going into a place like Gen.
Con, you walk in and even when you think you.
I mean, maybe the people who've been in the gaming industry for
years don't feel this way, but I feel like, wow, there's so much
I didn't know was going to be here.
I have never seen before. There are so many new ideas or
people coming up with just stories or worlds or, you know,
new types of gameplay or new art or I mean, there's just you, you
see that you are so tiny and that there is so much amazing
creativity in the world. And I love that feeling of being
in awe of the people around me and, and honestly feeling like
look at all the amazing things in this world.
There are a lot of times where I don't feel that way at all in
life. And I can get, it's very easy to
get, you know, overwhelmed by the things that aren't so great
or nice or pretty and what not. And so to go to a place where
not only are you surrounded by amazing people, you're
surrounded by beauty and creativity.
And it's just the best. It's the best feeling to me.
That's such an excellent point. Awesome, awesome point.
Those things I've been to cons, there's always so much to see.
And these are like not even that big cons.
So I can imagine like I've not been to, we said earlier, I
haven't been to Essen, I haven't been to Gen.
Con and those are huge to try and take it all in and see it
all. You know, you're going to miss
something along the way. But there's just as I say,
there's so much to see and do. But yeah, four days, he's never
enough. And I did the UKG in one day and
I think PJ did Jane Con in a day.
So it's even harder to fit all all of that in.
So that's really well explained. Really good.
You. Yes.
So Laurie, so you started as Instagram maybe 18 months ago.
How did you go? Did you think you were going to
get into content creation? It was 13 months ago.
And no, I had no idea. Unlike the parent who's like my
child is 13 months old, they're not one.
They're 13 months old. You're so proud.
No, I had no idea. I I had started posting on my
personal page because, you know, we're playing games and loving
them and thinking they're so cool and you know, how else how
else are people going to know about it unless you're sharing
it? So I started sharing it and
people we're starting to respond to it.
And these are people that I haven't heard from in literally
at least one or two decades. And I was shocked at, you know,
the number of people who started responding.
And I thought, well, instead of posting on my personal page
everyday, I'm just going to go ahead and start an, an Instagram
page just dedicated to this. And so that's how that started
13 months ago and probably some days, who knows.
And yeah, it just really snowballed from there.
I had no idea that I that people would want to follow me.
I had no concept of being a content content creator
whatsoever. I was just just creating to
share and in hopes of building connections.
And maybe meeting a couple new people.
And now I've met hundreds of new people and it's been the best
thing ever. Amazing.
And then do you do reviews or what's your, what's your primary
focus on content? Is it just posting to Instagram
or do you do reviews on Instagram or do you just share
what you're playing? It started as me sharing what I
was playing and I still do that. I have started receiving review
copies and so I do that has sort of altered my format some.
And so, yeah, I, I do reviews, I, I don't do one thing because
again, I'm, I have children, little children that are 5 and
almost 7. And they, my youngest especially
loves to play games every day. The first thing he asks is will
I play a game with him? And it's non-stop all day long,
every day. No amount of games is enough.
And so I'm playing five year old games.
But then my husband and I really like heavy games and everything
in between. And so, you know, I'm posting
some about kids games. I'm posting some about good kids
games that parents will enjoy that aren't, you know, the ones
that get monotonous and boring all the time.
And then I'm also posting about other things.
I, I am posting about Kickstarters that are coming up
and games that are being released.
And so, yeah, I'm just kind of doing.
I'm an eclectic person and so my Instagram looks eclectic because
it just reflects me I guess. So obsessed with war games
people need to follow if they haven't followed it already
within the last 13 months. Yeah, yes.
And then took. The hours.
And the hours, yeah. And then so Kristen, you're
you've gone from AI guess gamer, but more into the board game
design. Yeah.
Yeah, it was a journey there. So when I started my account,
which I think was in March of 21, I think, so I started it
because I wanted to know more about the world of kids board
games because I was really interested in how the
educational quality of some of these games and how we could
utilize them in our home school. And so that's really why I
started the account. I was going to research a bunch
of stuff and just see what was out there.
And then, you know, as my husband and I got more into
games, I was following different people and different content
creators and seeing the plethora of what was actually out there
and available. And we started playing games.
So then I started posting what my husband and I were playing
and stuff that I did with my kids for a little while.
I kind of got into reviews a little bit.
I, I've had some like smaller publisher send me stuff for
reviews, but I don't really do that anymore.
Mostly I, I don't really have the time for it, but I also feel
like it's a little bit of a conflict of interest.
It's like if I'm a designer, I don't, I don't really want to be
reviewing other people's games in a public format.
So I don't really do that. And now I just really post about
what we are playing as a family, what my husband and I are
playing. And then I use it a little bit
to let people know about my designs that are coming out and
things like that. But it's, it's more for fun
because I like to just, you know, connect with the people in
the, in the industry and in the board gaming community, gamers
of all kinds. That's.
One thing. About Kristen, one thing about
Kristen is that she's a very humble person and I and she
would never say that, but I will say it for her because I've met
her enough to know she's a very humble person.
So she's not using her Instagram to like hey everybody look at
this. Game. 24/7 But she's got great
games already out there. She's got great games coming and
and so you also, no one should sleep on her, first of all, and
second of all that I mean, I, I want to say that is a reflection
of who she is. It's not because she's not
putting out good stuff. It's not because it's not worth
your time or that she's not proud of it.
It's just she is. She's she's the quality, quality
Humblura real deal. That's so nice of.
You I mean that. Yeah.
And so you kindly sent us a copy of Sharks, I think about six
months ago. So that's a copy in the UK.
We played that as a family and you can see that definitely
works. You know the family were into
games, but you've got a game going live this Tuesday.
Which is. Insectarium.
Do you want to tell us a bit
about that? Because you should.
Sure, I'll tell you. Yeah.
So it's it's going live on Tuesday.
It's published by Snow Bright Studios.
And it's just a nice family weight puzzle game where you are
pinning insect specimens into your display board, something
like what you would find in a museum.
And so the idea is you want to have the most precisely laid out
board that's going to be put into the the main hall of the
Insectarium. And so you're it's got a little
bit of drafting, it's got a little bit of special abilities,
and it's only 9 turns. And so you're filling your three
by three grid with these insect specimens and you get to decide
how you're going to score them. So based on the tokens that
you're drawing, you get to decide how you're going to score
each row and column. There's also another way to
score bonus points and bonus abilities within the game, but
it plays in about 1/2 hour. It's it's that type of game is
sort of the game that I like to play as a gamer where it's very
puzzly. You're making your board and you
have this nice thing to show for it when you're done.
But yes, it's going to be on Kickstarter on Tuesday.
It's there's also going to be a deluxe component add on which I
have never had for one of my games before.
I'm so excited. It's going to come with little
bug minis and these resin tokens, so.
Just looking at the artwork is stunning.
It really it's thematically that pinning insects into your frame
It it is beautiful. Meg did the artist, she did an
amazing job and when we so I got to make a lot of the decisions
with Snow Bright, which isn't really typical for a designer,
for a designer publisher relationship.
But I got to pick out the artist and like I get to meet with her
and tell her sort of exactly what my vision of it was.
And we wanted it to look like my original vision for it was to
look like in the footsteps of Darwin kind of that academic
style. And so it's sort of evolved a
little bit from there, but just we wanted it to be sort of
muted, but with the insects to have these really bright,
vibrant colours that would stand on stand, you know, off the
cards. And you could.
Yeah, see, very well. Yeah, I was just going to say
that I love how it turned out the insects really pop off the
cards. Yeah, they really stand out.
Have you played this Laura yet? Or have you?
I have not. I got to.
I got to learn it from the designer herself.
I made or a plane. I made, made and.
I said yes, please. And it is, it is puzzly and fun
and and kind of cozy. I'm actually, I have a review
copy and I'm really excited to try it with my kiddo.
OK, I'm good. I'm wondering how it's going to
play with him and I think, I think, I think it's going to go
well. I'm very excited.
I hope so. I'm yes, so interested to hear.
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned about the putting it in the
museum. It does look just like the.
It looks a lot like when you go into a museum and there are
displays of insects. It is the muted background so
that they just kind of pop off of them.
Yeah. And I hadn't, I don't know why I
hadn't put that together. I mean, that seems so obvious,
but yeah. Yeah.
So an insectarium is technically a Museum of live insects, but I
wanted it to. So these are specimens that have
already been deceased and you're pitting them on your board.
But I wanted it to be like a display that you're creating for
a hall or something inside that that museum, so.
Stunning. Cannot wait to hear more.
So we'll put a link into the podcast as well.
And of course, no thank you Tuesday.
We'll make sure that it covers all the socials.
How many other games, how much time do you spend designing
games and how many have you got in your head and paper churning
over at the moment? So currently I have three that
are on the market and then I have three that have been signed
that aren't out quite yet in sectarian being one of them.
And then I have a little small box game called Prowl, which is
about tigers. It's a little area control game
about tigers marking their territories.
That's with envy born games that are doing like the small, the
line of small box game, tiny box, tiny game.
I can't remember what he calls it.
And then another bigger game that I have that's a Co design
with Adrian Adamescu. It's right now it's called
Dragon Warriors. I don't know that that's going
to be the final title or anything, but that should come
to Kickstarter in 2025. And then I have probably 6:00 to
8:00 that I'm currently working on that are either in my head or
I'm working on with a Co designer and it's you know,
projects are always in process. Listen, when you meet up with
Kristen at a convention and you say, hey, do you have one of
your prototypes with you? She'll be like, only if you
really want to play. And and then she'll pull it.
It turns out she's got, like, shoved in her butt.
And so you're like you. Oh, my goodness.
You are the treasure trove of all of the upcoming goodness.
Yeah, it's. Pretty great.
You never know when you're going to need it, who you're going.
To need you might. Want to see a prototype?
Best thing You're like Mary Poppins pulling out the other
day. How many can fit?
That's right, my endless backpack full of yeah,
prototypes. Did you ever think you get into
game design? Was that just something you just
thought with the kids? I'm just going to start making
some, I guess, simple games and it's just grown and grown.
Yeah, I never saw myself in in this industry in that way.
But yeah, I started making the games for my kids towards the
end of the pandemic. And we actually have some
friends, local friends, my husband that used to work with,
his name is Jordan Goddard, and he's a game designer as well.
And I met with him and his wife and they were really
encouraging. I took them just some of the
games that I had made for my kids.
And they were like, these are pretty good.
We should work on this, this and this.
And then you could start showing it to publishers.
And I was like, what? What?
Are you okay? And so I did that and I then we
started going to conventions and I, you know, it just kept going.
And then once I started, I feel like I can't stop.
I anything that I see in my day-to-day life, I'm like,
there's a game there. We could, there's got to be
something, some idea that, you know, it could be created from
it. That's so.
Cool. Yeah, both.
Read the stories about how you've you've got into different
parts of the the gaming industry, but you're having a
great time as well. I am, I love it.
So as we get towards the back end of the year, what are your
most played games in 2024? So games you play the
conventions or with family. What's been the highlight this
year of gaming? Who wants to go first?
I can go, that's fine. Go.
I just. As everyone grabs their phone
looking for stats. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I need to check my Now hang on. Yeah.
I had to look it up. So our most played game so far
this year is Space Base, which we just bought this year
actually. But it great choice ended up
being such a great family game that we've played it with all of
our kids and they can all do it, even my 6 year old for the most
part. Yeah, can can play and my
husband and I like it. And so we've played that the
most this year. And it's great as well because
you can play a lot of players because you've got an expansion
packs as well. So you actually get quite a few
people around. And yeah, because it's so quick
it. Is easy to teach and easy to
learn. And so, yeah, that's it's a
great game. It's good on the table as well.
Good covers, Laura, you have time to do your stats check.
I have I I didn't need to know the first one.
Technically the 1st 2. I play a lot on on board game
arena and some people in this community refer to me as the
Forest Shuffle Queen and really I dubbed myself that and it's
mostly just a joke based on how much I play, not how much I win,
contrary to what some people want to say.
But I have played this year 139 games shuffle.
I don't think the only game I've played that many for.
Ridiculous. I I literally have a bunch going
on on BGABGA at one time. And so that's the base game.
That's base game plus the Alpine expansion.
And I don't know if you've noticed, there's a new expansion
that has been announced that I may or may not have been
checking out. And so, yeah, for a shuffle and
then, yeah, I know I'm. Very impressed.
No, it's really bad. You know, I've never, I've never
played for a shuffle. Well, would you like to?
Play on so I think what if you can share?
I'll I'll grab your BGA handle absolutely with your 139 games.
The for a shuffle queen. Indie overall, just so you know.
That's a lot of games. You, you can, you can educate me
on how to play for a shuffle. I will.
Gladly. Like a pro.
After that, what other games have you got time to play?
The next most played is actually another one on BGA, which is to
me just kind of like a filler is can't stop.
But the the other one that's behind that is NAR from
Pandasaurus. Isn't that Pandasaurus?
I think so. Yeah, it is such a good game.
I love Gnar. I'm like really second guessing
myself about who does that now. I love it.
I I looked at it and I was like, oh, this looks fine, you know,
like this will be a fine game. And it is not Panda, it's
Bombix. Bombix Panosaurus.
No, they do publish it. I think they do it.
Here depends on region. Yeah, Bombix.
It is such a good game. It's it's like a have either of
you played it? Yeah, I mean, it's a fantastic
game. The box about that charge, yeah.
Yeah. There's a lot of games.
Yeah, it's like an engine builder plus an order
fulfillment, plus like when do you break your engine to do
other things? Like it's, it's really
interesting and pretty easy to pick up on.
I have one complaint and it's with the physical copy and it's
the the coloring of the like little tokens.
But literally that's the only thing I don't like about that
game. The other.
Thing annoys me. He's the scoreboard, you're the
tracker. And the tracker for the little
yeah, but I call them squids. But I think they're lutes.
So like they're like music of instruments or something.
I call them squids, yeah. But it's.
Yeah, it's a bit fiddly, but the game itself is absolutely.
Oh, I I wouldn't even picked it up.
I think Nick the Booger review UK tournament.
Yeah. And I was like, this is really,
really good to have a copy within a couple of days.
Just yeah, just. And it's it's good and.
It's one I can just play over and over.
Yeah, you know, it's like for a shuffle to me like I can.
It's they're so many possibilities and just trying to
figure out how to do things better the next time and how to
play, you know, your hand the best you can and the most
efficiently. I really love that kind of
puzzly aspect of a game, and so I can just sit there and play it
over and over so. I need to play more on BJI,
think is my problem. Yeah.
Yeah, you should. Yeah.
Is there a third game? River Valley Glass Works is my
third. That's one of the PJ's games.
Yeah, I've not played that either.
Yep. It is my third yet either.
Man, bro, we've got to get some games in.
I know. How far?
How far away do you 2 live from each other?
Are you a long way away? About 4 1/2 hours, I think,
yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, not terrible, but we, I mean not super close.
Yeah, it's it's hard to in the USI feel like we all live so far
away from each. I know I actually don't live PJ
lives kind of between ish us closer to me for sure.
Yeah, but even like an hour and a half feels like a very long
time sometimes. But yeah, River Valley Glass
Works is my next one and I recently got the deluxe copy in
person and I'm so excited to have the.
The little bits are so sparkly. Yeah, it is nice.
And shiny. And I love them.
I love them. That's awesome.
So as we go into the dark months of the year and 2024 draws to a
clothes, clothes, clothes, what stuff have you got lined up?
Are you going to any more conventions?
Have you got any games that have popped up on maybe the Essen
list that you're looking forward to playing?
Or is it Thora first? I am headed to Pax U.
OK, when's that? That is first or second weekend
of December. OK, probably need to get that
knocked down. In the next couple of months.
In a few months, there's a lot of things happening between now
and then, but the plan is to go to Pax U and I was there last
year as well. So I'm excited to go again this
year now that I know even more people and I'm I am not
honestly, things have been really crazy the last several
weeks and my since we got back from Gen.
Con, really, I came home with strep and we've had sickness
after sickness. So I feel I feel out of the loop
as far as like what is coming. So I'm not a very good person to
ask that right now, but I'm, I'm honestly excited to.
I know that there are people who will be at packs that I have not
met before that I've been talking with online for at least
a year now. So I'm very excited to meet more
people. That's what I'm excited about
and. What unpacks you, what's
different? There's lots of different packs.
Is that is that location. I don't.
Definitely location. I think some packs have
different focuses. This one is board gaming focus
as far as I'm aware, but other than that I don't really know
the difference. I think that the other PEX East
and West has a lot of a video game focus as well.
OK, yeah, Pex U is unplugged. So it's just.
Board games just. Board games.
Yeah. That makes sense.
Yeah, it does. Obvious.
Shouldn't even ask a silly question.
I could tell she's been in the biz longer than me.
She's the one that asked the questions.
So Kristen, what you have you got anything plans for the rest
of the year? Apart.
From turning out more games and the.
Kickstarter, yeah, the Kickstarter and PEX Unplugged I
think is my first or my next convention that I'm going to.
I I want to try to go. There's a small convention in
Nashville, I believe in November.
I. Was.
Yes, and I was thinking about trying to maybe go there, but I
don't know we'll we'll see. Our schedule's been crazy too
with kids and everything, so I don't know that I'll make it,
but I would like to. I love conventions where it's
focused on just playing games. That's.
There's a geek way micro micro mini, geek way mini.
I saw that coming out this. Morning.
Yeah, I think it is. So you can also come out then.
Maybe I will. That's.
Happened in the next year though.
I'm sorry, that's not on. Top 2020. 5.
Yeah. Too far away.
I think PJ might have gone to that last this year.
Yeah, he did. He did.
Didn't he?
Yeah, he. Was supposed to because again,
that's literally it's right here where I live, but I had
forgotten. But I did manage to go over and
meet him and Katie. And fun fact, we drove out there
to meet them and say hi. And it was snowing so badly.
The the streets were a sheet of ice when we left.
They, I don't even know if they left the hotel the whole weekend
because it was so the weather was so bad.
But we drove out there in the storm, in the Blizzard, just for
them, because we love them all. That is awesome.
You guys definitely seem to have more conventions than we do over
here. We've got kind of three or four
biggies and there are smaller ones, but they're more like 500
people. So they usually sell out really
quickly. So you've got to be quick.
And there's there's there's one in some in Southampton on South
Coast, there's one here which is about 300, two, 150.
That happens twice a year. But it is, it is just playing
games. But when it's that close, we go,
well, we'll just meet at my house and get friends and play
with our group and then we'll go somewhere else just more for the
for the for the scenery and maybe meet, meet in some
different games. It's good.
I love that. I, I love that I, I, when
everyone came here for geek way, I was like, I want to have
everybody over to my house. And, you know, of course, these
are people that some of whom I've talked to for a long time
or met in person, like Kristen and others, they're like, might
be a little odd. I think I'll stick to the
Convention Center. But I but I do love that
because, you know, there's something different about
inviting people into your home or going to somebody's home and
and sharing, you know, a smaller space and where it it
translates. You know, you're not just
friends online, your friends and you're not just friends at
conventions. You're in real life, you know,
like so I love that you're able to do that.
We're. In the Southampton group,
actually a couple of people was at that.
So it's called a shake battle roll or something.
And two years ago it had a flood mid con, so it was raining like
really bad. And the roof.
Came in. So so we went, I popped to the
shops, got some like snacks, came back and I was like why is
everyone outside and that the roof has come in and see
everything came like a ball game as nightmares like cardboards,
right? Oh no.
So. I was like, so we went back
inside and went, well we have to go.
So we brought some friends back and then other people we didn't
really know but be hanging around all day.
But now they've become like solid friends.
We see like nearly every week. Yeah, other Southampton people
came from. I put an advert on Instagram on.
I have a story that I was selling some games.
Some people came in and said, oh, can I buy this, this the
other? And it turns out, you know,
they're just up the road. And I didn't even know.
So Instagram, you know, it's, it's yeah, we've made so many
good friends, including like PJ and, you know, we had Cajuncon
this year and PJ is always inviting us over.
So at some time, sometime we will come to either James Bond
or Origins and we'll come and. Sell them might come crash the
party if y'all come over here so.
Well, you guys come to the UK Games Expo.
Oh. Yeah, I would love it on a
Sunday. Yeah.
So it's popping for the day. So I think that's, that's it.
I mean, thank you so much both of you for joining.
I've had an absolute pleasure talking to you, understanding
and learning about your journey in the world of board games at
13 months or a half and five days. 3.
Hours I I did look up my history, so I was 23rd of
December 2013 was my Instagram account.
So I'm like, I'm like, I'm like the old man.
Now you're a veteran. It's it's mad how much thinking
back to the early days when you know, there's hardly any
accounts we're doing, we're doing board games.
And it wasn't really like Kickstarter had only just really
begun around then. So, you know, it was, you know,
just not the same as it now the community that it's very
different people didn't. Well, I guess there were no DMS,
so you didn't really have to chat apart from in the comments.
As soon as those DMS opened up and you could chat to people and
obviously you got groups, you know, stories.
It's that changes everything massively, massively engaging.
But I haven't quite mentioned the TikTok yet.
That's well. I old over there.
I feel, I feel like a grandma, but you know, I, I'm not saying
anything other than I feel old. Yeah, I keep, I keep thinking
about it and go, yeah, I've got to work out what the format
would be. It just feels very foreign,
right? Like it's, yeah, like anything
that you have never ventured into before, you know, take some
adjusting. Yeah, that more I.
I much prefer photographs to video.
Yeah, yeah, which is we can't do that while pushing Reels.
I was like, no, no, this just a photo works for me.
I don't you know, I'm quite happy engaging with the content
on Instagram so well, PJ didn't turn up.
So PJ, there's there's a there's your first black mark.
I've got about 12, but there's there's your first black mark.
That's right. I'm sure you guys will see him
at some point in the next six months anyway so you can give
him a proper telling off. Thank you, I.
Plan to. Yeah.
You planned your DN? Yeah, your message in a minute
there. Were you?
Yeah. So Chris and Laura, thank you
very much. Thank you everyone for listening
to the show today. As ever, we will see you soon.
Thank you. Thanks.
Thanks everyone for listening, please subscribe and as always,
we'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas, so make sure to leave
those in the comments and don't forget you can also chat with us
both on Instagram at Meeple the Meeple.