1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,400 Hey, and welcome to episode 153 of Maple to Maple. 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,240 This is number 10 in my content creator community series. 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,040 So thanks again for joining me today. 4 00:00:10,040 --> 00:00:12,400 My guest is how shall we put this? 5 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:17,360 She has managed to prove that you can be a successful content 6 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:21,240 creator and a powerful influencer in our community 7 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,240 while living in a remote area of the United States. 8 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:28,200 And despite the flat landscape of western Nebraska, there is 9 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,040 nothing flat about her content or her influence. 10 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:35,600 Unfortunately, she has a knack for losing all the games today. 11 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,400 Joining me is Sarah from Sarah Always Loses. 12 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:40,880 Sarah, how are you? I'm great. 13 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:43,880 How are you PJ? You know it's cold. 14 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:44,720 It's very. Cold. 15 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:45,720 Very cold? Yes. 16 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:50,160 Lots of snow. No snow yet, but you know, it 17 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,360 is. It is just, you know, as a Cajun 18 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:57,120 from Louisiana, I still can't get used to the winters here. 19 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:58,920 Oh. Man, that's my favorite. 20 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:01,760 As soon as I'm back in school, there should just be snow on the 21 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:03,360 ground. That's my philosophy. 22 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:06,640 I mean, I like it, but then I have to shovel the snow. 23 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,360 Shovel drive in it. Yeah, we don't have to do 24 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,240 sidewalk. We didn't have to do that as a 25 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,600 it's just insane. But here we are and we're just, 26 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:20,320 and I guess it's going to be if anyone bothers to listen to this 27 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:24,160 and not listen to it later on, it's two days before Christmas. 28 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:28,920 So Merry Christmas everyone. Yes, Merry Christmas, I dug my 29 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,560 Christmas here so. I pulled out my Christmas Scally 30 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:36,600 cap. I'm so want these guys to be a 31 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:38,960 sponsor. So go to Boston Scally and get a 32 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:41,960 Scally cap today. I've been courting them for 33 00:01:41,960 --> 00:01:44,880 months. It's like I wear these hats on 34 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,680 every episode and it's just like, come on, you can do it. 35 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,280 You can do it. My wife doesn't want me to spend 36 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:52,080 any more money on it. Board games. 37 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,000 We could spend as much money as we want on board games, but not 38 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:56,480 the caps. Yes. 39 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:58,560 This is how this conversation is going. 40 00:01:58,560 --> 00:01:59,800 It's great. Love it. 41 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,400 Merry Christmas. It's just. 42 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:03,040 Yeah, it's the winter time. I love it. 43 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:08,840 So let me ask you this question. I've been starting it off with 44 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:10,919 everyone. What was the first game you ever 45 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,280 played as a kid? Well, man, as a kid, probably 46 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,160 like Candy Land or those fun games. 47 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:21,080 I, I remember a lot playing Hi Ho Cheerio in kindergarten. 48 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:22,920 I remember I have some good memories of that. 49 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:27,400 So that'll take you back. It will and just, you know, we, 50 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:31,240 I'm an only child and so I think that was one thing that my 51 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,720 parents and I did quite a bit. We played games and I always 52 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,040 asked for a board game for Christmas. 53 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,200 And so I have some really good memories of playing like the 54 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,040 game of life with my cousins at Christmas. 55 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:47,480 And I'm having those really fun early experiences with board 56 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:52,320 games that I think really did shape where I've gone now. 57 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:56,480 Nice, that's so interesting. I had a similar experience, 58 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,640 although not I was not an only child but playing board games as 59 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:01,160 a kid. I didn't have a lot of friends 60 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:04,240 so I ended up playing a lot of games alone. 61 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:07,040 Yes, in solo mode. Solo, yes. 62 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,240 I don't play solo modes anymore. You know, I can't get over that 63 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:14,400 emotional baggage. And I feel like I'm sure God 64 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:16,960 knew more than just this, but God knew this about me. 65 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,520 And he's like, you know what, I'm going to find a Yankee from 66 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:25,320 Ohio who's already a board gamer and I'm going to set it up so 67 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,560 that y'all meet in the deserts of Arizona because that's where 68 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,280 we were for grad school. That's why I met my wife and she 69 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,920 was already a gamer. So it was like there was a 70 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:37,200 moment when we were dating, we were in the we were in the mall, 71 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,800 we were on our way back. There was a, there was a board 72 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:42,720 game store in the mall and we were walking out and I just 73 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,440 looked at her and said thank you for being you. 74 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:52,000 Overwhelming gratitude for having met a gamer who would 75 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:55,800 take me in and love me and and get me and. 76 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,280 Such a big difference, like when you have that family that will 77 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,000 play games with you, you get to play so much more and it does, 78 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,320 it fills, fills my cup up quite a bit. 79 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,520 I when we haven't played games for a while, I, I feel it. 80 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,400 I feel that mental like man, my mental health is not good and we 81 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:12,920 haven't been playing games. I. 82 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,160 Know, I know I was reading an article, I think it was about, I 83 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,040 think it was a year ago, I think it was in 24. 84 00:04:18,079 --> 00:04:22,360 There was, it was a committee or I don't know what it was, but 85 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:24,120 there was a Commission or something. 86 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,640 But the United Nations did a study on the positive mental 87 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:33,400 health effects of board games on individuals, family members and 88 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:34,920 whatnot. And I thought that was really 89 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:36,680 cool. And they were trying to push. 90 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:39,200 They had like, I think they're in an agenda of pushing board 91 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:43,920 games in the classroom. Which, Speaking of as a teacher, 92 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,400 do you bring the board games into the classroom? 93 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,560 Occasionally, yeah, it definitely has to be specific 94 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,400 situations. So we've been doing Fun Fridays 95 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,720 recently, and I'm a music teacher, so in my ensemble 96 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:59,080 choirs, we've been doing Fun Friday and they got to choose. 97 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,400 Yesterday was Friday. We got to choose whether they 98 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:06,000 wanted to play Green team wins or if they wanted to play 99 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,360 hipster. And so the way we do hipster is 100 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:12,080 if they can get the row of 10 in a row, then I, I lose and they 101 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,120 all get a Jolly Rancher. And so they, I had one class 102 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,440 that chose that and two that chose to play green team wins. 103 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:20,320 So I do bring them in a little bit. 104 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,240 So for the for the Jolly Ranchers, I'm just thinking 105 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,160 about with Christmas upon us, did you have like the sour green 106 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:28,480 apple and the cherry? So it was just red and green or? 107 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:31,600 They would hate that. They want blue, they want blue. 108 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:33,880 If there's no Blues, they want me to refill it. 109 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,680 So. OK, well, you know, dude, you 110 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,440 might be. Sarah always loses, but we've 111 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,360 got a good friend in England who's always plays blue. 112 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:47,200 So yeah, shout out there. Yeah, they should have a Jolly 113 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,200 Rancher jar filled with blue. Right. 114 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:51,080 Absolutely popular in my classroom. 115 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,240 What's the story with your username? 116 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:58,040 So when I first started posting, I was trying to come up with 117 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:03,680 that catchy kind of username and it was definitely a perception 118 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:09,080 that I had that with the board gaming I lost a lot and Drew won 119 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:10,880 a lot. I think that perception has 120 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:12,760 changed a little bit as we started tracking. 121 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,440 So I think if you feel that way, track your games because you 122 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,120 probably don't lose as much as you think. 123 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,160 And something that just Speaking of mental health and personal 124 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:25,280 growth, something that really came out of gaming for me was 125 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,160 the people pleasing aspect. And so when we are playing 126 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,200 games, it end up being more important to me that everybody 127 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:35,160 was having a good time and everybody had the that chance to 128 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,200 win. And so I would maybe not make 129 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:41,080 the most strategic moves so that keep the peace at the table. 130 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:44,320 And I think through gaming that's given me the confidence 131 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,560 that, you know, I can play my way, I can play my strategy. 132 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:50,400 I don't have to worry about hurting somebody's feelings. 133 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,360 And so I think that it's been a lot of growth. 134 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:56,760 And if you look at my stats now, I def it's definitely closer to 135 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,560 5050. But we've kept the kept the 136 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:02,440 username. Sure, I've had a lot of people 137 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:06,440 relate to it. It's interesting you bring that 138 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:09,480 up. So when we moved from Louisiana 139 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:11,920 to Illinois, that was the general perception. 140 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:13,480 I don't know that it was a perception. 141 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:15,880 I think it was the reality too, to be honest. 142 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:20,560 But my belief was that Katie beat me constantly, right? 143 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:25,840 And then I think 3 years ago she picked up BG stats and started 144 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:28,320 tracking. She loves to track everything 145 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,800 right, Our plays, number of plays, most played just, you 146 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,680 know, But what has happened in the past three years, four years 147 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,520 is I usually win the head to heads and then I'm not as much 148 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:43,560 of A loser. As a person to be. 149 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:49,520 As I think I am, yeah. And this year, this year I've 150 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,880 got pretty commanding lead. I mean we've, we're almost at 151 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,880 95% of our entire collection played for the year. 152 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:00,960 Jealous of that stuff. Still got, you know, still got a 153 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:03,360 few days left and it's a holiday, So what else are you 154 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:04,760 going to do? Is too cold outside. 155 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:07,280 So yeah. But yeah, I don't lose as much 156 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:08,640 as I thought. And it's really interesting that 157 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,400 you perceive that you lost more than you start tracking it. 158 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:16,800 You're like, wait a minute. We've even gotten so that it's 159 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,640 like specific games. So there's like, if one of us, 160 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:21,800 like you always win this one, well, let's check the 161 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,360 scoreboard. No, I actually don't always win 162 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:26,560 this one. In fact, you have won the last 163 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,880 three times we played it. Is there a game that you just 164 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:34,120 have like you have a winning record, like overwhelming? 165 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,280 There's a few. Everdell is probably the one 166 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:40,640 that stands out the most. I do tend to win that one. 167 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:44,000 My daughter has won a couple times and I don't think Drew has 168 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:45,640 ever won on that one. So. 169 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:48,760 Well, you know what, in this, in the spirit of the season, maybe 170 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,240 you should play it once and let Drew, you know, just go easy on 171 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:55,120 him and hear people please her. Once you know, it's OK. 172 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:59,200 Occasionally it's OK. For us, it's Hadrian's Wall. 173 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,120 I think it was like 20 out of 25 plays. 174 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:04,280 I won 24 times. Oh wow. 175 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:07,360 What was interesting is Katie was not discouraged. 176 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:10,600 She was like, I want to play it again and you know, I will beat 177 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:12,920 you. So yeah, she finally beat me. 178 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:15,000 But. The sign of a really good game 179 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,480 too, though, Like, do you care if you win or you lose or do you 180 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:20,320 just enjoy playing it? And so, yeah, that's kind of a 181 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:22,760 mark for us too, is like, oh, well, I don't really want to 182 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:23,960 play that one because I never win. 183 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:26,400 Well, maybe that's just not a game for us. 184 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:28,640 That's true. No, you're absolutely right. 185 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:30,560 There's there's definitely some truth to that. 186 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:33,960 If you can enjoy the game and lose, then it. 187 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:36,160 I think it's a sign of a good name and a good design. 188 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,280 I know I certainly feel that way about obsession. 189 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,520 Squeezed it in love obsession. I don't care if I win. 190 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:45,960 I just wanna, you know, get all Heidi Toidi and Victorian 191 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,360 England and. And I love the cards in that one 192 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:51,640 cuz I love reading the descriptions of all the people. 193 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:53,280 It's just that's the best part of obsession. 194 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:56,600 To me, Yep. So what we do, our house rule is 195 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,840 when you're playing obsession, you you kind of narrate the 196 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,480 event that you're hosting and you read the flavor text of the 197 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,640 card. It's like, so Lady Danbury, the 198 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,560 Blobberry, whatever the flavor text, she'll be having afternoon 199 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:12,880 tea with the Countess of whatever. 200 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:14,960 Now, we don't do that every time, right? 201 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:17,240 Only when it's a new guest coming out. 202 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,040 Otherwise that would get tedious. 203 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:21,840 If you had to hear me say Lady Danbury likes to every single 204 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:23,280 time. Yeah, every time. 205 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:25,720 Yeah, but the first time, you gotta, you gotta get into that. 206 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,760 So yeah, everyone's so tired of hearing me talk about obsession, 207 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:33,600 but deal with it. It is. 208 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,760 It's so good. So how about what was the first 209 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,600 game that got you into the modern hobby? 210 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,160 Yeah, So Drew and I had been married for a few years and we 211 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:47,120 were looking just for a couple activities that we could do that 212 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:49,280 weren't just, you know, sitting on the team, sitting on the 213 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,120 couch watching TV and being on our phones. 214 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:54,360 But I don't even think when we first got married that like 215 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,080 being on our phones was as big of a thing. 216 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,440 It was more just, we want to do something that's more 217 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,000 interactive and not just sitting next to each other. 218 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:06,240 And Drew is someone that likes to do a lot of research. 219 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,560 So he was researching all these different things and he found 220 00:11:09,680 --> 00:11:14,480 Forbidden Island and that was such just like a experience for 221 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:18,880 me because you can play games and like work together. 222 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:23,000 You you don't have to lose, like you can lose all together or win 223 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:25,920 all together, but you don't have to have one person beating up on 224 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,560 another person. Like that was that definitely 225 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:31,560 opened our minds up to modern board gaming. 226 00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:34,920 And we continued to go down that rabbit hole a little bit, 227 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,880 probably preferring co-ops for quite a while. 228 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,440 And then the pandemic hit and we were home a lot. 229 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,280 And that was really when our collection probably exploded 230 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:48,680 from maybe 40 games to I think we're pushing 400 right now. 231 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:50,280 Just too many. That's too many games. 232 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:52,760 We need to do a little culling on that. 233 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:56,320 But definitely Forbidden Island. We'll always have a place in our 234 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,240 heart just for those first memories. 235 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:01,000 A good one, Islands. A really good one. 236 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:04,280 Matt Leacock knows how to make a cooperative game. 237 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:07,600 Yes, right. Pandemic was right up there too 238 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,480 for us. I think we, we slept on Pandemic 239 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:13,200 for a long time because we thought it was going to be too 240 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:15,160 hard for us. That's something that we 241 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,600 struggle with as gamers is that confidence of trying something a 242 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:20,040 little outside of our comfort zone. 243 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,640 And so taking that step up, trying something a little more 244 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:25,520 difficult. Usually when we do it, we're 245 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:27,000 like, oh, this is great, we can do this. 246 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,600 And then the next time we see a weight rating on a game and 247 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:31,920 we're like, oh, that sounds like it's going to be be too heavy 248 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:33,720 for us. I just want to point out to 249 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:36,360 those of you who are listening to this on Spotify or other 250 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:38,960 streaming services and not watching the video, this lady 251 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:41,560 right here has Seven Wonders Architects and Wild Gardens 252 00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:45,160 behind her head and she thought pandemic was too hard. 253 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:47,640 Well, this was like. I know. 254 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:51,600 Five years ago or more even. That it's just funny because 255 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:56,360 it's it's how our perception of board games just change and 256 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:02,160 evolve over time, right? And are are you and Drew still 257 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,040 kind of do you still favor co-ops? 258 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:06,560 It's. Probably closer to to half and 259 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:10,000 half and we're struggling probably to find a newer co-ops 260 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,560 that we really, really enjoy. I think the Co-op, the direction 261 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:16,200 co-ops have gone in is very difficult. 262 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,440 And so if we play a Co-op game and we play it on the easiest 263 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:22,600 level and we play two or three times and we we can't win and we 264 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:25,520 just feel like we can't like we shy away from those. 265 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:29,440 We want to at least have a shot at winning If we need an easy 266 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,800 win, like we can dial done that difficulty and be like, OK, 267 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:35,280 we're gonna win this one, right? Let's get into it. 268 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:39,960 But I think more often now we are probably playing competitive 269 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:41,960 games. But I think that also comes back 270 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:44,040 to the perception that we can track those plays. 271 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:45,800 We can see who's won. There's not. 272 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,800 There doesn't feel like there's an imbalance as far as one 273 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:52,240 person is always getting that win while the other person is 274 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,360 always losing. I would recommend, given that 275 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:59,320 you're out, you know, you're so you're out in Western NE, the 276 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,480 winters get very cold. I don't know what the snow day 277 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,760 laws are with school and how many, how often that affects 278 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:10,800 your job, but I imagine there's some time where you're kind of 279 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:14,440 you're stuck inside. So there's a great two player. 280 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:16,600 I don't know how you guys feel about campaign games. 281 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:20,000 It's a but it is an exclusively 2 player campaign game. 282 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:23,440 That's interesting. By Sky Sky Kingdom Games, it's 283 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,960 called Isopharian Guard. That was when. 284 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:29,320 We did that. It is like a, it's an open in 285 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:33,440 world narrative campaign. My wife and I've been playing it 286 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:38,600 for two years now. Because, you know, you do have 287 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,920 to get to commit for a long time, but it's like it's bag 288 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:44,680 building. So you put chips in your bag and 289 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:48,200 then when you when you fight a monster, you fight together. 290 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,960 So it's like you take a turn, then I take a turn and then the 291 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,880 enemy takes a turn and then do that again. 292 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,960 And you pulled the chips out of the bag that determine what kind 293 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,960 of what cards that are on your playmat in front of you. 294 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:05,280 You can activate powers. But it's really cool because 295 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:08,200 it's exclusively 2 player, yeah? That does sound. 296 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:10,120 Interesting. So you've got this board, it's 297 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:14,120 got a map and the miniature is the 2 figures that you're 298 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:17,640 playing. So it's one figure on the board, 299 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,920 but it's the two miniatures because you know, they're it's 300 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:22,720 that classic back-to-back, right? 301 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:24,800 Holding the sword or the crossbow or whatever. 302 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:29,680 But yeah, it's a unique story. It's done really well. 303 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:31,040 There might be something to look into. 304 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:34,080 Yeah. The caveat is that the box will 305 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:40,480 not fit in a Cal X cube cuz a Cal X cube is 13 by 13 by 13. 306 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:44,960 The box is 14 by 14 by 14. So if you don't care about that, 307 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,640 you're golden. We have all play shelves so we 308 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:51,320 don't have to worry. About Oh yeah, big fancy over 309 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:53,680 there. How you got them or this how you 310 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:54,520 got? Them or Yeah. 311 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:56,720 No, I don't know how you got them. 312 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,400 Yeah, I know the story of the shelving, but yes, no. 313 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:03,680 How did you get the all play? Show So we it was what two or 314 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,920 three years ago now that they ran a contest and you could 315 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:11,960 submit your space for a board game room makeover and we shot 316 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:16,040 my shot, played the teacher card and we won a board game makeover 317 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,400 from all play. I do remember this story now. 318 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,720 Wow, that well, congratulations, that's awesome. 319 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:24,040 I completely forgot. About it. 320 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:26,360 You are. Yeah, you are. 321 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:28,840 Yes. And that is one thing I will say 322 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:33,080 is that a dedicated board gaming table has made all of the 323 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:36,760 difference for us getting to play games when we don't have to 324 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,960 constantly clear off the dining table to be able to to play. 325 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:41,920 It's just like we play so much more now. 326 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,360 Absolutely. I completely agree with that. 327 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,640 Yeah, no, that's that is a must. That is a must. 328 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:50,520 Although they're, they're so darn expensive, you know 329 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:52,320 they're. Yeah, we, that was two or three 330 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,240 years ago and I think maybe now we would have saved up enough to 331 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:57,600 kind of get a table table if we hadn't won it. 332 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:00,280 So we were just so blessed by that, like. 333 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:02,160 Yes, she. Really did change our lives a 334 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:03,320 lot so. Yeah. 335 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:06,400 So you should be hold. You should host Western Nebraska 336 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:08,000 Con. In my basement. 337 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:10,920 In your basement. You know, we might all fit. 338 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:13,400 I don't know how many gamers we have out here so. 339 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,920 So have you so you've been oh so the modern gaming, right? 340 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:21,000 So that forbidden Island, do you remember when that was? 341 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:25,160 What year that was I? Want to say like 20/17/18 342 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:27,640 somewhere in there. Just before the pandemic, but 343 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:29,600 yeah. All right, so you you've been 344 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,360 playing for nearly ten years. In the 8 to 10 years you've been 345 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:36,680 in the hobby, do you have a favorite player color? 346 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:37,960 Yes. Green Green. 347 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,040 OK, so does that mean that green team wins is your favorite game 348 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:46,440 of all time? It probably should be. 349 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:48,040 Yeah, we do have. It's really funny though, 350 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,920 because we do have one couple in town that we play games with, 351 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,200 and his preferred player color is green. 352 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:54,720 So we always kind of have to Juke it out. 353 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:56,520 Like who's gonna get the green this time? 354 00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:58,760 How do you how do you resolve that? 355 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:02,880 Usually we probably fight over giving it to the other person 356 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:05,600 even more and he's gonna take it so. 357 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:07,080 No, no, no. You be great. 358 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:09,240 No, no, you can have it. Yeah. 359 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:15,400 What about, you know, so 88 to 10 years is a long time and you 360 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:18,240 get a lot of review copies. You've you've made so much 361 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,680 content, like I said in my intro, I mean, you really are a 362 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:24,120 powerhouse influencer in the community. 363 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:29,360 Do you have a favorite game mechanic that you gravitate 364 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:32,200 towards that's. So tough because I really do 365 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:37,040 enjoy a lot a lot of things. I think if you tell me a game 366 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:41,440 has an engine that I can build, I think I'm there like if you're 367 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:45,240 it doesn't if you lead with that and then the rest of it I don't 368 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:48,800 care as much about like I think engine building is probably one 369 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:50,360 of my big ones. Wingspan. 370 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:52,440 Those kinds of games really speak to me. 371 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:55,800 This has become a little bit of a bad word in gaming, but if 372 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,000 it's multiplayer solitaire, I will be there. 373 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:02,280 I love being able to kind of do my own thing and have that 374 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:04,480 social interaction around the table. 375 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,600 But don't mess with my stuff. Like I don't want you to take 376 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:10,440 parts out of my tableau. I don't want you to force me to 377 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:12,560 discard stuff like leave my stuff. 378 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:13,600 Away. OK, OK. 379 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:14,960 Is it? Is that a bad word? 380 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,200 Yeah, it's, it's used, in my experience, it's used as a 381 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:20,880 negative when describing a game, especially in reviews. 382 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:23,800 Like OK, it's just, it's just multiplayer solitaire. 383 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:27,400 There's no interaction so. Yeah, I'm a little torn, right? 384 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:29,480 My wife and I deal with that a lot, right? 385 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,240 A game that we're still mulling over his Vantage, right? 386 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,920 Which So objectively, I think across the board, everyone 387 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:43,560 agrees Advantage is a fantastic game and the narrative is 388 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:45,800 amazing. I think the challenge, however, 389 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:50,160 is that lack of interaction. 2 of us are playing the game 390 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:53,560 because we've been burned by those before, right? 391 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,280 Like we're not interested in sitting across the table from 392 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:00,320 each other and just doing my thing right here in front of me, 393 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,080 you know? So I kind of get that talk about 394 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,280 that all the time. It's really important. 395 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:07,320 So yeah. So that's kind of an example of 396 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,480 one that we're, you know, we're been, we go back and forth. 397 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:12,840 Do we want to get it? It sounds good. 398 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,680 But yeah, I just don't think of it as a bad word. 399 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:17,720 It's just kind of a preference. And not? 400 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,120 Oh, definitely. Not an absolute, but I guess I 401 00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:22,000 could see how, yeah. OK. 402 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,280 Yeah, I think for me personally, it's a preference. 403 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,240 Do you like a lot of interaction or do you not like a little a 404 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,000 lot of interaction? I guess my perception is that 405 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,280 people that like a lot of interaction will say that that's 406 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:34,760 a negative. Right, right. 407 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,520 I love cooperative games, and cooperative games are reliant 408 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,000 upon interactive. Interaction. 409 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,480 Although your your original observation about co-ops can be 410 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:45,680 you know can be problematic. They need to be too heavy and 411 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,440 too hard on the front end. The other, although what I found 412 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,560 recently is that recent cooperative games are coming up 413 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:58,000 with creative, asymmetrical ways to make it difficult to table 414 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,320 captain right, Because I think that's why people don't like 415 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,120 co-ops is you don't need PJ telling you what to do on your 416 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:05,720 turn. And it's like, why do I even 417 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:07,040 have to be here? I get that. 418 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,920 What about a All right, so this question is got two parts and 419 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:14,560 it's got two parts because it's out of compassion, because the 420 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:18,520 first part is difficult for most people, and I understand. 421 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:23,800 Do you have a favorite board game of all time? 422 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:26,960 So. The second part, the second part 423 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,840 will let you off the hook if that's too difficult. 424 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:32,640 Do you have a favorite board game, like right now? 425 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:34,880 Is there something that's hitting your table constantly? 426 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:36,720 So yeah. The good news is I have an 427 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,760 answer for both. So about once or twice a year I 428 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:45,240 try to do the Pub Maple ranking and just kind of figure out what 429 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:47,840 what I'm liking right now. I haven't done it for a while 430 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:50,320 and that's probably something that needs to happen soon as 431 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,800 we're wrapping up the year. And I want to figure out where I 432 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,720 where I stand right now. But I'm kind of a data nerd. 433 00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,440 I like to see those numbers. I like to see where things go. 434 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,240 The last two years my number one game has been Earth. 435 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:06,680 And so that goes back to that multiplayer solitaire. 436 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:10,640 But I argue there is interaction because what the other players 437 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:12,880 choose effects what you're going to do too. 438 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:14,480 It kind of effects the strategy a little bit. 439 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:19,880 So I love that tableau. I think the photos are really 440 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:21,960 cool. It's something that Drew likes 441 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:26,160 to play because he is a horticulture major from college, 442 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,640 so he likes to see all the plants and the effects that they 443 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,160 have. And so I think it's a really 444 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,800 good couple game for us to play. Something that's hitting my 445 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:38,320 table right now, literally, I have had this game for 10 days, 446 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:42,040 maybe come sail away. I have probably played it 8 447 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,800 times in those tensions. So good. 448 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:47,640 So good, it's so. It's so good. 449 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,720 And it's such an easy solo game to just pull out and table. 450 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:55,600 And still interesting choices to make as a solo player as well. 451 00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:00,560 OK, it is amazing too. It plays great at 2. 452 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:05,480 We've also played it at 4:00 and it is fantastic. 453 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:08,720 You know it is. Three, the first time we played 454 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,480 it, our daughter played this and so it was possible. 455 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:14,360 That was the first time that sold me on buying the game. 456 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,520 So yeah. Katie kept hearing about this 457 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,560 game. Everyone kept talking about it 458 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:24,080 because it's like a Japanese desire and I had heard things 459 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:25,640 independent of what she had heard. 460 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,720 And there was a copy at our local game store and she was 461 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,760 like let's I don't know why we would go back and forth. 462 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:37,080 Cuz usually if we're both on board it's yeah, like I said we 463 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:39,280 could buy board games, I just can't buy my Scally cow. 464 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,680 But so we picked it up and I think we played like 3 or 4 465 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:48,560 times that weekend, right? And then since we like anyone, 466 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,240 anyone who comes over, guys want to play, come sail away. 467 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:52,400 It's an. Easy teach. 468 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:56,640 It's an easy teach after a long day of playing two scenarios of 469 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:00,280 Frost Haven with our big game local game group, Get the Way to 470 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,720 Come Sail Away is a great palate cleanser at the end of the day 471 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,120 as well. Although that's not to say that 472 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:08,640 that's what Come Sail Away is a palate cleanser. 473 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:10,960 It's it's. It's got. 474 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,920 A lot. It's got a lot of strategy it 475 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,600 does, but it's so accessible and so easy, right? 476 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:18,520 Yeah, so. Good. 477 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,800 We had a similar experience because I had just heard so many 478 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,160 people rave and rave and rave about it, and then we had gone 479 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:28,320 to Spielbound in Omaha, which is a fantastic board game cafe. 480 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:29,520 We'll give them a little shout out. 481 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,000 OK, Yeah. I noticed they had a copy for 482 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,280 sale and then I was like, I wonder if they have it in their 483 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,000 collection, too. So we tracked it down, got it 484 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:40,840 out, played it, and I think about three turns and I was 485 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,160 like, yeah, that's coming home with me. 486 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:46,440 Yep. Yeah, we've got coming up in the 487 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:50,480 beginning of January is Geek Way Mini. 488 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,800 So so if you're familiar with Geek Way to the West in Saint 489 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:58,560 Louis anyway, with two to 3000 attendees, mostly open gaming 490 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:02,880 games, library, play to win, very small vendor hall, couple 491 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:07,160 of events. Geek Way Mini, I think is 400 492 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,120 attendees. It might be 700, but it's at 493 00:25:10,120 --> 00:25:13,520 it's at a hotel in Saint Louis. They've got it's just one it's 494 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,880 one big hall and it's nothing but open gaming and play to win. 495 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,760 There are no events there. There's nothing That's all it 496 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,200 is. And we've been doing really well 497 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:28,880 the past few years. We, we each have won a game, so 498 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,920 we, we always take two games home every year to start the new 499 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,360 year, which is really cool. I say that I'm going to jinx 500 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:39,400 myself this year, but it's great to play a lot of games, to try 501 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:41,360 out a lot of games. We tried. 502 00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:49,200 We played Earth in 2023 and it was boring. 503 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:52,160 Everything else that you said about Earth, I agree. 504 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:56,040 Yeah, the art, the design, yes, we did not. 505 00:25:56,360 --> 00:25:59,760 It wasn't terrible because the game, I mean, it's it's a solid 506 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,040 game. It goes back to that preference. 507 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:06,120 We were just like, oh, OK, We just, it left us. 508 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,960 Wanting a little more? Yeah, and then we discovered. 509 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:15,360 So we discovered Civilution and Men Nefer at the beginning of 510 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:19,440 this year, in January of 25 and we we want a copy of Civil 511 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,720 Illusion and Men Nefer. Men Nefer, If you don't have it, 512 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:24,680 you need it. It is great. 513 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:31,120 It is the single game that it just marries theme and mechanics 514 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:34,560 so beautifully so. That goes back to our lack of 515 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:36,920 confidence and heavier games. Because I look at that one, I'm 516 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,480 like, oh man, I don't know if we do that one. 517 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:43,800 No, no, no, it's heavy. OK, yeah, it's a, it is a heavy 518 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:49,560 game, but you literally have like 7, 10 paths to victory. 519 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:51,800 There's so many ways to score points. 520 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:57,680 But I mean, it is so well informed by the social, cultural 521 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:01,320 and religious and agricultural practices of ancient Egypt. 522 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:05,240 And all the steps make sense. You must take this action in 523 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,760 order to take this action, which you want to take. 524 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,320 But, you know, you can't bury the dead. 525 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,160 You've got to embalm them first. And so that action, you know, 526 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,480 it's so good. It's so, so worthy. 527 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:18,320 OK, you might selling me on it, I was. 528 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,560 Yeah, yeah. An ancient Egypt nerd in in 529 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,320 school so I might have. To then you can't go wrong. 530 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,800 I also think it was a heavy game, so not I think that I 531 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:31,320 think we really enjoyed it. So we we played it like 3 or 4 * 532 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,520 a geek way mini and each time you play you get entered to win 533 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:37,600 that title. Oh, each time. 534 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:40,040 Yes, right. So there's a little tablet the 535 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:43,920 way, the Geek way. Any con convention should mimic 536 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:45,920 what Geek Way does in terms of play to win. 537 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:50,000 It is perfection extraordinaire. You check a game out, you play 538 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,880 the game, you have 4 hours to return it. 539 00:27:53,120 --> 00:27:56,840 Then when you return it, there's a tablet you go up to, you give 540 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,640 it a rating, you put in your badge number and everyone who 541 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:05,200 played it with you, right, So I could check it out and then you 542 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:06,720 and Drew and Katie and I play it. 543 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,400 I will then enter all four of your badge numbers. 544 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,800 We will all get one entry to win that game that. 545 00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:15,440 Is awesome. And then every time you play a 546 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:19,400 game, you go to this tablet and you do that every single time. 547 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:21,880 There are no sheets of paper in a cup. 548 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,520 I am looking at you, Tennessee game days. 549 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,400 A plastic cup with a piece of paper and a number. 550 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,440 No, no, it is the 21st century. Embrace technology. 551 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,080 You can do this. You can do it. 552 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaking of play to win, yes new con to us last year was Great 553 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:42,360 Plains Game Fest and they had a fantastic play to win selection. 554 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:47,640 And I heard that it's similarly where you scanned your badge to 555 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,040 check it out and then they would also scan everybody elses in the 556 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:52,640 groups badge for you too. Yep. 557 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,720 Yeah, it's it's so worthy. But I think to your original 558 00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:58,360 point, boy, I really said go it away. 559 00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:00,320 I'm sorry, guys. You know what, it's Christmas. 560 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,160 I'm just going to talk. Is that it lets you try a bunch 561 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:06,280 of games. So geek way mini is a great, OK, 562 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:09,520 we try a bunch of games. So then we know what we want, 563 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,920 what we want and what we don't to be looking out for in the 564 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:16,560 course of the year. So by the time we get through, 565 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,920 you know, you get, you get I guess what we call real geek Way 566 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:24,400 in May and then you got, and then of course UKGE is at the 567 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,360 end of May. So all of our British friends 568 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,000 tell us these games are great, look out for them. 569 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,320 And then Origins in June and then Gen. 570 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:33,800 Con's in August. I'm just exhausted thinking 571 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:38,200 about it. 2025 was an exhausting year of going to conventions. 572 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:40,280 Then we know what we want and what we don't. 573 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:42,440 So like Gen. Con this year our list of games 574 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,840 we wanted was like 3. You know, we didn't, we really 575 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:50,040 didn't buy nearly as much as we had in the past simply because 576 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:53,920 we got to try stuff out. Yeah, and that that is 577 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:55,440 definitely a luxury I am jealous of. 578 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,440 Yeah, I know, I know. How far are you from Omaha? 579 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:00,920 You talked about? What is it called? 580 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,520 Let's plug them one more time. Great Plains Game Fest. 581 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:06,920 Great. Plains Game Fest, that's in 582 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,080 Lincoln. Talk to me about the Game Cafe 583 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:10,680 in Omaha. What is it Spiel? 584 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:14,880 Spielbound, yeah, it's, they call it Midtown Omaha, and they 585 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:18,600 have lots of tables and they have a fairly extensive game 586 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:22,040 collection and they have a nice retail area. 587 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:26,440 They have food and drinks and we have spent many an evening 588 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:30,680 having Spielbound pizza and some beverages and playing games 589 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:32,520 whenever we make it today. That is fun. 590 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:36,560 We will include a link in the description of the episode and 591 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:37,720 we'll. Definitely check. 592 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:38,920 Them out, we'll plug them. Yeah. 593 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,480 So Omaha, that's great. So do you have, I know you're on 594 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:45,080 Instagram, but do you have a favorite platform you like to 595 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:46,720 use when you're creating your content? 596 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,640 Yeah, Instagram is probably my preference. 597 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:52,800 We also have a YouTube channel with our friend that's local. 598 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,640 I talked about our couple friends that we play games with. 599 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:57,160 We have the YouTube channel with them. 600 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,440 But for me, Instagram has that instant connection with people. 601 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:05,240 You get the comments right away and you can respond and then you 602 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:07,760 can see what they're doing and like you just get that instant 603 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,280 connection with people, which is really cool. 604 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:11,960 What about TikTok? Yeah, I've. 605 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,400 Always had the perception that I'm too old for TikTok. 606 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,440 No, no, that's that's definitely not true. 607 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:21,640 I struggled with TikTok because Tik Tok's got problematic 608 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:23,200 existence here in. The US right? 609 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,560 And I think that's that's a big hang up for me as well. 610 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,800 Because I noticed a lot of our, a lot of our friends and members 611 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:34,840 of the community in the UK have really recently embraced TikTok 612 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:36,480 and are finding a lot of success. 613 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,680 So yeah, who knows, right? There's just so many, so many 614 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,000 platforms to choose from. So let's talk about content 615 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,640 creation. I'm interested in the story of 616 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:48,760 when you transition from a casual gamer to a content 617 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:50,600 creator, Right. So you and Drew, you play 618 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,480 Forbidden Island. You're like, oh, these games are 619 00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:54,600 fun. At some point you decide to make 620 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,400 the intention of posting everything and then your world 621 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,320 changes and all play redoes your whole basement. 622 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,360 I mean that. That really was the turning 623 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,880 point, I think. Yeah, just having the more 624 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:09,240 photogenic area. But again, going back to our 625 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,800 friends that live in town, they had just moved to town and our 626 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:14,960 friend Brody had done some review work. 627 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:18,400 And so that was never something on my radar as some that I 628 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:22,640 thought I could do, that I was qualified to do, that was 629 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:25,320 possible for me. I think I'd been posting on 630 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:30,120 Instagram just for fun, just to get my game photos off of my 631 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:32,640 Facebook page because I thought my friends and family were a 632 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:34,960 little annoyed with me because I was just posting games all the 633 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:37,560 time. But yeah, so I was just casually 634 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,200 posting pictures. I did not have that instant 635 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:42,960 success. You hear those success stories 636 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,520 where I just started posting and I have 10,000 followers in two 637 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:48,200 months? No, that was not me. 638 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,480 I posted for probably 2 years and had 100 followers. 639 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:55,920 And so I, I think that's something that people don't 640 00:32:55,920 --> 00:33:00,400 always realize is that they're to growth on any social media 641 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:03,280 platform. There is a strategy and there 642 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:05,040 are things that you should be doing. 643 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:07,640 And I had no idea on any of that. 644 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,080 I didn't have a marketing background, I didn't have a 645 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:13,320 photography background, I didn't have a theater background, like 646 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,520 I just didn't know. And so once I did kind of make 647 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,720 that decision, I think I started pushing a little bit more after 648 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:23,640 we had found out that we had won the the makeover, because the 649 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,840 process for that was we found out in like maybe February that 650 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,240 we had won. And then the, and makeover was 651 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,160 at the beginning of May. And so I had this whole long 652 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,480 time in between that I kind of was like, you know what, this 653 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,160 might be an opportunity to, to jump in. 654 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:41,960 And then we had to be quiet about it from May, from the 655 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:43,920 beginning of May until the middle of July. 656 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,160 And so like we weren't able to like show it off or anything for 657 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:49,880 about 6 weeks. So yeah. 658 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,840 So did they just like ship everything to you and said have 659 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,840 fun or did they come in and show shopping and. 660 00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:59,840 And put us up in a hotel for two nights while they came in. 661 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:03,680 And they actually didn't want us to really do much cleaning or 662 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,840 like tidying and stuff. And so like they just took 663 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,719 everything out and then they themselves did it. 664 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,520 It wasn't like a crew really. They had some electricians come 665 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:14,880 in to do a couple things, but honestly, they did a lot of the 666 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,480 work themselves. And we, again, we're just so 667 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,639 grateful for that whole experience and we haven't really 668 00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:24,040 changed anything. It's very functional for us, so. 669 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,159 Thank you all Play. Yes, thank you all play. 670 00:34:26,159 --> 00:34:29,840 Thank you all Play. So how many games were in your 671 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,280 collection at that point? Do you remember? 672 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:34,760 Do you know? We were under 200 for sure. 673 00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:36,000 Under 200. Yeah. 674 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,960 And they and actually they, they've gifted us probably about 675 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:42,320 60 games in that process as well. 676 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:45,080 And so I think that maybe put us right around 200. 677 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:47,719 OK. And that that almost felt 678 00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:50,560 overwhelming at the time, like, Oh my gosh, these are all these 679 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:54,320 games unplayed on the shelf. I think at that point I was 680 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,480 trying to keep I, I call it shelf of shame, some shelf of 681 00:34:57,480 --> 00:34:59,840 opportunity. I tried to, at that point, I was 682 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:03,160 trying to keep it in the single digits, like no more than 9 683 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,800 unplayed games in the house. And that that rule has gone out 684 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:09,400 the window at this point. But yeah, definitely an 685 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,880 experience. And again, completely changed 686 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:16,320 not only just the gaming, but also again getting into the 687 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:19,720 content creation a little more seriously and gaining what I 688 00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:24,200 like to call a part time job that I don't always get paid 689 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:25,040 for. Right. 690 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:28,840 So I'm just looking it up. Check out Episode 78. 691 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,440 It's an episode exactly. And what you're talking about, 692 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:34,080 we do not call it a shelf of shame. 693 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:39,200 It is your board game backlog. It has alliteration. 694 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:42,520 Burn in July. Yeah, here I see Played a new 695 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,000 game every day right. That was. 696 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:45,760 A lot. There you go. 697 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:50,640 So we keep, we keep a backlog of probably I think at any given 698 00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:55,240 time the most our backlog has of unplayed games is 3. 699 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:59,200 Well, I think for one thing, because I don't do reviews, I 700 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:01,960 don't get inundated with a lot of review copies. 701 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:07,040 So when I buy a game, I got to play a game, right, Because 702 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:10,840 that's what we're here for. Now what I do get, but they, 703 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,200 they come and go, are prototypes for play testing because my wife 704 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,720 and I do a lot of play testing. I mean, we've got a, we've got a 705 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:20,880 prototype upstairs right now that needs to be played, but 706 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:25,720 it's not part of the backlog. And because we commit to playing 707 00:36:25,720 --> 00:36:30,680 our entire collection a minimum of once every year, this is 708 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:32,160 separate from the backlog, right? 709 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:36,000 We, you know, so we're like over 9090%. 710 00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:40,040 Yeah. So, you know, it's just, I think 711 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:41,720 we have a backlog of one right now. 712 00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:45,000 We have 11 unplayed game like we have never played it. 713 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:47,680 So that's because it's a Kickstarter that came in and. 714 00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:49,920 And you don't have control over when those come in. 715 00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:54,040 Right, we don't, we do not have control over that. 716 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:58,480 And I think that's always been a goal of ours, is we have a game, 717 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,240 we should be playing it, we should be playing it every year. 718 00:37:01,240 --> 00:37:04,320 And if we're not playing it, then it's time probably to say 719 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:05,720 goodbye. But saying goodbye, it is so 720 00:37:05,720 --> 00:37:08,560 hard, that is. Hard. 721 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:11,200 For us. I don't. 722 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:13,800 I don't experience that. No. 723 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:18,080 No, not anymore. No, because there's a reality 724 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:19,640 to, you know, we've got to manage. 725 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:22,160 Like we figured out, you said it yourself, you have 400 games and 726 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:23,560 that's too many. Too many. 727 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:28,160 Well, there's only one solution if we get rid of them, but that 728 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:32,840 doesn't mean that you can't. There are many ways to give them 729 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:37,440 to good homes, you know, you know, or you can sell them. 730 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,320 Use game sales are great. We've got one in our local game 731 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:44,160 store here in Springfield. And then we've got Origins. 732 00:37:44,240 --> 00:37:46,360 And then Gen. Con is like the last ditch, 733 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:48,880 right? But usually we get everything 734 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:52,040 sold and the reality is as if a game's not hitting the table, 735 00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:53,080 you know? Yeah. 736 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,080 And yeah, I think some of that might be a rural gamer problem 737 00:37:56,080 --> 00:38:00,200 too, is if I get rid of a game, chances are I can't play it 738 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:03,320 again until I go to a con. So that's part. 739 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:06,080 But that's OK, and that's OK. Then you play it at a con. 740 00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:09,120 Maybe if I have time, yeah. And then? 741 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:12,560 Even if you have time, you're going to make time to play a 742 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:16,040 game with me at the Great Plains game. 743 00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:17,920 Game. Fast Festival. 744 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:19,440 Yes. Fast not. 745 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:22,960 Fast we do also have a really good game sale like a what do 746 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:26,440 you want to see? Yep, Sam, that was that was very 747 00:38:26,720 --> 00:38:29,160 good for us as that was one place where we sold a lot of 748 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:31,880 games last year, right. But again, then being rural, we 749 00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:35,840 have to truck them with us. Yes, the four hours to Lincoln 750 00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:39,640 and then if we don't sell it there are really our only option 751 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,360 is online sales, which can be time consuming. 752 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:45,080 And so I think that's a hold up for us too is just. 753 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:47,000 I get that. If I get rid of a game, where is 754 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:48,600 it going? Right, right. 755 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:51,160 Yeah, no, that's that's fair. That's fair. 756 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,400 I mean there's like game trades and stuff too. 757 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,760 I'm never I don't know, because the reality is is like, you 758 00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:59,640 know, I think there's like a math trade where they like math 759 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:02,800 out the value of the game that you're trying you're trying to 760 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:04,720 get rid of and the game that you want. 761 00:39:04,720 --> 00:39:07,640 And so you're, I don't know the, I don't, I don't do math guys. 762 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,480 That's yeah, that's, that's, that's not for me. 763 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,800 So let's talk about the community, right? 764 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:16,920 Which is why we're here, right? This is all about unity and 765 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:19,400 diversity, right? You cannot have unity without 766 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,360 diversity, right? It's been said recently is like, 767 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:25,880 oh, you know, I, we want, we want to be, we want unity. 768 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:29,200 Well, OK, in order for us to be unified, we have to embrace 769 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:31,600 everyone so that we can be unified, right? 770 00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:35,520 What, what to your mind? Because you're again, you're in 771 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:39,360 a very unique position. You're a school teacher, so you 772 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,480 see games differently, right? You have a different lens than 773 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:44,560 just a gamer or a content creator, even though you have 774 00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,040 those lenses too. You're also in a very rural, 775 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:49,200 isolated area. And yet you managed to be 776 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:52,120 awesome, right? Like you don't have to live in 777 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:54,760 Chicago or New York or Los Angeles. 778 00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:58,120 You could be in rural Nebraska and just take the world by 779 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:02,240 storm, see and all play recognize that genius so. 780 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:04,320 You bring all of that to the table. 781 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:07,520 So looking at the community, to your mind, what do we do so well 782 00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:10,360 that you're proud to be a part? Of it I think the community is 783 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:14,080 so welcoming I think as soon as we see somebody new coming in 784 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,720 we're like you're one of us we want we want to support you we 785 00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:20,040 want to see what you're playing tell us what your favorite 786 00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:23,320 things are we so welcome that and when we see a new account 787 00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:26,120 we're like yay come join us that's. 788 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:28,920 I think one of my favorite things is just how supportive, 789 00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:33,080 and I don't feel that it feels competitive, like no one's like, 790 00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:34,640 well, I have to do better than that. 791 00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:37,080 And like we're all in this together. 792 00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:42,000 We all want to share how awesome this hobby is and how this hobby 793 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,400 can change. I don't want to oversell it, but 794 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,200 I mean, it can bring you new groups of people. 795 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:50,520 It can change your life. It can bring you into a new 796 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:53,720 social social circle. So I think that's something that 797 00:40:53,720 --> 00:40:56,840 the community does amazingly. When you were early on in your 798 00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:00,600 content creation, did you feel like you needed to keep up with 799 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:03,160 other content creators? I still feel that way, but 800 00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:05,120 that's my own issue. OK. 801 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:08,160 That's it's something that in just in general I struggle with 802 00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:10,480 is comparison. And so just knowing that about 803 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:13,360 myself, when I feel that coming in, I'm like, wait, I'm my own 804 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:15,240 thing. Yep, it will happen when it's 805 00:41:15,240 --> 00:41:18,000 supposed to happen. Take a deep breath. 806 00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:21,920 Just keep doing what I'm doing. And I think that something that 807 00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:25,360 people can really tell is if you're authentic, if you are 808 00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:29,880 really putting out there what you are doing and not trying to 809 00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:32,240 copy everybody else. Because I think if you start 810 00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:36,800 trying to copy everybody else's style or format or things like 811 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:39,640 that, then you lose yourself in the prospect and people can 812 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:41,480 tell. Yeah, I agree with that. 813 00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:45,320 I definitely agree. I hope, I hope that my sincerity 814 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:50,280 and genuineness through to the, to the 20 people who watch my 815 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:52,720 bike. Yeah, yeah, it varies. 816 00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:55,840 You know, it's like I, that's why I started this. 817 00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:58,400 Like I'm not really good at the whole review thing. 818 00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:04,200 I'm all about the people I'm all about and I fail like everyone 819 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:06,400 else. I'm a Sinner who's fallen and 820 00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:10,480 you know I've I've made a lot of mistakes in the past and try to 821 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:12,960 try to do better. I think we all have that piece 822 00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:15,000 of content that we put out. And they were like, Yep, this is 823 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:16,520 great. Everyone's gonna love this. 824 00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:19,040 And then, like, right, people watch it and you're like, yeah. 825 00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:20,160 OK. Absolutely. 826 00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:21,760 So we don't do that again. Yeah. 827 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:25,080 So what about the flip side? Is there something you've seen 828 00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:28,680 in the community that you really we need to do better? 829 00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:30,800 I'll put on my rural gamer lens again. 830 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,920 OK. I think that those social 831 00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:36,760 connections are so important. And so when you are not someone 832 00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:40,320 that is able to get to a con and get face to face meetings and 833 00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:44,080 get be able to, to walk around and say, hey, this is me, this 834 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:45,480 is what I do. That's hard. 835 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:48,760 It really is hard to make those connections professionally. 836 00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:53,640 And so we are 4 hours from our nearest major airport. 837 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:56,400 We do have an airport in town, but it flies to Denver. 838 00:42:56,400 --> 00:42:59,080 That is all, that's all it does. So I mean that it helps 839 00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:02,800 sometimes, but again, that's an extra cost that's associated 840 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:05,400 with that flight. And then, you know, we're 841 00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:08,080 teachers. We're, we're, you know, not, not 842 00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:10,800 the wealthiest of professions. And we both teach. 843 00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:13,920 And so it's, there's a cost involved with attending those 844 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:17,080 cons and things like that. And so I, I wish that there were 845 00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:22,200 a more centralized way to make those connections with people 846 00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:23,480 when you can't do that face to face. 847 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:27,840 Yes, I agree. I think it's unfortunate there 848 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:31,200 is no solution. Our country is just so big. 849 00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:34,920 I talk about this all the time. Like all of our friends in the 850 00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:38,080 UK, they host these one day conventions, right? 851 00:43:38,240 --> 00:43:39,560 And it's not even really a convention. 852 00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:42,240 It's like, you know, 3030 of them get together and they bring 853 00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:46,320 their kids and they just, they rent a hall for a day, you know, 854 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:48,440 and they've got little cute names for all of them. 855 00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:52,640 When my wife and I were in England in 24, we were down in 856 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:57,400 Southampton and Gareth, my partner in the podcast, we 857 00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:00,920 called it Cajun Con because, you know, a Cajun gamer, you know, 858 00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:05,160 But no, it was like there was like 3535 or 40 people came from 859 00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:08,440 around the UK to see me. Like, man, you want to warm your 860 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:12,480 heart like I am not, I'm not, I'm just not. 861 00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:17,320 I'm not worthy of that, you know, And that was like, and the 862 00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:19,640 British don't like it when you cry and. 863 00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:23,640 Get all emotional. Yeah, I got, there was a moment 864 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:26,040 where I got him like we all took a group picture and everyone was 865 00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:27,160 getting ready to go back to their table. 866 00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:30,520 And I was like, guys, wait, hold on a minute, you know, And then 867 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:32,680 I just had to be a cage. And it'd be like, I love all of 868 00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:35,760 you and thank you so much. And I just really, you know, 869 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:39,960 they welcomed my wife and I and and, you know, they took us into 870 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,240 their homes. We certainly we stayed with 871 00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:45,280 folks while we were there. They're just lovely people. 872 00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:49,680 Their country is small enough that they can drive one to two 873 00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:53,120 hours or less and then do that and then turn around and go home 874 00:44:53,120 --> 00:44:54,520 or get a hotel for the night. Right? 875 00:44:54,880 --> 00:45:00,280 Like that's the problem is, OK, so I think I'm six hours from 876 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:02,920 Lincoln. That means I'm 10 hours from 877 00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,440 you. And you can't just come to 878 00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:09,160 Springfield for the day. You you'd have to drive, stay 879 00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:12,680 the night, then game all day, stay the night and leave the 880 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:15,880 next day. So that's like a whole weekend 881 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:19,640 for a single day of gaming, you know, so I definitely get what 882 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:22,720 you're talking about. I think the only solution to my 883 00:45:22,720 --> 00:45:27,440 mind is that maybe more content creators and publishers could 884 00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:31,080 think about coming to these smaller ones. 885 00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:35,840 Like you've got one in Lincoln, you know, and and visit, like I 886 00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:38,680 told you, offline, like we're thinking about coming to great 887 00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:41,680 lanes this year because, you know, we get to meet you and 888 00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:43,720 we'll get to see Nick and Mandy again. 889 00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:46,040 I've only had the pleasure of meeting once, you know. 890 00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:48,840 So yeah, that's definitely, I guess we could do that. 891 00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:52,840 We could certainly do that better to accommodate everyone 892 00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:55,880 in the community, yeah. And I know margins are so, so 893 00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:59,240 small in board gaming and like, I know financially it's not 894 00:45:59,240 --> 00:46:02,400 viable to attend every single little convention. 895 00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:04,960 I totally get that. It's just one of those things 896 00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:08,440 that has been a frustration on my end is just the answer to 897 00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:10,320 everyone has always been like, just go to the cons. 898 00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:13,840 OK, Well I can't so. I think so. 899 00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:16,600 I think if I'm not mistaken, you had a post. 900 00:46:16,720 --> 00:46:18,000 I don't know if it was. I think it was Gen. 901 00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:22,160 Con this year you had you had a post post or a message or 902 00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:27,240 something you were expressing your FOMO and I think I DM D you 903 00:46:27,240 --> 00:46:34,080 and was like don't no right. Cuz I kind of see my role as a 904 00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:38,240 podcaster when I go to these conventions as a way of me to 905 00:46:38,240 --> 00:46:40,040 bring it to you but don't switch. 906 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:44,000 You don't feel the FOMO rather than the look what I bought. 907 00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:45,440 Look who. Gave me this. 908 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:48,040 It's more like, hey, look, you know, I try to do that. 909 00:46:48,240 --> 00:46:53,600 I don't know that I succeed, but I definitely try to do so, and I 910 00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:59,920 try to alleviate as much of our greater communities FOMO as much 911 00:46:59,920 --> 00:47:03,320 as possible because I don't like emotional manipulation. 912 00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:09,600 I try not to do it myself. Certainly sometimes I have both 913 00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:11,840 intentionally and unintentionally, but as a victim 914 00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:15,160 of it as well. So I'm very reticent to 915 00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:17,640 manipulate one's emotions for whatever. 916 00:47:17,680 --> 00:47:20,360 And I think that especially with that Gen. 917 00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:23,320 Con aspect, I think we have already decided like, I don't 918 00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,280 think that's for us. We're both very introverted. 919 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:30,320 We get very drained if we are around large groups of people 920 00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:33,080 for a very long time. And we even felt that we, when 921 00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:36,320 we were in Omaha, we went to the zoo and we were like, OK, we're, 922 00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:39,720 we're peopled out. We can go home and be quiet now, 923 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:43,280 right? But we, we loved going to Dice 924 00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:47,600 Tower W Dice Tower W was a great experience as far as you got to 925 00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:49,400 play games. Like that was the main focus. 926 00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:52,600 It wasn't necessarily going to meetings and things like that. 927 00:47:52,640 --> 00:47:56,840 But we love gaming with people like we just wish we could more 928 00:47:56,840 --> 00:47:58,120 easily do so. Sure. 929 00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:01,320 Well, hopefully we will see you the Great Plains. 930 00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:04,440 It would be awesome next year. I really, I hope that we can 931 00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:06,800 make that happen. So the last thing I wanted to 932 00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:09,160 ask you is that's not true. I have two more questions. 933 00:48:09,280 --> 00:48:13,440 So who, when you were, when you dove into content creation early 934 00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:16,920 on and even now, are there any content creators in our 935 00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:21,600 community that have inspired you and maybe continue to inspire 936 00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:23,160 you today? Oh, for sure, for sure. 937 00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:26,840 I think that's something that's great about our our community as 938 00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:28,880 well as just the inspiration that we can take from each 939 00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:30,920 other. And you don't want to copy 940 00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:33,240 somebody, but just being able to be like, oh, that was really 941 00:48:33,240 --> 00:48:35,280 cool. I wonder where I could take that 942 00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:39,360 for sure, Chris, from just three maples, 33 little, just three 943 00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:40,840 maples, just just. Three. 944 00:48:41,240 --> 00:48:44,040 Yeah, just three maples. He isn't as active now, but he 945 00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:48,000 was super supportive, like he answered all my questions and 946 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:51,280 like he was awesome for for helping me get started. 947 00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:54,200 Someone that I take a lot of inspiration from and I still 948 00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:57,400 take a ton of inspiration from is Dana at Better Mood Board 949 00:48:57,400 --> 00:49:00,400 Games. She is the queen of reels and I 950 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:02,920 just wish I had a modicum of her talent. 951 00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:06,000 She is so awesome. Tell me about it, right? 952 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:09,200 Every time I'm like, Oh my gosh, how did you do that? 953 00:49:09,720 --> 00:49:11,360 She's going to be part of the series, too. 954 00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:13,880 She's yeah. That's what I want to talk about 955 00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:15,280 is her reels. I think she's just. 956 00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:16,560 She is. She is. 957 00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:19,160 I think everything she touches just is technical. 958 00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:21,800 Well, no, you don't want that. That could be bad. 959 00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:26,240 Right, she has another one that has been so like if I ask a 960 00:49:26,240 --> 00:49:27,720 question from like, Hey, how'd you do that? 961 00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:30,400 She will tell me. She she doesn't gatekeep. 962 00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:32,480 She's not like, well, that's just my little secret. 963 00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:36,360 Like she wants everybody to be so successful in this as well. 964 00:49:36,520 --> 00:49:39,280 She's awesome. And just, you know, as we go 965 00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:42,120 through, everyone just really does support each other. 966 00:49:42,360 --> 00:49:45,440 Rich from 60 minute Gamer always answers my questions when I have 967 00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:47,240 them. Corinne from Game Changer by 968 00:49:47,240 --> 00:49:49,880 Corinne. She and I really have been a bit 969 00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:52,680 of a cohort as we've come up, and so definitely leaning on 970 00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:56,720 each other and even not just content creation, but like, hey, 971 00:49:57,040 --> 00:49:58,480 how are you doing? You didn't post. 972 00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:00,080 Yeah, last week. Like, are you OK? 973 00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:02,760 Like just being able to check in with people like that too is so 974 00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:06,200 impactful so. Yeah, that is man, that that is 975 00:50:06,200 --> 00:50:09,800 a full time job because most of my content is spent sending you 976 00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:12,800 Adm going, just checking in. How are things going, right? 977 00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:14,880 Yeah, I don't. Yeah, just. 978 00:50:15,240 --> 00:50:18,520 But the problem is, is like, so if I haven't messaged you in a 979 00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:22,600 while, Mayor Coppa? Mayor Coppa, I am not forgotten 980 00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:25,320 about you. It's just the reality of life is 981 00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:29,960 not our community is for as niche as our community is right. 982 00:50:30,520 --> 00:50:34,720 This community is huge and it's so hard to keep up. 983 00:50:35,080 --> 00:50:39,120 With everybody. Everyone and I always like it 984 00:50:39,120 --> 00:50:42,840 keeps me up at night. I I lose sleep over the fact 985 00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:45,920 that, well, I haven't reached out to so and so in like 3 986 00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:48,280 months, six months. These are the these are the 987 00:50:48,280 --> 00:50:50,080 things that are in my nightmares. 988 00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:53,400 You're so awesome. Because that's, I mean, thank 989 00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:54,440 you. I'm just going to leave it 990 00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:55,040 there. Thank you. 991 00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:56,920 That is very kind of you. Yeah. 992 00:50:56,960 --> 00:51:01,240 It's just, it's, it's so hard. It's it's a real challenge. 993 00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:03,880 Even just the the keeping up with like, oh, did they post 994 00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:04,440 this week? I don't. 995 00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:06,520 Maybe I just didn't see it. Maybe they have been on and I 996 00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:10,960 just didn't see it. And I'm the awkward social 997 00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:13,920 person too, so I don't ever want to be like, hey, what's going on 998 00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:15,920 with you? Like I don't want it to be come 999 00:51:15,920 --> 00:51:20,040 off like pushy. I worry about that too, OK? 1000 00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:23,560 Like I reach out and you don't respond and I'm like, Oh my God. 1001 00:51:23,560 --> 00:51:28,000 I came across just. Oh, no, yeah, it's never y'all's 1002 00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:28,720 fault. I just. 1003 00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:30,680 I'm just. Oh, internalized for sure. 1004 00:51:30,680 --> 00:51:32,840 I internalized. Y'all are, y'all are busy. 1005 00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:35,800 Y'all have more important things to do than to talk to this man. 1006 00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:38,840 Things are happening well and I am. 1007 00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:42,880 Super guilty of I open it and then it's not unread anymore and 1008 00:51:42,880 --> 00:51:45,160 then it gets buried. And so then I'm like oh, today, 1009 00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:47,120 today. Oh my gosh, that was like 2 1010 00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:48,360 weeks ago and I never replied. Yeah. 1011 00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:52,600 I also think the algorithm works against us. 1012 00:51:53,680 --> 00:51:56,880 I talked with Grant Lyon, who was on the series earlier. 1013 00:51:57,800 --> 00:52:01,440 There were some influencers and content creators that I had 1014 00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:05,280 messaged just like I messaged you, Hey, can I get your e-mail, 1015 00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:08,240 send you the pitch for this whole series, and I can go and I 1016 00:52:08,240 --> 00:52:14,280 can see they've never read it. It still says sent because you 1017 00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:17,880 get so many messages it gets buried. 1018 00:52:18,240 --> 00:52:22,040 Did it go to the spam folder? That's something that like I, I 1019 00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:25,040 forget to check, like I forget to check my request sometimes. 1020 00:52:25,040 --> 00:52:27,720 And so then that gets and then there's even a separate 1021 00:52:27,720 --> 00:52:30,640 subfolder in the request folder that's like hidden requests. 1022 00:52:30,640 --> 00:52:33,200 So Oh my gosh, if that doesn't show up then. 1023 00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:37,200 Yeah, I know. It's it's just, it's just crazy. 1024 00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:40,400 OK, last question. What piece of advice do you have 1025 00:52:40,400 --> 00:52:43,400 for someone who's thinking about getting into content creation 1026 00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:45,720 and they reach out to you? Go, Sarah, I love you, love your 1027 00:52:45,720 --> 00:52:48,160 work. How do I how do I do this? 1028 00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:52,400 Step 1 is just being true to yourself, putting your opinion 1029 00:52:52,400 --> 00:52:55,960 out there. Do your thing like if you try to 1030 00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:59,160 copy somebody, it's not going to go well, like you're going to 1031 00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:00,760 burn out because you're not being yourself. 1032 00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:04,800 And people just don't connect with if they perceive it to be 1033 00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:08,040 kind of fake or, or a copy. Like we're a small enough 1034 00:53:08,040 --> 00:53:10,840 community that we've probably seen a lot of each other's 1035 00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:12,040 content. And so if you're like, oh, 1036 00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:15,160 they're just copying that person, well, that's not gonna 1037 00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:19,280 go over very well, right? Step 2 is not the fun step, but 1038 00:53:19,280 --> 00:53:23,880 do the research, do some look in like tips for growth on your 1039 00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:26,920 platform. Watch some people that know what 1040 00:53:26,920 --> 00:53:29,680 they're talking about, but also make sure they know what they're 1041 00:53:29,680 --> 00:53:32,720 talking about cuz you can get some greater that are like, 1042 00:53:32,720 --> 00:53:35,320 well, this is what you do. And no, that's really not great 1043 00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:39,480 advice. So just got to be careful about, 1044 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:44,040 about who you trust Step 3 as you can, if you, it just depends 1045 00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:46,360 on what you want to do. If you just want to do photos, I 1046 00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:48,240 think your phone camera is perfect. 1047 00:53:48,320 --> 00:53:50,640 You're, you're probably good. But if you want to get into some 1048 00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:53,760 video and stuff like that, you might need to upgrade some 1049 00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:55,160 equipment. And that's a financial 1050 00:53:55,160 --> 00:53:57,920 investment for sure. And for somebody that does this 1051 00:53:57,920 --> 00:54:01,720 as a hobby, how much? How much can I invest in this 1052 00:54:01,920 --> 00:54:03,720 hobby that is a hobby of my hobby? 1053 00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:07,880 Obviously. But my hobby of my hobby is 1054 00:54:07,880 --> 00:54:10,600 making content. Right, right. 1055 00:54:10,920 --> 00:54:13,400 So yeah, we don't get paid for this. 1056 00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:16,600 No, no it is not. If you were getting into this 1057 00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:18,920 because you think you're going to make a lot of money, then 1058 00:54:19,160 --> 00:54:21,920 that's probably not a good reason to get into this hobby 1059 00:54:22,240 --> 00:54:24,440 for sure. Yeah, that's so true. 1060 00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:26,040 There was one other thing I was going to say. 1061 00:54:26,240 --> 00:54:29,200 It's gone now, remember? Step four, yes, she'll let you 1062 00:54:29,200 --> 00:54:31,520 know you're going to get all kind of requests in the new 1063 00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:34,080 year. What was step four? 1064 00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:37,040 Well, Sarah, thank you so much. Oh my God, I'm so glad we 1065 00:54:37,040 --> 00:54:39,680 finally got to meet. It's been a real pleasure. 1066 00:54:39,680 --> 00:54:41,800 So tell everyone where they can find you. 1067 00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:45,360 Instagram, YouTube, all that. So Yep, Instagram and at Sarah 1068 00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:48,320 always loses. And then YouTube our channel 1069 00:54:48,320 --> 00:54:49,800 with our friend is called Let's table it. 1070 00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:52,800 Let's Table it. I'll link that in the title. 1071 00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:56,720 Of the episode yeah that'll that'll definitely guys as 1072 00:54:56,720 --> 00:55:01,920 always happy holidays season greetings, etcetera at nauseam. 1073 00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:05,600 Make sure to like and subscribe to this episode. 1074 00:55:05,600 --> 00:55:11,280 There's this is episode 153 I've done 152 before this so go check 1075 00:55:11,280 --> 00:55:12,720 it out. There's some great content out 1076 00:55:12,720 --> 00:55:15,520 there and this content series is become permanent. 1077 00:55:16,360 --> 00:55:19,600 This has just been really great. So going to line some people up 1078 00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:24,080 for the new year, but keep listening and as always, be kind 1079 00:55:24,080 --> 00:55:26,120 to each other and let's play more games.